BEFORE BEGINNING THIS CHAPTER, I WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIZE FOR THE LACK OF UPDATES. THIS IS BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN BUSY WITH COLLEGE AND RECORDING MY LET'S PLAYS AND I HAVEN'T GOTTEN AROUND TO THIS FANFIC. ANYWAYS, HERE IT IS AND ENJOY!

EARLIER back when Bulbasaur and Mudkip visited the academy to see his former teacher, Sneasel.

"I'm thirsty." Bulbasaur says quickly.

"Oh just head down the stairs and turn right. You'll see a stream." Sneasel says to Bulbasaur.

"Thank you." Bulbasaur says quickly as he rushes out of the office.

Sneasel pushes his seat back and stands up. "Hey Mudkip. There's something I want to give you."

He walks to the back of the room and opens up a cupboard. Inside was a basket of a Rescue Team Official, which was used to carry food and other supplies.

Sneasel takes it from out of the cupboard and walks over to Mudkip, giving it to him.

Mudkip begins to smile. He had always wanted to carry the basket of a Rescue Team Official. His level of joy skyrocketed. He wanted to scream because he was so exicted by the fact that he was now a Rescue Team Official himself; but kept it in because he didn't want to make a fool out of himself in front of his former teacher.

"Thank you sir. This really means a lot to me." He said calmly, having a difficult time trying to hold in his exictment.

"It was mine back when I was on duty." Sneasel says, looking upwards at the celing, reminiscing about his days as a Rescue Team Official. "And now it's yours."

"Again thanks. Any way, I should be heading out now." Mudkip says to his teacher as he walks towards the door.

"I hope to hear from you again some day." The Sneasel says, holding a smile.

Mudkip nods and opens the door. He heads to the man-made stream to meet up with Bulbasaur.

PRESENT

Bulbasaur and Mudkip are outside of Tiny Woods.

"Well this is it." Mudkip says nervously, gazing at the inside of the Mystery Dungeon. It's ominious appearance made Mudkip a little afraid. He looks at Bulbasaur and asks "You got it?"

Bulbasaur nods. A basket is strapped onto the big seed on Bulbasaur's back.

"Let's go." Bulbasaur says, ready to enter the dark dungeon in front of them. He looks back at Mudkip who is shaking in fear. "What's wrong? You coming or not?"

Mudkip snaps out of fearful stare. "Yeah." Mudkip says.

The two enter the Mystery Dungeon.

TINY WOODS - Section 1

Paranoia struck the Mudkip the moment he entered the Mystery Dungeon. He was looking left and right and beneath his feet, waiting for any hostile ferals to leap up and kill him.

Bulbasaur asked Mudkip "Got any orders for me sir?"

Mudkip jolted in a fright the moment he heard his voice. Mudkip stuttered for a little bit before answering "Stay close to me and stay alert."

"Okay." Bulbasaur says calm.

"And stay quiet." Mudkip quietly snaps at Bulbasaur. "I don't want any ferals ambushing us."

"Yeah." Bulbasaur whispers.

Four minutes have gone by since they've entered the forest and there have been no signs of dangerous Pokemon. To Mudkip, it felt like an hour because he was so afraid.

Tears began forming in Mudkip's eyes. He started to think that becoming a Rescue Team Official was a bad idea. He had the potential, but he lacked the courage. Mudkip wanted to scream that he wanted out, but he was only able to whimper quietly "I want to go home."

Bulbasaur looked at his leader. He felt ashamed that the one in charge was the one who was scared and not the other way around. Bulbasaur was a little nervous but Mudkip was frantic.

He was too scared to even talk or blink. Bulbasaur decided that a pep talk would snap him out of it. "I understand it's your first time Mudkip. If it makes you feel any better, I'm scared too." He said trying to comfort the Mudkip.

"R-really?" Mudkip asked the Bulbasaur.

"Sure." Bulbasaur says "But the one thing you can't show is cowardice-which would make us look completely unreliable for the job. So can you stop being hysterical, or do we have to turn around and leave the dungeon?"

Mudkip wipes the tears from his eyes. "You're right Bulbasaur. I won't let my fear get the best of me. I don't want the leader Team Cyan whining like a little bi..."

Suddenly a Wurmple jumps right in front of Mudkip and tackles it, without any time for him to react. The Wurmple shoots a Poison Sting at him. It would have hit him, if Bulbasaur hadn't pushed it. Bulbasaur lashes its vine at the Wurmple any instantly kills it. The Wurmple's blood spills from out of it's neck spreading around the ground.

Bulbasaur grew astounded that we was able to kill that Wurmple in a single hit. He stared at the corpse, shocked by his power.

Mudkip walks up to Bulbasaur, terrified yet curious. "You killed that Wurmple in one hit. Who were you back then?"

Three more wild Pokemon appeared: a Sunkern, a Weedle, and an Exeggecute. They glare at the two.

They lunged at Bulbasaur and Mudkip. Mudkip responded by using a Water Gun on the Weedle. The sharp pain from the water stopped it in its tracks. Bulbasaur hits one of the Exeggcute with his Vine Whip; a thick, yoaky green liquid oozes out of its cracked corpse. The other two Exeggcute run away in terror. But Bulbasaur chases after them. They weren't getting away that easily.

The Sunkern attacked Mudkip using a Poison Powder. The purple powder covers the Mudkip, poisoning him. The pain from the poison was great. Mudkip began coughing, his skin turned pale, and bags formed under his eyes but he was still capable of fighting back. He tackles the Sunkern, wounding it. The Sunkern attempts to cover Mudkip with a Sleep Powder but he is able to avoid it. Mudkip feels something sharp, penetrating his left side. The Weedle stabbed him in the side, the pain from it with seering. Mudkip's poison grew even worse.

Mudkip thought to himself that maybe he wasn't ready. He knew that he was not going to die because he learned that he would be sent back to the outside of the dungeon if he were to be killed. But still the pain he was feeling was agonizing.

Bulbasaur catches up with the other two Exeggcutes and crushes them with his feet. Bulbasaur started screaming in a panic because his feet were covered in chunky, green blood. He sees the pathway to the next floor, but he has to meet up with his leader first.

A little far away from him, he is seeing Mudkip being beaten by these two ferals. Bulbasaur reacted by running straight back over to where he is. But unexpectedly when he was running went into a burst of speed, a violent white aura surrounded him. About half a second goes by, when he returns to Mudkip. He heabutts the Sunkern and grabs the Weedle by its tail. He throws the Weedle into a tree; its bones crack. As it fell to the ground, a dent of its body was made into the tree bark.

Bulbasaur went up to the Mudkip. "You look terrible." Bulbasaur unstraps the basket from his bulb and places it on to the ground. He opens it to sees a variety of items. He quickly searched around and discovered an Oran Berry and a Pecha Berry. He quickly takes them out of the basket and puts the Pecha Berry into the Mudkip's mouth.

Mudkip chews and swallows the berry. His pale skin reverts back to the way it was. The bags under his eyes are now gone.

"Okay, now eat this." Bulbasaur puts the Oran Berry into the Mudkip's mouth.

Like with the Pecha Berry, he chews and swallows it.

Mudkip gets back up like he was never hurt; the wound in the side of his body is now a scar, and he looks at Bulbasaur.

"Thanks alot." Mudkip says, proud of the Bulbasaur.

Bulbasaur smiles and nods. "I found the path to the next section. It's near by."

"Then let's go." Mudkip says.

TINY WOODS - Section 2

Remaining alert, Bulbasaur constantly observes his environment, waiting for any ferals to attack him or his leader. He remained alert for several minutes, but none appeared. Mudkip also stayed alert, but Bulbasaur could see the sheer terror on his face. He looked as if he were on the verge of having a panic attack. Mudkip was likely truamatized when he was ambushed by those ferals in the previous section or maybe he was trumatized by the fact that his subordinate was stronger than he was.

"Let's stick together, Bulbasaur. Stay close." Mudkip said, sounding like he was about have a breakdown.

"You sound like you're gonna flip. I know I'm the underling, but please calm down." Bulbasaur tells Mudkip.

A lot of things were going on in Mudkip's head. He was scared and at the same time, humiliated. Mudkip wanted to scold Bulbasaur and kick him off the team, but he knew he couldn't unless if he wanted Team Cyan to diminish. He tried to keep these thoughts to himself. He tried to keep his emotions under control, but he knew they would slip.

Mudkip shouted at Bulbasaur "Why are you so much stronger than me?" His feelings were a mix of fear, sadness, and anger.

"I don't know," Bulbasaur said "but please calm down."

"Calm down? Oh, so you want me to calm down? Is there any reason why I should? There's a lot of reasons not to." Mudkip's rage was building "You humiliated me, Bulbasaur! You, without effort, took down a bunch of hostile Pokemon and how many was I able to take down? Zero!"

After hearing Mudkip rant, he felt guilty. He looks down at the ground with sadness and says "This strength I have, it's not natural. Is it a gift or a curse?"

Bulbasaur spots an Aipom, ready to pounce on Mudkip. "Feral!" Bulbasaur shouts at Mudkip.

He quickly moves out of the Aipom's path. It sets it's sights for Bulbasaur and lunges at it. Bulbasaur, feeling upset, doesn't bother to evade it. He lets the Aipom scratch at him and kick him. Mudkip was startled by this. He didn't know what to do. He doubted himself. Should he let the Aipom beat Bulbasaur to a bloody pulp, or should he try to save him. Mudkip tightly shuts his eyes and makes his choice. Mudkip screams at the Aipom and then it stops harming Bulbasaur and goes straight for him. Mudkip boils with rage. The Aipom lashes at Mudkip; he evades every last scratch. It tries to hit Mudkip with it's tail, but he quickly dodges it. Mudkip headbutts the feral and while it's stunned, shoots him with a water gun. The Aipom has been weakened and it starts to flee. Mudkip is too infuriated to let this thing flee. He runs up to it and trips the Aipom with his headfin. Mudkip climbs on it's back and starts headbutting it in the back of it's neck. The Aipom squeals in pain.

"That's too harsh Mudkip, stop." Bulbasaur shouts at Mudkip.

Mudkip stares at the Aipom; the back of it's neck has blunt truamas and cuts. Mudkip gets off the Aipom. It remains motionless.

Bulbasaur walks up to the unmoving Aipom and places his front leg on the side of his neck to check for blood movement. "It's dead."

Mudkip starts breathing heavily and quickly. He was horrified by what he just did; he killed someone. It was a feral, but he still felt the guilt surge through him. "I killed it!" Mudkip said horrified.

"You did, but this Aipom is a wild creature. Sometimes you have to kill others to survive. That's what I learned, I think." Bulbasaur says to Mudkip, helping him cope with what just happened. "Take slow breaths. That'll calm you down."

Mudkip quietly says "Okay." Mudkip refused to breath through his nose, due to the nasty smell of death. He gulped the air, leaving his eyes tightly shut, so he doesn't have to see the corpse.

"It gets easier." Bulbasaur says. Something starts to bother him, but he is unsure of what's causing it. This had nothing to do with Mudkip screaming at him earlier.

Mudkip finally regains his composure and opens his eyes, only to see the corpse of an Aipom. "Rest in Peace, little guy." Mudkip said quietly.

"Let's get a move on. There's a Caterpie we need to save." Bulbasaur says to Mudkip, reminding him of there duty.

TINY WOODS - Section 3

Twenty minutes have past. Mudkip has gotten over his ordeal with the Aipom, focusing on the task ahead, even though he is still afraid. Mudkip was doing better then he was earlier, but Bulbasaur was a little off. He kept staring at the ground, just waiting to break into tears.

Mudkip notices his recruit acting odd. "Are you okay, Bulbasaur?" He asked Bulbasaur, noticing his sudden change in his behavior.

Bulbasaur looked at Mudkip, tears are rolling down his face. "I think I did something horrible." Bulbasaur wimpered.

"You didn't do anything." Mudkip said, speaking softly.

"It was before I lost my memory. I did something horrible, but I don't know what I did wrong." Bulbasaur grew frantic and laid down on the ground. His headache came back. The pain was so bad that everything faded out.

"...Hey...up...Bulbasaur pl...up."

Bulbasaur heard Mudkip's begging and he woke up. "How long was I out for?" He asked.

"A few seconds." Mudkip told him "I'm glad you're awake. You feel better?"

"Yeah." Bulbasaur said blankly, trying to figure out why he felt so guilty minutes before.

"The Caterpie is in this section, so we better take a look. Try not to run into the exit." Mudkip ordered Bulbasaur.

"Right sir." Bulbasaur set his focus on the mission.

"We stick together." Mudkip informs Bulbasaur.

The two began there search for the young Caterpie. While searching, Bulbasaur could do nothing but contemplate. He thought about why he felt so guilty. Maybe it was his subconcious trying to remind him of something he did. He tried not to think about it, but he was struggling to.

While Bulbasaur was trapped in his thoughts, Mudkip spots a feral Nincada, preparing to attack the duo. Mudkip shoots it with a Water Gun, harming it. He runs over to it and tackles it, killing the Nincada. Mudkip didn't feel as bad killing it, like the Aipom, but the minor guilt turned into surprise.

Mudkip was suprised that he was able to kill this feral easier than the last. He assumed that it was weaker, but then he thought; maybe it wasn't that he was weak. Maybe it was because he did not give himself a chance. He remembered when his former teacher, Sneasel saw potential in him.

Mudkip turns around to the distracted Bulbasaur. "Hey Bulbasaur, I think I figured something out." Mudkip notices that he is not paying attention and shouts "Your leader is talking is you!"

Bulbasaur snaps back into reality "Sorry, I'm trying not to think about what happened earlier, but it's not easy."

"That's fine." Mudkip said. "The thing is..." Mudkip was ready to tell Bulbasaur about his confidence issue, but he stopped himself. He thought that when he was ready, he could tell Bulbasaur about his issue. "Never mind." Mudkip said.

The two start to hear whimpering from the distance.

"You hear that?" Bulbasaur asks, suprised.

Mudkip replies "Yeah. Sounds like..."

Bulbasaur and Mudkip run towards the whimpering sound. Hiding in the bushes, was a small Caterpie. He was shaking, terrified. He assumed that these two were hostile ferals-being in a dangerous enviorment for so long, he thought everything and everyone there was trying to kill him. He tried to shout out "Stay away from me!", but he was unable to form a coherent sentence because he was so terrified.

Mudkip says in a soft tone, trying not to scare away the Caterpie "Hey little buddy, we're here to bring you home. We're a rescue team: Team Cyan." Mudkip flashed the badge at the Caterpie. "See?"

The young Caterpie comes out of the bushes, feeling relief. He climbs onto Mudkip's back and then shuts his eyes tightly, not wanting to see the enviornment around him.

"What happens next?" Bulbasaur asks Mudkip. "Do we leave the dungeon or is there any quick warp?"

"There is." Mudkip answers. "Flash your badge and we should be teleported out of this dungeon; all three of us. I have to as well."

Bulbasaur searches through the basket and finds his badge. "Got it." he says.

"Let's get out of here." Mudkip says.

Their badges flash a yellow light and soon the three were engulfed by the light. When the light faded, the three saw that they were no longer inside the dungeon, by at it's enterance.

Bulbasaur, astounded by what just happened says "Whoa, that's pretty awesome."

"Yep and all powered by psychic energy and our minds. All we need to do is complete a mission and then we can warp out." Mudkip informs the Bulbasaur. "Let's get him back to his mom. She might be at the Pelipper Post Office."

They hear a voice come from behind them. "Actually, I'm right here."

Bulbasaur and Mudkip turn around to see the Caterpie's mother, a Butterfree that is flying shortly off the ground, carrying a small sack.

"Mommy!" The Caterpie says, as he jumps of the Mudkip, onto his mother.

"I thought I lost you." The Butterfree says with tears of relief pouring out of her eyes.

Mudkip smiles. Finally, he had successfully completed his first mission. He turns to Bulbasaur and whispers to him "We did it." He notices that Bulbasaur is frowning at the parent and child.

Bulbasaur quickly starts smiling, not wanting Mudkip nor the mother to be concerned about him.

The Butterfree draws her attention towards the two. "Thank you, so much." She flies towards the Bulbasaur and Mudkip, giving Mudkip the sack. "The money's inside. It's all I can afford."

"Okay." The Mudkip says.

"Thank you, again." The Butterfree says. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Mudkip's level of confidence explodes and he says "Yes. If you have another problem, contact us and we'll be there as soon as we can."

Butterfree nods. "I'll see you soon then." Butterfree flies away, carrying her son away, back to their home.

As the mom and her son depart, Bulbasaur and Mudkip return home. Since they got their reward on the spot, there was no point in returning to the Pelipper Post Office.

Before that, Mudkip checked to see what was in the sack: 100 Poke. It wasn't much, but it was a good enough pay for their first mission. The two went on their way.

THE PLAINS

On their way to Mudkip's home, he asks Bulbasaur "Is there something wrong?"

Bulbasaur calmly says "No. Nothing's wrong. Let's get back home."

"I know you're putting up a Facade, Bulbasaur." Mudkip says.

Right at that moment, Bulbasaur grew infuriated. There was no point in pretending because Bulbasaur felt that Mudkip would persist until he got answers, so he gave him one "At least you have a family!" Bulbasaur shouts at him "Seeing that mother and her child hurt me. The connection between those two just made me jealous. I'm never gonna have a family. No point in finding them. No leads, nothing." Bulbasaur quickly regained his composure. "Sorry."

Mudkip froze for a second. He felt really bad for Bulbasaur and Mudkip thought that it was possible that Bulbasaur would never find his family again. He grew sympathetic for the Bulbasaur and wanted to lighten his spirit. "Well, it's a good thing that you told me; better to talk about your problems than holding him in. That's what my parents told me. Let's get home, I'm sure our mom's cooking something really nice for us."

"Our mom?" Bulbasaur asks. He knew that Mudkip was trying to make him feel better by saying 'our' instead of 'my', but to no avail. He still felt bitter from earlier. All that Bulbasaur wanted to do right now is rest and escape from his issues.

"I didn't mean to offend. Still, my mom's probably cooking up something nice-job well done." Mudkip said.

Bulbasaur felt that Mudkip was hiding a few things, so he asked "Are there any problems you'd like to talk about?"

Mudkip stopped moving, astounded by what Bulbasaur said. "No." Mudkip answered, as he started moving again.

Bulbasaur knew right there that he was a hypocrite. He was even urging to call him out on it, but he decided that he would wait and let Mudkip talk about his issues when he was ready.

The two proceeded home, to have lunch, and take an afternoon's rest.