Waterfall Cave
2F
"…this dungeon is quite underwhelming," Tesla mutters as he looks at the downed Lotad slowly disintegrating to nothing, leaving a few coins and an apple.
"Let us not jinx it," Victor says in exasperation.
"What does a Pokémon have to do with what Tesla said?" Thorn asks in confusion.
"What? Oh." Victor was confused by Thorn's question before remembering there was a Pokémon called Jinx. "Oh, no. I didn't mean that Pokémon, Jynx. Humans use the word 'jinx' to describe tempting fate, which mostly involves bad luck. What I mean is to warn Tesla not to tempt fate."
"Huh, you humans have a weird way to use your words," Thorn muses.
"Oh, you have no idea," Victor mutters before looking at the item drops, nothing but more Gravelerocks.
"Hmm," Sabo looks around the dungeon, observing the wall where all waters flow out. "This dungeon sure has a unique design. I mean, water leaking through the wall is not something new, but one that imitates the waterfall itself? I never heard of it."
"Is it possible that no dungeon has ever been discovered behind the waterfall?" Victor asks.
"Based on all the news I read, no. Maybe not yet, the world is vast, and right now, there are only a few places where Mystery Dungeon is formed. I think this might be new." Sabo says as he rubs his chin.
"Is there a possibility that some Pokémon haven't been reported yet or refuse to do it?" Victor asks.
"It's…possible…" Sabo mutters, looking unsure as he continues to look around the dungeon. "Maybe someone had discovered it, but they either forgot to report it or chose to keep it a secret."
'Well, in the original timeline, guildmaster William is the one who discovers the dungeon first.' Victor thought with a frown. 'He ended up forgetting about it until the main protagonist reminded him about it. Should I tell them the truth?'
Victor looks at Sabo, who seems sad at the possibility of an explored dungeon that nobody bothers to report. Victor let out a quiet sigh before deciding that maybe some things shouldn't be revealed.
"Don't think too much about it, Sabo," Victor says as he pats Cyndaquil's back. "It was just a speculation, and there's a possibility that it is new. Don't think too much about it and just enjoy the explorations."
"Y-yeah," Sabo says with a wide smile, and Victor returns the smile before ruffling the fur on his head.
"Come on, let's explore more of this dungeon and see what it could offer us," Victor says before walking away.
"…" Tesla looks slightly annoyed as he never gets the chance to cheer his little brother up, and beats himself up for not doing it before someone else takes the job. Sure, he didn't have any vendetta against Victor since he had helped him and Sabo, but the feeling of failing as an older brother still lingers in his mind.
"Tesla?" Tesla turns to see Thorn looking at him. "You're okay?"
"…'m fine," Tesla mutters before walking away. Thorn frowns as he looks at his teammate, worried about the Pikachu.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Waterfall Cave
3F
"…." Victor blankly stares at the room filled with Dungeon Pokémon, ready to attack Team Dawn at any time soon. Victor then glances at Tesla, who refuses to look him in the eyes.
"Vic…I understand you want to blame Tesla for tempting our fate, but can we do it later, after getting out of this mess?" Thorn begs as he anxiously glances at the army of Pokémon. How bad their luck truly is to encounter a Monster House again in just less than a week? He had never heard of any explorers complaining about how they encountered Monster House multiple times in less than a week.
"Fair…" Victor mutters before looking at Thorn. "You think you can use Poison and Sleep Powder on them?"
"Yeah, cover your nose," Thorn warns before pointing his bulb at the army of Pokémon, and after seeing his teammates covering their noses using their bandannas, he blasts a cloud of green and purple powder towards them. Victor observes as the powder knocks everyone out while their face have a purple tint, signifying they have been poisoned.
"…wanna beat them up since they're all asleep?" Victor asks as his teammates look at him with a horrified expression. Sure, they're Dungeon Pokémon, and they might drop items when they knock them out, but beating a sleeping and poisoned Pokémon!? Isn't that a bit much!?!
"The poison has done all of the work for us. Why would you add more suffering?!" Sabo asks in disbelief.
"Well, we could reduce that suffering by defeating them now," Victor suggests.
"Then why do you even suggest poisoning them in the first place!?" Thorn asks incredulously.
"… okay, might not be my brightest moment," Victor says as he looks away Mareepishly before they hear a loud crackling in the background. They turn to see Tesla beating a group of Poliwag with his electric-type moves and looting items from their disintegrating corpse. Tesla notices everyone staring and looks at them with a raised eyebrow.
"What?" Tesla asks as Thorn and Sabo facepalmed before they give Victor a side glance.
"What?" Victor asks in confusion, wondering why they give him that look.
"I can't believe you," Thorn says while shaking his head.
"You're a bad influence, Victor," Sabo says in a blank tone.
"…." Victor merely gave them a dry stare as the poison finally claimed each of the Dungeon Pokémon's life, slowly disintegrating and revealing the items they dropped. Victor raises his eyebrows when he notices there are several gummies dropped from the disintegrating corpses. He knows they're gummies thanks to the game, but he wonders how it works in this world.
"Oh, gummies!" Sabo exclaims in surprise and excitement. "These items allow whoever consumes them to gain some sort of instinctive skills based on how much they consume. Usually, the more you consume, the more instinctive skills you can gain. I heard some Explorers can resist sleep, or when confused, they will not harm their allies."
"That's…interesting," Victor mutters as he looks at the gummies he got. There are 5 of them, 2 green, 2 red, and 1 yellow. "…yeah, I don't think these gummies are for me. You guys should split these with each other."
"What?" Thorn asks in surprise. "You don't want to take either of these gummies?"
"I think I have established multiple times that I didn't turn into a Pokémon but a Digimon, so I doubt any effects will work on me," Victor says before giving them to his teammates. "Besides, I think these colors were meant for each of your types."
"That's…true," Sabo muses, before looking at Victor in concern. "Are you sure?"
"Yup. Besides, I can find another way to get stronger," Victor says with a grin.
"…" Thorn and Sabo look slightly hesitant, but Tesla simply takes the yellow one and eats it without hesitation.
"Big brother!" Sabo exclaims in disbelief.
"What? He says to take it, and that's what I did." Tesla says, trying to defend himself as he and Sabo are arguing again, but this time, there's a lack of tension. Victor merely chuckles at the scene while Thorn looks exasperated before glancing at Victor.
Thorn looks conflicted at how he's going to help Victor with his situation, his desire to return to his homeworld, while also how to help him get stronger. He feels utterly useless, and it affects him as he's supposed to be his team partner. Suddenly, Thorn notices Victor shoving the green gummy onto him, and he glances at Victor, looking confused.
"Take it, buddy," Victor says with a smile. Thorn looks conflicted before reluctantly accepting it, silently vowing he'll help Victor get stronger. After a while, they find the stairs to the next floor and climb.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Waterfall Cave
4F
"…huh?" Team Dawn is visibly confused when they are greeted by a Kecleon holding a basket full of items, sitting quietly as he waits for possible customers.
"Oh, hello!" The Kecleon greets cheerfully. "Welcome to the Kecleon Shop, how may I help you?"
"… Do we have enough funds to buy anything after buying all of those supplies?" Tesla whispers to Thorn.
"Let's not spend more items," Thorn says with a sigh. "We already had so much stuff from beating all those Dungeon Pokémon."
"Ah, sorry. We're just passing by," Victor says apologetically, causing the Kecleon to lose a bit of his cheerfulness before nodding.
"Ah, I understand. I hope you all have a nice day." The Kecleon says with a hint of disappointment in his voice. Thorn and Sabo looked conflicted and decided maybe buying one or two things might be enough, but they were dragged away by Victor and Tesla.
"W-what? Hey!" Thorn exclaims indignantly, completely confused by Victor's actions.
"Look, I understand that you dislike seeing Kecleon making such a face, but please don't waste our budget on buying more stuff. Did you forget that our job only gives us 10% of our supposed reward money due to the Guild's rule?" Victor asks as Thorn looks Mareepishly.
"Sorry…" Thorn mutters as he looks at Sabo pouting, getting dragged by his big brother.
"So…how does Kecleon even get itself into Mystery Dungeon?" Victor asks in confusion. "I mean, it's convenient to have them in here since we might be able to buy something that we might forget to bring, but are they even safe? Do they have some sort of fighting skills that allow them to fight against Dungeon Pokémon?"
"I think you're underestimating the shopkeeper too much," Sabo says. "They may not look much, but they're all from a Merchant Guild, a guild dedicated to training young merchants how to sell items and travel through dungeons. Where do you think they get their supplies from? Not all rescuers or explorers were willing to sell the items or supplies to the shop since they might need them when they went to the dungeon. And also, they might need to learn how to stop thieves if there's a chance no one is helping."
"…That makes so much sense," Victor mutters, remembering how the Kecleon is capable of killing your characters with that insane 999 dmg per hit if you try to steal something. "Also, is it just a coincidence, or do all shop owners just happen to be Kecleon?"
"The Merchant Guild doesn't consist only of sellers like Kecleon; any shop owners, including Kanga and Daichi, were graduated from the Merchant Guild. No Pokémon are legally allowed to open any kind of stores unless they graduate from the Guild." Sabo explains. Victor honestly didn't expect this at all: the existence of a guild for anyone who wishes to be a shop owner at all. He thought the world was already more complicated with more guilds existing in the world, but this piece of information only made it far more complicated.
"I honestly didn't expect all of this info dump," Victor muses.
"Info dump?" Sabo asks quizzically.
"A term used for someone providing a lot of information all at once," Victor replies as he looks at a group of Tangela. "Okay, I suppose we're back at beating Dungeon Pokémon, huh?"
"What a drag," Tesla grumbles before letting Sabo go and slamming his fist to his palm.
"Yeah, honestly, it's getting tiring," Victor says in a bored manner, slamming his fists into each other as it covered with a golden aura. "Let's just get this over with and move to the next floor."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Waterfall Cave
5F
"You know, I can't help but notice something," Sabo comments as they explore the dungeon.
"What is it?" Thorn asks curiously.
"We haven't encountered any single trap ever since we got into the dungeon," Sabo points out, causing Victor to halt before grabbing Sabo by his shoulder.
"For the love of Arceus, Sabo. Please, do not jinx us," Victor begs Sabo as he shakes violently. "I want something interesting to happen, but not at the cost of our expenses!"
"O-okay, okay! I get it, Victor! I get it!" Sabo exclaims before Victor stops and lets go. "No offense, Victor, but don't you think you're overreacting a bit?"
"Yeah, I mean sure, Sabo shouldn't have said it, but you're acting a bit too much," Thorn says as he looks at Victor with a raised eyebrow.
"I wouldn't have overreacted if I didn't end up being the victim!" Victor exclaims. "My family, including me, had this weird tendency to say anything that might've tempted fate, and every time we did, something bad almost happened to us that we almost had a heart attack!"
"…yeah, you're overreacting," Thorn deadpans as Victor raises his hands in surrender.
"Fine, no need to believe me! I-!" Victor pauses when he steps on something that reminds him of a pressure plate and looks down to see a tile with a black circle at the center. Victor's eyes twitched before giving Sabo a look, and Sabo could only give him an apologetic grin.
"I'm going to-!" Before Victor could finish his sentence, he was warped away from his team. Thorn, Sabo, and Tesla could only blink Noctowlish as they watched their leader get warped away to Arceus-knows-where. Thorn then turns and looks at Sabo, who looks apologetic.
"…I didn't mean to tempt fate," Sabo mutters. "I-I'll try to watch what I'm saying next time…"
"Let's…not talk too much about it, and find Victor back," Thorn sighed before they moved to the next dungeon room.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile
"Okay, how unlucky am I to get my asses dropped right at a motherfucking Monster House, again!?!" Victor exclaims in disbelief as he looks around and sees nothing but Dungeon Pokémon approaching Victor with a vicious glare.
"This is ridiculous, it's too much to be a mere coincidence!" Victor exclaims as a pair of vines wrapped around one of his arms. Victor looks and sees two Tangela trying to pull him towards them. In retaliation, Victor grabs the vines and pulls them towards him instead before spinning them like a wrecking ball.
All of the Pokémon surrounding him start to have second thoughts as they witness something beyond their comprehension. A mere Bagon somehow manages to lift a pair of Tangela like it was nothing, spinning them like they're balls and chains.
"Alright, then. I think it'll be a good idea to test this with you guys. I suppose I should thank you all for volunteering as target practice." Victor says while grinning sinisterly, causing the group to gulp in fear.
Turns out, Victor didn't get himself warped very far from his team, as Thorn, Sabo, and Tesla were only two rooms away from him. The three of them quickly rush to find Victor, concerned for his well-being. Sure, Victor has learn how to fight properly, but the unpredictability of Mystery Dungeon is not to be underestimated, as anything could happen in Mystery Dungeon.
But their worries are unnecessary as the moment they reach the next room, all of them are taken aback as they are greeted with a sight of Victor smashing a group of Pokemons by swinging two Tangela wildly. All of their mind went short-circuit upon witnessing the bizarre scene in front of them, while the room was surrounded by disintegrating corpses.
"And, stay down!" Victor exclaims before slamming the two Tangela into a Barboach, flattening it while also knocking the two Tangela down. Both slowly start to disintegrate. Victor let out a relieved sigh before noticing his teammates finally arrived, and he couldn't help but brighten up.
"Oh, hey guys," Victor says cheerfully, causing his teammate to faceplant.
"What was that!?" Thorn asks in disbelief.
"Me dealing with Monster House, again," Victor says as he stretches his limbs. "Oh, Arceus, how did our luck be so bad? I mean, encountering two Monster Houses twice in the same dungeon on the same day? That's gotta be one hell of a coincidence."
"Yeah, it is strange," Thorn muses as Sabo nervously twiddles his paws.
"H-hey, Victor. I'm sorry for jinxing," Sabo mutters as Victor looks at him before sighing.
"No need to apologize, just be careful. Tempting fate is not something anyone wants to do…" Victor says before sweatdropping, remembering how many times he and his family had tempted fate so many times and how they barely avoided accidents.
"Here," Victor blinks as Thorn shoves an Oran Berry to him using his vine before Victor looks at Thorn. He smiles a bit before accepting the berry and eats it, feeling his strength slowly recover.
"Thanks," Victor says as Thorn nods with a smile.
"Rest a bit, Vic. Then, we can continue exploring," Thorn suggests as Victor nods. Meanwhile, while they're resting, neither of them notices that one Pokémon was not disintegrating like the rest of the Dungeon Pokémon, a Poliwag that pretends to be knocked out. Noticing that Team Dawn was distracted, Poliwag immediately took the chance to escape from there.
The Poliwag continues to run out of the dungeon room before noticing the dungeon stairs and climbs up, moving to the next floor, and it continues to run, searching for the next stairs. The Poliwag continues to climb until it reaches the top floor of the dungeon.
Upon reaching the top floor, it starts to search for a certain Pokémon, frantically looking around the dungeon while wondering where the Pokémon is. It wasn't until it looked to the side and finally found it, a Pokémon resembling a weasel and a sea otter with orange fur, a pair of blue fins on the side of its hands, a yellow collar around its neck, two cream-colored spots on its back, and a pair of tails. This Pokémon is Buizel.
"Kid! I-I mean, B-boss!" The Poliwag calls, getting the Buizel's attention.
"What is it, Poliwag?" The Buizel asks before turning around and pausing, noticing Poliwag's injuries, and his face shows concern. "What happened to you?"
"I-I encounter some intruders! Pokemons from outside the dungeon!" The Poliwag exclaims as the Buizel pulls out an Oran Berry and tosses it to Poliwag. "O-oh, thanks."
"Describes these Pokemons that intrude our home," The Pokémon demands as Poliwag flinches a bit before nodding.
"T-there's this weird-looking dragon with two weird-looking ears, a yellow v-mark on his forehead, and a very powerful fighting skill! I was joining the Dungeon Pokemons for our pack hunt and trying to ambush him, but when the Tangelas tried to tie him up, he started going on a rampage and used the Tangelas to fight us!" The Poliwag exclaims.
"Ho?" The Buizel muses before playing with one of the crystals lying on the ground. "Tell me, if we both fight, who will come out on top?"
"O-of course you will, kid!!" The Poliwag exclaims confidently before stopping himself. "I-I mean, boss!"
"Be honest, your stuttering made me believe you're lying," The Buizel says with a frown.
"A-ah, well…I honestly think he might give you a good fight before you beat him…" Poliwag mutters shakily, causing the Buizel to smile widely.
"Well, that ain't so hard, was it?" The Buizel says as he rubs his chin. "Alright then, let's see who will truly come out on top."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Back with Victor
SNEEZE!!!
"You're okay?" Thorn asks in concern. Team Dawn is on their way to the next floor, searching for the dungeon stairs.
"I-I'm fine, buddy," Victor says with a small grin, rubbing his nose. "Probably just the cold…"
"Are you sure?" Thorn asks in concern.
"I am," Victor furrows his brows as he looks at Thorn in confusion. "Okay, what is going on?"
"H-huh? What do you mean?" Thorn asks as he sweats slightly while Victor stares at him.
"No offense to you, Thorn. But, you've been acting off lately." Victor points out. "I mean, I understand wanting to help, but don't you think you did a bit too much?"
"I-I have no idea what you're talking about," Thorn says as he looks away.
"You're not fooling anyone with that, you know," Victor says as Thorn bites his lips.
"…I was simply concerned about you," Thorn lets out a sigh. He can't help but wonder why it's hard not to tell Victor the truth.
"…" Victor sighs before patting Thorn's head. "Thanks for the concern, but as you can see, I'm fine."
"…I know," Thorn says before he sighs. "…honestly, I feel useless."
"I think you're being hard on yourself," Victor says as he looks at Thorn. "You helped me a lot when I first got here, and I don't know what would have happened to me if it weren't for you."
"…." Thorn didn't reply, which made Victor frown a bit.
"Thorn…you're not useless," Victor says. "I don't know what makes you think you are, but you're not useless. You are far from it."
"…It's hard to believe that when you were unable to do anything as your family was torn apart," Thorn mutters quietly, too quiet for anyone to hear, even with enhanced hearing.
"Huh?" Victor asks in confusion.
"N-nothing," Thorn says while shaking his head and increasing his pace. Victor merely frowns as he looks at Thorn, noticing how Thorn seems to be pessimistic over time. He wonders what he should do to cheer himself up, but he comes up with nothing. Unless he finds the source of Thorn's pessimistic attitude, he won't be able to find a way to help him.
To be continued