Sojaveña Wilds Silver Ravine Mystery Dungeon

[IFBench]

"Take a wild guess," Arctozolt said. "The answer depends on what you mean by 'from', anyways."

 

[Phoenixsong]

"Oh, that's cool! Pallet Town—where I live—is on a coast, too, but there aren't really a lot of beaches. Mostly just trees. Basically the opposite of here, heh." And sleepier than a snorlax and substantially less fun to play with.

"Take a wild guess," Arctozolt said.

Well Leaf was still having a hard time getting past the guess "rubber chicken Frankenstein planet", and honestly how much weirder was that than a place where pokémon acted like humans but also acted like animals but also just casually weren't real sometimes, but something about Arctozolt's expression told her to maybe hold her horses on that one.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Other worlds, huh? That's wild, man."

Nico, for what it was worth, seemed to take the news in stride. He didn't sound all that much like he was humouring the party.

"Don't know anything about other worlds, never heard of any of those places, but stranger things do happen," he said, after a small pause. "Figure I may as well get used to the idea now, instead of being one of those idiots in the moving pictures who doesn't believe the heroes until the last minute, right?"

He turned to face the four offworlders, and alighted on another tree. He made a little bow, with a winged flourish.

"So... Welcome to Forlas, pokémon from other worlds! I hope you enjoy your stay, and—"

The seabird's eyes flicked up.

"Watch yourselves! Hostile 'mon!"

Wild Ferrothorn wants to battle!

 

[Phoenixsong]

Huh. He'd taken that surprisingly well. Closer to Mayor Enubel than to Amelia on the "response to the super weird thing you just said" slider. She beamed back up at Nico, but her thanks were cut off by a warning cry and the wattrel gesturing at something behind them.

Leaf whirled around to get a better look at the threat. Not a pokémon she was extra familiar with, Unovan or something, maybe, but her expert analysis was "really big, really metallic, really spiky and waving some also-spiky vines around like it was really eager to introduce those spikes to their faces at high velocity". Double kick was tempting if it was steel, but it also looked like it'd be about as punishing as all those times Mom had stepped on her old lego bricks, so. Different plan:

"Gonna see if I can keep those vines off us, give us an opening if we need it!" she called to the others. Leaf only had one spike to the ferrothorn's A Lot, but she lowered her head to put it between the wild pokémon and them all the same, and lit it up with psychic energy.

She realized as, she did so, that it hadn't been Nico's shout she'd heard first.

Hey, hello, hi, Voice-buddy, can you hear me now? she thought, as big as she could. How good's the reception for you here?

 

[Weazel]

Pallet Town, Pallet Town… The name was familiar somehow, but Archie couldn’t quite place it. The strange mix-and-match creature was being cagey. They’d said very little this whole expedition so far, and generally didn’t seem inclined to come out of their shell. And he didn’t really have much time to think further on that subject, before they were quite suddenly attacked by a Ferrothorn. A fairly dangerous seeming Pokemon for a place frequented by children, to be honest! But, then, kids were never very smart.

Leaf jumped into the fray first, shouting to the rest of them that she was going to try and confuse it. Archie figured the least he could do was try and distract the wild Pokemon so she could make her attempt without any trouble!So he pulled one of the Geo Pebbles he’d picked up along the way and tossed it at the giant steel acorn.

“Hey! Over here you big lug!” He shouted, waving his arms.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Hello, Leaf! Hello as well to Archie, Rodion, and Naylene & Decibel!

The ferrothorn took the pebble projectile with a dull grunt, and its metallic hide shimmered with energy as it hardened in response. The creature clamped its way across the sheer vertical surface of the ravine, clicking and growling to itself as it targeted Archie for a retaliatory attack.

Archie's Geo Pebble dealt 6 dmg!
Ferrothorn used Harden! +1 Def!
Ferrothorn used Power Whip!

The wild 'mon withdrew a barbed appendage from the rock face, and launched it towards Archie in a sweeping arc—

It dealt a grazing 26 dmg! It's super-effective! Archie looks hurt...

—and it hurt like hell, even though the attack only clipped him.

"This one's tough!" squawked Nico. "Like, way tougher than normal! Guys, get behind me!"

I can hear you! Wow, the connection is much stronger now! Being in combat makes your auras flare up bright and clear!

...Incidentally, I think that you should disengage from that ferrothorn. You are certainly not well-matched!

Nico swept past the offworlders nearest the ferrothorn, and pirouetted through its vines to peck at it – apparently doing no more than irritating the creature.

"I'll use an orb if I have to! Don't get hurt for no reason, you guys!"

 

[Virgil134]

Rodion narrowed his eyes, before a small grin formed on his face and he spat up a stream of water at the Ferrothorn. It would take more than a type disadvantage for him to back down.

Rodion used Soak!

"Come on, we can do this! Use any Grass or Electric moves if you got them!"

Rodion clutched the seed he picked up earlier, before throwing it at the Ferrothorn.

Rodion threw a Small Blast Seed!

 

[IFBench]

Arctozolt grumbled, then attempted to zap the Ferrothorn with a Thunder Shock.

 

[Phoenixsong]

So Leaf had managed to keep the ferrothorn's vines tangled for a good, oh, three seconds maybe before it just swung straight on through her telekinesis, leaving her dizzy and ringing Archie's bell something fierce. Even the clearest Voice-message they'd gotten so far was telling them to back off. Damn. Okay. Different different plan, then.

"Hey, Nico," she called as she moved to help Archie up, "is this just a normal big angry guy, or is it a phantasm?" He'd be able to tell even if they didn't know, right? "If it's not, we need to keep going anyway! We can keep up the ranged hits to hold it back while we're moving!" Rodion's soak would help dampen its blows (...ha), at least.

(Would an actual phantasm be tougher than this, or just meaner? Would they have to fight any? Because that energy inside was starting to heat up again, she wanted to stay, to fight, to show it what she could do. But technically that wasn't what they were here for, sure, fine, whatever. Hopefully that just meant there'd be a rain check later on.)

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Pretty sure it's wild! Does it matter??"

Nico glanced back at the team with a harried look, but joined the attack for all his worth nonetheless.

Arctozolt's Thunder Shock dealt 7 dmg!
Nico's Thunder Shock dealt 12 dmg!
Rodion's Small Blast Seed dealt 20 dmg!

The ferrothorn whined disagreeably, and set itself firmly into a crevice in the rock, green blips of light pulsing along its vines.

Wild ferrothorn used Ingrain!

Nico whistled with relief. "Okay, let's back way off while it's immobile, yeah??"

The seabird whipped up a Tailwind with a squawk of effort, blasting the sparse small trees in his wake.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Okay, it looked more interested in hunkering down than in dragging itself after them. That'd worked out pretty nicely. (Easier target, sang the energy racing around her head. Yeah, and that'd be a great advantage if it wasn't healing itself, said the trainer. We'd need more firepower to rush it down before it really sets itself. If Reynard or Countdown were here to help she'd be hella tempted to try it, too. But they weren't here, and it was probably gonna be ages before she was as strong as them.)

"I don't know if it matters! I s'pose that's why I'm asking," Leaf said, cantering down the trail after Nico, the tailwind adding an extra lightness to her step. (So tempting to just run and see how far she could really go.) "I mean, yeah, don't wanna get slapped for no reason either way, but if there's a difference between them or a way to tell which is which then I figure that might be helpful to know, is all. That and, well, you said phantasms tend to show up more the deeper you go, right? That is where we need to be, and uh, I guess it seemed like a less annoying question than 'are we there yet'."

...can you hear us now that the ferrothorn's gone? she thought at the Voice. We're still moving further in...

 

[Weazel]

Well, on the one hand, he did manage to draw it’s attention off of Leaf. On the other hand, its counterattack hurt. A lot. He’d tried to dodge back, but instead got clipped across the stomach, knocking the air out of him and sending him tumbling to the ground. As he laid there, trying to catch his breath, he vaguely heard Nico say something about not getting needlessly hurt. It was kinda too late for that, though.

Well, for one thing, being flat on his back gave him a moment to focus on the voice suddenly ringing in his head. The voice of the Cloud from the Nexus. Unfortunately, his thoughts were a little scrambled at the moment, and, the first thing his brain settled on was maybe not the most important thing he could broadcast right now.

Did you know they let children in this place?

But then there was Leaf, there to haul him back to his feet. He accepted the help gratefully, slurring out an “I’m okay.”

Which was a lie. But then he dug an Oran Berry out of his bag and chowed down. Then he actually was okay. And just in time, too, as Nico called for a full retreat as the Ferrothorn dug its vines into the ground, temporarily immobilizing itself. So the Oshawott hurried after the Ponyta, hoping that the Buizel and, uh, whatever the other creature was – presumably Naylene or Decibel, assuming the Buizel was Rodion? But then, that assumption was based entirely on the fact the Buizel both looked and sounded to be male. But that didn’t mean the Buizel couldn’t be Naylene or Decibel. Archie really should’ve asked them their names at the start of all this, it felt way too awkward to do so now...

Why were there five names if there was only four of them, anyway?

Well, hopefully they’d run too. Like Nico said, they didn’t want to get separated.

 

[Virgil134]

Rodion clicked his tongue as a grimace fell over his face upon seeing the Ferrothorn take root. While running from a feral was definitely not his first choice, fighting a Ferrothorn that was constantly healing itself would surely prove to be a long and tedious fight. One they didn't need to fight, especially now they could easily move past the Ferrothorn deeper into the dungeon.

He turned away from the Ferrothorn, before begrudgingly following after Leaf and Archie.

 

[Jackie Cat]

...can you hear us now that the ferrothorn's gone? We're still moving further in...

Yes. I can hear you fairly clearly, now! Hello again, Leaf. I am glad you are alright, and I am glad that travelling to a mystery dungeon does strengthen our connection as I had hoped for.

What would you like to talk about, Leaf?

Did you know they let children in this place?

I did not know that! If that is true, then they should consider changing their policy as soon as possible.

This dungeon is becoming stronger.

 

[Weazel]

Okay! His head wasn’t swimming so bad, now, the Oran Berry had well and truly done its work, and he could now more properly focus on what the Cloud was saying.

Well, I don’t know if it’s so much ‘allow’ as ‘fail to prevent,’ but…

Archie furrowed his brow.

Wait, what do you mean the Dungeon’s getting stronger?

That was not a combination of words the Oshawott was familiar with. In his world, Mystery Dungeons didn’t become stronger or weaker, they simply were or weren’t. The idea that they could strengthen – like a storm, perhaps? – didn’t suggest anything good, based on Archie’s understanding of how Mystery Dungeons worked – at least in his own and Bellatrix’s worlds. Maybe the rules were different here, but the Oshawott felt a chill run up his spine either way.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Leaf snorted at the "they shouldn't let children in here" jab, but reasoned after a second that Archie probably meant, like, little-little kids. Which, okay, fine, she'd let him have that one, but still. There are probably plenty of adults who can't handle themselves in here, too.

Hm. What did she want to talk about...? They'd been so focused on just getting to the point where talking was even an option. (Ideally an option without sixty different problems exploding in the background, since that was just a tiny bit distracting and all.) They still didn't know for sure what they were supposed to be doing about this whole human supremacist deal beyond "make it not be a thing anymore", but if the Voice had an update on that front they'd probably have opened with it.

Is there a way we can make it easier to talk to you outside of dungeons, even when we're not fighting? Is there something we could bring out of here with us, or something we could find or make?

 

[Jackie Cat]

The dungeon had begun to twist in ways that felt vaguely vertiginous. River-water flowed in multiple directions within its channels, sometimes uphill, sometimes dissipating into vapour. Tree-roots clutched at vertical rock faces, branches reached for a sun perpetually at high noon. Shadows perished under its light.

"Okay, looks like we're clear of that guy," said Nico, with a low whistle. "We're getting pretty far in now, relatively speaking. You, uh, satisfied with the tour? You said you wanted to try something, right? If we go much farther we'll hit the heart, I expect."

Yes! The heart of the mystery dungeon is where the walls of the world are at their thinnest. We will be able to communicate most easily from there.

The heart of a dungeon can sometimes be moved, or altered, or divided.

Let us discover the heart of Silver Ravine!

 

[Phoenixsong]

Leaf glanced over her shoulder as she continued on. No sign of the ferrothorn, check. The others were keeping up okay, best she could tell. Hopefully. "Everyone good?" she called back, just to be sure.

"We need to get to the heart to try the thing, yeah," Leaf said, passing the Voice's confirmation along to Nico. "The deepest parts of a dungeon are where it gets strangest, right?" It sure was stranger now than it had been at the beginning. The river looked like it was about five seconds away from trying a midair loop-de-loop. "We're supposed to try to... talk to someone?" They were talking now, though. Talk... more... to them? "More weird travelers-from-another-world stuff, basically." Maybe he'd ask for more detail than that, hm. Well, wasn't like they had a lot more to give.

Hard to know what she was even supposed to ask the Voice, since half the time they seemed to have so little idea what to expect themselves, but not saying anything at all felt awkward. Did it even really have to be about the dungeon, if the group wasn't even there yet? Seemed kinda rough if "uhhhh what now" was all anyone was ever gonna be contacting them about. Kinda... lonely.

So then: How are you doing, actually? she asked. It must be hard, trying to keep track of so many of us. Have you done anything fun, or, or, oh! Seen any cool beetles lately?

 

[Jackie Cat]

"You're expecting to meet someone?" replied Nico, with an inquisitive tone. "Or like, commune with the spirits beyond, kinda thing?" Then he looked away, as if embarrassed. "Not that I believe in anything like that myself, but fair play to anyone who does, I say."

How are you doing, actually? It must be hard, trying to keep track of so many of us. Have you done anything fun, or, or, oh! Seen any cool beetles lately?

It is hard, actually! It takes very nearly all the concentration I can muster just to link between all of you, although it is easier when your auras are stronger. Even so, it is hard enough that I have not had any opportunity to do things for fun... Although, in some ways, it is quite fun to help you heroic spirits in battle. I experience a kind of thrill when you do well, which I prefer to the feeling I get when battles go badly. Fortunately, battles have always gone fairly well so far! So, battles are good.

Beetles are also good! There are very many different species of beetle even in just the local region where you heroic spirits are, and sometimes I can see them when our conenction is strong! They are so interesting, Leaf! Did you know that their shapes and sizes vary immensely? Some stretch up to six or more inches, while the most diminutive can fit on the head of a pin. They also have many incredible adaptations! Different species display intricate patterns and iridescent colors or bizarre body structures, having evolved in astounding ways to survive and thrive in every possible environment. Some have impressive camouflage to blend into their surroundings, while others display striking warning colors to deter predators. They also have crucial ecological roles! Beetles are pollinators, recyclers, and predators. They help decompose dead plant material, aid in nutrient cycling, and even control pest populations. Without beetles, this world's ecosystems would be dramatically different...

The dungeon shifted again, and glittering dungeon-dust wafted an inch in the air with each step. The party was getting near the heart by now, surely...

Oh, Leaf, I am sorry! I get excited about these things. But you came here for my help, so I will try to help you.

How can I help you, heroic spirits?

 

[Weazel]

So, the idea is, if we carve off a piece of this heart, and carry it back with us, we’ll be able to contact you anytime, right?

At least, that seemed to be what the Cloud was suggesting, before it went off on its insect tangent. He still hadn’t gotten any clarification on just what the voice was talking about when it said the dungeon was getting stronger. Was that meant generally, or was it specifically as they went deeper in? Because if it was the former, Archie still found that very concerning!

Still, it was actually probably better he kept his eyes out for any of those phantasms. If they were tougher than that Ferrothorn had been, that would be a serious issue for them. The dungeon had been fairly serene so far, but that just made the surprises, when they happened, all the more nasty.