Ch 30 – Can’t Stop

Blizz absent-mindedly shot a Leafage at a nearby Boldore as it slowly made its way towards the group of explorers. “So this is gonna be like, one of those hundred floor dungeons, right?”

“Well, we’re on floor 47,” Kibo reported. “…If that’s true, we ain’t even halfway yet.”

“We’ve been in here for a while now,” Rune commented after finishing off the Boldore with an Aurora Beam. “I don’t know how much longer I can go on.”

“But like, dungeon will kick us out if we spend too long on a floor,” Blizz responded. “Plus camping out in a mystery dungeon sounds like hell.”

“We’re all slowing down though,” Kibo argued. “Even Zar’s attacks are weaker than when we first met up with you guys.”

“Trust me, I’m fine!” Zar assured as she sent an Aura Sphere flying down the hallway they were walking through. The other explorers couldn’t see who she was targeting, but a satisfying clunk informed them that it did hit something.

“That Aura Sphere was smaller than the last one,” Rune pointed out.

“Let’s keep going to floor 50,” Blizz proposed. “There might be a rest place or something. Or if there isn’t we can figure out a plan then.”

Rune was not particularly comforted by this, but an incoming Archen forced her to shift her focus to another Aurora Beam.

As the group traversed through three more floors of rock types, they managed to make their way to the staircase, where they took nervous steps deeper into the dungeon. Unfortunately, it did not appear that there would be any rest for them. The next level was covered in dirt and stone, making it pretty obvious that they were at the Ground type set of floors.

As if to confirm their suspicions that this would be a poor place to take a break, a Hippopotas emerged from the ground. Blizz quickly took it down with an Energy Ball, but that did very little to solve the problem of them being exhausted.

“So this isn’t a rest floor.” Rune studied the unconscious Hippopotas, before turning back to Blizz. “What are we gonna do?”

“…Guess we’ll have to take shifts,” Blizz offered. “Once we get to the staircase on this floor, you two take a rest. Zar and I will cover you and drag you downstairs as soon as the wind starts picking up.”

“Do we know how long it takes for the wind to kick up here?” Kibo asked.

Blizz shook his head. “No clue. If it’s like other dungeons you guys will get half an hour on the lower side. Twice that if Zar or I can find the next staircase while you guys are out.”

“…Is this really worth it?” Rune asked. “This is exhausting, Zar doesn’t have her memories, and we’ve been in here for at least a day now. And we have no idea how much further to go.”

Blizz looked at Zar, then back to Rune. “Apparently Zar’s been trying to get to this place for 50 years, at least. Not really sure what the deal is, but it’s gotta be sorta important to her, right?”

Zar shrugged. “If I remember anything I’ll tell you guys.”

Kibo looked contemplative, before springing up. “Remember what Golisopod said about people who quit? Well, more like what he said about amnesiacs.” He noticed Blizz’s confused stare, and elaborated. “When Golisopod was leading us here, he said most amnesiacs on Cascia are people who quit their trial. So if we turned back now or used an Escape Orb…”

“But aren’t we not affected by the amnesia stuff?” Rune asked. “If the three of us are fine but Zar’s not, I don’t think whatever causes this can affect us.”

“We’d still be screwing over Zar though,” Blizz pointed out. “No way in hell we’ll figure out she’s human if she gets amnesia.”

Rune sighed. “…Alright, I guess we’re staying here.”

Blizz smirked, leading the way through the floor. “Hell yeah. We’ll look for a place to let you guys rest on the next floor.”

The Prince had left the clearing an hour or so ago, wanting a break from dealing with the others. Between the information Mewtwo told him and Golisopod’s incredibly grating accent, he really needed some alone time. And while this vacation was supposed to have been entirely alone time, he should’ve anticipated that he’d need to go bail out his teammates.

He was dead. Or as a human, was dead.

Try as hard as he might, the fact kept beating its way to the front of his mind long after he wanted to stop pondering it.

A part of him wished to ask Blizz or Kibo how they coped with their deaths, given that they actually remember having perished. Though even if they were capable of giving him an insightful answer, which he strongly doubted, the circumstances must have been wildly different.

…In some absurd way, this made sense. If, for whatever reason, the legendary Pokémon have decided that only humans can resolve the crises that plague this world, reviving them from the dead would be an effective motivator— it certainly forced him to reconsider his hatred towards Mewtwo. That is to say nothing of the fact that once they have finished addressing the crisis, they will return home.

Something about that train of thought was making the Prince inexplicably sad, so he attempted to focus on other parts of Mewtwo’s explanation.

Supposedly Calyrex knows of the crisis, and claims that it is not yet over. There were only so many ways that could be true, so the Prince went over all the possible reasons.

The first option is that the crisis will not be considered “over” until they have found a way to reverse the husk effect. If this is the case, it severely limits what he or the other humans are capable of doing— none of them have any experience in psychic magic that manipulates one’s mental state. They would be reliant on individuals like Scizor to tell them what to do.

The second option is that there is more to it than just Hydreigon. It would make sense that he might have a collaborator, or be a collaborator himself. The former guildmaster did not strike the Prince as a particularly intelligent man, and for him to have created a device capable of channeling the Resonance without any outside help seemed… unlikely. He would need to confer with Lucario, Scizor, Absol, and Team Terrae to verify that, given that all his information on Hydreigon is second-hand.

The final option was that Mewtwo or Calyrex are wrong, either through ignorance or intentional deception. While he did not feel that he was being lied to, it was a possibility he couldn’t justify ruling out.

Throughout his deliberation, the Prince jumped up onto the branches of a tree, climbing to the top and popping his head above the jungle’s canopy. He stood there for a moment, coming to terms with the reality of the situation.

The East Island did not have much in the way of high ground, so he could see out to the ocean in practically every direction from here. Despite it being the middle of the day and having to deal with the sun beating down on him, something about this spot made him feel particularly introspective.

“…I will need assistance from the others,” he concluded. “This is not a question I can solve on my own.”

He jumped back down, making his way back to the clearing. Being able to interrogate Absol and Mewtwo at the same time would be helpful, and given that he knows the limited ways legendaries are allowed to interact with mortals, he doubted he would be getting many more opportunities.

His thoughts began to diverge as he approached the clearing. The scent of meat lingered in the air. As he drew closer, he saw Golisopod standing at his grill, with a cooler at his feet.

“…You are barbecuing,” the Prince stated.

“Yep.” Golisopod lifted one of the pieces on the grill, letting the Prince get a glimpse of the red, blue, and yellow flesh. “Archen, local favorite.”

“I can confirm,” Absol said, his expression completely serious. “I have eaten Golisopod’s cooking once before. His skill with a barbecue cannot be overstated.”

The Prince looked at the bug type in disgust, before retreating back into his previous spot as far away from Golisopod as possible. He needed to plan out his questions now so Mewtwo and Absol would have no opportunities to lie.

Blizz looked down at his hand, concentrating intensely. Across from him Zar stood, a Leaf Blade sticking out from her own arm.

“So the thing is you just gotta focus and try to bring it out,” she explained, moving her blade around.

“I’m pretty sure this isn’t possible,” Blizz said as he failed to summon a Leaf Blade yet again. “Treeckos can’t learn Leaf Blade. Think that’s only like a Grovyle and Sceptile thing.”

“But I can do it! And I’m a Treecko!”

Blizz put a finger over his mouth, gesturing with his other arm towards the still-sleeping Rune and Kibo. The dungeon would not be giving them much time before the wind started picking up, so they needed to make sure their teammates spent as much of the time as they could actually asleep.

“I’ve said before you’re a Mew,” Blizz offered, a bit quieter than normal to accentuate his previous point. “And I’m pretty sure Mews can learn every move.”

“…No, sorry, I don’t see it.” Zar sat back down in frustration, absently firing a Leafage at an incoming Graveler before it could do so much as look at Rune or Kibo.

Blizz just shrugged. “Whatever, still stupid that Treeckos can’t learn Leaf Blade.”

“Well maybe you just need to evolve?” Zar offered. “Actually wait, shouldn’t Treeckos be able to evolve by now? Your level is around the 30’s, right? You could be a Sceptile by now.”

“…How do you know that but thought that Magnet Rise was a normal move Treeckos learn?”

Now it was Zar’s turn to shrug. “This dungeon really is weird… Oh! That reminds me! Can you tell me more about myself?”

Blizz made another gesture for Zar to keep her voice down. “Yeah, for sure. So uh, when we first met you looked like you do right now. Oh, We had to beat up a bunch of kinda weak legendaries first, that’s important. Anyways you really didn’t want us to find out you were a Mew, and I think this is your favorite disguise.”

Zar didn’t seem quite convinced of the story so far. “Why would I want to keep that a secret? Being a legendary sounds awesome.”

“I don’t know, some bullshit about other legendaries hunting you down or whatever… Kinda was accurate, but whatever.”

“But still, we were friends before this dungeon, right?”

Blizz nodded without any hesitation.

“Don’t know why I’d want to keep anything hidden from you guys then.” Zar looked downwards, thinking about what she must have been thinking back when she had her memories.

The two sat in silence for a while, before the wind began to slowly pick up. With a resigned sigh, Blizz and Zar lifted up Rune and Kibo respectively, climbing down before the wind could kick them out.

“…It has been 24 hours,” Absol announced as the four of them were lying around the clearing. “Since Vulpix and Jangmo-o entered.”

“If they have not been removed from the dungeon, then they must have devised a system to allow them to rest without causing the wind to flare up,” Mewtwo said.

“That’s the hard part,” Golisopod commented. “The ones who don’t figure that out always get booted around floor 50.”

“…And how many floors are in the dungeon?” the Prince asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Dunno, I ain’t seen anyone make it past 100. Could be more.”

“Did you not mention that there are 10 floors corresponding to each type of Pokémon?” Absol asked. Golisopod looked upwards for a moment in thought, before nodding. “Then that would dictate 180 floors.”

“Could be more, could be less,” Golisopod pointed out. “No one’s made it that far yet.”

“So if they do manage to endure we will remain here for two more days,” the Prince summarized. “Wonderful.”

“If Cascia’s finest Pokémon have been unable to breach floor 100, is it very likely that Team Apex is capable of making it to the end?” Mewtwo asked rhetorically.

The Prince shot Mewtwo a glare. “…I do not fully understand the ways in which you know my teammates, but I can assure you that, through some combination of strategy and absurd amounts of luck, we will be waiting here for the full three days.”

Mewtwo returned with a much less emotionally charged glance. “While I do not doubt your team is capable of miracles, 180 floors of mystery dungeon for a team that was unprepared for the expedition and has hardly attained level 40 is an incredibly difficult task.”

Absol stepped in to defuse the growing tension. “Perhaps we may wish to enact our backup plan? Regardless of if Team Apex is capable of progressing through the dungeon, doing this will both ensure their safety and allow us to end this stakeout.”

“…It would likely be worthwhile,” Mewtwo admitted, after some thought. “While I worry for Mew’s wellbeing, she needs to learn that her actions have consequences.”

“Would you care to enlighten me on this plan?” The Prince asked, increasingly irritated with all the information being thrown around that he has no clue what it means.

Absol turned to the Prince. “We would lower you into the dungeon such that you may use a Kangaskhan Orb, then have you deposit an Escape Orb into Treecko’s bag with a request asking for them to leave. We would then raise you back out, and wait for them to use the Escape Orb.”

“The reason we have been hesitant to use this so far is that using an Escape Orb in this dungeon can cause the amnesia effect to last after they leave,” Mewtwo elaborated. “While your teammates should be immune, Mew may not be.”

“…You would have me betray my teammates and reset their progress simply as a form of punishment for Mew?” The Prince asked.

“By undertaking this dungeon your teammates have disrespected the traditions of the Cascian Archipelago, to say nothing of the sheer pointlessness such an expedition involves,” Mewtwo argued. Noticing that the Prince did not appear to be changing his stance, he took a deep breath. He had one more item he could use to win him over, though he was already sharing way too much information as is.

“Should you agree to help, I will answer any and all questions you may have that do not jeopardize your ability to respond to the crisis.”

“…What does that exclude?” The Prince asked, his eyes narrowed.

“Information pertaining to your past as a human. Nothing else is off-limits.”

The Prince looked Mewtwo directly in the eye, and nodded. “Very well.”

Unsurprisingly, Floors 61 through 70 were dedicated to yet another type. This time it was Dark, which was giving everyone save for Zar unpleasant flashbacks to their Silver rank up exam and Fanita ambushing them.

Blizz was starting to slow down as well, not having had as much an opportunity to rest as the others. Their initial plan was to let him take a break on this set of floors, but with the darkness that completely permeated this floor and the occasional disguised Zoroark that made communication very frustrating, they decided it would be best if they waited for the next set.

While Zar was effectively a one man army, it didn’t change the fact that Blizz felt like he was dying. Figuratively. His arms and legs were sore, he felt completely drained, and they weren’t even halfway yet; but his experience with Yveltal showed him what it felt like to literally die, and that was way worse.

So now he was dragging his tail along, trying desperately to keep up with his partially sleep deprived teammates and Zar. He was so out of it that when a random weight suddenly appeared in his bag, it caused him to trip and completely fall over.

Immediately his teammates scrambled to combat positions, ready to take on the invisible menace.

“Where are they coming from this time?” Kibo asked, ready to slam a Headbutt into anyone who attacked his friend.

“Nah that was me… sorta…” Blizz took a moment to dig into his bag, trying to find the source of the added weight.

In a compartment that was definitely empty five minutes ago, there was now a bright blue orb and a piece of paper. Even with the lack of light on the floor, Blizz could make out the Prince’s handwriting.

“Hey, can we take a breather when we get to the staircase? I think Prince used a Kangaskhan Orb to send us something.”

Rune looked back to Blizz. “…How? Don’t you have to be in the same mystery dungeon to use a Kangaskhan?”

“Maybe he hired a local to do it?” Kibo offered.

“But wouldn’t you have to be registered on the same team to be able to use a Kangastan like that?” Rune countered.

“Oh, right…”

“Let’s read it when we get to the staircase!” Zar shouted, pressing ahead.

By the time the team reached said staircase, they had to clear four rooms and knock out two Poochyena, one Mighteyena, a Houndoom, and a Zoroark who took the form of an amorphous blob after it tried to copy Zar with an illusion.

Once they made it, Blizz took out an Illumination Orb and proceeded to slam it against the ground. He was grateful that they held onto their stockpile after the Fanita incident— the Illumination Orbs were doing a lot of work here.

Blizz forced himself away from the mildly nostalgic memories, more important stuff to deal with now. He held out the paper, letting all of his teammates read the message written in normal English.

Blizz,

It has come to my attention that you have ended up within a Remarkably difficult mystery dungeon. While I doubt it needs to be clarified, On the chance you have not realized it, the dungeon you find yourself in most Likely has a floor count of approximately 180; 10 floors for each Pokémon typing. Given that I still am Liable for your and the rest of the team’s wellbeing, I have used a Kangaskhan Orb to Confer onto you A gift. The Escape Orb will return you to the dungeon entrance, allowing you to escape without having to Lose a fight or fail to clear a floor.

Sincerely,

The Prince

L

Blizz was left staring at the last L for a few moments, not really understanding why it was there.

“Huh… Guess Prince wants us to bail.”

Rune sighed, rapidly losing confidence in her team leader.

The Prince wasted no time after getting lifted back to the surface. As soon as his feet were returned to the ground, he turned to Mewtwo, firing one question after another.

For his part, Mewtwo was doing a very good job of keeping up. Golisopod and Absol gave up early, content to just let the two finish their verbal exchange on their own.

“Thousands of people die every moment. What criteria did you use to select the 10 of us?”

“I cannot answer that, the answer pertains to your human life.”

“Hmph. Why did you select 10 humans?”

“Calyrex can foresee upcoming disasters and the severity, and assigns each crisis a numeric value based on its threat level. We then select some number of humans based on this.”

“Are there any other humans in Varin right now?”

“There is one I knew formerly, though he was elderly and has likely passed away by now.”

“Did you not state earlier that humans return to Earth after their crisis is resolved?”

“If they have formed strong bonds with the local Pokémon, they may be given the option to remain here. This is strictly optional, and I doubt it will be an issue for yourself.”

The Prince’s response was immediate. “It will not. Can Calyrex provide any other information as to the type of crisis?”

“No, his visions are vague, and as a Pokémon he is not particularly friendly. I do not have concrete evidence of this, but I suspect he was the one who initially devised the rule that legendary Pokémon are not to interact with mortals…” Mewtwo shook his head, getting back on topic. “He will, however, inform me as to any special characteristics the summoned humans require.”

“Are these special characteristics the reason that you cannot use native Pokémon to resolve these crises, and why you must summon humans from other worlds?”

“I believe. Again, this is a tradition that predates my creation, so I cannot say for certain.”

“What do you know about the Resonance?”

“That you and the other former humans are immune because you do not have any memories. Aside from this, my knowledge base is identical to your own.”

The Prince’s questioning started to slow down as he approached the limits of what he could ask without revealing his team’s connection to Zar.

“How did you know our names prior to meeting us?”

“I have met you in the past. When you were in the process of being transformed into a Pokémon, I administered a personality quiz to determine what Pokémon would be best for you.”

“…Did it not occur to you that transforming all the former humans into bipedal Pokémon would have been more fitting?”

“Your bodies came with an instinctive understanding as to how to use them. I did not wish to confine the pool of Pokémon you could become to only those that walk on two legs.”

The Prince let out an annoyed sigh before opening his mouth to continue the interrogation. However, before he could ask his next question, a yellow pillar of light started to appear around him. “I apologize, but I must be leaving now.”

Absol’s eyes shot open. “That’s an orb’s warp effect…”

“You gave ’em a Rollcall Orb,” Golisopod chuckled. “Clever bastard.”

“Team Apex is a team,” the Prince responded coolly, in spite of Mewtwo charging up an Aura Sphere. “It is frankly absurd for you to expect me to betray their trust in such a manner.”

The warp completed right before the Aura Sphere would have made contact, causing the ball of fighting energy to crash into a nearby tree. Left in the clearing was two bewildered Pokémon, and one Golisopod.

“…I did not anticipate he would do that,” Mewtwo whispered quietly.

Absol only looked on at the spot where the Prince was standing in confusion. Wasn’t Umbreon supposed to be the one who practically hates his teammates?

The explorers looked expectantly at the pillar of light in front of them. They smashed the Rollcall Orb on the ground as soon as Rune informed Blizz that the Prince was talking in code.

Soon enough, that pillar took the shape of an Umbreon. As the features slowly filled in, all four of them could see pretty clearly that it was the Prince.

Blizz walked forward, wrapping an arm around the Prince’s shoulder. “Yoo, welcome to the party dude.”

“Nice to meet you again!” Zar said, following after Blizz.

“I simply decided that the four of you could use the added assistance.” Despite his words, the Prince seemed to be suppressing a faint smile.

Rune picked up on it, and gave a smug smile of her own. “So you’re done with your ‘don’t talk to me’ vacation.”

“I received the requisite amount of relaxation, and I am ready to return to work.”

“Well it’s great to have you here,” Kibo said, smiling. “Great timing too, this floor has been giving us some trouble.”

The Prince looked around the room they were in. While the Illumination Orb was currently lighting up the area around them, he realized this was another dungeon that was near pitch black.

As he led the way down the staircase, he muttered to himself. “…Perhaps Mewtwo’s decisions were not wholly misguided.”

To his credit, Mewtwo was right. The dungeon showed no signs of stopping as they descended further and further down. Though it wasn’t quite as hard as they expected.

Sure, the ferals were getting stronger. By floor 90, they stopped seeing unevolved Pokémon altogether. Even Zar’s attacks couldn’t one shot everything they came up against, and each encounter with a feral was becoming a full drawn out battle.

Regardless, something seemed to have clicked for the five of them. Everything they did was completely fluid. Blizz never had to scramble to get out of the way of an attack with the Prince fighting right alongside him. Rune was constantly on the move, bombarding ferals with ice attacks that completely disoriented them. Kibo barely took any hits due to how well Blizz, the Prince, and Rune were keeping their opponents busy. And Zar was still Zar, but she seemed to be just a bit more cooperative; calling out when she would use an attack, or asking for the rest of them to set up an opening.

It was like up until this point they’ve been fighting with a hand tied behind their back, and now they were completely unchained.

The Prince was deeply bothered by the fact that he had no idea what changed.

But something had to have happened. “Mawile, straight ahead! Let’s go!” Blizz made the callout as Apex sprung into action, fanning out around the approaching Pokémon.

Blizz led the way with a Quick Attack, zooming by Mawile. In response, it tried to smash him with an Iron Head, though a Shadow Ball coming from its right side forced it to change direction.

“Coming in on top!” Zar shouted, using Magnet Rise to levitate into the air. “Think you can make an opening?”

“On it!” Kibo ran forward, his tail glowing with Dragon Energy. He proceeded to try and slam it into the still-dazed Mawile, doing exactly nothing as all the energy seemed to dissipate as soon as he made contact. “Oh right… Little help?”

The help Kibo requested came immediately in the form of an Aurora Beam. The rainbow stream of light managed to wedge itself right down the center of Mawile’s open jaws, creating an experience that really could not be pleasant for the fairy type.

“Perfect!” While Mawile was thrashing around trying to cope with just how cold Rune’s attack was, Zar finished her own Leaf Blade, slashing downwards with grass type energy right on the feral’s head.

Yet that still wasn’t enough, and now Mawile looked agitated. It began throwing out Iron Head after Astonish after Play Rough after Iron Head, desperately trying to lash out at Zar.

Rune’s scarf lit up as she prepared to fire yet another Aurora Beam into Mawile’s maw, but stopped as the Prince held up a paw. He calmly approached the feral’s rear, his body taking on a red and black aura. Right as it seemed to reach its peak, he lunged forwards, slamming into Mawile’s back.

The attack did far more than a dark type attack should here, sending the unconscious Mawile into the wall.

As soon as he confirmed Mawile was out, he turned back around to his teammates to deal with the inevitable question they were going to ask.

“According to my explorer’s badge, I have learned the move Foul Play at some point after entering this dungeon. I have decided this would be an appropriate time to use it.”

“Fucking nice.”

“That’s… a really helpful move here.”

“Heck yeah!”

“WOOOO!”

He turned away from his teammate’s praise, stepping back into formation. With the feral dealt with, he resumed his previous pondering. Perhaps it was the desperation of the dungeon that was necessitating them to come up with innovative new strategies.

The alternative was that them being more attentive to each other’s commands made them better in combat.

He chose to believe the former.

Even the exhaustion of being in the dungeon was becoming slightly less of a problem. With five of them together, they could have two rest at a time, send a group of two out to scout the floor for the next staircase, and leave one behind (usually Zar) to guard their sleeping teammates.

No one was exactly getting a good night’s sleep, but it was better than nothing, and with how the Pokémon continued to get stronger the deeper they went, they needed the advantage.

By the time they reached the end of floor 99, they were ready. It didn’t matter that Golisopod warned no one made it past floor 100. They had come way too far to give in now.

With a deep breath, Blizz led the way, climbing downwards.

The first thing he noticed was the hum of electricity that filled the air. The second was a Southern Raichu, gliding towards him with a Spark.

It was promptly stunned by the Prince and Zar, using Foul Play and X-Scissor, respectively. An Aurora Beam and Energy Ball caused it to fall on the ground, where a Dragon Tail finished it off.

The Prince examined the feral he just helped defeat, before looking around the room as a whole. “…That would explain Golisopod’s concern.”

Kibo, still maintaining his position as the sweep, was the last to climb down the stairs. “What do you mean?”

“The reason why no one in Cascia makes it past floor 100 is because the next set of floors are electric type.”

As if to accentuate the Prince’s point, a bolt of electricity shot out from the front of the room, zipped over the explorers heads, and stopped on the rear wall.

Blizz watched the bolt whizz by, before kicking the unconscious Raichu away from the staircase. “…Why does that matter?”

“Everyone in Golisopod’s guild is flying or water type,” Rune remembered. “So they…”

“They would be dealing with a severe type disadvantage here,” the Prince finished. “One that we do not have to worry about.”

“Then that means we’re gonna be the first to press past! Let’s keep going!” Zar practically shoved Blizz forward, forcing them to continue through the dungeon.