Seeing is believing

As Rachel led them through the town, Mark’s mind was racing. He could only imagine what the hell all of this meant. The suspicious looks from the town residents around them didn’t help.

Simon, on the other hand, looked ready to put up a fight with whoever got in the way. He guessed that’s how much the Squirtle wanted to protect him.

Eventually, they got to the border of the town, entering the forest closeby. “Isn’t this just the way to Poison Garden?”

But instead of saying anything, Rachel stopped in her tracks, using a claw to knock on some of the nearby trees. In one of them, the knock made a different sound, which prompted the Excadrill to kick it and reveal a lid on the tree’s trunk. Just as she mentioned earlier, it was a tunnel.

The mere fact that this existed already dissipated most of the doubts Mark had in following her. She wasn’t lying. Or at least, she wasn’t lying about Apollo’s Sanctum specifically.

Seeing the two humans stare in a mix of both awe and confusion, Rachel turned around. “Are we going to do this or do you prefer just staying there looking like idiots?”

Mark wanted to retort, but he stayed quiet, deciding to simply do what she says for the time being. 

As the three of them went down the stairs, it didn’t take long for the walls around them to shift and move on their own. And soon enough, they found themselves in that maze-like layout they were so accustomed to.

It was a cave, just like Angel’s Window, but different. It felt more… mystical, if that was even a proper way to describe it. It was dark, but the rock ceiling wasn’t perfect, leaving gaps where sunlight somehow shone through. It left the scenery with a strange vibe, where even though things were humid and claustrophobic, the beams of light created an atmosphere of serenity.

“I can’t believe I didn’t know this place existed.” Simon said, clearly as wonderstruck by the dungeon as he was. “How did you even come across this?”

“It’s a long story. But the short version is that the first time I went into your town, I was wounded. I leaned on a completely random tree and had the incredible luck of discovering the stairs. Of course, the fall down wasn’t as pleasant.”

“Wait, rewind for a second. What do you mean by ‘the first time’? You’ve been in town before?”

As ominous as always, Rachel didn’t answer Simon’s questions.

The dungeon itself was luckily very simple. Any feral that they encountered was dealt with in a couple of seconds by Rachel. Simon tried to attack one with a beam of water but the Excadrill pushed the feral out of the way with an attack of her own.

“Hey! I had that one!”

“Maybe you should have it faster next time.”

To say that Simon was upset was an understatement. Even with all the answers this trip could reveal, Rachel’s cocky attitude didn’t vanish. If anything, it was made worse by the fact that she kept the serious and unfriendly tone she had been using, like she was a professional that looked down on them.

Mark noticed, putting a paw on his shoulder. They shared glances for a second before he felt the Squirtle relax a bit. “Let’s get this over with…” He muttered.

The stairs down made themselves noticeable after just a while. For a dungeon that only had two floors, it was huge. Compared to the other three dungeons Mark had been to, this one had the biggest layouts by a big margin. It was already difficult to orient oneself in these labyrinths, having one double or triple the size didn’t help.

At least Rachel seemed to know what she was doing.

The second set of stairs were eventually found, even if it looked like they had explored the entirety of the floor before stumbling into them. What Mark wasn’t expecting was for a third floor to be there, with the same confusing layout.

“Hey, you said that there were only two floors!”

“And I was right. This isn’t the Mystery Dungeon anymore.”

“What?” He looked around. It was true that the halls were different here. They didn’t follow the same grid-like pattern he was used to, but rather, these were curved, and they all started on the same spot they descended to. “This floor… It was built like this…”

“Mhm. Welcome to Apollo’s Sanctum.” She started walking into one of the halls. “At first it was only one hallway into a single room. But since I had to stay here, I dug all the other rooms myself. That’s the good part about being an Excadrill.”

As they followed, Mark kept thinking that something huge was about to happen. It was that nagging feeling that told him that there was no going back after this. He didn’t know if it was his paranoia again, or if it was related to that voice he heard when he snapped against Zigg. All he knew is that he was nervous.

When they got to the room the hall led to, it was not what any of them expected.

A large room, larger probably than the training area back in the guild. But the weird thing about it were the walls. They had markings on them, numbers to be specific. Most of them were ones, but there were some twos from time to time. Mark spotted a single three in the midst of it all.

“W-what is this?”

“This, is what I’ve lived through.” She said, motioning to the entire room. “And by extension, what you have lived through, Mark. Even if you don’t remember it.”

“H-huh?”

“Mark, let me ask you a simple question. Did you know me before we actually met?”

“N-no?” He thought back to those feelings of familiarity he had regarding her. “I mean, I thought you were familiar, but…”

“The thing is, we’ve already lived through this, Mark. Multiple times, in fact.” She motioned to the walls again. “Every number you see right here, has been marked by me. Every single one of them represents a timeline I’ve experienced.”

If there was a word that could describe what Mark was feeling right now, it was confusion. And with a glance at his teammate, it was obvious Simon was the same way.

She then motioned to the pile of papers and books that lay in the middle of the room. “I’ve been documenting all of those timelines myself. And there’s always a constant in all of them.” She turned around to face Mark. “All of them reset when you die.”

“W-what?! B-but I’d remember if I had died! In fact, I don’t remember anything about any timelines!”

“That’s the thing. Some Pokémon remember, but not you.”

He got a random paper from the center and started reading it.

Cycle 2,354

Nothing interesting this time. Probably didn’t get past Phase 1. I couldn’t even get a chance to enter the guild. Oh well. Next time.

Cycle 2,355

Got past Phase 1 for once, it has been 12 iterations in a row without getting this far. I’ve met Mark, even though in this cycle, he has evolved. Simon didn’t, so I’m not sure what to make of this information.

At that point he threw the paper to the ground in frustration. “You really think I’m stupid?!” He was angry now. “You’ve been stalking us all this time, and now you pull this bullshit about timelines?!”

“Why would I make up something like this? What do I win by lying to you?”

“That’s something that I don’t care about. I’m gonna ask you one question and you better answer honestly.” Mark gulped, he had this thought ever since this morning, it was now or never. “Do you know Zigg?”

“Zigg? That name doesn’t sound familiar, no. I would have known if I met an Abomasnow, anyways.”

Simon gasped, and Mark could tell why. “I never told you anything about his species.” He was balling his paws into fists again. “You are associated with him. You’re trying to confuse us. You’re trying to get rid of us like every other maniac out there.”

“I wasn’t lying. I don’t know Zigg. In this timeline, anyway.”

“SHUT UP!” Mark yelled, scaring even Simon. “This is just another plan of yours, isn’t it? Well I’m not having it, dammit!”

It was at that moment that he started to feel that energy again. The same one he felt back when he was about to die. And just like last time, he had no problem channeling it. He knew what this energy meant this time, and he wasn’t going to waste it.

At the sight of the Cubone panting, Rachel stepped back. “Mark, I need you to listen to reason. But if you won’t, I’m not going to hesitate to kill you and start again. I’ve done this thirteen thousand times, I can do it once more.”

Rachel performed a move. He didn’t know what it was, but it didn’t hurt him, so he didn’t care. He rushed towards her, ready to attack.

“Mark, wait! That’s Endure! You’re going to get countered!” Simon shouted, running to stop him, but too slow to catch up.

He tuned out the words, he couldn’t care less about anything other than hurting this mole that tried to break his sanity.

Mark was close to her, ready to do his move, all while his vision was covered in a metaphorical fire he had to release.

…and such is the end of his story…