Floor 26
February 14th, 2016
"Watch your step, guys, this dungeon is crawling with Grass-types," Sceptile told the rest of his team walking behind him. "Isn't that right, boss?"
The red-bodied insect nodded. "We have an overall advantage on Grass-types, but we've only fought lower-leveled ones so far. This seems serious…especially after just advancing from a safe zone. Keep close and watch out for traps."
A nervous, foxlike humanoid Pokémon walked behind the two frontline battlers. She was a new recruit to the Golden Warriors guild, and was therefore forced, along with a few other newbies, to be in the same group as one of the commanders. Her friends were in Lopunny's group, but she just so happened to get stuck with Scizor.
She grabbed a stick from the hair of her tail and pulled it out, causing friction to ignite it instantly. The ill-lit dungeon was unfortunately very, very grassy; it started out as a pretty flower garden and got progressively taller—and darker—as they went on. With such high grass, her vision plummeted into a small circle of light around her. At least her torch would do a little bit better.
Braixen whimpered at the noises coming from all sides of the tall grass. Wild Pokémon spawn were everywhere. Luckily, the conditions of the dungeon were also set for the spawners. It was very much a random encounter.
In front of her, an older, cocky Cacnea wobbled around near Scizor. He began chatting casually and Braixen quickly realized she was bringing up the rear of her six-member party. She could easily be swept away and never seen from again. Quickly regretting her decision, she knew she needed to stay with the group. She tried to catch up to the Cacnea and could only hear a part of what he was saying when they made it to an open room.
"Look at all the items!" Cacnea squealed, his prickles vibrating in excitement.
"Slow down there, cactus boy," Scizor muttered. "Something's not right."
Braixen had to agree. The atmosphere had changed—there was a suspension in the air. It was like the game wanted to see something happen. There were probably twelve different items in this huge room. Walking into an enclosed room that lacked tall grass was a first for this dungeon, so they were all excited. A few other newbies were jumping around, too. The excitement, however, made the room unnerving.
"I'm going to get that Big Apple over there!" Cacnea cheered ignorantly as he walked away from the party.
"Be careful," Sceptile called. "The stairs are in the back corner, so we just have to walk over there. Pick stuff up as you go."
Cacnea nodded without listening and went to go pick up his apple. When he was only a step away from the item, he put his foot down and uncovered a trap—a metal button with a question mark on top. With the button, which was slightly protruding from the ground, already clicked in, Cacnea gulped as he let go. Everyone watched in shock as the click! sound caused all of the items to explode into a pink powder and spawn into the Pokémon of the dungeon.
"That was a Pokémon Trap!" Scizor yelled. He knew he'd made a mistake in not bringing Lopunny, one of the rare guild-members with the "Trap Busting" skill.
Braixen watched in fear as a large Tropius flew toward her and blew out her torch. She ran back against one of the grassy hedge walls and cowered in the corner. Cacnea quickly ran over to her. The other newbies went back toward Scizor, who was on the opposite side of the room. Cacnea and Braixen, mere beginners to battling, were alone.
"Cac, watch out!" she squealed, shielding her eyes.
Cacnea ignored her and kept running to save her. They were so close; she was like a sister to him. They were close to reconciling until Cacnea was knocked back by another cactus Pokémon—Maractus. Soon enough, the two new recruits were cornered by the spawned Pokémon.
Scizor, Sceptile, and the two other recruits watched in the corner. All of the spawned monsters were on the other end of the room. They were near the stairs. As soon as Cacnea was easily controlled, a few of the Pokémon had started their way.
"What are we going to do?" Sceptile asked his leader.
Scizor kept quiet for a moment. He opened his mouth, but then closed it again. With little emotion, he made his decision. "Keep going. I'm sure they'll be fine. I'm not risking my hide for a couple of noobs that'll just die in the boss room."
Sceptile nodded after a second of contemplation. In the high-ranking member's eyes, a visible reluctance could be seen. He, his commander, and the rest of the party turned away from Braixen and Cacnea and silently went up the stairs. The scared Braixen saw the spectacle and began screaming in fear.
"Please, Scizor! Lord Scizor! Have mercy!"
Sceptile and one of the recruits went up the stairs first. Another began to follow. Scizor waited a second to view the results of Cacnea's fatal mistake. He stayed along the steps of the stairs and watched the two struggle.
Braixen squealed again when a Breloom swung a fist at her. It hit the hair tuft coming out of her left ear and caused her minimal damage. Cacnea swung back with a Needle Arm that did negligible damage as well. Tropius slung an Air Slash attack and knocked Cacnea into the red. He watched her with longing eyes as she began to scream out for her companion, her protector, her "brother." He was being beaten to death.
"Cacnea…!"
Cacnea exploded into a million shards of glass. Meanwhile, Braixen, still terrified by the murder, watched Scizor trudge up the last stair to the next floor. Braixen dodged an attack and did her best to get to the marble stairs on the other side of the room. Whether or not she could make it, though, would be left up to fate.
. . .
"Scizor sent me an instant message telling you that your invitation to the Golden Warriors alliance has been officially revoked," Combusken said with a smirk. On the last word, she put an official tone, somewhat comparable to a British one, in her voice to mock the seriousness Scizor displayed.
"Oh, no! I was definitely going to join a guild that I've known about but haven't joined for months for a reason!" I laughed back. "Seriously, did he honestly think I'd care enough to be his 'underling' or whatever? We both know that's beneath me."
Combusken shrugged. "Beats me, but we have more important things to talk about. I noticed that Floor 38 is almost 75% of the way to fiftieth floor. Perhaps there is some sort of transition of difficulty or even an upgrade of sorts?"
I thought about it for a second and nodded. "It could also be a trap, though. Black Ice could just be trying to scare their targets into submission and go in for the kill then? Whoever sent the messages, that is," I said with a side-glance to the quiet information rat.
"I can't disclose that unless you're willing to pay big," she said dryly.
"I know, but we both know I know who sent those messages."
She remained quiet. I decided to change the topic. "Do you know if there's any sort of unlockable bonus in the game? Maybe something to help with the upper bosses or even against ourselves?"
"I'll check," Combusken agreed. "I better go do some more research." She walked away from me for a second, but turned back soon after. "I'm sorry about Lopunny."
My face reddened. I shrugged and looked down at her feet. She took the hint and backed off. Combusken gave me a final farewell and kicked her Speed Boost ability into full gear. I walked out of the shadows of an alleyway and into the main part of town, which is an agricultural village named "Sprouton."
The town was less active than usual; while the topmost floor available was usually the heaviest in population, it was because of battlers moving closer to beat the bosses. Most of the nonviolent people actually moved back down to Floor One—Fountainhead City. I closed my eyes and thought about my very beginning in the game, my naïve idea that a perfect party with six perfect members could actually happen. Now most of the gamers were hiding in the first floor while others risked their lives every day. Even worse, the people of Fountainhead City complained about our progress through the game. Guilds are getting fewer recruits than the past few weeks. Morale was dying.
I saw Floatzel talking with some familiar parties and guilds, but I figured I'd let him have his time. As I went back toward the rented apartment, I saw a small red bleep pop up on my screen: a distress signal. I went toward the 26th dungeon and made it my mission to save whoever needed help. At this point, I had nothing to lose. No one to lose.
. . .
I dodged a Vine Whip and quickly used an icy fist to destroy the spawned Carnivine. The green Pokémon burst into nothingness, however I couldn't admire the resultant intricacies of the death animation for long since a Sunflora came into my view. I hadn't gotten to solo fight much recently, so the experience brought my adrenaline rushing.
Sunflora opened the mouth on its yellow flower and shot out a stream of brown seeds. I dodged the forceful attack and used a Bullet Punch to knock it back. My iron fist slammed hard into the flower's face. Sunflora quickly began storing energy as I side-swiped another Carnivine and kicked a Nuzleaf out of the way.
Sunflora unleashed a powerful Solar Beam directly at me, however I quickly used Aura Sphere to create a light blue ball that dispersed the attack and slammed into Sunflora, bringing it to dissipation.
After the mass attack, I ran up the marble-based stairs and made it to the second floor. Like the last floor of this dungeon, a flower garden was the main landscape. The sunlight shined bright on these petals, offering a vivid, healthy environment. Interestingly, I noticed that the flowers were slightly taller this time. I eventually disregarded the detail and environment to focus on what was important: I had to keep destroying these Grass-types and find that red blip. Every few floors I went up, I had noticed its strength increase. I used Extremespeed on a Tropius and ran up the stairs to the twentieth floor.
The flower garden was now like a field of tall grass. My visibility level was slowly declining, meaning it would be like a corn maze toward the end of the dungeon. Anything could happen: dead ends, Monster Houses—and if I can't pick those up with my negated vision, this dungeon would be very, very dangerous in the near future.
As I kept walking through the maze, with this particular floor being unusually quiet, I saw the red signal growing stronger on my menu. Could this be another trap like before? I had sacrificed my day to jump on this saving spree, and after half a year of fighting in this game…had I not changed? If not, was what I was doing—risking my life—at this moment a wise decision at all? I looked down at my fist and a metallic film covered the skin. Bullet Punch was my sign of knowledge, an extra expertise, but was it fair to use this exclusive egg move through the game? I had put it away for so long that using it seemed weird. Perhaps, though, I had this particular egg move for a reason.
I kept walking through the dungeon and found the set of stairs without a single encounter. My health bar was now back to full after a while of traveling, and I also had time to eat one of the many apples I had picked to boost my hunger level back up. I went up the stairs once I finished and found myself face-to-face with three different Grass-type spawners waiting for me. I smiled at the challenge and readied my fists, one with the same metallic luster and another with icicles protruding in every direction. I lunged to attack one after the other.
. . .
Floor twenty-eight was where the victim was located. Once I had made it up the stairs, a small notification box appeared over top of my menu:
"You have arrived to a destination floor!"
My heart began to thump. I sprinted from the stairs and went in every room possible. The target was moving. I found a Radar Orb in the corner of a dead-end room and uncovered six red dots, which symbolized enemies, surrounding a yellow one—a user. The room was just half a minute away from my location. I watched the orb disintegrate and kept moving through the tall grass, bumping into the occasional spawn, until I made it to the room of interest.
I ran in with Extremespeed, causing the very tall grass to lean forward from my wind. I quickly found one of the monsters, a Tropius, and used Ice Punch to destroy the creature in a single hit. I turned around and kicked a Breloom back. I dodged a Mach Punch and delivered a Bullet Punch myself. The Breloom was knocked back and imploded once an Aura Sphere contacts its chest.
I went into a deeper section of the grass and quickly found an empty patch; it was the first sign of the brown dirt I had seen since the beginning of the dungeon. In the patch were five Pokémon: four Grass-type spawners and a fox Pokémon in the middle. The fire from her wand stick must have destroyed the grass.
"Get back!" the girl screamed as she waved her stick.
I watched as she used Fire Spin and caught a Trevenant into the fiery vortex. Its HP bar did not fall enough to fit my expectations, so I used Ice Punch and quickly killed the high-leveled attacker before it could do any other damage. The fox Pokémon saw me and quickly backed away.
"Hey, did you send out that distress signal?" I asked as I Bullet Punched a Roselia.
"Yes!" she whimpered. "Thank you for coming, but please help! My HP is really low."
Another Trevenant used Shadow Ball on the middle-evolution Fire-type. The orb of ghostly purple energy shot from the tree's hands. I jumped in front of the fox and took the blunt of the hit, but the impact knocked her down and caused my stance to change.
The Fire-type used her wand and created another funnel of flames, which finally killed a Sunflora after several attempts. I took out the Trevenant and silenced the last spawn with Ice Punches. The two of us, exhausted, sat on the ground together as grass began to sprout from the naked dirt. We were panting heavily and she stuck her stick into her bushy tail.
"I'm Braixen," she said with a smile.
"Lucario," I said. It was weird; we didn't even go by our own names anymore. It was perfectly normal to call ourselves by our Pokémon species, and even though most people already knew every Pokémon, we still felt the need to introduce ourselves. Not only was it easier to remember a Pokémon's name, but it was also less awkward.
"Thank you for saving me," she mustered. She brushed the dirt off of her waist and got some water out of her bag.
I slipped a hand in my bag as well and began fiddling around inside it. "No problem. What were you doing here alone, anyway? You know it's really dangerous this far into the game, right?"
Braixen raised her eyebrows and began feeling of the hair tufts in her ears. "I'm not stupid. I wasn't alone, not at first," she said.
I grabbed two Escape Orbs out of my brown bag and looked straight into her eyes. "What happened?"
Braixen tapped into the air and pulled her menu screen up. She showed me her screen—she was a member of the Golden Warriors. They never explored as solo players; it was too dangerous. They always maintained a party of at least four.
"Where's your group?" I asked suspiciously.
"I'm a new recruit to the Golden Warriors," she told me. She put a hand to her eyes and wiped the tears from her damp fur. "My friend and I were a part of a group and-and, we were ditched."
My skin shivered from the word. "Ditched." Groups don't ditch members, especially not new recruits. How else would they expand? Besides, this game wasn't like other VRMMORPGs; we couldn't get more players. There were not Pokémon with higher stats or better moves that we'd just find. We had to take what we could get and couldn't complain about it.
"Who was in your party, then?" I asked.
"Four new members. My friend Cacnea was one of them. We were with Sceptile and one of the leaders, I think."
My stomach churned. One of the leaders? There were only two leaders, which means one of them completely abandoned guild morals. "Which one?"
"Scizor."
I felt a flush of anger on my face. "Tell me what happened. Exactly what happened."
. . .
Braixen and I walked through the dense dungeon in hopes of finding Scizor and his terrible values. Though I begged her to use an Escape Orb, she kept talking about needing to catch up with her group. She was one of the clingier, yet dedicated, stereotypes within a guild. She reminded me so much of Whismur in this sense, but the pain of even comparing the two had to be subsided.
"Floor 50 is probably the rest area spot," I told her. "The creators like more systematic floor numbers for rests, difficulty levels, etc."
She nodded. "That was their target. Scizor kept yelling at us to walk faster, to attack harder. I'm not even a high level. I was forced to go on this mission and just run away."
"What level are you, if you don't mind my asking?" I said awkwardly.
"Thirty."
Level thirty? I was over twenty levels ahead of her. How could Scizor be so careless as to let a middle-evolution of this level into such a high-ranked dungeon? He should have brought her to one of the mid-teen dungeons. This sort of challenge would be nearly impossible by itself.
"Let's fix that," I suggested.
"Okay," she nodded. "My friend Cacnea wanted us to join this guild to train harder and make it on the frontlines. With the bosses here recently, I've heard that you guys keep losing member after member to the simplest of attacks."
The reminder hurt. Our last boss raid resulted in five deaths, and one of them was a twin brother (Plusle) to the survivor, a Minun. We had gotten careless recently, and obviously that carelessness hadn't left. Scizor was letting people die as bait while he continued up the stairs. Without a word, we kept walking for another several floors.
"Dodge," I told her.
"Huh?"
"Dodge!"
I jumped over-top of Braixen and used Aura Sphere on a Lombre, a Water/Grass type with a lily pad-like head. She ducked down and watched as the Jolly Pokémon spurted a Water Gun—an attack meant for her. I broke the stream with my attack and watched it slam into the weaker Pokémon. It burst into shards and dissipated away.
"There must be a pond nearby," I suggested. "Be careful: water means Water-types."
"Got it," she nodded.
We walked through the tall grass and Braixen eventually slipped down a slope into the pond. She squirmed in the shallow water before getting up and watching her sopping-wet fur dry up in an instant. I waded into the pond until a barrier stopped me.
"Only Water-types can swim in these deeper areas. It's really not fair, but there are orbs we could use. Do you have any orbs?"
Braixen shook her head. "I had to give all of my items to Sceptile. I was just there to level up."
My head pounded as I got angrier after every experience she shared. "Here," I said, handing her an Escape Orb. "Keep that in the hold-item section of your menu in case you need it."
At this point, we were on floor forty. We had fought Pokémon like Venusaur and Torterra by this point, and those Torterra knew Earthquake—a move super effective against both of us. The attack also had the ability to one-shot Braixen with ease. I had to be especially careful around it.
"Let's go," I said after pulling her from the water.
Braixen giggled, much to my surprise. I looked at her with a "what?" expression and she busted out laughing. She nearly fell back in the water because of it.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"I-It's nothing, I'm sorry," she smiled endearingly. "You're just so focused and determined!"
"Pfft," I shook my head. "Don't be annoying."
As we kept walking, I kept killing most of the Pokémon. Braixen had grown a few levels, which was very good for her HP stats, but her attacking was hampered by a terrible move pool. It was either Ember or Fire Spin for a while.
"You don't honestly think I'm annoying, right?" she pestered.
I shrugged. "You remind me of my sister, but not even you could be that annoying."
Braixen stopped walking for a minute and I turned back to look at her. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head. "It's nothing, sorry."
She ran to catch up in pace and we went up the stairs to floor forty-one. The grass was much taller than we were now, so visibility was basically meaningless. We could walk right by the stairs and not even know. We could walk by Scizor, too.
"What was she like? Your sister, I mean."
I shrugged again. "Typical sister: annoying, bothersome, but you can't not love her. To be honest, though, I never saw her even out of the game. She probably doesn't even care that I'm gone," I admitted. "She was always in her room doing something."
But then again, so was I… I reminded myself.
Braixen smiled and shook her head. "She does love you, I know it. She probably visits you in the hospital every day. Sisters just have a hard time explaining how much their siblings mean to them."
I raised an eyebrow. "You sound like you come from experience," I muttered.
Braixen looked away from me and wiped her forehead out of habit. "I had an older brother that used to be really close to me. He was annoying and cocky and always liked to bother me when I just wanted to be left alone, but…he was also my protector."
"What do you mean 'had?' Just as in you're away from him?"
Braixen stopped walking again and squeezed her eyes shut. "No, he passed away."
I immediately tensed up and stopped moving as well. "Oh, I'm so sorry." There were many deaths in the game, so those kind of statements weren't unheard of; in fact, they were becoming the norm.
"No, it's just…two years ago, we were walking in New York and I heard some men in the dark, narrow space between two buildings. They were yelling and talking about murder, but we weren't in full earshot. I wanted to hear what they were saying, but my brother kept saying it wasn't a good idea. I didn't listen and, well, we got caught eavesdropping by one of the biggest gangs in the city. They threatened to kill me and the leader grabbed my arm. I flailed around as he got his gun out, but my brother jumped on top and wrestled me free."
Braixen's eyes seemed to leak emotions all over her face. She expressed anger, remorse, and maybe some regret. "I got up from the ground, heard the bang! of a gunshot, and screamed in horror when he sunk the floor. The police showed up by that point—someone heard the screaming and called—but the gang ran. Even so, the worst part was that I was standing there. Right there. I watched him die, and it was my fault."
She stopped for a moment and looked into my blank face. She knew I felt ashamed for mentioning a sensitive topic, especially one that happened outside the game, but she seemed to smile slightly to confirm herself. "I can imagine what your sister is going through, Lucario, and she definitely isn't ignoring you. She probably misses the talking, fighting, bothering…even the worst parts of your relationship." Braixen wiped her face once more. "I know I do," she added after a pause.
I put a hand on her shoulder and smiled optimistically. "You have to be here for a reason. You've survived so much, Braixen. I think you'll make it out of here, and when you do, you can meet my sister. She knows how you feel, too, then."
Braixen nodded. The offer probably wasn't genuine, but she felt comforted enough. "If we make it out alive."
"Hey," I began. "Don't talk like that. You're stronger than you think you are."
"This is going to sound dumb," Braixen said quietly as we kept walking, "but I lived completely in VRMMOs because of him. When I lost him, I lost the biggest influence on me. My parents told me it would get better, but I never got over it. Playing in these fake realities, where I didn't have to be reminded that I killed my brother, sort of blocked the emotions sometimes."
"That's not dumb," I said.
We kept moving and I silenced an incoming Tropius spawn with a mere Ice Punch. She talked about her experiences in the games, the illusions she placed herself under. This girl was in serious pain and now she's faced to die herself. I'm personally surprised she hasn't let herself die anyway.
"What keeps you moving?" I asked.
Braixen slowed her pace. "Cacnea did. He was my brother here."
"I…don't follow."
She grabbed the stick in her fur and awkwardly messed around with it. "You know those role-playing 'house' type things where you pretend to be in a family with other characters—you know, like being a 'mother' to a person your age?"
I nodded. Those games always creeped me out, but it was probably because I would rather spend my time battling other people online. "I've heard of them."
"I played those types of games. Every time, I asked for a brother. None of them have been the same—some were cowards, others rude, and the rest were just boring—but I at least had this void filled, you know? Cacnea volunteered to be my older brother, and he kept me through this game the best he could. When Scizor…"
I understood what she was going through and nodded. "He needs to pay for letting Cacnea die like that. He's the leader, after all."
We stopped talking as I sensed a Monster House nearby. I moved Braixen over in the bushes and told her to stay put. Because she was in my party, she'd gain a heap of experience from my battling. I could take on all of these Grass-types without breaking a sweat.
The feverish music began playing instead of the hint of a tranquil breeze. I readied myself as eight different Grass-types spawned in front of me. I glanced back toward the hidden Braixen and began busting Ice Punches and Aura Spheres out in instant repetition. A Ferrothorn shattered into glass and two Leafeon were quickly destroyed. A Breloom used Mach Punch and put a dent into my Hit Points, but it jumped out view before I could retaliate. I instead used Bullet Punch and busted a Whimsicott into bits of data. I defeated the other seen spawned Pokémon with my HP around the halfway mark.
Braixen looked from the tall grass and saw me getting an Oran Berry out of my bag. She noticed, behind me, that Breloom was going in for a Sky Uppercut attack. With my HP so low, the attack could be potentially fatal, but I was too busy trying to grab that blue berry. Braixen began squealing as she knew she needed to do something.
The fox used her white paw to grab the stick from her tail. The friction struck a match of sorts, but Braixen kept her eyes closed and refrained from the same Fire Spin attack. She concentrated on the energy around her and focused on the air surrounding Breloom. She summoned a small psychic wave that targeted the monster and came crashing together. The opponent burst into nothingness and I stood in shock.
"Nice!" I cheered.
Psyshock was going to be a great attack to have when she evolved; getting STAB on a powerful move is a real boost considering her current move pool. She obviously wasn't sure how she performed the move exactly, but she looked at her stick in amazement as she realized what had happened.
"Did I do that? That strong attack?"
"Yes!" I smiled.
The two of us beamed in excitement and she quickly asked me to help her train even. We ventured upon a group of Vileplume and she handily took care of them one-by-one. Each Vileplume shattered once the psychic wave was cast. Braixen watched her experience bar go higher and higher. She eventually made it to level thirty-five.
The two of us kept pressing on in the large Mystery dungeon floor. I knew Braixen's evolution was upon us, but I wanted to keep it a surprise. She obviously wasn't sure of what she was doing, so she probably thought she would be a Braixen forever.
The tall grass was growing even thicker. We moved through the foliage and struggled to find the next set of stairs. In the meantime, though, we managed to keep ourselves alert through talking.
"Lucario?" Braixen whispered.
"Hm?"
I immediately heard Braixen slap her hand against her forehead. "It's stupid, never mind."
I stopped walking in front of her and used an Aura Sphere on a Ferroseed. My orange orb clashed into the spawn, causing it to die like the many others lurking around. I studied Braixen's embarrassed face as she tried to desperately hide it in her tiny hands.
"Seriously, it's nothing. It's stupid."
I put a hand on her shoulder and she peeked out of her fingers. My warm smile must have affected her because she quickly returned the gesture. Braixen kept her hands on her face, but she felt more confident in what she had to say.
"I-It's just that your determination was like my brother's. He was always so instructive and protective and…I was wondering if…if I could stay with you for a while. " Braixen put a hand to her mouth and closed her eyes in a giggle. "Oh, look at me. I'm embarrassing myself again! Lucario, I'm sorry if I—"
"I'm here for you, Braixen. We're a party now, and I'm not letting anything happen to you," I said with a nod.
Braixen made an audible noise from inside her throat—a noise of longing. She threw herself onto my chest and cried. "Th-thank you. I can't believe I'm asking strangers to protect me in some dumb game. I must really sound shallow and stupid!" she chuckled.
At the surprise of the affection, I almost jumped out of her grasp. My arms jerked up, but I quickly put them back down. "Braixen, you're dealing with some serious trauma. I'm here to help. I'm also here to make sure Scizor pays for risking you and Cacnea to save himself. Just think of me…like a big brother."
Braixen hugged tighter. "I couldn't have put it better."
To be continued…