Chapter 22 - And the adventure gets good.

"Gah! What the hell?!" I shouted. My vision had been suddenly engulfed by an insanely bright light after I had approached the weird looking scarecrow.

Feeling disoriented, I gritted my teeth, ready to embrace any pain that was about to come. Yet none did. So, besides a slight disorientation feeling in my stomach, like suddenly dropping on a roller coaster, I felt fine. So I attempted to blink away the lingering effects of the sudden, bright light.

With my vision still being a bit blurry, I was able to make out that I was no longer in the same room as before. That scarecrow which should've been in front of me was now gone, and where a stone walled was just slightly behind the scarecrow, it was now at the far end of a different looking, wider room.

It was a wide, single-exit room like the others I've been in earlier, but the pink crystals that would jut out at random points in the rooms were now a darker shade of purple.

I gave myself a quick one-over to see and feel if I was injured, but I seemed to be fine, if not a bit motion sick for some reason.

"What the hell happened to me?"

"You fell for a teleport trap and got sent somewhere in the Dungeon," a voice to my right replied, making my heart jump into my throat. Like a veteran, I quickly got into a battle stance, ready to take out the voice if need be. Even though my vision was a bit blurry, I was able to make out that the voice was Sneasel, who was waving her claws around defensively.

"Woah, woah, it's just me. Calm down," she said.

"Yeah, that's the issue," I replied, sheathing my vines. Sneasel folded her arms and scoffed. Calming down from the adrenaline rush, and being startled I continued talking. "Where are we? Where is Vulpix?"

"Um, not here, it seems." Sneasel unfolded her arms and took a look around the area. "My guess is we are somewhere deeper in the Dungeon. I suggest we get moving before the Dungeon reacts to us being here."

"So, wait, you said earlier about a teleport trap? What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just as it sounds. Step on the area, and you will be relocated to a random point in the Mystery Dungeon. Sometimes it might be a few feet away, in a nearby room or to a completely new floor. I'm just hoping that we got moved to a random room and not a new floor." Sneasel explained.

"But, why are you here? Shouldn't you have been teleported to a different location?"

"That's what you are thinking about? The fact that I'm here? If you must know, it's because I was in contact with you as you set the trap off."

Great, so not only have I been moved to a potentially random floor with no clue as to where Vulpix might be, I'm stuck with Sneasel of all Pokémon. Great, that's just what I wanted to happen today.

You could always abandon her.

Startled by the sudden, breathy voice that sounded like it was right behind me, I cringed and dispelled both the idea it had, and the fact that I might be losing my mind. Now is not the time for weird voices.

Sick of being in this room away from Vulpix, I got up and started to walk towards the only exit.

"Whoa, wait up," Sneasel ordered.

"Um, no," I coldly stated, while looking to the side towards Sneasel. "Once I can, I'm leaving you to fend for yourself."

"What? Really? Isn't that a bit cruel, even for you?"

She deserves to be alone.

"Not my problem. I am not risking a potential attack from you. So later, chump." I continued to walk towards the exit.

"Oh? And what would Vulpix and Scorbunny think if they found you all by yourself, if you could even survive by yourself?"

Vulpix will always take your side, and Scorbunny is easily fooled.

"Don't care."

"Fine then. Good luck with the traps."

A bluff.

I paused. I scanned around the room for any of the traps that Sneasel could be bluffing about. Once I saw that there were none, I continued to walk again.

"I'm not listening."

"Alright, suit yourself."

Feeling a bit bitter about this whole experience, I was slightly looking forward to being rid of her, if even for a slight amount of time. I just had to think of something to say to Vulpix.

You never saw Sneasel. You were alone when you got here.

I had to give it to the voice. It had a good point. Vulpix had no clue where I ended up or if I was with Sneasel. But I doubt I could live with myself lying to her.

My thoughts were quickly interrupted when my right foot slipped from under me while I was walking. I tried to catch myself, but the floor suddenly felt like it was oiled up, so I fell onto my stomach and slid until I hit the non-slippery part of the rocky floor again.

I crawled up onto the rough ground and dusted myself off.

"Lucky guess," I said over my shoulder.

"Look out, there is another one here," she replied.

"You might have been lucky about one trap, but I highly doubt that there is another one." And right on cue, I started to sink into the floor.

Looking at the floor, it was like the floor had turned into a weird liquid that refused to let me go, no matter how hard I tried to pull myself out.

Sneasel walked up to my side and crouched down next to the sticky trap. "Would you like some help now?" She offered her right claw to me. I'm guessing that she wants to grab my vine to pull me out.

She is trying to deceive you.

I looked at her claws. I wanted to accept it, but the more I thought about it, the more my head started to hurt. I shook my head, and it seemed that Sneasel took that as my answer since she removed her offered claw.

So, I tried with all my might to get out again, this time using my vines to try to lift myself out, but one got caught in the liquid and got stuck in it.

"Well, that's not good."

Sneasel sighed. "This is going to be a long day."

POV - Servine

"Why do these things always happen to me," I said to myself.

When Ace had fallen for the teleport trap and had gotten Sneasel tangled up with him, I quickly acted by having us search around to see if they had gotten teleported to a nearby room. We were unfortunately unable to locate them and had to move on to finding the floor exit. We had been on the floor for too long, and the enemies were starting to increase, both in numbers and intensity. Before it would've been a max of two Pokémon attacking, but right now we had four defeated Pokémon around us.

I was hoping that Sneasel managed to make contact with Ace before being teleported, so at least they were together, but to be honest, I'm not sure if that is a better outcome. I'm just hoping Ace does not react the way Vulpix thinks he might. I cannot fail this mission; the guildmaster is depending on me.

I just wish both Vulpix and Scorbunny were more useful at the moment.

Scorbunny was mainly just acting as he normally does, only with the thought that two of his friends are missing and he wants to rush around to find them. I explained that that sort of action would only lead us to fall into more traps. I was able to find the traps that were littered around, but I was nowhere as good as Sneasel is. So I had to keep an extra eye out for Scorbunny, meaning this was going to take a lot longer than I would like.

Vulpix, in the meantime, was acting completely differently from before. When Ace was around, she was an ideal explorer: brave, considerate, smart about how to act, and dependable when it mattered. Now she was basically just a bundle of nerves, about to fold in from the pressure.

"Vulpix, come on, we need to hurry," I said.

"S-S-sorry. I-I'm coming," she meekly replied with her tails low to the ground.

"Yeah, come on, Vulpix, we need to find Sneasel and Ace!" Scorbunny shouted with his arms pumped to his sides.

"Loving the energy there, Scorbunny, but could we please keep to our inside voices?"

"Oh, sorry." He rubbed the back of his head with a guilty smile.

"It's okay. Now what's going on with you, Vulpix? I get that you would miss Ace, but, like, where has that previous Vulpix gone? The one I need to watch my back?"

"I-I-I'm sorry, b-but with A-Ace not here, I c-can't help but be a-afraid."

"Well, can we try to find some of that previous bravery? I need your help to help find Ace and Sneasel."

"I-I'll tr-try."

"That's my teammate. Now let's get moving. I'm hoping that Ace and Sneasel haven't gotten themselves into too much trouble."

"They're in danger!?" Scorbunny shouted.

"Scorbunny, shush!" I quickly wrapped my vines around Scorbunny's mouth. Hopefully, I was quick enough.

But the dungeon had other plans, for a trio of Arons walked into the room and spotted us.

"Heard enemies, heard them. See, see?" one of the Arons said, pointing towards us.

This is going to be a very long day.

POV - Sneasel

After Ace- well, Bulbasaur, since he gets super angry whenever I let slip his name- and I had explored through two sections of this dungeon, did he finally agree to work with me rather than ignore my existence.

Yep, the whole time I trailed behind him, I did my best to warn him of upcoming traps, but he refused to listen to me. I think it was the dart trap hitting him in the rear that got him questioning if he was making the smart choice. I'm glad he has a natural resistance to poison attacks, for who knows if those things were laced with poison.

I have to confess, it hurts just how much he distrusts me. I get that I did a terrible thing by using him to save my own skin, but shouldn't I at least have a chance to make it up to him? It's not like I did those things Vulpix said that Machoke did to him. I'm convinced that there is something more to his stubbornness that he is not talking to any Pokémon about. I'm sure of it.

Most others, by nature, would have given up on Bulbasaur, but not me. I need his help, and he needs mine for finding the others and traversing this dungeon.

Take the first room we walked into, for example: a Diglett, a Geodude and a Zubat ambushed us, to where Ace would just defeat them all like it was nothing. If he had listened to me about there being traps then this would be a walk in the park with all the small fries around.

So, even though he 'requested' that I leave him alone, I continued to follow him. We walked into a flatter cave room with a surprising amount of light coming off from the crystals that continued to grow in intensity. Right in the middle of the room, I was able to spot yet another trap, and again I warned him about it.

And you can guess what happened.

Poooof! Tssss.

"Damn these traps!" Bulbasaur shouted while coughing in between words. The trap in the room was a devious smoke trap. Small pink balls had fallen from a small opening in the ceiling that formed when Bulbasaur stepped on the trap. The holes closed after a short time, and the small bombs exploded right in Bulbasaur's face.

Always wondered where things like that came from.

"If you would just accept my help, you wouldn't have to deal with those traps. I have warned you about every one so far, so you might as well just accept my help. I'm going to be trailing you, regardless of what you say," I said, keeping my guard up as I recalled how he reacted when he first saw me at the guild.

Ace looked at me with a face full of charred smoke. He bared his teeth and started to grind them while he stared daggers into my soul. My breath was caught in my throat, for just a split second his eyes turned to a light blue, instead of his normal red eyes.

Ace looked to the ground, then shook his head vigorously.

"Why are you so insistent on sticking around? Why can't you just leave me alone? What is it you want from me?"

"Are you an idiot? We are part of a team, even if you refuse to think so. But I can see that that alone is not enough, so how about I give you a reason why. I need your help to deal with all these enemies because I cannot move through this dungeon by myself. So there, the big bad Sneasel wants your help to beat the enemies. Better?!" I yelled, getting a bit worked up.

Bulbasaur went to comment back, but pulled himself back. He thought for a second, then spoke.

"Fine! I'll team up with you. But only because I want to find Vulpix as soon as possible and also I'm sick of getting hit by these stupid traps," he huffed.

Bulbasaur then walked up to me, dragging his feet as he did so, then slowly moved one of his vines towards me. I flinched at first, thinking that he was about to attack me,but I then lowered my guard when I realized what he was going for.

"If I was going to attack you, then I would've already. So are you going to shake on it, or not?"

I stared at his vine, perplexed. Did I get through to him? A warm feeling started to form in my stomach as I slowly met his vine with my claw.

His vine quickly wrapped around my arm and tightened.

"If you try anything, then I won't hesitate to put you in the dirt," he coldly stated with determined eyes. He let go of me, then turned back to the exit of this room.

"I could've gone without the threat, but I guess it's better than nothing." To which he just scoffed.

Well, I'm making progress.

With Bulbasaur now working with me rather than against me, we have actually started to make good progress. We continued to search around for an exit and our friends. Hopefully the latter.

We arrived at a long, narrow tunnel that was wide enough for us to move in but not wide enough for us to run about in without care. The formation was different from the other, wider caves. It was like something had carved its way through the rock rather than forming naturally with how rounded it was.

The crystals that littered the cave were now a darker red color. I recalled some gossip that the more sinister the coloring of the crystals, the more dense the wild Pokémon population is.

As we continued to walk in silence, I pondered about what would be going through Bulbasaur's head at the moment. It was hard to read what he was about to do, so I felt very exposed around him.

My thoughts were interrupted, when four, small, silver, wild Pokémon came into view from the other side. Bulbasaur called them Arons, which surprised me that he knew that. It takes years to rack up the names of all the Pokémon around.

The front-most two Arons charged together and straight towards me since I was at the front, searching for traps. When they got close, I managed to sidestep them both, even though this area is really cramped. I quickly found out that I didn't have to worry about them because Bulbasaur had picked them both up with his vines and was thrashing them around, making me shiver. I'm glad I managed to work out an alliance of sorts.

Turning my attention to the other two Arons and ignoring the sickening sound of Arons getting thrown about, I got ready for the upcoming attack. The Aron to the right made way and charged straight at me like the others before. Since it was only one, I met it with an attack of my own: a razor claw.

My attack only lightly scratched the head of the attacking Aron, making a screeching sound as it did so, though it did put enough strain on the Aron to make it miss me. I wanted to counterattack the now exposed Aron, but that would have to wait for its friend lobbed two large rocks at me.

I was able to dodge one of the rocks, but since I had little room to move, I relied on slashing through the other with a razor claw. The rock was successfully cut in two, making both pieces veer away from me and crumble against the walls on impact.

There was barely enough time for me to collect myself, for the other Aron, the one I slashed at, had tackled me into the ground.

The Aron quickly pinned me down and tried to bite me with its pointed teeth. I tried with all my might to get the Aron away from me, but this thing was heavy, so all I could manage to do was hold it in place and stop it from biting me.

Trying to find something to aid me, I spied Bulbasaur, who had already defeated his two Arons and was just standing there off to the side, just staring at me.

"Bulbasaur, help me!" I cried out to him, but he continued to stand there with a blank expression. He started to say something that I could not make out. I tried to get the Aron from me one more time, even as far as using a metal claw, but nothing would work. This thing's armor is too thick.

I looked over to Bulbasaur once more and called out, "Bulbasaur, please!"

He seemed to finally snap out of whatever trance he was in, but he only blinked as he looked around.

My strength was fading, and scuffling could be heard from where the other Aron was. I was able to see it charging to assist its friend in defeating me.

Whatever was going on with Bulbasaur must have passed, for he finally came to my aid by both vine-wiping the charging Aron and lifting the other one off from me, allowing me to finally able to get a good breath in.

Bulbasaur made quick work of them in the same manner as he did the others, leaving them in a pile behind us.

"What the hell?!" I shouted. "Why were you just staring at me when I needed your help?!"

"I… I don't know," Bulbasaur said while looking down with a thousand-yard stare.

"I could have been seriously hurt there."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry."

I was taken aback by the fact that Bulbasaur just apologized. Him, of all Pokémon, apologized! I wanted to continue to yell since I was very angry, but I lost all steam when I saw the regret on his face.

"Just… help me out next time, okay? I would rather return to the others with all my limbs intact."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll try."

It was quiet. That sort of awkward silence when you are stuck with a stranger that you know hates your guts. Ever since Bulbasaur watched as I nearly got my nose bit, he has been in a weird daze of sorts. He looked as though he was looking past things, rather than at them. I would've asked him about it, but I don't want to set off since we were making good progress.

We were about halfway through a room that was completely covered in a maze of boulders that were large enough to hide behind. By the look of the room, it seemed to have been made for this purpose due to the scratch marks left behind on the ground from dragged boulders. Taking a better look at one of the boulders that caught my eye in the middle of the room, I noticed that it was very smooth. It was by far the most circular and smooth-looking boulder- too bad that it had burn marks all over it.

Burn marks?

Running up to the scorched boulder, I wiped my claws on it, scratching off the surface scratching off the surface of the scorched rock.. Is this burn marking from Vulpix? It's a very good chance, because not many fire types typically live in mountains like this one. Way too cold for them.

I further inspected the boulder and noticed that there were some deep cuts that reminded me of Servine's razor leaf. With the evidence in front of me, I knew Servine must have continued forwards while trying to find us.

I was deep in thought when Bulbasaur suddenly shouted, "Shut up!" scaring the life out of me.

I quickly turned to see what the big deal was, but I was surprised when I spied him vigorously shaking his head around.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" he continued on.

"What? I haven't said anything. Who are you talking to?" I asked.

Bulbasaur's head quickly snapped up and he looked straight at me. His usual faded red eyes were now replaced by a bright blue pair.

I'm glad I have battle experience, for I was only just able to dodge a very quick vine whip from Bulbasaur. I looked over my shoulder to see that the boulder was now nicely split in two. I gulped at the thought of that being me.

"Bulbasaur! What are you doing?!" I shouted.

He did not reply and instead went for another attack, this time being small pod-like things being thrown by his other vine. I ran to my right and into the maze of boulders, ignoring the sickening crunching from the exploding pods from their impact.

Nice and out of sight, I pressed my back against a boulder and took a second to catch my breath and steel my nerves.

"Why are you attacking me?! I thought we made a deal?!" I shouted.

"I never made such a deal," Bulbasaur replied, but there was something very wrong with how he said it. It kind of sounded like his voice was echoing with himself. Like, he would say something, then it would be heard a split second later.

"Gah! Get out of my head!" he shouted again, this time without the echo.

"Who are you talking to? Come on, work with me here," I tried to ask, but I was greeted with silence.

The silence of the room was broken by a grunting sound and the scraping of rocks. I was confused as to what I was hearing. A foreboding feeling ran through my entire being, screaming at me that something was not right, and with experience guiding me, I ran away to another boulder.

I looked to where I was just a second ago to find out why I felt so on edge, and not a second later, a large boulder fell down right where I was standing and shattered on impact.

"Are you trying to kill me?"

I was greeted with the same feeling, and like before, I quickly zigzagged through the maze, with crunches of boulders getting thrown around filling the room, all being where I once was.

The boulders stopped, and so did I.

"Why are you doing this?"

No answer again, but that feeling returned, and not a second too soon, for a vine was slowly creeping from my blind spot to my left. I quickly jumped up and onto the boulder, narrowly avoiding the vine as it twisted around the air where I was.

From up high, I spied Bulbasaur, who stared back. I could only think of two things to do: one was to run, and the other was to run away. I looked towards the exit I was closer to, then back at Bulbasaur. The conversation I had with Vulpix ran through my mind about having to fight things out. Is this what she meant?

Fine, then. If I have to fight my way out of this, then that is what I will do.

Bulbasaur's vines started to move, and I wasted no time in leaping from rock to rock. I ducked a large swipe attempt, and with my claws, I sliced through the other vine that came towards me.

Bulbasaur quickly retracted his vines, grimacing at his now shortened-whip. His gaze then fell to a nearby boulder. His vines shot out and around the boulder near him, and after a moment, he began to glow a bright white and actually managed to lift the boulder from the ground in a display of strength I have yet to see from a Pokémon of his type.

Reaching the middle of the room, I jumped down from the boulder maze. Bulbasaur, with his ridiculous amount of might, threw the boulder at me. With the other boulders to my side blocking me from running, I was only able to narrowly dodge by jumping over and landing on the boulder Bulbasaur threw when it crushed the spot I was just in.

I hopped back down and eyed Bulbasaur.

Where I expected to see rage or any sort of emotion, I was instead greeted by a pure neutral expression, devoid of any emotion at all. His vines were waving around to the side of him, waiting for his order. Being closer, it was very clear that I did not mistake his eye color.

"Uuuh, why are your eyes blue?" I asked him while being creeped out by his stare that threatened to pierce into my soul. Where before his gaze was always threatening, like he was always trying to see past you with a glare, now his eyes are wide open and filled with a more condescending manner. In short, it's creepy.

Bulbasaur continued to stare at me without blinking. We both waited for the other to move. He was the first to move, for his right vine shot out and headed straight for me. I jumped down to the ground, landing with a combat roll, then sprung towards Bulbasaur.

If reasoning with Bulbasaur is out of the question, then maybe I can knock him out? I wasn't too sure about my plan, but I didn't have a choice because another stretched vine came down like a whip from above.

Like before, I dodged to the side and kept running. A couple of whips were sent that were dodged. A low sweep had managed to slip under me and knock my footing aerie, but I recovered, and in no time I was upon Bulbasaur.

Coming in from below, I delivered an upper-body slash towards Bulbasaur, but I was only able to just clip his left cheek.

I jumped back and bent low to charge again, but something was weird. Bulbasaur just stood there completely still. It was like he had stopped in time.

I kept my guard up and slowly approached him.

"Bulbasaur? Ace?"

At first he was completely still, but when I mentioned his name, he just collapsed to the ground with his vines all splayed out. I was still cautious, but I inched closer and gently poked him.

"Did you die or something? Please wake up."

"Urgh. My head," he said. I let out a sigh that had gotten stuck in my throat.

"Open your eyes."

"What?"

"Open your eyes!"

After some grumbling, he did as asked. His creepy blue eyes were now back to his normal, angrier ones.

"Vulpix?" he asked.

"Nope, guess again."

"Oh, it's you. Well, what happened? Why am I on the ground with my vines out? That sounded weird. Was that weird?"

"I was hoping you would tell me. You just started screaming, 'Shut up,' then attacked me from out of nowhere. Oh, and your eyes were a different colour. What is going on with you?" I kept my guard up, just in case.

Bulbasaur grumbled on the floor while he retracted his vines. He hoisted himself onto shaking feet, stumbling a little, to which I went to catch him.

"Don't," he ordered, using a vine to stop me, "I'm fine. Now, what do you mean by a different color?"

"Fine, I won't help. It's like I said, they were different. Instead of your normal red, they were a light blue. Creepy light blue, I might add. Do you not remember anything?"

"No. To be honest, I felt like I was in a dream- a nightmare, actually. I was in a weird place, with something else taking control of my body." He thought for a second then started to mumble, "...I couldn't make out anything around me," he paused. "I think… I recall the extreme urge for violence. To just lash out at anything and everything around me." He then looked back at me. "Wait, so you are saying I attacked you while I was in that trance-like state or whatever?

"Yeah, you did. You went crazy and started to lob those boulders around." I pointed to some boulders he threw around. "Then when I landed that scratch on your face, you just dropped on the floor. What is going on with you? I thought we made a deal?"

"I…um…I'm not sure. Do… Do you know of anything like possessions? Or weird orbs that are found in boxes, buried deep in the earth?"

"I can't say that I know of a weird box thing, but I have heard of ghost types possessing others before. Is that what you think is going on?"

"Not entirely, but kinda. I just need to find Vulpix and get out of this cave."

"Yeah, same here. If you, um, start to feel weird, can you give me a heads up?"

"I will try to."

"Good enough, I guess."

We quickly exited the room, and not too soon, for a collection of small roars could be heard echoing in the cave. I led the way while trying to keep an eye on Bulbasaur as progressed.

I was so ready to get out of this cave.

We were quick and swift while we moved through the rooms. None of us wanted to wait around any longer than we had to, but we kept on getting attacked. We were getting tired.

To help ease the quiet we kept finding ourselves in, I decided to explain to Bulbasaur exactly what had happened to him in greater detail in hopes he might know something. He didn't.

"Why didn't you run away? You had no reason to stay and fight me," he asked.

"That's what you are thinking about? I stayed because, even if you doubt it with all your being, I am your ally. At the very least, Vulpix's, so imagine how awkward it would be if I suddenly showed up without you," I huffed.

"Uh, good point."

"You really have trust issues, you know that?"

"Well, sorry, it's not my fault I was thrown into this land, attacked, then sold out, caught, then betrayed yet again. All within three days of being here!"

"So now you have permanent trust issues? Why do you trust Vulpix, then?"

"I'm not going to explain my entire life story to you. Just note that I am trying my hardest to try to trust again. It's especially not easy with a voice in my head telling me to attack things."

"There's a voice in your head?"

"Oh, uh, not anymore. Hmm, maybe it showed up because I was alone with you? It was quiet when Vulpix was around."

"Uh-huh, I'm just going to assume that the 'voice' in your head was not saying nice things. Hey, maybe you did encounter a possessive ghost type."

"Hmm." Bulbasaur lapsed into deep thought.

I just let him think in silence, for the tunnel we were currently walking down was coming to an end.

Reaching the end, we examined the room and it was a very different room from the rest of them.

At the far back of the room sat a wide stone-looking staircase with two statues made from the same material.

Where the exit was, there were two stone statues. Both had Pokémon that I had never seen before. One was a bipedal, hunched-over creature, while the other was a quadruped. Both stood proudly in their stone forms.

"Huh, why are those two here?" Ace asked.

"You know who those two are?" I replied.

"Yeah," Bulbasaur said while walking towards the room. "They are legendaries. The left one is- " Before Bulbasaur could explain, suddenly, a claw-like appendage snapped over and ensnared Bulbasaur to the floor, pinning him to the ground. "Gaah! What is this?!" he shouted.

"I have no clue! I swear, there were no Mystery Dungeon traps here!" I said.

"Well, clearly you're not as good as you think you are! I am in one!"

"I know, I can see that." I moved closer to get a good look at it. It was surprisingly well made. It seemed to be using mainly springs to keep itself pinned to the floor. Wasting no time, I raised my claw to swipe at it.

"Woah, hold your Ponytas now." The new voice came from around where the statues are. I looked over towards them and out walked three new Pokémon.

"What the? Nidoran, Pansage, and Machop? What are you three goons doing here?" Bulbasaur asked.

"You know them?" I asked.

"Yeah, they were a team of trouble-making, kiss-asses from the mine. Be lucky you didn't have to deal with them."

"Geez, still vulgar as ever. Well, I'm kinda glad we don't have to introduce ourselves. We don't have a jingle or catch phrase ready yet, but we do have a cool team name. When you think about us, you will reap the day you ran into 'Team Dread.'"

"Team Dread? You three really are a trio of pathetic losers. How about you let me out of this cage, huh? I'll defeat all three of you alone, like last time."

"Hmm? What about your teammate there? Kinda rude to ignore her, isn't it?"

"She isn't my teammate, more of a symbiotic relationship if anything."

"A what?"

Bulbasaur sighed. "We use each other to survive. Nothing more."

"Well, don't I feel validated," I dryly replied.

"Quiet you." Bulbasaur snipped.

"Well, the room just got a bit heavy, and we are trying to capture you, too." Nidoran said.

"It's a long story." I said.

"That's great. I would love to catch up, but I would like to take our prize already. So, how about this. You leave, we don't pummel you until you can't even breath on your own, and we take our prize? It sounds like a win-win to me."

"That doesn't sound like a win-win to me!"

"Yeah, well you don't get a say in this. So, Miss Sneasel, how about it?"

"So, you are saying that you will let me leave scott-free? No tricks?" I asked.

"Yep! It's a once-in-a lifetime deal. So, is that a yes?"

"And if I try to free Bulbasaur, you will attack me?"

"Correct again."

I looked around to assess the situation. On the one hand, Bulbasaur is completely trapped and helpless. Even his vines aren't able to save him with how hard he is trying to wiggle them around. Saving him would require insane amounts of combat skill. A three-on-one fight is not one I relish the idea of participating in.

Now on the other hand…

"You know? That does sound like a good deal. I get to leave without having my face smashed in. I get to have a very rude and very mean Pokémon come to terms with how much of a jerk he is. And I doubt I will ever see his face again. So the answer is quite simple."

"Right! So that's a…?"

"No."

"Very good, now if you will just… wait, no?"

"Yeah, it's a no."

"What?" Bulbasaur asked.

I walked around, so I was face-to-face with him. I had to kneel down so he could look me in the eyes. I almost wanted to laugh at how confused he was. I had no clue some Pokémon's eyes could be that wide.

"You have been a complete jerk to me the whole trip. Looking at me like I was pure trash, saying and being rude to me, like ignoring my hand to assist you, and hell, you haven't even apologized for attacking me."

I stopped for a second to let that sink in. Bulbasaur just opened and closed his mouth, not saying anything in between.

"Then why?" Nidoran asked. "It sounds like you should abandon him. A teammate that attacks a teammate—or whatever that word is that you used—is just not right, in my opinion. So you really should take our deal."

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it? But I have a confession to make. Bulbasaur, I have wanted to apologize to you every day since I escaped. I felt so guilty that I had trouble eating for days, and only when I met up with Scorbunny again was I able to feel even the slightest bit better and eat again. It didn't help when he told me about you, but I digress. You know, you inspired me. Before I did that thing to you, you seemed cool, even heroic, and it inspired me, you know? I joined the guild so that I could help others. So, I would like to say that I am sorry, Bulbasaur. I am so sorry for all the pain my actions have caused you."

Bulbasaur's eyes stayed locked on mine. Neither of us blinked. "So, with all that being said, you saved me more than once, even if it was indirectly by saving my best friend Scorbunny. So, I will not abandon you here." I broke eye contact and stood up, turning to face the trio of villains. "I will not make that mistake again, not ever again!"

"W-wait, what are you?" Bulbasaur said.

"I will defend Bulbasaur here and now. Prepare yourselves, for a member of the guild Benevolent Heroes stands before you."

"Well… that was mushy and all that. Um, well, it's too bad we have to break you now. Machop, Pansage, don't hold back. We need to end this quickly and get our prize back to the Warden."

"Yes, sir!" They both shouted at the same time.

I went to swipe at the claw pinning Bulbasaur on the ground, but a vine appeared from team dread, and grabbed me. I cut myself free with my other claw, then had to immediately dodge away from Bulbasaur for Machop charged me.

I came to a stop with team dread now in-between Bulbasaur and I.

Like some Pokémon let go of strings holding us all back, we charged at each other.

POV - Bulbasaur

Is this a joke? Tell me it's a joke, please. I'm currently stuck pinned to the ground while watching as Sneasel can only dodge and slowly get hit while trying her hardest to fight back. Team- whatever they said- was just too well coordinated for her, and they had each other's backs when it was exposed for a counter attack.

I tried once again to wiggle a vine out of the trap, but I was too pinned down. How does this thing work? And how come only my face is clear?

All I could do was get frustrated as I continued to watch.

Did she mean that? Well, of course she did, but why did it have to be her, of all people? It was so easy to simply hate her, the cause of all my pain, but there she went and apologized!

A voice whispered inside my head, one different from the earlier voice. "Do you hate her? Or what she represents?" It sounded like Scorbunny.

I hate her. I do. Do I?

Another voice then whispered, this one sounding like Vulpix. "You will be my source of courage, and I will be your source of trust. Trust others again. Not every single Pokémon is bad."

Well… if I do hate her, why do I feel bad for her getting hurt for my sake?

"Isn't it obvious?" The voice of the only parental figure I respected then whispered into my ear: my grandpa. "It's because you don't hate her. You were always stubborn about these things. Just let go of your grudges, Sonny. Hell, she's taking a hit for you after all. Are you really going to let a girl get beat up like that because you don't like her? I thought you were better than that."

Then what is holding me back?

Then the final voice of reason whispered into my ear: my first friend, Chriss. "Come on, man, you could always use another friend. Trust me on that one."

I looked to Sneasel after my head cleared. She took a hellish blow from Machop to her gut, sending her flying towards the ground. Pansage took advantage of the situation to assault her with a vine whip.

Rage flared in my stomach. Here Sneasel was, my supposed enemy, taking a hit for me, and all I could do was sit here and watch and still doubt her! I felt really shameful, and even more rage filled my gut.

Focusing my anger on the idea of getting free, I felt as though my body wanted me to continue to get more and more furious.

I focused on the idea of those three goons attacking some Pokémon, three versus one, and my rage rose.

I focused on the idea that they were attacking some Pokémon who had just given a heartfelt apology to me.

I focused on the idea that I was the worst person in the world for treating her like I had. Would I have done the same if it was Vulpix? No. So why did she deserve it?

Like a teapot hitting its boiling point, my body began to use all the stored energy it had accumulated. I felt a wave of strength surge through my veins. This sensation was familiar, but instead of feeling pure power like before, this time it was just pain, like using muscles that have been overused.

I gritted my teeth and pushed through the pain. If Sneasel is getting beat up for me, then I can take a little pain. I grunted, pushing myself to stand up with all my might. The more I pushed, the more the trap began to groan against me.

Finally, after some intense flexing, I was able to start to lift the trap's head up. With one big, final push, I stood up with all my might, knocking the claw trap up. I quickly dashed forwards and narrowly avoided getting trapped again by the falling head.

I was free!

"What the-?" Pansage said.

"He's free!" Machop added.

"What? How?! Even Machop would have trouble getting out of that! And he is pure muscle!" Nidoran exclaimed.

"I'm just built differently. Now, get away from Sneasel before I break every bone in your bodies," I threatened.

"Ha! It's still three versus two, and one of you is barely conscious," Nidoran boasted. "Just give up, and this could all end peacefully."

"Not a chance."

"Then so be it."

End Chapter 22