Efficiency

After a pretty normal morning, here they were, the forest behind Angel’s Peak. They just needed to get to the center.

“So why exactly do we know so little about this place?”

“Mostly because it’s pretty far from any town.” Simon answered.

“Not only that, it’s usually filled to the brim with ferals, and dangerous ones at that.” Rachel looked around. “Which is why I’m finding this so weird, why are we alone here?”

It was true, it didn’t matter where Mark looked, not a single feral was in sight. They had encountered a couple on the way here that were easy to avoid, but nothing so far in the woods. “Should we be worried?”

“I’m not complaining about having a free path to the center, but this is definitely not normal. Keep your eyes open, I’m not trusting this.”

And that’s what they did. As they got deeper into the forest, the silence started being more and more oppressive. It was too strange to not have any opposition, it was being too easy.

But nothing. No ferals, no fights, not a single reason to stop their trek.

Eventually, they found the fortress. Gren called it a castle, but it was more like a single, wider than usual tower.

“Since it’s already been a while, let’s take a quick break here, and then… Then it’s time.”

Rachel nodded at Mark’s words, getting her backpack off to distribute the food rations. They were still wary of possible encounters, but the only thing they could hear was the rustling of the leaves against the breeze.

“So this is it, huh?” Simon said. He kept looking up to the top of the tower. He was nervous. “Did Gren ever tell us how many floors this is supposed to have?”

“I don’t think so, no. We have a lot of items, though. We should be fine even if it’s like twenty.”

Mark shuffled a bit. “I’m sorry for not being able to help you in fights.”

“Hey, no need to feel bad now.” Rachel responded. “You’re not choosing to not be able to use moves consistently, it’s only fair we adapt to it. And besides, don’t worry, between Simon and I, we’ll make quick work of any feral we come across.”

“Yeah! What she said! Actually, I don’t know what kind of Pokémon we’re gonna find in there, but the point still stands.”

Mark could only smirk at their confidence. He was still going to manage items like always, so at the very least he’d be of help.

Rachel clapped her claws after finishing her food. “Okay. Are we ready to do this?” The look of determination the other two had was already enough to answer her. “Alright then, let’s go.” And so they entered the tower.

To say it was old was an understatement. The place was full of dust and spiderwebs (or the Pokémon version of them, Mark guessed). It was nothing like any architecture they had seen so far, with stone bricks that were thicker than their heads. But it also didn’t look much like a fortress, more like some sort of sanctuary.

They quickly found stairs going up, which they didn’t hesitate in taking, but something was different. The stairs didn’t vanish like in any other dungeon, and there were no ferals anywhere either.

“This isn’t a dungeon.” Mark spoke.

“You see it too, right?”

“Are we in the wrong place?”

Without getting an answer, they continued upwards. Sure enough, they soon got to the top of the tower. It didn’t matter how much they inspected the room, not a single clue to where they were supposed to go.

“Wait. This is supposed to be a fortress.” Simon thought out loud. “Maybe it has a dungeon or something? Like, underground? A normal dungeon, I mean, not a Mystery one.”

They didn’t have anything to lose by trying, so they went down again. There didn’t seem to be any way to go down, until Rachel tripped on what looked like a steel trapdoor. It blended perfectly with the rocky floor, but it was there. She opened it, only to reveal a ladder you couldn’t see the bottom of.

“I’ll go first.” Rachel said. “Make sure to close to trapdoor, we don’t want any ferals wandering around and getting down here.”

“You got it.”

The Excadrill started climbing down the ladder, and it didn’t take long for her silhouette to fade away into the darkness. It happened just a bit too quickly for it to seem natural, and that was exactly what the other two needed to see to confirm that the Mystery Dungeon was indeed down there.

Mark took a deep breath. He was having that same feeling again, that thought that he was getting close to something. It happened every time he was at risk of death. Was this going to be the end of Phase 3? Would he need another miracle to survive this?

Simon put a paw on his shoulder. No words were said, they just had to look at each other for a moment to know that all the fears they were having would never stop if they didn’t go forwards. Mark nodded, and went down the ladder.

It was too dark to see anything for a while, but eventually, a dim light appeared on the bottom. Rachel was there, looking up the ladder, waiting for the other two. As he landed and waited for Simon to get down, he looked around.

It definitely looked like a traditional dungeon, one of those where you would imprison people, complete with lit candles on the walls that barely illuminated the path forward. What was most surprising were the cells themselves, the bars locking them weren’t similar at all like what Mark was expecting. They were in the shape of a grid, instead of just vertical, and they were made of a material he couldn’t identify. It looked like metal, but getting closer, it had the same crystalline patterns you would find in a diamond or a gem.

“Whoa…” Simon landed and took in the scenery. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s… eerily similar to what you’d find in the human world. Or at least, that’s what my gut feeling is telling me.”

“Except these. What are these bars made of? I don’t remember seeing anything similar to this in town.”

Rachel inspected them. “Honestly, I’m as clueless as you are. Never seen this kind of material in my life, not even in past iterations.”

Whatever the case, the group started walking. There was finally some obstacles in their way, in the form of ferals. Mark couldn’t tell the typing relating to all of the different species until Simon told him that they were all supposed to be Fairy-type. Not what Mark had in mind when he got the type explained to him so long ago, but sure.

The fighting was on point. Mark was as sharp and fast as he possibly could when tossing items, sometimes without needing the other two to ask. Simon and Rachel attacked almost in sync, displaying what looked like an improvised choreography and showing their amazing teamwork. Rachel said that these ferals were tougher than usual, but Mark didn’t fully believe her considering how quickly they were getting through them.

“You two work great together, you know?”

Simon laughed. “Turns out that when you know someone better and have the same goal, it’s not that hard to agree on what to do. Isn’t that right, Rachel?”

“You said it, ngh…” She gave the final scratch to the closeby Ralts. “You aren’t half bad yourself, buddy.”

“Awww, look at her, giving her first compliment.”

“And the last if you keep being an asshole.” Rachel complained, but both of them could see the playful smirk on her face. “Anyways, what floor is this, again?”

“The eleventh. We gotta be close, right?”

Twenty. That’s how many floors this dungeon had. By the time they got to the end, their bags were half empty. They were prepared for a lot, at least.

Now, they were in a hallway. The only thing at the other end of it was a door decorated with a complex archway around it. There hadn’t been any vegetation in the entirety of the dungeon, yet the archway had vines coiled up around it, and they seemed pretty much not rotten. Either they were magical, or the dungeon messed things up.

The door itself was also more akin to one from a temple. Made out of stone with engravings that neither of the three could recognize or decipher.

Mark grabbed the handle of the door, but hesitated to open it.

“What’s wrong?”

“You know that feeling when you think that after you do something, there’s no going back? That’s what I’m having right now. I felt the same way during the fight with Zigg, and when I went down with you to Apollo’s Sanctum.”

“You don’t mean…”

“I do. I think this encounter will be the end of Phase 3. I just… I just hope I survive it.”

Simon held Mark’s free paw. “We’re here for you. Whatever happens, we’re together.”

Mark smiled, even in the face of extreme danger, here was Simon, not backing down. Releasing the breath he was holding, he pushed the door.

The room was cold, not exaggeratedly so, but the temperature change was obvious. There were sounds of water flowing coming from small waterfalls on the sides of the room, the walls were ornately decorated transitioning seamlessly from the stone bricks of the fortress. The end of the dungeon was like a sacred place. A sacred place to the giant beast that was on the other side.

Dialga. They were bigger than Mark could even imagine, their presence alone made him awestruck, no wonder they were called Legendaries.

They were sitting down, similar to how a cat or a dog would lay on the floor. They were looking away from them, but it seemed like they already knew the team was there.

“Ah, Simon. I imagined you’d get here sooner or later.” They stood up, turning to face them. “And with partners, no le-” There was a sudden stop to their talking, and it was all due to seeing Mark. Dialga tried to cough it up and make it seem like nothing happened, but he noticed already. “What brings you here?”

The Legendary’s voice was loud, but in a weird way. There was no echo or reverb even with such a wide space, it was like their voice didn’t go through the air, but rather, it went straight into his ears.

“You know why I’m here, Dialga.” Simon stepped forward. “I just want a reason. A reason for… for everything. Why am I here? Why are you connected? Why didn’t you say anything in my first dream? And most importantly, why did we never communicate again?”

His voice was shaky, he was nervous, but the want for answers was stronger than his fear. Dialga took a bit to respond, the hesitation didn’t make things easier.

“After the last human, Emmeline, parted, we decided as a collective to try and bridge the human world with ours. We all saw great potential in cooperation. You, Simon, were the first step of that goal.”

“Why erase my memories too?”

“The process to transport a human to this world and give it the shape and form of one of us isn’t easy. Truth be told, the memory loss was a mistake on our part. The plan was to restore your memories during our first meeting. Alas, that wasn’t possible.”

“Why not?! Why am I stuck here?!” He was desperate. His voice was breaking, and his paws were starting to shake. The only thing Mark could do was be next to Simon and give his support.

“Do not speak ill of us. It wasn’t our decision. The one above us saw fit that us Pokémon do not share our land with other species. So, my communication line with you got cut.”

“The one above…?” Simon let out. “You don’t mean-”

“Arceus.” Rachel cut in. “Arceus is the only one to be above others.”

“As you may imagine, I am powerless to fight against their word.”

“And what about me?” Mark stepped forward. “You hesitated when you saw me. You know who I am. Who sent me here?”

“Ah, Mark. The one at the center of it all. I am aware of you, as well as your experiences with iterations. I am afraid I cannot explain to you who is responsible for your stay in this world. And that is because nobody is.”

“W-what…? What do you mean…?”

“It is not my duty to explain. What is my duty, however, is to cleanse myself from my mistakes.” Dialga started charging… something. Mark didn’t know what it was, but he knew that it was bad.

He pushed Simon to the side and tackled Rachel to the other, throwing all three of them to the ground just in time for a beam of energy to go through the spot they were occupying.

“I am sorry. I did not wish for your demise to be like this, but I am unable to take any more risks.”

Dialga charged again, and this time, they pointed to a specific target. Simon was still laying on the ground, the shock of it all confusing him and not letting him get back up.

No. It couldn’t end like that. After all the work they had done to get through everything, he was not losing Simon this way.

Without even thinking, he stood up and started running towards Simon. He needed to protect him, somehow, it didn’t matter the way, he just needed him to survive.

“MARK! NO!” Rachel screamed, but he didn’t listen.

Simon managed to look him in the eyes, and all the Squirtle’s expression said was fear. Mark jumped in front of him, just in time for a familiar energy beam to be launched towards them…

…and such is the end of his story…