Chapter 14 - Test day PT2

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"Hey Ace, are you okay?" Vulpix asked me in a hushed tone. I had just finished my test and was now sitting back in the other classroom. It was a bit awkward walking past everyone while making my way back into my seat again. It was like announcing, 'haha, I'm smarter than you.' But hey, at least I'm not waiting in the hallway. I'd imagine I wouldn't have been allowed back in if it was a serious test.

"Yeah? I'm fine, why do you ask?" I replied in the same hushed manner to her. Even though this was a mock test, it still didn't feel right talking too loud. Why was Vulpix talking to me instead of completing her test? Why, it's because she had finished the test already, duh. Compared to the others in the room, she was one of the quickest. The only others that were faster than her would be myself and Charmeleon.

"Um, you have had this serious look ever since you came back into the classroom. It looks like something is bothering you."

I have a serious look on my face? Man, I really need to get my expressions in check. I would hate for my lack of poker face to cause me to lose at something like gambling.

"Come on, you can tell me." Vulpix offered. I looked at Vulpix and it pained me that I would even consider not trusting her. A quick scan around the room did show that everyone was not paying attention to us; so it should be fine to tell her. It's on the test so who cares. Funnily enough, scanning around the room, I spotted the instructor Ampharos, looming over Scorbunny who had a guilty expression on him. Maybe he was caught cheating or something. Guess they do take this sorta seriously after all.

"It was that last question asked during my test. It was the same question Machoke tried to drill out of me back at the mine." Almost literally I might add.

"Machoke asked you, 'what berry heals poison?'" Vulpix asked, tilting her head.

"What? No. That wasn't the last question for me. It was, 'What do you know about 'Aura' and 'The Master?' Machoke was interrogating me about this aura stuff too. I'm starting to think that this whole 'aura' thing might be bigger than I thought it was. Was that question really not there for you?"

"Hmm, strange. No, that question wasn't on the test for me. What did you tell the Guild Master?"

"Technically the truth since I knew diddly squat about both, well besides for the Master being the big bad of the organization. I didn't tell Gardevoir how Machoke wanted my knowledge on 'aura' too. She knows something and I don't trust her."

"Maybe you should tell her about you being from another- ahem, not being from here? I mean, she seems nice and is the founder of the guild that literally saves Pokémon. Plus, maybe she could tell you what she knows about Aura?"

"No. I know too little about what is going on, and it's raising some major red flags for me. Until I find out a little more about how I would be treated if I revealed myself, I would rather keep my secrets known to few. If knowing that I could be involved in this 'aura' stuff got me tortured, then I don't want to see what happens if I'm confirmed a part of the whole thing. Keep it to as few people as possible until I figure out who I can truly trust."

"You're paranoid, Ace. You should try to trust others a bit. Especially your potential new allies in the guild that we are trying to join. Trust goes both ways, after all."

"I'll trust others more when I confirm that they aren't a sadistic sociopath or a coward who would sell me out to save their own skin, thank you." I gave a side squint over to Sneasel who was trying to hide her test from Scorbunny. Unfortunately for my bunny friend, he didn't notice Ampharos behind him. She gave him a thwack on his head with a rolled up stack of papers.

"Stepping stones, I guess. Anyway, what are you going to do about Sneasel? She was the one who threw you back into custody, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, she got her foot stuck in some webs so I went back and broke her free, only to find myself getting thrown back into the clutches of Ariados. I'm not sure what to do."

"You could forgive her, or at least hear her out?"

"I would rather rip her head off. If it wasn't for her, then all that crap with Machoke wouldn't have happened. Nothing good came from that."

"...We met because of it. I think that is pretty good if you ask me."

"N-no, that's not… haaa, that's not what I meant. It's just- I'm not in the right mindset for forgiveness. Meeting you, Scorbunny and Pachirisu, were literally the only good parts about that hell hole. I've got a lot of burdens at the moment that I need to sort through, before forgiveness could even be considered." Like that voice that was egging me on back when I lost control. Another mystery ingredient in my mystery pie.

"Alright. Well If you need to talk some more to help sort through your burdens, please talk to me. You don't have to fight this alone."

"Yeah, when I'm ready I guess." I gave a small chuckle.

"What?"

"I'm sorry, but don't have any money, psychiatrist Vulpix. I won't be able to afford your fare." I joked around with Vulpix with a small smile. She mirrored the expression.

"Luckily for you, first timers are always free. So no charge for this session," she chuckled. "Besides, I'm sure we could work something out. Maybe a twenty percent interest loan." Vulpix poked out her tongue to me after saying this.

"Gah, you criminal!" I gasped. We both chuckled to ourselves with our silly antics. I felt a bit lighter now,

"...No! Just a little more time please!" The voice of Scorbunny shouted across the room.

"No! You had more time than normal, with that Squirtle taking a while too." Ampharos replied with her flipper-like arms on her hips. Looking around, and yep, Squirtle was back in his seat. He was almost completely tucked inside his shell from the attention on him. His cheeks, what was visible anyways, were cartoonishly pink with embarrassment.

"I'm almost done, please! I just have a couple more to go and- Gah!" While Scorbunny was frantically trying to fill in some more answers, Ampharos, fed up with waiting, just yanked the test from him, giving Scorbunny a small fright from the suddenness of it. He looked down at his table, dejected from not being able to complete his test in time. Sneasel patted his shoulder. I had to suppress some mixed emotion I got from seeing her with someone I called a friend.

Ampharos with the class's collected test papers, moved to the front of the class. I also noticed that Gardevoir had at some point re-entered the room too. Once again her gaze was centred around me. Now, either she knows something I don't, or I'm just that sexy of a beast. I'd like to think it's the latter of the two, but wishful thinking. For all I know I'm fugly in this world. Yeesh, wouldn't that suck. 'Hey, come to our world. Oh by the way, you are ugly now, good luck!'

Shaking my useless thoughts away, I moved my attention back to Ampharos who looked like she was about to talk.

"Alright everyPokémon, grab your metaphorical things for we are going for a walk." Ampharos announced. She made her way to the back of the classroom to where Gardevoir was standing. She gave Gardevoir the test papers and they both walked out the room. The suddenness of this had the entire class not sure about what to do.

"Are you coming?" Ampharos asked us while peering back into the room.

Scorbunny, because of course it's Scorbunny, hopped up from his chair first and towards the door to Ampharos while shouting, "Yaaay, no more classroom!" With the spell on the classroom broken, we followed suit behind them.

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"So ah, do you know where we're going?" I asked Vulpix and Scorbunny. Scorbunny had wanted to bring Sneasel over, but Vulpix wisely told him that maybe don't bring her around me just yet. Plus I doubt she wanted to go anywhere near me since my outburst against her.

"No clue. Ho! Maybe we are getting taken to a hidden, underground Dungeon to where we will have to fight against mother nature herself and her minions, for daring to trespass in her domain?" Scorbunny replied with a slight crazy shine to his eyes. Vulpix and I both just looked at him in utter silence. "Oh, what if we are going out for ice-cream! I'm going to ask Sneasel what she thinks! See you both later," he said while bouncing back over to her.

Vulpix and I both stopped moving, and just stared at the strangle little bunny bouncing away to Sneasel, in silence.

"I think he is a bit messed up in the ol' noggin." I said, breaking the silence.

"At least he means well. For all we know, we might actually be getting ice-cream." Imagine if the test was actually eating ice-cream. I hope not, that would be boring wouldn't it? Tasty though.

We continued to follow behind Ampharos as she led us further into the town. I continued to scan my environment since I really wanted to continue exploring the town. We made our way towards the town centre where the hustle and bustle of the early morning Pokémon are out and about…and like last time we didn't go through it, instead taking a slight detour away from the town centre.

I will explore that town centre! It's only a matter of time. Vulpix meanwhile let out a sigh of relief for not having to venture into a busy crowd.

Our detour led us to the edge of the town. I did notice that there were a lack of distinct buildings and more 'normal' ones compared to the buildings around the centre of the town. Guess all the crazy is concentrated around the centre of the town. Not all of it however, since we are currently walking towards a crazy-looking building right now.

If I was to describe this building, it would be: a dojo, but instead of a usual looking dojo roof, it is instead replaced with a skull that looks like the one that a Marowak normally wears. There was a large overhanging billboard hanging off the nose of the skull. On said billboard is a picture of a Marowak lifting its iconic bone like a weight, with a selection of weights and training dummies behind it, all inside a dojo room.

"Alright everyone," Ampharos said, stopping in front of the building. "This is where we will be conducting our test for the day."

"A-are we fighting each other?" I heard Sneasel ask from across the small crowd.

"Oh heavens, no. The only times a fellow guildmate is allowed to fight is the tournament or an approved duel. Now then, when thinking of a Mystery Dungeon, do you all believe that they're just a large jumbled maze with wild Pokémon waiting inside to attack? Well I'm here to inform you that, while all that is true, they actually come in all shapes and sizes. Some of them are even as small as three rooms, or a single large cave opening instead of the usual large everchanging labyrinth."

"Psh, what utter crap. That is the most unbelievable thing I have ever heard," Charmeleon said from the crowd. I get what Charmeleon is saying, though. The idea of a Mystery Dungeon that small, kinda takes the whole 'Mystery Dungeon' essence away. I guess you could use the 'jail' dungeon term if you want to, but that doesn't have the same zing as a large labyrinth.

"Well, aren't you in for a learning experience today, my rude initiate. For you see, you and everPokémon here will be going through a small Mystery Dungeon located in this building. Now follow me."

We followed Ampharos into the funny looking building. The inside of the building looked like how the poster was: it was a dojo-themed building with various pole-like weapons, training equipment, and weights stored against the far left wall, and one meditating Marowak at the far back wall on a mat. The thing that really stood out from them all, was a rather large gong behind the meditating Marowak. Ampharos approached the meditating Marowak with us following behind her.

"Good day Mr. Marowak," Ampharos greeted the meditating Marowak. The Marowak lifted his head towards the one speaking to it, "We are here for the trial exam. Would you please open the Mystery Dungeon?"

The Marowak nodded in agreement and stood up from his mat. He turned around and made his way to the gong with his large bone in hand. Holding your large bone in front of a crowd? Takes guts. Anyway, with his bone in hand, he raised his club-like bone in the air and gave that gong a real good 'thwack'. The gong cried out a loud 'Gwoooong'. The noise of it gave a couple of Pokémon around me a small jump. Some even yelped, like Vulpix.

"Tch, cowards." I heard Charmeleon say from the group. Looks like someone is in need of a good old Bulbasaur-style headbutt. Before I could comment to Charmeleon in a snarky way, the gong began to shake. It started to make a loud stone scraping sound as it started to move backwards, revealing a hidden passage. Hidden passage! I love these things, they are just so fantastical.

"Alright everyPokémon," Ampharos called out while standing near the revealed passage. "The test is as follows; clear the Mystery Dungeon. Any questions?"

"Wait, that's it? Nah, there has to be a catch," I said out loud. There was no way that this was that simple. There is sure to be more going on, and I'd rather not hurt myself by boobing a trap.

"Ah, good question, Bulbasaur. But it's as simple as it sounds. It's a small Mystery Dungeon with maybe a small amount of Pokémon hidden inside. I assure you that you aren't in any real danger and the whole thing is being monitored. Now, there actually is a catch, although not for this test. It was for the last one. Now, who here didn't take that little written test seriously and just phoned it in?" Ampharos asked the crowd. Looking at everyone, I could see most of them looking down from the question.

"Thought so. Well let this be a warning for you potential future explorers. Information is one of the most important tools for any explorer to possess. So one should be rewarded for seeking it out to better themselves. So in order to encourage knowledge seeking, the guild regularly rewards its members for doing so. So for this time I, shall reward the top three Pokémon who got the most correct answers on the test. It will provide some information regarding this particular dungeon, with first place getting a small pouch to aid them in future missions."

"HA!" Charmeleon yelled out loud, "I knew it! Too bad for you losers, for I already know that I answered more correct answers then everyPokémon else here. I'm always prepared."

"We will see. Now I just have to wait for-" Ampharos was saying as she got interrupted by the dojo's main door suddenly bursting open. Vulpix yipped from the sudden fright. Scorbunny had her beat however, since he basically shouted in fright. "-Tyrogue…" Ampharos finished.

"Reporting in!" Tyrogue said in a serious stance at the door. He was holding a piece of paper attached to a clipboard. He took 3 steps before tripping over his own feet and face planted on the floor.

Silence. Awkward silence, as the whole group just stared at Tyrogue.

Gotta give it to the little guy, he got up and shrugged it off like a champ. It was almost like nothing embarrassing happened at all. He continued his earlier walk over to Ampharos, this time not tripping over, and handed her the clipboard.

"Mission accomplished! What are your commands!" He shouted to Ampharos.

"Argh, you don't have to yell. I'm like right here you know?" She replied to the little soldier.

"Sorry, Ma-am!" he saluted.

"You don't- oh forget it. Report back to the guild and await further instructions."

"Yes ma-am!" He gave Ampharos a quick bow, then he gave one to us before he marched back to the door. He opened it and left, the door closing behind him. Before Ampharos could say anything, I could hear a 'Ah!' and a thud noise from behind the door. I couldn't help but chuckle from this as did the others.

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"What an idiot," Charmeleon said, "Well come on then, let's let everyPokémon know how inferior they truly are."

I was about to yell something back to Charmeleon before Vulpix actually gave my right foreleg a small nip. I gave her an annoyed look, to which she just shook her head. I just grumbled to myself.

Ampharos gave Charmeleon a small, annoyed look before she gave her clipboard a small glance. Her annoyed look turned to a small smile. "Alright everyPokémon, I'll announce the winners now. The third highest score goes to Ralts. Here we are," Ampharos said. She walked up and gave the small blushing Pokémon an envelope. "Inside this envelope is some useful information to help assist you in the dungeon." Ralts looked upon the envelope with glee.

"Yeah, enjoy your losers' prize. That first place prize is mine," the oh-so lovable Charmeleon said. It's weird with how tropey this Chameleon is acting right now. At first it was funny, but now it's really getting on my nerves. A 'tch' caught my attention from the crowd. I was able to make out that it came from Sneasel who looked just as fed up with Charmeleon as I was.

"…and in second place… it is Charmeleon-."

"What?! I got second?! There is no way a bunch of losers like you could have gotten a better score than me! Who is it? Who got first place?!" Charmeleon demanded while a puff of smoke escaped her nose.

"I'm getting to that! So just shush will you? Anyway, the first place prize goes to…Bulbasaur-"

"Ha! Get wrecked, you overconfident, lizard-brain, moron!" I shouted out a little louder than I intended, but man it just feels so good when overconfident schmucks get shown what's what.

"Ace, was it really wise to-" Vulpix who got cut off said.

"Are you trying to pick a fight with me, plant boy? I'll burn you to a crisp!" Charmeleon yelled at me. I of course continued to show off my maturity.

"Yeah? Well bring it, lizard-breath." With our battle declared, we made our way towards each other. This is going to be the second greatest smackdown, with Machoke's being the first. With my vines at the ready, I began to plan on my next move-

"Enough!" Ampharos shouted before anything else could happen. "If you two don't settle down right now, then you both will be disqualified from joining the guild today. Am I clear?!"

"Yeah, crystal clear." I said. I made my way back to where Vulpix was. "I could've taken her…" I mumbled to myself.

"Yes. He's not so tough…could've taken him." I heard Charmeleon mumble to herself as she too went back to her group.

"What am I going to do with you?" Vulpix said to herself. I just gave a huff.

"Now then, If everPokémon is quite done with interrupting me, I would like to finish with the rewards so the test can start." Ampharos made her way to Charmeleon, giving her a letter. Afterwards, Ampharos made her way to me and gave me a letter and a small pouch. "This is the first-place reward. You may use this pouch any way you see fit. Take note everyPokémon, more rewards like this are sure to come your way for a job well done." Vulpix and I gave my new pouch a look over. I was thinking if maybe Vulpix should wear it, but it makes sense for her to be as nimble as possible, so I put the pouch on. Oh wait, there's something inside it…an Oran berry, score! With my new pouch slung around my neck, I continued to listen to what was going on.

"The test may now commence. Do I have any volunteers?" Ampharos asked us. I don't know why, but my immediate reaction was to look at Charmeleon, who in return had done the same thing. Oh no you don't! I raised my right foreleg in the air and she raised her arm in the air.

"Me!" "Me me!" We both shouted at the same time. We both shot each other a side glance. Let the duel of wits commence!

"I won the test, we go first."

"No way! I raised my claw first."

"Yeah, well-"

"Oh my Arceus! Do you both have to continue to bicker at each other? You know what? No, neither of you are going first, and in fact, you both are going last now." Ampharos said while putting her foot down. Any chance for a debacle was shot down by Ampharos pointing her flipper-like hand towards us both, daring us to try her. "Good, now then, I don't want to hear anything from the both of you until after the test since you both won't be my problem anymore." She mumbled that last part. Charmeleon and I locked eyes and both huffed our heads to the side.

"Good, now then let's see… Squirtle, you and your team are up first. Follow me to the dungeon's entrance. Marowak, if those two get into trouble, please demonstrate to them your famous bone rush move." I noticed that Ampharos was rubbing the back of her head when she said this. Guess she was a victim of one of these 'bone rushes.' Marowak gave Ampharos a short nod and smacked his bone on the floor, producing a very loud and intimidating 'thwack' noise. Okay, better not receive one of those, thank you very much. Then again, Charmeleon would receive one too…

"No, bad Ace." Vulpix said, interrupting me from my thoughts.

"Wha? I didn't say anything." I said.

"I know you're thinking something heinous."

"...Mind reader!"

With Ampharos leading the Squirtle's team or rather Squirtle's squad down to the dungeon, I just sat in a corner, waiting for my turn and low-key sulking. Vulpix meanwhile was talking with Scorbunny and Sneasel. Probably wishing them luck. I doubt that they would need it, Scorbunny has so much energy he even rivalled me with my reserved energies, so he could just outrun everything inside the dungeon. Sneasel? Eh, who cares. So with nothing better to do now, I began thinking about battle strategies and what to expect in a real life Mystery Dungeon. I have technically been in one before, but I was in a cage so it doesn't really count.

"What are you thinking about, Ace?" Vulpix asked out of nowhere, giving me a small startle. How did she sneak up on me? I have, like, turbo hearing.

"Just battle strategies and the likes. Trying to mix my old knowledge with how we could proceed." I said.

"Well that's good. Are you okay, Ace? You seemed certain to pick a fight with Charmeleon."

I gave a short sigh, "Look sorry, but I can't stand people like that. They just have to try and belittle people and I'm not having it."

"Have you dealt with things like this before? Back at your old home, I mean."

"Y-yeah… Look, I'd rather not talk about this right now."

"That's fine. I'm here if you want to talk about it later." She really is an odd creature. No one has ever been so… empathetic like this to me before. It's… strange. We sat in silence for a time, just watching the other teams, and how they interact with each other. I wanted to say something, but for once I don't know what to say.

"SomePokémon by the way," Vulpix suddenly said, breaking the silence.

"What?" I replied.

"I noticed that when you speak, you say things like 'someone' and 'people'. We say 'somePokémon' or 'Pokémon' since we don't usually see people. So it sounds strange to us when you say otherwise."

"O-oh, guess I never really noticed. Looks like I still have a lot to learn about this world."

"And I will help you along the way. We are partners after all." Oof right in the feels. I had to really hold in the sudden wave of emotion I just got hit with.

"Thanks," is all I could muster up to say. It just felt nice to have someone… somePokémon there. Vulpix nodded in response. After a short moment for me to collect myself, we began planning how we were going to tackle the challenge that lies ahead of us. Battle meeting, yo.

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"Hmph, can't believe we're last to go." I sulked. As Ampharos declared, Chameleon's group and mine were last to enter the Mystery Dungeon. Bullcrap, if you ask me, Charmeleon started it, so why did she get to go before me? This world is not just, I tell you. Maybe this is why I was brought here, to set the world straight by teaching characters like Charmeleon a lesson. Okay, maybe I'm just a little salty, but I hate being last.

"Stop complaining, we're here now." Vulpix said. We followed behind Ampharos to where she instructed us, down a stone staircase. She didn't follow us down, so it was just Vulpix and I going down this dank staircase. We were given a time limit of sorts and a safe word, 'Everstone,' for safety reasons. Ampharos assured us that we were not truly in danger.

Taking out my envelope from my baggie, I tore it open, careful not to rip the note inside, and gave it a read. Gah, why did I try, I still can't read. Vulpix and I stopped on these oversized stairs so Vulpix could read the letter.

"Alright," Vulpix spoke after reading the dangling note in front of her. "It says here that, 'the Bulbasaur should learn how to read.'"

"Wait really?"

"No, but you should learn, Ace."

"Just read the damn thing you cheeky fox." Vulpix gave a small chuckle.

"It says here that this particular Mystery Dungeon is about 3 to 5 rooms deep, with it housing Geodudes, Zubats and Shieldons. It also says that on rare occasions, Golbats and Gibbles have been sighted, but it's extremely rare. There are also no water type Pokémon in the river, should it appear. Oh, it also describes this Mystery Dungeon as a one-way dungeon. Whatever that means."

"Sounds simple enough," I said with confidence. Besides for a possible Golbat encounter and those pesky Zubat's supersonics, this should be a breeze. Yeah, tutorial missions! I wonder what it means by one-way, though.

"Simple?! This sounds anything but simple. There are Pokémon that want to hurt us down there. I don't know what a Gible or a Golbat is, but they sound tough and scary."

"Psh, nah, this is easy territory. The only threat would be the Golbat which is the evolved form of Zubat. Imagine a larger Zubat with a huge mouth. It's silly looking, if you ask me. Now, enough waiting! For our trial awaits us!" I continued my trek down the stairs. After a small amount of hesitation, Vulpix followed behind.

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After descending the staircase, the first room we came across was a small cave clearing. Looking around revealed not much besides for the generic cave room. I'm surprised there was enough light for us to see. Mystery Dungeons, yo. Got their own rules until someone tells me otherwise. At the far back of the room, to the left and right laid two possible paths to choose from. Vulpix and I made our way towards them since nothing else of value was present.

"Oh, the entrance backup is gone," I pointed out while I was looking around. Yep, the entrance back to the surface that we came from had indeed disappeared. Spooky. I wonder if all Mystery Dungeons are like this, or if it's a unique or limited thing. Oh, duh, I'm an idiot, the note did mention this being a 'one-way' dungeon. One-way meaning you have one way to go, so no backing away once entered. I felt stupid for not realising it earlier.

"What? Oh no, no no no." Vulpix began to panic. "I don't know if I can do this, Ace."

"Hey hey, it's okay. I'm here. Hey, look at me," I said in the most delicate voice I could muster, "You trust me, don't you?" Vulpix gave a small nod. It really looked like she was about to cry. "Then trust me when I say that if a random Pokémon or danger appears, I will make sure that I'm between the danger and you. You support and deal the major damage with your fire, and I will act as a disabler frontliner. We got this. We're a team after all, I wouldn't let anything hurt you if I have anything to say about it." Vulpix looked down to the ground in deep thought. She gave her paw a look before clenching it and slamming it down to the ground with determination. She looked straight into my eyes with confidence now in place of the earlier fear she once had. She gave me a nod.

"You're right, we got this." She smiled at me. I gave her a wink.

"Damn right we do. Now then," I said while moving towards the two paths. "I nominate that we take the right path."

"Okay. I'll follow your lead, Ace."

So deciding that the right path was the way to go, we made our way towards it. Looking down the path, it was a long, stretched out corridor that ended with a sharp turn to the left. We entered it and continued down it in silence, keeping a lookout for any signs of danger.

The path eventually led to another large open room. Nothing really stuck out as interesting here. Well, besides for an out of place large boulder in the middle of the room. There was only one clear path to go, so that's where we went.

"So far so good." I spoke as we continued down the straight path.

Another empty room and another path lead us to yet again another empty room. This one, however, had a staircase. We didn't debate over going down it and simply just traversed it. First floor cleared with no incident, nice.

We got down to the next floor. This room we ended up in was more interesting, though. It had some large ponds of water in it. Nothing of value, but it did make for a pretty scene. The path behind us disappeared, in case you were wondering. One solo path was present so down we went.

The path leads to, guess what? An empty room. However there was something here. It was shiny. I made my way towards the shiny object.

"What is it, Ace?" Vulpix asked.

"No clue, it seems to be… a shiny stone?" I replied while walking over to said shiny rock. I gave it a poke beforehand with my vine to make sure it wasn't going to explode or anything. Once confirmed it was safe, I picked it up. It was just that, a shiny looking stone.

"Do you think it's important?"

"Nah, doubt it. It's just a rock. Well, finders keepers." I put the shiny rock in the little pouch I had equipped. "Now then, let's continue, shall we?"

"Yep, let's go."

As we made our way to the only path to go, a small thing seemed to be there. It was flying towards us. Once it got into view, I could make out that it was a Zubat.

"Alright, some action!" I said while pulling out my vines. "Okay, remember our plan, Vulpix: I distract it, and you shoot."

"You don't think we could talk this out, do you?"

"Scree!" the small bat screeched. Out from its mouth shot a soundwave that made its way towards me. I dodged out of the way as it hit the ground I once sat on, poofing the dust away from that spot.

"Nope! Initiate battle music!" I said. I had a smile on my face. With my earlier annoyances from Sneasel and Charmeleon, I could use a good fight. I ran towards the Zubat who shot another sound wave towards me. I dodged it and once close enough, I shot my vine out like a bullet towards the Zubat. It dodged out of the way. I swung my vines around trying to flick the little bugger, but nothing was landing.

The nimble Zubat flew down, using gravity to assist his acceleration to swoop around me, and into my blind spot. Not being able to dodge out of the way in time, I got hit by this screech attack. No, wait not screech… supersonic!

"Ah, wa, where-where did you go you little vermin," I said. The world was spinning around me and I was having a really tough time making out what is what. I could feel something draining my energy from behind me. It didn't tickle, I tell you what, so not liking the idea of becoming food, I turned around and shot my vines…in the completely wrong direction. One vine even smacked me in the face! "Ah, I hate confusion!"

Zubat gave a small chuckle at how helpless I was at the moment before he started to suck me off again… hmm, wait a second, I got this. Before he sucked my juices... that's not better, either. Before he used leech life again, there we go. What am I thinking about? Oh wow, confusion is a powerful beast, it seems.

Before I could do anything else, an orange glow collided with the Zubat, sending the small bat hurtling towards the floor. The world that was spinning, was coming back into focus. Ah, Vulpix sent some embers over to help me.

"Thanks for the assist."

"Sorry It took a while, I had to get behind him to make sure that I didn't miss."

"Scree..scree!" the Zubat angrily announced. He was getting back up from the ground, albeit a bit slow from the ember damage he received.

"Oh no, you don't," I said. Not taking any chances, with confusion no longer in effect, I shot my vines over to the Zubat, wrapping them around its wings. I lifted the zubat off from the ground, and using some reserved energy, I sent that little bastard straight into a wall. The small bat collided and bounced off the wall with a 'plop'. It fell to the ground with 'x's for its eyes.

"Is it- did we beat it?" Vulpix asked.

Poking the now unconscious Pokémon, I confirmed that it was indeed having a snooze. "Yep, we sure did."

"We did it! Our first victory!" Vulpix was jumping around with joy. I smiled at how happy she was. I am glad though, this fight went down a lot better than my first one did. I'm now wondering if that Rattata was either super strong or I was weak. Could be a bit of both, who knows.

"Alright, let's keep moving."

We continued our way through the Mystery Dungeon. We ran into a couple of empty rooms as we travelled. We did find a couple of other wild Pokémon like another Zubat and a Geodude, but they were a cake walk for us. Since I was tough, I could handle most attacks thrown at me, while Vulpix would pepper the enemy down from afar. The Geodude didn't like pepper, preferring assault instead, and he wanted to let Vulpix know of this by throwing a rock at her, but a barrage of vine whips told him to keep his opinion to himself.

We got to the third floor with little fuss. Traversing it like the other rooms had us fighting only a couple more Pokémon, but they were easily thrashed. I was feeling a bit banged up, though. Vulpix was completely fine since she was able to nimbly dodge any attacks thrown at her, but I wasn't as nimble and ate many attacks to the face. Always the face, why?

We are currently walking down one of the long corridors. My nose was still smarting from getting hit by a rock. I wish I had my hands so I could rub it. Bruises always feel a little bit better when you give them a rub.

"If you're hurting, you could eat the Oran berry. That was quite the rock you got hit by," Vulpix said.

"Nah, I'll be fine. It's more annoying than anything. Like someone constantly poking me. It should go away soon," I replied. I could feel some of my reserve energy getting used to heal my injuries. I'm so stoked about this cool power. I just wish it didn't try to use my own life force to heal me when my energy levels ran out. I imagine it like drinking your own blood in order to heal; like cool, my cut is healed, but I am missing all my crucial life juice.

"If you say so," Vulpix replied. I would rather save healing items for later. You never know if a hidden boss fight is waiting for you. Yes, when I played video games, I hated using consumables if I didn't have too.

The corridor ran out of itself, giving way to the largest and frankly, most interesting room so far. This room was huge, with random pillars of stone spread all throughout it. On the far end of the room was a large exit with the sun's rays pouring through it. Now, even though this room is large, that doesn't make it interesting, right? Well, the interesting part is the large subterranean river in the middle of the room. The water was rushing from the right side of the room, down from a large hole high up in the wall, creating a small waterfall, and down to the left side of the room, where a small hole was located. I'm surprised with how strong of a current the river had. This thing is definitely not using real world logic.

"Alright, a raving underground river stands between us and victory," I pointed out.

"Yeah, great. Do you know how to swim?" Vulpix asked.

"Ye- wait…maybe? Now that I think about it, I haven't gone swimming in this body yet. I doubt the skills are transferable from a bipedal to a quadruped creature. Plus, it took me hours to learn how to walk again. Do you know how to swim?"

"Not well, we Vulpix's generally don't like water. We prefer the heat, so when something cools us down forcibly, we tend to avoid it. Plus, getting my fur all fixed up is a pain," Vulpix said while looking at her paw's fur. Now that she pointed it out, her fur is really fluffy looking. Maybe a small pat wouldn't hurt. I began to reach out to her fur while she was focusing on her paw.

"Don't even think about it," Vulpix said without even looking towards me.

"Drat," I spat out. "Well then, we both can't swim, and being over here isn't the same as being over here. Any suggestions?"

"Hmm…" Vulpix puzzled.

I was looking around the room for something to help us. While I was scanning the room again, I stopped and stared at the large columns spread throughout the room. Ah, there is one by the river, that's nice. Wait, a large column near a river? My gamer senses are tingling. I walked over to the pillar near the river. Looking at it, the top and bottom seem to be rather thin compared to the pure girth of the middle. Hmm… Idea!

"Hey Vulpix, could you shoot this column? Like right at the top there?" I asked.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know about you, but doesn't this pillar look like a fantastic looking bridge?"

"Oh, I get it! Sure, stand back, I would rather not have any rocks fall on us."

Nodding, I moved back. Vulpix looked to her target and shot a volley of embers to the rock. It took her 3 sets of ember to knock the pillar down, smashing onto the ground and over the river.

"Voila, a bridge."

"Good thinking, Ace."

I was the first to move up onto the pillar. Taking my time, I walked across it and jumped down to the other side. It was really sketchy, but the note said that there were no water Pokémon in the river, so it was more just the idea of slipping off and drowning.

"Alright, your turn."

"O-okay. Brave, brave." I could hear her pepping herself up. She jumped onto the makeshift bridge. Taking longer than I did, she got to half way before I started to hear something. Like a 'fwoosh' sound. Looking up I could see a large mouth attached to the flying creature, coming down towards us- wait not us, Vulpix!

"Vulpix run!" I shouted.

"What?" was all she could reply before the giant Golbat came down, crashing into Vulpix, and sending her down into the river.

"Vulpix!"

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End Chapter 14.