Just so you guys know, if all goes well, the story is going to be around 50 chapters long before the end (all 1000-3000 words a piece.) Afterwards I'm gonna take a break. After about a month, I'm gonna start to write a sequel story with a whole new plot.
Also, i took out the Prologue, it just sucked in my opinion and really was unnecessary. I'll probably write a better one when the story is finished, that way I can add things hinting at stuff in future chapters.
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Chapter 13: Glacier Tunnel
Location: Middle of the Wasteland, Half Way to Pipton
Not a good start. Thought Lloyd. Despite Rita's 'expert' navigation, they managed to get lost somewhere along the way to Pipton.
"Rita, why don't you let me look at your map? Maybe I can..."
"No! You'll just get us even... loster!"
"I don't think loster is a word."
Rita just stared at him for a second and moved on.
Lloyd never saw the map Rita had always carried with her. She always was either looking at it, or had it packed away. Why would she be hiding a map?
Rita stopped and took the map out again, looking at it closely to prevent Lloyd sneaking a peak over her shoulder.
"Come on let me see!"
"No! It's my map and I'll do what i want with it. Besides, I know where we are now."
"Are you sure this time? Because that's what you said ten minutes ago, and were still lost."
"Yes I'm sure. See that rock?" She pointed the leaf on her head in the direction of a tall, brown rock. "If we go north of this rock for half an hour, we'll be at the foot of Glacier Mountains."
"You better be right about that. My feet hurt from all the walking in circles."
---
Lloyd followed Rita for over an hour, who, despite the fact its been over an hour and they still haven't seen the mountain, walked confidently forward.
They climbed over a large rock, Lloyd couldn't believe what he saw. Not far from where they were now, was the same, tall brown rock they used as a landmark, Rita had taken them both in a huge circle.
"You have got to be kidding me! Rita face it, you can't navigate worth..."
"Wait, I hear something! Quiet!"
Lloyd listened, and could hear it too, it was music, and it was nearby.
"Who could that be?"
Lloyd and Rita went towards the music. Could it be that Squirtle? Thought Rita. She could remember him helping her find restown back when Rita had found Lloyd, the music was different though, the instrument was some kind of string instrument, like a guitar or something.
The music seemed to come from the ruins of some building, almost calling to the both of them.
They both went to the building and went inside. Rita didn't see the Squirtle, the music was instead coming from an abandoned radio.
Both Lloyd and Rita thought is was strange, a radio should have ran out of power a while ago, unless it was turned on recently.
"You two are rather easy to lure, you know that? This could have been a trap."
Rita and Lloyd turned to face the voice. Rita recognized him immediately, it was the green shelled Squirtle.
"Hey! Its you!" She said.
"Really? Funny, I noticed that too. I heard you two were on your way to Pipton, did I hear correctly?"
Lloyd nodded. "Yeah, but how exactly do you know?"
"I have my sources, and I have my methods, all that you need to know is that I am here to help you. Your lost right?"
Rita and Lloyd couldn't argue that fact. "Yeah... Its Rita's fault."
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Hey! You two shouldn't be fighting over something so small, don't worry about it ok? I'm gonna lead you to where you need to go, all I ask is you take me with you."
"What do you need in Pipton?" Asked Lloyd.
"Just looking for something that belongs to me, something stolen a long time ago."
"Lloyd, trust me when I say we can trust him. Without him we both would have died out in the desert on the way to Restown."
Lloyd thought for a moment. "Well, we really have no choice in this, you lead the way."
"Its just this way, hurry up now, its gonna be dark soon."
---
Location: Glacier Mountain (earlier that day)
Knock, knock. Someone was at the door.
"Who is it? You better have a good reason for trespassing!"
"Its us Maverick, we have a mission for you from the boss. Lots of money in it for you."
Great, Gastly has come to visit me. I'm sure that idiot Raticate is with him too. "One sec, I
m coming."
Maverick was a Prinplup, living alone on the mountains above what once was him home town, watching them from above with hate in his eyes.
He cracked the door open. "You have ten seconds, what's the mission, and how much?"
"The boss wants you to capture a pokemon for him." Said Raticate. "The master said to stir up trouble in that Pipton place, and they'll come right to you. Do that for him and you'll get more money then you'll ever need."
"Intriguing, but how does your master know for sure that they will get sent here?"
Gastly explained the rest. "They recently joined the Brotherhood, the rest you don't need to know. All you really need to know is the boss is pulling the strings, and all you need to do is capture the puppet."
"All right, I'll do it then. I've been wanting to terrorize those little freaks in Pipton for a while. Now leave me be, go back to your boss or whatever." Maverick closed the door.
This is gonna be fun.
---
Location: Glacier Tunnel
Rita must have been embarrassed, they reached the tunnel entrance in less then twenty minutes with Squirtles help, without a map too. He obviously knew his way around the wasteland.
"Here we are children, the Glacier Tunnel!"
Lloyd clapped, only half sarcastically, Rita just looked ticked off.
"You were just lucky." She said.
"Yeah, that's probably it, either way it was still because of me you got here, am I right?"
Rita said nothing. Lloyd held in a laugh.
"Well, lets not waste time now, I'm sure you two are in a rush to get there. In we go!"
---
The tunnel was cold and icy, as its name suggested, the whole thing looked like it was carved through a frozen lake or something.
"Great, more cold, I hate the cold." Rita was shivering like crazy. Lloyd didn't mind and it, didn't look like the Squirtle did either.
Squirtle reached into his pack, and pulled out a big, red scarf.
"Here, take this, consider it a gift."
Squirtle went over to her and wrapped it around her neck, it was a perfect fit, almost as if it was made specifically for her.
"Wow, thank you, its really warm."
"Its really no problem, I have no need for it anyway."
Squirtle led the way down a hallway of ice, he knew what he was doing apparently. In the first room they came to, they spotted their first wild pokemon, a Delibird.
"Let us take care of this guy Squir..." Started Rita.
But before she could even finish her request, Squirtle sprang into action, his hand glowing white. Squirtle ran to Delibird and delivered a devastating punch, felling it instantly.
"Tle... Wow, your amazing! Was that Mega Punch?"
"Yes, quite a useful move don't you think? Come on, I'm sure you'll see it a lot from me here."
Squirtle sure was in a hurry, he wasted no time moving on to the next room, and then the next. In that room was the stairs, and another wild pokemon, this time a Furret. It noticed them right away and growled.
"Squirtle, let us fight this one ok?"
"Hmm, go ahead then."
He stepped behind Lloyd and Rita.
"Lets do this Lloyd!"
Lloyd and Rita prepared for Furrets attack. Furret went for Lloyd, lowering its head in preparation for a headbutt attack. Lloyd jumped over it easily. In retaliation, Lloyd and Rita both used their favorite attacks, thunder shock and leaf attack, both hitting the Furret at the same time. It stumbled for a sec then fell over, fainted.
"Good job you two, you work well together."
Squirtle headed to the stairs and began to go down.
"Ugh, thanks!" Said Lloyd as Squirtle was going.
Lloyd and Rita followed after him.
---
Location: Glacier Tunnel, 7th Floor
With Squirtles help, the entire mystery dungeon was a cake walk. They all took turns with each wild pokemon they encountered, Squirtle easily fighting on his own, and Lloyd and Rita using their teamwork to take on the rest. Only a few times had they fought more then one wild pokemon at once, when that happened, all three fought together, and the wild pokemon didn't stand a chance.
On the seventh floor, the next stairs down was immediately visible, and the only thing here was a single room with a statue of a pokemon, a statue of a Kangaskhan.
"What's this thing?" Asked Rita.
Squirtle touched the statue, out of nowhere appeared an apple, which Squirtle grabbed out of the air and began to eat.
"Nobody knows how they work, but somehow they make anything belonging to you appear like this apple did, letting you get things you need for the rest of the mystery dungeon. They typically appear in large mystery dungeons." He took a bite of his apple. "Come here and try it."
Rita approached the statue and put her paw on its base.
"Uhh, what do I do?"
"Just think hard about what you want, and It'll bring it."
Lets see, what to bring here, we got no supplies we need... I'll test this thing by having it bring... The radio I broke! That'd be perfect. Bring me the radio statue!
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the radio appeared falling on Rita's head.
"Ow!"
"Yeah, its does that sometimes, make sure your also paying attention when you call for things. If there's nothing else you need, lets go."
Squirtle left first, then Rita, but Lloyd picked up the Radio and looked at it, it had a big hole in it, roughly the size of Rita's paw.
"What the heck did you do to it?!"
But she was already gone, Lloyd followed after her and stopped her before she went down the steps.
"How did this happen?" He said, holding the radio, waving it around as he spoke.
"It wasn't working, and it just fell apart when I tried to fix it."
"You tried to fix it by bashing it in!?"
"Well, umm... LLOYD LOOK OUT!"
Lloyd looked behind him, but didn't see anything. Then he figured out what she was doing. When he turned around, she was already gone.
"This is so coming out of your cut of the reward..."
---
Location: Glacier Tunnel, 11th floor
Things had been going well so far, it was thanks to Squirtles help mostly, his skill in fighting was amazing.
"So, Squirt, do you have a name or something?"
"Probably."
"... And that means?"
"I can't remember it."
"Did you lose your memory?" Asked Lloyd
"No, and yes. It's complicated, lets just say I don't have it now."
"But... No, I'm sure you have your reasons for keeping it to yourself. What can we call you then?"
"... Hmm, just stick with Squirt, or Squirtle, no point taking on a name I don't plan to keep."
"Your so, odd." Said Rita, regretting saying it so rudely. But she was sure he knew what she meant.
"I know, weird stuff will do that to you."
They moved on to the next room, having explored the entire floor, this one had to have the staircase in it.
The room indeed had the stairs in it, and other then that, the entire room was empty. Rita and Lloyd began to walk towards it, but Squirtle stopped them.
"Hold it, there are traps all around the stair case."
Rita and Lloyd never noticed it, but after he pointed it out, it was obvious something strange was marked on the floor.
"What is it?" Asked Lloyd.
"From the look of it, it looks like a rare trap, called the frost trap. You step on it, and you cant move at all anywhere from a minute to an hour."
This wasn't good, this meant either one of them would have to stay behind, or they would have to linger on the floor for a long time, leaving them vulnerable to wild pokemon.
"What are we gonna do?" Asked Rita
"There is only one option, I'm gonna trip the trap, and let you guys go up ahead. We can't just stay here, and you two probably don't want to separate, and lastly, I can easily take care of myself the rest of the way."
"Your sure? What about wild pokemon? What if they find you while you're here and frozen like that?"
"When I get frozen, all be surrounded by ice, there is nothing these wild pokemon can do but look at me from out of my prison."
Rita and Lloyd didn't like the idea, but their options were limited, and Squirtle was right, he was the only one who could be left behind safely.
"Ok, go for it then Squirtle, thanks for all your help."
"Yeah, and thanks for this scarf, I'll take good care of it."
"Good luck you two."
Squirtle stepped forward, and after three steps, he triggered the trap. Out of the ground sprayed some kind of blue mist. When the mist settled, Squirtle was enclosed in ice.
"That would have sucked for either of us." Said Lloyd.
"Especially me, I'm weak against ice."
"Well we should go, lets not waste time here when were so close."
"Right..."
They passed by Squirtle on the way, Lloyd gave him a wave on the way by. Squirtle could barely be seen through the ice, the only thing standing out was his green shell, which seemed to almost glow in the light.
---
Location: Glacier Tunnel, Final Floor
Luckily for Rita and Lloyd, the next floor was also the last, not far in the distance was an opening going outside. They were almost done.
They then heard a laugh from above, but there was nothing above them except a dark ceiling.
"Who's there?" called out Rita. But what ever was above them only laughed again, not saying anything. "Lloyd, this isn't good, this guy could be anywhere. We should just make a run for it."
Lloyd shock his head. "He'll be expecting that, in fact he's probably planning on it. I have a better idea."
Lloyd charged up, readying a thunder shock.
"What are you doing? We don't know where he is!"
"That's exactly why I'm doing this."
Lloyd unleashed the attack upwards. It struck the ceiling sending out a flash of light. Rita understood now, he was lighting up the darkness so they could find the pokemon.
Lloyd sent bolt after bolt of electricity, lighting up another area every time. Five or six times in, the light revealed someone.
"There Lloyd!"
Lloyd aimed his attack at the pokemon and managed to hit it in the arm. It couldn't hold on anymore and fell to the ground. It wasn't moving anymore, but they couldn't see it, it fell behind a rock.
"Whew, Rita go and see if its knocked out, I need to rest a sec." All the thunder shocks had made Lloyd tired, so Rita listened and went over,
When she peeked around the rock, she saw nothing, the pokemon was gone.
"Lloyd, he's not here! He's gone some..." But Rita couldn't finish her sentence, from out of nowhere the pokemon leaped towards her and with one of its claws, cut a huge mark across her side. She fell over, unable to stand up.
Lloyd was furious, he found he couldn't control himself anymore. His body was charging electricity much more rapidly then usual. Not only that, but the power inside grew beyond anything he ever felt before. He was using a new attack, he was charging up a thunder bolt.
The pokemon, now visible, that Lloyd knew was a Sneasel, noticed Lloyd standing there and came at him, claws bared.
Not a second too soon, Lloyd unleashed the attack, Sneasel couldn't possibly dodge the attack. Its entire body was consumed in electricity, making it glow yellow and stand completly still, unable to move at all.
When all the energy inside Lloyd was used up, Sneasel took two unsteady steps, and fell over, unconscious. For good measure, Lloyd gave it a swift, hard kick to the head.
Remembering Rita, Lloyd rushed over to her. She was unconscious still, the cut was huge and he doubted she could recover from it any time soon. He was going took her outside, hoping someone in Pipton could help her.
He picked her up, and much like she did with him before, began to carry her to help.
Rita, please, stay with me, don't die!