Waking up from that short rest was not a good start to the day, and grumpiness took hold.
I didn't know what to do. We'd spent the night cold and mostly awake, and it didn't help that food was getting hard to find. In the morning, we were back to walking and trying to find a way out. Walking in circles was frustrating at first, but felt utterly pointless after a second day.
Still, we trudged on.
Chloe, ever energetic, was leading, while the rest of the group and I weren't far behind. I looked at everyone, through some attempt to entertain myself on the walk. Valérie was still carrying Kieran, looking... not exactly exhausted physically, but just tired of having to do something. Kieran looked the opposite, poor guy. I really hoped he could get out of his cocoon like he said he would.
Lola was hanging back, even though with her being the tallest she could've walked miles ahead of us. I could've sworn she was explicitly trying to step only in the walls' shadow while we were walking. Maybe that slowed her down. I couldn't tell if it was some sort of game she'd picked up or some way to accentuate her weird dark act. It was probably both.
Gab was at the back of the group, keeping her distance, yet occasionally speeding up whenever we got a bit too far. Was it because she was awkward or actually slow on her feet?
Why don't you just ask anyone about these things instead of theorizing?
That sudden train of thought made me realize just how bored I'd been. Inner voices sometimes bring things up to your brain before you even consciously think of them. Though, why would I bring it up? Some of these things were better left unmentioned. They'd come off as judgy. Besides, maybe no one else was that desperately looking for a topic...
Oh, I promise they're as bored as you are, went my inner voice.
I still decided against it. "Hey, Chloe, how are things looking up there?"
Chloe flapped her wings excitedly before tucking them in and landing on my head. I could feel her small talons inadvertently scratching my skin underneath the fur behind my ears. It wasn't especially comfortable, but I barely had time for a wince before she started talking.
"I kind of want to take a break," she sighed, before reprising in a singsong voice, "Your head's really warm and comfy."
That was a bit disappointing. I really had thought she'd seen something! I guessed that it was hard to tell when there were good news with Chloe when she was always so unwaveringly cheerful.
"Good a time as ever," I sighed, and was about to sit down for a break, but Valérie beat me to the punch. She practically collapsed right after placing Kieran against the wall.
"Wow, thanks for the warning," he muttered.
Lola and Gab were quick to join, the latter leaning on the wall quietly. Lola, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get her opinion in.
"This is useless", Lola said.
"Hey, stop moping. We're getting out of this," said Valérie. "We're not having this talk again."
"We're not making any ground, though!"
"We are. We're walking," I said.
"... well, how do you know we're getting out?" Lola continued.
"Because we just are, okay? There's a way in, and there's a way out."
"And how would we know that?"
"… Because the guy who wrote the notes got out."
At that, Lola stopped. I couldn't tell if my words actually made a difference, or if she chose to yield for once.
"If he got out, he got out", she shrugged. "If he didn't, though, that's on you."
I was a bit baffled by that response, especially when she flashed a grin right after. "It's on our only option," I blurted out. "What else can we do? Sit here and wait for the mushrooms to go out? We can pick up the pace. Come on."
Our impromptu break now cut short, my will redoubled to find a way out. I led the charge this time. The rest followed.
Near the end of the path, there was another Oran berry bush... or rather, what looked to be the rest of it. No berries were on the branches, and the leaves were dried up. It didn't deter our spirit now that we'd gotten it.
I don't know if it meant anything to the labyrinth that our spirits were up. At this point, it was possible. I say that because that's also when we finally breached the final chamber.
It was about the same size as the dummy's room, or the one Kieran and I had woken up in. The walls were the same gray colour, and the mushrooms still grew in the patterns we'd seen previously. What stood out, though, was strewn about paper that littered the room, and an inkwell that had been tipped over. The contents had spilled long before we arrived, and the ink had faded to the exact colour of the stripe on the wall.
This just reeked of trap. It was still better than an ambush somewhere in the unknown future, though. I took a step in.
As if on command, white light surged at the back of the room, concentrated in one oval about Lola's size. It turned red as it defined itself into a slightly humanoid shape, standing on two legs but with a tail attached to it. It was also then that I noticed the sparks shaved off from it, falling and sinking through the ground as stray, square embers. Well, if we were in a video game, it was only a matter of time before the pixels came back.
The shape finally settled as it shed one last layer of red. What was left was... some kind of beige monkey? It seemed to be wearing a beret, two dog ears hanging and a dead-eyed stare underneath. Its tail swished around, it being long and adorned with a paintbrush-shaped tip.
"That's a Smeargle," Kieran announced.
"... Like... Lord of the Rings?" Valérie leaned into the Kakuna and whispered.
Before Kieran could tell her no, the Smeargle grunted, holding its head. It blinked out a few pixels, but they relentlessly foamed out of its mouth and eyes, still as vibrant a red as earlier. It let out an ear-piercing howl and started lunging at us. Before I could consider a peaceful outcome, or do anything-
I heard Chloe yell out a war cry in the distance. She zoomed past me, talons outstretched toward the Smeargle. She did land a hit, scratching its arm, but as it grunted in pain, it held its tail menacingly. Somehow. Even though it was paintbrush-shaped, the tail was clearly held like a handgun. The Smeargle took aim, and...
It launched a spew of fireballs in Chloe's direction! She flew just out of range, looping back around and desperately flapping her wings as she rejoined the group. The embers that were left smouldered against the wall and ground. Back in our group, everyone was scrambling to come up with a plan.
"Lola, charge at it. You're the biggest," Valérie said.
"Are you kidding?" She almost looked insulted, but resumed her careless tone soon after. "I'm not getting through that."
Valérie argued on, the Kakuna in her arms involuntarily being moved up and down. "But that blade on your head has gotta do some damage-"
I racked my brain for some sort of a strategy. What did we even have as an offence force? An uncaring tank with a scythe? A teammate who couldn't even move? A bird who'd just narrowly avoided fireball death?
At that moment, I remembered the one thing Kieran told me about my new species.
"Kieran!" I exclaimed.
"What?" He replied, dizzy from being shaken around. I didn't have the time or thought to tell Valérie to put him down.
"I'm a fire thing, right? It shouldn't do as much damage to me, right?"
His eyes bulged out. "Well, yeah, but-"
I'd left at the confirmation. I ran toward the Smeargle, charging at it with all the strength a slightly clumsy house cat could muster. Running was surprisingly easier than walking, since my limbs mostly moved in sync.
Front legs, back legs. Front legs, back legs. Front legs-
Over the others, the Smeargle let out a growl, and brandished its tail again, this time aiming at me. A torrent of water surged through it at alarming speeds. My heart jumped, instinct took over and I leapt out of the way as if my life depended on it.
"Micheal!" Kieran yelled.
Not a drop hit me, but my fur stood on end. Something in me knew that I needed to stay out of contact of that water, even if I was fine drinking from under the Oran berry bush. I'm sure the same instinct took over Chloe as she dodged the flames, but the fear of fire was also decidedly human to begin with. I fell back to the entrance.
I ended up bumping into Gab, and tried my best to will my fur down to its previous state. She squinted, inspecting the enemy from her position.
"Smeargle can technically learn all possible moves" She told me, stern, but as quiet as ever. "We should've been more careful."
"Thanks for that," I said, panting. It was probably what Kieran had wanted to say to me before I charged in.
I looked around. Still near the entrance, the others kept on arguing about a plan, and in the middle of the room, the Smeargle was readying another attack. Amidst the chaos, I managed to quiet everyone.
"We need a plan", I stressed, the Smeargle drawing closer. "Who's good against that thing?"
Chloe landed on my head, almost giving me a heart attack. "Valérie! She's super-effective if she has fighting type STAB moves."
I didn't understand where Valérie would get a knife, but it was worth a shot if this was the best course of action.
"Ok, Valérie, do... something. Think about a move and make it happen. It's our best chance."
As I turned to the back of the group to see her, I could only watch as she reared back and launched the attack.
"Take this!"
"Wait, no!" Kieran shrieked. "I wasn't serious!"
Well, too late. Plan Projectile was a-go. I was forced to watch as Kieran hit the Smeargle right in the skull with a huge "BONK!", bounced off, and landed unceremoniously on the floor.
And that somehow did it.
The thing collapsed. A howl pierced the air, and as the Smeargle clutched its head, it disappeared the same way it came: through the pixels. It crumbled away in a cascade of red and white and faded away.
"G-good plan," Chloe commented, her talons still gripping on my fur tightly.
There was a stillness in the air, a quiet that told us the danger was over for now. We were left dumbfounded, unable to move.
The Smeargle dissolving into a bunch of pixels only momentarily distracted me from Kieran. Someone had thrown him against a Pokémon. What the heck?
I rushed over to him, the others following.
"Kieran? Kieran, you okay, buddy?" I called. I finally came to a halt right next to him, and I didn't like what I saw.
Not only was he not responding, but his shell was split vertically through the back. In a sickening way, the tear reminded me of cut pie crust. The surface of his cocoon must've not been as strong as I had thought.
I didn't remember any slashing or cutting motions the Smeargle could've done to warrant the gash, but then again, maybe the pixels did it, or there was a sharp rock on the ground where Kieran had slid. The one good thing was that I didn't see any blood... But did he even have any? Did any of us? I didn't know!
I was about to give Valérie a good old panicked chewing-out, along with the rest of the group, I'm sure, but then a bright white light burst through Kieran's cut cocoon. I had to squint and distance myself from it.
"He's..." Chloe started, her voice clear as day. She finally hopped to the ground. "He's evolving!"
A luminous form emerged, leaving the shell behind. It grew out, adding in mass and height to the point where it dwarfed all of us except Lola. When it stabilized and the light finally dissipated, there stood a giant bee with two huge stingers for arms.
Well, more importantly, there stood Kieran.
"I'm back!" He yelled, thrusting his stingers in the air.
My eyes were drawn back to the shell. It was weird to consider that I'd thought Kieran was that cold, dead thing. He caught my eye and promptly skewered it with his stinger.
"Set it on fire." He told me, waving the thing around. I saw a smile on his new bee face, but his eyes still held that same dead-tired look he'd had when he was a Kakuna.
"What?"
"You're a fire-type, we gotta have a target for practice!"
"No!" I couldn't hide my disgust. It hit a bit too close to home, seeing a friend unconscious and thinking they died or something. I didn't want to hit him even more.
The others looked just as uncomfortable as me when Kieran threw the cocoon back down. Well, most of us.
"I'll help you out," said Lola.
I heard a crunch. Lola had stomped on the cocoon. Looking at everyone's faces, only she and Kieran found it funny- him because of revenge, and her because she just had that sense of humour. After a brief high-five with her, Kieran's face lit up even more.
"Wait! I can do this now!"
Kieran's stinger reached his back (with some impressive flexibility) and started taking care of an itch.
"Oh, God, this feels so good."
"Watch out for your... your wings, man", said Valérie, dumbstruck. I could tell she was trying to avoid his eye, but hers always found its way back to him.
It was kind of sad that Kieran felt such relief from scratching his back, but I really couldn't blame him. It was the small victories that counted, and we needed to know and enjoy all the ones we could have.
As Kieran went on about how he'd never complain about walking ever again, my gaze turned to Gab, whose ear just twitched. It was unusual to watch for animalistic tics to know how my human classmates felt, but hey, it definitely made it easier. The ear twitch was accompanied by a swift head turn, so I tore my eyes away from her to stare in the same direction.
I didn't see what it was, but I heard it.
It started off as a low hum, but steadily grew in volume and pitch. Other voices joined in, forming harmonies, slowly but surely announcing something... important.
"Guys?" I said, turning and expecting to interrupt Kieran, but everyone was already looking at where the sound was coming from, keeping silent (except maybe Lola muttering about a 'foe deep in the shadows'). I looked back at Gab, locked eyes, and gestured for her to back away. We got with the group safely and mustered our best battle stances. Not the best intimidation tactic against a song, I'll admit it, but it was what we had.
Then, we saw it.
A thin line of vertical light pierced the floor and ceiling against the far cave wall, before getting wider, small firefly-like lights emanating from the opening and gently floating around. The opening slowly formed a shape we were familiar with.
"The portal," I gasped.
All movements ceased with what I could swear was a carrion bell sound resonating through the room. The portal stood, beckoning. The hum stopped, leaving us to hear each other's relieved exhaling.
"We did it!" Chloe exclaimed, unsurprisingly the first to speak up. "We're going home!"
"Wait!" I exclaimed. All eyes turned on me. "Is it safe? I mean, look at what the last one's... done to us."
There was some nervous shuffling, but then came an unexpected response from Kieran.
"Do you want to stay here?" He asked. "There's nothing left to eat, and the fighting's presumably all done. We're moving on to the next level."
Valérie muttered: "Okay, you nerd-"
"Also, Micheal, I spent the last two days stuck inside a shell. We may face whatever later, but for now, don't talk about what it's done to us."
I had never seen Kieran being bold. Ok, that was a lie, but I guess I'd never seen him be bold to make a valid point. We were all trapped in the same predicament, but if we had to play competitive...
"Sorry about that," I nodded. "Let's go in."
"Ok, prepare for imminent nausea!" Kieran yelled, pointing to the portal.
"Oh no," Chloe realized, her feathers going down, shrinking her considerably.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I puked in the last one," joked Lola.
"Dude. Stop," Valérie snapped. "Let's go in."
We all stepped in, one at a time. Gab went through second to last, nodding to me as I insisted I go after her. She'd gone to pick up nearly all the paper that had writing on it, however unintelligible the spilled ink had rendered some of them. She clutched them as if her life depended on it, which it maybe did. She disappeared like the others, like a stone thrown in opaque liquid.
I took one last look at the dungeon, at the gray, craggy walls, the Oran branches, the glowing mushrooms. Then, my eye wandered to the new puddles on the floor and the soot that clung to the walls. I shuddered. It was all I needed.
I stepped into the portal as well, and was met with honey-coloured light flooding my sight, and a floating sensation: a weird type of anti-gravity that somehow didn't dizzy me. This was far more pleasant than the first transfer.
Why'd I take in the dungeon one last time? Would I miss it?
You did it because that's the easiest things will be for a while.
I winced as I realized what I knew in my heart.
We had a long road to cover.