I APOLOGIZE FOR THE DELAY. I HAVE BEEN BUSY WITH COLLEGE AND MY LET'S PLAYS AGAIN. ANYWAYS, I HOPE YOU ENJOY READING THROUGH THIS CHAPTER.
After a short night of rest, Bulbasaur wakes up to Mudkip shouting at him "C'mon wake up already! We've got a long day on our hands."
"Yeah, I'm getting up." Bulbasaur says before doing just that.
Bulbasaur was fatigued from exhaustion. He tried to go to sleep, but the ordeal he faced earlier rendered him paranoid. He tried to convince himself that the Mob wouldn't come after him; that they would only try to kill him, if he turned them into the police. The night passed and convinently, they did not come.
Bulbasaur notices that Mudkip still has his injuries and asks, with concern "Are you sure we should be going on a mission today? You're hurt."
"It's okay." Mudkip says "I'm gonna use the Mystery Dungeon's 'Quick-Healing' thing to my advantage."
"Clever." Bulbasaur says, before yawning loudly.
"You still tired?" Mudkip asks Bulbasaur "You came back pretty late last night."
"Yeah." Bulbasaur replies "But I'm still fit for duty."
"I like that dedication of yours, Bulbasaur. Come on; my mom's almost done with breakfast." Mudkip informs.
Bulbasaur nods and the two head downstairs for an early morning breakfast.
After their meals, the two head over to the Pelipper Post Office to choose their next mission. On their way there, Bulbasaur began to feel light-headed; the lack of sleep is starting to take a toll on him.
After arriving at the Post Office, they look at the corkboard to see that only one mission was avaliable.
"Just one?" Bulbasaur asked in disbelief.
"Not just any 'one'. Bulbasaur, this could be the death of me." Mudkip says, as fear slowly starts to consume him. He retrieves the envelope and shows it to Bulbasaur "Thunderwave Cave."
"We could always wait for more to come." Bulbasaur blankly says.
Mudkip grows annoyed and shouts "But the next batch of missions won't come for another three hours!"
"So what? We can wait and I can get some sleep." Bulbasaur says.
"After what happened yesterday? No; I'm not gonna be a coward anymore. We're gonna do this mission and I don't care if I get electricuted to death." Mudkip says enraged.
"Okay." Bulbasaur answers; to tired to argue with Mudkip.
"Let's get a move on." Mudkip orders.
Before heading to Thunderwave Cave, the two go to the Keceleon Shop to buy supplies. They had to pay with their parent's money, much to Mudkip's dismay. After buying the supplies, Bulbasaur and Mudkip begin their walk to Thunderwave Cave. They went south and it took a gruesome 45 minutes to get there; at least, for Bulbasaur anyway.
THUNDERWAVE CAVE ENTERANCE
When they arrived, they saw two worried Magnemite waiting outside the cave.
"Hey!" Mudkip shouts at them to get their attention.
The Magnemites acknowledge the shout, by looking at the two. Bulbasaur and Mudkip walk up to the duo and Mudkip flashes his badge at them.
"What a relief. You're finally here." One of the Magnemites says.
"Are you sure these guys are capable? One of them looks like they got their ass kicked in an alleyway or somewhere, and the other looks like he's high on jungle weed." The other Magnemite informs his friend.
Bulbasaur, in an instant, becomes irritated and snaps at them "I'm tired, you stupid, floating hunk of metal! You should be grateful someone's going in there, to save your stupid friend!"
Mudkip quickly intervenes "Uh, no need to worry guys; he's just cranky. We'll be in and out of there in a jiffy." Mudkip chuckles nervously, before turning his head to before "What are you doing Bulbasaur? You just violated one of the codes: never be rude to a client or clients."
"Maybe you should've told me that ahead of time." Bulbasaur barks at Mudkip.
"Y'know what, I should've." Mudkip says, before turning his attention back to the Magnemites. "Alright, I suppose the two of you could wait out here if you'd like. We're heading into the dungeon now."
"Yeah, good luck." One of the Magnemite said.
Bulbasaur and Mudkip head into the mystery dungeon, to complete their task.
THUNDERWAVE CAVE - Section 1
The two have been walking for five minutes, with no signs of aggresive ferals. Mudkip is growing nervous-anticipating that an Elekid or an Electrike will swoop in an fry him to death with a Shock Wave, or any other electric attack. Other than being nervous, Mudkip is glad that his injuries, that were afflicted by Plusle and Minun the other night, have been fully recovered. Bulbasaur is starting to feel dizzy; the lack of sleep is beginning to take a toll on him. Mudkip turns to look at him, growing concerned for his recruit's health.
Mudkip asks "Are you okay, Bulbasaur?"
"I couldn't sleep last night." Bulbasaur answers.
"What kept you up?" Mudkip asks.
Bulbasaur is growing irritated. He does not want to tell Mudkip about his truamatic experience: accidently running into the affairs of a mafia. Bulbasaur tries to change the subject and asks "We should be focusing on the mission, not on the past."
"You're kind of being a hypocrite right now. Tell me already!" Mudkip demands with a shout."
Mudkip's shouting attracts the attention of a Shinx, who is now crawling behind him, and ready to pounce.
Bulbasaur is too dazed to react, until the last moment. He shouts "Behind you!"
Mudkip only had enough time to turn around, when the Shinx lashed it's claws at his head. The pain was sharp and it left three cuts on Mudkip's face. The Shinx rammed Mudkip onto the ground. Bulbasaur grabs the Shinx with his vine and lifts him off of Mudkip. The Shinx bites Bulbasaur's vine; a surge of pain goes through him, as the Shinx kept it's grasp. The pain became more intense, as it's fangs go deeper into Bulbasaur's vine; he is able to tolerate it. Bulbasaur then swings the wild Shinx into the cave wall and cracks it head open; a crimson liquid is gushing out of the corpse's head. Bulbasaur decides to check his wound; a dark green liquid is pouring out of his vine.
"Mudkip, I'm bleeding fast! Help!" Bulbasaur pleas.
Mudkip runs over to Bulbasaur and checks the bag; he finds gauze and tape and quickly takes them out, placing it on Bulbasaur's wound and wrapping it up with the tape.
"That should stop the bleeding." Mudkip informs. "Are my injuries bad?"
Bulbasaur takes a second to look at Mudkip's scratches and answers "They're only scratches; nothing too serious."
Mudkip sighs in relief. Bulbasaur and Mudkip continue their search for the Magnemite.
THUNDERWAVE CAVE - Section 2
Eight minutes pass, when suddenly, a group of four Electrike come out of nowhere and shoot bolts of electricity at Bulbasaur and Mudkip. With no time to react, the bolts hit the two. For Mudkip, the pain is intense; he yells out a wail of agony. The Electrike pounce on the two, but before they could maul them, Bulbasaur blasts two of them with a Solar Beam, killing them instantly. The two remaining Electrike run off in terror.
Mudkip was astounded by what he saw: Bulbasaur managed to blast a powerful Solar Beam, without using the energy of the sun. He wondered how that was possible.
Out of curiousity, he asks "How did you do that?"
Bulbasaur collapses to the ground from exhaustion and starts breathing heavily. Mudkip rushes over to Bulbasaur and helps him back up.
"You alright?" Mudkip asks.
Bulbasaur nods; before nearly collapsing to the ground. "Don't worry; I'm good." he says, before breaking out into a yawn.
"We should keep going." Mudkip says "Those Electrike you scared off, they'll likely come back with more. They're the type of Pokemon who travel in packs."
Bulbasaur yawns again; he is now more exhausted than he was before. Bulbasaur is afraid that he will eventually collapse from exhaustion. He mumbles "Then we should get a move on; I'm not in the mood to get my face mauled by a hoard of hostile things."
Mudkip nods in agreement, but struggles to keep a straight face, due to how odd Bulbasaur's remark was. "Try not to work yourself too hard." He says, worrying that Bulbasaur will collapse from exhaustion and render him vulnerable.
THUNDERWAVE CAVE - Section 3
The two continue exploring deeper into Thunderwave Cave. The cave, at first, looked like an ordinary cave with yellow, glowing rocks that were merged into it's walls. The deeper they went, the cave's appearance began to gradually change. There were no longer lighted rocks apart of the walls, but floating, blue crystals that gave off small sparks of electrcity. Some of the crystals floated high, while some floated near the ground. The stalagmites and stalagtites were also producing electrcity. Occasionally, there would be small spikes of elecricity that would span across the ground the two were walking on, causing them a small, stinging sensatio; for Mudkip, the pain was slightly greater, though it did not bother him much.
One of the spikes of electrcity managed to tap Mudkip's side. "Ow." he responded, while he felt a painful sting.
Bulbasaur's exhaustion was worsening; he started seeing things that were not there. He saw what he thought was a Nosepass. He quickly rushed over to it and he cracked it's head with his good vine. It was only a quick second until he realized that he attacked a blunt stalagmite.
After witnessing what Bulbasaur did, Mudkip grew bewildered. "You attacked a stalagmite; you know that right?" He asks, worrying about Bulbasaur.
"I thought it was a Nosepass." Bulbasaur says; feeling ridiculous and starting to feel dizzy.
Bulbasaur walks over to Mudkip. He starts breathing heavily and his vision is slowly fading. He collapses from exhaustion; as he lays on the ground, he start to mumble.
Mudkip's bewilderment turns into terror and sadness for his recruit. "Oh no." Mudkip whispers; he starts to hear footsteps from behind him.
He turns around to see a wild Elekid; walking towards him. Mudkip is too terrified to move; he thinks that if he attacks it, the Elekid will electricute him to death-though he would simply be sent back to the dungeon's enterance. The Elekid kept walking closer and closer to him. When it was close enough to Mudkip, it did not attack him; it just stood in front of him. The Elekid looked at Mudkip like a curious animal, but then turns its attention to the fatigued, collapsed Bulbasaur. The Elekid walks up to him and starts poking his head.
Mudkip snaps out of being frozen in fear and shouts at the Elekid "Don't touch him!"
The Elekid looks at Mudkip and snarls at him; it goes back to curiously poking Bulbasaur. After a couple of seconds of being poked at, Bulbasaur eyes begin to open up slightly. He starts to mumble again; this time, it is more audible.
"Ches-" Bulbasaur mumbles; struggling to stay awake.
The Elekid picks up on what Bulbasaur is trying to say. "Chesto Berry?" it says curiously.
"Oh no." Mudkip says, as he begins to feel like not only an idiot, but absolutely horrible as well. He remembered buying Chesto Berries at the Keceleon Shop back at Pokemon Square, but something prevented him from thinking logically: boldness; at least, that is what he convinced himself it was.
Mudkip walks over to Bulbasaur and the wild Elekid. He gently pushes the creature out of the way; the Elekid snarls, but it in no way shows any signs of wanting to attack Mudkip. Mudkip ignores the Elekid and starts searching through the bag and convinently, he finds a Chesto Berry.
"Can you open your mouth?" Mudkip asks Bulbasaur.
Bulbasaur weakly opens his mouth. Mudkip places the berry into his mouth. Bulbasaur begins chewing; he can taste the dryness of the berry, but chews as much as he can before swallowing it. In an instant, Bulbasaur got back on his legs and any sign of physical exhaustion was gone.
Bulbasaur, still in a dazed state, says "Thanks. D'you mind if I tell you something?"
"Go ahead." Mudkip answers, expecting Bulbasaur to rant about why he didn't give him the Chesto Berry earlier.
"I'm not supposed to tell you this, but something happened last night that I wasn't supposed to see. I was at The Capital following Plusle and Minun, then I ran into..." Bulbasaur stops for a second before reluctantly telling Mudkip "...the Mafia. Plusle and Minun work for the Mafia. I couldn't sleep last night because I was afraid they would come and kill me, then you and your parents. I'm scared Mudkip; too scared to even focus."
After hearing what Bulbasaur said, Mudkip lets out a terrified wail. "The Mafia? What the fuck?" Mudkip yells at Bulbasaur, on the verge of having a nervous breakdown.
"Don't worry; I made a deal with them. They won't come after us as long as I don't tell anyone." Bulbasaur informs. "Mudkip; there are some moments in life where you have to keep secrets from those you care about to keep them safe. Don't tell anyone what I've just told you; not even the police."
Mudkip nervously looks at the ground and then back up to Bulbasaur. He says "I should be the one giving the orders, but I don't want my loved ones getting hurt. Fine; no one can know."
"Thank you." Bulbasaur says.
The two turn around to see that the Elekid that randomly stumbled by has left.
"He probably went farther into the dungeon." Mudkip assumes.
Bulbasaur nods in agreement and the two proceed onward. Suddenly, a Galvantula jumps down from above and lands in front of the two. The Galvantula shoots a web at Mudkip, trapping him in it. The Galvantula tries to do the same with Bulbasaur, but he evades it and lashes his vine whip at it's right eye and clocks it in the face with the same vine. The Galvantula falls to the ground and is rendered unconcious. Bulbasaur rushes to Mudkip and tears the silky webs off of him. Mudkid nods at Bulbasaur; proud that his recruit saved him.
A Tynamo sneaks up behind Bulbasaur; he quickly turns around and lashes his vine at it, quickly incapcitating it. Another Tynamo sneaks up behind Mudkip and bites his tail. Mudkip quickly turns around and blasts it with his Water Gun. Before the Tynamo could do anything, Mudkip knocks it out with a headbutt. Another three Tynamo attack Mudkip from above. Bulbasaur quickly grabs Mudkip with his vine and pulls him out of the way before they can do any harm to him. The Tynamo simultaneously shoot beams of electricity at both of them. Bulbasaur grabs Mudkip and jumps up, avoiding the attacks. Bulbasaur lets go of Mudkip after landing on the ground and he quickly runs towards them. Bulbasaur lashes a Vine Whip at one of the Tynamo, quickly knocking it out. Bulbasaur hits another one with a Seed Bomb, rendering that Tynamo unconcious, and finishes the third by jumping behind it and knocking it down with his front legs. Bulbasaur spots a swarm of Tynamo rushing towards him and Mudkip. Bulbasaur grabs Mudkip with his vine and starts running off at a high speed.
The two desperatly search for a way to the next section, where they can get the swarm of Tynamo off their tracks. More than once, Bulbasaur and Mudkip thought they had run into a dead end. Convinently, there were other paths they could go through. With sheer luck, they found the path to the next section and quickly rushed to it.
THUNDERWAVE CAVE - Section 4
Bulbasaur and Mudkip have managed to get away from the swarm. They continue searching through the dungeon to find the path into Section 5, where the Magnemite they have to save is located.
Mudkip spots something walking behind them: the Elekid.
"You again? Where'd you go?" Mudkip asks the Elekid.
The Elekid, however, does not respond due to a lack of speech and social skills. Elekid walks over to Bulbasaur and starts poking his head. "Chesto Berry." The Elekid says.
Bulbasaur grabs the Elekid's hand with his vine. "That's a no, no." Bulbasaur let's go.
The Elekid copies Bulbasaur "No, no." It goes back to poking Bulbasaur's head.
Mudkip starts chuckling "Maybe we could let him stick around; make him a recruit for Team Cyan."
"Maybe we should teach him how to stop poking my head first." Bulbasaur says, as he is growing a little agitated by the Elekid's persistent poking.
"No, no." The Elekid says.
Bulbasaur and Mudkip are amused by what Elekid said and begin to laugh.
Over eight minutes go by. Bulbasaur, Mudkip, and the Elekid are still exploring the dungeon. The three remain quiet and vigilent, but there are times when the Elekid curiously looks at Bulbasaur and Mudkip. This mystery dungeon was definitely more dangerous than Tiny Woods: there were some moments when the three were ambushed by aggresive wild Pokemon. Bulbasaur was able to handle some of the bigger ones with ease, while Mudkip and Elekid kept their focuses on the smaller, weaker ferals. The ferals came in small packs, some came individually, but overall, they were being ambushed much more often. Convinently, they had a third by their side: Elekid.
After being stuck in the fourth section for over twenty minutes, the three finally arrive at the enterance of the fifth and final section.
"Here we are." Mudkip says in a relief.
Bulbasaur nods and the three begin walking towards the enterance, when suddenly, something attacks them from behind: A Manetric. The Manetric bites the Elekid's leg and holds. Mudkip shoots it in the eyes with a Mud Slap, but it kept it's grip on the Elekid. It's bite got tighter and tighter; the Elekid's cries of pain grow louder and louder. Bulbasaur runs up to the Manectric and punctures it's eye with his vine. The Manectric's jaw drops and it starts to scream. Bulbasaur lashes his vines at it and the Manectric falls to the ground: incapacitated.
The Elekid limps over to Mudkip; blood is pouring from it's leg and it's color is starting to fade. Mudkip is truamatized by what he is seeing; he can't even form a single word. The wound that the Manectric inflicted on the Elekid was too severe to treat.
Mudkip remembered something he was taught in the Academy: if a Pokemon were to enter a Mystery Dungeon and die, it would return to the enterance of that particular dungeon. However, if that Pokemon stayed in a dungeon for a very long time-around a few months at least-that effect would be nullified.
The second Mudkip realized this, he knew it would be too late for that Elekid. He was bleeding out fast-much more than Bulbasaur earlier-and no amount of Oran Berries or gauze could stop it. He started tearing up and walked over to the Elekid.
He whispers into its ear and says "I'm sorry."
Mudkip couldn't bear to see it suffering, so Mudkip went into the bag and slowly grabbed an Iron Spike. Mudkip lunges the spike into the Elekid's chest, ending the poor creature's misery. After Mudkip pulls the spike out of it's chest, the Elekid collapses to the ground: dead. Mudkip looks at the corpse for a couple seconds, before tightly shutting his eyes; tears are pouring out of Mudkip's eyes and he weeps for Elekid.
Bulbasaur walks over to Mudkip and hugs him. "You did what you had to do." Bulbasaur says.
"The Manectric bit a major blood vessel in it's leg. I didn't want it to suffer." Mudkip says, feeling so melancholy. He breaks into a weep again.
The Manectric weakly gets back up on fours. There is blood pouring out of its punctured eye; the mud on its face makes its pain fester.
"You finish it." Bulbasaur orders Mudkip, as he picks up the blood covered Iron Spike. "Elekid died because of that Manectric. I think it's fitting that you kill it."
Bulbasaur hands the Iron Spike to Mudkip-his sadness turns into anger-and without hesitation, Mudkip throws it at the Manetric, penetrating it's skull. The Manetric screams in an agonizing pain briefly, before it too collapses to the ground.
"The Manectric wasn't the one who killed Elekid: I did." Mudkip says, relapsing into depression. "There's still a Magnemite to save though, and I'm not leaving this dungeon until the mission is done."
Bulbasaur grew a new found respect for Mudkip; he has finally found the confidence and determination he needed to be a fit leader. Mudkip may look depressed on the outside, but Bulbasaur knew that Mudkip wasn't afraid anymore.
The two turn to the exit of the section and proceed through.
THUNDERWAVE CAVE - Section 5
There were no ferals around for minutes, much to Bulbasaur and Mudkip's relief. They keep searching around the section, looking for Magnemite. Minutes pass and they eventually find it being attacked by a group of four Shinx.
"Hey!" Mudkip shouted at the Shinx.
The Shinx immeadiately attack Bulbasaur and Mudkip. Mudkip tackles the Shinx with ferocity and stomps on its head, incapacitating it. Another Shinx from behind lunges towards Mudkip; he hears it and quickly dodges the Shinx's attack. He blasts it with a Water Gun, forcing it into the wall, giving Mudkip a chance to strike. He runs up to the Shinx and bashes its head as well. Another Shinx lunges at Bulbasaur, but he counter attacks it by dodging left and uppercutting the Shinx; it is quickly defeated. The last Shinx tackles Bulbasaur, but he grabs it with his vine-more carefully this time, so he isn't bit again-and he picks it up, then smashes the Shinx into the ground.
After Bulbasaur and Mudkip handle the Shinx, they turn their attention to Magnemite, who is standing there immobile.
"We're here to rescue you." Bulbasaur informs Magnemite.
"That was incredible." Magnemite says, inspired by Bulbasaur and Mudkip. It asks "What rescue team are you?"
"Team Cyan." Mudkip answers, putting up a calm facade.
Mudkip summons a beam of light and the three escape the dungeon.
THUNDERWAVE CAVE OUTSKIRTS
After a successful rescue mission, Bulbasaur and Mudkip are on there way home.
"So, what's on tomorrow's agenda Mudkip?" Bulbasaur asks.
"Let's take a few days off." Mudkip says "I need some time to recover."
"I understand." Bulbasaur says.
As the two continue to their home, Bulbasaur and Mudkip hear someone yelling at them; trying to get their attention. They turn around and see the Magnemite they have saved and its two older siblings coming towards them. The other elder sibling is carrying a sack with its magnet-like limb. Bulbasaur and Mudkip walk over to them and they meet.
They stay quiet for a moment, before the older Magnemite says "I doubted you two earlier, but I guess I was wrong. Thank you for saving our younger sibling."
The other Magnemite says "You're a pretty reliable rescue team, though you don't look like it."
The other Magnemite gives Mudkip the sack; inside is about 700 Poke. Mudkip is suprised by this; a lot more money than what was given to him in the previous mission.
Mudkip looks up at the elder Magnemites and thanks them for the cash he had recieved.
"Wait." The young Magnemite shouts before Bulbasaur and Mudkip could have a chance to leave. "Seeing you fighting those Shinx has really inspired me." It stutters for a second before asking it's question "Can I join you?"
This comes to a suprise for both Bulbasaur and Mudkip: the Magnemite they had rescued now wants to join the two on their missions.
"I don't know if you should." Bulbasaur says, growing worried that if they allowed it join Team Cyan, it would probably wind up being put in danger again.
"I'm the leader of Team Cyan, so I make the choices." Mudkip barks at Bulbasaur before bringing his attention to the Magnemite "Welcome to the team, Magnemite."
As an homage to Elekid, Mudkip quickly allowed Magnemite to join their team. This time, he will make sure that it will not share the same fate as Elekid.