August 14th, 2025

Floor 1: Fountainhead City

It was already two weeks ago that we learned that our lives were sealed inside this reality. At least 50 players had died since then, and 18 of them were from parties of six. They were just like me. The worst part was the fact that no one had made it to the checkpoint of floor five, the last floor, in the first dungeon.

The very first town, Fountainhead City, was officially known as "Floor One" even though its dungeon consisted of multiple floors. The city was packed with scared players still, but many were at least practicing on the very weak Rattata in the first area of the dungeon. As for me, I was now training with Buizel on the fourth dungeon floor. I was at level four and he was just one level behind me. Most of us were in the two to three range, but some were still experience-less. Very few had the courage to fight at this point. Scraping by with rent was also near-impossible; finding generated sums of money was rare, and the Poké wasn't always a large amount; Buizel found one cluster worth only about 7 Poké, which was barely a fourth of an apple.

"Caterpie straight ahead," Buizel mentioned, and I nodded.

"Dodge its String Shot," I reminded back.

Buizel flinched from the playful insult. Back on the second floor, he was caught in a String Shot and nearly got tackled to death by a level one Caterpie. The sight was hilarious, of course, and I was laughing while killing the creature with a Quick Attack. Buizel was nearly as strong as I was, but the Pokémon was so clumsy he was more at risk than I could ever be.

The giant Caterpie inched its way toward us and launched a Tackle attack that I quickly dodged. Buizel used his Slash attack, which was the egg move he acquired thanks to his beta past. The attack sliced Caterpie's HP into a quarter of its max. The attack reminded me to check my own learnset, but I figured I'd do that later. I dodged a String Shot and sprang up with extra speed to kick the Pokémon's HP bar down to zero. It exploded into shattered shards of glass and dematerialized. Buizel and I high-fived. While we worked on leveling up, the others were collecting supplies. Fletchling was supposed to help us fight, but he decided to chicken out at the last minute.

Nevertheless, Buizel and I kept going. We ran through a narrow passageway and I destroyed a Rattata in just a few hits. The floor map showed us that we had one room left to check out, which meant that the very last room were the stairs to the last floor. We were going to make it to floor five! Then there would be just one last set of stairs to find. We entered the room and found another Caterpie guarding the long, ominous series of white steps.

"I'll take the left, you take the right," I said.

"Got it," he nodded.

The Caterpie couldn't be too high of a level; my Quick Attack knocked its health down relatively fast. However, it did launch a String Shot that got Buizel tangled up in a mess. He laid there, stuck, for the remainder of the battle.

"Hey, Buizel!" I shouted in battle. "I guess we should've stuck together!"

Buizel wriggled in the sticky white silk and struggled to get free. He made a face at me and stuck out his tongue. "You're just jealous that I get all the ladies!" he joked.

I ignored his lie and knocked the last bit of health out of the worm. It disintegrated and I helped Buizel get untangled from the tight rope of String Shot. I grabbed his hand and pulled him up. As he dusted himself off, he sighed relatively too loud—and too dramatic.

"Please let us have a break," he grumbled.

I shrugged. "The monsters won't spawn for a while now. I don't mind a break."

Buizel grimaced and went to go find leftover items and Poké lying around. Meanwhile, I inspected the stairs. The perfectly-crafted steps were fascinating, as usual, but the fifth floor of the Tiny Woods dungeon was notoriously hard. Several Pokémon had died trying to get through it. The peculiar thing was that we hadn't encountered anyone in the dungeon so far. Had everyone given up after two weeks? Retreats were difficult without Escape Orbs, but those start on higher-up floors. You had to backtrack completely unless you made it to the checkpoint room. Only then could you teleport between the last town and the boss room, which was just ahead. The checkpoint beamed you to a rest area that could load your storage. The only problem was making it there.

I noticed Buizel wheezing from exhaustion. He wouldn't be able to make it all the way. Me, however…I could do it, probably. I could run all night; it's in my Pokémon's Pokédex entry. Buizel had a higher base speed than I did, but I could still manage to keep a fast pace. My stamina was phenomenal, so surely I could make it to the boss room and set a meeting with everyone.

"I'm going to the next floor," I told my tired friend.

"Don't do it!" he shouted in surprise. "Do you know how many have died in there?"

I nodded. I didn't know the exact number, of course, but I knew it was very dangerous. However, I predicted we'd be done with this floor much earlier than two weeks. Five floors was the lowest amount for any dungeon, and if we were really this weak, then we wouldn't stand a chance on any of the other dungeons.

"I'm going for it," I confirmed.

"Don't do it!" he says once more.

As he attempted to regain his steady breathing, I climbed the cutoff stairs and was led to a random room in the middle of the fifth and final dungeon floor. I opened my eyes to see an empty room; there were no creatures nor allies in sight. I was alone. I started walking and ended up in a long, narrow hallway. I sprinted through it and found myself face-to-face with a rather large Caterpie. I quickly used my priority move just before it was close enough for a Tackle and managed to whittle away its attacks without sustaining much damage. I ate one of my few Oran Berries and recovered all of my health. At least on these lower floors, Oran Berries were the most vital items other than Reviver Seeds. The only question was whether or not those seeds were still in the game's system.

I noticed the hallway ended at a very large room. On my game map display, which was visible, yet still translucent, at the top-left of my sight of vision. The room had the blue-outlined square, which represented the stairs, along with three red dots surrounding a yellow dot nearby. Red represented enemies, of course, but yellow meant human-controlled entities. Someone was in the room with me! I ran through the long room and eventually saw three large Rattata ganging up on a small Pokémon. I watched the fighting and eventually saw the person's shape.

The Pokémon had brown skin with blobs of white, furry cotton on its ears and lower body. It was hopping from side to side, almost as if to project some intimidating boxing stance. Its face was feminine and angelic; I immediately distinguished the Pokémon as a Buneary. Alarmed, I quickly used Quick Attack on the closest Rattata and knocked the rest of its low health to zero, causing it to shatter in between the two enemies it spawned with. The other Rattata took notice of the disintegration and turned around towards me. I quickly zipped beside the Buneary and we put our backs against each other.

"Hey," I said in short conversation.

"Uh, hi," she replied with confusion. "What are you doing here?"

I quickly attacked the Rattata on my end and dodged its Tackle with impressive speed. In an attempt to show off, I run back to her side with a smirk on my face. I know it was probably cheesy to act like that in the face of death, but what can I say?

"I'm just, you know, strolling around," I said slyly.

Buneary used a Pound attack that slammed her Rattata down to yellow health. She had to be at level three or more for that kind of power. However, I noticed there was a certain emotion to her attack that made it that much stronger. All the other Pound users quickly retreated to dodge the incoming attack, but she let her punches sink into the body and risked the revenge Tackle anyway. The tactic was both disarming and dangerous. Sure, it was effective, but it was overkill as well. Those Rattata weren't at very high levels; my lack of STAB didn't seem to matter when I dispatched that first one. Either way, with her enemy at a lower health than mine, I have to win the race.

"Oh, really?" she raised her eyebrow. "Strolling around on floor five? I'm not an idiot."

The sarcasm stung slightly, but my Quick Attack knocked my Rattata into red health and brought me back into first place. She quickly shut her mouth and began to focus on the battle once again. She focused and used one last Pound attack that hit the Rattata right under the chin, causing a critical hit and knocking it out in one last power-attack. I used one Quick Attack to finish the job, but my Rattata still had a sliver of health. I then dodged its Tackle and kicked it with my regular attack to do minimal damage and knock out the foe I should've finished off much earlier. We both gained our experience and I managed to finally move up to level five, the ideal level required to beat the first boss. I was level four the first time around, and that really costed me the Last Attack bonus when a Timburr beat me to it. At level five, I had enough strength to get whatever I need done.

I looked over at Buneary and saw she was smiling wickedly at me. I thought for a moment and then realized she was still gloating over beating that Rattata before I beat mine. Before I could counter with anything, she started talking.

"Mr. Stroll sure did dispatch that Rattata quite late. Maybe next time you should bring a party," she laughed.

My mouth hung open. I began to protest. "Party? I don't need a party! And it's not my fault I don't have a STAB move on me. I didn't program my moves or else I'd give myself Aura Sphere right now!"

She shook her head. "Whiney, aren't you? Yeah, you didn't look so confident in battle."

My face turned a fiery red. "Well you're on a suicide mission going along like that. You keep using Pound but if you see the foe has so little HP left, you can just do a regular attack!"

"Yeah, but then I wouldn't get the satisfaction of killing it like that," she said with less pride.

This time, I shook my head. "We have to save our power points—the little 'PP' thing by your moves list. If you lose all your PP for a move, it's gone. What other attacking moves do you have?" I asked.

"That's none of your business," she stammered.

"Aha!" I shouted in victory. "Now, shouldn't we be getting to those marble stairs?"

She nodded. We began walking and she fell to her knees and panted.

"I've been fighting for about four hours," she said. "I've barely had time to rest, and most of the time I'd had to run away. Th-thank you for helping me."

I sat down beside her and grabbed an Oran Berry from my bag. I gave it to her and she plopped it in her mouth. I noticed her HP bar went from just in the red all the way up to green in her main menu. Most of the time, I wouldn't watch like that, but I couldn't resist. I decided to initiate some conversation.

"It's not a problem. Why were you out here alone, Buneary?"

By referencing her name, she winced. "How did you…oh, because you can see—never mind. I guess I just wanted to make it as far as I could. It doesn't matter, though. You heard that big Pokémon—we're going to die in here. It's just a matter of time before we all learn where."

I was startled by the proposition. How could she just let herself tire out in the first dungeon and willingly risk her life without a care in the world? Did she not have a family to get back to?

"Don't look at it like that, Buneary," I smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. She moved away quickly, but she eventually let her guard down and put her face in her hands. I continued. "Think of it as a test of our survivability—our love for our lives. We have to fight for that back."

She shook her head. "I saw people die in this very room. Right by these stairs. This isn't a game we can play to win. This is just that guy's way of playing with dolls. We're the dolls, uh," she paused again with an unsure expression.

It suddenly hit me that she didn't know my name. I'm a Riolu, and so I'm called Riolu. Had she never played Pokémon? Is this her first VRMMO, or better yet—her first game?

"I'm Riolu," I told her.

"Riolu," she repeated. "Anyway, it doesn't matter how far we get if we aren't going to get far enough. This dungeon is hard and it's the first one. There are forty-nine dungeons more challenging than this one. One of my attacks is called Splash, and all I do is bounce around! How is that going to get me to the 50th dungeon, Riolu? Your optimism is too optimistic. Look at reality—the true reality. We're never getting home. We're going to battle until we die. In the end, we'll be either lifeless or soulless. Where will you be when death strikes?"

I looked at her seriously. "In my retirement home somewhere along a beach. In the real world. That's where I want to die. I don't want to die in a place where no one will know me, the true me."

She looked deep within the pupils of my eyes, and I felt my face change into a light red tint. I tried to hide it, but thinking even more caused the red to become more noticeable. I was about to turn away when

"Riolu!" a voice broke the conversation we had going.

I looked to see Buizel running from a Caterpie that was chasing him once again. I told Buneary to go up the ominous stairs and wait, but she joined me in running to my friend's rescue. We took either side of the Bug-type and began pounding it with attacks. The creature acted furious and was using attacks more vigorous than I had seen from any other Caterpie.

"Why is it so mad?" I asked.

Buizel shrugged and held a guilty look on his face. "It was asleep and, you see the tip of its tail? Yeah it's yellow…like a Sitrus Berry. I was hungry and, well…"

"Who is this guy?" Buneary questioned me.

"A friend," I said. "We were training on the other floor and he went to get items while I came up here."

She grinned. "I knew you weren't alone! What was it you said? 'I don't need a party!' or something?"

I get flustered and knocked the Caterpie out with a critical hit Quick Attack. It shattered into pieces and I caught the Pecha Berry it was holding. I put the berry in the bag and looked at my pal and the stranger I had met just minutes before.

"You don't need a party, huh?" Buizel smirked. He obviously understood what I was going for.

"Well, I wouldn't say that…" I began to backtrack.

"Oh, no, no! You weren't trying to impress the girl, were you?"

Both Buizel and Buneary started giggling as I started for the portal. I rolled my eyes and my shoulder slammed against my friend's. He winced in pain.

"No need to get feisty!" he said jokingly.

When we came up to the stairs, I ran perfectly up them. I wanted to take the credit so that my party could lead the boss raid whenever we get a team together. Therefore, it was no surprise that I hopped up to the next floor first and came across the small stone room that led to two giant doors made of wood. They went up seemingly forever. I walked to the middle of the room and tapped the small, dark stone that resembled a Kangaskhan and its baby. As the menu popped up, I heard Buneary and Buizel come up the stairs one by one. I put the Oran Berry in my storage box and closed the menu.

"What loot did you find?" I asked Buizel.

He checked his menu and looked at the cash amount. "I found a couple thousand Poké total and a few berries, but nothing much."

I shrugged. "Figured."

Suddenly, a light blue circle opened up to the right of the Kangaskhan rock. I slipped a foot in it and the menu asked if I wanted to return to Fountainhead City. I declined at first to talk to my friends a few more times.

"Well, looks like the portal's open now," I said with a smile.

Buizel nodded. "I'm going to go announce everything," he said.

My orange friend raised his eyebrows up at me before he slipped through the portal. I groaned internally, but I felt the blushing come back ever-so-slightly. I looked at Buneary, who seemed solemn for some reason, and so I felt concerned enough to ask her what sort of drama is going on.

"What's wrong?" I asked plainly.

She leaned against the wall and played with the cotton on her left ear. The Pokémon looked back at the blue escape portal and shrugged.

"I guess I didn't think I'd get this far," she said.

"I told you that we just have to work together. To be completely honest, I'm from the beta test. My party is experienced and we plan on leading all the raids together. We were the strongest fighters back when the unofficial, super-exclusive demo thing came out."

She smiled at my lack of terminology. "Well aren't you the superhero, then? To be honest, I'm not a video game player. This was my first time playing the Nintendo Vii and now I'm stuck in it and waiting to die. My body isn't even at my house—it's at a friend's house. She wanted me to try the game out for her and I told her I'd get off in five minutes. It's been a long time since then."

My smile faded. Her family didn't even know she was playing the game. I had missed my mother's birthday, yes, but at least she knew right away what had happened to me. I put a hand on Buneary's shoulder once more and, to my surprise, she didn't fight it.

"I'll tell you what: since you're such a good fighter, why don't you attend the meeting we're going to have to fight the boss? I could use you in the front lines. Your Pound attack is the strongest I've ever seen."

Her mood seemed to be brightened slightly by the ignorant politeness I provided, so she nodded her head after a few minutes. "I'll come."

"Great."

I walked into the blue portal, felt myself being transported, and silently made a fist in the air—a physical sign that I didn't completely fail at talking to a girl, and that I may have just scored another attacker in my desperate attempt to defeat the first dungeon's boss.

. . .

A raid party was supposed to be a max of 48 players; eight parties of six was the ideal setup. In the beta, we had no trouble rounding up so many players. Everyone wanted to show off their power. Now, though, where the game could connect a person to his death, this number would definitely be lower.

I had set the meeting to be in the square right in front of the fountain. Everyone else should already be there, but I decided to come a few minutes late in order to let them socialize and get comfortable. Supposedly, two other team leaders would be joining me in representing PMD:O's community. Whether or not they were useful, let alone beta testers, was unbeknownst to me. I ran to the center of Fountainhead City and sighed in relief upon seeing a decent amount of people.

I pushed my way toward the fountain and hopped up on the base's low rim. My tail was dipped in the water slightly, but the unsuspecting sensation was oddly appealing. I looked around and saw a Scyther, a green insect with sharp scythes for hands, and a metallic bird, obviously known as Skarmory, standing proudly above the others. These two were going to be rivalling guild leaders in the future, but I planned on making my own as well.

"Attention, everyone," I began, but Skarmory and Scyther glared at both me and each other.

"The Golden Warriors would like to take over this meeting," Scyther said calmly. "We are all levels two to four, and I'm a level five. So if you could just step back—"

"Oh really? Well the Flying Fighters all have a Ground-type immunity. Half your team," the bird Pokémon said with a glare toward the Pokémon backing the opposition, "is weak to it."

Scyther's face turned red. "Treecko here can take care of any pesky Sandshrew. I also have an immunity, by the way."

Skarmory squawked at the rebuttal. "Why don't we see how you did right now? Let's fight it out and get this over with!"

The two of them were ready to start a scene, yet violence was impossible in towns; they were considered safe zones. Instead, I hushed them both with a paw to the chest.

"I'm the one that completed the dungeon first," I snorted. "I'm in charge. If you have a problem, enjoy paying rent with fake money all your life."

Scyther frowned. "I'm behind on rent in my old house, anyway," he said.

"That's…nice? Anyway, the boss in this dungeon is a Dunsparce. I think he's around level seven. It'd be nice to level up to him, but it's impossible considering our limited resources. If you're level three and above, you should be able to attack him at least once. I know three attacks he had in the beta, but he did not have a fourth one. I believe he knew Headbutt, Screech, and Defense Curl. Headbutt can cause flinches, so be careful if you are hit. Dunsparce also has high stats at this range, so everything is dangerous. He's bigger than usual—every boss is way too big. It's to scare you. If we focus on letting our Rock- and Steel- types take the damage, then we can attack on our own effortlessly. Any questions?" I said quickly.

The whole room was silent. I was pleased to see Buneary in the very back of the crowd. My own party was up at the front, all smiles, listening to stuff they already knew. I knew I sounded boastful and annoying, but if it stopped the fighting, more opportunities would open to us. I looked around to see a bunch of individuals already set for the battle. As such, I ordered everyone to report at the gate to the dungeon and go through the blue portal, but stop in the in-between room of stone. We broke apart and everyone began marching in the right direction. Spectators began spreading the world that the first boss was going to be attacked. I smiled at their gossip.

I let Buizel go up to the front and speak with his sister. I knew he was worried about her performance and survivability, and probably would rather her stay in the hotel, but she insisted on taking part. Whismur was kindhearted, and that was probably her strongest quality. I knew she couldn't fight forever, that she would eventually have to live in the cities and wait, but I figured that she could hang around us for now. Watching my orange friend converse with the barely-teenager made me remember my own little sister. How was she doing right now?

"Riolu?" a voice interrupted my train of thought.

"Huh?"

I looked to see a grinning Chimchar hastening his pace to catch up to me. He had behind him two other starter Pokémon, a Chikorita and a Squirtle, which were presumably the newest additions to his party. He introduced me to them and them to me, and we greeted each other fairly. I felt superior to everyone; I had the strongest team, I had this virtual reality at my fingertips. I had the strength.

Suddenly, that whole feeling felt shameful when my eyes laid back on Buneary. She was hopping by herself somewhat off to the side of the cluster of individuals. I slowly made my way over to her and matched her pace.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She looked away. "I didn't know you were a leader type."

I blushed. "I'm normally not. In fact, I don't even like the power," I said in a lie.

Buneary rolled her eyes. "You looked pretty happy up there telling us all what to do."

Her statement made me stop in my tracks while the others kept walking. She kept hopping. I stayed in my place. What do I want to do? Please a random girl and make some sort of friendship that could die at any minute? Or do I want to lead the 300 something of us to a safe and secure escape from the game? To be honest, I didn't really know. I didn't speak again until everyone was in the stone chamber before the very first dungeon boss.

. . .

In front of a crowd of 24, exactly one-half the usual number for a boss raid, I did a head count. I told the two guilds-to-be what their functions were and informed Chimchar he was backup behind my party. I turned around to face the endlessly tall wooden doors of the first boss. The wood was an ominous color, a darker look than I remembered before. The aesthetics of the game were tweaked, but were the bosses themselves? I frowned at my waiting upon hearing impatient people whispering. I turned back around.

"Is everyone ready?" I asked.

Everyone was silent. No one wanted to step up and start the trend of courage. I looked pleadingly at my friends, then Chimchar, and then Buneary. Sadly, no one was ready. I could understand that. Sure, it was terrifying to face a boss, but if we don't—we're stuck in here forever.

"Guys," I eventual sighed. "If we don't get past this boss…If we don't win tonight, then no one will ever attempt this boss again. We'll live on the first floor forever. We're some of the strongest fighters in the game, both in spirit and ability. It's time we step up. It's been two weeks. We've had our time to feel trapped—now it's time to get free."

"I'm ready," Buizel finally said, stepping forward beside me.

"Me, too," Fletchling squawked.

"Let's do this," Budew nodded.

"I'll block any hit for you, Riolu," Shieldon smiled.

Whismur slowly stepped with the rest of my party. "I'll go anywhere with you, big brother," she said to Buizel. He blushed slightly at the family embarrassment, but he hugged her for her bravery.

"Then let's go," a voice from the back of the crowd shouted. The tone was feminine, however her attitude was pure masculinity. There weren't many females in this raid, but my mysterious acquaintance Buneary was already growing from the suicidal girl I knew just a day or two ago.

"You heard the woman," I said playfully. "Let's go!"

I pushed the wooden doors open. They creaked for several seconds, seconds of terrifying tension raised into an anticlimactic shudder once the doors ceased their noise. I looked back at the raid, turned my attention toward the black interior of the room, and stepped inside the familiar room from back in my beta testing days.

Once I ran inside, torches along the wall began to light up one by one on either symmetrical side of me. Eventually, they met in a ring of fire along the walls of the boss room. At the end of the room was a large hole. I slowly began stepping toward it, each step panging my head with risk and worry. Once I looked inside the hole, I quickly sprinted back toward the others. The boss was coming out of the hole.

The yellow-bodied organism sprang out of the hole and slammed onto the ground. Its eyes were shut and encircled in blue rings. It had small wings and blue stripes on the white part of its back. The creature's tail looked like a rattlesnake's, yet it was also shaped like a drill. Dunsparce was the first boss's name, and it wasn't too much of a challenge in the beta—though it did take us a try or two. We only have one try now.

"Alright, everyone! Battle stations!" I commanded, my fists flying in the air.

As Dunsparce began to make its first attack, Scyther and Skarmory started to fight about sides. I groaned at their idiocy and decided to take matters into my own hands once more.

"Well I think this is the left he was talking about!" Scyther yelled.

"Please! That's the wrong left, Scyther. It's all about perspective," Skarmory hissed back.

Meanwhile, I began sprinting toward the creature. Everyone watched and, soon enough, Buizel came up behind me with his attack ready. I jumped at the Dunsparce and used a Quick Attack, knocking a sliver of its health down. Buizel unleashed a Sonic Boom that took a larger chunk out. The two of us immediately retreated as Fletchling tackled and Whismur used Pound. They knock down a little bit more health, but the beast had decent defenses at this point in the game and a large HP stat overall.

Once Whismur's Pound ended, Buneary's began. She slammed her fist into the Pokémon and made it bounce back a little in the opposite direction. However, the Dunsparce began sucking its breath in after Whismur, so Buneary was in the way of his first attack: Screech.

The sound pierced everyone's ears, but Buizel, Fletchling, Whismur and I managed to dodge. Everyone else was hit except for Scyther, Treecko, and Houndour, who had just narrowly avoided the defense-lowering attack. Rings of sound waves crashed into the more defensive Pokémon, along with those like Farfetch'd and Flabébé that were just in the back.

I sprinted to the wall, ran up a long distance of the vertical plane, and kicked back. Behind me, a white flash of speed trailed. I used another Quick Attack on Dunsparce right when Buizel used his egg move Slash. He sliced at the Pokémon, and the attack did about double what mine did. Of course, his base power was much higher, but I still felt kind of underpowered. Fletchling flapped its wings to kick up a Tailwind while Scyther zoomed by both me and Buizel to hit Dunsparce with a super effective Vacuum Wave. The fact that he already had a fighting-type move and I didn't was completely embarrassing, but I couldn't change the game mechanics.

"Get ready for its attack!" I screamed.

Dunsparce suddenly charged in Scyther's direction. The Headbutt attack slammed the future guild leader straight into the wall, knocking his HP bar down to about half. Treecko attempted to use a Pound attack, but Headbutt hit first and he took about 85% damage. Houndour used Ember to try and burn the Dunsparce, but there was not a side effect and Houndour, whose defenses were poor, was left with only a sliver of health after the Headbutt attack. Geodude defended the other Pokémon on Scyther's side, but he flinched from the attack and could not rebuttal. Some of the lesser-known members of Scyther's and Skarmory's team moved Houndour and Treecko to the back. Offensive powerhouses like Houndoom and Sceptile would be great toward the end of the game, but attacks can hit hard and they need to remember that.

Dunsparce suddenly curled up into a Defense Curl move, raising its defense. Sadly, it happened right as I attempted to strike it with another Quick Attack, so my attack bounced off and I landed feet-first on the wall. I kicked forward and skidded to a halt back in front of my party. While I caught my breath, Fletchling and Buizel began attacking again. I put a hand against the wall and rubbed my knee. All this bending was starting to hurt. Buneary, however, was still pounding away at the creature, though her attacks were not doing much. We needed special attacks now.

While Dunsparce was still curled up, Scyther seemed to read my mind and go in for another Vacuum Wave. Skarmory finally became useful and started pecking at the creature. He commanded Pidgey, Starly, and Hoothoot to tackle and Taillow and Farfetch'd to help use Peck.

Dunsparce suddenly opened its eyes. I recognized the behavior…but not from the boss battle in the beta. I saw a Miltank use it on one of the dungeon floors. Dunsparce shouldn't have Rollout—it didn't before. Did the creators change it? Either way, all the bird Pokémon were flying above it in safety. Scyther was the only one in real danger. I had to warn him somehow.

"Scyther!" I shouted. "It's going to attack you!"

The Pokémon kept attacking. "You just want the LA, Riolu!" he shouted back.

I paused. LA meant Last Attack bonus, the item you get if you were the last attacker. I got most of them in the beta because I was selfish, but now I just want the thing beaten. Is Scyther really as selfish as I was—in this predicament? Perhaps he was a beta tester, too. How else would he know that I liked getting the bonus more than anyone?

"Scyther!" I screamed.

Dunsparce slowly started rolling. Scyther realized his mistake and began backing up. He hastened his pace just as Dunsparce did. Scyther was four times as weak to Rock-types as the regular Pokémon. He was eight times weaker than I was to it type-wise. I sighed and started running in between the insect and his rolling death. Once I stopped in between them, Scyther fell over. He screamed in distress and I held my hands out in despair. The Rollout attack knocked a small chunk of my health off and I slowly pushed him back the other way. Scyther stayed lying on the ground, breathless, and looked at me.

"You saved my life," he whimpered.

"I did," I said.

"I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you."

I turned around to see Buizel and Fletchling take a Rollout attack as well. This one was stronger, as per the game mechanics. Fletchling was taken back to recover up, but Buizel was fine. He and I began running in the same direction and met on the other side of the Dunsparce. We were both panting and sweating. He smiled at the hard effort and put his hands on his knees.

"It's harder than I remember," he said.

"And less predictable than I expected," I nodded.

Shieldon slams his shield-skull against the rolling Dunsparce and knocks it in another direction. Skarmory then gets hit by an even stronger one, causing sufficient damage. I suddenly realized that we cannot rely on the defensive Pokémon for this attack. I ran to the middle of the room and waited for the rolling Dunsparce to come my way.

"We have to make him miss, not deflect his attacks!" I yelled.

Once the Pokémon came at me, I dodged at the last second. He suddenly uncoiled from his position and laid on the ground regularly again. I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at my successful plan. However, he quickly recovered and tried to use Headbutt on Shieldon and Budew. Shieldon absorbed the hit but was knocked back in a flinching state. Budew, her green, flowery skin pale with fear, revealed her egg move. A large stream of leaves began swarming the Dunsparce's eyes, cutting and slicing damage from its HP bar. The color of his HP goes from barely green to a pus-colored yellow. Budew's special attack stat fell tremendously and she frowned at her one-time use of Leaf Storm.

I remembered my egg move and quickly opened the menu. How had I not used it yet? When I looked at my move set, I sort of frowned. Bullet Punch? It was just a Quick Attack that wouldn't help me. I'd get rid of it when the time came, I supposed. Anyway, I used my usual priority move and scored a critical hit after hitting it in the eye socket. The boss's HP bar fell halfway into the yellow now. Buizel used Slash once more, but the foe's HP barely moved lower. The defense buff from before was still in effect. My critical hit was just a lucky chance.

I ate an Oran Berry to recover HP from that Rollout attack while the others kept battling. Buneary used a Pound attack that missed Dunsparce and slammed into Buizel, who was knocked unconscious by accident. She fell beside him, both hurt from the fall, and Dunsparce used a Screech attack that halved their defenses and threw them against one of the dungeon walls. They took damage upon impact and slumped together at the edge of the floor. I ran to them while Scyther used another Vacuum Wave attack. He, too, scored a critical hit. The HP bar was now in the red.

While I helped Buneary and the recovering Buizel up, Houndour and Treecko began attacking again. The birds were pecking and tackling and Whismur and Fletchling joined them. Skarmory, however, was busy tending to his wounds from earlier. There was little-to-no cooperation between any of them.

Buneary, Buizel, and I quickly got back in the game. The birds and Scyther were all hit by an incoming Headbutt, knocking all of them into shades of yellow and red. Dunsparce began charging everyone else, knocking Pokémon too close to the 0 HP area. It could force a retreat, but that wasn't an option when half the Pokémon that were attacked were thrown at the opposite end of the room. Not all of us would come back alive. I had full health, but I was the only one—and I had used a berry.

Budew, who had too low offense to attack now, was forced to move the hurt birds out of harm's way. Shieldon attempted a Tackle attack or two, but they were so weak there was no point. Buneary and Buizel began using Pound and Slash repeatedly, and I used a Quick Attack to further deplete the Dunsparce's HP stat.

However, with its HP in the red, the Pokémon was only going to use Headbutt now. Getting too close meant being in range. Buizel had somehow forgotten this from the beta and Buneary didn't know in the first place. My Quick Attack gave me enough time to retreat due to its range, but their attacks didn't have that luxury. They were forced to run away from the charging snake. Neither of them recovered to full health, either. One Headbutt could take them out. As a result, I began sprinting their direction.

The two of them began running faster. Buizel lost his footing, but he fell far enough to the left that Dunsparce would miss him. I kept running to Buneary while the other teams just watched. She was still a decent distance away, but one wrong move and she'd be killed.

The wrong move happened. A small rock peeked out of the flat flooring and Buneary inevitably tripped over it while preparing for her large hop out of the way. She fell over in pain as I was coming near. I knew the Headbutt couldn't OHKO me, so I came and used Quick Attack on her to knock her out of the way. Her HP bar was left in the low yellow zone, but I was satisfied seeing her still alive. Right after looking at her health bar, I was knocked into the wall by a forceful head slam. My own HP fell nearly 70%. I was at level five, but that wasn't good enough. As Dunsparce reared back for one final attack at me, I used Quick Attack on its forehead to knock it back and ruin its momentum. When I landed, I fell to my knees and began heaving from exhaustion. Even though I hit Dunsparce, I had only stalled the inevitable. I was surrounded by its large body. I wouldn't be able to escape in time. Its Headbutt's range was too large for me to avoid. Everyone watched as the Dunsparce came right at me. There was only one move that could save me, and the programmers luckily made it one of my basic moves to use.

The Headbutt had slammed into my body without a doubt. I felt the pain drain every inch of health I had left. Everyone gasped and I heard a few screams, no doubt from my party members. One of them sounded foreign from my party, though; it was Buneary's. Hearing her concern was beautiful in my ears. It was almost like a warm feeling spread through my body. The impact of the Headbutt attack was stronger than the last; no doubt it would have killed me.

I overcame the hit with my Endure move. I braced myself for impact and created a shield strong enough to keep me with 1 HP. The move caused Dunsparce some recoil distance, making him fall back some, and I used that opportunity to hit it between the eyes with a critical hit Quick Attack. The Dunsparce groaned in agony and exploded into a million shards of glass. The shards dissipated in the air and I was left falling on my knees. I had 1 HP left. One hit and I'm dead. I felt of my head and groaned. My head slammed against the ground and I just felt like resting.

Someone slipped an Oran Berry into my mouth. I didn't want to eat it; I wanted to sleep. Sleep was mainly just for comfort, but since our bodies couldn't escape this world, I'd like to think that sleep helped maintain sanity. I'd had dreams of my regular life before, dreams that influenced my need to come home. Those dreams kept me sane. Buizel had Whismur to keep him going. The strange Buneary was willing to risk everything, even if the job was a suicide mission. Me? I just want to get home. However, the healing powers of the Oran Berry alerted me of this reality once more.

"Rio?" Buizel said desperately. "Riolu?"

My vision cleared to see Buizel and Buneary hovering over me.

"Riolu, you stupid idiot," the girl said with a smile. "What the heck were you thinking?"

I couldn't say anything. I looked at them and started coughing repeatedly. I sat up and leaned against one of the boss room walls in an effort to regain myself. Above my head, I read these words produced by the game system:

"Congratulations! You have received the Last Attack Bonus. Check your inventory for your special item."

I smiled. I got the LA. Looking back at my raid team, they all knew I did, too.

"Come on, let's go up the stairs to the second floor portal and open it up," Buneary insisted.

I looked around for the stairs she meant. These stairs weren't small and hard-to-find like in the actual mystery dungeons. These stairs were large and proud. You only climbed up them when you were victorious.

"Come with me?" I asked her.

She blushed. "Okay."

As the two of us walked up the steps, Buizel nodded; he understand the bro code. He'd stay behind this time so I could talk to Buneary, but he made a teasing face that turned my blue face completely red.

"So," she said awkwardly as we got to the base of the steps.

They were just as marble as the dungeon steps, but they were much wider and grander. The slightly different patterns in each step made an appreciative uniqueness that felt so real. We climbed up the first step and began jogging up the flight of stairs. I looked back down to see everyone going to the portal to tell the city about our success. I smiled.

"So, I'm taking it your ability is Klutz?"

Buneary stopped climbing, turned around, and slapped my cheek so hard I fell down several stairs and landed on my back. I got up and rubbed my face. She was smiling, but she was intimidating at the same time. I grinned back at her and we continued back up to the second floor.

"No, it's Limber. And that stone was just in the way," she said.

"As was Buizel when you knocked him out cold?"

That remark earned another glare. "You're lucky you saved my butt, or else I'd kick yours all the way back down to floor one."

We made it to the last step and came to a green portal. I touched it and a small screen popped up asking if I wanted to go to the second floor. I selected the "yes" option and felt myself being beamed up to a different floor, a different setting, a different feeling—a feeling of success.