Mystery Dungeons - a staple feature of many a PMD story. It is always interesting to see how others incorporate them into their own works.
Let us delve in.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Altered Bonds
Chapter 4 — Into the Woods
This was a problem.
Vulpix chewed on her lip as a frustrated Lucario threw a metal-covered claw at the dense thickets sidelining the pathways. Strangely enough, not even a scratch appeared on the bark, nor did a leaf shake. It was like some undamageable barrier.
They had both tried wiggling through the gaps, but there was never enough space to get through — the trees seemed to lean in the way anytime they tried. The bark was slippery like a wet rock too, preventing any climbing. Except for that one dim, sinister path that led to the glade where Weavile disappeared using a strange orb, there was nowhere else they could go.
They had to delve into this terrifying… Mystery Dungeon. Or a Misery Dungeon? Her inner translator didn't quite get the phrase Lucario kept muttering, but the former seemed more likely. What kind of place was a dungeon anyway? It felt like she was stuck in some kind of unsettling mirror world.
Lucario gave up his futile attempts to attack the tree barrier, noticing her perturbed expression. Without warning a feeling of courage and peace blossomed within Vulpix's heart, the vixen taking a moment to absorb the foreign, fuzzy feelings.
"Lu?" asked Lucario.
Vulpix relaxed as she looked up at him. "Y-yes?" she said in Vulpix-speak, trying to puzzle out what he just said.
Lucario repeated himself — oh, that was the Pokemon term for 'better.' Pokemon speech was weird! Even though Lucario was only saying the syllables in his species name over and over, every little nuance in pitch, length, and emotion could create such a vivid meaning. Yes, he was asking if she felt better.
"Better," she replied, using the newfound word. Lucario nodded, eyeing the path to the glade.
Guess we got no other choice than to follow it, Eira, she told herself, tailing her guardian as he walked deeper into this so-called Mystery Dungeon. She had no idea what was going on, but he'd be there to keep her safe. He hadn't let her down so far.
Though sunlight continued to light up the forest, Vulpix couldn't help but notice the glow wasn't quite the same. The sun itself had an orange tint instead of the usual glaring white, yet the sky was as blue as ever. Not a root overstepped the boundaries of the pathway either, the trees arranged in a clear-cut line. Even the air felt unnatural, an eerie wind ruffling her curly hair.
It took some effort to keep her face straight when they reached the glade. Not much of anything was here, just the silent grass and watching trees, but three other pathways intersected with this area. "It's like a maze?" she said, starting to realize the purpose of the tree barriers.
A Mystery Dungeon was a labyrinth. Weavile had tricked Lucario into entering a mirror world labyrinth of the forest they'd been wandering in, and to get out, they needed to find an exit route.
Lucario nodded at her words, glancing at the different pathways. Vulpix took a moment to withdraw into her mind, needing a moment to process the craziness—
There was something alien in her mindscape.
Bewilderment overran Vulpix as she picked up on something stored alongside her innate knowledge of her moves, Ability, type, and Level. A neon red-purplish fog surrounded it, drifting chaotically in one place, and within it came a list of words and numbers in the form of standard Unown-script. As she stared, however, that script dissolved into a simpler form of Unown-script she could more easily read.
Sapling Woods, B1F. What? Was that the dungeon doing this to her?
Lucario gave her a questioning look before blanking out. A terse, startled grunt left his maw as he rubbed his forehead, and soon after his eyes glowed up with that aura power of his.
"You see it too?" Vulpix asked.
Lucario stared at her for a long time, perhaps to compare the foggy scene in his mindscape with her own, before giving a decisive nod. His glowing eyes darted toward something.
It scared Vulpix to no end when the jackal lost his composure, jaw hanging as a few tense words dropped from his mouth. What? Was something behind them? Please, no, she whimpered as she slowly turned around, her forehead throbbing. Not like this, not like—
A Caterpie.
That was it. It was a Caterpie, mindlessly crawling from one of the pathways toward them. Lucario was afraid of a green caterpillar Pokemon?
Vulpix almost threw Lucario a baffled look when the Caterpie locked eyes with her. One second later and she found herself rolling to the ground, a String Shot sailing past. Right after the Caterpie went low to the ground before leaping at her, and with a gasp she braced for its Tackle.
Lucario's Aura Sphere came first, imploding against the aggressive Pokemon. Caterpie fell limp to the floor, and Vulpix too lost her composure as the Pokemon flickered into nonexistence.
No, that wasn't her seeing things. It was literally fading away, wisps of neon red-purplish colors rising out of the body. The same color as the invasive fog in her head.
She didn't have time to comprehend this as something whacked her to the side. There, in the corner, a Pokemon with a yellow bulb-shaped head and a brown twig-like body had appeared out of nowhere, a long vine snaking out of one of its arms. It took her a lot of effort not to yell out as the Vine Whip came at her again, the attack slapping the grass beside her with a muffled snap.
Another one of Lucario's Aura Spheres and it was downed too, transforming into dying wisps. A shudder went through her guardian as the wisps ascended, fading away just like the body. "T-they're not real, a-are they?" Vulpix asked, her forehead pounding.
Lucario's expression had become unreadable, the light of aura gone from his eyes. "Lucario," he muttered.
Vulpix repeated the phrase over and over to herself before her inner translator kicked in. No aura. That was what he said — no aura.
They didn't have a living aura?
No aura, and they had the same color scheme as the words forced into her head, presumably by the dungeon. A dungeon called Sapling Woods, she realized, her forehead raging. A dungeon that traps people inside its mirror world, forces them to go through a creepy maze, and attacks them with illusionary Pokemon.
Did Weavile tell Lucario this was a Mystery Dungeon? Did the Kecleon tell him something? Worse thoughts began to run through her mind as Vulpix panicked. B1F, that's like a floor number for a building — there's multiple layers to this place? And what if—
No, it couldn't be. "Are there other Mystery Dungeons?" she asked Lucario, dreading the answer.
A slow, pained yes came out of his lips, and Vulpix felt her worldview tilt, her forehead screaming. The idea of it all! Here she was, stuck in an anomaly called a Mystery Dungeon, forced to find an escape route while contending with soulless, phantom Pokemon used by the dungeon to keep her from leaving, and there were multiple of these dungeons around in this secret region.
A region where no humans lived, only Pokemon with their own special society, and she was disguised as one for her own safety. What kind of world was this?
"I don't understand," she whimpered, her forehead in too much pain. A headache ravaged her mind — was it just her, or was this weird pink glow lighting up her face? — and she needed to set it aside. She needed to calm down from all these stressful thoughts.
So she tried to push the madness away, her face scrunching up as the pink glow intensified. Lucario said something, but it came a little late as something released within Vulpix's mind, ejecting the headache.
A ripple of pink waves expanded out of her head, imploding against a tree trunk. Vulpix and Lucario gawked at the resounding bang it produced, echoing throughout the dungeon forest, before glancing at one another.
The next moment emotions of relaxation doused her mind, Lucario's powers bringing her to a state of utter calm. "Thank you," she mumbled to him before rifling through her list of moves, stumbling upon a new one. Extrasensory? That was the Psychic move she learned from stressing out?
She tried calling upon the move, but for some reason it eluded her, refusing to show how to use it. There was this weird tingle, but nothing more. Maybe because she didn't understand the move's psychic's nature or something?
She asked Lucario, and he took a moment to think about it before putting up a paw, as if to ask him another time. Might be too complicated an answer for me to pick up on, translator or no translator, Vulpix surmised, shelving the problem. She could work out this strange new move another time.
Preferably after they found the exit to this disturbing mirror world.
Lucario began moving again, choosing one of the pathways at random, and Vulpix followed. What came next was a series of crisscrossing paths and clearings in the mirror world forest, laid out in such confusing, twisty patterns that it left her mind spinning. It was like traveling through an erratic corn maze, but there were trees everywhere instead of corn, and you couldn't just cut through them like an irresponsible child who refused to read the signs.
More phantom Pokemon got in the way, and Lucario had no mercy taking them out, turning them back into wispy essence. The encounters weren't too frequent, but they wouldn't stop coming. The good news? They weren't that dangerous as she had thought — once a Bellsprout managed to whip her with its vines, and a Caterpie had bit her another time, but the pain was bearable. Weavile had done much worse with a single scratch.
Things got weirder when she spotted a spiky red-yellow seed poking out of a patch of dirt. Lucario made a bemused noise when she showed him, the jackal pulling it out with care. Rather than be surprised, however, he looked at it as if it was an interesting bug he had caught.
He wasn't going to eat that, was he? It looked terribly sharp, and bad for digestion.
Lucario did not do that, of course, instead turning to a Pidgey that was flying toward them. One well-aimed toss later and the seed flew toward the brownish bird.
The seed blew up. No, actually, the freaky seed burst open in a conflagration of flames, destroying the poor phantom Pokemon and making Vulpix scramble back. Her eyes fell upon a rigid, gaping Lucario.
Her guardian huffed, rolled his eyes, and left.
The weirdness didn't end there — not long after they chanced upon a clearing with a staircase digging into the ground, descending into total darkness. Gray bricks surrounded the top of it and adorned its inner walls, making for an odd structure in the middle of nowhere. "The exit?" Vulpix mouthed, and Lucario gave her a shrug.
Only one way to find out. With a deep breath she stepped in, her guardian raising a brow at her bold move before joining her. It was weird, walking down these stairs as a quad-legged creature. It gave this sense of vertigo that twisted her sense of direction, as if she wasn't just walking, but also falling to the bottom.
Worry struck her as a grating noise rumbled, a sliding stone sealing up the entrance. Lucario spun around, but it was too late to back out. In a matter of seconds the pair were left standing still on the steps, drenched in pitch-blackness and waiting for the dungeon to do its worst.
Instead, it showed a little mercy — a stone door raised itself up at the bottom of the stairs, bringing in newfound light. Vulpix sighed, coming down to see what came next. Maybe there was a cavern down here, or an underground chamber to explore—
Her head imploded as she slowly stepped out of the stair passage. The forest, again? And that up there was the sky, no way! They just went into the earth! It was like they never left!
Nothing about this made sense. Vulpix gaped at the trees, brushed her paws against the grass blades beneath her, and took in the ever-so-perturbed noise Lucario made as he came beside her. Turning around, it didn't even faze her that somehow the stairway passage they came out of had vanished into thin air. They were in the forest, again!
I don't even know anymore, she thought, massaging her headache before it turned into another Extrasensory.
If it was any small comfort, the text within the red-purplish fog in her mind had changed: Sapling Woods, B2F. The stairs are the way out then, she guessed. That's how you progress through a dungeon and eventually leave it.
It would've been nice if they had that orb Weavile used to escape the dungeon early, but at least she knew they were getting somewhere. Feeling a little more sure of her situation, Vulpix gave the familiar thickets a once-over before awaiting Lucario's move.
The jackal was staring down a Pidgey aimlessly flying in a wide path up ahead, amidst the stretched out shade of the neighboring trees. A ball of aura began swirling in front of his paw when something seemed to cross Lucario's mind. "Lucario?" he said to Vulpix, pointing to the bird and canceling his attack.
Vulpix blinked before putting on an aghast look, realizing his intentions. "M-me?" she asked. "You want me to fight that? I-I don't know."
But her guardian didn't budge, still pointing. "Lucario?" he said.
It wasn't hard to tell what he said. "You don't know," she copied, before substituting the 'you' out of the sentence. "I-I don't know."
Lucario nodded with approval before gesturing again to the Pidgey. He took a step back.
And Vulpix stepped back with him. "Please, I can't fight like you," she argued. Aside from how uncomfortable she felt with having to fight and defend against someone else, she barely knew how to use her moves, and Extrasensory didn't even work the way she wanted to! She couldn't take on a Pidgey, she had no experience.
Which is why he's making you do this, Eira, a voice nagged at her.
It was clear Lucario wanted her to learn to protect herself. With a defeated sigh she approached the Pidgey, taking in a reassuring emotion of confidence Lucario sent her. She could do this. It was just a bird, and although she might not be that strong, she wasn't as frail as her human self.
Pidgey let out a disturbed squawk when its eyes ran over her, diving on instinct. Resisting the butterflies in her stomach, Vulpix zipped to the side, feathers burrowing into the tips of her fur coat. Okay, one thing she'd learned from this fight: sidestepping while on four legs wasn't that easy.
Another attack came, and then another, the bird continuously looping back to hack at her with its wings. How was she supposed to hit this thing? It was going too fast, landing a hit before turning back into the air and preparing for its next move. She couldn't swipe her paws at it or whack it with her tails, it was too hard—
Use your moves, Eira, her inner voice asked of her. Right, of course, how could she forget about Powder Snow?
With a deep breath she tapped on the icy energies of her move, then let her maw open wide. Powder Snow responded, a gust of cold wind carrying snowy pellets forward in a cone shape. Pidgey warbled in pain as bits of snow struck it, leaving frost behind on its wings.
Its response was to flap with fury, sending a Gust her way that knocked her off her feet, making her tumble to the floor. Her tails swished to and fro as she tried to pull herself together, aware the Pidgey might come crashing on her any second—
Her ears turned at the sound of a confused chirp, and Vulpix peeked over her shoulder. Pidgey appeared distracted, eyes stuck on the movements of her tails. Tail Whip works? she thought, amazed to find the move being useful after all.
Best not to waste the moment. Another volley of Powder Snow landed before Pidgey broke out of its stupor and dive-bombed her again, but now Vulpix was far more sure of herself. Its shape blurred forward, and she steadied herself.
Before Pidgey could strike she spun around, tails swishing forward with that odd energy that came anytime she used a move. It was a simple attack, but the feeling of impact against feathers and hollow bones wasn't something she'd forget for a long time.
The improvised Tail Whip settled the match, tossing Pidgey head over tail before dissolving into those red-purplish wisps. A breathless Vulpix watched them float away like a fleeting dream, before the sound of applause woke her up.
"Lucario," came the words of her guardian, giving her a thumbs-up.
Vulpix needed a repeat of what he said before it soaked into her head. "You di- I did it," she whispered, quick to change the wording. "I did it. I actually did it."
The thought of it brought a powerful warmth in her heart, driving out the cold, sinister vibes of this forested dungeon. She wasn't completely helpless. Maybe she didn't need to be so scared of this place after all, even at her level of strength.
Oh, that reminded her. "Level 4," she muttered, checking up on how her Level was doing. That was quite a jump. Fighting and using her abilities did apparently increase it, but what it exactly meant, she still didn't know.
"Do you know what Levels mean?" she asked Lucario, hoping he might a hint.
The smirk he wore implied that he did, but it was hard to explain, just like her Extrasensory. "Okay," she said, scratching an itchy spot with her tails before getting self-conscious at the action. "Uh, maybe you could help me understand? You know — um, learn some words?"
Lucario gave one of those chuckles an aging father would give his child before bringing up a lengthy topic. A few words came from his mouth, as if to say he liked the idea. The warmth in Vulpix's heart increased.
Again her guardian set off toward a path, Vulpix trailing him and ready to learn. They'd get out of this weird dungeon place, and in the meanwhile she could learn more of the language, and maybe even practice her moves on the Pokemon husks. She didn't like having to fight, but they weren't that bad to deal with.
Better than Ariados, that was for sure.
Sapling Woods, B3F, Lucario noted as he exited the stairway passage, looking over his shoulder to find it gone, Vulpix appearing to emerging from literal nothingness. All around them was more forest and greenery illuminated by a false sun, despite the fact that they obviously just went down a 'floor.'
"Weird," he said, his voice dry. "Everything about this is weird. Really weird."
"W-weird?" said Vulpix, managing to pick up the word. "Um, yeah, weird."
Lucario gave a humored shake of his head. Between the strange mazy layouts and the way the stairs worked, not to mention the vicious not-Pokemon, it was clear dungeons loved to trample on the laws of spacetime until they were finely crushed grains. And then eat those grains, because why not.
At least it wasn't as dangerous as he feared it'd be. Might be a stroke of luck, Weavile leading me into a dungeon with low-Level Pokemon even Vulpix can fight, he thought to himself. A part of him still flared at the thought that the thief evaded capture by taking advantage of a freak anomaly that just so happened to be in the middle of the woods, but it was what it was. His desire for justice would have to go unfulfilled on that matter.
Seeing Vulpix progress with her vocabulary was enough to offset his annoyance with Weavile, anyway. "There," she said in the Pokemon language, pointing at a green bulb-like plant Pokemon whose head was shaped like an onion, three leaves sprouting out. A Petilil.
It hadn't seen them, wandering in the opposite direction. Lucario took a moment to bring up his aurasense, squinting at the lack of aura the false Pokemon had. To be fair, it did have a spark of aura — all things did — but not the concentrated aura that a truly living thing would have. Even an artificial Pokemon had a proper aura, complete with emotions and thoughts to discern, but not these things.
There was, however, something else that Lucario sensed, a strange energy that perhaps fueled the phantom. The red-purplish wisps? The dungeon Pokemon did appear to be made out of them. Was there some special aura linked to those wisps?
He readied an Aura Sphere, intending to see for himself when a peculiar sight caught his eye: a living, gray blob of aura, far up ahead and bouncing around. The zigzagged path Petilil was taking appeared to be headed in a similar direction.
Another Pokemon's in this dungeon with us. Lucario let the Aura Sphere fly and take out the Petilil, finding the wisps that emerged did feel similar to the energy he sensed. Something told him the energy was tethered to something else, but he couldn't tell what.
But that wasn't so important right now. Another Pokemon's in this dungeon with us.
Asking Vulpix to come, he went down the path and after the gray aura, trying to make out what this Pokemon was. Shaped like a fish, it impressively stood on its underside, flopping and leaping like mad but never toppling. A Goldeen, on land? But the shape was different, closer to that of a Magikarp or a—
The fish slammed into something, sending a Caterpie around a bend and into the twisted path he and Vulpix were in. It soared into the nearest tree, flopped over, and broke apart into red-purplish wisps. "That's another," a feminine voice said.
Lucario peered past the bend in the pathway and scowled at a clearing chock full of phantom Pokemon.
Caterpie and Petilil crawled about, Bellsprout flicked their vines, and Pidgey flew in circles. A Weepinbell also was present — a large, legless bell-shaped Pokemon with a huge mouth and leafy hands that evolved from Bellsprout. Its Level seemed significantly higher, its attacks more lively and stronger-looking than that of its brethren.
In the middle of it was a blue-finned fish with a light brown body covered in dark hideous markings, fighting against the swarm with well-executed leaps. Twisting to the side, she escaped a Caterpie's String Shot and went under a Vine Whip, slamming her weight on a Petilil unfortunate to be underneath it. She sprung off the dizzy foe, stomping on the Weepinbell before slipping away from the Acid it spat out. How it kept landing on its underside, being a fish out of water, he had no idea.
A Feebas, he thought with awe. The scrappiest Feebas I've ever seen.
The Feebas spotted him then, slapping a Caterpie away with its tail and headbutting a Bellsprout. "Oh, hey," she said in a relaxed manner, dodging white spores from the Weepinbell and spinning away from the breeze of a Gust attack. "You mind giving me a hand? I've been stuck here for the better part of last night and I'd rather not get knocked down again."
Lucario and Vulpix looked at each other. The same ready expression appeared on each others' faces.
A barrage of Aura Spheres and Powder Snows followed, pelting the phantom Pokemon and reducing their numbers. Feebas steered clear of the friendly fire, leaping toward any stragglers to finish them off. Weepinbell lasted the longest and tried to fight back, but that only got Lucario and Vulpix to target it.
It wasn't long until it was covered in markings and ice flakes. Feebas rammed it for good measure before removing two remaining Caterpie from the field. They all faded away and joined the haze of wisps drifting in the air, a display of the number of phantoms defeated.
Where more than a dozen Pokemon had appeared, now none remained. "That was a lot of them," Lucario noted, folding his arms.
"They do that sometimes," said Feebas, hopping over. "Think it's one of the features of the Sapling Woods dungeon — the Pokespawn like to swarm together every once in a while. Not a true Monster House, but similar."
Woah woah woah, a Monster House? That sounded like a nasty trap. And the dungeon Pokemon were called Pokespawn?
"Anyway, thanks for the help, it would've taken me way longer to get rid of all those guys on my own." Feebas arched an eye. "You entered the Mystery Dungeon by accident, didn't you? You two don't look like an explorer team. How much do you know about them?"
"Well, uh—" Lucario's eyes involuntarily turned to Vulpix, who slinked behind him. "Not much. Kind of a first for us."
"Well, same here. Vulpix's a shy little one, huh?" Feebas gave her a little wave with her fin. "I guess most people have to end up in a Mystery Dungeon at some time in their lives. Pocket-dimensions that force you to go through floors of ever-shifting mazes, with stairs connecting the floors? Pokemon constructs and traps whose purpose is to keep you from escaping, and various items lying around to help you fight back? Rings a bell, doesn't it?"
Sounded right to him. I suppose it makes sense that dungeons can rearrange their labyrinthine floors, he thought, shaking his head. "And there's also that mist I believe the dungeon puts in your head, along with the dungeon name and floor."
Feebas nodded. "Yep, that's the basics. Shall we get out of here then? Believe it or not, I've been stuck here for a long while, but the Pokespawn won't be much of a nuisance between the three of us."
Lucario turned to Vulpix with a smile, and she smiled back in understanding.
The action alone was an answer in and of itself. "Cool," said Feebas. "I'm told Sapling Woods has four floors, and since this is the third, we should be out in a jiffy."
That was a relief. Lucario conveyed this to Vulpix using his fingers, the vixen nodding at this. Her eyes narrowed as they fell on the fish Pokemon, bouncing down the nearest pathway without looking back.
"She… can?" said the kid, before huffing in and out.
"Breathe?" Lucario snickered to himself. That'd be a fun topic to explain.
Onward they went, wandering down curved pathways, doubling back on dead-ends and exploring more clearings. Pokespawn, if that was what they were called, would pop out from all sorts of places to ambush them. All of them were stopped within seconds.
His eye kept drifting to Vulpix, her jaw clenched as she kept watch for any more attacks. Extrasensory, a thought ran across his mind. A painful Psychic move she learned from mental pressure, one she normally wouldn't come across at her current stage.
It shouldn't be surprising she stumbled upon her latent psychic powers in this way — the poor kid had been going on an adventure and a half. He was no psychic himself, but maybe he could help her work out the kinks once they leave the dungeon.
"So is there any way to tell where the stairs are?" he asked Feebas. "Cause it seems like we're just moving in circles."
"Yeah, that patch of land there does seem familiar." Feebas turned to a side path, narrow and with gloomy, twisted shade. "And no, you can't tell. Unless you've got some power to see the surrounding land or something, the best you can do is keep searching and remember where you've been."
Lucario took out his disappointment on a Petilil, blasting it away with Aura Sphere. "Makes one wonder why these dungeons should exist if they're this cruel."
"Oh, they're not all that bad," Feebas stated, cracking a smile. "Most dungeons have marked boundaries, so you won't just wander in by accident. They're good for training your battle skills, and they can produce lots of neat items. See that right there?"
Up ahead was a brownish orb lying in the grass, an image of an outstretched claw suspended within. It was small enough to fit in his palm, but Lucario didn't quite pick it up — the moment his fingers touched it, a pulse went through his mind. What?
Information coursed through his head. A 'Mug Orb?' he thought to himself, sensing a mental trigger to activate it. He retracted his paw, and the trigger vanished. When Vulpix showed confusion at his antics, he bade her touch the orb herself, and startlement etched across her face as its power invaded her mind too.
"Yeah, a Mug Orb," Feebas commented. "Think those ones can be used to snatch belongings off someone else, like using the move Thief or Covet."
The orb already told him as much. Okay, not letting anyone use that on Vulpix, he told himself. "Vulpix and I found this explosive seed too, back on the first floor."
"Red-yellowish and spiky?" Feebas took in Lucario's nod with a thoughtful face. "Should be a Blast Seed then, those things are combustible. There's all sorts of seeds, orbs, and other magical goodies dungeons can conjure. Some dungeons can produce far more special items, like treasures, power-granting objects you can wear, and even evolutionary stones. There's people who make a profit through them, especially the infamous Kecleon merchants."
Well, didn't that tip over Lucario's opinions on dungeons — maybe it was worth the risk if he could use them for a living. "Still seems dangerous though," he remarked. "I don't think I'd want my life on the line, even for a good payday."
Feebas shook her head. "You really don't know much about Mystery Dungeons, huh? They don't kill anyone, just beat you up unconscious before evicting you. Sure, they steal some of your belongings and scatter them across the floors as punishment, and I'm told you'll feel like you got run over by a diseased Mamoswine for the next few days, which is why people would rather hang tight and get saved by explorer teams, but that sure beats dying."
That last part didn't quite reach Lucario's ear as his eyes fell on Vulpix's white wristband, complimenting the color of her fur. Oh.
Great.
Instead of death, the dungeon would instead take that off her paws.
"Like I said, you'd have to be badly hurt in a dungeon for that to happen," Feebas added, seeing Lucario's grim expression. "Like, so hurt that you can't recover, and with no one around to help. If you go down but manage to hold on, the Pokespawn will ignore you until you're able to fight again, and you won't lose anything. Vulpix won't lose her wristband."
Well, maybe it was worth it after all. So long as we're careful, Vulpix and I could both traverse Mystery Dungeons, he thought. A possible source of income, and a way for Vulpix to apply her moves on actual foes, making her a better fighter. Maybe we should find an explorer team to join?
Not that bad of an idea. It was weird for him to say this, but dungeons were growing on him. "Should we take the Mug Orb?" he asked Feebas.
She slapped it away with a fin. "No point. It's not worth much, and Sapling Woods's Pokespawn aren't smart enough to carry items for us to steal."
It took some more searching, but after a while the group came upon the stairs, sitting in the center of a sunlit glade. Feebas hopped in, and Lucario and Vulpix went after, the entrance closing in their wake. Right after, light poured in from the bottom as the exit door moved out of the way, allowing the group to see—
Vulpix made an odd noise through her teeth. "Wait, this isn't a maze," said Lucario, scratching his head.
No trees stood guard in this place, only appearing at the edges of what looked like a giant field in the shape of a perfect square. Grass covered every inch of the expanse like a short layer of fur. As Lucario looked around, he caught sight of a low-lying structure made of worn bricks — the final flight of stairs, a good distance away from here.
But seriously, what was up with this place? "Is Sapling Woods supposed to look like this?" he asked Feebas. "Like one big, flat space? It's almost too easy to get to the stairs on this floor."
The brown fish was just as lost as him. "Not sure, this is my first time in a dungeon after all," came her answer. "Maybe another special feature of this Mystery Dungeon? This is supposed to be the last floor, so it could be something—"
Her words trailed off as clouds of red-purplish mist appeared at random all over the field, condensing into themselves. One of them shuddered before breaking into smoky particles that rose into the air, leaving in its wake a Caterpie. The Pokespawn instantly set its sights on them, crawling with enraged speed.
The other clouds acted the same way, leaving behind more unusually hostile Pokemon in their wake. "Ah," said Feebas, folding her lips. "I mentioned Monster Houses before, right? I think this is an unavoidable, one-floor Monster House."
Vulpix buckled as a few Weepinbell gave out ear-piercing shrieks, hopping toward them at full speed. "Huh," Lucario muttered, watching all the Pokespawn converge on their location. There had to be at least twenty-four of them.
Yeah, he wasn't dealing with all of these dungeon 'mons. "Feebas, Vulpix," he ordered, pointing to the stairs. "Now."
While Vulpix braced herself to run, Feebas was hesitant. "I mean, I'm not that quick, and we might do better if we just fight them—"
An Aura Sphere shot out of Lucario's palm and took down an incoming Pidgey. "Just go, I'll make a path," he said, moving into action.
More spheres charged up and fired away, imploding against the Pokespawn in a show of sizzling energy. The Pidgey being the fastest, they were first to be removed, followed by Caterpie and Petilil.
Much to his disgruntlement, one of the Weepinbell accelerated its pace, leaping in front of him to guard the stairs. It seemed to be readying a spore-like move, but not in the mood for status effects, Lucario blurred into the enemy with a Quick Attack. One moment later he was wrestling with the plant Pokemon, Acid spraying out of its mouth and harmlessly coating him.
"Poison," scoffed Lucario, a bone of aura conjuring in his grip. With it he bludgeoned the Weepinbell, whacking it until it fell limp. One less problem to deal with.
He immediately moved on to the next closest target, a Bellsprout out to avenge its illusionary sibling. It never got the chance, an Aura Sphere defeating it in the blink of an eye. A quick check on Vulpix and Feebas showed they were close behind, and the stairs weren't far—
The Weepinbell he thought he got rid of turned to its side and spat out a purple powder.
Vulpix had time to react and rolled out of the way, but Feebas wasn't as ready. Mid-leap, the powder still got her, sprinkling all over her scales and leaving her gagging. It was the first time Lucario ever saw Feebas flop to her side, looking mildly ill.
He rushed forward, placing his body in front of Weepinbell and absorbing the rest of the Poison Powder with his Steel-type immunity. Right after he grabbed the cruel creature by its giant lips, forcing them shut, and flung it into the nearest approaching Pokemon with all his might.
"You forget to make sure your foe's as good as downed for one moment, and this happens," he hissed to himself before dusting off the powder, turning to Feebas. Despite her discomfort at being around a stranger Pokemon, Vulpix was crouched beside the fish Pokemon, worried for her well-being.
Luckily, it seemed Feebas hadn't been hit with that much powder. "Can you manage?" he asked, firing a quick Aura Sphere at another Petilil.
Supporting herself with her fins, Feebas managed to stand on her underside again. "Just peachy," she replied with a calm smile, coughing once. "But we should hurry."
And they did so, Lucario firing Aura Spheres at the remaining Pokespawn while Vulpix sprayed them in Powder Snow. Two Weepinbell got dangerously close, and Feebas managed to slam the first one away even in her poisoned state. The other spat out a yellowish Stun Spore, but with one last burst of speed the group managed to dodge it, diving into the stairs.
Never was Lucario so relieved to see that stone lid covering up the entrance, separating them from the Weepinbell. "There," he breathed. "Last floor conquered. We did it."
He caught a glimpse of Vulpix nodding before the darkness overtook them. "We did it," she quietly repeated.
Feebas murmured the words too before coughing again. That poison could be a problem in the long run — it certainly wouldn't kill her, but it could take a few hours to recover from.
"Oh yeah, about the poison," said Feebas as the way out opened up, and both Lucario and Vulpix were astonished to find she was healthy again, with no sign that she'd been suffering before. The powder had disappeared like magic. "It's a weird but neat thing the dungeon does: anytime you go through the stairs, you get cured of any and all afflictions. That means burns, poisons, paralysis, confusion, even effects that hamper your strength, defense, or speed."
Well. That was nice to know.
Lucario stepped outside, rejoicing as he found himself back in the normal world again, the forest returning to its proper appearance. The trees were livelier-looking and not as bunched up, and a Metal Claw showed that he could peel the bark off them just fine. The air no longer felt as stale, and a proper sun hung over the foliage, bathing the place in natural warmth. Was it him, or had the sun risen a notable amount?
Guess we were in there for longer than I thought. Looking over his shoulder, Lucario found amusement in Vulpix dropping her face into the grass, frosting it with a weary exhale.
"Yeah, it's good to be out of there, thanks again." Feebas propped herself against a tree, shooting Vulpix an understanding look. "Dungeons can be a little scary when stuff gets out of hand. You guys okay?"
Understanding the last sentence, Vulpix peeked out from the ice-coated grass and gave a terse nod, going back to hiding behind a further amused Lucario. "Thank you too, you weren't that bad," he said.
Feebas shook her head. "I didn't do much to help, you two had it covered."
"Maybe, but you did help me understand dungeons some more." Lucario took a moment to sit down, taking in the natural scenery again. A quick check on his mind showed the red-purplish mist in his head was gone, a final confirmation that they had left Sapling Woods.
Dungeons could be dangerous, that was for sure, and not to be underestimated. They seemed to be a challenge of endurance, and the slightest slip-up might lead to some nasty consequences. He and Vulpix would need to keep their wits about if they were to explore those weird places.
Because the way he saw it, they definitely were going to enter more of them in the future, by accident or on purpose.
"We should get going, I guess," he said, looking around. "Sheesh, how's anyone supposed to tell where Sapling Woods begins? It would be plain awful if we were to escape that place, only to wander back in."
"They really should send explorers to mark it." Feebas waved her fin at a spot where the woods seemed shaded for some unknown reason. "But that looks like the area where you'd get sucked into the Mystery Dungeon. I should know, I kind of came here searching for it."
Lucario batted an eye. A Feebas, intentionally walking into a dungeon with Grass-types. "What."
Feebas began to rub her fins together. "Um, yeah, I meant to go inside. I was always fond of trying my fin at dungeon exploration, but I haven't really entered any before. I came here around the time that a freak storm whipped up, wanting to get some first-hand experience—"
Okay, something about this sounded stupid to him. "I know you said you were in there for the better part of the night, but for that long?" he barked. "No, hold that thought, you dared yourself to enter a dungeon without being sure if you could make it out?"
Maybe Feebas wasn't the fastest at bouncing around on land, but boy, could she rub those fins like nobody's business. "I mean, I know my kind aren't that strong, but that's never been an issue for me. I was certain I could take on whatever the dungeon threw at me by myself, and for a while, I did—"
"Until a swarm got you?" a voice butted in.
Vulpix jumped behind Lucario, whose head whirled around to find a familiar Gabite leaning against a tree. A bag was slung over the dragon-shark's shoulder. In his one-fingered claw, he tossed an odd-looking metal object that looked like some kind of emblem, showing impressive dexterity for someone who didn't exactly have hands.
Togetic hovered nearby with a sad smile, though Lucario thought he saw a trace of amusement in the angelic's face. Shaymin was there too in her flying reindeer form, smugly watching from atop a branch.
Feebas locked eyes with the emblem Gabite was playing with before noticing the reindeer, her brows creasing. "A Mythical?" she said with uncertainty.
Shaymin's expression fractured. "Of course that's the first thing she's gotta point out," she said with a roll of her eyes.
"Oh, my bad, I didn't mean—"
"Nah, you're good. Still a better response than those Pokemon who start squealing and poking their limbs into me or whatever." Shaymin gave a wink to Lucario, making Feebas blink at the familiarity between them.
"She attempted to run me over like a diseased Mamoswine," he muttered, giving Gabite a questioning look.
Gabite stepped forward, beckoning Feebas over. The fish Pokemon did so, and Gabite brought up the emblem he held. In a way, it kind of reminded Lucario of a Pokeball, but with a red bulge instead of a button at the center and wings sprouting out of it. A bunch of other buttons seemed to adorn the object.
The bulge glowed out of nowhere, and a yellow outline enveloped Feebas for a moment. Gabite gave a nod before speaking.
"As I was saying, a swarm of Pokemon got you," he told Feebas. "Those usually are what trip up anyone who enters the Sapling Woods dungeon, alongside Weepinbell when they start abusing their status-inflicting moves. They left you on the verge of falling unconscious, didn't they?"
"Yeah, it took a while to recover. I was careful never to take a hit after that, but all those Pokespawn made finding the stairs hard." Feebas's face turned a tad apologetic. "There was a request from Hattrem?"
"That was our client, all right." A smirk crossed Gabite's face. "A close friend, I take it?"
Feebas nodded. "She must have deduced what happened. I'll have some apologizing to do when I get back to Lakehome Town."
Gabite eyed Togetic for a moment. "Well," the angelic Pokemon spoke up, "it's good you're no longer stuck inside. If you really want to explore dungeons, you should do so with utmost caution, or you'll find yourself falling unconscious at each and every turn. Bring a partner next time, okay?"
"What she said," said Gabite. "Take it from me, going solo is a rookie mistake. Either you end up stuck in a Mystery Dungeon, waiting for someone to help you out, or you get evicted with a nasty bout of Dungeon Plague." A shudder went through his spine, as if reliving bad memories.
Feebas nodded in understanding. "The explorer emblem should have registered that you're safe and outside the dungeon," said Togetic, "so you're free to go. Should we return to the dirt trail?"
They did just that. Gabite and his party moved ahead, with Feebas hopping along and Lucario and Vulpix lagging behind. "They?" the kid whispered to him, pointing to the trio, then to the dungeon's general location, and finally to Feebas. Right, she didn't know they rescued people in dungeons for a living.
He responded with a yes, leaving her with an intrigued look. The way it sounded, Gabite's explorer team had a job to rescue Feebas from the Sapling Woods dungeon, but he and Vulpix accidentally beat them to it. All because of him chasing a Weavile.
Fate had a strange way of working.
Soon enough the group came upon the open road, a brown line stretching through the greenery of the forest. Feebas gave Lucario and Vulpix another word of thanks before going on her merry way, hopping into the distance.
Lucario brought his attention upon the explorer team once she left, the two parties staring for a long while. "So this is awkward," said Shaymin.
Gabite let out a snicker. "Not where I thought I'd meet you two again, but no matter," he said. "You doing our job for us, eh, Lucario? Whatever lured you into the Sapling Woods dungeon?"
Vulpix hung behind the jackal Pokemon as he gave the group a summary of what happened. "Weavile, huh," said Gabite, tapping his chin. "Smart thief, using the dungeon as an escape route in case of pursuers. I should have guessed he'd be around."
"They really need to put up a sign or something to mark where Sapling Woods is, it catches too many poor Pokemon by surprise," stated Togetic.
Shaymin and Gabite bobbed their heads in agreement. "But never mind that," Gabite went on. "I appreciate you and Vulpix finding Feebas and getting her out. We may be the ones who took the task of rescuing her, but since you're the ones who completed it, I believe this should be yours."
Putting away the explorer badge into his bag, he pulled out a handful of shiny coins with what looked like a Pokemon shaped like a 'P' on it. Lucario stared at them with raised brows, realizing this must be the archipelago's currency. Vulpix took notice too, her eyes blinking.
Without warning Gabite shoved the coins onto his palm, putting him off-guard as the weight settled in. There weren't that many, but the numbers engraved on each coin gave him the impression that this was a decent sum, enough for daily needs at the very least. There were large coins with '100' written on them, smaller ones with '50,' and some with '20' as well.
He was being paid these coins for helping Feebas escape a dungeon? "I don't think I can take this," Lucario said, offering it back to Gabite.
"Please, it's only fair," Gabite refused. "Take it, if at least for the troubles you've dealt with."
"No, no, I don't even have anywhere to keep this on me—"
"I insist." What looked like puzzlement crossed Gabite's face. "Though now that you point that out, why the lack of traveling supplies? Not even a carrying bag? You're giving me the impression that you're in really dire circumstances."
Sweat formed on Lucario's brows as he struggled to come up with something to say. As if it was a reflex, his gaze shifted to Vulpix, who stepped back with her lips pressed together. "Yeah, I take it neither of you would like to answer that," Gabite concluded from their silence. "But really, are times that hard? You must be trying to get your lives back on track, readjust to your situation and all."
Togetic and Shaymin sent pitying looks as he said this. "You could put it that way," Lucario said after a while.
"Hmph." A thoughtful Gabite tapped his chin. "Well, I know two lost souls when I see one. Perhaps you could use a little assistance, something to get you back on your feet. What do you think, Togetic?"
"I'm sure we could help out in some way, it's what we do as an explorer team after all," replied Togetic.
"How about it then, Lucario?" Without caring to hear his answer, he waved him and Vulpix over. "Come over to my place. We might just be able to help you out."
We all know where this is going.