Chapter 27
Traveling


I open my eyes and see an empty sleeping bag next to me. Snivy's already woken up, as usual. I stand up, stretch, and walk out of the tent and into the grove.

"Good morning Mudkip!"

I look upward to find Snivy sitting on a tree branch, smiling down at me. I smile back. "Good morning Snivy. What's up? I mean, besides you."

"I was just watching the sunrise while I waited for you. You sure like to sleep in."

"More like you just wake up too early. Anyways, let's head back to Mightyena's house and have breakfast."

Snivy hops down and we pack up our things before walking back to Town. We soon reach Mightyena and Lilligant's house, and walk in to find them eating some eggs, along with Poochyena and Ralts.

"Welcome back, Jamie, Snivy," Mightyena says. "How was your day yesterday?"

"It was great! I fell out of a tree!" Snivy replies.

"Cool!" Lilligant says. "You're here just in time, come get some eggs while they're warm.

We sit down and start eating. The food tastes good, a sensation I'm still getting used to now that I'm recovered. Conversation starts going around the table, and soon Snivy and I start telling everyone about yesterday. We don't mention the conversation we had last night; it's a bit to personal for us to be comfortable sharing.

Conversation shifts, and Mightyena starts talking about what Poochyena and Ralts have been getting up to. I notice how much all of this feels... normal. Just sitting around a table, eating good food, having casual conversation. It's the first time since I came to this world that nothing is really happening. After all the never-ending excitement, it's nice to take a break for a bit. Still, compared to everything else, this feels a little... boring.

Eventually, we finish our meal and start to leave the table. "Oh, Mudkip," Snivy says, "now that your Wildfire's gone, do you wanna hear about Volomans?"

"Oh yeah! I'm really interested in how you managed to find it after so much of our searching turned up nothing."

"Alright, follow me, and I'll tell you the story." We begin walking up the stairs. "So, after you left, I tried asking around town, but we had already asked pretty much everyone. So I went to the library, and checked out books on geography, mystery dungeons, history, anything that might be useful. I spent a whole day reading, but I still didn't find anything. The librarian didn't know anything either.

"Then, when I went home, Poochyena and Ralts asked what we had been doing, and I told them about Volomans. When I described it, Poochyena said that it reminded them of a book they had read. I went to the library and found it, and here it is!"

Snivy opens a drawer and pulls out a small picture book. They open it and read the story. To summarize, long ago, a volcano was going to erupt, and there was a village nearby that would be destroyed. But instead of running away, all the people of the village went inside the volcano through a cave, and wished for the eruption to stop. Apparently, the volcano reacted to their wishes and stopped, granting the people's wish. And so, the story of the wish-granting volcano was passed down through the ages.

"Okay," I say, "that... doesn't really tell us much. How does-"

"I know, I know. I didn't really think anything of it either at first, but apparently it's based on an actual ancient myth that was passed down since long ago! The volcano in the story was based on Mt. Vatimalo, to the north of here. This was my only real lead, so I went back to the library and asked about Mt. Vatimalo. I spent hours looking over more geography books, until I found this!"

Snivy pulls out another book, this one big, old, and a bit dusty. They flip it open to a bookmarked page. "Check it out!"

I step forward and look at the map. I don't see Maceria Town on it, but I recognize the landscape, and it even shows an unnamed mystery dungeon at the same place as the Violet Void. It must be pretty old. I look north, where a big mountain is shown, labeled...

Mt. Volomans.

I turn to Snivy. "... That's... That's why no one's ever heard of it! It's an old name, it's like- how old is this book?!"

"500 years. According to the librarian, the name must have shifted over time, and no one is old enough to remember the old name! No one except for..."

"Except for Mew! So they used the outdated name because they haven't had contact with people for hundreds of years! This is amazing! When do we leave?"

"We can leave today! I already told everyone that we'd be leaving right when you got back, but then we ended up delaying it a bit. But we can go right now!"

"Alright! Let's pack our bags and say goodbye to everyone."

And we do just that. Spurred by our excitement, we pack up our food and tent and run downstairs. As we're saying goodbye to Mightyena and the others, Lilligant asks if we'll come back after we're done. We say yes, but Mightyena brings up the fact that I'm returning home. I'd... actually forgotten about that. I tell them I'll see if I can come back one last time before leaving.

And with that, we're off! With a compass and map in hand, we leave Maceria Town and head north, quickly spotting the huge mountain in the distance. It's so big that we probably could've seen it from Amari Village, or even from the beach outside Marine Cavern. It's funny to think that our goal was right there the whole time...

Well, not 'right there'. More like 'way over there'.

We spend almost the whole day walking, occasionally taking breaks to eat and rest. It isn't boring, though; we see all sorts of sights on the way, and we entertain each other with stories. We play I Spy, and make up other games we can play while walking.

By the end of the day, we've gotten a lot closer, but we still have a lot of walking to do. We end up stopping in a big forest, our view of Volomans blocked. As night approaches, Snivy sets up the tent while I gather some food. After dinner, we waste no time getting to sleep, entering the tent and settling into our sleeping bags.

Minutes pass as I think about the day, before I decide to talk. "Hey Snivy?" I whisper.

"Yeah?"

"I really like adventuring with you."

"Ditto. I'm so excited to be exploring the legendary wish-granting mystery dungeon with you! Do you think we'll be able to get there tomorrow?"

"Maybe. I'm glad we'll finally be able to stop the Wildfire... And, um..."

"What?"

"I'm... really glad I met you."

"Me too. Goodnight Mudkip."

"Goodnight Snivy."



The next day, we get up early and resume our journey. We walk for over an hour, passing the time just like yesterday while admiring the scenery of the forest. It's pretty uneventful, until Snivy suddenly perks up. "Hey, is that the end of the forest up there?"

I look ahead, and in the distance there's a bright light, brighter than what little light shines through the leaves above. I'm about to respond to Snivy, when they suddenly start running! I chase after them, but with their head start, I fall behind. As they reach the edge of the forest, they slow to a stop, and when I catch up, I see it.

A giant mountain looms over us, tall enough to make a building look like a dollhouse in comparison. A small trail of smoke rises from its volcanic peak, and small spots of rock glow with a deep red hue near its base. Volomans is right there...

"Last one there's a rotten egg!" Snivy shouts.

We take off running towards the mountain, dashing around rocks and over hills, until a cave entrance comes into view. Snivy overtakes me and makes it to the cave first, jumping and cheering in their victory, while I slow to a stop just outside.

"Haha! Looks like you're a rotten egg, Mudkip!.. Mudkip? What's up?"

"... That." I point inside the cave, at something I haven't seen even once in my time in this world, and certainly not in a place like this.

A computer.

"... What is that?" Snivy walks over to it, the alien machine blinking lights and making a low humming sound. They hesitate a moment before touching it. "Whoa... Mudkip, have you ever seen anything like this?"

"Yeah, actually, back on Earth. I've never seen one exactly like this, but we have machines similar to it."

"Whoa, seriously?! Why didn't you tell me you had cool stuff like this back home? Do you think this thing came from Earth?"

"It could be. Maybe Mew brought it to Earth along with me? In any case, we're probably in the right place."

"C'mon, lets go deeper in!"

We start walking through the dungeon, seeing a few more computers along the way. None of them have any keyboards or monitors, so we just ignore them and keep walking. After turning a corner, we see a glowing light around the next turn. We hurry forward and, when we finally see the source of the light, we're stunned.

We stand in a room filled with various computers and machines and in the center of the room, a large, cylindrical tube stands like a pillar, filled with ice and giving off a cold mist. Inside, there's a distinct outline, and as we get closer, I can even make out the details.

Sitting there, frozen inside the tube, is Mew.

"Mudkip," Snivy whispers.

"Yeah?"

"What is going on?"

"I... I think this is definitely the right place."

Snivy turns and grabs me by the shoulders. "Mudkip! We are standing in a legendary mystery dungeon, with strange technology everywhere, and MEW, the GUARDIAN POKEMON OF THE WORLD, is right in front of us! I just... need a minute..."

"Okay. I'll look around and see if I can find a way to release mew, or something."

"yeah... you do that..."

I start looking around, seeing lots of computers and machines, including a microwave. All around, there's black soot covering the floor and machines, and the whole place smells like smoke. Except the microwave; that smells like popcorn.

Surprisingly, all the computers still seem to be turned on and working. I see one with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, with a screensaver bouncing around. I give the mouse a click, and the screensaver disappears as things start happening on screen; I must have accidentally clicked something! The computer makes a startlingly loud start-up noise, alerting Snivy.

"AHH! Mudkip, what did you do?!"

"I don't know, it's-"

The computer makes another noise, and the screen starts playing a video. We turn our attention to the screen to see the video showing Mew, floating in front of the camera. They don't seem to realize the recording had started.

"Hmm... Wait, did it- Oh! Okay, *ahem*. Video log #1, day 1 of the Volomans Project."