Aquifer, A Prophet's Guide To Dungeoneering

_{step two}
Don’t Move Until Stable

They didn’t stop until they were well within the fissure, and even then Sobek kept looking behind them.

David’s color came back with his exhaustion as he collapsed on the loose piles of collapsed dirt. It took a five or so steps for Sobek to notice, finally letting David’s arm slip from his hand. Sobek nodded and fell against the rock of the wall, slowly sliding down it. His eyes didn’t leave the way they came in.

It was a narrow cave of dirt, wide enough for the two to space away from each other and just as tall. The ceiling was loose dirt held in place by the webwork of roots overhead and the walls had crumbled until the rock had shown. The occasional tree root jutted out into the empty air, the ones at the front of the cave still had dirt on them. The ones towards the back were pale spindles.

But the only thing that followed them down the hole were Pidgey songs.

Sobek finally let out the breath he’d been holding all this time. “You okay?” He slid down the wall into the soil. “We can’t rest too long here. …David…?” He looked down. The Cubone laid gasping half-buried underneath the dirt piles. “David, you alright?”

“No!” David spat. It was the first time he wasn’t stumbling over himself and the sternness in his voice made Sobek flinch. “Of course I’m not alright! I-I’ve been turned into a Cubone and on my first day…!” He pushed himself up, up out of the loose earth, but his eyes saw the arms and hands the arms and hands of a Cubone that were his and—he flopped back to the ground. His mind and body met a compromise, he settled on his side and rattled the dirt from under his skull. “On my first day, I’ve been threatened by a Butterfree….” He scoffed. “A Butterfree! She’s insane.” David pushed himself into a sitting position, locking his eyes to Sobek to not see his hands. The panic Sobek saw through the skull was still there, but of a different sort. “She’s completely lost it!”

“Oooh yeah,” Sobek nodded. “I, eheh, really hope it’s just the shock of losing her kid. Otherwise…. Look, David. You saw the poison powder—we have to find her Caterpie otherwise we’re never going to leave this fissure.”

“What if he’s not here?”

Sobek shook his head. “No-no. He’s here.”

David frowned. “How can you know?”

Sobek frowned himself for a moment, then leaned towards David before letting his head fall in annoyance. “Ahhhh, okay. Okay. Come over here for a second. Just trust me here.” With a huff, David half crawled, half flopped over to Sobek. His face went white again. Sobek nodded. “Yeah, that. You couldn’t feel that over there, right?”

David pushed himself up, blinking as he looked down the corridor. He flipped up his helmet and squinted. “It’s like a void. Like I feel there’s just nothing there, but I can see the tunnel?” He shivered. “Sobek. What is that?”

“That,” Sobek knocked David’s helmet back down, “is the tell-tail sign of a Mystery Dungeon.”

The Cubone adjusted his helmet, shooting a glare at Sobek through through the eye sockets. “I don’t know what that is.”

“Yeah. Amnesia, I know.” Sobek groaned. “I’ll explain later. The important part is, the kid’s still in there because this ain’t dust.” He kicked up a cloud of dirt. “A fresh fissure means the entry and the exit are in the same place. Kid ain’t here, so he’s gotta be in there. We have to go and get him.”

David shook his head.

“We either go in there, fight a whole slew of wilds and irrationals that we’re both not so good at. Or, we go out there and get poisoned. We get confusion’d. We just flat out kinda just want to die. …you remember how to fight right?”

“I am a human.”

“Not this again…!”

David face fell. “You… you don’t believe me?!”

“David,” Sobek said carefully. “Don’t get me wrong. When you say you don’t remember anything, I believe you. You Cubone think your, uh, helmets mean you can just headbutt everything you can’t club. But as for you being a human, well….” Sobek shook his head. His sigh turned into a scowl.

“Ohhh I don’t want to do this but here I go anywayyyy. History of the world. Super-short version.

“Every so often, there’s a Pokémon that goes and claims they’re human. It’s not that uncommon. They show up and go, ‘Follow me, I’m a human, I know what’s best for the world, I know how things should be done. Things should be going like blah-blah-de-blablah.’ So they go and do the blah-blah-de-blahblah and create a whole mess of trouble because they either believe their own fantasy, or everyone else does and follows their lead.

“Sounds fine, until blah-blah-de-blahblah involves destroying ancient ruins for… ‘saving the world’ from some bygone king’s teapot. Coups to oust ‘tyrannical’ rulers out of power when that ‘tyranny’ is the only thing holding the peace together. Secret ‘resistance’ organizations to fight ‘unjust and oppressive’ regimes—look.” His head dropped into his hands. “It’s stupid.

“It’s all really, really stupid. And that’s just the ones either led by a human or ones waiting for a human to lead them. Imagine the chaos once everyone caught on to what was causing these things. The paranoia! It’s a miracle the world’s gotten past that—Arceus! If that Butterfree knew you thought you were human, you wouldn’t have gotten two steps away. I wouldn’t have gotten two steps away. The tree wouldn’t have gotten two steps away.”

David swallowed hard. “But… but I’m… I’m human. Just a human. I- know I am. I don’t understand. Why—”

“David. I don’t know. I wasn’t there. I don’t plan on being in the next. But what the history books tell me is that humans—Pokémon saying they were once human—no matter how good their intentions are… it all just ends in war. Stupid, pointless, war. Trust me when I say that you’re just a Cubone.” Sobek offered a hand. David looked away, down the tunnel, into the tunnel that his body told him shouldn’t be there.

“A weird Cubone,” Sobek continued, “but you’re still not as bad as some Pokémon out there. Not going to lie. I thought you were some actor or something, some sort of massive prank, but now I think you’re just a little confused. Still, I think you’d do a bit better if instead of asking ‘Auughh why am I not human!?’ and keep having these panic attacks, you should ask yourself, ‘Auughh why do I think I was a human!?’ Because I sure don’t know. Maybe you either met a Prophet or some goon of one—uh! Don’t look at me like that! It’s just what we call Pokémon who say they were human, Prophets. Err, the why makes History Lesson too long for its own good.”

Sobek hesitated for a second. Under his skull, David was blank, the sharpness in his eyes dulling into a distant fog. Sobek continued with guarded caution. “Maybe that’s why you can’t remember. Or maybe even don’t want to remember?” David flinched at that. “Nevermind. My point is, how can you really know? You can’t remember anything, but you’re sticking to this one thing and you don’t know why. And David, it ultimately doesn’t matter if is actually true or not. If the wrong Pokemon finds out about it, it’s going to get you killed. You’re just a Cubone.”

David looked down and away for a second. Sobek stood there with his hand outstretched, but his eyes glanced back to the mouth of the cave. David sighed, his eyes closing to fight back tears. He eventually nodded and slowly took the help up.

The two walked down the tunnel a little bit before stopping. To David, it just felt like the entire world just stopped existing right in front of him, but he could clearly see the little tunnel turning towards the right a few steps away.

Sobek nodded. “Come on. Let’s find this Caterpie before the little guy gets himself squashed or eaten or something. Or, let’s at least check out our new digs.” He glanced to David. “Seriously though. Please tell me you remember how to fight.”

David laughed weakly. “I-if I was still hu—”

“Ah-ah-ahhh.”

David swallowed his words, then sighed, looking down at his hands, the hands of a Cubone that were his. Cubones had six fingers, which meant so did he. He flexed them, they were certainly his. And while the claws on a Cubone’s thumbs, his claws on his thumbs, were the longest, the other four still couldn’t be sneezed at. They clacked as he tapped them all together. He tilted his head. “Well, hey. Pointy claws,” He held them up for Sobek to see then tapped the Totodile’s shoulder. “Poke. Poke.”

Sobek laughed, “Come-on, not what I meant. You’re a Cubone you got your….” His blue scales paled a few shades lighter. “David. Where’s your club?”

“My what?”

“David. Your club.”

“I had a cl—oh that’s right! Cubone have bone clubs, don’t they? We. Don’t we.” David frowned, rubbing his jaw. “That’s why we’re called Cubone, because of the club. Cubone, bone club, Cubone.”

“I—but—what—you—“

“Hey, why’s it not Clubone then?”

“David. That’s not funny. Your club was right next to you—what kind of Cubone leaves their club?!” Sobek shook his head, jaw dropping slightly. “You seriously remember absolutely nothing—nothing at all!?”

“I’m trying to remember, I just can’t!” David grumbled. “It’s just a club though. It-it-it’s not going to be much use here anyway, right? Maybe something will come back when we get in a fight, but you can always just show me!”

“No—but—you don’t—show you?!—dah! David. David. The only time a club leaves a Cubone’s grip is when they throw the thing. No—but—it’s like an instinct for them not to let go of the—okay!” Sobek threw up his hands. “Okay! Later. Agreed? Later? We have something a bit more to worry about right now!”

“Agreed. Later.”

Sobek nodded and ran in.

David took three hurried steps, tripped into Sobek, and the two of them crashed into the Dungeon.

_{step three}
Don’t Seek Further Endangerment

Sobek shoved Daved off him. “Come on, don’t tell me you can’t even remember how to run.” He hopped to his feet with a scowl.

David stopped on his back, wincing as he found the spines on his back weren’t exactly flexible. At least the grass cushioned them a little bit. At least he was back in the sunlight again.

Wait a second—that’s not right!

“Uh, Sobek?” David said, laughing nervously. “Aren’t we, um, aren’t we supposed to be underground?”

“We are underground.” Sobek pulled David to his feet again.

“Then why can I see the sun?” The Cubone asked, pointing the clouds. They were actual clouds. He glanced around. “Wait—how are we back in the forest?” Surrounding them were dense trees with bushes filling the space beween trunks, the canopy leaves dancing in the wind. David and Sobek found themselves were in an empty clearing with a small path exiting it just off to their left. Just one. Behind them were more dense trees with brambles thick enough to make it impossible for the two small Pokémon to fight through. …they just rolled from there.

David flipped up his helmet, squinting as if it would give a different picture. It didn’t. “Where is the entrance—Sobek, where’s the entrance?!”

Sobek clamped David’s mouth shut. “Easy. We’re now in the Mystery Dungeon. This one seems to think it’s above ground. It copied the forest up there, down here. That’s not the sun, not really. It might look like it, it might feel like it, but it’s not. It’s the Dungeon Curse doing it. We’re actually in a cave, in that fissure. Below ground, not above it. You get me?”

“Uhd ow oo ee it oot?”

“We get out by going through it,” Sobek nodded to the path out of the clearing, flipping David’s helmet back down before dropping his hands. “Don’t worry about it right now. Just don’t get the locals’ attention.”

David lifted the helmet back up and he looked around. “…and if we do?”

Sobek laughed quietly. “This is still Tiny Woods! We really shouldn’t have that much of a problem.” He glanced away. “Really, Butterfree shouldn’t have had this much trouble on her own. She’s fully evolved. She doesn’t have to worry about a wimpy Pidgey.” He shook his head. “Come on. You go first.”

David flinched, the skull falling back down from the movement. “But I don’t—”

Sobek pushed David ahead, the Cubone digging his heels only to skid along the grass. “You get to lead so you don’t trip into me. If we run into anything, get out of the way let me take care of it.” Sobek grinned, taking a step back into a fighting stance, claws and fangs gleaming in the not-sunlight. “I might be a little rusty, but this is still Tiny Woods.” David just turned and gave him a flat glare. Sobek scowled with a roll of his eyes. “…fine, fine, let’s go.”

David glanced back to the path out of the clearing, rolling his shoulders before fidgeting with his helmet. After a minute, he nodded and started out.

The Dungeon looked a lot like the forest above them, the same skyscraper trees, same house-sized bushes, same flowers, same annoying nose-height grass. Except… except nothing felt right—and it wasn’t just the claustrophobia from how small the path was with the dark forest around them. There was a slight breeze, sure. But the air itself smelled stale. The light that shined down from above only did so in the gaps between the leaves, casting the ground in ripples of dark shadow and the sky above a webwork of blue between the pitch-black shapes of the leaves. Sobek had said that it was all an illusion, and yet it was hard for David to keep in mind that the grass he was fighting their way through wasn’t actually there.

So what, exactly, were they pushing aside if it wasn’t really grass?

David plucked a blade and fidgeted with it, tearing off little segments of illusion and tossing them aside. The sharp little squeaks of the tears and the feel of the fibers were unnervingly real.

“Breadcrumbing isn’t exactly going to work here,” Sobek muttered. “Keep track of what goes where without relying on landmarks.”

“Not breadcrumbing, just terrified,” David mumbled back.

Sobek laughed softly. “This is just Tiny Woods! Kids come out here to play and fight the wilds behind their parents’ backs. Any Pokémon in here had to have come the same way we did, through the fissure.”

“So why don’t they find the way out—there is a way out right?”

“There is a way out.”

“Okay, so where is it?”

“We need to go as far as we can, to where the Dungeon stops.”

“And then what? We just turn around and walk out?”

“Actually, yeah.” David stopped and tossed a questioning glare over his shoulder. Sobek paused, watching David trying to find the best angle to look back with his right eye. “…getting out of Dungeons from an endpoint is far easier than getting to that endpoint. Just relax, David. We just need to keep walking. One foot in front of the other, you get me?”

David scoffed, his claws digging into his elbows a bit too much at first before he lessened his grip. But he did continue on. “...it’s just hard to keep calm when you keep looking around like a Tauros is going to charge us out of nowhere.”

“I’m keeping an eye on things.”

“Stop bouncing then!”

“I’m trying to look over you. I let you lead because I thought you were a little bit shorter. How are you so tall for a Cubone anyway?”

“Look around me then!”

“It’s kinda hard to look around that big head of yours.”

“This was never about me tripping, was it?”

“It was too about you tripping! Mostly. About half of it.”

David frowned. “There’s another clearing up ahead.”

“Yeah, it looks like the grass turns to dirt there,” Sobek said with another hop.

“…so there’s something big in there that’s worn it down.”

“This is a Mystery Dungeon, it doesn’t work like that. …usually. There’s a lot of things that Pokémon misunderstand about them—ohhhhhhhhhh.” Sobek groaned and planted his face into his hands. “Of course. That’s why the Butterfree sent us….”

David looked back, “So how do you know—”

“Dave—Pidgey!”

“Whaaaaaack!”

David flailed onto his back and the ball of feathers bounced back up into the air. Wings bust out and the Pidgey righted itself, the small brown bird’s head tilting and eyes blinking as it regained its composure.

Seeing the blue crocodile but ignoring the teeth, it shrieked and charged and Sobek rushed forward. A quick twist of his foot spun himself over David. The bird rolled, pulling to the side only to find Sobek’s tail spinning into it’s path. It shrieked as it fell into the bushes.

“David, get up, it’s not down yet. David?” Sobek glanced down to his comrade—the Pidgey rocketed out of the brush into his shoulder; Sobek skidded back with the hit and the Pidgey ricocheting off and past him, somersaulting once, twice before the wings flared out, the beak pitched, and righted itself at the very tips of the grass.

“Oh, don’t—!”

It screeched, flapping hard. Dust plumed from the grasses, dense and stony, up and over Sobek and into his eyes.

He promptly stepped through the dust storm and grabbed the thing by the legs. It looked down and squawked once.

“Why is that the third thing every Pidgey does.” Sobek sneered with glaring, narrowed eyes, dodging the wings as they flailed. A snap of the wrist pulled the bird through the air and its head directly into the nearest tree trunk. The wingbeats slowed down on the first strike, on the second the Pidgey fell limp. Unconscious.

“Auugh! Every. Single. Pidgey!...David?”

“…I’m good,” the Cubone moaned. He sneezed the dust away. “Hit the helmet. It just… it just didn’t help my headache, that’s all.” He sat up, groaning and resettling his helm. “Did you get it?”

“Pidgey,” Sobek repeated as he held it up at arm’s length. David eyed the swelling of the bruise on its head, but Sobek had a very keen interest in its wings, pulling at them with his free hand. “The typical sort of Tiny Woods—puny little thing, probably a few weeks out of the nest. Doesn’t have Dungeon Phage yet, but then again, fresh Dungeon. Hopefully it’ll get kicked out by the curse in a little bit and have a happy life of waking me up way too early every day.” He frowned, glancing at David. “Absolutely nothing a Butterfree should worry about. If a tail whip and a hit on the head knocks it out, a confusion would probably ground it for long after it wakes up, if that Butterfree wasn’t completely insane!” He bluntly punted it into the brush with far too much enthusiasm. “Heck, any Pidgey fit to evolve don’t mess with a Butterfree for that reason!”

David stood back up. He was trying to rub his head but didn’t realize his skull was in the way. “Sorry, should have been paying attention. It kinda just ran into me.”

“Could have gone worse, but that’s what the helmet is for, yeah?” Sobek grinned and tapped the Cubone’s head.

“I guess.”

Snickering, Sobek walked past him to the edge of the clearing. “Okay, we’re clear. Looks like we got two paths here. Both on the left. A fresh dungeon means... that closer one’s probably a roundabout. If we’re lucky—and we’re not—Caterpie may just have been going in circles all this time.” He looked back. His eyes were red and blinking harshly. “But you see? That’s the one thing with Cubones. Take their little club away and they’re a bit awkward in a fight. No offense.”

“Well, can you teach me then?” David said, catching up and matching stride as they crossed the clearing. “I mean, how do you do that? What you just did?”

Sobek sighed, finally relenting to rub his eyes. “Unbelievable.”

“Huh?”

“…that was really simple stuff, instinct really.” Sobek blinked harshly. “Hate. Pidgeys. I hate them so much—how do they always find the loose soil to kick up? Gah…!” He shook his head, “Look, all of that was—Wurmple.” He pointed to their left. A red and white caterpillar crawled along the ground, unaware of the two.”

David looked around. The clearing was empty a moment ago, but there it was, smack dab in the middle. “Where did it come from?”

Sobek shook his head. “No idea, it’s just something the dungeon does. Or it was hiding in the brush from the Pidgey and decided to make a break for it.” He glanced at David. “Don’t just stand there. Go get it!”

“What?”

“It’s a Wurmple. A Wurmple! It’s not like it’s a Weedle. The most it can do is spit silk at you. Wait, on second thought— no, you’re ground-type, you’d still have no problems against poison. Go on. Preferably before it notices us.” The Cubone swallowed nervously. “David, I realize you don’t have your club, but seriously? If you can’t fight then you are one sorry Cubone.” David blinked, Sobek rolled his eyes. “Alright. Listen. Just don’t think too much on it, do what feels right!”

David looked back at the Wurmple as it slowly marched across forest floor. Sobek nudged him forward, David slapped his hands away. Sobek shoved him. “David. You got this. Just give it a shot.”

He glanced at Sobek. The Totodile was giving him a confident grin and nod. David frowned back, but still… he rolled his shoulders. He took a breath.

He charged.

Halfway there, he shouted a war cry.

The Wurmple turned. Confusion glossed over it quickly before it shot a burst of silk towards the Cubone. David hopped over it, then sidestepped the next—but it tagged him! The silk caught his tail, spinning him slightly as his heel hit the ground and he stumbled! But he was almost there! He was just about at it! The Wurmple reared back—David could hear its chitin expand as it readied to shoot him point-blank but David kicked it!

He sunk all his momentum into his foot and off it went, a silk comet, flying back into the brush, clipping a tree, bouncing off a branch, crashing into the bushes!

“HAH!” David pumped his fist into the air and turned back to Sobek. He did it! He beat the Wurmple! He had won! “How was that!?”

Sobek’s face was in his hands. “First instinct is to kick it.” He laughed. “First instinct is to kick it—why did you kick it?! All that did was send it flying! Pointy Claws! Pointy Claws! Slash it! Or slam it with your tail, just make sure you know you knocked it out! For their own sake, yeah?”

“You mean ours.”

“Ehh, that too. Mystery Dungeons are weird,” Sobek shrugged. “The curse kicks unconscious wilds out somewhere near the exit or something like that. That Pidgey? Kicked it into the brush so nothing messes with it until the dungeon kicks it out. It’s an out of sight, out of mind thing, I don’t understand it. But it’s like that Wurmple appearing, but the other way around.” Sobek shook his head. “Ah, nevermind. So long as it’s not our problem anymore, we’re good.”

David’s pride deflated slightly and jogged back over to Sobek. He froze. “…wait, what if the Caterpie’s somewhere in the brush? I mean, just because we can’t, doesn’t mean he... couldn’t?”

Sobek put a hand up to stop him before pulling the silk off David’s tail. It stretched and snapped into dozens of sticky little strands. The Totodile seethed as he looked it over. “Here’s the thing. There’s only about a few steps of woods, and then the cave wall, even if it looks like it goes forever. That Pidgey bounced off a wall of nothing when I kicked it in, serves it right.” Sobek tilted his head in thought and threw aside the silk to rub his temple.

“Um.”

“Right. Sticky silk. ...long story short, Caterpie wouldn’t go into the brush since there’s a myth that the walls of a Mystery Dungeon eat Pokémon. Same reason Butterfree probably didn’t want to come in here. Some motherly love, huh?”

“…that sounds kinda silly.”

“Well,” Sobek paused, mulling it over in his head. “They’re not that far off. Except it’s not the walls that eats Pokémon. Come on, let’s see what’s down this path. I need a tree branch or something to get my hand free.”

“Walls that eat…?” It took a moment for David trot along. “Right. You’re messing with me. Got it.”

* * * * *

“You know what, we’re actually doing good here,” Sobek nodded. “We’ve got a pecha berry for when I inevitably get poisoned and two oran—one oran berry.” He glared at David.

“What? You said it heals,” David shrugged, mouth half-full from the berry. He almost looked happy munching on the thing. If it wasn’t for the undertones of terror in his voice and eyes under the brave face he was putting on, he almost seemed content. Sobek eased off. “It stopped the headache. ‘sides, I can’t remember the last time I ate.” David paused, eyes lighting up as he laughed at his accidental joke. “You never told me how these got in here anyway. I mean, this place just formed right?”

“Some wilds probably brought it in with them, they carry things sometimes,” Sobek sighed and rolled another unconscious Pidgey away with a foot. “For a hole in the ground, not sure why there’s so many Pidgey. Wurmples? Yeah. Birds? No. …kinda just wish we had a pack to hold all this in and not carry it around by hand.” He tossed the other Oran berry to David. “Don’t eat that one. Not until we need it.”

David fumbled the catch and jugged it through the air before it settled in his arms. “…I could just carry it all in my helmet. Find some vines, tie it in such a way to keep it against my back, and it’s a pack, right?”

“Yeah, but—” Sobek scowled. He almost said something, then cut himself off as they saw another small band of red marching across the forest floor. “Okay, David. Wurmple.” David nodded and charged. “This time, spin, jump, slam your tail down on it, and push against it to roll back onto your feet. Without landing on it thissssss…”

“Haaaalp….”

Sobek grimaced, seething to himself as he marched up to the Wurmple. In all respect, it looked quite happy with itself, perched atop what looked more like a poorly evolved Silcoon than a Cubone. Sobek glared at it and snarled—he received his maw encased in silk and the smug squeaking of an overconfident caterpillar. He snorted, eyes narrowing as he slashed the caterpillar with his claws and let it run off, leaving a trail of blood behind.

With some effort, Sobek pulled the silk off his face and set about freeing David.

“You know, you did kinda well with that first one even if you woke everyone up.”

“I wasn’t expecting it to shoot seven times its body weight in string shot!” David pushed himself up and pushed against his helmet. It was stuck. “Nnngggget. Off. Get! Off! Getoffgetoffgetoff!”

“Hey, easy. Let me help, I’ve the sharper claws here—stop! Squirming! ...there. Okay. On three. One, two, three!”

pop

Sobek held the skull out plainly, and David yanked it out of the Totodile’s hands. There wasn’t a single spot where it wasn’t covered in silk. He pushed Sobek away as the Totodile pulled at the strands on David’s shoulder. It all came off in clumps, and David realized there wasn’t a single spot on him where he could see his scales. “Seriously. It’s a tiny little thing. Where did all this come from!?”

“We’re not that much larger than it you know,” Sobek started but trailed off as he looked around the clearing they were resting in at the moment. It looked like all the others, trees and bramble bushes forming the walls, a path in, a path out, tall grass and a worn dirt section. But it was just them for the moment. That faint blood trail of the Wurmple lead back to the path the two had just came in.

“Yeah but….” David faded off as he struggled with a glob over the right eyehole. He put the helmet on the ground, planted a foot on it, and pulled again. It didn’t budge. “I didn’t… think that... the string shot... wouldn’t have been... this tough! I mean, it’s not a Spinarak. Come on! You... stupid... thing! RaaaaaaaaAAAAAH!” His grip slipped and he fell over backwards. He rocked back onto his feet. He snorted.

Sobek looked back to David. “What does it not being a Spinarak have to do with anything? Its web is pretty much the same thing. I think.”

“Yeah, but—oh, forget this!” David scowled and kicked his helmet to the side.

“…uh, David? You’re going to need that. …David. You’re a Cubone, not a Kangaskhan. You’re going to need that.”

“I don’t have a club, might as well go for not having the set.”

“David.”

“Fine, fine, fine….” He stormed over to where it rolled and grabbed it. “There is silk over the eye. I can’t see.” He shoved it into Sobek’s arms. The Totodile held up a claw, and stabbed it into the silk. A vertical cut was made, small clumps torn out where they could but the rest of the strands had to be pushed aside and secured with more sticky silk.

“There,” Sobek set the helmet back on David’s head, stepping back carefully as he met David’s unenthused eyes. “Now, stop taking it off. When we get out, stand in the sun—the actual sun—for a little while and the web crumbles off.” David scowled and walked away, grumbling, resettling his helmet. “…are you okay, David?”

“Am I okay?” The Cubone glared over his shoulder. “I’ve lost my memory, and before I could even come to terms with that, I was held at poison point to rescue a kid in a Mystery Dungeon—which I know nothing about. I don’t think I ever was a fighter—”

“All Cubones are fighters. Otherwise they’d be Kangaskhans. You just don’t have your club—”

“Because you literally dragged me away from back there before I could even get my bearings! And now I’m covered in bug-spit! Do you think I’m okay!?!” David shook his head as he paced away again. His scowl was louder than he’d liked. “I’m just… I need a second to just….”

“I get where you’re coming from, David, I really do,” Sobek said carefully, dashing up to walk in step beside him. “And this sucks. I really don’t want to be doing this either. But you’re doing a good job right now—amazing, all things considered, and we’ve come in quite a ways. I actually didn’t think it would be this deep. There isn’t any way we could have missed him, there’s only been one or two branching pathways so far and even then it we would have caught him if he wandered back the way we came.”

“Ehhhh Sobek…?” David said in a vary wary voice. Sobek turned to see him ten feet back, looking down at his foot a blank look forced onto his face. “Remind me. How afraid should I be of a Sunkern?”

“The weakest grass-type? Not very. Just grab it by the leaves and kick it away. You’re good at kicking.”

“Okay.” David nodded. “Okay.” He nodded again. “How about four Sunkerns?”

Sobek hesitated. “How many are there, really?”

“About seven. I’m dead serious. And they’re waking up.”

“Okay. This is what we do.”

* * * * *

“Woah-woah-woah-woah!” David stumbled with the double-take, “There he is—Sobek, that way!” Sobek blindly crashed into him and the two rolled down the fork towards the little green caterpillar. When everything stopped spinning, David found himself looking into the black eyes of an upside down Caterpie. He sighed and pointed, shaking a silk encrusted claw at him. “Hey. How’zit going? Your mom’s losing it, you know that?” He looked to the Totodile on top of him. “Okay. We found him. Now what?”

“Give me a second, now I have the headache,” Sobek grumbled as he shook the stars away and looked around. “Dead end.”

“Aw, great.”

“But, do you feel that? Or don’t feel that? The sunshine? This is the deepest point in the dungeon. Hah-hahaaaa! We just need to go right back that way and we’ll be out in no time!” He rolled off David and pulled him up, then stooped down to the Caterpie. “Your mother sent us to rescue you. Are you okay? You don’t look hurt.”

“…I’m fine,” the Caterpie said quietly. The little guy shrunk away from the two, antenna drooping.

“Honestly,” Sobek grinned warmly. “I’m amazed you got this far in—without a scratch too!” He glanced to the giant pile of silk and the Cubone somewhere underneath. “He did better than us, eh, David?” The Cubone was absorbed in squinting up the hill they had rolled down. Sobek elbowed him, muttering, “Kid’s freaked out as you were—”

“Still am, just ignoring that for now because there are killer seeds on our tails.”

“Just help me calm him down.”

“Yeah,” David said quickly, glancing back to Caterpie. “A… natural born explorer, I guess.”

“Really?” Caterpie perked up, a sparkle forming in his eye. “C-could I join your team? Can I?”

David pivoted his glare to Sobek. The Totodile blinked, recoiling slightly. He glanced between David and the Caterpie and swallowed the first words he had. “Uh, well—”

“Sobek!” David hissed, pulling the Totodile away, “They caught up!” He pointed to the crest of the hill. Three Sunkerns started rolling down the hill, with a Pidgey darting down over them. “Why is the bird coming for us when those Sunkerns are the one that woke it up? Hey! Eat them! Not us!”

“Nevermind that—where are the other six?” Sobek charged forward to meet the Pidgey and raked his claws through the air. It dodged, twisting over him and wobbling in the air. David hopped left and intercepted it before it could recover and spun. It was a clumsy tail-whip, but it connected well-enough, glancing off the right wing of the bird and deflecting it enough to crash into a tree trunk behind the group. The bird rolled itself back onto its feet—David promptly punted it back into the trees. Somewhere from the thicket came an unpleasant thud.

“Pidgey’s dealt with!”

“Easy bit’s done,” Sobek grimaced and pointed to the top of the hill. “We need to get back up there! This is a Deep Point! Somewhere along that hill, we’ll get kicked out of the dungeon. There’s just five Sunkerns in our way now.” He grimaced. “I was expecting one or two, but five? ...hey David, you’ve all that silkspit on you. Can Sunkern even hurt you through that?”

“I’ve no idea, don’t look at—!” David blinked. “No. Wait. Do look at me! Caterpie!”

“Me?” Caterpie recoiled.

“You can spit silk! String-shot them, tangle them up! We’ll just book it! Not even fight them!”

“Sunkern are Sunkern,” Sobek said, glancing back to the two, “But Sunkern are still grass-type and even they can, you know, suck our life away? We’ll go down easy if we’re not careful. Either way, heh, here they are.”

Three teeny, tiny yellow and black seeds, each with a little sprout growing out of their tops, rolled into the clearing and hopped up, their happy eyes glossed over with a dull, deathly sheen while their smiling mouths oozed hunger pains to the two the pack was actively hunting.

Hunting. These aren’t Poochyenas, they’re Sunkerns!

“Don’t these things try not to move to conserve energy to evolve?” David asked as he and Sobek took a step back.

“Well, if you’ve been trying to feed of a sun that isn’t really there and two Pokémon appear that you can drain a lotta life—”

“You are not helping!” David shook his head. “Okay, Caterpie. They want us, not you. Wait for the other two to get in range, then stick it to them. Last thing we want is for them to ingrain themselves. At least not right at the exit. Okay?”

Caterpie nodded.

One by one, the three little seeds bounced towards the two lizards while the caterpillar edged around them. Why are they all just so happy?!

“David,” Sobek whispered. “Not a single word of this when we get out of here. We’ll be the laughingstock for miles around if anyone finds out we ran from a Sunkern. Doesn’t matter how many.”

“Agreed. What about the kid?”

“The kid who’s been dodging Pidgey since he got in here? He understands completely.”

The other two Sunkern entered the clearing.

“Now! Now!”

Caterpie flinched and blasted a solid line of web from one group to the other, almost on reflex. The shine in the little seeds’ eyes completely falling away to a flat black and their mouths continued to smile in a wordless rage as their tiny little hops couldn’t free them from the small strand that pinned them to the ground.

“Gogogogogo!” The two ran around the Sunkern and, between the two of them, picked up Caterpie and booked it up the hill, giving the other group a large berth.

A shriek cried through the air and another Pidgey rocketed down the slope.

“Not now!” Sobek chucked his berry at the bird, hitting it and knocking it off track. “We’re almost there, keep go—”

The forest fell away to rock walls in the matter of steps—David skidded his shoulder into a wall, Sobek half-crashed into him. Sighing and sitting his head against the stone, David let Caterpie down from his arm, as did Sobek behind him.

It was dark, it smelt like dirt and dust, and slowly, the Cubone laughed.

“Hey, Sobek,” He turned. “We got ‘im!”

“Yeah!” the Totodile scoffed, grinning back. “We did…! Let’s get out of here before that Pidgey comes busting through—it’s not going to be very happy. And,” He looked down to Caterpie, “Your Mum’s been worried sick over you.”

Caterpie shrunk slightly, glancing down towards the ground with drooping antennae.

“RAAAAWK!”

David and Sobek looked at each other, “Pidgey!” They jumped down as the brown blur blasted out of the dungeon. It crashed straight into the wall, with a sickening thud, slowly sliding down it.

David seethed. “Oof.” He sat back up and glanced to Sobek, “Leave it?”

“It’s definitely not going anywhere, and those Sunkern ain’t making it up that hill anytime soon. So it officially ain’t our problem.” Sobek took a deep breath. “Nerve-wracking stuff though. Nerve-wracking stuff. …alright kid, let’s get you back to your mum.” Back to David, “I say we get away from this place. In fact, I say we don’t come back to this place.”

“Yeah. Yeah, give me a moment. I’ll catch up in a few seconds.”

“What’s wrong?” Caterpie spoke up. “Is-is he okay?”

“He’s had rough day, a little worse than yours,” Sobek said, motioning for Caterpie to move ahead of him. “He just needs a minute to sit.” He looked to David, “But if you’re not caught up by then I’m not coming back for you.”

The two disappeared around the corner and David slumped against the wall, sighing quietly and closing his eyes, if only for a second. Rolling his head and wincing as his neck cracked a few times, he lolled it onto his shoulder and looked at the Pidgey next to him.

He was half expecting to see its beak broken, but it was lying on its back. He guessed it tried to stop and slammed into the wall chest-first. It was definitely unconscious, and probably had a massive bruise under all those feathers.

David stood up, slowly this time, pushing off against the wall and into the half-crouched stance, gently rocking back and forth on his feet as he stood. Breathing in, he stretched his back, then his tail.

…right. The tail.

He looked back at it. He moved it right. He moved it left. Up. Down. Next to him to pull off what remained of the silk. That swing at the Pidgey backed there managed to break away most of it.

It felt… awkward and clumsy. But he did actually managed to pull it off. He actually did manage to hit the Pidgey without even trying.

Huh.

Maybe Sobek was right, maybe he was just thinking about it too much.

He reached down to pull off the silk only to realize that he still had that Oran Berry they had found. He had been holding onto it for dear life for that entire mad dash through the dungeon. Granted, it and his hand was encased in silk and once that was pried off he found his claws had dug into the skin. But, leaky juices or not, it was still a berry and still in his hand.

He looked back to the Pidgey. It shook slightly each time it breathed, clearly hurting from its impact with the wall.

“Hey, Dave?” Sobek’s voice echoed down. “Ya still there?”

David glanced between the tunnel and the Pidgey and the berry.

“…yeah, I’m coming.”

David ran down the fissure corridor, biting into the berry and quickly finishing it off before Sobek and Caterpie came into view.

David needed it far more than that Pidgey did.

{Spoiler}{Re: shadowlucario}
The whole tail thing came from, 'Hm. What would be the most alien sensation. Ah. Tail!' You'd be super happy to have it, but it'd still be sensory overload

The story's developed this weird third person perspective that I really enjoy, but the first proper chapter certainly shows me getting an idea of how to do it. Even after editing it's still a bit of an awkward mess, but I don't mess with it too much to show my evolution as a writer. (or, devolution, as the many, many hiatuses kick in -_-). But it is fun, and I hope you enjoy how it plays out.


Not many people do know about Cubone not having attacking moves until Level 9, so good catch that! David leveled pretty quick in the game, honestly, but it'll be an ongoing process in the story. As mentioned in the Discord, Sunkern could be deadly--I honestly can't remember if they know Absorb or not, just that i didn't want to take that chance. So, running it was!



Thanks again for the comment! I hope to keep this thing updating with the chapters I have, uh, relatively frequently.

_{step four}
Don’t Rest Until Safe

It was late afternoon by the time David crawled out of the fissure. The orange sunlight that filtered down through the trees lit the half-beaten path in a warm, lazy glow. Sobek was busy collecting a few dead branches and driving them into the ground around the fissure as markers.

“There!” He stepped back with a nod. “Kinda hard to miss now, huh?”

David tilted his head. “Didn’t you say kids sneak out to this place to fight the wilds? Doesn’t this just scream out, ‘Hey! Look at this!’ and then they get lost in the dungeon.”

Sobek blinked for a second before his face fell into a glare. “Kids are kids.” He stomped off.

“Right.” David shook his head and caught up, Caterpie creeping alongside him, keeping close. “So it seemed to be noon back in the dungeon? …if we went back in at night, would the not-sun be out?”

“No clue,” Sobek said plainly with a shake of his head. “Rule-of-thumb is not to go into dungeons at night. Weird stuff happens then.”

“Such as…?” David lead on. Sobek sighed, rolling his head slightly. “Oh, come on, Sobek. You dragged me through some sort of magical-cursed place of weird after—” He glanced to Caterpie. “It’s an honest question!”

“You guys aren’t...?” Caterpie started, then stopped as David looked back down. He only met David’s eyes for a second before shying away.

Sobek shook his head. “Your mother thought we were and, well—oh. She’s… she’s coming to us…” His voice cracked into a whimper and he and David unconsciously took several steps backwards as Butterfree blurred towards them between the trees.

The two flinched, bracing for anything she could send at him, words or otherwise. But she immediately landed, holding her child to her with a wing and only sobbed gratitude towards the two. Caterpie was quiet, tearing up himself with eyes closed, silent.

David sighed quietly, acknowledging Sobek’s nod with one of his own. He noted Sobek was edging away and silently agreed that leaving now was probably the best thing to do.

Subtly, carefully, quietly, they turned and stepped away—Butterfree cut them off.

“Oh!” She said through her tears. “Oh, no! I can’t let you leave without me thanking you!”

“Uh, that’s okay, ma’am,” Sobek said with more than a little squawk in his voice. He cleared his throat. “It’s good to see you back with your son. We, uh—there’s really no need for a reward.”

“Nonsense! You saved my precious baby. Even if I don’t have anything that thanks you nearly enough but… Ah! Here! Take this,” She handed Sobek a small pouch. “A few of the berries we were collecting before this horrendous accident. It is the least I can give.”

“Uh, thank you,” Sobek said, slowly setting the pouch down next to him. “It was just great to find him unharm—”

Butterfree’s attention snapped to her son, “Have you thanked these brave two Pokémon for rescuing—” She cut herself off, head snapping up. “Oh! I almost forgot, may I ask your names?”

David and Sobek exchanged unsure glances.

Sobek hesitated a moment too long, David spoke first. “I’m, uh. I’m David. This is Sobek.”

“Thank you David and Sobek,” Caterpie looked up to the David with wide eyes, still shivering from his experience in the dungeon. The tears were still in his eyes, and between them and the attentiveness of his antennae and how tall Caterpie was trying to stand, David guessed it was admiration. …and that made him a bit uncomfortable.

Still, he’d rescued a defenseless Caterpie from some fissure after he had suffered some sort of identity disorder minutes after awakening with memory loss. That was a good thing, right?

“Yes, you two are heroes today!” Butterfree added on, patting her child on the head.

Heroes. that felt about right. Somehow.

David bashfully rubbed the back his neck. “...heroes? Huh. Well—” He cut himself off as Butterfree’s eyes sparkled again.

“Oh, David! That reminds me! In your rush, you had forgotten your club! It was too heavy for me to carry myself but it should still be right where you left it. I pushed it under a nearby bush, just in case.” Her head tilted. “I must say, I’ve never heard of a Cubone charging into battle without his club before.”

“Ah, well…” David started, suddenly interested in making sure his helm was seated right with all the silk piled on him. “It’s—it’s like Sobek said. Grass types, don’t like them. Eheh. Can’t really club them, you know....” He waved dismissively and shot an annoyed glare back toward the fissure. “It was a tactical choice; speed was an issue and I can run a little bit faster without it. But you’re right; my brother would have my helmet if I left it behind again.”

“Oh, I see! You have a brother?” Butterfree more jabbed than asked. Sobek tossed him a quizzical glare.

“I’m—he’s on an adventure right now. Well, technically we both are. Nevermind, it-it-it’s a bit odd and, um… it’s hard to explain.”

“Hmm, well I hope he’s doing as well as you are then, David,” Butterfree smiled, her eyes finally losing most of her panic with the gesture. “Cascoon included.” She laughed softly, motioning to the sheer layer of silk on his hide. “But we must be off now. Thank you and farewell! Say goodbye!”

There was a solid four seconds of hesitation from Caterpie, still looking up to the two with large, teary eyes. “…thank you. G-goodbye….” With that, the two turned and headed on their way down the path.

David took in a deep breath— Sobek elbowed him with a hiss, “No-no. Wait. Wait…. Wait for it….” The two disappeared around a bend. “And they’re gone.” Sobek sighed, groaning as he collapsed onto the ground. He shook his head. “That was way too much of a hassle for just three berries. Yeah, we saved the kid, but you’re right, David. That Butterfree is a few eggs short of an Exeggcute.” He looked up, “Did you make up that bit about your brother or are you remembering something?”

“I made it up,” David said, then laughed. “I-I panicked! It—it wasn’t it obvious, right?”

“No-no, you sold it. Just… don’t let it come back to bite you.”

David blinked, eyes confused at what he meant by that. “…sure.” The Cubone looked around, “Do you remember where I woke up? I… I kinda would like my club back.”

“Sure, sure, no problem,” Sobek nodded, hopping back up and pointing through the trees. “We’re actually closer than you’d think. Come on.”

Sobek took the lead this time, David following him silently through the trees. He paused in one of the clearings, sighing softly in the warmth of the real sun. It didn’t exactly energize him, but if he closed his eyes and stood there, just listening to the soft wind and the songs of the bird Pokemon in the area—the warbling tune with the occasional half-word that he had woken up to. Then, if only for a moment, he felt the weight of everything that had happened over the last few hours lift off his shoulders.

It felt almost like he wasn’t a Cubone, almost like he wasn’t really anything. …just that he just was.

“Feel the difference between the real one and the fake?”

...at least for a moment.

“What?”

“The sun,” Sobek clarified. “The real one feels just a little different than the fake one of the dungeon. It’s always a good idea to know that feeling by heart. Sometimes you think you’re out of a dungeon, but you’re really not. If there’s a sun, it’s a way to check it.”

David grumbled, “I don’t plan on going back into any Mystery Dungeon, Sobek.” He scoffed. “I’ve had my fill, thank you very much.”

“Mmmm,” Sobek shrugged. He swatted David on the shoulder. “Come on, you can sun yourself when you get your club.” He hesitated for a second before heading off. “The silk’s dried; it’ll crumble off easily when you get around to it. That... Wurmple must had been the first to fall into the dungeon.” David reluctantly followed. They passed through a few bushes, Sobek nearly tripping out of the last. “Found it!” He picked the club up and passed it to David.

David looked it over. It was a femur of a larger Pokemon, like all Cubone clubs. One end had been worn down to a blunt point while the other had the knobby bit of the joint on it. Sobek watched carefully as David passed it between his hands, trying to get a feel for it as well as finding the best spot to hold it.

After few tosses up in the air and a few clumsy catches, he shouldered it and laughed slightly. “Okay, thanks. Thanks a lot.”

“Feel a bit better with it now?”

After a heavy pause, David sighed. “I’m not sure what I feel, just that I’m really tired.”

Sobek scoffed, but grinned. “Rough day.” That grin slid into a frown. “…hey, David. You don’t actually have a place to stay, do you? Yeah, stupid question. Follow me.”

David hesitated, more to shift his club than anything else. “Uh, where to?”

“You’ll see,” Sobek half-smirked over his shoulder, “Don’t worry, it’s not that far. It took us longer to find the ravine than it would to get there from here.”

“Hey, isn’t there someone we should tell about the big hole of crazy in the middle of the woods, anyway?”

“Ah, right.” Sobek flinched and bit his tongue for a moment. “Yeah. I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry.” He seethed quietly.

David frowned, trying to read Sobek’s face but failing. “Um…?”

“Don’t worry about it, David. I… guess I was heading in that direction anyway.”

“So there is someone to tell about all this?”

Sobek didn’t answer, he was putting far too much effort in pushing through the grass as it grew higher around them. David followed slowly, glancing around. A few wild Pokémon wandered about. A few Weedle and Wurmple on the trees, a Pidgey somewhere up in the higher branches sang its warbley song. Around an extremely tiny pond to their left, a small grove of Bellsprout spread their leaves in the afternoon sun, one uprooting itself to move out of the shade.

Sobek noticed how long David looked at them, “Don’t worry about the wilds out here, they don’t attack unless you tick them off.” He let off a heavy sigh, “But yeah, I just need to stick a notice on the town’s bulletin board.”

“A town?” David tilted his head, “Is that where we’re headed?”

“Uh, no,” Sobek said, a little too quickly. “No, we’re not headed to the Square. Nearby, but not to it. I said I’ll handle the notice thing. Don’t worry about it.”

The trees were thinning, but that only made things a bit harder due to more and more shrubs growing in the way of the two and it wasn’t long until David was eye-to-eye with a Silcoon as it woke. The eye promptly shut, the silk taking on a brighter sheen.

“Relax, you just spooked it,” Sobek sighed, pulling David away. “Besides, we’re here.”

David turned to find himself on a forgotten pathway that forked off to their left. As they walked towards the fork, he noticed pavestones set in the ground. Old, cracked, and surrounded with smaller stones that had been worn and broken by time. Little shoots of grass and shrubbery poked through where they could.

The fork was actually a T-intersection, with the path he was on being the stem and the one running perpendicular, the cap. More pavestones, larger ones this time, marched by stock-still to the right, disappearing downhill and around a bend, while the stragglers on the left were smaller and less in-tact, abandoned in the battle against grass and time as the path faded. A similar fate was met on the branch they had emerged out of.

This was once a road. Not a large one, but an important one. And it was still used, if only occasionally. There was an extreme lack of shrubs on the path, the stones didn’t have that much moss on them and the grass wasn’t that tall. Shorter still on the path they had arrived on. So the road came in from the right and immediately took a hard left for a while, then left the traveler on their own.

But where was it going to? The pavestones more-or-less stopped right at the base of the intersection, right at the fork. This road wasn’t built to go somewhere; it was built to come here. The fork was only secondary.

So what was here? There wasn’t anything along any of the three roads, just a clearing in front of them, right at the root of the intersection, short rocks jutting out of the ground with a gap right in front of them, a very small path, then a stony hill in the center….

A grin slowly spread on David’s snout. He glanced to Sobek, “You’re kidding, right?” Scoffing, David stepped through the opening—the rocks were a fence, that hill is a house.

The clearing was covered here-and-there with encampments of chest-high grass, but the dirt was too stony for anything larger to take root besides a few low bushes and the ivy that was climbing the house. And it was indeed a rather earthen house. The walls were rock and the dirt that held it all together was crumbling adobe that the ivy dug and clawed away at. The path lead directly into the adobe, but it was a darker brown than the rest with several half-dug holes into it. A few other darker patches spotted the house, and, almost triumphantly, a small flower had somehow made its way to the roof, the little scout’s small red petals bobbing in the light breeze.

“You like it?” Sobek called from his spot against the fence.

David laughed, glancing back, a wide smile on his face, eyes sparkling. “Ah. Yeah. Actually. This is pretty neat.” He paced to the side, the fence had once encircled the entire clearing, but some of the stones were now missing and the shrubbery was making an effort to invade the stronghold. There didn’t seem to be a way into the house itself, though.

David froze for an instant. “Wait, who owns this place?”

“You, I guess. If you want it,” Sobek shrugged whimsically as he met David at the front of the house. “For real? I don’t think anyone really owns it. I mean, really, follow the road and you’ll hit the Square in an hour or so, even when you’re not trying, but I’ve never seen anyone around up here.” He glanced around, slightly confused. “Yeah, it’s strange. It’s the larger wilds that like to use the path, but no one else comes this way that I’ve seen. Anyway, give me your club for a second.”

David turned away, holding his club protectively, “Why?”

Sobek’s narrowed his eyes. “Because I showed you this place so you can sleep on the roof,” he said flatly. He huffed. “The pointy end, use it to make an opening in the mud here.”

“Oh.” David blinked, glancing between his club and the wall before taking a stance in front of it. Gripping the club with two hands, he pulled back over his shoulder—“You know it, what if they sealed this because there’s something really bad—”

“Yes. Let’s seal the evil spirits in a house made of rocks an easy walk away from town. That’ll hold it for all eternity.”

David looked over his shoulder at the cross-eyed Totodile. “Hahahehaheh... yeah, that’s kinda silly, isn’t it? Alright then.” He took the stance again, drawing back the club over his shoulder, then stabbed the wall with all his might.

“...any luck?”

David pulled back, the club digging out a little dent. “Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh no. …adobe’s a bit tougher than I thought it was.”

“A-do-wha?”

“Adobe,” David kicked the wall, “That’s what that stuff is.”

“…I thought you couldn’t remember anything,” Sobek said carefully.

“That’s…” David blinked, then tilting his head and rubbing his jaw in thought. “Huh. …well, I remember how to talk, right? I know what I am, I know what you are. How did I remember those?”

Sobek rolled his eyes, “Okay, point. So what is adobe?”

“I don’t know.”

“David.”

“I don’t! I just know that stuff is called adobe,” David scoffed, glaring at the wall. “I mean, dried mud isn’t that strong, I know that much.”

“How? No, seriously. How? How do you know? Is this like an on-sight thing? But then back in the dungeon, you said I was acting like a Tauros would pop out. Yeah—that’s weird—David, how do you know anything, if you can’t remember anything?”

David blinked, this time more startled. “I don’t know?” He laughed, shaking his head. “Wow, how does this amnesia thing really work? ...Sobek, I swear, I can’t remember anything. At least nothing about me. But….” David’s eyes dimmed. “I dunno. I don’t know, these random things pop into my head for a split-second….” His shoulders hung with a heavy sigh and looked over the sealed door again. “Okay, I’ve got an idea.”

Taking his club in hand again, he lined it up with one of the half-dug holes at the bottom of the wall and struck it a few times. Sobek glanced away, lost in thought, frowning.

On the seventh swing, David lost his balance as the club found the other side. “Ha-ha! Got it! Okay now to widen it enough to get in….” He frowned and glared at the rest of the adobe above him. “…this is going to take a while to clear out, I need to carve out a ladder. And then there are all the windows! Ughhh...” He flipped up his helm and rubbed his temples. “I guess it’s a fixer-upper.” He met Sobek’s questioning glare. “What?” Sobek shook his head apologetically and looked away. David sighed quietly and chipped away at the hole.

After a minute, “Hey, Sobek. Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it, any—” Sobek cut himself off. He swallowed, then looked back to David. “No, not anyone would do that, but I like to think of myself as a nice Pokemon.”

“Yeah—with me thinking I was human, that’s why I want to thaaa… aaaa....” David snorted. “Sorry… sorry. Dust. …I just wanted to thank you. I... really just want to know why I thought that.”

“Do you still think you’re human?”

“Now that I had a moment to think about it?” David shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. I mean, if anything, I’m a Cubone.” He tapped his helmet and held up the club. “Where did this and this come from? I mean, one’s a skull, the other’s a fe—” he scooted back as the dirt around the hole collapsed. He and Sobek exchanged glances.

“Hit it with the knobby end,” Sobek said, reaching for the club. “Maybe the rest will collapse.”

“I don’t want it to completely collapse, I just need a hole big enough to get in there,” David said quickly, leaning away from Sobek and pushing his snout away with a foot. “Deal with it tomorrow. Find something to use as a door.”

Sobek sat back up straight and blinked, frowning. “A door.” He repeated silently when David looked away. He shook his head. David pried more of the wall off and cleared it as it collapsed.

The Cubone peered inside, laughing slightly. He pulled back and sneezed, “Air’s a little stale and there are a few holes in the roof, but it’s completely untouched!” He grinned at Sobek, clearly excited, and then dove through the gap, squirming a little before he popped through.

Illuminating by the sunlight fighting through the cracks, it was a single room with a mostly earthen floor, save several large, worn-smooth stones in the ground. A single rock sat in the light to the side, almost as tall as David and sprouting the solitary plant life in the room, little green infiltrators. A large slab of stone sat in the far back of the room.

And that was it.

David giggled and stuck his nose out the hole, “Sobek, ya gotta see this!”

“I’m good,” Sobek sighed. “I’ve a strict one-cave-a-day limit.”

“But it’s so cool!”

“But there’s nothing in there!” the Totodile whined and held a pained expression for a second before his face cracked into a laugh. “You like it then?”

David squeezed back outside. “You have no idea! Why did they seal this up?” He started to pace around it again.

Sobek took a breath, then swallowed it and let David take a lap around the house. Somehow, this little hole in the ground had lifted the Cubone’s spirits to the point where he was genuinely happy. …or it was just a distraction. Either way, for better or for worse, this was the first time the Cubone wasn’t miserable since he had woken up.

“Hey,” Sobek finally said. “I’ll leave you the berries, I’m gonna knock off for the night. You gonna be alright?”

“Well, I’m going to see if I can open one of the windows, maybe two, for some air circulation—oh. Yeah. Yeah!” he beamed. “I’m good.” He sighed, and looked up to his house, then double-taked as Sobek nodded and walked off. He caught up. “Sobek! Uh, you’re going to be around, right?”

“I’m gonna swing by in the morning,” Sobek said in mock-chide, then grinned. “I figure you’re going to need a bit of help getting situated—don’t you even think about roping me into fixing this place. You Cubones obsess over this sort of thing. Even if you can’t remember, it’s obvious you’re no different.”

“Well still. Thanks again, Sobek,” David held out his free hand. “Even with you dragging me to the hole of crazy, it was almost fun.”

“Almost?” Sobek tilted his head, looking at the hand.

“Well, you also almost got me killed by Sunkern zombies… shake hands? …that’s a thing right?”

“Shake—” Sobek blinked in revelation. “Oh! Yeah, that.” He shook David’s. “Yeah, that’s a thing. Not exactly a common one around here. But yeah, it’s a thing.”

David sighed, “You scared me there for a second.”

“Why?”

“Nevermind,” David dismissed it with a shake of his head. “See ya tomorrow then.”

“Tomorrow,” Sobek nodded and turned, walking down the straight-away path.

David turned back to his house, grinning slightly, “So, this place is mine now.” His grin faded. “Sobek’s right, I have walls, but no furniture. Unless I’m right when I thought that big rock was the bed. I really don’t like the idea of sleeping on hard rock.” His shoulders slumped. “Hokay then. Bedding. Warmth. Fire. …homeownership.” He chuckled to himself and walked back up the path, then stopped halfway there.

He looked around. Sobek had disappeared into the forest. The clearing was empty save him and the satchel of berries next to the house. There weren’t even any wilds around.

David stuck his club in the stony ground and took off the skull, pointing the nose at him and looking it over. It seemed like the average Cubone skull—but what does that mean? What exactly does ‘average’ mean?

No. No, he was tired. He didn’t want to think about that today.

He pulled off the last remnants of silk and shook himself; it all just crumbled away into dust, just like Sobek said it would. With a hand he rubbed his eyes, then his nose before looking to the sky and finding the sun low in it.

Sunshine.

It was sunny, warm. There was a light breeze, a few clouds. The trees rustled, the grass waved.

But it was just him, him and the sun.

Closing his eyes, he soaked in the sunshine and he faded away, if only for a few minutes, until a cloud covered his new home in shade.

step five
Sometimes You Have No Choice

It was a harpy’s song that woke him. A screeching noise that sounded through the small windows he made last night and reverberated off the walls and then again off the inside of his helmet, and then again in his skull. A harsh string of notes that sounded less like a song and more of a small creature in desperate search for its head.

Now he knew why Sobek disliked Pidgeys so much….

It was with great reluctance that David pushed himself up, grumbling as he pushed up his helmet to rub his eyes—he froze.

He snapped his hands away, blinking away the sleep, blinking, until he managed to see his brown scales and claws. He slumped, head falling onto the club he cradled in his arms. He sighed, long and tired and his eyes drooped again as he held his club tighter against himself and… and… and that Pidgey just can’t find it’s head, can it?

“Fiiiiine! I’m up, I’m up.”

His neck lolled to the side and eyes cracked open again, and he was greeted with the welcoming sight of his own home.

Not that it changed that much since last night. All he really managed to do before dark was find a nice, soft bush and pillage it for its branches before knocking out small holes on opposite sides of the house to get some sort of air flow going. But it was his home. His home.

He teetered as he stood up, shaking off the leaves and grasses that stuck to him.

Yesterday’s dinner was one of Butterfree’s berries—a large pecha, if he was right. Today’s breakfast will be the other one in the bag. Save the sole oran for when he needed it, and he wasn’t entirely sure on what the fourth was. Then again, with that Pidgey he might need that oran after all.

Time. What time was it? Early. Probably. He could feel the faint draft against the stale air of the house and it smelt of morning dew. Very early then.

Exactly when was Sobek supposed to get here again? …maybe more noon-ish? That’s probably enough time to widen the western window, then the sunset could shine directly into the house and he wouldn’t have to stand outside to feel it. He could work on the eastern window while bathing in the sunset. Maybe even enough time to figure out where a few of the cracks in the roof were. Had to fix those before it rained. With all the excess adobe mud he’s breaking off, he could repurpose that into sealing the leaks. …at least he thought it would work.

It does rain here, right?

Why wouldn’t it rain? There are clouds right? Get a big enough cloud and it rains. That’s how it works.

…right?

Window. Roof. Sobek. Yeah, there should be enough time for that.

Holding the berry in his mouth, he pushed aside the dirt he had shoved in front of the entry and wiggled through. The air was crisp and clean, invigorating after being inside. The morning mist had settled and the dew sparkled in the sun as it poked over and through the tree tops.

Taking the berry in one hand and club in another, he stretched, wincing as his back cracked a little, flinching as his tail did a lot.

“Right. Bed is too much rock, not enough leaves. Noted,” He winced again as he realized how sore he was. His tail especially, after waking up sleeping on it. “Still, wasn’t as bad as I thought it was gonna be. …maybe some of the tall grass would work better….” He glanced at the closest patch on the other side of his fence, whining slightly. “I’ll wait for Sobek on that one. …it might be dangerous to wander into tall grass on my own….”

In the meantime, pecha berry. Not like an oran berry—it has a pit in the middle, found that out the hard way last night. Split it down the middle, pull out the pit, enjoy.

Shaking out his legs, he tossed the pit away and bit into the flesh of the berry.

“Nnngh….”

David spun, hopping away, club pulled back to strike aaaaaand he scowled. “Sobek. …Sobek? Are… you asleep?”

He cautiously approached the little crocodile. Sobek sat against the house, eyes closes, tail curled around him, far enough to the right of the entry for David to miss him coming out. Aside from his nose twitching, probably where the pit hit him, he was completely still. He was holding a cloth rutsack in his arms, something new from yesterday.

“And… you’re completely zonked out,” David rolled his eyes before taking another bite of the berry. He glanced at the cloudless sky, admiring the deep blue. “Maybe it’s later than I thought…?” He shrugged, rolling his neck. “Eh, whatever. He let me sleep when he got here, I guess I can let him snooze. Not like I’m going any…” A large shadow flitted over the grass in front of him, arcing back around the house, then over again. “…where….?”

It took him a moment to look up to see a Pelipper circling around above, gliding down and down, ultimately landing on the ground just outside the fence, looking through the gate at David with a blank expression in its eyes.

David blinked, rooted still.

…was it a wild? It was rather far inland for a wild seabird. Then again, he wouldn’t know where the sea was so that doesn’t really mean anything. Then again, it had a pack on its side. Slim chance a wild would have one of those.

…was this its roost? Doubtful. Unless it nests on the roof of the place. But that would have trampled that flower up there, so that wasn’t it.

…did it own actually own this land…?

Its beak went to the pack on its side and, after some fishing inside, pulled out an envelope and looked back to David. It didn’t move, eyes still hallow.

“…it’s a mailman?” David said quietly in realization. “Not exactly a messenger Taillow, are you?” It stood there, looking at him, unmoving. “Oh. Right.” He shook himself and ran down the path. The bird’s eyes were indifferent, but studied him as it lowered the envelope into David’s hand.

David quickly looked it over—maybe papyrus than actual paper, but it was an envelope, the flap sealed with a bit of tree sap. …a… blank envelope? Back up to the Pelipper, “This can’t be for me. …is it?”

The albatross turned, taking a few steps and opening its wings.

“Hey-hey-hey-hey!” David bolted forward, ducking under the wings and cut it off, “At least tell me who sent it!”

The Pelipper’s eyes glanced away and slowed. Expressionless, it turned to look back at the house. “Do you not know anything of that place?”

David glanced at the house before giving the bird an incredulous look. He planted the point of his club into the ground and leaned on it slightly.

“That depends,” he nonchalantly started. “Just from looking around, it was important at one time. Not anymore, but not too long ago. There’s nothing wrong with the house, seems structurally sound, probably wasn’t abandoned due to that. Any damage it has is just weather damage from lack of upkeep. Ground’s a bit gravely so it clearly wasn’t a farm.”

…are farms a thing here?

David shook his head at himself. “I’ve been told that only the wilds use these roads, but I found cart tracks down the other branch last night.” David glanced to the bird, half-smirking at the odd look it was giving him. “My guess it was someone outside the town, since everyone there seems to avoid this place.”

The Pelipper looked away. “Most have chosen forgotten about it.”

“You landed on the road, not on the fence; so you clearly haven’t. That says something.” David mused, giving the mailman a few seconds to meet his eye. “Well?”

“You’re… very observant.” The mailbird bluntly took off, circling upwards slightly before disappearing over the trees, back towards the town. David’s face fell as he watched it, half glaring, half scowling.

“What does that even mean?! What have you gotten me into, Sobek?” he growled, rolling his shoulders as he headed back to the house. He shoved the last bite of the berry half into his maw to silence his own grumblings before tearing open the envelope. The letter was not folded correctly to fit inside the envelope easily. David had to unfold it twice when it should have only been a—

“Wut?” He blinked, then lifted up his helmet, eyes narrowing at the lines. He spat out his berry.

“What?” He blinked, then rubbed his eyes before studying the letter closely. “…what. Sobek! Sobek! Sobek, wake up! Wake! Up!”

Red eyes bleared awake. “Swha…?”

David shoved the letter in front of them. “Read.”

“Huh...?”

“Mail-Pelliper just dropped this off a minute ago.”

That got him awake. “To here? To who?”

“I’m guessing the bright blue blob against the dark brown blob; from the air you probably stick out like a sore thumb. Read!”

“Okay! Okay!” Sobek scowled, rubbing his eyes before looking at the paper. “….okay…. ‘We heard about you from the Duchess and how you aided her. Ergo, in her name and with her word, we enlist your help. A wave of energy pulsed through our dungeon, fusing two of our brethren together, but it is incomplete, not enough to form Magneton. We employ your aid at Thunderwave Cave. Your discretion is appreciated on the matter.’”

“Read the first line again.”

“‘We heard about you from the Du—’”

“The one before that! Did they really spell out ‘BZZZZZKRGZ’?!” He held up the other half of his breakfast. “Or is this thing fermented?”

“It’s the Magnemite ‘hello’,” Sobek said matter-of-factly, eyes skimming over the letter again. “There’s one at the end as—hoooooold on. You can read this? You can read footprint runes?!”

David rolled his eyes at Sobek’s shock. “I was surprised too. Amnesia didn’t take that away either.”

Sobek slowly frowned, looking back down to the paper. “…have you ever heard of… nevermind.”

“Next thing I was going to ask you,” David sighed, stifling a laugh. His face fell serious and he sat down across from Sobek. “So, uh, the insane Butterfree yesterday is a Duchess? What.”

Sobek frowned faster. “Um. What’s a Duchess?”

“It’s—” David half-spoke, then swallowed his words. Frowning, he looked away to muse, speaking wordlessly to himself as he drew lines through the air. After a minute, “I hear the word, and I think… Kings, Nobles, Knights, Castles. Counts. Dracula. With me?”

“Oh, oh! I get it, I get it!”

David sighed with a satisfied smile, then his face crashed with an epiphany. “Wait. Why is the amnesiac explaining something?”

“You have line-of-sight memory.”

“Line-of-sight?”

“You see something, you hear something, you remember something. But not before,” Sobek shrugged. “Thought I’d let you give it a try.” He shook his head. “Besides, I’ve only been in this part of the world for a month or so.”

“Nothing in town about a Duchess?”

“I, uh,” Sobek glanced away. “I avoid the Square. It has…. There’s something… I’m not much of a towns-Pokémon.” He shook his head and looked back to David. “So a Duchess is someone important?”

“Okay, let me try it this way. We rescued a Duchette yesterday… Dukette… those aren’t words—a prince basically. The son of a ruling family… royalty…?” David nodded to himself, “Royalty.”

The two blinked as a sudden looming sense of dread came over them. Sobek paling for a moment, David, a little longer.

“Uh, David?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“So… someone that important would have people serving them, right? I mean, they’re like a leader of… of… of a Guild. Or a, um, member of the council of a Guild….”

David frowned slightly. “What’s a Guild?”

“Guilds are—uh,” He cleared his throat and picked up on a renewed tempo, “They oversee large groups of Rescue Teams. Rescue Teams basically do what we did yesterday and they report to a Guild for jobs and so on. David. Anyway! What concerns me is, ‘We heard about you from the Duchess and how you aided her. Ergo, in her name and by her word, we enlist your help.’” He looked up, seething, “That is… not a request.”

David choked, his face going white again. “Woah! Woah-no-no-no-no! I’m not—we are not a Rescue Team!” he scooted away. “All I want to do is—all I want is-is to fix up this house, regain my memory, and live a nice, happy, boring life. Okay? That’s my goal. No more zombie Sunkerns. No more dive-bombing Pidgey. No more Mystery Dungeons!”

“But she thought we were a team, David!” Sobek sighed, looking back to the letter. “And she’s referred us to someone—”

“I don’t care!” David shouted, leaping up, “That thing said ‘dungeon.’ I’m not going into one of those again! Not now! Not ever!” David stormed off.

Sobek shook his head, eyes darting over the letter over and over again. “I don’t think we have a choice in the matter.”

“What!?!” David roared, spinning his heel. “What do you mean ‘we don’t have a choice?! We have a choice! We’re not a Team—we can say ‘no!’ I’m not going into another—wait, no!” he snapped his claws and pointed at the envelope. “There’s no address on it—even if I am from this area, there is no way for them to deliver stuff to me out here because they don’t know I’m here! That’s not for me! That’s not for us! And even if it is, it’s for you!”

“David, if it came here, it’s for us—let me explain!” Sobek sighed, rubbing his eyes as he stood up himself. “I had to go to the post office to register that dungeon we found yesterday. …I might have mentioned you were staying here—” David slammed his club to the ground. He pacing away, fuming. Sobek sighed again, but nodded in understanding. “I didn’t think that something like this would come in, David!”

David bit his lip and paced back. He snatched up his club and drummed his claws against the bone—he tossed it down again, throwing up his hands. “DAAH!” He huffed, shaking his head, eyes exasperated. “Not…! Not your fault. Not mad at you. Trying not to, at least. Okay? Okay.” He snorted and scowled to the sky, “I lost my memory, had some sort of mental breakdown, was threatened by a Butterfree, dragged through a dungeon where I almost got killed by Sunkern, and had a rough night sleeping. Nowhere along the way did I say: Hey! I wanna do it again!” He sighed, hanging his head. “I am not going.”

“David—”

“No! Seriously!” His eyes snapped to Sobek’s. “There’s nothing on the envelope—nothing to say that this was really for us. Also, side note, what’s royalty doing in the middle of the woods without some sort of guard?”

“It is just Tiny Woods.”

“Not a guard for the wilds, Sobek!” David groaned, “A guard for whatever enemies a Duchess might have. And don’t ask me who’d that be—I have no idea.”

Sobek tilted his head, eyes narrowing in thought. “That... is a good point.” He shook his head and hopped up. “You really don’t want to go—”

“No!” David scoffed. “Listen, you just said that there are other rescue teams, yeah? Just pass it off to them and let them get them—wait, where are you going?!”

Sobek turned. “Thunderwave Cave.”

“I figured!”

“You can stay, David.” Sobek turned and headed back down the road.

David threw his hands up. “I know I’m staying, why are you going?!”

Sobek sighed harshly and faced the Cubone again. “Listen. David. I’m trying to give you some slack after everything yesterday. I really am. You’re right. You didn’t deserve to go through all of that and the timing of this is terrible.”

Sobek held up the letter, voice growing stern, “But this is a directed rescue request. It came to us, and only us. Even if by accident…” He bit his lip. “David, you just said so yourself; Butterfree’s royalty—or at least we think so. This is basically a royal order then. So… I’m going to Thunderwave Cave.” He scoffed. “Shouldn’t be that hard.”

“Can’t help but notice the word ‘Thunder’ is in the name,” David butted in, voice flat. “You’re a water-type.”

“Well, you’re ground-type, maybe you should come then?”

“I am not going. What I still don’t understand is why you are.”

Sobek scowled. “Because I’m pretty sure not doing it means bad news for us, and if we pass it off….” He shook his head. “There are issues with that. The main one? We are not a Rescue Team. So what, exactly, are we doing with a Job Letter?”

“That’s not our fault. I’m telling you, there’s not even an address on the thing; we can just say it came to the wrong place!”

Sobek groaned, putting his face in his hands. “That’s not how it works, David! That’s not how the post system works! Look, I’m sorry I dragged you into this, okay? When I get back, I’ll go and sort out this mess.”

“Go sort it out now, then!”

“David.” Sobek frowned as his eyes narrowed into a fuming glare. “Do you know how long it would take me to explain what’s going on? Two days! Literally two days—and that’s if I’m lucky! In the meantime, there are two Magnemite in the middle of a dungeon, stuck together, one ‘mite short of being a ‘ton. Meaning they can’t even move. Remember yesterday when I said Caterpie believed the dungeon’s walls would eat him?”

Sobek glared, foot tapping. David jumped for an answer. “Uh—you said it wasn’t the walls?”

“Yes—no. I said that?” The Totodile frowned, glancing away. “...I did say that—it’s not just the walls. It’s the entire dungeon.”

“Umm?”

Sobek huffed. “Alright. Fine! Here we go again! Lesson time. Spend too long in a dungeon, and a few things happen. First, you starve to death, no surprise. But you go hungry far faster in a dungeon than normally. Magnemite don’t need much food… I’m… not actually sure what they eat, but—”

“They don’t, they recharge by resting against natural magnets. They literally run off magnetism, and they evolve when three gain enough of a charge that they can’t handle themselves. Between the three of them, they create a magnetic sink that they orbit around and are linked through.” David flinched. “…woah.”

Sobek blinked and took a not-so-subtle step away. “…sure?” He recomposed himself, shaking his head. “But see? Line-of-sight, David. A-anyway. Then the walls start moving. At first it’s out of the corner of your eye, then the room you’re in starts shrinking. You gotta keep moving, otherwise you get trapped. Survive that long? The air itself starts moving and there’s a galestorm and there’s no avoiding that other than leaving the area of a dungeon entirely.

“Get caught by either of them and, if you’re really lucky, you get tossed out of the dungeon. If you’re not, you get stranded in there. You wake up, trapped in the dungeon, with no supplies. Maybe you find the exit, you most probably won’t. That’s where Rescue Teams go in. But if you don’t get rescued… if you’re lucky, you die. If not, you lose your mind and become something just above a wild Pokemon. An irrational.

“David,” Sobek said carefully, eyes narrowing. “Getting help, getting an actual Team to do this would be a waste of time, for us and what little time the Magnemite have left. And… with whatever you said, if three are needed to stabilize a Magneton, what’s going to happen to just two? Nothing good. I am going to Thunderwave Cave to save some lives; you can work on your house. I’ll see you later.” He turned and marched down the path.

“And what if you get killed in there? What then?”

“David!” Sobek snapped over his shoulder. “It’s a rescue operation—risk is part of the deal! We might not be a Rescue Team, but we’re the only ones who can get there in time because there’s just so much stupid stuff we would need to do to pass it off. They need help, and I’m not going to just sit and let Pokémon die when I can do something about it.”

He huffed, taking several calming breathes as he waited for David to move. The Cubone stood still, eyes slowly clouding over before he snapped to and glanced away.

“Alright then,” Sobek said finally. “I’ll–.”

“Wait,” David sighed. Sobek glanced over his shoulder to see the Cubone walking back to the house. “…let me get the berry satchel.”

Sobek hid a relived sigh, “You’re coming?”

“Just this once,” David insisted before he squeezed into the house. “Then we sort the mess out with Butterfree. Then no more dungeons.”

“I vote for this plan,” Sobek scoffed, grinning as David popped back outside with the small satchel. He opened his rutsack for David to drop the satchel in, then shouldered it again. He met David’s eyes; the terror from yesterday was gone, now replaced with smoldering frustration. “Ready?”

David rolled his shoulders, claws drumming on his club again, taking a minute to steel himself.

“No. Let’s go.”