woah, this time it took two years to update! amazing

anyways i'm still rewriting chapter 2 and 3 and i'll probably rewrite chapter 1 again too but EVENTUALLY this story will be finished (even if it takes many years) i'm not sure if this will make sense with the other chapters because like i said i'm rewriting stuff but i hope this is okay!

enjoy

"So, I'm a Cyndaquil, huh?" Dawn murmured to herself. She could only look down at her feet, which were basically stubs covered in cream colored fur. Of course she knew she was a Cyndaquil, since she had owned one after all. It felt like there was fire throughout her body, making her warm effectively - most likely because she was a fire type now. "I wonder if this is how Quilava feels or if it's just part of the simulation..." Maybe she could find a pond or a puddle or something so that she could see herself better later on.

She started to think of a strategy, recalling past games and how they usually started. 'Did they get terminated right away or did they have enough time to think of strategies?' She was here by herself, so she would only rely on herself - plus she had an ultimate mission that she wasn't going to drag anyone else in. 'What is the best moveset that I can learn to make up for my disadvantages, and strengthen my advantages?'

Dawn continued to stand still for a moment, musing over all the possibilities. 'I'm taking too much time to think about everything.' She realized after a moment, now more alert with the fact that she was already in the dungeon, and that she had already made a plan, and that she needed to stop over-thinking. 'What if someone comes here?'

For a while, she worried about a fellow competitor coming to attack her and it nerved her, but she remembered that she couldn't take any risks, and that she needed to win this, or at the very least, do whatever she could to survive. She took a deep breath, to calm herself down. From what she remembered, you weren't supposed to encounter any enemies for at least twenty minutes, unless they were a fellow competitor. It had only been around three minutes since she entered the dungeon and smart players wouldn't immediately go looking for a battle, seeing how everyone was at level one when the competition started. She took another deep breath, for extra measure.

No need to worry.

She decided to take her time to observe her surroundings. All around her were trees that towered over her tremendously, and she could hear some strange music coming from somewhere, but it was surprisingly soothing so she didn't really mind it. She could see two clear paths she could take - one to her right and one straight forward. The map on the Super Pokétch was empty since it filled itself out as you explored the area. She would have probably used her Pokétch's Coin Flip app, but it wasn't part of the Super Pokétch's programming, so in the end, she decided to use her intuition instead. "Let's go with... that route!"

She faced to her right and started to walk. The path quickly got narrower and it seemed much darker with all the trees blocking the light, filtering it so only a few rays could hit the path. "So far, so good." She could do this. All she needed to do was look for some sort of safe area - in majority of the games, there was a safe place on each floor so that you could rest or raise your level without having to go roam around the floor with the danger of losing the competition. She stopped after a while to look at giant barrier blocking her way.

"A dead end? Seriously?" she groaned.

It was only a few seconds after she got back to the place she was originally in when she noticed there was a Pokémon in the room, just sleeping there. Blocking the path that she needed to go to. Great. She tried to move closer, but just enough so she wouldn't get detected. It was a Deerling, which was native to the Unova region, and she was only slightly familiar with it. It was definitely a CPU however, since the Super Pokétch had identified it as one. 'Is it a grass type? I could probably beat it,' she wondered to herself, looking at the device as it showed the information. '...But I don't know any fire attacks yet.'

"Would you like assistance to get to Larbanmo town?"

Dawn quickly stepped back. The Deerling was now wide awake, and it was staring right at her. "Larbanmo?" she mimicked, trying to get some space between her and the CPU. "Is that... a safe area?" she said, unsure. Safe areas were usually a part of the competition, but you could never be too sure. The Deerling nodded in response.

"Then I guess I'd like some help getting there." she answered. The Deerling nodded again and she started to walk through the other path. Dawn followed, still unsure about the situation. If this was legit, then she would get to the safe area without getting lost over and over again - she looked around every couple seconds, making sure that she wouldn't be attacked. Eventually, they had reached the town and Dawn let out a sigh of relief.

So it wasn't a trick after all, thank Mew.

"Welcome to the Transforms! Good luck, and may the best win!" The Deerling said, before leaving her at the gate of the town. It wasn't exactly a large town, and she could probably compare it to Twinleaf, but it was just a safe area. Most of the competition took place outside safe areas, so there wasn't exactly a need for it to be big. She entered and immediately, the music that was continuously playing changed to a cheerier tone - she wasn't sure exactly why she noticed it, but she was a little bit on edge, trying to pay attention to everything.

"Okay..." she murmured, taking the chance to analyze her Super Pokétch more closely. "So it says here that I have 3000 Poké with me, so that's definitely enough to buy some apples and seeds." Dawn nodded to herself before starting to find the Kecleon Shop. She found it quickly - thanks to the complete map that the Super Pokétch had - and got what she needed, also obtaining a Silk Scarf for free after buying everything. She wrapped the scarf around her neck, and continued to traverse around the town.

The next destination was the training center so that she could bring up her level, even just a little bit. The building was in her sight as she continued to walk, and she knew it was the building she was looking for because of the signature Machop on it's roof. It looked a bit smaller than she would have expected it to be, but she knew that the training grounds were, well, underground, so the building above it didn't really need to be enormous. Poké

She passed by a bulletin board, and stopped walking to look at it from where she stood, admittedly a bit interested in all the various papers scattered and pinned on to it. Dawn moved closer to read some of the papers. "Please find an Oran Berry! Please, save my friend! Defeat that fugitive!" she read, trying to make sense of all the random headlines.

"Oh, that's the request board. It's a new feature in the Transforms, just an extra thing we've decided to include this year. That's not required to win though." The Deerling showed up again, which was weird mostly because the Pokémon had just randomly appeared beside her. "It might be fun to do though, if you have some extra time."

Extra time? Who would even have extra time for any CPU requests when they were battling fellow peers with the goal of becoming the best? 'But, it might be fun to do...' she mused to herself, staring at the multiple requests. Dawn thought back to some of the games she had played before, and she loved doing the side requests in all of them.

On one hand, she had to win the Transforms and find out what happened years ago. There was no time for her to be lazy about completing her mission.

But on the other hand... there had to be a reason for this request board to be here in the first place. It would have been idiotic to add something that had no use whatsoever. So, it was decided that she'd use - or waste - her time on doing some of these 'requests'.

"Okay, how do I do these request things?" she exclaimed looking at the empty space the Deerling had been in only moments before. "What?"

They should really make that Deerling a bit more helpful.

Dawn sighed to herself in disbelief before taking one of the papers from the board and placing it in her inventory, along with the rest of the items she had purchased earlier before. "Maybe I should just find the training area now... I'll figure out what's up with these requests later." she decided, continuing to go towards the training center.

-o-

Surprisingly, training was a lot of more fun than she thought it'd be.

There was a maze that she had to go through that was similar to the actual battlefield outside the safe area, and there was cool congratulatory music every time she defeated a Pokémon. There were also more tutorials on how to attack and some tips for those who had teams - although she didn't have a team, Dawn still listened to the tips anyways. And even though she had just gone through the maze a couple times, she didn't feel drained at all. In fact, she felt like nothing could stop her at all, and she was motivated like crazy.

Soon, she had felt as though she leveled up enough and she started to head back to the edge of the town to officially - for her - begin the competition. She had barely gotten outside the gate when she realized something was different. "This is weird."

The path was totally different from what she remembered. There used to be one straight path leading into and out of the town, and now it was replaced with a solid wall, and there were two paths on her left and right. "Right, this is why there are no permanent maps for these sections." she remembered, making a loud groan. Hopefully, her intuition would save her this time.

She decided to take the left path, feeling more determined than ever. She was prepared, with her raised level, those extra seeds in her inventory, and the scarf she wore. She found out some good strategies that she could put to use with both her moveset and the items she bought. She felt prepared. She felt ready. She felt like she could beat anyone.

Dawn encountered a few NPCs along the way, and was relieved when she learned that she could beat them easily. She battled more enemies, occasionally collecting the money and items that they dropped. After a while of battling the random NPCs that came her way - thankfully, she hadn't encountered any competitors yet - she took a break to eat an apple and an Oran berry to get her energy back. "I'm doing great so far..." she said to herself, finishing off the apple she was eating.

"We're totally going to win this!" she heard someone exclaim. Dawn froze in her spot, a chill starting to run down her spine. 'Am I really ready to face anyone in a battle? Just earlier, I was totally confident but now...'

"Of course we are." another voice replied. "You're in a team with me, so there's no way we could lose."

"Just shut up, Ursula." This voice was different from the other two, making Dawn worry even more. Just how many of them were there?

Dawn began to think to herself, remembering the strategies that she had come up with in the training center. Soon, she had regained her determination, but unsurprisingly, whatever team was near her had already moved on. She sighed in relief. "No need to worry."

And she didn't need to. She continued to make it through the dungeon, making her way down the staircases and fighting more CPUs. She felt invigorated every step she took, her hit points healing as she continued to walk, and even more so when she ate the occasional Oran berry. She was eventually able to take out most of the CPUs in a single hit and she had gotten to the "boss" of the level.

She eyed the Igglybuff in front of her, readying her first attack. Soon, the flames shot out her mouth - her Ember. The HP bar floating on the top of its' head showed that it had taken some damage, about a third of it knocked off. The Igglybuff responded with a Heal Pulse, and sparkles began to surround her for a moment, but it didn't do anything. Dawn gave a strange look at her opponent before attacking it with another Ember, the color of the HP bar changing from orange to red.

The Igglybuff then began to sing, and she could feel her vision begin to fade. Dawn wasn't sure how long it took, but when she was able to fight again, she groaned inwardly when she saw that the Igglybuff had managed to completely heal itself. Thankfully, her own hit points hadn't been significantly affected and she ate an Oran berry and instantly, she felt ready and raring to go once again. The CPU then used Heal Pulse once again, making Dawn a bit annoyed.

What was the point of letting this "boss" learn a healing move? Sure, it was helpful, but did the people in charge of this game have to make it easier than it needed to be? She sighed to herself. Maybe she had been expecting a bit more - although she would admit that she might have had a slightly challenging time defeating this thing if it used Sing more often, and thankfully, it didn't for the rest of the battle. Dawn used a combination of Quick Attacks and Embers, hitting the boss with all she had, and in the end, she was able to successfully defeat the Pokémon.

The Igglybuff disappeared through a portal and after the light from said portal disappeared, there was a treasure chest left behind - inside was just more Oran berries and some Poké. A popup window - that's the best way to explain it - appeared, asking her if she wanted to head back, two options marked 'YES' and 'NO'. She pressed the 'YES' option and found herself back at the town.

"So, that was easy." she said. When she thought about what she said, she felt a bit egotistic, but at the same time, it was comforting - for her, at least. She had been worrying too much about a lot of things, and if she could easily do some things in the Transforms, then she could definitely do other things. Dawn then remembered the request paper still resting inside her inventory and got it out.

"Please bring me an Oran berry!" she read again, smiling to herself. Well, she had tons of Oran berries.

She could probably spare one.

-o-

Dawn decided to stop by at the bulletin board again because seeing the NPC light up with happiness - no matter how programmed it most likely was - when she gave him the Oran berry motivated her to do more of the requests. This time, she picked out another paper which this time said 'Please bring back my friend!' She read about the area that the Pokémon in distress was located at and mused to herself on whether she would be able to do this request too.

Yes, she wanted to do it, but she wasn't sure that she would be able to, considering that she was in a competition currently and she already used her time to do one request instead of leveling up as far as she could.

A notification then popped up on the Super Pokétch, which said that the next section was available. "Was that Igglybuff really the big boss of this floor?" she muttered to herself, frowning as she read the details about the next section. The next floor was all about Grass Pokémon, which was pretty good for her, considering that she had a great advantage against that type.

She decided to go to the next section and went to find a portal in town that would bring her there, a bit surprised by how quickly the game was progressing, but then again, the length of the games could vary from year to year. Most years, the games would end within a week, and others could last for a month or even more. When she thought about it, it was really due to both the players and the people who designed the games.

For example, in one year, there could be endless floors and the participants would eventually battle each other, if only to escape being in the game. In another year, the field could just be one giant section with no extra floors and all the players would be forced into meeting their opponents. The players could also choose whether they wanted to meet their opponents quickly or to avoid everyone for as long as they can.

Dawn eventually reached the portal after asking a NPC where it was - she had been walking around the fountain in a circle while she was deep in thought - and entered through, temporarily seeing a faint green aura surround her before closing her eyes involuntarily. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a secluded room, surrounding her on three sides with brown walls. She took a sniff and instantly recognized the smell of pine trees, and of course she would, since her hometown was surrounded by them year round.

"So, I'm in a tree, huh?" she decided to start moving, a bit more confident than the first time she had entered the competition. She started walking around, occasionally picking up some Poké or some berries along the way. Dawn also fought a few NPCs, gaining some good experience as she did. She took a brief look at the Super Pokétch, which showed that she was now level 18. "Shouldn't I have evolved by now?" she said to herself, but decided not to dwell on it.

Eventually, she had reached the safe area of the section, known as "Ridt" and decided to just relax for a moment and looked around for the shop to buy some more equipment. As Dawn continued to walk around, she looked up expecting to see the branches of the pine tree, wanting to reminisce a bit of home. She was feeling just a bit homesick, even though it had only been a few days since she's been away. Then again, she did go on a journey for a few years but...

She gasped when she realized she was looking at the sky. It was a shade of blue - she didn't know a specific name for it, but she did know it was that shade of blue when the sun was going down. Looking upwards was like looking at an optical illusion because she was looking at both the tree and the sky at the same time, and Dawn smiled to herself, a bit confused but amazed with the sight.

After finding the shop and buying a Pecha scarf, which was essential since most Grass Pokémon tended to know Poison type moves, and a few Oran berries, she decided that she'd take some rest for the night. Ridt didn't have any resting stations so rather than staying in the restaurant - which also served as a resting station in a sense, but was more of a energizing station that would charge you up without letting you get to sleep - she decided to go back to the first section and get some sleep there.

-o-

That night, the sky exploded with a colorful display of fireworks - the show was splendid if she had to admit, but it was also an indicator of someone's death. The last few fireworks were shaped like Pokémon - an Axew, a Growlithe, a Cleffa, and an Illumise. "So, there's already some eliminations, huh?" she muttered to herself, looking at the sky as the colors faded. She was back at Larbanmo, deciding to take a rest at this "Pokéhotel" the safe area they had.

She walked over to the bed, a surprisingly comfortable pile of leaves. Just laying down in it surprisingly made her feel all energized again, probably one of the features that the programmers added in the game. "Mm, I wonder how Barry is?" Dawn hadn't seen him since the whole competition started. "He's probably okay." Barry, although a bit too much of the 'act before thinking' person, knew most of the time what he was doing.

'Will I be okay?' she thought to herself, moving a bit in a attempt to get more comfortable in the leaves. In the end, only one person - or team - was able to survive the Transforms, and it definitely wasn't guaranteed that she'd be the one to win the whole thing. She started thinking back to when her father first entered the games himself and how he progressed getting to the top ten before the Thing happened.

"You'll be fine." she spoke to herself, trying as hard as she could to be convincing for herself. "After all, there's no need to worry."

YEAH HERE YOU GO

I HOPE THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL GET OUT FASTER? OR IT COULD TAKE 3 YEARS NEXT TIME

WHO KNOWS IT'S A MYSTERY

also some random notes because i'm not sure it's mentioned in in the last chapter:

- new sections open up after the 'boss' of the floor has been defeated

- ok maybe that was just one note

- pls tell me of any mistakes you see in here! thank u

- have a great day