September 3rd, 2025
Floor 5
After just defeating three more floors, one including a boss Ariados, the creepiest yet, in less than three weeks, we all decided a break was needed. We've been trapped in this game for a month and have only completed eight percent of the dungeons required. The fifth floor was obviously no slouch, however I remembered from the beta that its boss was significantly stronger than the Ariados from before. That was the common pattern; every fifth boss was a leap in power. That Dunsparce was not easy when I was at level five, but now I was level thirteen despite the rising experience requirements toward leveling. Luckily, that meant the bosses I was familiar with wouldn't be much different from the beta—the bosses before the tenth floor, at least.
Though we were taking a "break," I had the nifty idea to complete some quests so my party, my guild-to-be, would be stronger in future floors. In the last one, Fletchling almost suffocated to death from the sticky webs. Therefore, we recently got him the Sharp Beak item through a Flying-type-centered quest. Quests were basically mini storylines; in later floors, I'd be forced to do certain quests in order to get items like Power Bands and aura-centric bows. Quests could revolve around speaking to people in town, learning new techniques, or venturing into dungeons to save someone, fight someone, or get something.
Since I volunteered to go last and Buizel lost the coin toss, it was Whismur's turn to choose a quest. Since we were already familiar with everything available, I wasn't surprised when she asked to complete the "Plain Love" story. It was the first of a series of love-based rescue stories. This time, the NPC characters were Milktank and Tauros.
The only catch to some quests was a limit to the participants; while a party could have six people, a quest like Whismur's required three and an accompanied NPC. Everyone knew Buizel wanted to go, so I also volunteered while Budew offered to buy supplies and Shieldon looked for a cheap place to rent.
The fifth floor town was called the Grasslands. The terrain was completely flat and vivid green. Farmhouses were the norm in the town; Moomoo Milk was a popular beverage when a person's not in battle. Instead of drinking regular water, a Pokémon could just grab a Moomoo Milk and chug the whole thing.
It was obviously not a surprise to learn that the quest still started in a farmhouse. We entered the Miltank Manner, a red barn that, like many others, produced Moomoo Milk for a cheap price. When we entered the barn and stepped into the hay-covered floor, Whismur spotted the yellow question mark that signified a quest's beginning. When she went up to talk to the Miltank, the question mark disappeared.
"Hello," the Whisper Pokémon said.
"Hi, are you here for milk…?" the NPC asked.
"No, I saw that you needed help."
"Yes, I do!" the pink cow nodded excitedly. "My love went out for some berries and I just got a message saying he is stuck on the sixth floor of this dungeon. Can you help me?"
Buizel and I saw the question mark return to the Miltank's head.
"Yes," Whismur agreed.
The question mark turned into an exclamation point—a sign that she was waiting on us to go into the dungeon.
"Great!" the response-generated voice said. "I'll join the three of you in the dungeon the next time you enter it."
Whismur turned around, her lavender skin brightened with excitement, and hugged her older brother. I smiled at the sibling bond they had going on; I missed my own sister, whose annoying bathroom-hogging always divided a wedge between us on Sunday mornings.
"We better get going, then," I said suddenly.
The two of them nodded and Whismur led the way to the portal we needed to enter. She jumped in first, then Buizel, and then finally myself. Before I hopped in, though, I felt a tingling like someone was watching me. I dismissed the idea; it had to have been the ominous portal's energetic effect. Either way, the feeling disappeared when we entered the dungeon.
I turned around to see the NPC Miltank smiling behind me. I leapt backward, startled, ran into Buizel. Buizel fell over and rolled in the dirt for a minute. Whismur laughed weakly and looked over at the yellow-cursored character.
"Let's save Tauros!" the cow cheered.
"From what?" I asked.
Her expression did not change, though her voice was programmed to sound upset. "I'm afraid Tauros was cornered by an angry Fearow. Come, let's save him before it's too late!"
We turned around in the large, rectangular room and headed toward one of the not-outlined sections of the perimeter. Only in those places would hallways spawn. We ran through and I quickly dispatched a Zigzagoon that came up behind Miltank. Just like in the past games, if an enemy killed the Pokémon you have to accompany and you could not save it, then the quest would fail.
The ground was warm and grassy. The flat plains offered several Normal- and Grass-types that roamed wild, but there were a few other Pokémon, too. Spearow were feared in this dungeon because the higher-leveled ones had Fury Attack. However, none of them were huge threats. Once we finally made it to floor five, we helped Whismur achieve level nine. Buizel was already at 12 and I had just one level over him, so strengthening his sister was the least we could have done. Her Uproar attack was also pretty strong, so she could overtake Fletchling one day as our backup attacker…one day.
"Stay here," I told all three of them as I ventured one of the spiral-shaped paths.
These were notorious for being dead-ends, but sometimes they just so happened to be the only tickets to the stairs. I moved back and forth between sharp turns and eventually came into another room. I couldn't see my friends anymore, but I luckily found the last set of stairs. I ran back out the spiral and came into the room where everyone was at again.
I came back to see Buizel already halfway to me. Whismur and Miltank were alone. I scolded him for leaving them there, and he realized his error right away, but we turned to see Whismur and Miltank facing a wild Spearow. Its Fury Attack could probably two-hit Whismur without much trouble, and Miltank was programmed to be at level eight—a level that wouldn't last long on the defensive side. My Quick Attack was out of range, so our quest was doomed to fail.
"Whismur, get out of there!" Buizel yelled as he ran towards his sister.
Whismur backed up slowly, Miltank behind her, and waited for the Spearow to charge. When it went in for a Peck attack, Whismur used Pound and slapped it to the ground. Another Pound brought it to low enough health that, thanks to my speed, I was able to knock it out with my priority, high-range Quick Attack. The Spearow shattered into glass and Whismur screamed in terror after surviving her first taste of being alone.
"Jay, why did you leave me? That was scary!" she shouted at her brother. His real name was Jason, but that's all I knew; we never really discussed real life stuff since we met through the game and really only focused on it. Hearing her say it out loud felt more personal and endearing than I ever could have imagined.
Buizel's eyes began to glisten with the beginning of tears. "I-I was just checking on Riolu. He was in that trap for a long time. We've fainted from multiple Pokémon coming back-to-back-to-back. I didn't see anything in the room…it must've been waiting until I moved to come in. I'm-I'm so sorry, Ellie. I'm so sorry."
The two embraced, tears streaming down their faces. I felt awkward, so I ushered Miltank towards the spiral-shaped path and we ran through it without any problems. I waited for the siblings to come back so we could all go up the stairs. I went first, then Miltank, Whismur, and finally Buizel. Once we got up to the last floor, I sensed tension in the air. Something was off about the building, but I couldn't tell which. It was like I had a sense that just wasn't strong enough to set off any real alarms.
"I see them already," Miltank said automatically.
I looked the direction she was pointing. Sure enough, there was a bull Pokémon being chased by an angry bird. The four of us ran over to where Tauros was and I tell Whismur to protect Miltank and her boyfriend. This time, she was close by, so there wasn't any real danger if we could see the enemy first. Buizel understood this.
The two of us began slamming the Fearow with Quick Attacks and Slashes. I reminded myself that, in just a couple levels, I'd finally have Force Palm. Once I got my STAB move, I'd be golden. While we attacked and dodged, Buizel used a newly-acquired Growl attack (which, admittedly, sounded pathetic) to lower Fearow's attack slightly.
Meanwhile, Whismur witnessed the reunion of Miltank and Tauros. The two smiled at each other and embraced. It was sort of awkward since the male was a quadruped and Miltank walked, but it was a sort of innocent love. Whismur turned her attention to watching us attack the Fearow, but she immediately turned her head behind her. Someone was watching from the hallway leading into the room. It couldn't have been an enemy; it would have come out by now. There was someone there. Whismur ditched the loving couple and quickly began running into the room that our stalker was waiting in. Before we both defeated Fearow, Buizel ditched me as well. I was stuck with a Pokémon who had a type advantage against me.
"Raaah!" the Fearow squawked.
It quickly used a Pluck attack on me and cost me over half my health. Luckily, that Growl attack kept its power at bay. The move did, however, cost us a Pecha Berry as the bird ate it and wasted the item. I used this opportunity to demonstrate my new Counter attack and knocked the Flying-type Pokémon out, causing it to burst into shards and dissipate into the air. I turned around to see my two partners gone.
. . .
Whismur ran into the next room and stopped right at its entrance. She needed to catch her breath. She leaned against the wall and relaxed until she heard a familiar sound. The music changed from an eerie, suspenseful background song to an alarming display of emotion. She knew what it meant—she was trapped in a Monster House.
Suddenly, eight different Spearow and brown-and-white Zigzagoon warped around her. They were all spawned enemies. She screamed for her brother, but he hadn't arrived yet. She used Pound on one of the Pokémon, but its HP bar stopped—and it was still in the green. She wasn't strong enough.
Just as quick, however, Buizel jumped in and joined her against the party of decently-leveled Pokémon. He quickly used Sonic Boom to do strong damage against one of the Spearow, but those Fury Attacks were scary at this level. He dodged one and took three attacks from another Spearow, bringing his health down a decent chunk. Whismur knocked out the one he used Sonic Boom on, but another took its place. They began to scream in panic. Someone wasn't making it out alive.
. . .
"We appreciate your party helping us on the endeavor," Miltank smiled.
"It was no problem," I chirped. "Everything ended up okay."
The two lovers looked at each other and Tauros huffed through its nose.
"I guess we should get back home. Do you want to teleport with us?"
I thought for a moment before answering, thought about where the others might be, and began my reply.
. . .
Buizel and Whismur were now back to back. They have knocked out three of the eight Pokémon, but two more have walked in upon hearing the commotion. Both siblings had slightly less than half their HP left, and, at this point, Escape Orbs weren't available yet. They would have to rely on Riolu to bring them to safety. What if he wanted to explore more? What if he wanted to backtrack on his own and get more experience? Buizel screamed internally at the idea, but he kept calm for his little sister.
"We're getting you that quest reward," he said, his back against hers.
"Well it's either that or die," Whismur frowned.
"Don't say that!" he screamed.
Buizel used Slash to destroy a Zigzagoon and took a critical hit Peck attack to defend Whismur. He Slashed the Spearow into computer-generated shards. Their future seemed bleak. How would they escape this world now? How would anyone? What would their parents think if they both died at the same time?
. . .
"Yeah, sure, we'd love to go back with you," I finally said. I had thought about going back on our own. After all, the extra experience would have helped Whismur with her leveling problem. However, they'd probably want to return back as soon as possible.
"Okay, let's go," Miltank cheered.
She and Tauros suddenly were beamed by a blue portal. I waited patiently and found myself inside one. Buizel and Whismur still weren't back, but that wouldn't be a problem since they just have to be anywhere on the floor. I just hoped they were okay, but why wouldn't they be? Buizel probably just went after some experience like I always did. It'd be no big deal.
. . .
"This is it!" Buizel groaned.
Two Spearow were about to use Fury Attack on both of them. It was terrible; Buizel and Whismur were in the center of two angry Spearow. Their attacks would have surely knocked Whismur out, at least, but even just three hits would have been enough to defeat Buizel. His stats weren't very defensively-oriented. What stats he did excel in apparently weren't enough.
The birds charged, peaks pointed out, and began trying to peck them ferociously. Buizel took one hit, then another, and then a miss. The attacks left him with very low health. He looked at Whismur and noticed that she was gone—all that was left was a blue beam of light. He sighed happily and felt the next blue beam teleport him away from the dungeon, away from the Monster House, and back into the safety of the no-PVP town.
. . .
"What took you so long?!" Buizel asked me with a hard punch in the shoulder.
It was a playful, yet still angry, punch, but I smiled it off and pretended it didn't hurt. I explained how I couldn't interrupt Miltank while she was talking, and also that they had both ditched me without telling me what they were doing. For all I knew, they were trying to level up some more.
"Buizel, he saved us. He made the right choice," Whismur coaxed him.
"I know, but dang!" Buizel thrusted about in agony. "I almost died—you almost died! How would I explain that to Mom?"
The two of them hugged in sorrow and thanked me for saving them once more. We then paid attention to Miltank and Tauros, who were waiting with the bold exclamation points once more. We made contact with them and Whismur received the TM Attract as a reward. Attract had its benefits, causing Pokémon to often fail in attacking, but they had to be of the opposite gender. It was risky in its own right.
Whismur took the CD-like item and looked back at me. "Thank you," she said, seriousness in her eyes.
I felt odd by her sincerity. If she wanted it that bad, I could have just gotten it by myself with much less trouble with those Monster Houses and criminals. However, I rubbed my hand over her small, fragile head and expressed my gratitude just for helping her. She taught herself the move and let me put the disc in my bag for safe keeping.
"Now to test the move out some!" she giggled with a glance back towards me.
Buizel saw her look and started shaking his head ferociously. "No, no, no, no!" he shouted, pushing me out of the barn.
"But Jay—"
"No, no, no, no!" he repeated.
I couldn't help but laugh. His sister was cute in a little sister sort of way. Whether or not she was hinting towards more than just bothering her brother, the gesture was still funny to the both of us. Buizel, however, glared at me slightly on our way back home.
When I had messaged Shieldon about finishing the quest, he gave us the location of our new temporary home. Eventually, we'd have to establish a place for our party/guild to have a base, but we weren't getting the guild together until the tenth floor. On floor ten, I'd finally be able to ask Buneary to join us. I could ask Chimchar, too, and his other friends that joined his party. I'm sure they'd love to be incorporated. We would be one big happy family.
The three of us walked through the fading light of the sun and witnessed the lamps begin to turn on. The green city of the Grasslands was not very memorable, but maybe, to little Whismur, this particular quest would be.
. . .
That night was pretty fun. The six of us reconciled and enjoyed a meal of applesauce and Moomoo Milk from the Miltank's farms. As we all passed around stories of our journeys throughout the day, Budew came first.
"So, what was the shopping like?" I asked politely, though I mainly only cared about the price.
Budew seemed chipper. "I got these apples on sale and bought some berries and seeds, too. Still no Reviver Seeds, but I did find a bunch of Blast Seeds. Everyone bought out all the Heal Seeds and Oran Berries, though. I couldn't get any of those. I did fight with a Maractus over some Pecha Berries, but the store clerk asked us to leave." She shrugged. "Oh well. What about you, Shieldon?"
Shieldon flinched at everyone looking his way. "I got this place super cheap," he said, looking around. The interior was wooden completely, though paintings, rugs, and furniture added some flavor. "After that, I started headbutting trees for a while. It felt good on my shield to attack something. Can I go on the next quest? I want to try out my Metal Sound attack I just learned!"
I nodded. "Everyone's going on the next few. Buizel wants to get a Sitrus Berry to up his HP and after that, around Floor 9, I want to get this item that I nabbed in the beta before it closed."
Fletchling looked uncomfortable and frowned. His feathers were cleaned and shiny, almost as if he had bathed all day. He looked around with guilt and admitted his actions for the day. When he talked, his mouth opened farther than he needed to and he acted overly dramatic.
"Okay, guys. I didn't do anything today. So what? I took a shower that I earned and slept while I could." He paused.
"So you were lazy?" Buizel smirked.
"No! You don't appreciate me enough; none of you do! In fact, when I went to stretch my wings today, Skarmory—yes, the future guild leader—asked me if I'd like to join the Flying Fighters."
We all gasped. I had never thought about us not being all together. Sure, Fletchling was annoying and whiney, but he was there with us from the beginning. Would he really leave us for another guild? I had to speak up. I shifted uncomfortably in my regular chair of wood and cleared my throat.
"You, uh, said no, didn't you?"
Fletchling looked down at the table. "Of course I did. I told him I'm already with you and didn't see myself anywhere else."
I sighed in relief. We continued eating the applesauce, scraping the plates with our spoons. After a long pause, Buizel looked up after achieving some sort of progress in thought. He looked over to his sister and started talking, pieces of food flying from his mouth.
"Why did you run off like that earlier?"
Whismur put her spoon on her plate and looked between both him and me. We turned to face each other and looked back at Buizel's sister. There was obviously something she hadn't told us.
"Okay, I admit it: I thought someone was following us. I could see a figure in the shadows. I had felt like that the whole time, but I knew someone was hiding. I could almost see a smiling face in the darkness."
I stood up from the table and slammed my hands on its cheap wooden top. "What Pokémon was it?" I shouted.
She looked scared once I had lost my temper, but she wasn't the only one. Buizel, Fletchling, Shieldon, and Budew were staring at me as if I'd lost myself. Sure, I overreacted, but based on the shenanigans I faced in the beta, it's dangerous if people are playing those things now. It could lead to serious death.
"I don't know!" she squealed.
Upon realizing everyone was against my attitude, I excused myself from the table and brought out my menu. I typed in some letters to form a message and sent it. I quickly opened the door and threw myself outside. I shut the door loudly, causing everyone to jump.
"What's his problem?" Fletchling spat, but everyone else shrugged.
"He's emotional, let it go," Buizel said with a snort of laughter. "He's just in his Riolu mood."
. . .
I knew the others dismissed Whismur's feeling, but I had felt an odd sensation just on the first floor. Had someone already achieved the Sneaky Team Skill? If that were to be true, then this game just became a lot more lethal.
Outside, the air was bitter and stung my cheeks as I waited for my friend to arrive. The wind chill reminded me nothing of home; I lived in California. However, it did remind me of my humanity. I was still imperfect in this world, just like in the real one. I just had to be smart about who I showed my imperfections to…if I let the wrong person know my weaknesses, then it's over.
I heard the sound of hastened running and new Torchic was on her way. Speed Boost was her method of travel. Her information selling was so profitable that she needed to run away from curious, yet cheap, individuals—especially the shady kind. I'd seen her a few times since that first night, but never in a case like this one. Once she made her chick outline known, I stepped down onto the ground to let her know that I knew she was around.
"Torchic," I whispered.
"Riolu," she reflected back.
"I have a couple questions to ask you," I said.
She smiled. "Ask me and I'll tell you the cash required."
I gritted my teeth. She hadn't changed a bit.
"Is someone wanting information on me? My attack patterns? Friends? Learnset?"
Torchic's cheesy face turned solemn. "I'll tell you that one on the house: yes. You'll have to pay the pretty penny if you want to know who."
"I'll pay you a thousand," I groaned and got my menu out.
"That'll cover it!" she sang.
"That'll cover it," I grumbled.
Once the transaction was complete, she beamed in satisfaction. "Sableye was asking about your whereabouts and information. He was very discreet and asked me earnestly to not tell you he asked, but he knows I'll sell almost anything."
My face drained of color. Sableye was one of the bad guys from the beta that killed people as a hitman…especially Fighting-types. He used to use his Ghost typing to his advantage in the shadiest way possible, and if he was trying to do the same now…
"What about Team Skills? When did those become available?"
She smiled. "Everyone knows they were released on this floor—all the gummis are gone and Treasure Chests are the most sought-after items on the market. I just so happen to have an Orange Gummi with me right now for when I evolve, but if you'd like it, I can always buy another tomorrow with the money you just gave me."
I thanked her for the item and took the gummi in my paws. It was a deep orange, perfectly suitable for the Fighting-type name. I ate the gummi in one bite and saw my IQ points grow. The way IQ points worked in this game was that they were boosted by two methods: eating gummis and random treasure chests. Gummis were the hardest, yet most reliable, method, while treasure chests were sporadic but gave decent boosts.
Certain increments in numbers indicated a separate "level-up" system, but of five random team skills. These skills could be added to the team to help out, but they were especially for the individual. Last time, I had an item detection skill that let me really stock up on everything on each floor. After just one gummi, I saw the "congratulations!" window pop up. Under it, the dialogue said I was awarded the "Intimidation" skill, which made some foes flinch upon first interaction. The skill was pretty popular back in beta, so hopefully it'll come to use now.
"Thanks," I said.
Torchic nodded and turned to leave. "Just be careful out there, Riolu. I can't break my information selling pact, but I don't want you to end up dead. Don't let that Sableye get to you; I'm sure it's not as bad as you're making it."
While Torchic left, the only thing I could think about were those menacing diamond eyes and that evil, elongated smile of pure white death. The terrorizer of beta testers, Sableye was one of the strongest opponents I had ever faced in my life. I could still see those giant eyes glistening in the happiness of my shard-shattering body a few months ago.