January 15th, 2026

Floor 22

The twenty-second floor was named "Empty Island" for its lack of public housing. I could only guess this was the developers' way to enforce the guild bases and also keep the lower towns populated by at least a small margin. Empty Island did not distinguish itself as interesting by any means. When you think of an island, you might think about a tropical paradise. An extended vacation. Aside from a few restaurants and the first Move Reminder building, nothing about Empty Island stood out from the other floors. The beach was smaller than Laogai Lake's and the water was completely frigid. The sky was a duller blue than the perfect coloration of floor fourteen. The temperature felt a few degrees off, but I couldn't tell in which direction.

I walked through the busy town square and dodged the many people lingering in my way. It was only 7:30 AM, but I still felt like I was wasting time. Buizel told me to bring some breakfast home for us, but the only cheap restaurant (not that I was broke—I just don't want to waste my money) is the rather powdery pizza shop next to a restaurant with a beautiful aroma of pancakes and scrambled eggs. I didn't want to resist the breakfast, but I also didn't want to waste even just three thousand Poké on something I could live without.

I stepped into the restaurant and smelled the familiar pizza-making scent that I experienced when grieving over Gothita's death. I moved to a table near some people and sat down. I'd get Buizel's to go. An NPC walked up to me, spoke about a menu, and then flashed it on my screen. I scrolled through it and found a cheese pizza with bacon and sausage. That's breakfasty enough. As I waited for my pizza, I listened to the same Munchlax I had out-eaten a few months ago.

"…I wish I could find where the golden apple was, but someone read it in one of the books on this floor. I have no idea where you can even start the quest."

My interest caught hold of Munchlax's quest talk and I gathered enough information about the golden apple quest. Golden apples were outrageously luxurious; they filled the belly and even caused its size to go up, so you could last a bit longer on floors. They were very, very expensive, and if you were one of the first to complete the quest, you could sell it to anyone for the right price. Basically, they were the actual gold of the real world. I wanted that gold.

"I heard Golden Warriors has looked all through town and spoke to every single NPC and still couldn't find it!" he said to his pizza-eating friends.

"That thoundth awethome!" Lickitung cheered.

I turned back in my chair and cleared my throat to grab Munchlax's attention. We locked eyes and I could almost feel the intensity. When he looked over at me, I could see the ferocity in his glare from losing the eating battle a while ago. He asked me what I wanted before turning back around and shoving his face full of pizza.

As my pizza arrived, I was still talking. I didn't bothering picking it up. "So you've checked all through town? And what about the limit of apples—if there isn't one, what's the point? Everyone can get one."

Munchlax shook his head. "This is a first-come, first-serve type of thing. I think this is one of those monthly or bimonthly quests that run out over time."

That would make sense, I admitted to myself. Short quests that were worth the trouble would sometimes be renewable to keep a town's population from hitting rock bottom. However, I'm sure the developers are aware that splitting up three hundred Pokémon (at best—we probably have closer to 250 now, but that's just my own guess) in fifty floors wouldn't give much of a population to everything.

Back to the point: I knew where the quest started. Like some other quests I've done, some are only initiated in the dungeon itself. Certain floors of a dungeon would have an indestructible NPC walking around with that sign above its head. Talking to those NPCs would make you temporarily untouchable as well, so it could be used as a strategy. However, the main point is that you then have a mission to do in the dungeon to keep you busy and energized. Going through fifty dungeons of so many floors would get dull fast, so, again, there were implementations to fix that. Therefore, the NPC was most likely on one of the floors of that dungeon.

I looked at Munchlax and left my pizza on my plate. "Thanks for the info," I told him before walking out. I didn't even eat my food, but after my attitude once Gothita died, I wasn't really hungry for it anymore.

I messaged Buizel and told him I'd instead be back for dinner. He started complaining and I eventually had to cut the connection off. I ran across the cobblestone floor of town and worked my way to the boundaries of town where the dungeon starts. I just had to make it to the portal.

Since it was on a first-come, first-serve basis, golden apples would lose their value once the location was leaked and people got greedy. I had to hurry and get the apples myself before they were ruined.

I walked outside of the city limits and into the dungeon portal, causing me to teleport out of the familiarity of the public setting. I was warped into a sandy dungeon this time, one that obviously focused on Water-types living on the shore of a beach. I would have to cover every room of every dungeon to find this NPC, but I knew it could be done. The first floor consisted mainly of Wingull and Krabby, so as long as I dodged the Flying-type attacks of the former and took little damage from the latter, I'd be set for at least to floor ten.

I started running through the dungeon and ducked from an Air Cutter attack. I threw my hand up and drew a rock from under the sand, knocking the Wingull out in one hit. Rock Tomb may be a weaker move, but it had enough power to kill most of everything on this floor. I knew, though, that I'd have to get rid of it for some other coverage move. It's hard to keep your arsenal the same when everyone else is getting new level-up moves. Mine stopped being useful a long time ago. With moves like Copycat, where was I supposed to get new power from? I'd just have to wait and see.

. . .

Buneary walked through town with her Silk Scarf trailing close behind her. She had just had a fantastic breakfast at the Precious Pancakes restaurant, a breakfast store "known" for its pancakes, scrambled eggs, and luxurious interior. The taste of the rich maple syrup felt amazing sliding down her rabbit throat. After paying her bill, she was off to look around.

She had Combusken get as much information about the golden apple quest for Scyther, per his request, and had just sent the information when she got back a rather angry reply that was ushering her back home. She sighed and went her usual route into spawning on floor twelve.

When she had made it to the floor, she was greeted by several Golden Warriors guards. They took either side of her and walked her through the streets. She struggled to let them control her like that, but she couldn't shake their grip. Machoke and Hitmonchan were strong Pokémon that weren't bound to disobey their leader. As their second-in-command, Buneary was beginning to experience the tortures of power—the need for protection and escorts.

"I'm fine, you buffoons," she spat.

"Boss's orders," Machoke grunted.

Hitmonchan raised a fist in the air. "Don't try running out this time, please. You may be ranked over us, but it's our job to protect you."

Buneary sighed. "Thanks for your concern, I know you're just doing what you do."

The three of them walked down the road and back to the towering Golden Warriors base. As the biggest guild in the server, it was their duty to own the best base on the best floor. While Buneary didn't exactly like the boringness of floor twelve, she at least appreciated its simplicity. They were let inside the building and Audino cleared them through to the boss's room.

Scyther was fumbling with some paperwork again like last time. He looked up to see Buneary pushed through the door by her guards. He smiled and asked about her accommodations, but she started to get angry.

"Scyther, I don't need to be walked like I'm a dog!"

The leader sighed. His green skin was cracked and covered in sweat—something was wrong with him. When she asked, she was met with a short burst of anger.

"Leave my own problems alone, Buneary! Why do you always act like something's wrong with me? Like I'm losing my own sanity?"

She was surprised at his rather…casual, yet panicked, tone. Usually, he was proper and condescending. Today, though, he seemed on his toes. What was going on with him?

"Sir, is there anything I can, uh, do for you? You don't seem yourself today," she asked earnestly.

Scyther blinked hard. "I'm fine. I do have a mission for you," he said, but then quickly added "and your guards."

"Why do I have to have guards? I was just eating breakfast on my own—do I really need to be followed like some new employee?"

Scyther stood up from his chair. "When I tell you to do something, you're sure as hell gonna do it!"

Buneary cringed from the bluntness of his words. She'd never been so shocked by the rather-collected individual.

"Sir, I'm s-sorry. Please, just calm do—"

Scyther jumped across his table, pushed Buneary against the wall, and put a scythe up threateningly. She screamed and he started yelling in reply. "I don't have to calm down. Buneary, you have no idea what's going on. If you don't want to be escorted, then I'll gladly demote you back to a basic grunt. You can go back to making minimum wage and living with thirty people in a big room. Is that clear? I don't have time for your rebelliousness."

"Y-yes!" she choked.

Scyther walked back away and went back to his paperwork. "The golden apple quest is based somewhere in the dungeon, reports say. No one's found anything in town, so I'm sending you—and your guards, mind you—to the dungeon to find this golden apple. It's, what, eight o'clock right now? If you're not back by five in the evening, I'll be very disappointed in you."

"Understood," Buneary whispered.

She began to walk out, but she stopped when Scyther seemed to want to say something else.

"One last thing—stay away from that Riolu."

Buneary nodded uncertainly and walked out of the building wondering what on earth was wrong with Scyther.

. . .

After eleven floors of sweeping through the weak spawners, I finally made it to the twelfth floor, where I soon learned was the floor for the NPC. I had walked through half the dungeon when I found him, a tubby pink Pokémon known as Wigglytuff. The Pokémon had giant blue eyes that reminded me of the moon.

"Hello, friend~" the Pokémon sang.

I looked around awkwardly. "Hi…?"

"I'm looking for something, but I'm awfully tired. Do you think you could find it for me?" it asked.

"What item is it?" I replied before accepting.

"It's called the Golden Apple, the greatest apple in the world. I'll give you a very generous gift if you give me one~"

I smiled. "Sure, I'll accept the quest."

"Thanks, friend~ It should be on one of the higher floors. Whenever I think about a golden apple, I just wanna—I wanna—I wanna," it said, but it began shaking all over as if to pass out.

"Hey, calm it down!" I insisted.

The dungeon flashed in light twice as the Pokémon's hands raised up high. It breathed in deeply. "YOOM-TAAAH!" it screamed, knocking me onto the ground.

"Yeah…" I said, trailing off. I quickly left the Pokémon and continued slashing my way through the dungeon.

By about floor twenty-five, the dungeon started getting trickier. I wished I had messaged Buizel to come, but he only replied that he was trying to evolve when I asked on one of the earlier floors. I was alone the whole way through. The sand was warm on my bare feet and I kept running, but I only caused sand to fly in the air and settle back on the ground.

I looked at the beautiful detail of the unique footprints in the sand. It was hard to appreciate things like that in the game when my life is on the line, but I always saw the intricate aspects of a game's design. The light breeze picked up a few grains of sand and stung my legs as I kept going through the dungeon. I killed two Kingler with a Bulk Up-boosted Brick Break combo on each. The experience I got wasn't impressive, but still. I eventually made it up the last set of stairs I needed to go through to make it to the thirtieth floor, a break room. It was in that room that many things happened.

. . .

Buneary dodged three Wing Attacks from spawned Pelipper and let Machoke and Hitmonchan struggle with the rest. She had purposely led them into a Monster House on the twenty-eighth floor, a Monster House those slightly-under-leveled guards couldn't handle so well. When she saw an Air Cutter hit Hitmonchan for critical damage, she threw an Escape Orb at him and made him teleport out of there. She had Oran Berries in her bag, but why waste them on guards she didn't need?

Scyther would have to get over it. She knew doing that would press his buttons further, but he's holding something back himself. He'd have to come clean eventually, and she'd change the subject of her rebelliousness on his weird antics. Machoke took another blow from Pelipper and Buneary quickly pushed him against the wall. He paused for a second to recover. Buneary grabbed his finger, put an Escape Orb in his hand, and moved his hand to touch the "use" button.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Saving your life…and mine," she smiled. "I'll be there in just a minute."

Buneary tapped his finger on the button and he was beamed out of the dungeon. She was finally alone. She turned around and used her ears to smack the Pelipper with a Dizzy Punch. She collected all the gummis from the successful endeavor and ran up the stairs to floor twenty-nine.

Buneary kept walking through the sinking sand and eventually came across the last set of stairs. In front of it was a Kingler, a Pokémon with very high physical stats. She would have a tough time with this guy. Buneary let him chase her away from the stairs and she jumped over its head.

Kingler raised its claw up in surprise and prepared an attack Buneary feared—Guillotine. Getting hit just once would instantly cause her to shatter in the dungeon. She was over its head; perhaps she would out-speed the claw? She kept going and eventually flew right through the open claw. It closed, razor-sharp, on itself as she ran up the stairs to the safe room on floor thirty.

When she was done climbing the stairs, Buneary found the room surprisingly different and relaxing. Along the shore of a beach was a substantially large apple orchard. Big apples expanded beyond her vision; they probably went on forever. It was a weird setting; the unfamiliarity of so many trees standing right by the sand looked so weird, but it was somehow artistic.

She went into her inventory on the menu screen and selected a brown sac, which is a specialized item that allowed you to store many of the same item inside it. While the item might sound broken in terms of viability, it hampered a Pokémon's ability to fight since you had to first select the bag, open it, and then get your items out. Therefore, its actual use was not as impressive as expected.

Buneary opens up her brown bag and begins pulling off Big Apples from the short trees. It was weird having to actual pick items herself; she was used to just being near it and collecting the item automatically. She figured it was probably because the rest areas are meant to be rather lifelike. Actually working to get the item felt more human. It actually felt real.

The Rabbit Pokémon kept searching for the rare golden apple in the trees that housed only big apples. She had no idea where they were, but she figured every few trees might have one if she was lucky. She picked the red apples and dumped them in her bag. Since she was the only one around, she left the bag in her original spot and began walking around to get more apples in other trees. With no luck so far, she was determined to get those apples if they killed her.

. . .

I had been picking for several minutes already. My brown bag, which was convenient enough in this particular circumstance, was about halfway full. I went onto another group of trees to find a golden apple. The apple I still haven't been able to find. Big apples were plentiful and regular apples were uncommon but not surprising to find. I just threw those on the ground and let them despawn. Why get the small ones when there are plenty of bigger fruits?

As I was walking, I nearly tripped over a brown bag that was foreign to me. It wasn't mine, but it was placed in such a way to suggest it was there for the picking. I couldn't help myself. I looked in the bag and grabbed as many apples as my blue arms could carry. I ran off from the area and dumped the apples into my bag, making it fill nearly to the top. Seeing none of those apples were golden, I gave up on going back and just decided to keep looking in the trees. I walked away from my bag and began wandering into more distant areas in the woods.

. . .

Buneary hurried back to her bag with a stack of apples organized into her small arms. She dumped them into the bag and noticed that they only went up to about the place they were before. Did the apples sink down into the bag and just get recorded into some sort of memory? If they did, why hadn't the others? Buneary frowned and kept walking.

She wandered off and found another bag leaning against the tree. It was open, contents visible, and she felt the impulse to take from it. After all, it was like the bag was just screaming "take me!" However, she couldn't just take the bag itself—she didn't want to carry the burden of stealing so heavily. She'd just take a few apples to fill her bag back up. Once she got a load, she ran off.

. . .

I came back to find my bag was much lighter than before. I dropped my apples in and found I was still short a few before filling it up. Agitated, I decided to go back to that brown bag from before so I could get the apples and not have to worry about anything else. I'd keep the big apples in that bag and keep the golden ones in my inventory. The big apples would be perfect to eat, and while the golden apples would take up space in my personal storage, I wouldn't be holding onto them for long.

I ran back to the other bag and stuck my hand in. I felt sort of bad for stealing the apples, but I noticed that the bag was actually at the same amount it was before I took some the first time. I figured they respawned and happily took as many as I could and ran back toward my own bag. After this, I would be done!

. . .

Buneary came to her brown bag and saw it lying down sideways on the ground. One of the apples had fallen out of it and then dematerialized as a result. She screeched and put the apples she stole into the bag. It still wasn't quite full, though it was decently heavy. She knew this strangeness meant there was someone stealing from her. She took her bag, hoisted it over her shoulder (in hopes of getting a few more apples along the way), and ran around the circumference of a very, very big tree trunk that stood higher than all the others in the forest.

She didn't bother looking around. She just wanted to move areas. Buneary kept running from her predator and hoped to not run into him.

. . .

I happily walked back to my bag with apples stacked up to my nose. I put the apples in my bag, but I noticed it was lighter again. I cursed under my breath and threw the bag over my shoulder. Though it was heavy, I wanted to get a few more along the way. Who knows, maybe I'd get to fit a bunch of golden ones in there?

This meant there was a thief around. I started running and eventually found myself going around this big tree trunk that seemed to be in the center of the huge rest area room. I kept running until I was getting exhausted. My slightly-curved path was riddled with roots to trip over and it was like driving around a permanent blind curve. I couldn't see anything. Which explained what happened next.

I was running and eventually slammed into something. My bag of apples went flying and spilled out everywhere, but I noticed there were more apples and another brown bag, too. The thief was right in front of me. The apples were surrounded by bits of green from the grass in between them; it looked like a rose garden of sorts.

I fell down on the ground and found myself nose-to-nose with my thief: Buneary. I was holding myself up as if about to do a pushup and she was lying straight down. I found my face burning red with a blush and saw hers doing the exact same. I look into her eyes and see a deep sense of temptation, but something was holding her back. Either way, I couldn't get off of her.

"Sorry about that," I smiled.

"I-it's no problem," Buneary said as she turned to pick up apples.

Though our bags' contents were nearly all spilled out, they were all around us. I quickly turned around in embarrassment and went to pick mine up, too. I felt terrible for smiling—her words were so cold. As I went to pick up an apple, they all despawned due to inactivity. We watched in horror as our hard work disintegrated into tiny glass shards and disappeared in the slight breeze. I turned to Buneary with a look of regret on my face.

"Riolu, you idiot! All my apples are gone! What am I supposed to do now?" she yelled.

I quickly felt uncomfortable. "You know, if you weren't so uptight."

Buneary gasps over-dramatically and freaks out on me. "I am not uptight! You're such a lazy, stupid, clumsy, cute little—" She stopped when she said that. "I—"

I smirked. "Cute, huh? You're not so bad yourself."

Buneary's face turned red and she gritted her teeth. "Shut up, that's not what I meant!" she shouted as she pushed me hard against the giant tree trunk.

I thumped against it and fell on my butt. She raised her eyebrows as I rubbed my head in pain. Something fell down in my lap and caused the both of us to look straight up at the large tree's leaves. Hundreds of golden apples hung delicately from its branches.

"I can't believe," I started to say, but I stopped.

"We didn't check in the most obvious place," she said, which was pretty much the ending to my sentence.

Within an hour, we had knocked down every golden apple that had a weak enough connection to the tree. We filled our bags full and I began to get hungry. Now I knew there were big apples everywhere, but how often would I get to eat a golden one? I grabbed one out of my bag and munched on it.

I felt like I was eating something that took the word "fancy" to an entirely new level—something like what caviar or a triple cheeseburger from McDonald's would probably feel like. The apple was so perfect that I gobbled it up without even tasting the rest. I had never felt so alive eating that apple. While I ate, Buneary scoffed at my hunger taking the best of me.

"You actually ate one of the rarest items in the game?" she judged.

I stopped chomping on my second apple, which I had gotten while she started speaking, and looked at it in guilt. I looked back at her for a second, but then I just kept eating. I finished the second apple as she kept going with her anger.

"I can't believe you're going to eat all of your apples!"

"You're right," I said slyly. I grabbed an apple out of her bag and ran off into the sand with it.

Buneary chased after me. I could almost see the steam coming out of her cotton ears. I kept running and eventually went into the cold ocean water that washed over the sand. Buneary followed close behind me and I quickly turned to see her push me back slightly to loosen my hold on the apple. She snatched in right up and I stuck my hand in the water as she turned her back. She began skipping away when I slapped some water and drenched her with it.

She turned around with a certain intensity in her eyes and used Dizzy Punch, again knocking me on my butt, but this time in the water. She laughed as I was spitting out the salty brine and quickly stood up. I saw her bite into her apple in victory as I recovered from the blow. Everything but my feet, which were still in the water, quickly became dry without even shaking my body around. It was pretty cool.

"Nice splash," she smirked in between bites.

I rolled my eyes and smiled simultaneously. I couldn't help but love this Buneary over the uptight leader she's become. Her coming out of her Scyther-made shell was really nice to experience once more.

We played on the beach for several more hours. However, once it started getting closer to my in-between-lunch-and-supper meal, which Buizel got me stuck on, I found myself hungry again. Buneary happily got two sandwiches out of her inventory and brought me over to a picnic table that was surprisingly already on the beach. I guessed this was a nice getaway spot for those travelers who like to battle but also like to get a break from it all.

We sat at the wooden furniture and ate our sandwiches. I took a bite out of mine and quickly finished the rest. The sandwich was amazing! It had everything I liked on it already, which was surprising enough. I had no idea Buneary could do something like this—it might come in handy in the future.

"I didn't know you could cook!" I exclaimed.

Buneary's mouth twisted. She scratched the back of her head and sighed. "Yeah, uh, I bought these at a deli. Last time I tried cooking, my mom had to call for the fire department. I have zero talent," she trailed off, but I laughed along with her.

"I bought these at a generic Subway that was on this floor," she explained.

We chuckled again and I cut up another of my golden apples to eat along with the sandwich since I was still sort of hungry. She cleared her throat and began speaking casually.

"How old are you?" she asked me.

"Seventeen now," I said. "I actually just turned seventeen last week." It was on the third, but I didn't bother explaining any further.

Buneary kept eating. "I'll be turning seventeen in May," she explained.

"Oh," I said awkwardly. "I'm from California, what about you?"

"Florida," she said with a slight hesitation.

Great, we lived on opposite sides of the country. I guessed it could be worse, but dang! Still, what mattered now was that we're all in a game together. Our backgrounds don't affect us like they did in the real world.

"What's your name?" she suddenly asked me.

"Aaron," I replied. Only she and Buizel knew my real name now, but I sort of hoped she'd ask for it.

"Brooke," she said before I could ask her.

Brooke was a nice name, but I could only see her as Buneary. We kept talking about family, school, and ultimately the future. I couldn't help but feel lame because of my terrible answers to her serious questions.

"What's your major?" she asked.

"Excuse me?"

Buneary stopped. "What do you want to be when you graduate?" she rephrased.

"Oh," I said. "Something with video games? I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. I've just been doing whatever I do."

"Oh," she repeated, but she quickly took the stage herself. "I want to get involved in politics, so law school is my future. That's why I took up your idea to help run that guild…"

"The guild that's taking over your life?" I asked in a rebuttal. I got no response for a long time.

"So did you hear about how Skarmory's losing control of his could?" she changed the subject.

We talked and ate for a long time, but once it started to get hot, I eventually migrated over to one of the nearby trees that defined the boundary of the orchard and the beach. I put myself under the shade of the tree and laid back. Buneary quickly finished eating and sat, albeit uncomfortably, nearby. It was four o'clock at this point.

"I have to get going soon," she said to herself.

"Why?" I asked, but I quickly figured it out. "Scyther?"

She nodded. "I'm in the guild to get things done, Riolu. I want to get out of here. Don't you want to get home and see your family, your friends?"

I didn't know what to say. I mean, I did miss my family, but something felt wrong. I felt like I had to tell her about it, too, so I sucked in my stomach, risked my pride, and opened myself to pure humiliation.

"Of course, but…don't you ever feel like there's a part of you that doesn't want to?"

She waited for a second. "Yeah, I guess so. A part of me actually likes it here. Aside from the fighting and death, it's so calm and the Pokémon here are so real. You know, it's been nearly half a year and I feel like I've lived here my whole life. I almost don't want to leave. We've been through so much so far and we've all worked so hard. You and I—we've worked so hard. I don't want to leave the guild, the fighting—"

I looked her deep in the eyes and forced her to look back into mine. My face was at her level. We were both sitting in the grass, leaning against a tree, looking at each other. I finally spoke. "Buneary, I don't…I don't want to leave you," I whispered.

Buneary's eyes glimmered as she fought back the urge to cry. "Riolu, I can't—we can't—do this. I have to stay away from you. Something's wrong with Scyther and I think we're both targets and I—I don't want you to have to go through something again." Tears started falling from her eyes.

I grabbed her brown shoulders and kept our vision connected. "Buneary, I don't care about any of those things. Whenever I'm around you, I feel indestructible. I'm the strongest I've ever been. We're going to get you through this. I will personally send you home. I can promise that. But I can't promise that I'll stay away."

Buneary choked on her tears. "Riolu, it's…it's not easy being a leader. I can't do this. I can't put you in danger knowing—"

I moved in and connected my mouth with hers. I put one hand on the side of her small chin and another on the back of her head. She stiffened up, but she didn't fight back. I kept my lips connected to hers and let the warmth from them ease my mind into a sort of happiness. It was like I unlocked some sort of enlightenment.

I closed my eyes. My arms grew bigger and spikes shot from my wrists. My torso extended and became more slender. My legs grew out longer and my ears shot up from my head. I felt so much stronger. My body was overcome with extreme emotion, an emotion not even conceivable back on the first floor.

Buneary, too, changed. Her ears fell from being perked up and grew much longer in length. Her body became shaped much more appropriately and she grew to exactly my height now. She became even more beautiful. Her new look was so much more…feminine than her previous form. We looked at each other and smiled. It was a new chapter in our lives.

Though the evolutions were amazing themselves, Bu-I mean, Lopunny and I fell asleep in the shade of the tree. I woke up at seven-thirty in the afternoon and found Lopunny snug in my armpit. Remembering the fact she needed to leave earlier, I quickly woke her up and saw the Rabbit Pokémon freak out.

"Scyther's going to kill me!" she screamed ash she sprang up. She smacked her head on a branch upon realizing she grew so much and quickly rubbed the pain away.

I ducked under the branch and pulled myself to my feet. I went to grab the bags of golden apples, but she quickly shook her head as she checked her menu for the many messages that were sure to come.

"Oh no," she whined. "He's really mad. I can't bring those apples with me. If he knows I got so many, he'll want to know why I was so late—"

"And he'll want to know why you were with me," I finished. "Just take the apples and say you lost track of time while picking."

She shook her head. "I can't do that. He'll know. I'm a terrible liar." She pulled an Escape Orb out of her inventory and looked back at me. I was just staring at her panicking and she realized how rude she was being in all this sincerity.

"Rio, thanks for the evening. I…I needed that," she grinned. "Oh, and by the way: that's a good look for you. Strong, yet sensitive."

She winked at me before using the item and beaming herself out of the dungeon. I stayed for a moment before realizing I had lost her to Scyther again. I wanted her for myself. Perhaps I'd have to work around the guild rather than be its replacement. I shrugged, grabbed the bags of apples, and put them in my inventory. I had to hurry to get my next mission done.

. . .

Lopunny walked into the office and was ready to be demoted on the spot. It was eight o'clock at night—twelve hours after Scyther had told her to go on the quest in the first place. She was bummed out, but she had so many compliments and stares as she went on her way in that she felt a bit better about herself. She went into his room and pecked on his door. He let her in, but his voice sounded firm. She tiptoed inside and sat in a chair with her back pressed against the seat and her feet stuck in the ground.

"I'm so sorry for being late and not having the apples and not answering my messages and just showing up and not even replying back and not telling you what happened and why I evolved and how I should have done better and how I wanted to keep my job and how I'd let you lower my pay and that I didn't have the apples—wait did I say that already?"

Scyther cocked his head and looked at her with amusement. "Looking like a fine soldier, Ms. Lopunny. I do have a question: what are you talking about? I understand the part about your tardiness, which is not an issue, but the empty-handedness? I already got the confirmation from our lovely Ms. Audino saying the two full, well one wasn't quite full, bags of golden apples were sitting in her office. Apparently you snuck in there when she was on break and left a note? Awfully considerate of you, I'd say. Most people would lose themselves and flip out over nothing."

Lopunny's face turned to utter shock and she laughed uncertainly for a second. "Oh, oh yeah. I guess I forgot about that!" she beamed.

He looked at her seriously now. "I heard you got rid of your escorts."

"You mean my body guards? I didn't need them."

Scyther shook his head. "Lopunny, I know this is above your comprehension right now, but there is a greater threat going on. You'd be surprised at how unsafe you are without those escorts. Please treat them with more respect next time or I may have to keep you here." By the end, he had a smile on his face. "Now get out of my office! I'm expecting someone in three minutes and you're taking up all the space with those ears of yours."

Lopunny smiled and skipped out of his office. She went down the hallway and eventually to her bedroom, but she stopped in the doorframe and looked outside a window.

"Lucario, you are just something else," she whispered with a smile before going into her bedroom for the night.

. . .

After I left the twelfth floor, I went with my one apple to Wigglytuff. I only got the TM for Hyper Beam, which I didn't want. Other than that, the rest of my day went well. Buizel did end up evolving today. Floatzel had a cool inner tube running down his neck and a much fiercer look in his eyes. He was definitely a lot stronger as well. The only problem now (for him, anyway) was the fact that he was now several inches shorter than me. I gloated as I closed the door to our rented two-bedroom apartment.

"It's not fair! We were the same height!"

I shrugged. "What can I say? At least you didn't shrink."

"I may as well have!" Floatzel muttered. "And the worst part is that you didn't bring any apples! Did you eat one?"

I nodded my head. "I had probably six. They were really good. Today was really good. It was amazing. The touch, the warmth, the spreading joy in my body. I never felt so alive then."

Floatzel raised his eyebrows. "I'm guessing we're not still talking about apples?"

I blushed. "Oh, uh, no."

"Buneary?" he asked.

"Lopunny," I corrected.

"Oooo!" he teased.

The two of us shared a few comments about our evolutions, but I could only think about Lopunny. She was the only thing on my mind.

"Hello?" Floatzel shouted. He waved his hand in front of my face. "Earth to Rio! I have a helpful tip for you: watch out for girls, they may turn out to be rival spies that are trying to kill you and your best friend."

We both laughed and he walked over to his bedroom and stopped short. I turned out the living room light and went to my door as well.

"Well, Lucario," he said. "I'm happy for you. Truly happy. I wish the best of luck to you two."

"Thanks," I said. "I'll be sure to find someone for you, too, Floatzel. The game's not over yet. If only I hadn't given those apples away to Lopunny, I'd let you try one."

Floatzel smiled. "Thanks, bro."

He went into his room and closed his door as I did mine. I was preparing to turn out the light when suddenly his door swung open.

"You gave away both bags? Oh, come on!" he shouted.

I smiled at the humor. It had actually been a great day. After all the death and betrayal going on in this game, it was nice to have a decent day off. I got to spend it with one of the most important people in my Pokémon life. I got to evolve because of the bond I developed with the girl of my dreams. Now I would just hope I could win her over from the work that took over her life. I turned out the light, got into bed, and closed my eyes. Now I would just hope.