Mystery of the Pokemon Dungeon

Our hero, Katz, finds himself in a dark void.

…Where am I? I can’t see a thing…
Oh, that’s because my eyes are closed. My bad.

Hey, wake up!

Huh? Who’s that?

Katz opens his eyes and sees a giant Pikachu standing over him, looking concerned.

What the hell!?

He jumps to his feet. The startled Pikachu takes a step back.

Whoa, you surprised me there!

What’s going on!?

Beats me. I was just passing by and I saw you, out cold on the ground.

I was unconscious? That’s weird. I don’t remember what I was doing before that…

It’s a good thing you woke up. I was about to try to shock you back to life!

…

: I’m Pikachu! What’s your name?

You’re “Pikachu”? Don’t you have, like, an actual name?

Huh? What do you mean?

Ah, never mind. Thanks for waking me up, I guess.

No problem! Helping people is what I do best!

Well, that’s something. I’m Katz, by the way.

Katz…that’s a good name for a Meowth.

For a what now?

Katz suddenly sees that he has paws instead of hands.

Uh oh. How didn’t I notice this sooner?

He feels his forehead. There is a coin attached to it.

Well, shoot. I guess I am a Meowth.

Um, yeah. What else would you be?

Usually, I’m a human.

A human? …Are you feeling okay?

Yeah, I’m-

Help! Someone, help!

The two Pokémon turn to see a Butterfree fluttering towards them, looking flustered.

My baby! He…he fell!

Please, try to calm down. What happened, exactly?

We were…going for a walk, when this giant fissure opened and…he fell in!

Don’t worry. I’ll go save him!

Wait! That fissure is filled with crazed Pokémon! When I tried to go in, they attacked me!
They wouldn’t listen to anything I said!

Crazed Pokémon? Um…I don’t know if I can handle that…

Wait a minute. Aren’t you some kind of psychic-butterfly thing? Why didn’t you just make their brains explode, or something?

I only know Tackle and Harden!

Oh, lame.

All right…I’m going to try and rescue your baby. You should hurry back to town and see if you can get any rescue teams to help, just in case.

All right, I will. But please, hurry!

Butterfree flies off.

Katz, I hate to ask, but can you help me try and rescue the baby?

But…I can’t fight or anything! I was unconscious five minutes ago, for crying out loud!
What do you want me to do?

I think I’m going to need all the help I can get.
Come on, Katz. I don’t know if I can handle this on my own.

*sigh* All right, I’ll tag along for now. If it gets dangerous, though, I’m out of there.

All right! Let’s go!

The two Pokémon walk in the direction Butterfree had come from until they see a large crack that split the ground in two.

I guess this is it.

Looks like it, yeah. I think we can climb down here…

Katz carefully walked down a narrow slope leading into the crevasse.

Yeah, that seemed safe enough. Let’s go.

Are you sure it’s safe?

Yes, I’m sure! Let’s go, already!

Okay…

Pikachu slowly crept down the slope.

Any day now!

Pikachu reached the bottom.

There! That wasn’t so tough.

All right, cool. Now let’s go.
I’d like to get this over with, already.

They enter the fissure.

This isn’t so bad. Pretty even terrain. I wonder how far in the baby is?

…

Pikachu? Why are you back there?

Oh, uh, I’m making sure we don’t get ambushed.
By wild Pokémon, you know.

Sure.
But if you do see one, what are we supposed to do about it-
Hey, what’s that?

A wild Wurmple appeared!

…

Uh…hi?

…

Why’s it staring at me?

That’s probably one of those crazy Pokémon! Maybe we should leave…

But it’s just a little worm-thing. How could it be-

Aaah! Behind you! It’s attacking!

The Wurmple hit Katz with its head while he was looking the other way.

Ow! You son of a bitch!

Katz punched out the Wurmple.

Wow, looks like he fainted. You’re pretty tough!

This feeling…

Huh?

It feels…good.

Uh, what are you talking about?

Come on! Let’s go find more things to punch!

Katz runs off into the cave.

I think we should focus on rescuing…oh, he’s already gone.
Hey, wait for me!

Take that! And that! Ha, ha, ha!

Um…Katz, do you need any help?

Aaaaaah! I give up, I give up!

Hee hee hee hee hee! Run, run!

Katz beats up all the wild Pokémon.

I guess we don’t need to worry about being attacked…but at what cost?

Hey Pikachu, I found a thing.

Oh, that’s a Berry.

Capital B?

Yep. Those are great pick-me-ups if you’re hurt or sick.

Katz eats the Berry.

Hey, that’s pretty good!

You know, you shouldn’t eat those if you’re not hurt…

Oh. Right. My bad.
It did taste pretty good, though.

Never mind. I think we’re almost at the end of the cave.

Hey, what’s this? It looks like a bunch of coins.

Well…it is.

Ohhhhhhhh.
Sweet!

That’s a pretty bad case of amnesia you have. This is all really basic stuff.

It’s not amnesia. I’m a human.

…I’m starting to believe you.

Sniff…sniff…

Huh? Is someone crying over there?

Yeah! It’s the baby.

Sniff…hey! I’m not a baby…

Are you all right? We’re here to rescue you.

I’m…I’m fine. Just get me out of this awful hole!

I hear that.

The group travels back through the cave and out into the forest.

My baby!

Mom!

I can hardly believe it…we did it!

Huh. We actually did.

Thank you both so much!

It’s no problem at all!
But why are you back here? Did you contact any of the rescue teams?

Most of them were out on missions, and the rest completely ignored me!
If it hadn’t been for you, who knows what would have happened?

That’s awful!

Um, excuse me…what’s a rescue team?

You don’t know what a rescue team is? Are you an idiot, or something?

Hush! It’s not polite to make fun of people who have difficulty thinking.

Hey!

I’ll explain.
A rescue team is basically what it sounds like-a team that goes out to help Pokémon who are lost, or in danger.

Oh. I guess the name was kind of self-explanatory…

There have been more rescue teams forming lately because of all the disasters.

Like that fissure, I’m guessing.

Exactly.
Actually, I’ve been wanting to start a rescue team of my own, but I could never find anyone willing to join…

Hm. Well, good luck with that.
Thanks for the info, guys. I’m off.

Wait!
Before you go, please take this.

Butterfree somehow manages to give Katz 50 Poké with her tiny hands.

Oh, thanks!

You too, Pikachu.

You don’t have to give me anything…

I insist! You were the only ones willing to help me. You’ve earned it!

Well, all right. Thank you!

Goodbye for now, and thanks again!

See ya, Pikachu and Pikachu’s retarded friend!

That’s enough out of you, young man…

The two Pokémon leave.

…Hey!

We really did it…
Just like a real rescue team…

That’s cool. See you around.

Hey, wait!

Yeah?

Where are you going to go?

Oh, you know, I’ll just kind of…
…Okay, so I have no idea.

I have an idea.
We could form our own rescue team!

Yeah, no.
Sorry, but I need to figure out why all this is happening to me, and how I can reverse it.
I don’t have time to screw around with some rescue team thing.

Rescue teams travel around and see all kinds of Pokémon and places.
I think there’s a good chance that you’d find the information you’re looking for.

I can cover more ground on my own, thanks.

But…but…I found you unconscious in the forest!
That means we’re bound by destiny to form a rescue team!

: Ha, ha, ha.
No.

All right, how about this…rescue teams get paid for their assistance.
And you don’t have any money.

…

Well?

…I have 50 monies…

It’s called Poké.
Face it, this is your best option. You don’t even know anything about our world. I can help you with that.

“Our” world?
Does that mean you believe I’m a human now?

I’ll take you at your word for now.
Even if you’re lying, or crazy, it shouldn’t make much of a difference.

Hey…

So what do you say? Do we have a deal?

Wait a minute!
I don’t have anywhere to stay at.

I know the perfect place. The Charmander family just moved out- they almost burned the house down one too many times. You can move right in.

Damn…you’re really serious about this rescue team business, aren’t you?

Being a member of a rescue team has been my lifelong dream.
I’ll do whatever it takes!

All right, then. I’m in.

Yes! Yes! Finally, a real rescue team!

Whoa, take it easy…

Let’s go! I’ll show you where the house is!

Okay…oh! First, let’s get something to eat. I’m starving.

No problem! I have some food with me right now, actually- you can have it!

Cool, an apple. Thanks.
Say, what do you guys eat around here, anyway?

Mostly just apples.

Seriously!?

Yep. And Gummis, sometimes.

…This is the worst dream ever.


Link to part 2

Spoiler:

I lold at parts.

You gonna invest time in another?

Metal Rabbit wrote:You gonna invest time in another?

I think so, yeah.

I like.

Wow, nice. That must've taken alot of time. Lol.

Kilvas wrote:Wow, nice. That must've taken alot of time. Lol.

No kidding...I think this'll be the sort of thing I have to work on a bit at a time to make progress on.

I like writing, though, so it should work out.

I think this can technically be moved to the creative section. But I don't have the power and it'll probably be better off here where people pay more attention.

Katz wakes up in his new house.

*yawn* All right, today’s the first day of my extreme rescue team adventures!


But first, more sleep!

Katz falls asleep. He immediately has a screwed up dream.

Oh, no. Crazy psychedelic dream colors.

Then, there is a dream earthquake.

A what!? Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Katz wakes up.

Okay, okay, I’ll get up!
Stupid story-related dream…

Katz goes outside and sees Pikachu asleep nearby.

Hey, what are you doing here?
Wake up!

Huh? Oh! I’m awake!

…You weren’t sleeping out here all night, were you?

No! I just…showed up a little early, that’s all.
And I dozed off.

How early are we talking, here?

So, Katz! Are you ready to get started on our new rescue team?

Uh. Yeah, I guess so.
But what do we actually have to do?

First…check this out!

Pikachu holds up a brightly colored package.

It’s…a box.

This is our official Rescue Team Starter Kit™!
It’s got all the stuff we’ll need for our work!

Well, open it, already. Let’s see what we got.

Here goes!

Pikachu opens the box.

All right! There’s a Toolbox in here!

Let me guess. It holds tools?

Sort of. We can use it to store the stuff we find in dungeons, or supplies we’ll need to make sure we stay healthy.

So, that package has all the stuff we’ll need for our work…except for actual supplies.

You don’t have to be so negative about it…

Sorry. I’m just kind of…like that.

Anyways, check these out- official rescue team badges!
Here’s one for you!

Hey, that’s kind of cool.

If we find a lost Pokémon, all we have to do is shine this badge on them, and they’ll be teleported to safety!

…Wait. How does that work?

Hmm… I’m not sure.
Maybe psychic Pokémon make these.

That, or wizards.
But I’m starting to think I shouldn’t try to question these things…

There’s also a copy of Rescue Team News in here.
It looks like that’s everything.

There are Pokémon newspapers!?
…Damn, looks like I’ve already broken my rule of not questioning this stuff…

Yes, there are.
This one’s pretty helpful for new rescue teams, since it has a lot of good advice.
I’ve been a subscriber for a while now, so you can have this copy.

Cool, thanks…
But now I’m wondering, how did the rescue team organization, or whatever it is, know to send us a starter kit?
We founded the team just yesterday!

I always figured they could see everything that happened, everywhere.

That’s…disturbing.

Maybe it’s the psychic Pokémon again.

Yeah, but they shouldn’t be that powerful…hey, what’s that?

A Pelipper suddenly flew down to Katz’s mailbox, dropped a letter into it, and flew off.

Hah. Nice postal system.

It’s strange, though- you only just moved in.
Do you know anyone who’d be sending you mail?

If it’s from a psychic Pokémon, I’m going to scream.

Katz opened and read the letter.

“BZZBZZBZZ. PLEASE HELP. MAGNEMITE IS IN TROUBLE.”

Wow! A help request! I wasn’t expecting anything this soon.

Yeah, it says here that they heard about us from Caterpie.
Any idea why they felt the need to write in all caps?

Magnemite can be kind of…odd.

Oh?

Yeah. Sometimes, they’ll start following you around without saying anything.
For hours.

Ah.
And now we have to go rescue some.

…That’s right.
By the way, what was their request?

Apparently, they were just chilling in Thunderwave Cave, go figure, when some electricity beat them up, or something.
Now two of them are stuck together, and I guess it’s up to us to get them unstuck.

That’s an odd request, but a job is a job.
Ready to head out?

As ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s go.

Wait! I forgot something!

Yeah?

Our team name! We need a name.

You haven’t come up with one already?
I thought this was your lifelong dream! You never thought of a name?

…I could never come up with anything really clever.
I was going to go with “Team Awesome”, but when I looked it up, I found five other teams with that name.

I see.
You know, we could just call ourselves “The Team”.

No! That’s a horrible name!

…Oh…

If you can come up with a good name, though, let me know.
My mind’s a blank.

How about…Team Rocket?

“Team Rocket”…

Well? Pretty good, eh?

I think…it’s perfect!
How’d you come up with a name like that on the spot?

What can I say? I guess I’m just a naming genius.

All right! It’s time for Team Rocket’s very first rescue mission!

Meowth, that’s right!

What was that?

Uh, nothing. Let’s get going.

And so, the newly named Team Rocket set off towards Thunderwave Cave, unaware of the something something destiny legend that awaited them on their journey quest thing.

Incidentally, you do know the way there, right?
I’m kind of counting on you to be able to find where these places are.
I don’t know, seeing as how I didn’t even exist here yesterday.

Don’t worry. I’ve done some travelling, so I can find my way around all right.

If you’ve done some travelling, how come you’re just Level 12?

What? How am I a “Level 12”?

I dunno. You just give off a sort of “Level 12”-y vibe.
To put it differently, you don’t seem like a very good fighter.

Well…I try to avoid fights as much as possible.

Why? If you fight, you’ll get stronger.

I like helping Pokémon, not hurting them.
I don’t need to be strong to be helpful.

I hate to break it to you, but you have to be strong if you’re going to be rescuing Pokémon from dangerous places.
I think that’s kind of what rescue teams do.

Oh…

You’ve never thought about that before?

It’s not like I want to go around beating up Pokémon!

I’m just saying, you might want to…
Oh, hey. I think this is the place.

They had arrived at Thunderwave Cave. A Magnemite was there to greet them at the entrance.

BZZBZZ! THANK YOU FOR COMING SO QUICKLY.

No problem! Team Rocket’s motto is “We get there fast!”

…It is?

If we have a catchy motto, more people will request our help!

Yeah, but I think you should give that kind of thing some thought, instead of blurting out whatever comes to mind!

I’m just trying to get the word out quickly! What’s wrong with that?

BZZ?

Oh, excuse me. What were you saying?

*sigh*

THERE ARE TWO MAGNEMITE THAT NEED HELP ON B6F.

On…what?

ON THE SIXTH FLOOR OF THE CAVE.

All right. Let’s go, Katz!

ONE MORE THING. THE CAVE IS FILLED WITH HOSTILE POKÉMON.
PLEASE BE CAREFUL. BZZBZZBZZ.

Oh no, not again!

I can go in ahead of you, if that’d help.

I don’t need help! I can handle anything!
But…yeah, you can go in first, if you’d like.

Can do.
By the way, Magnemite? How do you know your friends are on the sixth floor?

WE HAVE OUR WAYS. BZZ.

…

Come on, Katz. Let’s go.

…Right.

They cautiously step into the entrance of Thunderwave Cave.

All right. We’re looking for a way to get to a lower part of the cave.

Oh, that’ll be easy. There’s going to be a ladder around here somewhere...
Yeah, there’s one!

A ladder? Who’s been going around putting up ladders in a random cave?

What do you mean “a random cave”?
This is a home for Pokémon- of course there’d be ladders! How else would they get around?

Uh. I just figured, since it was a cave, it would be all…cave-like.
Hey, what about that guy? I bet he can’t climb ladders!

…

Hey, you. What’s the point of all these ladders?
It doesn’t look like you can use them.

…

Uh, Katz… You should be careful…

Maybe someone should set up handicapped-accessible features.
That way, even Pokémon without legs could…

Look out!

The Voltorb slams into Katz while he’s looking in the other direction.

Rrrrrgggghhh! Not again!

I was trying to tell you… That’s one of the crazed Pokémon!

Well, next time, speak up!
Hey, you. Handicapped or not, I’m gonna beat your ass.

Katz slugs the Voltorb.

…!

I didn’t one-shot it? That’s disa-p-p-p-p…

Eh? Is something wrong?

C-c-c-c-c-an’t move…something’s wr-r-r-r-r…

Oh, no, you got paralyzed by its static!
Try to get back! You can’t fight like that!

This tot-t-t-t-t-ally s-s-sucks…

Katz manages to limp away from the Voltorb before collapsing.

…

I guess it’s up to me…

Pikachu closes his eyes and flings a bolt of lightning at the Voltorb.

The Voltorb is struck dead-on and faints, rolling away into the corner.

Whew! I did it.

Hey, that lightning thing was pretty cool. You should use it more often.

You’re cured?

Yeah, I crawled over to that metal plate with the arrow on it.
Then I felt better for some reason.

Oh, of course! That was a Wonder Tile.
Those cure afflictions like poison and paralysis just by standing on them!

It…what!?
How does it do that!?

Beats me. Ask whoever installed it.

And who would that be, exactly!?

I’m not sure…

You know what? Never mind.
I’m just not going to think about it.

If you’re ready, let’s keep going!

They proceed down the inexplicable ladder, and into the depths of the cave.

Katz beats up several wild Pokémon that try to attack them.

Whew. This is taking a while.
My knuckles are starting to hurt.

Why don’t you use your claws?

…That’s a pretty good idea, actually.

…Why haven’t you tried that sooner?

I’m new at this, okay? Cut me some slack.

…

Katz makes various flexing motions with his hand in an attempt to produce claws.

I got this. Just give me a minute.

So…a human, huh.

Yep.

After another couple of minutes, Katz manages to unsheathe his claws.

Ha! Got it! See, I told you I- Ow!

You didn’t cut yourself on your own claws, did you?

…No.

Let’s just keep moving.

…Yeah.

After learning Scratch, Katz makes short work of the remaining attackers.

Soon, they arrive at a cave containing two Magnemite that are stuck together.

BZZ? ARE YOU HERE TO HELP?

Yeah, that’s us! What can Team Rocket do for you?

TEAM ROCKET? WHAT IS THAT?

We’re Team Rocket, the rescue team that’s as fast as lightning!
We tirelessly seek out Pokemon who are in trouble, and…

Hey, less talking, more helping!

Katz is trying to pull the Magnemite apart. He isn’t doing very well.

Oh, sorry.
You know, I think it’d be easier if I did it.

Pikachu places a hand on one of the Magnemite, and they come apart.
Katz falls over.

FREEDOM!

YAY! BZZ!

Ow… Next time, warn me before you do…whatever it is you just did.
What did you do, anyway?

Oh, I just reversed their biological magnetic field’s polarity and stabilized the forces that were…

Actually, never mind.
You did a thing, and it worked. I’m fine with that.

But now we have to climb all the way out…and the wild Pokémon might have woken up by now.

THAT WON’T BE NECESSARY. ONE MOMENT, PLEASE. BZZBZZ.

The group has escaped the dungeon!

Well, that was convenient.

Thanks! That was very helpful.

ANYTIME. BZZ.

…

…

…

Uh…how’d we get back here, anyway?

WE HAVE OUR WAYS.

…

…

HERE IS YOUR REWARD!

The Magnemite levitate a number of coins towards Katz and Pikachu.

Score!

Thank you. Stay safe, now!

Having finished their first mission, Team Rocket begins the walk home.

Hmm…it’s going to be sunset pretty soon. That mission took a lot longer than I was expecting.

…

You’ve been quiet for a while.
What’s up?

I can hardly believe it…we just finished a real, actual rescue team mission!

Why’d you want to start a rescue team so badly, anyway?

When I was growing up, I heard all kinds of stories about the rescue teams and how they risked their lives to keep others safe from harm.
They were real heroes, and that’s what I want to be.

Not that unsticking Magnemite from each other is especially heroic…

We’re only just starting out. I’m sure that if we try hard enough, we’ll be remembered as one of the greatest rescue teams ever!

Really? That’s a pretty tough goal to reach. You realize that?

Of course. But I know I can do it!
I can list their names from memory, the leaders of legendary rescue teams… Hariyama, Lucario, Alakazam, Wigglytuff…
And someday, I’ll be one of them!

Well, not to burst your bubble or anything, but you should probably try to look for more members ASAP.

Hm? Why’s that?

Because as soon as I figure out how to get back to my own world, I’m gone.

Oh…

It shouldn’t be a big deal. With your enthusiasm, Team Rocket will get to be really well-known pretty quickly.
I betcha you’re going to have to fend off applicants with a stick.

Yeah.
So, what motto should I go with?

Uh… I don’t think we need one, really.

But we have to be memorable, or no one’ll hire us!
How’s this: “Team Rocket gets the job done”!

I don’t know about…

All right, what about “We’re the fastest team alive”!

That’s kind of…odd, don’t you think?

How’s “We’ll do anything for money!”

Yeah…that’s just wrong…

“Team Rocket gets the job done”!

You already said that one!

Uh…”We’re really, really great!”

Enough with the slogans, already!
Geez!

You don’t have to be so mean about it…

Ugh. This is still the worst dream ever.

Good stuff. I can assume you're pretty proud of it yourself seeing as you posted links to it on facebook

Ladd Russo wrote:Good stuff. I can assume you're pretty proud of it yourself seeing as you posted links to it on facebook

Yup.
It took a lot of work and thinking and stuff, and I'm basically liking how it's going.

Kewl good job cat

*applause*

pretty funny stuff, nice job

We have our ways o__o

Incidentally, 'cuz of all the interest, I've changed my stance from "yeah i might write more if i feel like it" to "I'm continuing this bitch 4 sure".

It'll be a while before I get more time to write because of all the homeworks, but I got at the very least a few more chapters left in me.

Just updating to let people know I haven't given up. That won't happen for at least a little while!


Oh, one more thing. These little squares I been making would make good emotes.

If the admins or whatever think we could use some new emotes (to fit the theme, maybe), I can take time out to make some.

I got a little square for Pokemons Bulbasaur through Darkrai, and several of them (especially the starters) have a big range of expressions.
Just let me know if that'd be at all helpful.

nice. your pretty funny catbread. im looking foward to the next chapter.