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Drenched Bluff

"Well, here we are! Drenched Bluff!" Lyra exclaimed, looking very cheerful. "This is where that pearl is supposed to be."

I sighed. "Yes, about that… Don't you think someone might have taken it by now? It is a pearl after all."

"Hm, true. Oh well! Let's find the pearl!" And with that, Lyra dragged me into our second "Mystery Dungeon."

The first thing we saw there was a strange blue berry that looked remarkably similar to an orange. Lyra promptly shoved it into the bag.

"It's an Oran berry! Best thing ever for healing!" she explained when I gave her a very confused look.

"That sounds very useful. Do you rub it on the wounds?" I asked, thinking the answer was an obvious yes.

"No, we eat it!" Lyra contradicted me. "It rejuvenates the body and heals the soul. Plus, it tastes pretty good!"

"… I'll take your word for it."

We continued on and eventually found one of the native Pokémon being very aggressive. It looked like a gray bug with hints of red and white. Before Lyra could explain what it was, it lunged at her face and hung on.

"EEK! GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!" she muffled. She ran around wildly for a few seconds before running into a wall, knocking the creature out.

"Well, that was the most interesting thing I've seen all day," I mused.

Lyra shook her head and grimaced. "Ugh, I hate Anoriths. They're both Rock and Bug typed, so we can't take advantage of the super effective moves."

"I've been meaning to ask about that actually. From what I've been hearing, different Pokémon are weak against different moves?" I asked, still going along the path. I heard a faint ringing sound while we were talking.

My partner sighed. "Pretty much, and other moves are not as effective. Since I'm a Grass type, I'm resistant against Ground, Electric, Water, and other Grass type moves. At the same time, I'm weak against Ice, Bug, Flying, Fire, and Poison types. And Grass type moves are effective against Rock, Water, and Ground types."

"In other words, it's best to strategize and learn moves that will help take down Pokémon you normally would have trouble against… This world is almost like a game when you think about it that way." Very interesting on how these worked.

"Um, Dahlia? Glad you're so interested, but you should keep an eye out. I thought I heard a Chingling nearby."

"A what?" Before she could reply, something suddenly wrapped itself around me, immobilizing me. It also covered my mouth, not allowing me to breathe fire. Needless to say, I was rather ticked off when Lyra was able to get it off of me.

"That… was hilarious!" she laughed, tears streaming down her face.

"Shut up. What was that anyways?"

She took a few seconds to gather her composure. "That, my friend, is a Chingling. They like to wrap around their foes, though they also have limited psychic powers. They're a pain once they latch on, but they tend to make themselves known easily because they sound like a bell."

"Okay, note to self, 'Be cautious of all bells…' wait. What about Michaela? She rings like a bell too."

"Chinglings evolve into Chimechos. Nothing so weird about that." She looked as though she was about to explain more, but then we were interrupted by a screeching sound.

"Okay, what the hell is that?" In front of us is some sort of plant thing, purple and pink with yellow markings.

"That's a Lileep. They're rivals with the Anoriths usually, but they're all hostile to explorers here. Also, this thing sucks. Literally."

"That's… great to know." Not allowing myself to be outdone by my partner, I breathed fire all over it, causing it to shriek in pain. It then lunged towards my face, trying to attack it. It was quickly beaten back with more flames.

It was actually fun to breathe fire. It didn't hurt my body and, well, it's breathing FIRE. What's not to like about it?

In the meantime, Lyra was distracted fighting off what looked to be a pink slug. By which, I mean she was shooting leaves out of nowhere, easily beating the thing into unconsciousness. "Ha… ha ha! I think I can do something different now!"

"Oh? What is it?" I asked, as we kept going in further.

"I got the ability to- oooh! There's the end!" And sure enough, the path ended. In front of us was a rather large, pink pearl.

"You're kidding me, right? There's a giant pearl sitting here with no protection, and no one bothered to pick it up?"

Lyra cheerfully picked it up. "Well, it's a mission accomplished, right? Let's head on back!" That said, Lyra took out her badge. Somehow, the badge started glowing.

"Wait, what's going on?" I asked, before a bright light surrounded us, somehow taking us to the entrance of the Guild.

Several minutes later, a gray, badly bruised pig bouncing on its tail was happily thanking us, bouncing the pearl on her head.

"Th-thank you!" she cried in joy. "That pearl must be propped on my head, you see! I missed it so much! I just couldn't settle down without it up there!"

"D-does that explain all of your wounds?" Lyra asked, a bit disturbed by just how many bruises the pig had.

The pig nodded. "Oh yes, I was just boinging and sproinging everywhere! That's why I'm covered in dings and bumps. Not to mention the countless bruises… But thanks to you, that long nightmare is finally over! You have my sincere thanks!"

With that, she bounced up to me and gave me a couple bottles and a large bag.

"Um, Miss. Spring? What's in the bag you gave us?" Lyra asked.

"Why, it's only 2000 Poké. It's really nothing compared to the value of my pearl! Farewell, Team Amazon! Thank you sooooo muuuuuuch!" she shouted, eventually bouncing her way up the ladder.

"…2000 Poké? 2000 POKÉ!? Dahlia! We're rich! Oh my gosh, I never had this much money before! Hooray!" Lyra started hopping around excitedly.

Chatot also seemed pleased. "Well done you two!" He then hopped over to us. "Now hand that money over please!"

Lyra continued dancing until she realized what Chatot said. "… Wait what?"

"Most of the money you earn from jobs go to the Guild you see! We have to fund the Guild somehow you know." The bird snatched the bag from me and took out a huge pile of coins. "And… your share comes out to this much!" He gave us a couple coins, still a respectable amount to be honest, but considerably smaller than what was in the bag.

"T-two hundred Poké? W-well, I suppose it's not too bad…" Lyra sighed.

I did a quick bit of math in my head. "So, you're saying that, as far as reward money goes, we only get ten percent of it?"

"Pretty much~! But you do get to keep the items, as those tend to be much more useful for future explorations! And in turn, you get us more money. We hope you keep up the good work!"

"… Is this a dictatorship?" I wondered to myself, as Lyra and I headed downstairs for dinner.

Later that night, Lyra was educating me on the other mechanics of this world.

"… So if you get hit by fire type moves, then you'll not only not get hurt, you'll also get a boost to your own moves! Neat huh?"

I nodded. "And, all Pokémon have these things called abilities, which makes for even more strategizing to be had. I have to say, you guys don't mess around when it comes to fighting."

"Yup! Arceus did a good job in creating this world, huh? By the way, I've been meaning to ask…" she paused, before looking at me curiously.

"Yes?"

"What's your world like? Is it at peace? Is everyone happy there?"

"… Not exactly. Some I bet are really happy. Others are cursing every day of their life. And still others are in between. Also, we tend to have wars over really stupid things."

Lyra looked at me worriedly. "Were you happy there? Did you have a family there that's probably missing you right now?"

"… Don't you think you're a little bit ahead of yourself?" I replied. "I mean, we still have only known each other for a few days. And though I'm curious about your life, I'm not asking you any questions about them, am I?"

Lyra appeared saddened by this. "O-oh, I see. 'Cause, I figured that maybe you'd miss your family and that you'd want to leave as soon as you could…"

Sheesh, why does she remind me of her? "Lyra, I promise to tell you about it if we somehow escaped from a life or death situation, okay? I figure by then we'll know each other much better, and so I won't be so hesitant to tell you. I will, however, say that I have no intention of going back there." At Lyra's surprised look, I quickly added, "Don't ask why, I'll tell you when I'm ready, okay?"

"O-okay. I mean, I'm still curious and all but, I'll respect your privacy. After all, we're still friends, aren't we?"

Her words made me pause. Me having friends? It's… rather nice actually. "What do you mean 'still'? Did we ever have a break-up or something?" I smiled, hopefully cheering her up.

Thank God it worked. "Yeah! Not like we actually had a fight or anything!" The both of us laughed until Chatot poked his stupid big head in.

"Girls, it's past curfew. Time for you to be sleeping now!"

I sighed. "Okay, okay. Good night Lyra."

"Good night Dahlia!"

Meanwhile in Los Angeles

Phoenix looked around his surroundings. This time, instead of a plain, empty field, he saw himself in the middle of a huge field of flowers, with all the colors of the rainbow.

"Well gee, this makes me feel manly. Thanks brain," he muttered.

The voice he heard before spoke up. "Well, I thought you wanted a change in scenery. Do you have any idea how hard I had to negotiate in order to free this place up? You should be thanking me ingrate."

Phoenix held his forehead and sighed. "So, oh great and powerful voice, what are you going to tell me now? Did Dahlia save the world or something?"

The voice chuckled. "No, but I hope she will. I do have a reason for bringing her to my world, other than just screwing with both her and you simultaneously. But that would be telling!"

"… What?"

The voice cleared its throat. "Well, all she did today was retrieve a pearl. Nothing too interesting. However… I do believe that soon she'll discover something about herself."

"The fact that she's a $% ^?" Phoenix snarked.

"Well, she already knew that. No, this is much more important, and so much more fun. Now, I do believe you have an appointment to go to. So, until next time!"

Phoenix waited for a few minutes, but only silence was there. That, and a lovely field of flowers.

And there's that chapter. I really need to update more often. So, what do you think? Was this good, bad, so-so? Please review, I really appreciate it!