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Chapter 10: The Final Test
"Absolutely not." Principal Blastoise said.
"But Alex needs to do this! We can find his purpose!" Caleb objected.
"Yes, and while that is a very laudable goal, the fact remains that you are recruits, not even graduates. Say I let you search for Uxie's Domain, the Lake of Enlightenment. How would you get there? You have not shown that you have the skills to travel the fifty miles to the last known entrance, or even navigate the Mystery Dungeon that guards her palace. Vision or no, I cannot allow two inexperienced recruits to journey on their own without graduating from training first. Come back after your graduation, then we can discuss this again. Dismissed." Principal Blastoise said, turning back to his desk. Without any further arguments, Alex and Caleb left Principal Blastoise's office
"That's so dumb! Alex, you had a vision, right? Why won't they let us go to find out what message Uxie has for you?" Caleb complained.
"I don't know," Alex replied with a heavy feeling of disappointment in his chest. "I was sure he'd support us in going. At least, all the other humans got to go out on their own, even Rector and Fenn got to explore on their own when they looked like children. I guess the Sand Continent is more tough than those other places humans got called to. Or Principal Blastoise is just more strict," Alex sighed.
Earlier that day, Alex had been in the Shrine Hall. He had been caring for the statue of Uxie, as had become his routine after the day's classes and apprenticeship. Being able to spend time in silence, thinking about his purpose and why he was here grounded him. After all the stress of the day, it was calming to think and meditate. Alex focused his thoughts toward Uxie, the bearer of memory and knowledge, hoping for an answer to his lost memories. Then, once he had cleaned the Spirit Guardian's shrine from head to tail, a flash of thought entered his mind, as sudden and clear as dunking his head in a pool of water. There was a feeling, an insight, that Uxie wanted to meet him, in a place called the Lake of Enlightenment. Somehow, he knew exactly where it was, even before looking at a map. The place was on one of the islands that made up the northeastern section of the Sand Continent. Though Alex knew exactly where it was, and what the entrance looked like, the vision did not tell him how to get there. Surely there were ferries for Pokémon to travel the seas, but as non-ranking members of the Academy, such resources were beyond them.
"At least the graduation test is at the end of this week. Hopefully we can pass the exam, then maybe we can start exploring," Alex said, trying to cheer himself up. It helped, a little, but the raw disappointment still stung.
"Yeah! We'll need to study hard so we can't fail!" Caleb said. "I'll help you with the human legends if you can check my math!"
Motivated to graduate more than ever, Alex and Caleb climbed down the stairs, hoping that there was still some food left in the cafeteria.
"Caleb, can you look over this for me? I think I got these right, but I'm not sure," Alex said, passing his slate over.
"Yeah, I just finished with mine," Caleb replied. They traded the flat stones that students used to write on with chalk. Wood and paper were too scarce and valuable in the desert to waste on simple schoolwork, so they used flat stones that could be brushed off and reused. This helped them to practice math, or the type weakness table, or any of the other such classes that were a focus of the Academy. After another day had passed, and Alex received a repetition of the vision during his daily ritual, Alex was determined to pass the exam and meet with the guardian of his memories.
In the time that Murkrow and Fomantis spent playing with cards or marbles in the evenings, Alex spent poring over notes from the day. He put more effort into his psychic training, now able to navigate and sense the world without his eyes in all but the most crowded places; too many Pokémon overwhelmed his psychic sight. He still couldn't keep up with Caleb in the survival or battle classes, but Alex had to help Caleb with math and reading, so it balanced out.
The rumor was that the graduation test started in the morning with a gauntlet of written knowledge, practicing with reading, math, Pokémon species in the area, and the human legends they had learned. After a morning spent wringing their minds, they would be sent out to navigate to the end of a Mystery Dungeon; one of the places where time and space twisted, and all Pokémon attacked on sight. It was more advanced than their expedition to the Juniper Plateau, as no maps could be made inside a Mystery Dungeon. Navigation had to be done spontaneously, while fending off hordes of hostile Pokémon. Supposedly, they would be escorted by one of the battle sergeants, but they would only watch and evaluate, unless there was risk of serious harm.
Alex looked at the slate, trying to decipher Caleb's handwriting. Caleb's hand constantly smudged the chalk, turning already messy characters into indistinct smears. Alex noted the few mistakes, mostly due from Caleb habitually returning to the numbers he was used to, which only went up to eight. The system Gabite taught went up to twelve. But the number of mistakes was improving, as was Caleb's handwriting. A few minutes later, the two traded their slates back, and they looked at the corrections.
"Oh, I keep forgetting that Rose Riolu was with Team Poképals. I always think she was with Joshua fighting the Bittercold," Alex said.
"Well, for someone who hadn't heard of these stories a month ago, you're doing a pretty good job at keeping them straight. I think I asked Mom and Dad to hear those stories dozens of times before I stopped calling the Charmander Owen and Squirtle Taylor instead of the other way around... Do you think Principal Blastoise would respond to his old name anymore? It's been at least a hundred years since the meteor; who knows how long he kept Team Go-Getters running," Caleb said.
Alex shrugged. "He probably doesn't want to be in the spotlight like that anymore. He didn't name the Academy after his old team. I think he'd get mad if anyone tried to bring that up to him."
"I don't think he'd be mad. He saved the world! But I guess fame might get to you after a while. Everyone would be bothering him for advice if they knew he was a legendary hero!" Caleb said. Without any clear answer, they kept practicing their notes before going to bed.
During the next day at his apprenticeship, Alex tapped away at yet another orb, having memorized the runes days ago after filling them out on nearly a hundred blank orbs. It was almost monotonous now, the steady tapping of his mallet and chisel on clear crystal. Alex still didn't really understand what Altaria or Zweilous talked about when they mentioned the flow of energy, or the effects each rune had, and how they changed by rotating or changing their size. But however it worked, Alex kept making copies of the Escape Orbs like there was no end to the need for them. Which made some sense, given the dangers of Mystery Dungeons drilled into them by Sergeant Rime nearly every day.
Alex closed his eyes and sighed. Even now after three weeks doing this, only two in three attempts ended with an accepted orb that was later enchanted and sold. Altaria's standards were exacting and without exception. He had also learned that his pay was directly related to how many orbs were made. There was a tiny amount given for any work done, but the vast majority of earnings was based on how many of his creations were actually used. Caleb's apprenticeship was the same way, with him getting paid based on the number of tools or construction completed. They didn't really have anything to spend the money on since their food and lodging was provided for by the Academy, but it was still disheartening to see the Kricketune next to him turn in multiple orbs a day, with far greater complexity, and have each and every one accepted.
Almost by habit, Alex's psychic senses reached out to examine the area around him, noting the individual Pokémon, with some faint awareness of their overall mood. It wasn't really any more information than Alex could see with his physical eyes, but it was somehow easier in some inexplicable way for his Abra body.
Alex glanced at the orb in his mind- for the first time using his psychic sight on the enchanted orb. Unlike the clear crystal he normally saw, the runes glowed with white light, and more light swirled between the runes. Alex remembered the proprietors of The Drake's Emporium talking about when they mentioned energy flow and how the runes guided it in different directions. Now it made sense. Silvery light didn't just outline and connect the runes, it moved, pulsed, and floated in three dimensions. And when Alex applied a new line, it lit up too, connecting to the others. Alex watched the light ripple and flow, trying to understand how it moved. It seemed to want to go certain ways, like a river returning to its dried up riverbed after a long rain. It now made sense why things were laid out a certain way, one simply had to guide the flow, not create it wholesale. Alex began tapping with newfound confidence, the places to carve nearly outlines in the white energy.
An hour later, Alex presented his orb to Zweilous for inspection.
She leaned over and sniffed, saying, "Ahh, this is a good one. You used the leylines hidden in the crystal. This isn't one of those stale copies Altaria likes. This has Sight in its making," Zweilous' two heads crooned. "Yes, make two more of these. Feel the shape of energy, and create with the power nestled inside the crystal. That would be more interesting than yet another coward's escape bauble."
"Um, are you sure? I thought I was supposed to make Escape Orbs, not experiment," Alex said.
"Bah! Where's the fun in that? If you make something that holds and channels the natural power in the crystal, you can always fit some kind of spell to it. Just see where the creation takes you!" the left head said.
"Yes! Make something strong! The artist who creates is always more valuable than the tinkerer who can only copy other's designs!" the right said encouraged.
"What's going on here?" the melodic voice of Altaria said. She glided on her cloud wings to take her perch at the inspection post.
"I'm... not sure, Enchanter Altaria," Alex said. "I just made another Escape Orb, but I didn't realize I changed some of the runes by accident."
Altaria took the orb in one claw, peering at the carvings. "Yes, I see the improvisation. It's not the way I showed you, but it will take the enchantment well enough. Where did you learn these runes?"
"Um, I looked at the orb using my psychic senses instead. Then everything just lit up, like something was pointing out where it needed to be carved. And when I made carvings, the light got brighter and more distinct."
Altaria peered at the orb more closely. "Yes, it sounds like you saw the natural energy that courses in the crystal. It's why we use these crystals; they store more energy than cloth, wood, or common stone. And if you can sense that energy, it is easier to create lattices to harness that power in orbs." Altaria placed the orb in the basket for items to be sold.
"Zweilous encourages invention, but I have a business to run. Don't modify the design until you truly understand what you are doing. It is far too easy to create a loop that feeds into itself, gathering power until the orb explodes. I shouldn't have to ask you to not injure yourself or the other workers. Even if the pattern looks inefficient on one orb due to some imperfection, it will still work. But now that you seem to sense how this works, your accuracy should improve. Make three more orbs exactly as the example. Get to work." Altaria said.
Alex returned to his bench, where the example orb glowed in his psychic sight. Alex glanced back at the example runes occasionally, making sure he was following the specified pattern. Faster than ever, he had a completed orb, and he started immediately on the next, without going to Altaria to have this one inspected.
A couple hours later, Alex left the workshop, with this being his first time having all of his attempts accepted in one day. The sun was nearing the horizon, Alex hurried toward dinner, a few minutes of study with Caleb, then psychic training with Gothitelle.
Alex finished the night's tutoring, where he had to identify the correct number of pebbles on the table, using only his psychic senses. While he couldn't see as widely as with his physical eyes, psychic senses let Alex see behind and around any area slightly larger than his body. According to Psychic Gothitelle, the senses of Abra were mostly designed to know whether a planned teleport was a safe destination, or if it was taken up by Pokémon or hazardous terrain. Any more than that was too big for Alex to perceive at once, so he had to sweep over it in sections.
Gothitelle nodded in approval after Alex guessed correctly. "There is little more I can teach you at this time. Abra have few techniques available to them, unless they commission rare Technical Machines. Just as Caterpie don't fully reach their potential until they evolve, as a Kadabra, you will have access to more psychic abilities, such as telekinesis and greater range for teleports. You will also be able to learn many types of energy attacks, such as beams of ice, electricity, or fire, as well as orbs of shadow, grass, and fighting energy. But for now, the amount of energy your body can hold only allows teleporting, and a few explosions of unfocused power. Any further training would be better spent in the gym, battling, or working on your endurance. My task to train you to the level of a yearling Abra is completed," Gothitellesaid.
"Umm, do you know how long it will take me to evolve then? I don't want to be a burden on anyone," Alex asked.
"Likely several months to a year, depending on how diligently you train. If I recall correctly, Abra and Machop mature at similar rates, so you can expect to evolve at a similar time as your partner. The nearest evolution chamber is across the ocean, so you'll have to evolve the usual way."
"Oh. Thank you for helping me, Psychic Gothetelle," Alex said. He went back to his room, barely keeping his awareness up enough to slide into bed as Murkrow and Fomantis played a card game. Tomorrow was the big test to see if they graduated.
Alex groaned as the morning bell rang. Today, Alex and Caleb would either be accepted as graduates of the Academy and pursue exploration and adventure, or they would have to stay another month until the next testing day. But with the vision and message of Uxie still crystal-clear in his mind several days later, Alex knew that there was no option but to go see her. The Bearer of Memories would be able to unlock what Psychic Musharna had failed to do, and the rumors of his would cease. All he had to do was tell them the truth of his life once he knew it.
After a meal which fluttered uncomfortably in his stomach, Alex followed Caleb to their first test: the Pokémon Studies class. A list of questions were written on the board, while Talonflame perched at the front of the room.
"Take your seats. Write your answers legibly, then turn your slates over when you are done. Do not disturb your cohort, or trade answers. You may begin," she said.
Alex sat down and read the questions:
1. Name the five energies that Rock-types are weak to.
2. Which would be the best attack to use against a Dragonite? Rock Throw, Ice Beam, Psychic, or Aerial Ace?
3. How many known evolutions are available for Eevee?
4. Name your next evolution, and what is required for you to do so.
5. Which of these techniques cannot be learned by Phanpy? Rollout, Earthquake, Rock Climb, or Flail?
And on it went for another fifteen questions. Alex struggled to remember the obscure knowledge that he had no idea how it would be useful, but it was necessary in order to graduate. Some answers he simply had to guess, while others he figured out from hints hidden in other questions. But not long after Alex finished, the last student, Fomantis, turned his slate over and they were dismissed.
Next was reading. Another set of clean slates was set up, with different instructions on the board in tiny symbols. Nidorina was writing the last few lines as the Pidgey cohort came in.
"Follow the instructions. I cannot answer any questions, as this is to test your comprehension and writing skills." Nidorina said.
1. Read everything carefully before doing anything.
2. Put your name or species in the upper right-hand corner of your slate.
3. Circle your name or species from the last direction.
4. Draw five small squares in the upper left-hand corner.
5. Put an "X" in each square.
Until the last step, which was simply to only do the first two directions. Alex carefully read the entire list before starting, while Caleb hastily started rubbing off the marks he had made on his own slate, smearing his hands with chalk. Two out of four written classes down, and Alex was already tired, but so much depended on him and Caleb being successful. Without a break, it was time for arithmetic testing. The board read:
All problems are in standard base, unless otherwise stated
1. What is 12 times 3?
2. Your bag has 5046 Poké in it, and you've just received 1200 Poké for the day's request. How much do you have?
3. You have twenty apples. How many can you use each day for a week, and how many are left over?
4. You have 2,573 Poké in storage, and you take out 1245 for a new item. How much do you have left?
5. You and a shopkeeper are haggling the price of Oran Berries. He says that digits only go up to six, and is offering you three for 25 Poké. You are used to base twelve, and think that Oran berries are only worth 10 Poké each at the most. Who has the lower price?
Gabite stood with claws outstretched, ready to hiss sand at anyone making noise as they checked and double checked their calculations. So many questions were about calculating how different numbering systems compared, and converting between them. At one point, Alex had to erase old notes to figure out new numbers.
But finally, Caleb flipped his slate, and they could leave the world of numbers and improbable scenarios that could only be solved with calculations.
And last, human studies. The class Caleb seemed to have memorized before even joining the Academy, and the place Alex felt the weight of the world's expectations the most heavily. Pumpkaboo stared expectantly at Alex as he answered the questions. Sometimes, he checked back to his old answers as he remembered an answer from clues to previous questions.
1. What trait did Axew Emi have that allowed her to stand against the Bittercold?
2. Which of these trades came about as knowledge from humans? Weaving, smithing, agriculture, enchantment, written language. Select all that apply.
3. Approximately how many adventuring or rescue teams have been led by humans?
4. Name at least three differences between humans and Pokémon.
5. Which human do you most look up to and why?
Alex endured the staring as they filled out their answers on this last test. Finally, the first gauntlet was over.
Now it was time for lunch, then the rumored dungeon exploration. Alex's stomach grumbled unhappily, simultaneously too queasy to eat and yet starving. He pushed the food around his plate, letting the others talk around him as he gathered what energy he could for the test ahead.
"I bet we're going to the Sandstone Maze after this! It's the only Mystery Dungeon near here that's short and not too difficult."
"What did you get for the third question in that math test? Every time I tried, I got a different answer."
"That reading test was just evil. Why have all that written out, then make us not do it?"
"Do you think we'll be on our own? I've heard that Mystery Dungeons are dangerously unforgiving."
Alex absentmindedly trailed Caleb to the final test, held in the place where survival class was taught. Mentor Darmanitan nodded to Sergeant Rime as he led the Pidgey cohort. Sergeant Rime was spinning his cane to keep himself cool as the sun shone at its zenith.
The last few weeks had hardened all of the Pidgey cohort into something closer to experienced adventurers. The sun no longer gave Alex painful sunburns, it only made his skin prickle uncomfortably and drip with sweat. Now, with his physical and muscular endurance, he could walk for an hour without rest. It wasn't much to look at compared to Caleb, who didn't seem to need rest at all. Psychic Gotetelle had said that Alex was much stronger than the average Abra, but that didn't feel like much when compared to his cohort.
The moment the Pidgey cohort all gathered in the basin, Sergeant Rime began his lecture.
"You may have heard that you are exploring a Mystery Dungeon today. That is correct. At the end of the Sandstone Maze, there are several quartz crystals that form in the energies of the distortion. Each team must bring back at least one, and you will pass this exploration. If you bring more, your team will be rewarded with bonus payment.
"Your teams will be as follows: Baltoy, Girafarig, and Abra will go with Ensign Lairon. Machop, Fomantis, and Murkrow will travel with Ensign Dewott. They are to supervise, and protect in life-threatening situations, but they are not to assist in any way. Are there any questions?" Sergeant Rime asked.
I'll be without Caleb? Alex thought to himself. What was the point of that? Alex had never been without his partner, except during their apprenticeships or private training. Any exploration or test, they had always been together, from that time they met outside the Academy to now. Was this some kind of test to see how well he did without Caleb to lean on? What other reason could there be?
The test suddenly got much more stressful. Baltoy was unfeeling; he would be no support. Girafarig was nice, but there was no way Alex could rely on her, either, when her tail nipped at anyone who got close. Alex pushed those thoughts aside for later as Sergeant Rime continued to explain the test.
"The Sandstone Maze is approximately eight kilometers from here, near the road west of the Rainbow Mesa. You will likely need to camp after your dungeon exploration, but some groups find it possible to return before dark. You may begin," Sergeant Rime said without fanfare.
The teams organized themselves and Alex dug through his pack to double check the map. There was a trail marked out that seemed to lead almost all the way to the Sandstone Maze.
"Um, hi," Alex said to Lairon as he gathered near the map with Girafarig and Baltoy.
"I'll keep up with the group, whatever pace you set. Don't ask me to carry your stuff; this is your test. I'm just here to make sure you don't die," Lairon grunted, not one for conversation. Meanwhile, Dewott's fingers constantly traced the scallchops on her hips, looking for threats in every direction. Caleb saw this and started discussing fighting styles with her.
It was decided that Girafarig should go first, since she was the best battler in the group, and as the tallest, could see farther than the others. Baltoy spun in the middle, giving out advice- some of it helpful, most of it annoying. Alex was next, scanning as much as he could with his psychic senses. Lairon plodded at the back, his heavy footfalls making the ground shake softly with every step. The team stopped by the river, gulping down as much water as they could before filling their waterskins to full. Then the long walk started.
This trail was familiar to Alex. This was the same road he and Caleb had come to the Academy on. According to her, Girafriag had come this way too, just a day later.
Caleb's group soon outpaced Alex's, hurrying toward their destination. Alex settled into the balance he discovered between muscle strength and psychic support. Finding that efficient balance was key to keeping up his endurance, even as the sun beat the energy out of him. But a long journey on uneven ground was a little too complex and energy- intensive to trance during, as he had to watch the ground around him, and glance out to see if there were other Pokémon. But no one disturbed them beyond a Burmy that scurried behind a rock as the team passed by.
Hours later, Baltoy called a stop. It levitated the map out of its bag and inspected it, examining the surroundings with the compass.
"We must leave the trail here. This is the closest this trail leads to the entrance to the Mystery Dungeon. Any farther, and we shall have to scale down cliffs. That does not seem wise, considering this team. Any objections?" Baltoy said.
When there were none, they rolled up the map, and stepped off the packed dirt of the trail onto bare stone.
The rest of the group followed, trying not to slip on the smooth, slanted rock. After a few minutes of hiking, they came to the entrance of the Mystery Dungeon.
There was no mistaking it. Vertical fins of sandstone towered over them with narrow passageways between. Between two fins in the very center, a distortion that hurt Alex's eyes shimmered in the air. It was like looking into rippling water, or mirrors that reflected off of each other in irregular patterns. The overall shapes and colors of the rock were still there, but they swirled and shifted as Alex watched.
Baltoy stopped a few steps before the distortion. "We will enter the dungeon soon. GIrafarig would be most optimal as the leader, as the best in battle of our group. Abra and I have ranged attacks that we can support from behind, and Lairon can judge our progress from the back. There are no objections?"
"Hey, I can't just pick up all the slack! You have to help too!" Girafarig objected.
"Of course. If you are injured, Abra or I can switch with you as you heal. Lairon, is it acceptable for you to guard the rear as you assess our performance?" Baltoy responded.
"I ain't here to fight for you, just to make sure you get back to the Academy in one piece. Something starts attacking me, you've got to fight it off. Think of me as your escort for this mission." Lairon said.
Baltoy pondered for a moment, rocking back and forth on its foot.
"Understood. Abra, you will defeat any feral Pokémon that attack from the rear. Agreed?" Baltoy said. Alex nodded his head. The distortion gave him a headache whenever he glanced at it, and it was even worse in his psychic sight.
"Alright. Let's do this!" Girafarig said, more to herself. Her tail lashed with tension, ready for any enemy that approached. She stepped forward, her form distorting as she stepped into the entrance to the Mystery Dungeon. The rest of the team followed quickly.
SANDSTONE MAZE 1F
Entering the dungeon felt like Alex had been teleported against his will. It felt like the journey took him through a river, inside a rock, and stopped by the Water Continent on the way. Alex gasped, holding his head until the world stopped spinning, until Lairon bumped him from behind.
"Oi, get moving. The faster we get through here, the sooner we get back," he said.
Alex stumbled forward, his eyes and mind returning an endless tessellation of the same fragments of stone and gravel stacked onto each other. Everywhere he looked, it was the same. The only directions that made sense were up and down; all else was a chaotic mishmash that made it impossible to tell one wall apart from another.
Alex looked to his teammates to find them in a similar state. Except for Lairon, they were all shaking their heads, trying to deal with the sensation of being in a place that was twisted in a deep, fundamental way.
Alex opened his eyes, not trusting his psychic senses at the moment. He found the whole environment was simple repetitions of the same rock, placed over and over repeatedly. There was an identical patch of grass on the ground that appeared every few meters, inside a crack big enough to fall into.
Girafarig took a deep breath, glancing around with both heads. They were in a hallway, just wide enough to walk single file. They were in the order they had planned, lined up like a true exploration or rescue team. The test had begun.
"Which way should we go?" Girafarig asked.
"The choice is irrelevant. Each direction is equally likely to lead us out," Baltoy said. With no better idea, Girafarig started walking down the hall, stretching her head up to see as far as she could. Twenty meter high walls surrounded them, placing the party in deep shade that nevertheless trapped the heat from the sun while blocking any breezes. Alex adjusted his pack, trying to move some air across his sweaty back.
"Alex? You can sense stuff psychically, right? That's how you teleport. Can you find your way around here?" Girafarig asked.
"Um, even outside, it didn't really work like that. I can only really see if a place is big enough for me to fit if I teleport to it. I can sense other Pokémon, and kind of tell where they are. But I can't make a map or anything; I can't see that much at once. It's kind of like squinting so you only see little bits of what's around you." Alex said. "And this place just feels… twisted, I guess. I can't figure out where anything is. Everything feels too close and too far away at the same time."
Girafarigs's ears slumped. "Oh. I kind of hoped you could just find the stairs so we didn't have to look for them. Oh well."
A few more meters, and the hallway abruptly opened up into a room, with a giant stone arch repeated several times to open the ground beneath it into an open area.
Without any warning, a Phanpy noticed Girafarig, and immediately charged her, curling itself up into a Rollout and gaining speed as it rushed across the room.
Girafarig screamed as it closed the distance- before a psychic beam shot from behind her and hit the Phanpy, causing it to veer off course and crash into a stone wall.
Noticing Baltoy backing her up, Girafarig stomped on the dazed Phanpy until it stopped moving.
"That was so sudden... that feral wanted to hurt me! This isn't like battling at all!" Girafarig cried.
"Of course not. All Pokémon that live in dungeons are purely feral, without even the ability to speak. They guard their homes with their lives. We must be on guard for them," Baltoy said. "I see the stairs in the corner of this room. We should proceed." they said, spinning towards them while watching the other entrances to the room.
With Alex and Girafarig nearly hyperventilating, they walked to the stairs; unnaturally smooth and regular steps carved into the stone of one wall, whose top projected the same distortion as the entrance to the dungeon. Closing his eyes and feeling with his hands, Alex ascended the stairs to the next floor, Lairon silently watching and following.
SANDSTONE MAZE 2F
The stairs led into another room, where the walls were another repetition of blocks stacked against itself, five meters across, and each at perfect corners. This block was different from the last one, but it was still smooth tan sandstone, with darker lines in unnaturally perfect intervals. Despite that where they stood should have been directly above the last floor, where the sky had shone above them, solid ground stood beneath them. In a normal place, there was no way for them to see the sky above them on the last floor with this one obstructing it.
Inexplicably, there were no stairs behind them when Alex looked, only that same block of stone that made up this floor. Keeping with their previous formation, Girafarig chose one of the passageways at random. "Come on, everyone!" she called. Alex shook his head and hurried after Baltoy, hoping to get out of the room before another feral saw him.
Too late. A Maractus woke up from Girafarig's voice, and began hopping to them after Alex and Lairon took up the rear. Alex charged a Hidden Power, having to climb on top of Lairon a little to get a clear shot. Alex's aim wasn't great, and a few wisps grazed Lairon's head as the orb of shadowy power impacted the Maractus. Lairon grunted, pulling his head under his armor.
Maractus hopped on top of Lairon and punched Alex in the chest with a needle-covered arm, absorbing his energy with a few green particles that flowed from the punch back into itself. Alex stumbled as the energy drained from him, making the chest wound hurt even more. The dark wound Maractus bore from Alex's attack lightened a little as his energy healed the enemy.
Alex called up another Hidden Power, striking it in the head. It stumbled, and before it could ready another counter attack, Alex threw out a third attack, still standing on Lairon's back. Finally, it fell to the ground, unconscious.
Alex breathed slowly, trying to recover. While his attacks were powerful, from what others told him, he didn't have much endurance. He was the opposite of Caleb, who could keep a constant assault of kicks and punches for minutes at a time. Alex could do two or three attacks, then was winded for a long time after.
"Oi, you can get off me now. Feral's knocked out," Lairon said. "And aim better, I don't like getting hit on the noggin," he grumbled as Alex awkwardly climbed down from the last section of his armor.
Girafarig and Baltoy watched carefully as Alex battled, but they were unable to help in the narrowness of the corridor.
"Do you need an Oran berry? We have some, if you need it," Girafarig said.
Alex looked at the wound. It wasn't deep, with only a trickle of blood seeping from the needle-holes. Mostly Alex just felt tired, but that was a given for him being awake during the day and exerting himself.
"Um, I think I'm okay for now. One of us might get hurt worse later," Alex said. Oddly, the pain was already receding from the wound.
Girafarig went to go down the hall, only to immediately find a Geodude that blended in with the floor. Trying to stomp on it like she normally did in battle only made her hooves bounce off without even a scratch on the feral. It rammed itself into her shins, forcing her to stumble. A faint psychic beam emanated from her horns, causing it to flinch as she stood back up. Girafarig's tail whipped around, shouting and drooling. The Astonish attack finished it off, but the rock-type's attack left large scrapes on her legs, and she stumbled with pain.
"Baltoy, can you go first for a few minutes? I think I need a berry from that," she said.
A quick squeeze against the wall, and Baltoy was the new leader. He went ahead, looking into the large rooms where the cliffs crumbled into more arches, but there was no sign of the stairs. Down another corridor, and the blocks seemed to press themselves on Alex's eyes, so that they appeared even when looking away from them. A third corridor, and the stairs still eluded them.
Alex looked at his chest, and to his surprise, the wound no longer was visible. There was no lingering pain, and some of the tiredness from the energy drain was gone as well. The entire injury had healed in just a few minutes. Girafarig seemed better as well. The bleeding was gone, and her steps were sure-footed once more.
"Of course you heal faster in a dungeon. It's a messed up distortion of time and space, ya? Everything's faster here," Lairon said when Alex brought this up to him.
"Um, am I seeing things, or does it look like the blocks here are smaller than where we started? Do you think it leads somewhere?" Alex said as they tried yet another room.
Baltoy stopped and rotated, seeming to examine the walls. "An accurate observation. My senses have been warped by the dungeon, but you are correct. Perhaps the size of the blocks point to the exit. Let us try to go to where the blocks are biggest, and see if that opens the way to the next floor."
So they turned around, where the building blocks grew slowly larger, as they defeated a few more feral Pokémon. They found their way down a new passageway- or at least they hoped it was new. All the walls and halls were identical, but the size of the blocks gradually grew from the height of Alex's head to being taller than Girafarig. And there, in a corner of the room, was another set of stairs. They quickly hurried up the stairs, only to walk directly into an ambush.
SANDSTONE MAZE 3F
They were surrounded. They had come up into the corner of another room, with a Sandile, two Rattata, and another Geodude trapping the team against the wall. And like every other feral in the dungeon, they attacked immediately.
A Rattata leaped at Alex, its fangs snapping at his neck as Alex caught it. The Rattata was heavy, pushing Alex onto his back. He tried to shove it off, but it was too heavy for him.
"Help!" he yelled, panicking. Alex used Hidden Power, but in the struggle, he wasn't able to make a strong attack. It didn't even phase the Rattata. Alex realized in horror that there was nothing he could do to this Pokémon. It was Normal-type, and Alex's only attack was Ghost-type. He couldn't hurt it at all. Alex held the rodent away from him, barely. He had to put all of his psychic energy into his arms, keeping the Rattata's teeth away from his throat. Around him were the sounds of more battle, as Baltoy and Girafarig shot beams of light, and even Lairon rammed a foe with his heavy body.
Alex's arms and energy quickly tired as the Rattata thrashed. Alex couldn't teleport. He couldn't call up an image of the area around him, and even if he could, who knows where he would end up with the Mystery Dungeon distorting everything. Alex struggled, wrestling with all of his physical and psychic strength, but he couldn't get the upper hand. Shadowy bursts of Hidden Power cloaked his hands, phasing harmlessly through the Rattata.
Alex had lost.
Yet, something was changing. He felt new power growing within him, greater reserves of energy in new forms than he was used to. Slowly, the Rattata was pushed back. Alex shoved the writhing Rattata off of him as the balance of power shifted. And with a final push, Alex forced out that new energy into an attack. His eyes glowed purple as an energy field surrounded his opponent and threw it across the room, hit the wall with a sickening smack, and fell to the ground without moving.
Alex looked for the other ferals. His teammates were being attacked too! But, no, their opponents had fallen, and all Alex saw was his teammates, staring at him like he had grown a second head.
Something seemed odd about them, but Alex caught his breath for a moment before wasting any more energy figuring it out. Alex felt like he had teleported from one side of the Rainbow Mesa to the other and back again, yet he somehow felt ready to do it two more times. As the light faded from his eyes and his heartbeat returned to normal, Alex realized what had changed: he was taller. Where Alex had only come up to Girafarig's belly, now his head was level with her chin. His body felt different. His tail was huge, bigger than the rest of his body. This, and a dozen other different sensations meant only one thing.
"Did… Did you just bloody evolve? That's impossible! Nobody's ever done that inside a mystery dungeon!" Lairon sputtered.
Alex's awareness felt bigger too, able to pick up on finer details, and in a wider field of view than before. And he could feel the world in his psychic senses and in normal sight at the same time, which only added to the growing headache he felt in the distorted space of the dungeon.
"Um, did I? I- I don't know how. The Rattata was going to kill me, and Hidden Power couldn't hurt it, and I just felt power come out. I didn't think I was close to evolving!" Alex babbled.
He tried to join the rest of the group, but his legs were different lengths and shapes than what he was used to. He felt an odd sense of familiarity as he practiced walking in an environment of sandstone.
His toes were longer in proportion to his legs, and thinner too. Now the stress of battle was wearing off, and Alex took stock of his new body. His arms and legs felt weak, like all the muscle he had as an Abra was stretched, but not strengthened, to carry his larger Kadabra frame. But his psychic powers naturally and easily supported him. Alex felt so much more powerful with his psychic powers now. He could feel new techniques just waiting to be experimented with, beyond the Ghost-type Hidden Power. He must have finally gotten a Psychic-type attack in order to defeat the Rattata. But there wasn't much time to experiment. The sound had attracted more feral Pokémon; Alex could feel them in his mind, much clearer than before.
"We need to go!" Girafarig said. Alex saw that she had bite wounds on her legs and a gash on her tail. Baltoy's clay body was gouged on one arm as well. Lairon's armor, however, was impenetrable. "I don't want to fight another Sandile! We don't have any good ways of beating Dark-types!" she exclaimed.
They slowly stepped back into their previous formation. Girafarig dug in her bag for another Oran berry, while Baltoy ignored his scratch.
Just as they entered the hall, another Rattata followed them in. Alex pointed with one hand and released some of the new power he had felt. It flattened the Rattata into the ground, cracking the rock around it into a crater.
Lairon turned to face him. "What in the bloody Distortion are you? Kadabra, get that close to my head again, and you're bringing up the rear. I don't trust you rookies to carry me back, and I'm not getting knocked out by friendly fire."
Alex meekly pulled his hands back. Even before his evolution, he'd had too much power, and poor aim. In target practice, he'd hit the target eight times out of twelve most days, and that was at fairly close range. But now, he'd probably break the stone targets off their bases with this level of power. Alex fumbled with his bag, trying to find a way for it to fit on his larger chest and shoulders without much luck.
As they traveled down the hall, watching for the identical blocks of stone to get larger, Alex's stomach grumbled. He'd eaten only an hour before, right? But he was hungry, like he'd gone the day without lunch. Alex dug out a pouch of dried berries and nuts, chewing them as we walked. He kept an eye out for more Pokémon, but they had either scared off the ferals, or they hadn't been noticed.
Like the floor before, the group found the stairs in a room formed by the repetition of a natural stone arch, spreading out across dozens of meters.
"Guys? Do you think we can stop for a minute? I think we should take a break before moving on," Girafarig said. She crouched down, ready to dart up the stairs at a moment's notice.
Alex reached out with his mind, and couldn't find any other Pokémon near them. Of course, there could be another Sandile around the corner that he couldn't sense. So he leaned back on his huge, oddly soft tail, and tried to relax.
"Kadabra, dampen your pulses. You are affecting my balance," Baltoy said.
"Um, what do you mean?"
"You sent out a psychic pulse to feel your surroundings. That is understandable, most Psychic types have senses that allow them to perceive without sight. Your new pulse is too strong, unrestrained. It batters me like I'm trying to stand upright in a river," Baltoy said.
"Oi, is that this headache I'm getting? Thought I was going crazy with a bloody human defying all known laws of Mystery Dungeons and evolving inside a distortion. Good to know. Stop it, Kadabra. Can't protect you if I'm in the loony bin," Lairon said.
"He's right, Kadabra. Yomi's picking up on your signals, and might think you're a threat. Cresilia's veil, you're strong. I had no idea someone could give off such strong pulses by accident," Girafarig said quietly.
"S-sorry," Alex said as he tried to block out his psychic senses.
Alex noticed to his dismay that his scars had only gotten bigger. They had changed from a reddish brown to the color of an old scab, and the areas they covered had gotten wider. Now he could see marks on the dark armor of his chest, and the rings on his arms were now the width of his hands.
He sighed, now noticing the mustache that dropped down the sizes of his mouth, yet pointing to the sides so he didn't accidentally chew on it. It was frazzled, but no finger-combing was straightening it.
It seemed like now that Alex was no longer helpless, but the power he had brought new problems of its own. Alex thought he needed sleep, but he no longer felt tired. He might not have to nap every spare moment of the day. Those explosions of psychic power had only somewhat tired him, unlike using moves as an Abra.
A few minutes of resting with a snack and drink of water, the team was ready to move out. The dungeon had offered them a reprieve from the ferals, it seemed.
"I guess I'm ready now. Let's go, team," Girafarig said, getting to her feet.
Alex noticed an odd rock formation on the ground, a rock that had a shape like a flower, with petals made of sand glued together. It was the only thing he could see that wasn't a repetition of the same sections that made up the rest of the dungeon. Alex picked it up and put it in his sack before going up the stairs; maybe it'd be worth something later.
SANDSTONE MAZE 4F
The oppressive atmosphere grew heavier on the next floor. The air became stifling, claustrophobic, trapped in endlessly repeated blocks of stone and sand. The Mystery Dungeon itself pressed in on Alex, as if telling him he was not welcome in this place. A Phanpy charged toward them, rolling itself into a ball to challenge Lairon's armor.
Alex reached out, felt for the power inside him, and blasted the Phanpy. Except his aim was off again, and it just sprayed a shower of freshly-formed gravel in the feral's face. Alex tried again, finding the energy easy to find and call forth, and nailed it in its center. It bounced off Alex's attack and slammed into the wall, shaking the ground and forming another crater.
Sand and gravel rattled loose from the wall. Lairon glanced back at Alex.
"If you're throwing that kind of power around, you need to be behind me. I don't want my skull caved in after you miss a shot." He shook his head. "And every time you close your eyes, my head starts pounding like you're swinging a hammer at it anyway. Let's switch places. A real escort mission should have an adventurer in the back anyways."
Alex carefully changed the formation with Lairon, nervously watching over his shoulder every few seconds. The crater caused by his attack kept draining sand, and as Alex watched, the crater began to show up on the other blocks, enforcing the dizzying pattern of the dungeon.
Baltoy darted to one corner when they entered the next room. It leaned over, grabbed something in its arm, and carried it to the rest of the team. "I found something left behind by another explorer, or perhaps some Pokémon that fell in the dungeon." It held out a pouch, and Alex took it and looked inside.
The pouch was stuffed full of dried berries and nuts, but not ones he was familiar with.
"Um, Girafarig, you farm, right? Do you know what these are?" Alex held out the punch.
"Oh, Mostly I work with corn and sometimes squash, but they did show me once some other plants grow out here," she said, leaning in and sniffing them. "I think this is mostly pine nuts, and the berries looked like dried juniper berries. It must have been trail food." Girafarig's voice trailed off. Sergeant Rime's lectures were very clear on the dangers of dungeons. One must never enter one alone. The Pokémon attack without mercy or hesitation, and each fight to the death. If there were supplies left laying around, there was only one fate that could have befallen the owner.
Lairon plodded up to take a look. "Well, the old owner's not using it anymore, and the distortion's getting to me. Mind if I take it?" Alex dropped it wordlessly as Lairon dumped the entire bag into his mouth, then took a bite of the wall where Alex's attack had revealed a rusty brown line.
Lairon grunted. "Too much sand in this iron. Not worth forging," he said as he chewed. Moments later, they continued on the hunt for the stairs, which mercifully appeared in the next room.
SANDSTONE MAZE 5F
Alex was ready to leave the dungeon. His head ached with every attack he used, the new potent energy at his disposal causing backlash as he crushed any opposition. His feet were sore, like it was his first day on the Sand Continent all over again. A bruise from a charging Geodude left a throbbing spot on his side, even as the Mystery Dungeon healed it unnaturally fast.
The rest of the team wasn't much better, save for Lairon, who plodded at a steady pace. Girafarig's head drooped from fatigue, and Bally's spins became less stable.
"Do explorers really go through these every day?" Alex questioned Lairon.
"A lot of them," Lairon responded." "Most graduates do some dungeons, some town jobs, 'pending on their skills and funds. But even the top teams only do one dungeon a day, no matter how short they are. It's too tough to deal with the distortion that much. Mostly I do the forge. I'm good at it, since I can taste the metal. You don't know what you're missing out on when you can't get deep into the craft."
"I guess that makes sense," Girafarig said. "It looked like there were more job listings for town jobs than dungeon jobs. I haven't looked for a while, I just thought I'd keep doing the farm stuff."
That did bring up some questions for Alex. If he graduated today, what would he do after meeting Uxie? Ideally, she would tell him exactly what he was supposed to do afterwards, but saving the world wasn't a full time job, was it? Mentor Darmanitan had said nothing new had come up in the last month, no portents of widespread destruction. The most interesting thing that had happened this month was a volcano eruption, but supposedly that happened every few years anyways.
Would Alex become a dungeon diver, looking for outlaws and lost Pokémon? That was what most humans he learned about had done. It wasn't like Alex could start a school or teach other Pokémon skills. He did have an apprenticeship at The Drake's Emporium, which paid fairly well. Soon, he'd be able to work on new projects beyond endless Escape Orbs.
Feeling the weight of distortion on him, Alex now understood why those Escape Orbs were so in demand. If he could leave the dungeon a moment earlier, he would. It made sense now why some teams he overheard in the cafeteria chose to use an orb rather than traveling through a few more floors to finish the dungeon. It cost more Poké, but it was easier.
The others had seemed to feel the same way, as the group began to shift its focus towards finding an exit. There was much more plodding around in random directions, with the exhausting influence of the distortion hanging over them. But after much backtracking, the familiar sight of neatly carved stairs had greeted them.
SANDSTONE MAZE 6F
It was done. The weight of the distortion, the presence of homicidal ferals, the mind bending tessellations... It was gone. Alex stood with the team, looking at the single arch they had seen repeated over and over again in the dungeon. It stood in the slots of the cliffs, hidden unless you were inside them. Bushes and grass grew around, finding purchase in bits of sand. This was the true area, the original environment underneath the distortion of Mystery Dungeons.
And there, right under the center of the arch, four flawless crystals stood. Each around a third of a meter tall, they were perfectly clear, in the shape of a six-sided column.
As the new second-largest member of the team, Alex took two crystals and placed them carefully in his bag, wrapping them in a rough blanket. Girafarig took the other two, nestling them at the bottom of her saddlebags.
After a few minutes to sit, rest, and admire the natural beauty of the arch, they climbed up a final set of steps- leaving the dungeon proper.
The air blew gently on Alex's face. The stairs had placed them at the very top of the cliffs, where he could see all around him as the sun lowered toward the horizon. Looking down, he saw the arch from the top, without any sign of the Mystery Dungeon underneath. His bag felt lighter, his headache lessened, and Alex let out a deep breath as he relaxed.
Around him, the rest of the Pidgey cohort was acting similarly. Girafarig stretched her legs and neck while Baltoy spun in place several times. Alex slowly looked around, until he found a narrow path leading off the narrow ledge of rock they stood on.
"Oh, that feels so much better!" Girafarig said. "I thought I was going crazy in there!"
"We need to find shelter," Baltoy said. "The sun will set soon."
The team slowly made their way down the steps onto the desert floor. Alex went last again, watching his less-steady teammates as they hopped or inched down the stairs that clearly weren't built for quadrupeds. But they made it to the valley floor as the sun set.
"Where do you think the others are?" Alex heard Caleb's voice.
"Dunno, but they've got to be close to getting out. Dungeons don't like dawdlers. And much longer, the Houndour come out to hunt," Alex heard Dewott say. Carefully, lightly, Alex felt out psychically to find the other group. Alex felt a slight twitch from Girafarig and Baltoy as his mind felt theirs. But he reached out a little farther, and- there they were. Four Pokémon gathered in a small depression in the rock, barely deep enough to keep the weather out.
"Um, I feel them over here," Alex said, leading the way.
"Alex, we have ears too. And please be careful with psychic stuff. It feels like I've got a second Yomi in my head when you do that." Girafarig sighed. "I know it's not quite your fault, you probably feel like you've got a lot of power now and it's hard to focus, but it feels like I'm standing right next to a Magmar with how much power you're throwing off."
"Sorry." Alex said. What else could he do? He hadn't asked to evolve and put people around him in more pain. What was the world playing at? Half the signs seemed to point to Alex having some kind of curse attached to him, marked as a warning. The scars he had that looked uncomfortably close to the color of dried blood, his Ghost-type Hidden Power that hinted at an unsavory spirit, and now even casual tests of his abilities caused pain to others. Was it only a matter of time before the citizens of the Rainbow Mesa exiled him out of fear, like Taylor and Owen? Would Caleb even come? How could he ask his friend to be around him in the face of such hardship? Surely his psychic emissions would hurt him more than the others, since psychic energy was super effective on fighting-types.
Alex took a deep breath, trying to still his mind like he was in the Shrine Hall. If he was broadcasting so loudly even Girafarig said something, Alex needed to calm himself to not hurt everyone around him. Soon, they met the other team, with Caleb crouching next to a pile of wood and kindling, Fomantis sharpening his scythes against each other, and Murkrow preening his messy feathers. Dewott stood at the entrance, watching for anyone coming.
She saw Girafarig first. "Good, you made it through. And no broken bones with this group, unlike last time, right, Lairon?"
"Ugh, don't remind me. That Mareep kept shocking me when I carried him, until I said he could either stop it, or I'd cover him in mud. My back still itched for days," Lairon grumbled.
"It was funny to see something finally get through that steel armor of yours. Not so invincible after all, were you?"
Alex came into view, the last in the party.
"Today was worse. You know Abra, the human? He bloody evolved in the dungeon! And the first thing he does is dig a hole in solid rock with a feral!" Lairon said.
Caleb looked up from where he was trying to start a fire. He jumped up, staring at Alex with wide eyes.
"Alex... is that you?" he asked.
"Um, yes," Alex said. His voice was deeper than it used to be, he noticed.
"You evolved? Already? But you've only been here for a month! Most Pokémon take years to get strong enough to evolve if they train, and longer if they don't. Well, except for some bug-types. I thought I'd evolve before you, if anything." Caleb blinked. "Wait... you evolved inside the Mystery Dungeon? But normal Pokémon have to go to special places full of energy to evolve. I've heard some ferals can evolve if they defeat another Pokémon sometimes, but everyone I know had to go to the Evolution Cave, or the Tree of Life if they had a Lapras Pass. How did it happen?"
"Um, I got cornered by a Rattata." Alex shivered as the phantom sensation of it nipping at his throat crossed his mind. "I tried to get it off, but I was too weak, and Hidden Power couldn't hurt it. Everyone was fighting something else, so I had to fight harder. When I realized I had won, I was taller than everyone except Girafarig. And now when I close my eyes, my psychic power leaks out, and everyone's getting headaches," Alex babbled. He felt tears coming to his eyes, the stress of the day reaching its breaking point.
Caleb reached in to hug Alex. At the start of the day, they'd been eye to eye with each other. Now, Caleb was only up to Alex's chest.
The hug still felt good. Caleb's arms were just barely long enough to reach around and meet at the thinnest part of Alex's belly.
"Excuse me, but we still need a fire, unless you want cold food and have a blind watch," Dewott said.
"Oh, sorry!" Caleb said as he turned back to his tinderbox. Though each strike of flint and steel let loose showers of sparks, the pile of kindling failed to light. Caleb continued to struggle, as one of the few members of the group with hands. Eventually, as the last embers of light shone behind the mountain, Lairon came up.
"You gotta put the tinder at the bottom, and really fluff it out, like this," he said, poking with a giant claw. "But I doubt anyone will complain if I get this started now that you've tried." Lairon cracked his jaw wide open, and scraped a tooth against his wrist armor. A shower of sparks drenched the wood, and a flame shot up a moment later.
Caleb carefully nursed the flame, touching larger pieces of wood to it, and soon there was a crackling fire going, with a small stack of more firewood to the side.
"So who's first? With this many of us, we should be fine with hour-long watches." Dewott said.
"Are we going to be attacked?" Murkrow asked.
Dewott inspected the edge of one of her scalchops. "Probably not. Most tribal Pokémon don't bother fighting groups like us, they'd rather pick off weak or solo Pokémon. We're just not worth the meat, unless they're desperate or holding a grudge. That's why you should keep an eye out at night. Since you're asking questions, maybe you should go first, right?" she said, clapping Caleb on the back.
"Y-yeah, I can do that," he said.
The group pulled out various foods from their packs to cook and warm them on the fire. Alex pokeda stick through an Oran berry, holding it to the side of the fire. Dewott pulled out a small clay cup, spat some water in it, and put a chunk of dried meat in it before setting it in the forming coals. Lairon browsed the stone, looking for some tiny difference in the rock, before ramming it to make a pile of gravel on the ground that crumbled into sand. Barely visible in the firelight was a vein of rust colored rock, which Lairon began eating slowly.
Caleb kept staring at Alex as he tried to get used to his new body. First, he had to untangle his mustache from his bag. Then he tried to adjust the bag, to very little success. Alex jumped at every snap of the pitch-heavy fire, his ears felt more sensitive. But Alex kept his eyes wide open, as if he was having a staring contest with the world.
"Are you okay, Alex?" Caleb asked.
"I don't think so. My powers are so huge now. I can't control them right. Everyone said I was giving them headaches when I tried to use them. I saw Girafarig's tail stare right at me every time I closed my eyes, like I was a threat to her. And we're all Psychics on the team. They should resist my attacks. I'm afraid that I'm going to hurt you when I battle. Your type is weak to mine." Alex said.
"Well, you just need to train, right? Most Pokémon I've talked to said they broke a lot of things after they evolved because they were so strong. And everyone at the Academy wants to see you succeed. And I'll always follow you. I'm your partner, and humans need their partner." Caleb said. They leaned against each other as the stars appeared in the sky, until they went to sleep.
A/N
We finally made it to chapter 10! It took us a while, but now we've reached our first major spoiler! Please let me know if you're liking the story, reviews are always nice.