Ross Sleeps...?
I sat down after making my order, and thanked the barista as she brought my coffee and muffin to the table. Taking a second to savor the smell of the coffee in the air, I took a small sip, before blowing on it and putting it down. Burned my tongue. I'll leave that to cool down and enjoy my snack. It was a pretty basic muffin - just blueberry - but the taste was divine. All the stress I'd been carrying left my body as I leaned back in my chair. The smell of coffee permeating the cafe, the sounds of the strangers around me making small talk that I wasn't interested in, the cool water washing over my feet - everything about this place filled me with joy. I forgot how much I loved this cafe.
...
...
Wait, water?
Suddenly snapping awake, I found myself standing knee deep in a pool of water. Had I been sleepwalking again? I stepped out of the pool and shook myself dry as best as I could. It was after I did so that I looked around and realised something - I wasn't in my room any more. I wasn't even sure if I was near the guild hall either.
It looked like I was in some kind of forest, but something about the place seemed... off. The trees surrounding everything were incredibly dense and towered above me, and they were bunched close enough together that they seemed to form a wall around me. There was an odd feeling in the air as well - nothing tangible, but the air was heavy and there was a sense of foreboding all around me - as if wherever I'd found myself wasn't natural.
Looking around, I could see three paths out of the room I found myself in. There was a straight path leading forward, and another two paths behind me that at a quick glance seemed to lead back into themselves. Realizing that I'd have to actually look around to find a way out, I started walking down the straight path which quickly turned into a narrow corridor. The trees of the forest had grown so close together here that they'd formed walls on either side, and the path quickly thinned, leaving little room to maneuver anyway that wasn't straight ahead or straight back where I'd come from.
After a short walk the corridor opened up into a wider hall, and as I scanned the room I noticed something else was in here with me. It looked almost like a human, but it was bluish-gray, and it had weird looking ridges on its head. Another pokemon? Maybe they had some idea where the hell I was and how to get out.
As I walked over to the other pokemon, I stepped on something and a loud crunch echoed through the room. The noise caught the attention of the mystery pokemon and it turned to face me. I started to ask, "Hey, I'm a bit lost, do you know where-" but before I could finish it quickly closed the distance between us and swung its leg back before kicking forward, its foot finding its target right between my legs.
My vision filled with white, and I slumped to the ground in agony.
Everything was pain.
Am I dying?
I think I'm dying.
Fuck this hurts...
I want to go home.
I writhed in agony for a few seconds before opening my eyes, only to find the blue man towering over me, poised to deliver the coup-de-grace. I scrambled and rolled away as quickly as I could, feeling the air rush past me as the creature's heel collided with where my head had been not even a second prior. Something scraped against me as I rolled away from it and I winced at the pain, but a minor scrape was preferable to being kicked by that thing again.
Adrenaline pumping through me, I scrambled to my feet as quickly as I could and sprinted away. My heart was racing as I ran as far as my legs would take me. Everything around me started to blur together - I couldn't afford to pay any attention to where I was going, all I could focus on was making as much distance from the thing that was trying to kill me as possible.
Eventually I stopped, and glanced behind me before stopping to catch my breath. From what I could tell I'd managed to shake my aggressor, but at the cost of becoming even more lost than before. Before I could start to panic, I felt my stomach rumble.
I was starting to get hungry.
I wasn't sure why I was feeling so hungry, but as I sat down to rest and calm myself down it dawned on me. I had no idea how long I'd been in here for. The trees that surrounded this place grew tall enough to envelop everything above me, and no light was able to break through the canopy, so I couldn't even tell what time of day it was.
Despair started to set in. I was completely lost, my body was aching and my stomach was starting to hurt from hunger. I had no idea where I was or where to go from here. My breathing turned shallow and started to quicken. Everything about this was horrible. Was I going to die here?
I wallowed in self pity for a few moments before something caught my eye - right there, in the middle of the room, was a small blue berry.
I didn't even stop to consider whether the berry was edible or not, and before I knew it I'd leaped over to it and devoured the whole thing. Relief washed over me as I wiped the leftover juice from my mouth - I'd managed to luck out and sort my hunger issue for the time being. It dawned on me suddenly that I wasn't feeling as sore as I had moments ago, but I rationalized that as a side effect of not feeling as starved as I was.
It was easier to think on a not-empty stomach, and I'd had enough of feeling sorry for myself. I had to get my priorities in order - I had to find a way out. I'd gotten myself turned around running for my life earlier. I looked around the room again, hoping I'd see some sort of landmark or anything I could use as a reference.
Nothing. Every room in this place looks the exact same.
I sighed to myself, before pulling my tail out of my belt and letting it drop behind me. I was loathe to admit it, but this weird body DID have its uses - at the very least I could use the trails I'd be leaving behind me as an indicator of whether I'd been somewhere already or not.
After wandering for a short while, the next room I found myself in only had two paths leading out of it thankfully - the path I'd come in from, and the path in front of me that I hadn't checked yet. I started marching forward into the unknown path, which quickly turned into another cramped, twisting corridor. The corridor eventually opened up into another room, and I was completely dumbfounded by what was laid out in front of me.
The only defining feature of the room in front of me was a stone staircase, placed right in the middle. It didn't appear to lead anywhere and only had like 5 steps on it. I was even more confused now. Why was this here? What purpose did this serve? I cautiously walked over to the stairs, looking to examine them in closer detail. As I reached out and touched one of the steps, my vision suddenly darkened completely, and I was overcome with a... strange feeling. Almost as if for a second I'd stopped existing.
As quickly as it had come, the feeling dissipated and my vision returned. Extremely confused, I looked around. The stairs were gone, as well as any of the trails I'd been leaving behind me to mark my path. It was like I was in a completely different room now, which made no sense. How could a set of stairs take me to a different place?
I shook my head. That was a stupid question. When I put it like that, it made perfect sense. That's what stairs are made for, allowing travel between different areas. It didn't explain how I'd ended up in a completely different location or where the stairs had gone, however.
The gears finally started turning in my head, and everything clicked into place. I'd heard the term "Mystery Dungeon" tossed around at the guild before. Strange places where everything's in flux and there's an abundance of feral pokemon.
I let loose the loudest expletive I could muster. I didn't care about not trying to attract attention, I couldn't deal with this any more. Everything about this sucked! I was stranded in a forest that was constantly changing, filled with monsters that made no sense to me that could kill me at a moment's notice. And I was getting hungry again...
As I sat there stewing in my increasing anger, a harsh buzzing sound drew closer and closer. Turning around, I was met with the sight of three gigantic bees with spearheads coming from their arms quickly flying toward me. Shit. I suddenly cared about not trying to attract attention again. I quickly turned tail and sprinted down the first opening I could see, hoping I could lose them as easily as I lost the blue thing from earlier.
The bees were quickly gaining on me as I sprinted through another narrow corridor. The next room I ran into had another stone staircase identical to the first one I'd seen. I quickly glanced behind me to see if I was still being chased, and was greeted by a stinger flying past my face, narrowly missing me. I scrambled and desperately leaped for the staircase, hoping that the bullshit logic of "stairs magically teleport you" would help me shake the bees. I reached out and my fingers barely grazed against one of the steps, and as I did so I felt something pierce into my back. Thankfully though my efforts were rewarded, as upon contact with the stairs my vision darkened once again and I felt that strange feeling come back over me.
When I could see again I found myself standing in another unfamiliar room. I'm not sure how I ended up standing considering I'd just leapt prone to hit the stairs quicker, but I was so fed up with everything that I didn't want to waste the effort questioning it. My back was still throbbing slightly from whatever hit me before I got to the stairs, but it wasn't nearly as painful as the kick from earlier. I decided to keep moving, the less time I spent sitting around the less time I'd have to spend in here hopefully. Plus, I was feeling even hungrier than I had before. I needed to find more food quickly.
My foot kicked against something, and I looked down to see a pile of money sitting right by my feet. Where did this even come from? The berry from earlier I could understand since there were trees all around, but not currency. It would be stupid if money just appeared in dungeons, because it would be so easy to get and would completely devalue itself.
I bent over to pick it up, and as I did so an extreme wave of nausea shook over me, and I felt myself slump to the ground, falling onto my side and landing on my fanny pack which jabbed into me. Was the berry I ate earlier bad? Or did one of those bees poison me somehow? And why was my fanny pack jabbing into my side so hard? There shouldn't be anything in there hard enough to poke through - I didn't put anything in at least.
Trying as hard as I could to keep the contents of my stomach down, I did my best to roll over and examine my pack. My head was starting to pulse with pain and I felt my stomach lurch and tense up, but I managed to keep myself together as I opened up the contents of my fanny pack.
There were some seeds and a handful of berries in there - two blue ones identical to the one I'd found earlier, and a pink one that looked almost like a peach. I definitely didn't put those in there, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If I was about to die, at least I wouldn't die hungry.
Mustering what strength I had left, I grabbed the three berries and tossed them into my mouth, chewing the best I could in my impaired state. As if by some miracle, I could feel my strength slowly come back to me as I finished eating, and after a few moments it was as if I'd never been injured. It must've been one of those berries that cured me. I'd never felt so relieved - it finally felt like something had went my way for once.
The relief was short-lived however, as the reality of the situation I was still facing crept back in. I knew I had to pick up the pace - I'd burned through most of the supplies I'd miraculously ended up with, and I didn't fancy my chances if another situation like that were to happen.
Thankfully, the next few rooms I checked out were completely empty apart from some coins I'd found lying on the ground here and there. If I made it out of here alive I was going to treat myself to something. I wasn't sure what though, but I've definitely earned it.
Eventually, one of the corridors opened up into a wide hall and I had a clear shot to yet another stone staircase. There was nothing standing between me and potential salvation, so with renewed vigor I started marching toward the stairs. As I took my first step, something gigantic and purple filled my vision, and it scared the shit out of me. I stepped back instinctively and flinched, putting my hands in front of me in a vain attempt to defend myself.
After a few seconds of anticipating an attack that never came, I gingerly opened my eyes only to find in front of me a gigantic purple thing with a face on its chest rolling on the ground in hysterics. It noticed me looking at it, and started to sink into the ground, only to pop back out a few steps away from me, with a maniacal grin on its face. I wasn't in the mood to entertain any more of this nonsense though, and I walked toward it and attempted to shove past it. As my hands made contact with it, instead of finding purchase on its body they went right through it and I almost fell over with the effort. This only served to spur the creature into another fit of hysterical laughter. Was this thing a fucking ghost? It would be my luck to get haunted on top of everything else that had happened already.
I was done entertaining this farce. Before I had a chance to turn around and walk away, the creature's eyes filled with a pink glow, and it stared straight into my eyes. That same glow started to fill the sides of my vision and I could tell it was trying to do something to me. I felt the slightest twinge of fatigue come over me, but it faded as quickly as it came on and the glow dissipated. The thing's face was marred with frustration, and the glow reappeared as it tried what ineffectual trick it was pulling again. The same glow quickly came back into vision, only to dissipate a few seconds later.
A laugh escaped my lips, followed by another, and then yet another. It was like something in me had snapped and I couldn't control myself. I started pointing and gloating. "That all you got, huh? That the best you can do?"
I was never good with trash talk, but after I'd had my fill I turned back away from the purple creature and continued toward the stairs. Just before I reached them, however, something struck me on the back of the head. It wasn't painful at all, but I still spun around to check what had hit me. A small stone had landed on the ground next to me, and I looked back to see the ghost now with its back to me, slapping its ass and making annoying noises. I could tell it was trying to goad me into doing something.
It was so stupid, juvenile even. There's no way I would fall for-
It was starting to really piss me off.
The rage within me was building to a peak, and all I could think about was putting this purple freak in its place. From our previous interaction I knew that I wouldn't be able to just hit it - I'd be wasting precious time and energy throwing pointless punches. There had to be something I could use around here.
There was the stone that it had launched at me earlier, but that wouldn't work - I'd get one attack out of it and then I'd be empty handed again. Glancing around quickly, the only other thing nearby was a stick lying against one of the walls. That could work.
Sauntering over to it, I grabbed the sick and gave it a few swings. Nice weight. I can definitely do some damage with this. With weapon in hand, I stomped over to the purple ghost who was still slapping its ass, and with all the strength I could muster hoisted my stick high above my head before bringing it down with a resounding *THUNK*.
The monster immediately crumpled and fell to the floor.
I swung again.
*THUNK*
And again.
*THUNK*
And again.
*THUNK*
My rage subsided eventually, and the anger I was feeling was slowly washed away by an unnatural calm. I hesitantly looked down, expecting a bloody mess lying in front of me. What I found instead was the still body of the thing that was taunting me earlier slowly dissolving into smoke.
Oh god, did I kill it? Is this what happens to ghosts when they die? Can you even kill a ghost? Aren't they already dead? Or is this another weird Pokemon thing that makes no sense??
My mind was starting to race, and my stomach lurched as my breath began to quicken. I'd killed something. I was responsible for loss of life. I mean, sure it was in self defense, but it still didn't feel good.
I slapped myself in the face to try calm myself down. I'd heard enough stories from the other guild members to know that's just how the world is here. I didn't like what I'd done, but for now I had to accept that it was necessary. I'll have time later to be upset over it once I'm safe.
There were more important things to think about. My continued survival, for one. The stairs were waiting right in front of me - feeling guilty and upset could wait. I marched back over to the steps with a renewed sense of purpose, and put my foot triumphantly on it. That same darkened vision and odd feeling of displacement I'd grown accustomed to set in immediately, but it lasted longer this time. The first few times I'd used the stairs it only lasted for a second, but this time it went on for a bit longer.
Eventually the feeling passed and once again I could see again. What surrounded me stood in stark contrast to the overbearing forest I'd been trapped in for so long - the trees were much more spaced out, the sunlight was dancing through the canopy and lighting the path in front of me and that horrible sense of foreboding that had pervaded the air previously had all but vanished.
Looking behind me, the path led back into a dark area where the trees had bunched together again. That must be the entrance to that place - definitely not going back that way. The path beneath my feet was well worn, so there was a good chance that it was used often, and if that was true then there was a good chance that following it would lead me out of the woods. While I didn't feel like I was in as much danger as I was before, the quicker I got out of here the quicker I could get back to the guild.
After following the path for about half an hour, the trees finally started to clear, and I could see Capim Town in the distance. The prospect of finally being done with all of this caused excitement to surge within me, and I started running toward the town. Before I was clear of the woods however, I felt my ears perk up as a faint sound crossed them. It sounded like... music?
Despite everything I'd been through already, curiosity got the better of me, and I turned and walked in the direction the sound was coming from. Walking back deeper into the woods filled me with a twinge of anxiety, but finding out where this music was coming from was more important to me right now.
Pushing aside a large bush, I found myself staring into a secluded grove. The area was empty apart from the flowers which dotted the ground, and a lone tree stump standing proud in the center. On top of the tree stump was a creature I could only describe as a fusion of a cricket and a violin. A beam of light broke through the canopy above like a spotlight and illuminated the creature, which was rubbing its arms together. The music was coming from it.
I stayed hidden in the bush and enjoyed the clandestine performance. The more I listened, the more enraptured with the sound I became. The sound coming from the creature was almost otherworldly - not exactly a violin, but something similar enough.
Something about the creature's song resonated with me, and before I knew it my eyes were watering up. A tear fell from my face and delicately splashed on the leaves of the bush, followed by another, and soon another. I couldn't help myself - I'd never felt so moved by anything in my life. It was like everything I'd been holding in since I ended up in this world was being forced out - all the stress, all the worry - and replaced with awe and wonder. Everything bad that had happened to me today was drowned out by the majesty of this ephemeral song.
After a short while, the creature's song died down, and it unceremoniously hopped down from the stump and walked deeper into the woods and vanished, completely unaware of its audience.
I stood up and wiped the tears from my eyes, a dumb smile plastered on my face.
Maybe this world wasn't so bad after all.