Chapter 23 The things I know

A fist of Machop was all I could see before I was punched so hard that I actually slid away. I was able to brace myself to keep from tipping over, but that hit hurt- it's always my nose. Taking a deep breath, I mentally blocked out the huge amount of pain and fatigue I was currently going through.

I took a second to assess the situation while Sneasel kept Team Dread busy since they couldn't land a hit on her.

Surprisingly, the fight between our two teams has been favoring us since I was able to poison Pansage and we were able to land more hits than Team Dread. It did help that I had a spare Oran berry that I gave Sneasel when she had taken a beating. She was able to eat it while my vines created a wide barrage, so they weren't able to stop her in time.

My wide vines, so far, have been our main advantage in this field. Although Pansage has a vine of his own, he hasn't mastered it as much as I have, and since I can boost my attacks with spare energy, he can't compete. It didn't help that one of my vines was seemingly shorter than the other, but eh, what can you do?

So, with how our team was fighting, in theory, we could eventually win, but I am basically running on empty and using willpower alone to keep myself awake. Team Dread just didn't fight like they had a huge amount of experience.

I spied Sneasel dodging Nidoran's horn attack and was about to get cleaned up by Machop's right hook, which I grabbed just in time with a rocketed vine. Sneasel was stunned for a brief second, but slashed at Machop twice before backing up from a sluggish vine whip from Pansage.

Sneasel bounced back all the way towards me.

"Nice save. How are you holding up, Bulbasaur?" Sneasel asked while taking deep breaths.

"To be honest, I'm not in the greatest shape. I'm in a huge amount of pain, and I feel as though I'm about to pass out at any second," I replied while managing to keep one eye open despite the pain, sweat, and blood that were building up around it.

"What? Then why didn't you take that Oran Berry?"

"I would've loved to, but the doctor says it would do way more harm than good. Something about Oran overdose."

"Ah, oh, um."

"Yes, it was because of Machoke. Whatever your mind is thinking of, he did way worse. Anyway, we can chat about all that crap later."

Sneasel lightly shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "Right, yeah. Sounds good. Do you have a plan?"

"Not really. I think I have enough fuel left in the tank to take out one if I can wrap them up just right."

"Hmm, then I think Nidoran would be the best bet. His hide is thicker than the others, so I can't get a good hit in, plus he is slower."

In the meantime, Team Dread was recovering from their attacks and talking to themselves. Pansage reached into a small nap sack he had around his waist and produced a small bottle of sorts.

Not liking the idea of whatever that is, I acted immediately. I rocketed my vine straight towards Pansage, making him jump back out of the way and dropping the bottle, which just landed on the ground and rolled away slightly. Tough bottle.

"Team meeting concluded! Get them!" I shouted.

"You sound like a villain when you talk like that!" Sneasel shouted while running towards her two targets, while I ran towards mine.

Pansage fumbled over himself while coughing up a thick purple blob while trying to pick up the bottle. Sneasel came in with claws bared, taking swipes at him. Machop went for a punch, but Sneasl dodged away, and thus their battle resumed.

Nidoran, in the meantime, was preparing a horn attack charge, but a good vine whip towards his eye made him recoil towards me in anger.

"Why do you continue to be a thorn in my side!?" Nidoran complained.

"Because that's the sort of prick I am. Now, you and me, let's do this, little horn," I quipped.

"What!? It's normal-sized! That's it; I will teach you a lesson myself."

Nidoran charged straight at me while I tried to knock him down with some low-swiping vines. He was able to nimbly dodge and jump over every attempt I made. Once he was close enough, I dodged to the side, just able to catch myself when one of my legs almost gave out.

"What's wrong? Losing steam already? We haven't even started." He went for another charge. "Don't pass out on me yet, plant-for-brains. I want to hurt you good."

"I still have plenty of life left in me. Also, that's a bit weird." I dodged his horn attack. He skidded to a halt and prepared to attack again. "Don't tell me you are crushing on me like Machoke did. One psycho crush is enough for me."

Nidoran paused for a second. "You're a bit weird, you know that?"

"Eh, I've been called worse for less."

"I… Argh, whatever." Nidoran finished preparing his attack while his claws began to elongate and glow a menacing, bright white. Nidoran lunged at me with his claws, taking swipes at me. He landed attack after attack, totalling three fury swipes. I managed to swipe at him with my vines, breaking his attack and leaving a nice red trail on his right side.

The pain Nidoran gave me just faded with the others. I was way too focused on how to use this fight to my advantage. Nidoran decided to change his horn attack, with it now glowing a bright pink. He charged again towards me.

I spied some loose rocks and quickly picked them up with my vines. Once I had a good grip, I threw them at Nidoran. A vast majority of them missed, but I landed a good hit right on Nidoran's horn.

"Aaah! Not the horn!" he shouted, coming to a stop to rub his head as a gesture since his forelegs were not long enough to reach his horn. "That's it! Come here, you!"

Nidoran's claws glowed a brilliant white light as they grew larger, then charged towards me.

The next few seconds that felt like an eternity for me were spent trying desperately to dodge hits while failing at the same time. I was just too sore and tired to properly dodge, and while the thought of using leech seeds did occur to me, if I was having trouble moving properly, then how could I even make the damn things?

"Bulbasaur! Drink this!" Sneasel called out. I looked towards where she was, and that same small bottle that Pansage had was rolling towards me. I shot out my vine towards the bottle and just managed to snag it and brought it towards me.

I'm so glad that I spent that time playing dodgeball with Vulpix's younger orphan siblings just before I joined the guild. It helped teach me that I could catch with my vines if I practiced enough, and boy did I.

With the bottle now in my possession, I quickly bit off the cork and drank the liquids without a second thought.

"Wait! That's not yours!" Nidoran called out.

A sharp pain erupted from my side where Nidoran charged into me. I grunted, but where I was expecting a wave of pain to surge, I was instead completely numbed out by a huge energy spike, kinda like a rush of adrenaline.

Not questioning the whys, I quickly wrapped Nidoran in my vines around his belly. I pulled him away from me, cringing at the blood that the tip of his horn had, and after putting my back into it, I lifted him into the air.

Just rolling with what I was doing, I began to spin Nidoran around myself like the moon orbiting the Earth. I was originally planning to just launch this little moon into space, but an idea struck me. What if I hit two other 'moons' with this one?

I spied Sneasel, who was dodging punches and some vine whips from Pansage. I praised my lucky star for how Machop and Pansage were next to each other to a degree, with their backs towards me.

"Aaaaaah! Leeet meee goooo!" Nidoran yelled.

"As you wish!" I shouted.

I let out my vines, and with one final swing with my vines, I swung Nidoran towards his two allies. Sneasel saw what I was doing and very quickly backed up away from any carnage that was about to fall upon these three.

Pansage was able to notice the wrecking ball of doom approaching, but he was way too sluggish to avoid my attack. Nidoran collided with Pansage, and with so much force left over, he sent them all into Machop and finally all three of them straight into the wall.

A loud trio of plop sounds came from their impact, and one by one they all fell from their imprints that they left on the wall and crashed to the ground.

Sneasel and I watched for a moment, waiting for any reactions from them. Sneasel approached and prodded them with her claws.

"They… are unconscious. I- I think we won!" Sneasel yelled out.

"And not a moment too soon." That lovely bit of energy spike was starting to fade as did its numbing effect. Whoever invented pain is an idiot!

I sat down, taking in deep, long breaths. While the energy from that drink was fading, It wasn't gone. Sneasel slowly walked over to me, limping while doing so.

"What should we do about them?" Sneasel asked.

"Huh? Well, as much as I would like to capture them, I don't have it in me to bring them back. So, unless you really think you can carry those three…" I replied slowly while taking in deep breaths.

"Hmm, good point. It just doesn't sit right knowing that they are just going to go back to being free once they wake up."

"Such is life. You know, we could always kill them."

Sneasel choked a bit and looked at me, aghast at what I suggested. "I really doubt the guild or Vulpix would like you talking like this. I don't know where you are from, but we don't kill here."

"Hey, I was only kidding. Also, I didn't hear a 'no.'"

"No. The answer is no."

"Fine. Besides, I doubt I would have the stomach to kill a downed enemy. Maybe in combat, but downed? Where's the fun in that?"

"You really are disturbed, you know that?"

I just shrugged. I took a deep breath and got back on all fours. "What was in that bottle?"

"At first I thought it was an Antidote, but as it turns out, it was a bottle of Vitamins."

"Vitamins? Vitamins gave me all this energy?"

"Yeah? Why wouldn't they?"

I was about to reply when I realized what world I was in. I cleared my head and spoke. "Moving on, it looks like we have two ways to go. Back the way we came, or through past the two statues there."

Sneasel waited for a second before she realized that I was waiting for a response from her. "Oh? Are you asking my opinion?"

"It feels weird for me too. I suggest we continue forwards."

"Hmm, it would be better than moving backwards, for who knows if there is another way and how far back it was. So, guess forwards it is then?"

"Sounds good. Let's get moving."

"Wait up a second."

Sneasel quickly ran over towards the trio. She started to look through their things and pulled out an apple.

"So we can't kill them, but looting is fine?" I asked.

"Hey, I thought you, out of all Pokémon, wouldn't care about looting them. I know I get a huge mouthful from Scorbunny about it."

"Ha! I get the same from Vulpix. Something about it's not heroic to rob Pokémon, no matter if they are bad or not. It's like they are criminals! If we took them in, all their stuff would get confiscated anyway."

"Right!?"

"Anything good?"

"no, just this apple." She quickly sliced it in two and handed me the other half. A small itch in my brain made me hesitate, and questions about why she would be doing this filled my mind. When I saw her frown, I quickly shook my head and ate the apple piece she held in one go.

"Alright. Let's get moving."

"Sounds good."

We made our way past the two legendaries of time and space. The large open doorway revealed a small set of aged stairs that we climbed slowly. Bits of the stairs were crumbled and worn away, making it a real chore to watch where we were going.

After making it to the top, we took a small breather in the large flattened-out area. We were both in really bad conditions, with myself being the worst.

While we took the breather, I couldn't help but feel as though something was always watching or that something bad was going to happen.

Sneasel glanced over towards me, noticing how I was constantly looking around. "What's with you?" Sneasel asked.

"What?" I replied.

"You. You keep looking around so much. It's kinda freaking me out."

"It can't help it. I just can't relax without Vulpix here. The sooner we get out of this damn cave, the better."

"You really do care about her, don't you?"

"What? The hell are you talking about?"

"Nothing." After catching our breaths, Sneasel pointed towards a large structure of sorts hidden deeper in the cave. "What's that doing here?"

Shaking off her previous questioning, I squinted towards where she was pointing. A mix of emotions filled me: mainly confusion, excitement, and unease towards the structure.

I quickly moved closer to get a better look.

The structure before me looked like it was made of a marble material that was built into the Dungeon. It had large columns that sat next to a huge metallic-looking door. The columns could be seen again towards the corners of the building that faded into the walls of the Mystery Dungeon. This whole building really gave me a 'roman' style vibe to it, which only raised more questions.

"What is this place?" Sneasel asked.

"I'm… not sure." I started to move closer to the large doors.

"Hey wait!" Sneasel quickly ran past me, stopping me. Anger flared for a second, only for a strange feeling to squash it down.

"What?!" I coughed while taking a deep breath. "What? You're killing my exploration."

"We don't know what sort of Pokémon made this building, so I should remain at the front so that I can keep an eye out for traps or the likes."

A feeling of guilt and self-loathing flooded my mind for getting frustrated so quickly at her. "That makes sense. Alright, lead the way." Sneasel gave me the equivalent of a thumbs up and moved towards the door, keeping an eye out for traps.

"Sneasel?" She looked back at me. Even though Sneasel had helped me out so far, the words I wanted to say sat in my throat for a short time. "S-sorry for, um, yelling just now," I managed to get out.

She seemed shocked for a second and then lightly smiled. "And here I thought you didn't even know what that word was." I just huffed and looked away.

"Whatever. Let's keep moving. Ace wants to check out a mysterious building."

A feeling of unease began to build in my stomach. I felt like I wanted to, no, I had to do something, but something was holding me back. I wasn't too sure what it was I had to do, but that feeling would intensify when I looked towards Sneasel.

Reaching the very large double doors, I studied them for a while, taking note of two different-sized door knockers that would sit in the middle and closer to Sneasel's height. They were simple in design, being just a simple circle, and against the odds, not a single bit of rust sat on them.

Sneasel went to place her claw on the door and scraped a small amount of the marble-like stuff onto her claw. She rubbed it while giving it a small sniff.

"Weird. I have never seen a building made out of this white stuff. You know what it is?" Sneasel asked.

"I'm not too sure, but I think it's marble. Limestone? I'm not too sure." I extended my vine, placed it on our level's door knocker, and began to push slightly. To my complete amazement, the door began to move with only the slightest amount of effort. "That is easier than I thought it would be. Well then, here we go."

"Just don't get us killed. I enjoy life."

"And there goes my afternoon's activity. I just hope that there is an exit out of this Dungeon here."

"Me too."

As we entered, I thought about the possibility of a large boss-like enemy inside, but the more I opened the door, the more I felt a pulling of sorts. It was like something wanted me to enter. For most, this would indicate a red flag, but it felt, I don't know, gentle? I just wish Vulpix was here, then maybe I would feel more confident about this scenario.

The door opened with barely a screech. I entered inside first against Sneasel's warning, her following suit while keeping a watchful eye as she did so.

Inside the Roman-style building was more of what I thought it might look like. Along the middle sat a long, decrepit carpet that led all the way towards two more larger statues of Dialga and Palkia at the far end of the room. The room's sides opened up to large pillars that sat in the middle of the empty space, in a row, some of which were broken and toppled over.

Silence fell in the room. I looked to Sneasel, who was still scanning the room, then gave me a thumbs up. I gave her a nod, and we both started to slowly move deeper into the room.

We reached the large statues of Dialga and Palkia. The Statues seemed to be made of different stones of sorts, with Dialga's being a dark blue stone while Palkia's was a bright pink one. The base of the statues elevated the two statues up towards the air, while being made of the same marble stuff as the walls, helping to bring attention to the different coloured statues.

"What is this place?" Sneasel asked, breaking the eerie silence.

"Hmm, if I were to guess, then I would say this would be a palace of worship," I replied, looking straight at the Palkia statue. As I did, a huge wave of that pulling feeling surged through my body.

"That actually makes sense." Sneasel took a look around. "Then where are all the worshippers? What happened to them?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"Well, I don't see anywhere else to go. Maybe we should just leave and try one of the different paths." Sneasel started to move back towards the exit when that pulling feeling I had really gave me a tug towards the statues. I moved forwards and circled the statues, spying a hidden door behind them that led down. It was built into the marble base and from how it looked if the door was closed I doubt I would've ever found it.

"Bulbasaur? What are you doing?"

"Hidden doorway. It looks like we get to continue to explore the weird building. So off we go, deeper into the belly of discovery!"

For most the idea of leaving would be wise, but for myself I was getting caught up in a wave of exploration desire and that pulling feeling that kept intensifying the longer I was here.

Sneasel looked towards where I was, just to the side of the statues, then back towards the exit. She did this twice before looking at her claws.

"Ah! Fine. Let's keep moving. This place is really giving me the creeps."

"Noted, let's go."

The hidden door led down a stairwell that led to a small corridor lined with rooms. The rooms as Sneasel and I passed them by seemed to be bedrooms, a kitchen, and a library of sorts.

We had a quick look inside the library, but it was a fruitless effort because neither Sneasel nor myself could read what was left of the books. They were just that damaged from Father Time.

That pulling feeling from before began to intensify as it felt as if it wanted me to continue onwards deeper into the Roman-style building.

"Hey Sneasel?" I called out to her as she held a book missing half of its spine.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Is it too late to mention that something is pulling me deeper into this place?" I said while rummaging through some draws. Nothing of value was found.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Like, a feeling that I should continue deeper into this building that only gets stronger as I get deeper."

"...Why didn't you tell me that earlier?!" She yelled, throwing her book into the air.

"I don't know. I forgot for a second to mention it, then just kind of kept forgetting."

"Well, do you hear that voice you mentioned from earlier? The demon or ghost thing?"

"No, it feels different. It's more of a feeling that I really should continue onwards. Anyway, I thought to let you know."

I left the library and continued deeper into the building, with Sneasel complaining to me that this was a bad idea. She was probably right, but I can't shake this feeling.

The small hallway led up to a grand-looking door that was half open. Sneasel and I entered the room, revealing it to be a grand hallway of sorts. At the far end was a huge metallic door that was made with seemingly the same crystals as the Dialga and Palkia statues, with both taking half of it.

Along the left side of the room sat a row of pillars that connected to the room, with small statues of Legendary Pokémon lining in between them. From where I was, I could see that the first one was Rayquaza, the legendary Pokémon that stops the two Legendaries of earth and water from clashing with each other.

On the right sat a row of large tapestries depicting events of sorts. With curiosity fueling our actions, Sneasel and I walked over to the first tapestry that was hanging from the wall.

The first tapestry depicted a pair of grayed-out figures, one being bipedal and the other a quadruped of sorts, atop what looked to be a tower that ascended high into the sky, with all the worn-out blue sky and clouds as a telling sign of how tall it was. In front of the two grayed figures that sat a large figure that I recognized easily. The kicker was a large rock with crude attempts at fire surrounding it that was falling from the blue sky.

"What a weird picture. I wonder what that large green thing is," Sneasel mumbled while looking over the tapestry.

"Rayquaza," I replied.

"What?"

"It's a legendary Pokémon that keeps the other legendary Pokémon of water and earth in check. It likes to fly in the ozone layer and eats meteorites for sustenance. See those two smaller, gray figures?" I pointed my vines towards them.

"Yeah? What about them?"

"They are heroes who, even against the odds, climbed the sky tower to get the aid of this Pokémon to destroy that meteorite that threatened their homes."

"Huh. Cool, I guess. Why are they grayed out? Shouldn't heroes be well seen?"

"Maybe it's a prophecy thing. You know, like how two unknown heroes at the time step in to save everyone, but no one knows who at the time."

"Hmm. That makes sense. I wonder who those two heroes were."

We spent a little time looking it over before moving down the hall to the next one.

Like the tapestry before, I instantly recognized this one.

With both tapestries so far being from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, with the first one being Pokémon Rescue Team, I recognized this tapestry as Pokémon Explorer of Sky's end-game setting.

This setting, like the one before, was also set on a tower, but unlike the previous one, a large stone object sitting on an incline of a staircase had five gear holes in it. In front of said object sat a large Pokémon, Dialga this time, but he seemed coloured with orange accents.

At the far bottom of the tapestry, in its own secluded bubble, sat two darkened figures' silhouettes. It took me a second, but I recalled the one on the left to be Grovyle's and the one on the right to be Duskanoir's'.

Standing opposite Dialga, with five gears floating above them, was another set of grey figures. Like before, they represented the heroes of the stories or playable characters you would play as. This time they were both bipedal.

"Oh, those two heroes again. Hey wait, isn't that the same Pokémon from those statues earlier? I wonder what it is since Pokémon keep making statues about it," Sneasel pondered.

"Dialga. The legendary Pokémon that uses time. Or was it the embodiment of time? Yeah, that's right: it is time and all that represents. See those gears?" I pointed towards the five floating blue gears with a vine.

"The things floating above the heroes? Yeah, what about them?"

"The heroes had to place those gears so that the figure on the right was behind Dialga before the tower collapsed, making him lose control of his time powers and thus making time stop."

"Then why is he blocking them? Seems counterproductive. A world with no time just sounds terrible."

"Well, I think Dialga was losing his marbles because of said tower's destruction and thus was lashing out wildly." I continued to stare at the tapestry for a short time when I noticed that the border had a shadowy texture surrounding it that led to the top, where a small set of blue eyes sat.

"This is great and all, but I have just one small question," Sneasel said.

"Shoot. What is it?" I replied, keeping an eye on the pair of eyes. They felt oddly familiar.

"Are you just making all this up?"

"What? Why would I?"

"Then how do you know about all this? I've been to a couple of towns around, and I have yet to have even heard of a Dee-alga or Ray-q-aza, the other Legendary as you called them earlier."

Like a deer caught in headlights, I froze in place. I slowly lowered my gaze, meeting a cross-armed Sneasel who was eyeing me suspiciously.

"I… I just know. I'm not making it up either. I just…"

"You just what? Why can't you tell me?" She was getting a bit worked up, throwing her arms to the side, when she took a breath and realized something. "It's because you don't trust me, isn't it?"

"It's-I-Uh."

"I saved your life, I tried to play nice, and I spilled my heart out with an apology, too!" Sneasel said getting worked up. "What do I have to do to earn your damn trust? Do I need to go through what you went through? Do you have to get even with me? Do you have to hurt me?"

"What? I'm not a sadistic person who needs to get equal in pain. So no. I don't want to hurt you for no real reason!"

"Then what? What do I have to do-"

"It's this world!" I screamed, cutting her off. She seemed confused by my response and backed up a little bit. I continued on, now that I was worked up. "I thought this world was better, but it's not. In fact, it's just as bad, if not worse! Since I have come to this damn place, I have been attacked, tricked, betrayed, enslaved, and tortured! And that is only in the first month or so. Even If my childhood was not the best, at least I have never known what it feels like to get drilled!" I continued my glaring and took a deep breath. "I cant- I- what is trust? I know I trust Vulpix, but why? Why do I trust her?"

Sneasel and I sat in silence for a short time. If I missed Vulpix before, then that feeling is greatly intensified right now. She would know what to say to help me get past this.

"You're scared, aren't you?" Sneasel said.

"What? Why would I be scared?" I countered defensively.

"You're scared of what others might think or do to you, as well as what could happen."

I laughed. "What do you mean what could happen? And I don't care what others think of me!"

"Maybe not, but you care about what they might do if they think about you in a certain way."

The next words I wanted to say got choked up in my throat. I wanted to shout and scream at Sneasel, but a tinge of fear rose up. Anger started to take root, which started to push that fear back down. I looked back at Sneasel, ready to scream or something to that extent, but she was first to say something.

"You trust Vulpix because you know she won't hurt you. You know she is there for you."

"You don't know a thing about me!"

"Maybe. But I know you feel the same way about Vulpix as I do about Scorbunny. I know from the bottom of my heart that Scorbunny would have my back if I needed him. The same way you know that Vulpix has yours. Just don't tell Scorbunny I said that. He would never let me live that down."

Sneasel took a couple of small steps towards me. Something in the back of my mind was screaming to lash out and run, but the image of Sneasel standing before me to defend me ran through my mind, grounding me.

"If you think the world is against you, then wouldn't having a couple of friends behind you help? I know Scorbunny would run to your aid if you needed him, and even if you are a bit of a boneheaded brute… I would, too. I already have! So you know that for sure, don't you?"

I sat there for a while, completely unsure of what to say, do, or feel. I took a deep breath and let it out. "Geez, you really are Scorbunny's friend, aren't you?"

"What?" she said looking confused to my comment.

"Scorbunny came out of the blue a couple of days ago, hitting me with these sorts of questions too."

"Heh. Let me guess, he hit the nail on the head?"

"Yeah. I guess he did."

"He has always been good like that when it counts with all this emotional stuff."

I paused for a second. My mouth began to open and close, with the secrets of my origin hanging on the tip of my tongue. I gritted my teeth, threatening to break them, when the visage of Vulpix, who was standing behind Sneasel appeared. From her appearing alone, I got the message it was trying to tell me.

Trust.

"Can I tell you an unbelievable secret? One so absurd that even I doubt it to this day?"

She gave a small nod.

"I… I am not from this world. Hell, I'm not even a Pokémon. I… I used to be a human that one day got sent to this world, reborn as a Bulbasaur. I'm not sure, but I think I'm meant to do something, but I have no clue or guide as to what." I paused for a second to get a look at Sneasel. She was very deeply focused on every word I was saying. When I saw how invested she was, I just kind of continued.

Like a dam being destroyed, a river of words escaped my mouth. I told Sneasel about how Pokémon aren't real but are, in fact, interactive stories or video games. I then explained why I knew about those two previous tapestries since I played those two games.

"So that's why I know so much about Pokémon," I finished.

The euphoria I felt when I told Sneasel hit me so hard I nearly passed out. Even if something bad comes from this, it felt great to tell another soul about being human.

Sneasel just stared at me, earning my unease.

"Well? Totally unbelievable, am I right?" I said.

Sneasel took a deep breath and spoke. "Yep. That was complete rubbish that even a kid on his wildest day could not come up with. Yet, I believe you. Actually, it explains so much about you."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, it's so obvious that you are odd! You say things weirdly like 'someone,' you can't read the common language, and you are completely enigmatic to everything around you. While it could be that you are from a different region, you know too much about one thing and nothing about the land around."

"Really? And here I thought I was doing a good job blending in."

"Are you kidding me? You blend in like a Geodude floating in a pool of water."

"Well, sooorry that everything is moving way too fast for me to even be able to understand things. Old habits are tough to get out of if you don't even know you are doing them."

Sneasel rested her chin on a claw, thinking. "Then, what if I help you when we get out? I could, like, poke you when you do something weird with my claw?"

"Yeah, nah. That sounds like it would get annoying very fast."

"Hmph. I'm only trying to help. Just one more thing."

"What?"

"Can I ask you some questions? About where you came from and all that? I've never met a human before."

"Fine. But not here. Let's get out and regroup with the others."

"Thanks! Oh, and your secret is safe with me."

I felt two things flowing inside me. One was a feeling of clarity that I had finally told someone else my biggest secret, and the other was a sense of unease about who I told it to. Well, guess what? Only time will tell if I made a good choice or not. I really hope I did the right thing for myself.

We arrived at a doorway that led to a smaller, rounded room. In the middle sat an elevated, circular staircase leading to a pedestal. Surrounding the room on the walls was another collage of tapestries.

Sneasel and I looked around the room for any possible traps or foes, but we relaxed a little when nothing showed up.

We ignored the pedestals for now to check out the art that splayed the walls.

The first one to our left showed both legendaries Dialga and Palkia standing against each other in combat, with both shooting beams of sorts at each other. The land that was shown was completely barren and grey, and it looked like it had seen one hell of a battle.

"Are they fighting?" Sneasel asked.

"It seems like it."

"Why?"

"I think it had something to do with territory? If I recall, Dialga, the four-legged one, left its time area, and Palkia decided it wasn't having none of that and fought Dialga, with Dialga doing the same with Palkia entering the time bubble Dialga was in charge of. Kinda weird if you ask me."

"That just sounds ridiculous."

"Most stories regarding big boy gods do."

While studying the art, I felt myself getting lost in the tapestries. It almost felt like I knew roughly what was going on behind the art.

We moved on to the second picture. It revealed that both Pokémon were defeated, or calmed? I'm not too sure, but in the middle of them lay a large, radiant yellow figure. Dialga and Palkia were both cowering from the figure while looking heavily injured- probably from fighting each other. From looking at this picture, you couldn't tell what this radiant figure was, but I knew who it was.

The figure had seemingly placed the two legendary Pokémon in a bubble of their colors.

"After fighting, the creator of them and all things named ARCEUS put a stop to it, pacified them, and sent them to their respective areas."

"What was that name you said that thing was? Sounded like some weird static noise."

Ignoring Sneasel since I was too focused on the history, I moved on to the next tapestry.

This picture was of the same land as before, if not aged by who knows how long since there were showings of grass and some Pokémon that were gathering two orbs left where Dialga and Palkia once were.

"After ARCEUS had pacified time and space, they left behind two orbs. Dialga's being the time orb called the Adamant Orb, and Palkia's being the space orb called the Lustrous Orb. The land began to heal, and the Pokémon that were created discovered them."

"You made that noise again! Could you stop it? It's freaking me out. How do you even make that to begin with?"

"What? I'm not making a weird noise. Are you okay? I get that you are tired too, but stay with me here."

"I'm not going crazy if that is what you are insinuating. You are literally making buzzing noises when you name that creator thing you mentioned."

I whispered Arceus to myself away from Sneasel to see if I could hear what she was talking about. To me it sounded normal.

"Arceus," I said again.

Sneasel quickly grabbed her ears, covering them. "Stop it! It's not funny!"

"Hmm. That's a bit weird. What do you think it could mean?"

"That you like to make annoying noises."

"I'm not making static noises! I'm saying a name of the creator Pokémon Ar-"

"Stop! Okay, I'll believe you, just don't say it again."

I gave a 'Tch,' and moved on.

Sneasel and I had to debate the next few tapestries, but I think we came up with a good idea of how the next few pieced together.

The next few tapestries illustrated a town built around the orb, using its powers of time to speed up agriculture and space to transport objects like water to said plants. It wasn't shown how they used the orbs, just that they did.

The orbs revealed that, although they had great power and could be used somehow, they weren't without costs. Time would take time, and space would take space from the user, meaning age and your body itself as payments. They showed this by using two identical figures using both orbs, with the first one being young and complete and the second version of that figure being old and with parts missing.

I couldn't tell the age or a type of Pokémon I'd never seen before, but besides the legendaries, I could not make out one of these weird-looking Pokémon.

The next tapestry showed that the inhabitants created a tower using the power of the orbs. The tower was a menacing grey with it stretching greatly into the sky. It's always a tower with these things, huh?

Anyways, the next tapestry showed that inside the tower was basically a huge set of spiraling staircases that traveled up the tower and a huge- and I mean huge- number of doors all with different locks.

Walking over to the next tapestry, there was a machine of sorts with the Adamant orb and Lustrous orb connected to it. In a large area next to the machine, on either side, sat two large crystals, one blue for the Adamant orb and one pink for the Lustrous orb.

In the middle of the machine, there sat a key of sorts with a weird shape to it. It looked like a child was told to scribble on a piece of paper, and someone thought it would make for a good key with how many loops and random shapes it had.

The last and final tapestry was split into two parts. On the left was the tower in the middle of the larger town, and then on the right, that tower was gone. There were no clues or anything saying what had happened; it was just gone.

"I'm confused. What happened to the tower?" Sneasel asked. "And what is with those keys? I'm so confused."

"I'm guessing the keys were for the doors in the tower or something."

"But what about the tower? And I don't recall a town with a tower that huge ever being mentioned by any Pokémon."

"Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe those Pokémon played around with the space and time orbs a bit too much, and something happened to them. Play around with magical orbs, and you will find out what happens."

"What?"

"Nothing. It just means if you mess with something dangerous, you will learn the hard way why it's dangerous."

"So, do you think the tower moved?"

"Maybe. Anything is possible in this world."

"But that isn't an answer. Argh, I hate it when we don't learn everything in one go."

"Ha! You're telling me. I've just been living with a mental list of 'find out later.'"

I took a look around the room, spying the pedestal in the middle of it. I walked towards it. It was shaped like a dragon's claw that would've been holding something in it.

"Empty? Well, that's lame," I said.

"Yeah, we went all this way just for half stories and empty pedestals?"

"Oh, you like looting too?"

"Of course I do. What idiot hates finding a cool item or trinket after exploring a dungeon?"

"Right!?" I realized that I was getting a tad worked up and took a breath. There was another door leading forwards to the right of where we came in. "Let's keep moving."

The last door of the Roman-style room led back into the Mystery Dungeon. I could tell by the rocky walls and lack of marble walling. The Roman building led to a small slope that went down, thankfully, towards a straight path. I was able to see a bright white light coming from the far end of it.

"The exit! I can see it!" Sneasel called out. She started to jog towards it before realizing that I was still only walking. "What are you doing? Let's get a move on."

"Oh, then let me just get a move on, shall I? Oh wait, that's right, I'm in a huge amount of pain that hurts like hell when I move too fast."

"Geez, no need to be snarky at me. I was just excited."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry, it's been a long day."

"No worries. Well, then I'll stay with you to the finish line."

Sneasel and I continued our walk until the path led to a wider room. All in the room were a small number of Arons and a Larion off to the side. Sneasel and I were ready for them to attack, but then we noticed that they weren't exactly moving. They were breathing, but they looked unconscious.

Sneasel snuck up to one of them and took a look at it. She relaxed her stance. "They are unconscious. I think some Pokémon battled them and won."

"Are you sure it's wise to be talking so loudly around them?" I replied in a hushed tone.

"Yeah, we will be fine. Guessing from how they look, they were up against a fire type Pokémon and won't be getting back up anytime soon."

I entered the room, taking a look at the Arons and Larion lying asleep. They were covered from head to toe in scratch marks and scorch marks.

"Who do you think could've done this?" I asked.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the two fire-type Pokémon from our team?" Sneasel replied.

"I'm too tired for a comeback, so shut up. So you think they left?" Sneasel walked over towards the cave exit. There she grabbed something. It was a note that she was now reading.

"Hmm, if this note that I found is telling me the truth, then Vulpix, Scorbunny, and Servine left to get experts' help. They also mention the rough direction of the nearest town if we should find this note."

"Oh. Well, that is a good idea. I doubt I could leave knowing Vulpix is still here."

"I guess. Anyway, since the note here says they left, I think we should leave too."

"Yeah, it sounds good."

We started to make our way towards the exit when that nervous feeling crept back into my stomach and then into my throat. I knew what I had to do, so, Like a man, I went for it.

"Sneasel!" I said sternly.

"Wha- what? What is it?"

"Sneasel, before we leave, I have to say something."

"Uh, you don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, I do. If I don't know, then I doubt I could ever work myself up to say it."

"Alright then."

"Sneasel. First, forgiveness isn't easy for me, as you are sure."

"Geez, I would never have guessed." I gave her a stern look. "Sorry."

"Anyway, what I want to say is that I forgive you, but even more so, thank you."

"Wait, why are you thanking me?"

"You potentially saved me from a fate worse than death today. I would have been at the mercy of The Warden, and who knows how long until I would've seen Vulpix? So…" I said, walking up to her. She was a bit nervous at first but stood tall after a second. "I-I would like to offer you my friendship and, even more, my… my trust." I raised my right foreleg out towards her. She looked at it, then, after a second, smiled. She grabbed it gently, and we shook our digits.

"Thank you, Bulbasaur. I'm glad that you are giving me another chance. The creator knows I had to work for it."

"Hey, that's only because I'm worth it."

"Cheating on Vulpix, I see? How scandalous."

"Hey, I can be friends with anyone I want."

"Haaa. Poor Vulpix."

I frowned, which Sneasel started to snicker at. After a second, I joined her, and we both started to have a good, genuine laugh.

Our laughter was cut short when a grunting noise came from behind us.

"Well, shall we leave?"

"Yeah, let's. Oh wait! One more thing."

"What is it?"

"Call me Ace. All my friends do."

And thus, we left the cave.

End Chapter 23