Chapter 19
Violet Void


I walk through the corridors of the mystery dungeon behind Snivy, our path lit by brightly glowing purple crystals scattered everywhere from the floor to the ceiling of the cave.

"It's been awhile since our last mystery dungeon, huh?" Snivy says.

"Yeah. It'd be kinda cool to be exploring again, if not for all the people disappearing."

"You said it."

We walk in silence for a few second, and I notice a larger crystal on the ground with a darker color, more like the violet of the cave's name. I run my hand over it as we walk past, and it just feels... magical. Magical and smooth. Mystery dungeons are cool.

"You know," Snivy says, "even with everything going on, I'm glad we're exploring again."

I silently listen to Snivy, but I start to feel really weird. I feel... light. It gets hard for me to stay on the ground, and as Snivy keeps talking, I start to float up into the air!

"I'd dreamed for months about how cool it'd be to be an explorer, and the whole adventure has been a dream come true! The adrenaline I feel in battles, the beautiful sights of the dungeons, and everything else too! Do you feel that way too, Mudki-" Snivy turns around to look at me, but sees nothing. "AHH! H-hey, partner?! Where are you!? Please, say something! I don't want to-"

"Um, up here," I call from the ceiling.

Snivy looks up at me, panic turning to confusion. "Wha- Mudkip?"

"My name is Jamie."

"How did you get up there?! I was really scared!"

"Sorry about that. I touched one of those big violet crystals, and I think that made me float up here?"

"Like, um, one of these?" Snivy walks over to a crystal and touches it.

A few seconds pass, and nothing happens.

"... I don't think it's- whoa!" Snivy suddenly starts slowly floating upward, gradually increasing in speed before landing on their head on the ceiling. "Whoa... what happened?"

"Hmm..." I try jumping. It feels exactly like normal jumping, except upside down. "I think gravity reversed for us somehow?"

Snivy's eyes go wide as they stand up and look around. They start jumping and running all over the place, laughing all the way. "We're upside down, we're upside down!" Suddenly, Snivy stops. "... How do we get back down?"

"Hmm... Maybe it'll wear off?"

"Or maybe..." Snivy walks over to a violet crystal on the ceiling and touches it. A moment later, and they're floating back towards the ground. Snivy jumps a few times to test the gravity. "Hey, do you wanna come down here?"

"Nah, I think I'll stay upside down awhile."

"Cool."

Snivy and I continue walking through the cave, chatting. It's oddly uneventful; usually some wild pokemon would have attacked us by now. We come across some forks in the path, and occasionally there's a small cliff that forces one of us to change gravity to pass. Eventually, we come across some wild pokemon... kinda?

We encounter two Purrloin and a Drowzee dancing in a circle on the ceiling. Or the floor. We're starting to lose track. They don't seem to notice us, and just keep doing a simple little dance where they just hop in a circle. Snivy touches a crystal and floats up to check it out.

Snivy gets really close and even starts touching them, but they just keep dancing. "This is really weird," Snivy calls down to me. Or up. "Their eyes are kinda glowing red. I think they're being mind controlled."

"Hey, that's kinda like what happened to that Croagunk, right? What do you think might be causing it?"

"Well, it could be something about the dungeon. Croagunk did say it was off-limits, so maybe this is why."

"I don't think so. This only started happening just recently. If this had happened before, the townspeople would already know what's going on. Something must have changed..."

"Well anyways, these pokemon don't seem to want to fight at all. Let's keep going, yeah?"

So we keep walking, tossing around ideas for about a minute before we hear footsteps. It sounds like someone running towards us. We get ready, and I soon see a Sableye running at me! It jumps at me with a scratch, but I jump back and kick a mud-slap at it!

It's stunned long enough for Snivy to grab it from above and lift it up, leaving it wide open for me to attack! I blast it with a water gun, and then Snivy throws the Sableye into the ground, and it evaporates into smoke.

"Nice move, Snivy!"

"Thanks! So it looks like there are normal Wild pokemon around here after all."

"But not many..."

We resume walking until Snivy suddenly stops and calls down to me from above. Or below. "Hey, look at that hole in the wall!"

I look where they point and indeed see a small hole in the wall. Snivy runs and taps a crystal. "Hang on, I'll check it out!" they say, floating down to the hole and using their vines to pull themself in. A few moments later, and they pop back out, dropping down next to me. "It's already been looted!"

"What?"

"There was a treasure chest in there, but it was already open, and empty!"

"Wild pokemon don't loot treasure chests, do they?"

"Nope. I asked the explorers that visited my home that question once, and they said they'd never seen anything like that. Someone else must be in here..."

"Someone who can mind control people."

"Probably."

We walk a little further before coming across possibly the strangest sight yet; a Monferno floating up, landing on a crystal on the ceiling, floating back down, then landing on a crystal on the floor, over and over. We get closer to check it out. Up close, we see its eyes glowing red like the others, and we hear them whispering to themself: "don't touch the ground... until master comes back... don't touch the ground... until master comes back..."

Snivy turns to me. "Mind control?"

I nod. "Mind control." There's really no doubt at this point.

"I think this is one of the townspeople..." Snivy walks over to the Monferno, and before they land on the crystal once again, Snivy grabs them with their vines and pulls them off course, causing them to land on the ground. The Monferno starts weakly struggling, trying to walk back to the crystal.

"no... can't touch the ground... can't touch the ground..."

"Hey, snap out of it!" Snivy says, shaking the Monferno. The Monferno doesn't react, continuing to try to get back to the crystal. "Hey Mudkip, try using water gun."

"Yeah, good idea." I open my mouth and fire a small water gun at the Monferno's face. It reacts with pain, but afterwards just keeps weakly struggling towards the crystal. Snivy sighs and releases it, and it resumes bouncing between floor and ceiling.

"Hey, you know a lot about different kinds of pokemon, right? Are there any that can do something like this?"

"Hmm... I never heard of anything like this back on Earth, but if there were a pokemon that could do this, it'd definitely be psychic type."

"Oh yeah, that would make sense. But whatever this pokemon is, why are they doing this? They aren't even doing anything with the pokemon they mind control, just making them dance or do... whatever that Monferno is doing. I don't get it."

"Yeah... I guess we might find out soon; we've gotten pretty deep in here."

"Right. Let's keep movin- wait, what's that?" Snivy points towards a figure deeper in the cave, walking down a side path. It probably saw us, but it doesn't seem to care about us. Probably another mind control victim.

We decide to follow it, and as we get closer, we see that it's a Magby, the pokemon who got taken just last night. Snivy grabs them, and all they do is keep trying to walk forward. They're holding some berries, which they probably gathered from around the dungeon. After a failed attempt to shake them out of their trance, Snivy releases them and we follow them to what at first appears to be a dead end. The Magby taps a crystal and floats up to a small tunnel in the wall... and misses it, falling up to the ceiling. Or the floor. We've totally lost track.

It takes a few attempts, but eventually the Magby manages to get into the tunnel. Snivy and I follow, with Snivy getting in first and pulling me in with their vines. We quietly follow the Magby through the tunnel, hoping they'll lead us to the mastermind behind all this...




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