Chapter 8
The Steelix


I blast the enemy Sandshrew with a water gun and send it flying backwards. It evaporates into smoke, and I relax.

"You're getting better at this," Snivy says, already having finished off the other wild pokemon. "Battling is pretty fun, right?"

"Well, I guess it kinda is." It certainly feels better to not be helpless anymore. It helps that all the pokemon we've fought here are ground type, so it's pretty easy for me and Snivy to deal with them. And I do have to admit, it is kinda fun to finally have a pokemon battle, even if this isn't quite what I was hoping for.

"C'mon, it shouldn't be much further to the end, then we can get that stone, and then get the name of the wish-dungeon!" Snivy says, running ahead.

I run after them into a corridor that goes on for a while before leading into another room. I watch Snivy enter the room, but before I can enter, I see something tackle into Snivy from the side, knocking them back and out of my view.

"Snivy!" I run as fast as I can and get inside the room to find Snivy cornered by a giant Steelix! Snivy strikes at the Steelix with their vines, but that doesn't seem to do much. The Steelix whacks Snivy back with its tail, knocking them into the corner.

The Steelix moves in to attack Snivy again, and I open my mouth and blast it with a water gun. My attack seems to work, and the Steelix flinches turns its attention to me. It prepares to lunge, and I get ready to dodge out of the way of its attack.

It lunges!... upwards? The Steelix jumps up and dives into a hole in the wall. A dark hole. Before I realize what's happening, I'm struck from behind by Steelix's hard metal head and sent tumbling forwards, landing next to Snivy.

Snivy helps me up, and we turn around to see the Steelix glaring at us. It picks up a rock with its tail, and we get ready to dodge. The Steelix throws the rock towards the cave wall behind it, into another hole. I react faster than last time and tackle Snivy out of the way just before a rock falls from the ceiling!

"It's using the teleporting holes!" I say to Snivy.

"Seriously? How does it even know how to do that?"

The Steelix dives into a hole on the floor, and I immediately jump away from the wall I was next to. Unfortunately, Steelix emerged from the other wall that made up the corner we were in, and I'm smacked away by its tail and sent flying into the opposite wall! I get up to see Snivy slam the Steelix in the face with a leaf tornado attack, but the Steelix shrugs it off and takes advantage of the opening to wrap Snivy in its tail and begin to crush them like a boa constrictor.

I try to hit it with another water gun, but the Steelix is ready for it, and unleashes a red beam from its mouth that tears through my attack and hits me! Its using Dragon Breath to counter my water gun, I realize. I recover from the hit and look back at the Steelix. It's staring it me, daring me to try again, all the while I can hear Snivy crying out in pain.

I desperately try to come up with some kind of plan... and I remember the holes. I turn around and see the hole that Steelix threw a rock into. I dive into it, and I start to fall. I look below me and see Steelix, still looking at where I was. It doesn't seem to realize I can use the holes too. As I fall, I blast a water gun at Steelix's head! Steelix cries out in a mix of surprise and pain, dropping Snivy in the process.

I land pretty rough, but I get up and manage to fire off another water gun at Steelix just before it can land another hit on us. The Steelix dives into the hole in the corner and retreats to the opposite side of the room. I turn to Snivy and see them barely conscious. I grab an oran berry from the bag at Snivy's waist and shove it into their mouth.

Snivy opens their eyes. "Mu- Mudkip..? What-"

"Wake up, we're fighting!"

"Uh, r-right!"

We turn to see Steelix glaring angrily at us. It picks up another rock and throws it into the hole in the floor. Before I can react, Snivy grabs me and pulls me backward just in time to avoid being struck by the rock from behind. I take a moment to look at the holes in the room. Steelix already used a lot of them, so I can start to put together a mental map of how they connect...

The Steelix dives into a hole in the wall behind it. "Above!" I shout, and Snivy and I dive out of the way just in time as Steelix crashes down from the ceiling! It swings at me with its tail, and although I jump to avoid it, it still hits my legs and knocks me into the corner. Before it can follow up, Snivy hits it with a leaf tornado from behind, staggering it.

Steelix turns its attention to Snivy, and Snivy runs away to the other side of the room, with Steelix following close behind. Suddenly, I come up with a plan. I run into the hole in the wall behind me and look up. I'm in the hole in the floor on the other side of the room, and I see Steelix above me. I wait for the right moment, and when Steelix's tail is right above the hole, I blast it with a water gun! I hear a cry of surprise from Steelix as I run back out of the hole.

After coming back out of the hole, I move to the side, out of view from anyone looking through the hole. I watch Steelix dive into the hole in the floor, and when it pops out next to me, it looks around, not realizing I'm right behind it. I hit it with another water gun, and I realize Steelix's cries seem more painful now. I try to run away again, but Steelix is still covering the hole in the wall, and there aren't any other holes nearby.

Steelix is too fast, and before I can get away, it grabs me with its tail and starts crushing me! It turns to look at Snivy, and when I follow its gaze, I see... nothing? Suddenly, I hear a shout from above, and turn to see Snivy jumping from the hole in the wall that Steelix used when I first entered the room to hit me! Snivy slams Steelix's face with another leaf tornado, and Steelix falls to the ground with a crash!

I feel the grip of Steelix's tail loosen around me before it begins to evaporate. I breathe a sigh of relief and collapse on the ground, exhausted. Snivy joins me in taking a nap on the ground, and we lay there, catching our breath. Using water gun takes some effort, and I used it a lot during the fight. It's probably the same for Snivy and their leaf tornado.

"Thanks for saving me back there, partner," Snivy says, still breathing heavily. "That was a pretty gutsy trick you pulled, falling from the ceiling like that."

"Thank you, too. You saved me twice back there."

Snivy smiles. "Three times, Mudkip."

"Shut up, I saved you like four times."

Snivy giggles. "Oh yeah. So that means you still owe me one, since I saved you twice back in Marine Cavern."

I grumble at Snivy's annoyingness. After a few minutes of resting and an oran berry for me, we get up and resume walking through the dungeon.

"So, Ambipom said that the stone would be at the deepest part of the dungeon. How did they know that? Didn't you say mystery dungeons change their layout over time?"

"Yeah, they do, but the deepest part is special. The deepest part of a dungeon is always the same, and there tends to be some amazing stuff down there, like those crystals in Marine Cavern."

Oh. Neat! We keep walking and start to notice some of the dirt glowing brighter than the rest. It's slight at first, but as we move on, the glow forms a spiral pattern going around the tunnel. We start to walk faster, then run, and soon enough, we arrive in a tall room. The glowing spiral circles around the rooms walls before stopping in the center of the floor, and at the center of the spiral is a small, perfectly round stone, yellow in color and striped with orange and red.

"The Striped Sun!" I run towards it, and Snivy follows. It's super smooth, and it's shape is an unnaturally perfect sphere. The colors are beautiful, just like Ambipom said. No wonder they're willing to pay so much for it.

Snivy puts the stone in our bag, then makes a wish to check if this might be the wish-granting dungeon. Nothing happens, so we move on the exit.

We head into a side path that leads upwards, just like the one in Marine Cavern. As we walk, I start to wonder. "So, this path leads straight from the end of the dungeon to the entrance, right?"

"Yep."

"So why didn't we just take this path down in the first place?"

"Because it didn't exist then."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

Snivy giggles. "Well, mystery dungeons are always shifting. Heck, if we were to turn back now, we'd come out into the main part of the dungeon before getting back to the bottom. I don't know how it works, but basically, this path can only go outward, not deeper in."

"Huh. Mystery dungeons are weird."

"I know, right? It's awesome!"

A few minutes later, and we start to see light. "Race ya!" Snivy says as they run towards it. I smile and chase after them. Moments later, we exit the dungeon and step outside into daylight.




Thanks for reading. Comments, questions, and criticisms are encouraged.