Chapter 12
Adventure and Danger



I splish and splash around the pond, swimming around with skill and speed far beyond what I had as a human. I fly through the water like a bird through air, leaping through the surface for just a moment's rest when-

"Hey Mudkip, can we move on now?" Snivy asks from the shore.

"C'mon, just five more minutes!"

"That's what you said five minutes ago."

"Oh. Oh yeah. Sorry." I exit the pond and pick up my bags, and we proceed through the dungeon. It had been about half an hour since we parted ways with Treecko, and we've made good progress through the dungeon.

"Hey Mudkip, can you tell if we're close to the end yet? With that weird sensing thing you can do?"

Now that they mention it, we are getting close, but... "I'll tell you if you ask nicely."

Snivy rolls their eyes. "Mudkip, can you please tell me if we're close to the end?"

"Oh? Who is this Mudkip you speak of?"

"Fine, don't tell me." Snivy gives me a friendly jab.

I giggle. "You're loss."

"You seem more cheery than usual lately. Usually I'm the one wasting time in random mystery ponds."

"What can I say? Mystery dungeons are fun."

"Heck yeah they are! Team Barbarian, up high!" Snivy raises their hand, and I give them a high five.

"Is that our official team name now?"

"Why not? We can write it on our scarves and everything. And then we can sell merchandise, like action figures! All the little kids will want to be just like us, and they'll have playground games where they pretend to be us!"

"And we won't stop there; after we're famous, we'll found our own company, Barbarian Inc., where we sell adventuring gear to exploration teams and get rich!"

"Yeah!"

"And with all that money, we'll retire early!"

"Yeah!!"

"And then we won't even need to explore dungeons anymore!"

"YEA- Wait, no!"

I start laughing, and Snivy joins in. We joke about the idea of running a dumb boring business as we walk, until we turn a corner. "Whoa, what is that?" Snivy asks pointing down the tunnel. The tunnel opens up into open waters, and swimming around inside is...

"It's a Tentacruel. It's a pretty powerful water poison type."

"Ah. So, I guess that means we'll be finding another way around..."

Snivy stares at the Tentacruel, and I can't help staring at it too. Seeing such a powerful pokemon reminds me of the Electabuzz... And that gives me a very bad idea. "Think we can take it?"

"What?"

"You know, fight it. We've been doing pretty well in this dungeon, and we've got three liechi berries left. I think we can take it."

"Wha- You're supposed to be the cautious one!"

"I know; I'm taking a calculated risk."

"And what's the reward for this risk?"

"... It might be fun."

"... You've changed. I like it!"

We sneak around the corner and get up next to the wall of water. Snivy whispers a countdown, and their signal, we burst into the water! The Tentacruel turns around, but Snivy smacks it with a vine before it can act, and I follow up with a headbutt to the face!

The Tentacruel flinches, then grabs me with a tentacle and starts squeezing me, but a few vine whips from Snivy forces it to release me. I blast it with a water gun, but it barely reacts. Right, water resists water. In response, it jabs me with a tentacle and knocks me back before shifting its focus to Snivy. The attack hurt, but at also left me feeling... weird.

Snivy does their best, but with their poor swimming, they can't dodge many of Tentacruel's strikes. They land their own attacks, but Tentacruel is tough, and its poison typing resists Snivy's vine whips. Suddenly, bubbles come out of Snivy's mouth. Oh shoot, they can't breathe underwater!

I dash forward and tackle Tentacruel's head, diverting its attention. When it turns around, I swim away, dodging its tentacles. With the swimming practice I've gotten in this dungeon, I manage to avoid its attacks, but suddenly there's a sharp pain in my chest, and I stop long enough for a tentacle to slam me into the lake floor.

I try to get up and keep moving, but another sharp pain keeps me down. A tentacle scoops me up and wraps around me as I realize: I'm poisoned. The Tentacruel tightens its grip, crushing me, and the poison leaves me too weak to escape. The pressure builds, my vision gets dark, and I feel like I'm going to break...

Then it stops. I open my eyes to find Snivy having just slammed a Leaf Tornado into Tentacruel's face. Its grip loosens, but I'm still too weak to do anything before it tosses me to the ground and begins fighting Snivy. The poison's gotten worse, I can barely move now. I can only watch as Snivy fails their dodge and gets grabbed and crushed.

Darn it, there has to be something I can do! Maybe something I can throw, or a poison-curing berry, or- wait, berry! I reach into my bag and grab a liechi berry. These things don't last long, so I've only got one shot. I bite into the berry, and a burst of strength overwhelms the poison!

I kick off the ground with all my might, flying like a torpedo into Tentacruel with a mighty headbutt! Before it can recover, I kick off of it, landing another hit and sending myself toward the tangle of coral. The Tentacruel turns to face me, and with one final launch off of the coral, I land a headbutt right in its face!

The Tentacruel sinks and evaporates into smoke in my peripheral vision, and with my dwindling strength, I grab Snivy and drag them to the tunnel. We collapse onto the floor together, and I manage to grab an oran berry and shove it down my throat. The pain fades, and I grab another berry and hand it to Snivy. Fortunately, they're conscious, and they eat it with little difficulty.

We lay there for a minute, catching our breath. The berry didn't cure the poison, but the pain has been replaced with harmless wooziness, as if I just woke up. For a while the only sound is our heavy breathing, before Snivy speaks.

"That. Was. Awesome! Oh my gosh, that last-second attack of yours was amazing Mudkip! And when I saved you by using Leaf Tornado underwater? So cool!"

"Wait, you enjoyed that? We almost lost!"

"Well yeah, that's what made it exciting! I had NO idea if we were gonna win that! The fights earlier in the dungeon were fun, but this? This was difficult, this was dangerous, this was AWESOME!"

"Well... huh. In hindsight, it was pretty exciting." I think I might be getting a bit too fond of adrenaline. "But Snivy, seriously, you could have drowned!"

"Psh, I would've been fine; it probably would've just knocked me out, then tossed me into the tunnel or something. That's how dungeons work. Besides, I'm a grass type, I can handle a little drowning."

I sigh. "You are way too comfortable in mystery dungeons. Anyway, let's get moving, we're almost at the end." I stand and step forward, but I almost lose my balance.

"Whoa, you okay?"

"Yeah, just poison. The oran stopped the pain, I just need to take it slow."

We resume our journey down the tunnel. With how worn out we are, we're lucky that we don't encounter any wild pokemon along the way. I can feel us getting closer and closer to the heart, until we turn the final corner.

In the center of the room is a spire of coral, with a rainbow of colors swirled around it like a candy cane. Two columns of water are suspended in the air around the spire, twisted into a double helix and converging at the top. I sit for a moment to take in the sight.

Snivy immediately dives into the water. They swim up the helix and soon reach the top, poking their head out to take a breath. "Hey Mudkip, get in here, this is super cool!"

I step into the water and start swimming. It's weird, seeing the water in such a formation. Though given the rest of the dungeon, it makes sense that this would be possible. I reach the top and poke my head out. "Hey. What's up?"

"Oh you know. Us." Snivy gestures at the far-away ground.

We laugh at the joke, but Snivy's laugh suddenly turns to a yelp as they fall out of the water and crash to the ground.

"Whoa, you okay partner?"

Snivy rubs their head and smiles. "Yeah, I'm good. Hey, do you see another of those pink sphere thingies?"

Oh yeah. I scan the ground below, but I end up spotting the familiar sphere at the peak of the coral spire. I hadn't noticed it before, what with all the attention-grabbing scenery. "Yeah, it's up here." I move to touch it, but I stop.

"Is something wrong?"

"Well, I kinda black out when I touch these, so if I touch it here I might fall..."

"Hm... I got it!" Snivy extends their vines and raises them up. "I can hold you while you... do whatever it is you do."

"Yeah, that should work."

Snivy reaches their vines into the water and wraps them around me. They hold me next to the spire's peak. "Just be quick about it, you're not exactly light."

I nod and reach into the sphere.



I see a light.

I gaze out at the stars before me, connected together like constellations. I feel my home calling, and follow the strand of light to a pink star. But the way home is further, just a bit further. I chase the strand just a little bit further-



For an instant, I'm weightless, hanging in the air. I am a bird, flying through the sky, the wind rushing past my ears. Alas, the laws of the universe must be upheld. All things must come to an end, and what goes up must eventually come down.

"Oof," Snivy and I grunt in unison as I fall onto them. I roll off of Snivy and help them up.

"How'd it go?" Snivy asks.

"I found another dungeon, a... pink one? More importantly, we're getting close."

"Close to the Gate, I hope. Anyway, what direction?"

I'm disoriented from the fall, but I can still faintly feel the strand of light calling to me. "That way."

Snivy pulls out their compass. "... North again. Nothing on my map there either. Looks like we get to discover another dungeon!"

"Cool. Can we take a break before heading out? I'm tired."

"Yeah, sounds good. You want some food? This is a nice spot for a picnic."

We get out the food and picnic blanket and relax with a meal, enjoying the scenery of the heart of Coral Garden. I was never very adventurous before, but I'm really starting to enjoy exploring mystery dungeons. The excitement and surprises that could be around any corner, the danger and challenge of fighting wild pokemon. Heck, fighting pokemon battles as a pokemon is pretty fun! I can't wait to find the next dungeon!

"Hey, um, partner?" Snivy asks.

"What's up?"

"I just... thanks again for defending me when Treecko called me immature. I know they probably didn't mean anything by it, but I, um... I have a history with that word. In a way, half the reason I became an explorer was in hopes that I'd never hear it again. Heh, guess that didn't work out."

"Sorry about that. I... I'm sure Treecko would've chosen their words more carefully if they knew."

"Well, that's in the past. What's important now is that new pink mystery dungeon! You ready to get moving, partner?"

I jump to my feet. "Affirmative!"

"Then let's go! Adventure awaits!"




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