Chapter 8
Little Surprises


I'm awoken by sunlight shining through the tent, along with various sounds from outside. Beside me, Snivy's sleeping bag is empty. Looks like sleeping inside a mystery dungeon was safe after all. I wiggle out of my sleeping bag and take a second to stretch before stepping outside, where a picnic blanket has been laid out with plates of food.

"Hey partner," Snivy says, sitting on the blanket. "You're up late."

"Or maybe you're up early."

"Maybe. C'mon, sit down, I got breakfast ready."

"Thanks." I walk over to the plate, which holds a couple apples and a few nuts. As I sit down, I think about-

PPPPFFFFFFFFTTTTT!!

... As Snivy laughs their head off, I reach under the picnic blanket and pull out a deflated whoopee cushion. "I see you packed only the essentials for your journey."

"Yup," they manage, calming their giggles. "Only the most basic necessities; food, shelter, and practical jokes!"

I roll my eyes and toss the cushion aside; Snivy's immaturity knows no bounds. "Seriously, are you ever going to grow up?"

Snivy doesn't respond, looking down at their plate instead. I turn to my own food, and soon enough, we pack up our stuff and get moving. For a few minutes, it's just an uneventful walk, until I spot something off the path; a strange pink tuft peeking out over the bushes. I walk over to investigate, and find an Igglybuff sleeping peacefully on the grass.

"Hm? What's up?" Snivy asks, following me over. Snivy's voice rouses the Igglybuff, and Snivy arrives just in time to see its eyes blink open. "Hey Mudkip, what's that?"



"MUDKIP WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?!?" Snivy shouts as we run away.

"It's just an Igglybuff! It's not supposed to be that strong!" I look behind me and immediately regret it; those awful eyes, that terrible pink body, and that smile. That horrible, innocent smile.

"CLIFF!!"

I skid to a stop, barely reacting in time to Snivy's warning. We made some distance, but now that thing is gaining on us. "Shoot, what do we do?"

"Look, down there! A portal! Let's jump in!"

"Are you sure? That could be dange-"

"It's either the portal or the Igglybuff, Mudkip!"

"Portal!"

Snivy jumps off the cliff with worryingly little hesitation. I freeze up, but one last glance behind me encourages me to jump for the portal. I fall through, and I'm tossed into the air on the other side, screaming my head off. I land in another portal, which again sends me flying in an arc into yet another portal.

Suddenly, I'm high above the ground, thrown from a tall tree. I fall, gaining speed before, of course, landing in another portal. The speed from my fall catapults me across the forest, and I can already see another portal ahead, perfectly placed.

I continue flying from portal to portal, tossed up and down across the forest, until finally I land on solid ground again. I teeter and totter, trying to remember how to stand, but I lose my balance and fall onto Snivy.

"Oof," they grunt from underneath me.

"Sorry," I mumble, rolling off of them as I wait for my head to stop spinning.

After a few seconds, Snivy stands, still unsteady. "You alright Mudkip?"

"Yeah," I reply, standing with them. "That was..." The experience was a lot of things; terrifying, dizzying, miraculous, and... "... kinda fun."

"Heck YEAH it was! Oh my gosh, my heart is beating so fast right now! That was AMAZING!! Can we do it again?"

For some reason, I actually consider the idea for a moment, but... "Well, I think the Igglybuff would certainly appreciate us going back to it."

"Oh. Right. Well, I'm glad we're far away from it now; it'd have to be either really smart or really stupid to jump off that cliff after us."

I turn back to look at the array of portals, perfectly placed along perfectly positioned trees and slopes. I stare at the magical roller coaster for a moment, and I notice a little pink blur flying through the portals. "Uh, Snivy?"

"What's up?"

With a flash of pink from the nearby portal, the Igglybuff lands in front of us, staring at us with that horrible, terrible smile.

"RUN!"

We retreat once again, and the Igglybuff gives chase! Without a chance to catch my breath, I'm still worn out from our earlier retreat. My muscles ache and my lungs start to burn, but I have to keep running.

"Mudkip, do you know if this thing has any weaknesses?!"

I try to think of something, but no; it's a normal-fairy type, not weak to grass or water. "No," I say between gasps, "I don't... light! It's really lightweight! Maybe we can knock it away or something!"

"Okay, got it!" Snivy reaches into their bag and pulls something out; a strength-boosting liechi berry. "Mudkip, if I don't make it, tell my family I went out like a hero!"

I watch in terror as Snivy bites down on the berry, turning around to face the nightmare behind us. An aura of power radiates from them, and with a battle cry, they charge toward the pink monster! But as they approach and prepare to strike, the Igglybuff throws a punch! Snivy barely manages to slip past the punch, and with a swing of their tail, they land a direct hit!

The sound of the impact echoes through the forest, and the Igglybuff is sent flying away, high into the sky, until it's nothing more than a twinkle. It's over.

With a mighty sigh of relief, we collapse to the ground, finally having a chance to breathe. The sound of my heartbeat gradually calms, and once I'm able to think clearly... "... You know, I think using a liechi berry on that was kinda overkill."

"Maybe," Snivy replies, "but would you rather we waste a liechi berry and knock it too far away, or keep the berry and not knock it far enough?"

"... Fair point. By the way, what WAS that? How can such a small pokemon get that powerful?"

"Um... Oh yeah! Sometimes mystery dungeons can create more powerful versions of wild pokemon. It's pretty rare though, and its usually something big, like a Steelix, or a Torterra."

"Well that explains that, I guess." After a moment more of rest, we get up and continue through the forest. My legs are still sore, and after spending a whole night in here, I'm definitely ready to leave. "I'm glad we're almost at the end."

"Huh?"

"We're almost at the end of the dungeon, right?"

"What makes you say that?"

"You know how that feeling you get inside a dungeon gets stronger at the heart? It's getting stronger now, so we must be close, right?"

"... What in the world are you talking about? Feeling? What feeling?"

"The... the feeling of a mystery dungeon? You know, like... how you can feel the energy of the place?"

"I swear, you get weirder every day Mudkip. Still, we've been going for quite a while, so it wouldn't really surprise me if we're close to the... heart..."

As we turn the corner, the path opens into a beautiful clearing; the ground is covered in purple grass, and a giant tree of purple bark and pink petals looms over us. Both the grass and the tree's bark softly glow, and the pink petals seem to perpetually fall from above.

We fall silent as we walk into the clearing, taking in the incredible sight. On closer inspection, the petals don't collect on the ground, but seem to phase through it. Looking up to the tree, the petals appear to fall out of the wooden branches in an endless cycle of natural beauty. There's no doubt that we've reached the heart of the dungeon.

"Wow... I guess that feeling of yours was right Mudkip."

"My name is Jamie."

"Right. Speaking of, it doesn't look like there's any giant portal to another world here."

"Yeah, I guess not. But maybe there's a... there!" Near the base of the tree, a pink sphere floats above the ground. I walk over to it, and Snivy follows.

"Hey, what did you see?"

"Another pink sphere thingy. Can you see it?"

"Nope. Are you gonna touch it and hallucinate again?"

"Probably. These things are still the only clue I have to get home. Oh yeah, and could you not push me over this time? Or at least give me a few minutes first."

"Got it."

I take a deep breath and touch the sphere.

A light.

The purple star shines, surrounded by others. The stars are clearer now, the experience less foreign. Once again, from a strand of light connecting this star to another, the feeling of home calls out.

At the end of the strand, a blue star sits, radiating the energy of a mystery dungeon. But from this star, another strand carries the feeling of home further. Beyond the star, the space becomes blurred; following the strand is difficult, and the space grows blurrier and blurrier...

The vision starts to fade, and I start to feel my body again. Disoriented, I lose my balance, and- "Oof!"

"Oh hey, you're back!" Snivy says, sitting on a picnic blanket. They get up and approach me. "How'd it go?"

"Well, I felt that... home feeling, like before." I point toward where the blue star was. "It's somewhere in that direction. I'm pretty sure there's another mystery dungeon there, too."

"For having felt that 'home feeling' again, you don't seem all that excited."

"Yeah. The feeling wasn't coming from the dungeon exactly, it's further away. I have no idea how far I am from my way home. It's starting to look like I'll be spending a long time here..."

"Okay cool. Anyway, you said that direction, right?" Snivy gets out their compass and map. "North... My map doesn't have any dungeons in that direction."

"Wait, what?" This is bad; if Snivy thinks there's no dungeon there, then... "B-but I was right about the Enchanted Forest! If I was right before, then there's probably a dungeon there too, right? You should still come with me! The dungeon there might just be unmapped, right? And teaming up makes things easier, so we should-"

"Hey, calm down, I'm not gonna leave you!"

"... You're not?"

"No? I mean, it's not like this map is some divine knowledge gifted upon me by the Guardians, there's no way it has every dungeon in the area marked. And yeah, you were right about this place, so I guess there must be something to this whole 'pink sphere' thing. And besides," Snivy puts an arm around my shoulder, "we're partners! And partners don't abandon each other. Even if the other has weird hallucinations and thinks they're a human."

"Thanks... kinda."

"No sweat!" Snivy heads back to the picnic blanket. "Now come on, lets have a snack and enjoy the view before we head out."

"Yeah, that sounds nice."

I head to the blanket, and take a look at the food; Snivy must have gotten it out while I was in that vision. There's even a plate set out for me. I sit down to-

PPPPFFFFFFFFTTTTT!!

Snivy laughs their head off once again, and I... well, fool me twice, shame on me. I can't help but smile at the harmless prank; truly, Snivy's childishness knows no bounds.




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