This story was previously titled "Bonds of Discovery". It has now been renamed to be less generic and better fit the story.




Chapter 5
Playing Dirty


I'm awoken by the sun shining into my eyes, which is weird, because I usually keep my curtains closed. Actually, my bed feels weird, too. And so does... my body?! Panicked, I sit up and look at my hand-

Oh. That's right. I'm a Mudkip.

I recall the events of yesterday, my hand moving to the Joy Scarf around my neck; I teamed up with Snivy, and now we're heading for the Enchanted Forest. Beside me, Snivy's sleeping bag is already empty. I crawl out of my own sleeping bag and head for the tent's exit, but I trip and fall; this body still feels awkward, especially this early in the morning.

The sound of my failure apparently alerts Snivy from outside. "Hey Mudkip, you up? Come on out, I've got breakfast!"

I get back up and step out of the tent, flinching at the brightness of the outside. "My name is Jamie."

"Good morning to you, too. How'd you sleep?"

"Not great; I'm used to having a bed."

Snivy giggles. "Yeah, same. Guess we'll have to get used to it."

"Wait, wouldn't you be used to it already by now?"

"No? I only left home, like, a week ago, tops."

"Really? Wait, so, how many mystery dungeons have you explored?"

"Two."

"... Oh."

As I eat the food Snivy unpacked, I notice that none of it is prepared in any way; it's just a bunch of raw fruits and such. Did Snivy gather all of it themself? Regardless, I get some more practice eating with this body, and I'm now pretty certain that Mudkip really are supposed to just swallow food whole. I don't like it.

Soon, breakfast is finished and we start packing up our stuff. It's not that heavy of a load, but that's only because it's split between two of us; I know because Snivy won't shut up about how hard it was to carry it before.

Snivy sets the course with their compass, and we're off toward the Enchanted Forest. It's a cool, cloudy day, and the scenery as we walk is nice; I don't think I've even seen so much nature in person before, without even a paved road in sight. I'm so far from civilization, from home...

As pretty as the scenery is, I get bored of it before long. "Hey Snivy, you said you're looking for the 'Guardians' Gate', right? What's that about?"

"Oh that? It's nothing, really; it's less of a goal, and more of an excuse to wander around exploring every mystery dungeon I can find. No one knows where it is, and it's only known through legends. It might not even be real, like humans."

"I'm pretty sure I'm real, thank you."

"You're welcome! Either way, I'll probably definitely never find it, but if I DO, well, that'd make me the most amazing explorer of all time! It'd be a dream come true..."

"... So what happens after that?"

"Huh? Well, I keep wandering around and exploring dungeons. Duh. Hm?" Snivy looks up, and I follow their gaze to find the cloudy sky getting darker; it's going to rain soon. "Uh oh. Hey, let's run to that forest for shelter."

"Good idea; I hate the rain."

"You're... still a water type."

"Less talking more walking."

We head for the forest, although judging by its green leaves, it's not the dungeon we're after. It starts raining just as we reach the forest. The trees aren't that dense, so we still get wet, but it helps. In other news, I'm tired; we've had to be walking for at least an hour now, probably two. I'm about to ask if we can take a break here and wait out the rain, when Snivy speaks up.

"Hey, you see that tree up there?"

I follow where Snivy points, to a tree atop a small hill. It's bigger than most of the others, but more importantly... "It's an apple tree."

"Yup. We're gonna need more food to feed both of us, so now's the perfect time to restock! C'mon, I'll climb up and toss the apples down to you, then you put 'em in the bag."

We walk up the hill, getting even more wet without any trees to shield us, and Snivy effortlessly climbs to a high branch on the tree. Snivy plucks an apple from the tree, and as I get ready to catch it, I realize I don't know how to do that without hands.

"Ready?"

"Uh, yeah, ready."

"One, two, three!"

With no time to figure out a better method, I stand up on my hind legs and let the apple fall onto my chest, crossing my arms over it to hold it. The impact knocks me backward onto the ground, leaving me lying on my back. The apple is safe, but...

Snivy giggles at me from above, making me realize how ridiculous I look. "You okay down there, Mudkip?"

I glare at them as I stand and put the apple in the bag. "Stop calling me Mudkip."

"Good to hear! Get ready for the next one."

We keep going, and for lack of a better catching method, I repeatedly end up falling onto my back. It doesn't hurt physically, but Snivy's laughter makes sure my dignity doesn't escape unharmed. By the end of it, we have eight more apples and I've been thoroughly made a fool of.

Their job completed, Snivy walks to the end of the branch and jumps off with a flip, but as they land- "WHOA!" Snivy slips on the muddy ground, first sliding, then tumbling down the hill! I rush over just in time to watch as Snivy splashes into a big puddle of mud.

As a mature person, I should immediately ask Snivy if they're okay. As a mature person, there should be nothing on my mind except concern that Snivy might be hurt. I should grab an oran berry and get down there as fast as I can. I should not simply stand here at the top of the hill, I should not need to try to cover my mouth to stay silent, and I should certainly not fail to contain myself and burst out laughing uncontrollably.

It turns out I'm not as mature as I'd like to be.

To my relief, Snivy sits up, unharmed and covered in mud. Through my laughter, I barely manage to ask "are you okay?"

Snivy rubs their head and looks up at me. "Ugh, yeah, I'm fine. This isn't the first hill I've tumbled down."

Finally, I manage to calm down enough to speak properly. "I'm sorry for laughing, I just-"

Suddenly, Snivy gasps. "What's that behind you?!"

I jump and turn around as fast as I can, ready to run from whatever snuck up on me! But nothing's there? I look around for whatever Snivy was pointing at, when something grabs my leg from behind! I check my leg, and I catch a glimpse of a familiar green vine before I'm pulled backward, sliding and tumbling down the muddy slope!

I land in the mud puddle on my back, unharmed and looking up at Snivy as their composure rapidly devolves into laughter. I stand and wipe the mud from my face. If Snivy wants to play dirty, then fine, I can play along. I dig my arm under the mud and fling it into Snivy's face, bringing an abrupt stop to their laughter.

Snivy freezes for a second, then a devilish smile crosses their face.

Next thing I know, Snivy and I are fighting in a full-on mud war, each of us seeking to cover the other in as much mud as possible! We dodge and throw and run around in the puddle, until we finally exhaust ourselves and collapse, smiling and giggling.

After taking a moment to recover, Snivy points out a nearby spring, and we get up and head over to wash. The mud comes off pretty easily, but with how covered we are, it'll take a while to get clean. The rain would help clean us up faster, but it stopped while we were messing around, and the sun is out now.

Why did I do that? Why did I let myself get sucked into that fight? I should've just walked away and been the mature one, but no, I had to get back at them. That was so stupid of me. That whole fight was just so, so-

"That was awesome."

"Huh?"

"That mud fight we just had, it was awesome! I haven't had that much fun in ages."

Yeah, Snivy would be the type to have zero shame about this kind of thing. "If you say so."

"What's that supposed to mean? You were smiling along with me the whole time."

I open my mouth to respond, but they've got me there; as much as I hate to admit it, I enjoyed it in the moment. I go back to washing myself off. I think my second day as a Mudkip has managed to be even worse than my first.

We finish cleaning up and climb back up the hill. Before we resumed our journey, we decided to eat some of the food we just gathered. Well-fed and decently rested, we set off once more, Snivy setting our course with the compass. But just as we start to move out, we walk past a mark in the dried mud.

"Oh hey, this is where I slipped. Remember that? I was trying to be all cool and stuff while I jumped down, and then I just slipped and fell down the hill like an absolute clown! That was hilarious!"

"You... thought that was funny?"

"Of course; it didn't hurt at all, and it was comedy gold! You saw for yourself how funny it was."

"Well yeah, but... you were the one being laughed at."

"Yeah? So? That doesn't make it less funny."

"... Do you have ANY dignity?"

"Dignity? Of course not; I left all of that back home with my family."




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