Preston was an unusual Popplio, that was for certain. He was very eager to get moving the moment I stirred in the morning, not really giving me the chance to wake up fully. It would make sense if there was a major threat, like a construct about to find us, but he was just interested in a mystery dungeon. A MYSTERY DUNGEON! I've never once heard of a Pokemon who wanted to willingly visit one, let alone with such enthusiasm! Any normal Pokemon would feel overwhelming dread being here, including me.

And yet, here we were, on the first floor of a dungeon, with Preston examining practically every detail of the wall. Sure, the town was on a underground exit of the dungeon, and so it was a necessity to get through the dungeon to get there, but it's hard to not say he's more interested in the dungeon than the actual town at this point.

It really wasn't even that interesting of a dungeon. Purple rocks made up the walls, the ground was this hideous blue coloration, and it was topped off with a glowing red cave ceiling, the whole thing was more of an eyesore than anything. It was interesting to see such a high ceiling though. Looking up, I couldn't tell approximately how high it was, but it sure wasn't a stenkast. Maybe it was a stang? It didn't really matter how tall it was in the end. All that mattered is that we found the stairs, and get ourselves out of here before things go from bad to worse.

"C-come on, we need to get g-going." I tried to put urgency in my voice, but it seemed to have only intensified my stutter and nothing more.

"Yeah, yeah, just... Give me a second! This is way better than my wildest dreams!" Preston kept rubbing his fin over every surface. I just don't get him.

"Fine, y-you can find the stairs yourself, I'm going to try to g-get out of here," I spoke, turning down one of the nearby corridors. I soon found that the contemporary dread was stifling my ability to explore, so I turned my thoughts to Preston once more. It had been just under a day since I've met him, and I've yet to have any of my silent questions about him answered. It irked me quite a lot.

His choice in last night's questioning, for example, was incredibly odd. He didn't know about constructs, he didn't know anything about the surrounding area, and he was very interested in knowing how humans were viewed. I began to wonder if he really was a human, though the thought left me unsatisfied. "They may not even b-be real," I mumbled to myself, trying to shake the thought. "Just some f-fairy tale, to inspire hope."

I recalled the myths I've heard, where humans are often find themselves in this world shortly before a disaster, and prevent a catastrophe. I never gave them much credit though, and that wasn't changing any time soon. After all, such a thing simply seemed to fantastical to be true. Why wouldn't a human have appeared to stop the constructs long ago? Besides, there's also the rumors about their apparent danger. According to some, the constructs were a human invention, meant to wipe us out. As harrowing as it is to admit it, they certainly do a good job of that, and there isn't any known way to counter them other than overwhelming power, though they seem to completely ignore mystery dung-
OH SWEET HEAVENS HAVE MERCY WHAT JUST TOUCHED MY FOOT!?

I jumped into the air, only to land face first. Ignoring the ever-graceful stumble into the ground, I turned, preparing an ember and facing the culprit at ey-there was nothing there. I looked down, only to see a glinting object. I relaxed and walked over to it, recognizing the singular iron thorn for what it was. Without a second thought, I picked it up and stuffed it in my tail fluff. It wasn't very comfortable, but it's not like I had a bag or anything to carry it around, and I'm not really interested in the prospect of holding onto a random sharp piece of metal with my mouth for any longer than I have to.

I hear a sudden shout from another room. That sounded like Preston alright, and it sounds like he's pretty unhappy now. Maybe he finally came to his senses? I can only hope, as I rushed through the dungeon as fast as I could get my legs to carry me, trying to find where the shout came from. I quickly found him in the adjacent room, a terrified expression completely marring up his face as he cornered by a duo of pale Geodude with strange black shiny spikes, and Trapinch. I took a moment to really understand what I was seeing in front of me. He managed to find the only two ferals on this floor, they're both weak against him, and he wasn't even fighting back against them.

"P-Preston, what are you even doing?" The absurdity of the situation just begged the question. This whole thing would be solved with a bubble beam or something, just use it Preston!

He stammered for a moment, before getting hit with a duo of tackle and a very fast physical move from the Trapinch. "SUNUVA-THAT HURT!" He doubled over from the duo of hits. "JUST HELP! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIGHT!" I flinched at his shouting. How could a Pokemon not know how to fight!? Even I knew how to, and I RARELY got into battles!

None the less, I obliged his request for help by igniting an ember and drew close to the Trapinch. Ferals rarely reacted to other noises when they were looking at someone, but they certainly didn't ignore being attacked by a third party. I gave as much as I could to the ember, and let it loose, hoping that I could overpower the ineffective nature of my attack. I wasn't prepared for how fast the Trapinch turned on me. They opened their massive maw and a flurry of sand pelted my face. The assault blurred my vision, making me back off a bit.

"You just a-asked a fire type," I started off, only to stop myself. Speaking comes later, I've got a threat to deal with first. With a grunt, I charged at the Trapinch, attempting to tackle them. I didn't put any typed power into it-not that I could in the first place, but it wouldn't have been helpful anyways. The momentum would've been enough to cause damage though. However, instead of feeling their cold shell, I felt the harsh feeling of chilly, coarse regolith scraping across my face at a roughly 80 degree angle. I couldn't help but let out a gasp.

Preston must've taken note of what I did, since I could hear a loud, albeit soft clapping noise, followed by a gravelly grunt in response. I would get turned around to see Preston waddling away from the Geodude as it curled up, briefly flashing blue. I may not know the move off of the top of my head, but I can guess it's probably boosting a stat. That's not going to be fun to deal with. I readied myself for yet another run against the Trapi-

"You okay?" I looked over at Preston, a frown dawning my face as I stared at him. "I'll take that a-WATCH OUT!" His warning startled me to jump, just as a gust of wind could be felt on my underbelly. I watched as an orange blur rammed into the very same wall I had just met moments prior. I landed on top of the Trapinch, a very uncomfortable position to be in. I decided to make use of what I could in this moment, and drew up the power to use ember on the trapped Trapinch.

As the Trapinch knocked me off, I caught a blue blob in the corner of my eye making moves against the pale Geodude. He just refusing to use a water type move, isn't he? At least he seems to have the Geodude handled now. Not bad for someone who claimed he didn't know how to fight. I kept up my own assault against the Trapinch, and soon I had it running away.

As I finished my side of the battle, I turned to face the Geodude, which Preston was still slapping around. I don't really know what I expected to see, but I guess I was hoping Preston would have as much success as me against the Trapinch. Unfortunately, it became obvious that Preston still would need some assistance dealing with the Geodude, and so I joined in.

It didn't take much more with my help, and soon the Geodude fell to the ground, the black spikes disintegrating into a powdery dust. It was odd, I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before. Maybe it was a regional variant? The unpredictability of these dungeons does mean that sometimes Pokemon will show up where they're not native. One can hope that it was just a generated Pokemon, and wasn't just some poor clod who got stuck in here and lost their mind. My train of thought was interrupted by a celebratory whoop from Preston.

"Hah, that was pretty much nothing like I imagined it!" He looked around, before relaxing a bit. "Hey Scintilla, how many Pokemon are usually on each floor?"

"H-how am I supposed to know? I don't k-know dungeons very well, especially not one that's been modified." He raised an eyebrow to my response, as if there was something amiss with my wording. He then shook his head and looked off to the right. I opened my mouth to say something, but he beat me to it.

"Oh right, the staircase's down that corridor. I had just turned back to find you when those two showed up." He turned back to me with a sheepish grin. "You are alright, right? I mean... Pretty sure that Trapinch only knew astonish as an attack move."

"Y-yes, shaken, but not hurt," I replied. There was a momentary pause before I added "well, not t-terribly."

My thoughts turned to his remark about the Trapinch. For someone who supposedly has never seen battle, he seemed to know his opponent's move better than I did. "How did you know the move?"

He seemed caught off guard by the question. After a moment of white-noise, he replied "I like reading b-books." My eyes narrowed at him as my brows furrow. Books. Really? That would mean he would've needed to be from a particularly safe town, and that would mean he probably was at one point resident to a dungeon-defended town. That would've meant he surely had to deal with ferals at one point, especially with how old he sounded. His actions just did not add up for any of that, and his stutter showed that he understood how suspicious that all sounded. How was I meant to trust him if he refused tell the truth? In spite of that thought, I decided to relax my gaze. I had hope that he'd tell me on his own time, intentionally or not.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

You know what? I'm glad to finally be out of that dungeon! It was fun the first floor, but I wasn't aware that Fennekin could learn mean look! That suspicious glare that blasted into the deepest depths of my mind continued to haunt my every action throughout the rest of the dungeon floors, even after I faceplanted the first few times after the stairs disappeared, AND busied myself with every feral I could find. It wasn't hard to tell that my sparkly stranger that I was just following along with was getting fed up with me already, but I couldn't tell why. So far, the only lie I've told her is where I got my knowledge of Pokemon moves, and I mean, what the hell was I meant to do when she confronted me about it? Was I supposed to tell her I browsed Bulbapedia more than I played the games!? Did telling her I had such meta-knowledge about Pokemon sound remotely like the correct thing to do? At least I found these 24 Poke coins, it'll probably get us an apple while I try to figure out what to do next. I kept it grasped in my flipper, though it made trying to waddle around pretty uncomfortable. Couldn't be happier to part with it.

As I turned the corner, my eyes adjusted to the dimly lit scene in front of me. Sure enough, there was a town here, just like Scintilla had said, though I struggled to remember what she called it. It wasn't the usual PMD naming scheme of Noun Town, that's for sure. My eyes scanned over the town, looking for landmarks and the such. Every building there had been constructed with dark wood planks, their gaps filled with some sort of earthy-looking material. I could see a sort of dim light glowing through the windows, which I guess had to be lantern light. I could even see shadows moving about within the log cabins. There were around 30 in total, with the mass majority of them scattered throughout the large clearing in front of me. 7 of them were in the center, 3 on one side and 4 on the other, providing a very clear "road" that seemed to connect the mystery dungeon cave to another cave just across from me. Those ones were the largest, almost every single one of them being 2 stories. There was one exception to that rule though, off to the farthest side of the clearing. It had a beige color to it, adorned with twin glass mosaics on top of two tall double doors, both red. The building was topped with a tall tower that scaled into the sky. It reminded me a lot of a Christian styled church first and foremost, though it also vaguely reminded me of those really weird ass 80s computers.

As I took in the church, I noticed that the ceiling wasn't far above its tower. We were still underground, which helpfully explained why it was so dark. The stony walls and smooth ceiling were of a much more reasonable bluish-gray coloration, with the ceiling taking on a steep, dome-like shape. There was no way to tell how high the ceiling was, as it eventually ascended into darkness. The lanterns hung outside the buildings were bright enough to illuminate all of the ground, but even they couldn't reach that high. As I followed Scintilla into town, I noticed that the floor had turned from stone to dirt. I wondered if the place here was excavated, or if it was naturally formed as a junction between a cave and a mystery dungeon.

"I-I don't know why you wanted to c-come here," Scintilla spoke with her signature stutter. "I don't l-like towns very much."

Right, why I wanted to come to this town... Well, I figured that the town would be well protected, especially against these apparently spooky constructs. After all, if a town can exist in a given spot, than surely nothing has come by regularly to threaten it, right? It sounded a lot safer than holing up in some random cave, though, now that I get a good look at the town, that's essentially what I've done again. Oops.

"I just figured it would be safer than sticking in a cave," I replied. "Is there something inherently wrong with towns?"

"Too many Pokemon, not eno-enough justice." 'Not enough justice,' huh? Was there was a problem with law enforcement? Maybe someone's looking for help then. That could be a good way to get pay! I'd have to toughen up first, but perhaps that's just the type of work that'd keep me fed.

"Well, then maybe we could be the ones to administer justice? You know, it'd probably get us pai-"

She got real close, and with an agitated whisper, berated me with "a-are you crazy!? We'd be k-killed if we try that, especially if with your horrendous s-ks-skills!"

"Well, I figured once I figured out fighting, y'know? It just seems like an easy payche-"

Scintilla cut me off with a frightening snarl, bearing her teeth at me. I wasn't able to respond before the verbal beratement began. "You've g-got this m-men-menacing p-propensity for trec-treacherous situations," she choked through gritted teeth. She took notice of where we were, and then gripped my right ear with her teeth.

"Not so hard on the ear," I loudly protested as she dragged me down a secluded alley way, painfully yanking on my ear. Unfortunately, I received no such relief until we were hidden away.

"You did-didn't know how to d-dea-deal with the f-ferals, so I h-had to come rescue y-you," she tore into me sternly. "So w-what do you do after you l-lied to me and got yourself into t-tr-trouble? What d-do you think when I-I tell you that t-things are vic-vicious around h-here? You decide we sh-should both become bou-bounty h-hunters!"

In the brief pause, I tried to retort, but she cut me off, her tirade continuing on. "We could have become f-ferals, Preston. Eternally l-lost until one of u-us showed up to a would be r-rescuer, or perished as f-f-food. B-Both of us aren't very strong, i-it wo-wouldn't..! It wouldn't have t-taken l-long!"

She silently trembled, sitting down in front of me and hanging her head low. I didn't know what to say. It felt too late to say sorry. The guilt struck me like a truck as I just sat there, watching her having to marinate in the frustrations I caused for her.

There was a lengthy pause before the suffocating feeling of guilt made me get moving again. I shuffled out of the alleyway, and began to peer around, needing to do ANYTHING except face Scintilla for the moment. Not seeing anyone else around, and not sure where to go, I looked up hoping for a sign. I was not expecting to be met with a plain English sign. No need for a translator, or any instinctual understanding bullshit, it was pleasantly nice to be met with something familiar, even if it was strange for it to exist. The sign itself wasn't anything remarkable, brown outline on faded white text, lit by several lanterns, reading "General Store."

Well, if I could read that, then surely I could read the rest of them. That idea checked out going to the left, where I found a bar and an inn respectively, but looking to the right of the general store made my heart drop. The other signs were about as respectable, at least passably professional if nothing else. This one wasn't, lit by only one lantern. With thin, blood red text, "krakenhaus" was prominently displayed on a few plain wooden planks clearly pieced together with rusty nails. Globs of dried paint lined the bottom of the board, leaving trails from the letters... I hope to god I never have to figure out what that place is for.

There were four buildings, so I'm interested in what is on the othe-HOLY SHIT!

I met face to face with a mouth full of sharp teeth. As I rebounded, the ground rumbled with their chuckle. I was not expecting a Hisuian Arcanine to just be laying there!

"It's unusual to see new Pokemon in town," he opened, his bassy voice causing reverberations on the ground. "And who might you be, Popplio?"

You had to ask me a question!? You have your teeth bared at me! I tried to recollect myself, but those eyes! Those intense eyes! There was NO WAY I was gonna look at him in those fucking eyes! I had to shove my gaze down to the floor as the weight of the world began to well up on my chest.

He patiently waited for my response. Eventually, I choked out my name. "Preston? Have I heard correctly?" Yes! I nodded my head, hoping for the conversation to be over quickly. "Well met traveler. I am Father Howter, deacon of our fine church," he spoke. He effortlessly popped up from the floor, towering over me. Holy shit he's fucking HUGE! At least 5 times my size!

As if my prayers for a short conversation were answered, he briskly added on. "I hope that you enjoy your visit to our humble town. I would like to talk to you for longer, but my duties call. Keep yourself safe and on the right path." He swiftly sidestepped around me and headed for the krakenhaus building, leaving me in the street, a bit confused. I caught a glimpse of his tattered biege cape as he entered the structure.

Aiming not to think about how terrifying he was for at least a moment, I decided to head into the general store. I quickly found myself within a small room. It had a counter with a glass display case, and a few dedicated display cases littered throughout the cramped quarters. Behind the desk was not a Kecleon, as I had expected, but rather a Luxio, whom was peering through the counter's display counter. I wasn't sure what to buy, so I figured I'd look at the things that were available for sale first.

As I mindlessly looked at the displayed wares, hoping to distract myself, my brain briefly wandered back to the Arcanine. He doesn't actually have lips in the same way that I do. Maybe he wasn't baring his teeth at me, but trying to smile? Whatever the case, I found my eyes locking onto a large steel gray kidney bean in one of the display cases. It had a crumbling pattern. Was... Was that a gummi? Man, that looks horrible, like a rotting potato. How gross.

Speaking of food, I just remembered a saying. They say the way to a beast's heart is food... well, my friend said that a lot anyways. Pretty sure that comes from D&D. I don't know how applicable it was, but maybe some free food could still raise the spirits of Scintilla.

I approached the counter, watching their somewhat suspicious demeanor melt into an alertness as I did so. Now that I'm thinking about it, I realized that window-shopping IN the store for like 20 minutes might've been a bit weird. Oops. As I reached the counter, they stood up and leaned on top of the counter. I collected my thoughts and asked. "Hey, do you happen to have an apple for sale?"

"Apples? Of course," he replied. "We've got a few apples to spare. What are you thinking, tiny, or regular?"

"What about regular?"

"Unfortunately, we only have one in stock at the moment, and it'll run you 186 Poke." 186!? 186 FUCKING POKE!? Holy FUCK I'm way poorer than I thought!

"Oh, shit." I mumbled under my breath, not really paying attention to what came out. "Well, how about the tinies?"

"We have a few of those," he replied candidly. "They're 45 an apple." I cringed at the revelation that I wouldn't have enough for even the tiny apples. God damn it! I hoped there was something else I could do, but frankly, I'm out of options. Apples are pretty much the only thing I could think of.

"There's n-nothing cheaper, is there?" I held onto hope that maybe there was just some cheaper option I had missed.

The Luxio sighed. "I don't have any grimy food, and the last of my stock of berries was bought by that kooky doc next door, if that's what you're asking."

"Oh," I responded dejectedly, "I'll just leave then. I can't afford either of those things." I turned, and began my embarrassed march out the door.

I was almost out the door when he opened up again. "Hey, wait a minute," he requested. I turned to face him, not really understanding what he was trying to get at. "I'll give you the regular apple if you do something for me."

A quest? Might be useful! "If it gets me the apple, what do you need?"

"The town, it's," he hesitantly spoke. He fought himself for a moment before speaking up again. "The town's facing shortages. It's pretty bad. Purple Crystals' Pokemon aren't edible anymore, and the items in the Shady Forest are becoming increasingly rare. I've heard tales from travelers passing through that there's a nearby dungeon just west of the Shady Forest that has plentiful Pokemon and items, but the deacon refuses to let any of the townsfolk risk themselves investigating it."

I see where this is going. "You want me to go out there to check if the dungeon even exists, and if it's all that it's cracked up to be?"

"That's some weird wording, but precisely," he confirmed. "I know that it's not an easy ask, but you have no connection to the deacon. He won't stop you from looking."

I weighed my options for the moment. Scintilla didn't have food anymore, she shared her roasted apple with me this morning. It was either we go hungry tonight, or she gets to eat and I get some experience doing a mundane-sounding quest. My thoughts wandered back to the havoc I caused for Scintilla. I'd caused her enough trouble, as is. This was dangerous in her eyes for sure, but she also didn't have to know about me going on this quest.

"I will do it," I said, with an excess of confidence, making my way back to the counter.

"Excellent! If it's true, then I'll finally be allowed to drop the prices." He went to the back, and soon returned with the promised apple. It was a dark green color, almost pear-like. I don't think I've ever seen an apple of that shade before. He set it down on the counter, and then looked down, an ominous grin on his face. "Oh, and just remember, I will hunt you to the ends of the world if you try to break your promise."

Well that wasn't ominous at all. "Yeah, I'll try to get to it tomorrow," I reassured, not really wanting to incur his wrath. With that, I took the apple off the counter with my mouth, and dragged myself out of the shop. I made my way over to the alleyway, finding Scintilla still there, angrily staring at the wall of the krakenhaus.

She quickly turned to face me as I waddled forward, her expression softening ever so slightly as I set the apple down in front of her. "It's all yours. I... have to work off a debt for this, but it'll be fine." W-wait, WHY did I just tell her about that?! To avoid answering for my mistake, I pulled myself away as quickly as I could. There was something pretty nifty I was learning about this Pokemon body by doing all of this: I seem to have a near unlimited stamina for whatever I need. Is this what being in shape feels like? It certainly made escaping easy.

With nowhere else to really go, I just dragged myself to the church and settled down next to the side of the damn building. The sides felt kind of warm... that'd make sense, the deacon WAS a fire type and probably spent most of his time in there.

My stomach decided to speak up, finally protesting my decision to give Scintilla the apple. Well, too bad for you, Mr. Stomach, I'm not gonna pra-

OW! What the hell just hit my head!?

I quickly looked to the newly warm sensation on one of my flippers. There was a half of a roasted apple, just sitting there. I cautiously looked behind me, locking eyes with a concerned looking shiny Fennekin, with the other half of the apple in her mouth.

"You," I started with, only to stop. What was she thinking, giving me half of the apple like this? "You know it was for you, right?"

"And I-I'm choosing to s-share it," she spoke as she approached my side. She settled down to the side of me, keeping her eyes on me. Her worried expression dug a pit in my soul, as my mind once more thought to what she had said earlier.

She was never angry, was she? She was just concerned for me, and here I am, throwing myself into danger again just so she could have an apple. God damn it, what have I done?

I took solace in the fact that she didn't say a peep about my aforementioned debt in the moment. I nibbled on the soft flesh of the apple, taken aback by the equal parts sweet and sour taste. As I did so, Scintilla put hers down and began to eat alongside me. My mind turned to my task for tomorrow, a lump creeping up through my throat and dread making it hard to enjoy the juicy apple slice. I really hope I'm prepared for this...