Chapter 10
Coral Garden


"Hey Snivy?" I ask as I help pack up the tent.

"Sup?"

"You never actually told me, what is that Guardians' Gate thing you're looking for? For that matter, what are the Guardians?"

"Oh, well the Guardians are a bunch of ultra-powerful pokemon that supposedly created the world. Apparently, they sometimes visit our world if something really bad is happening, like a plague, or a war. The Guardians' Gate is supposed to be the gateway to the world where the Guardians live."

"Wait wait wait, it's a portal to another world?"

"Yeah. It may or may not exist, but-"

"And you didn't mention that sooner?!"

"What's the big deal? Why would you care about a portal to... oh."

"That could be my way home!"

"Oh come on, I guess it's possible that you're a human, but you are NOT a Guardian. The Guardians are awesome, powerful pokemon, like Groudon, Celebi, and Ar... um, Ar-something..."

"Arceus? Dialga? Ho-Oh?"

"... Yeah... How do you know those names?"

"On Earth, those are the names of powerful legendary pokemon. Either there are two Arceus, or the Guardians travel between this world and mine, which means that gate leads to Earth!"

"Oh jeez, this is getting weird. Can we just get moving and talk about this later? You wanna find that dungeon you hallucinated about, right?"

"Yeah, okay, good point."

"So we're headed north..." Snivy checks their compass. "That means it's past that lake over- Whoooooa!"

I follow Snivy's gaze, and find the lake shimmering in the morning sunlight, giving off a rainbow of colors! "Double whoa... what's making those colors?"

"Let's find out!" Snivy sprints down the hill toward the lake, and I give chase. Unfortunately, I'm not fully awake yet, and I fall behind. When I catch up, I find Snivy relaxing on the beach and staring at the lake.

After catching my breath, I sit next to them and get a closer look at the colorful lake. Beneath the water, it looks like the lake is filled to the brim with... "Coral?"

"Looks like it. I've only ever seen drawings of it, and this is incredible!"

"I thought coral only grew in the ocean."

"Well I guess you thought wrong. And what a beautiful wrongness it turned out to be, right?"

"Heh, I guess so." We lay on the beach awhile, admiring the sight, but I can't seem to ignore a strange, familiar feeling. I don't quite recognize it at first, but when I stand and get closer to the water, the feeling gets stronger, and I realize... "It's a mystery dungeon."

"What? Where?"

"The lake. It's a dungeon."

"... Oh. I don't think I can hold my breath long enough for that."

I giggle. "Maybe so, but let's look around and see if we can find an entrance."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. It'd be a pretty lame dungeon if only fish could get inside."

We circle the lake, looking for some kind of underground cave or something. What we find is... not that. We find a point at the shore that opens up into an underwater tunnel. But instead of concrete, or plastic, or just plain rock keeping the water at bay, there's... nothing. The water just politely defies the laws of physics to avoid filling the gap, leaving a dry tunnel.

Snivy reacts as Snivy does; by running over and immediately poking at the inside of the tunnel. They watch intently as their fingers pass through the watery wall. "Yoooo! Mudkip this is so cool!"

"Jamie," I correct, standing at a safe distance. "Also, you sure seem to trust that the water won't just collapse on you."

"Oh come on, mystery dungeons are durable enough to withstand a few pokes. In fact..." Suddenly, Snivy steps completely into the water! They swim around a bit, up to the top of the tunnel, before falling through the ceiling and face-planting onto the sand. They spit out the sand in their mouth and shout, "This is so so SO cool!"

I giggle. "I guess so, but... how does-"

"Do NOT ask how it works."

"But I'm wondering how it works. Look, you can pass through it, so it can't be an invisible wall. What's causing this, what are the rules, why-"

"Oh my gosh, STOP! You're taking all the fun out of it! Just accept that it is the way it is."

"But WHY is it the way it is? I want to understand. Is it so wrong to be curious?"

"It's called a MYSTERY dungeon, you're not supposed to understand. Come on, let's just stop asking stupid questions and take a cool fun walk through the pretty underwater coral garden."

I sigh. "Fine... You know, 'Coral Garden' sounds like a good name for this dungeon."

"Oh yeah, you're right! I think I'll write that on my map later. Anyway, let's get moving already!"

And so we do. Though it looked pretty outside, on the inside the dungeon looks even more beautiful; the water refracts the light, making a weird, wavy pattern on the sandy floor. The coral outside makes for amazing scenery, but it also reaches up and over the tunnel, and the light reflecting off of it paints the tunnel in a rainbow of colors! It's breathtaking. Though hopefully not literally, with all this water around.

Our walk is smooth sailing, but not for long. "Another dead end already?" Snivy complains. "This isn't fair!"

"Well in a natural labyrinth like this, there's bound to be some dead ends."

"Yeah, but this is the second dead end in our first ten minutes. This is ridiculous, there's not even anything here!"

That doesn't sound right. I take a look at the watery wall before us. "... What about that?" I point into the water, where the tangle of coral parts into a path that leads to another tunnel.

"Huh? Oh hey, it looks like we could swim over there!"

"Yeah, that's my point. I'm not sure if I can hold my breath long enough though..."

"Yeah, it does look kinda far to-" Snivy freezes, then turns to me with a frown. "Mudkip, what are those?" they ask, pointing to my gills.

"My name is Jamie."

"Right, okay, sure, whatever, what are those things on your cheeks?"

"They're gills, why?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... I'm an idiot."

"Yes. Yes you are."

Satisfied, Snivy jumps through the wall into the water and hurries to the other side. I should get moving too, but can I really breathe underwater in this body? Do I have to do it manually, or is it just automatic, or..? Well, only one way to find out. I stick a foreleg into the water. It feels nice. I put another foot in before finally, reluctantly, putting my head through the wall.

Whoa.

I knew water felt different in this body, but I always stuck to the surface before. Now that I'm properly underwater, this feels so... Good? Natural? Comfortable? The feeling is beyond words. I've been standing here awhile without breathing, so I guess it's automatic. I'll have to add water breathing to my list of Mudkip powers.

From the far tunnel, Snivy is impatiently tapping their foot, so I get moving. It's a little awkward at first, but soon I'm effortlessly gliding through the lake, watching the colorful coral go by.

Something's moving.

From the fin on my head, I can feel movement in the water somewhere above me. I add underwater hearing to my list of Mudkip powers before turning my gaze to the coral above, where I spot a Buizel.

The moment I see it, the Buizel kicks off the coral and rockets toward me! Its head smashes into my stomach, and I'm knocked to the sandy lake floor. It dashes forward to strike again, but I recover just in time to jump to the side. I plan to counterattack once I land, but I apparently forgot that I'm underwater, and while I gently float down to the ground, the Buizel blasts me with a sudden invisible force; an underwater water gun.

The attack itself barely hurts, but before I can add water resistance to my list of powers, I'm knocked into the hard coral. This isn't working; I can't fight underwater. As the Buizel approaches, I kick off the coral toward the tunnel. Ahead, Snivy is fighting with a Totodile, which explains why they haven't jumped in to help.

Behind me, I hear the Buizel moving again; it's getting ready to attack. As it launches itself toward me, I shift my tailfin and make a quick turn, dodging it! Reaching the wall of water, I burst into the tunnel and blast the Totodile with a water gun... which it hardly notices. Turns out water can't hurt water.

The Totodile turns to me, growling with its fangs bared. Fortunately, it forgot about Snivy, who promptly strikes it from behind with their tail, sending it stumbling forward. I follow up with a lunging tackle, headbutting it in the face! As it stumbles back, Snivy raises their vines high above before slamming them down on the Totodile's head! The Totodile dizzily wobbles back and forth before collapsing and evaporating into purple smoke.

Then I get kicked in the head.

I roll forward and crash into Snivy, taking us both to the ground. A moment later, the Buizel blasts us with a water gun, which fortunately does very little. Snivy pushes me off and rushes forward, swinging at the Buizel with tail and vines, but the Buizel dodges each strike. I attack from the side while it seems distracted, but when I tackle, it leaps over my attack and lands on top of me.

The Buizel jumps off of me, and I hear it land... behind me. I dig my hind legs into the sand, and kick a spray of mud at the Buizel! Turning around, I find the Buizel desperately wiping its eyes. Finally, I charge forward and slam into it with a tackle, knocking it to the ground!

Seeing the opening, Snivy runs past me and leaps into the air, spinning acrobatically as a leaf tornado gathers around their tail. As they crash down, the momentum of their spin slams their tail onto the Buizel, and I can feel the impact from here! There's a moment of stillness before the Buizel goes limp and evaporates.

Snivy lets out a big, dramatic sigh as they fall backward, resting on the sandy ground. "Now that was a good fight, huh Mudkip?"

Collapsing to the ground myself, I consider Snivy's words. I wouldn't normally describe a fight as 'good'. And yet, something's different now. I didn't feel this way when this journey started, but with the danger, the adrenaline, the force of impact, at some point fighting started to feel... fun. It definitely helps that I'm getting good with my Mudkip powers. So in answer to Snivy's question...

"Yeah. It was."




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