"Aright soldiers!"

The commander slapped his tail against the ground to signal his subordinates to listen.

'Our scouts have identified that an item of great importance to the Confederates has been lost within the depths of Azil Cave! You two are the only remaining soldiers currently at our disposal that are immune to the Cave's effects, because of this you will be sent to retrieve the item. Understood?'

"Sir!"

...

It was beyond freezing, arms clenched around his chest in a futile attempt to warm his hazy figure limps through an icy desert with no end.

His chest rises and falls following no discernible pattern, any moisture his breath contained freezing and falling to the ground the second it made contact with the air.

He stumbled and fell to his knees, dirty white snow sticking his clothes and exposed skin.

In an exhausted attempt to get up he goes to brace his hand against the ground, only to touch something oddly warm. In desperation, he clawed away at the snow to discover what was beneath.

Once he did, however, he lost all hope. Beforehand he had been clinging to the foolish idea that his fellow villagers would come and rescue him, that this was nothing more than a bad storm that would eventually pass.

Now though, his remaining hopes were shattered as he stared at the still remains of his family and friends as they were slowly buried by the unrelenting snowfall.

...

He stirred out of his long, dawning sleep to find himself coughing loudly. Holding his sore, dried up the throat. He opened his eyes. His vision was near impossible to see a thing. All he could make out was a flame. Aside from the visible flame. The rest of his surroundings were only pitch black. In pain. He let out a quiet groan.

"Agh…Huh?... where am I?" He croaked to himself.

He shook his head a few times in an attempt to remove the dizzy spell that plagued his vision. Once done, it thankfully cleared his vision a bit, with the sacrifice of mild pains in his head.

The unknown male attempted to sit up. When he did, something in his back popped. This made him spasm from the sudden spark from his nerves and let out a wince of slight pain.

He groaned, then attempted to sit up again, but this time more cautiously. He gently lifted his arms up, slowly pushed himself up.

The whole place from the floor, the walls, and the roof were all a dirty brown. Complemented with a foul smell, a scent you would get if you'd throw decaying corpses across the room. A dreadful thought appeared in the male's mind. Then, a horrific picture laid dead into his mind. He imagined himself wounded, shortly collapsing on the ground, holding on for his dear life, trying to suck up as much air as possible, only to black out.

"Is this a cave?" he thought right before gulping. How did this happen? When did this happen? Most of all, who am I? Why can't I think of anything from the past since I woke up in this, dark and desolate place? He thought, now feeling his body, uncontrollably shake.

He tried his best to calm himself down by relaxing his muscles and then told himself that everything will be okay in the end. No matter how much he tried. He just couldn't keep easing his fearful body.

He looked at his right arm. His heart skipped then started pumping fas a beat, along with his eyes widening when he witnessed what his arm was more muscular than he remembered.

"Well, I'll be damned. Have I always looked like this?", he silently said to himself.

Both of his arms were crimson, with a large dried up cut torn on his left arm, explaining why his arm felt sore. There were three massive claws attached to the both of the paws.

he had a crimson tail with what appeared to be a gently flickering flame burning just above the tip. It wasn't hurting him so he decided to leave it alone for now, besides, it was his only available light source so getting rid of it probably wasn't the best idea. Besides the flame his tail was fairly unremarkable, the only other discernible feature was its cream underside.

"This can't be happening! I swear I didn't look like this."

He could hear drops of water, occasionally falling from the roof. He held his tail and used flame attached to it in order to scan the area.

He saw a small puddle not far behind him. He mustered up the strength in his body and dragged himself to the puddle.

Once he reached the puddle. He shined his tail onto the pond, being careful not to dip it in the water. Now, at last. He will see what he has truly become.

What the reflection revealed was some strange lizard.

He just stared at the puddle on his knees, filled with shock, unable say anything about his body. He had Crimson scales to his head going all the way down to his legs. He had a cream underside and underneath his feet. There was a horn-like protrusion on the back of his head. He had narrow blue eyes and a long snout. He had medium sized arms with three sharp claws. He had short, stubby feet with three sharp claws, and cream-colored soles. He's pretty skinny, so much so that you can almost see his rib cage.

The lizard also discovered that he had injuries to his body.

For his head, he had a swollen eye on his right eye. Dry blood coming out of nostrils.

For his body, The was two scars, located on his abdomen. One scar was on his chest, and the other was in the middle of his stomach.

His tail from what he can see, There were a few scars on the crimson part of his tail and also a faint bruise.

Alex wondered who did this to him or, did he do this to himself? For he knows, he could've been brutally beaten and left for dead in this cave. All while he was thinking about how he ended up like this, his mind just came to the realization that with that dream before he had before he awakened.

He could not banish the dream away from his head, no matter how hard he tried, yet little parts of detail he just can't remember like what did the boy look like or the name of the kid. All he saw was a little boy freezing to death in a Blizzard, crying for help from he assumed. This filled the red lizard's mind with questions. "Who was that kid? Was it me? Was it someone I cared deeply about? Was it just a dream, and nothing else?

Did I just witness a child death? Am I dead? Does that dream have some explanation as to why I am here?", he asked himself.

So many questions have been spinning around in the poor Lizards head. His voice doesn't seem familiar with a child's voice.

His mind jumped back into reality and realized he was weak inside a cave. That thought of that child dying was scary to be reminded of, but nothing compared to being stuck in this hell dungeon. His heart was beating out of anxiety, with him having no idea for what to do. With exhaustion across the body. He won't be able to walk for long. He is all alone with nothing to eat, nothing that can help him, and nothing is around him at all. It was just him and the cave.

He tried his hardest to stand on his stubby legs, however with his feet feeling numb. It was easier said than done. He moaned and gritted teeth from all the pain.

"Great, not even my legs will save me from this nightmare," he muttered himself.

He slowly pushed himself up onto his arms and knees. Now that he's on his arms and knees. He tried one last time to get on his feet in a desperate attempt to have a better to escape out of this cave.

He pulled himself as slowly as possible with his arms and knees. In order to not hurt his legs, arms, and back or anything for that matter. He summoned as much strength in his legs as possibly he could. He made sure to be careful with his body, thinking it may be frail, due to him only waking up moments ago. Just when he was about to give up. He realized that he was beside the cave's wall. He took advantage of this and hocked one of his paws to the wall next to him.

His Body was hard to lift, but thanks to the wall. He finally managed to rise to his feet. All of a sudden, the male felt a wave of nausea flow through his unknown body. With almost puking. He held the urge aside and adventure the path towards him, praying he will find an exit from there.

...

After a long worthwhile of traversing through a forest and walking for miles. They have at last reached their destination.

"So, this is the place?"

"Yep, as easy as this is said to be. Always watch your tail, for as I sense a terrible feeling, coming from the cave," the Riolu warned.

"I thought you weren't capable to use the power of aura yet," Lilly said, frowning, with ears sunk in confusion.

Aaron chuckled. "Of course not my good friend. My meaning was my instance of the cave, nothing else," Aaron promised.

Blushing, Lilly stayed quiet and motioned Aaron to head straight into the cave.

...

The red lizard remained tightly clenching his tail while holding on the right side of the wall with his right paw. With him inching to an exit, he kept in mind of how he still can't remember anything in the slightest. He was hoping his memories would have come flowing back to him over time but perhaps not. So, he decided it would be best to give himself a name.

He began brainstorming all kinds of names that would suit him while still tiredly walking through the cave.

'...Blake.'

'Nah sounds too... strange for me,' he thought.

He quickly forgets the name and began brainstorming something else

"Fenix," he silently said to himself.

With it rolling off his tongue. It sounded very... heroic, but there was something about that name that just didn't click with him. He kept on searching and searching until he finally found a name that sounded familiar.

'Alex... Alex, Alex, Alex.'

Testing the name with his jaw. The more he said it. The more that it reminded him about something that he could not place his paw on. So, he accepted the name as his own for now and left it at that.

...

Having walked for some time now, Alex was beginning to grow increasingly hungry. When was the time he had eaten? He couldn't remember, though that was no surprise at this point. He continued to walk onwards in the vain hope he could find an exit soon. After several more minutes of stumbling through the caves. He felt something brush against his leg. It looked to be a relatively small brown bag with a symbol he didn't recognize on the front. Upon further inspection. Alex could see it was a bag of apples. Most of them were too bruised or too rotten to be considered edible, but one or two looked good enough to eat. After quickly discarding the rotten apples. He slung the bag over his right shoulder, then continued on his way.

...

Upon arriving inside Azil cave. Darkness had taken over the duo's vision.

"Lilly, bag now!"

Lilly released her bag from her shoulder and placed it on the hard, dusty ground. She unzipped the zipper and shoved her paw inside the yellow bag.

Shuffling her arm through the She could feel all the objects that collided against her paw. One object, however, felt much ruffer. She grabbed the hard object out of the bag with it being the torch.

Rubbing the torch against the floor. The torch has now grown to have a flame attached to it, slowing burning down the tough wood. Withholding the torch. Aaron stayed close to Lilly, while she pressed onwards through the eerie cave.

"Keep your eyes peeled for any foes Lilly. They could come out in any corner, anytime," Aaron whispered.

"Mmph," Lilly nodded.

...

Lilly continuously scanned every wall, above the heads and behind them, in case of any wild Pokemon trying to ambush them. Aaron stayed as close to Lilly to ensure her safety. Slight sounds kept the two startled, as they traversed further through the cave. Upon taking further steps in the cave. Buzzing sounds could be heard somewhere in the distance. Lilly frantically flashed her torch all over the place to find where the noise was coming from but no avail.

Aaron went into a fighting stance, waiting for an ambush at any moment. Both of the Pokemon tried to their best to hear where the sound was coming from, but it seemed that it came from all directions around them. Both partners came to a horrible conclusion that it may not be one pokemon making that sound, but multiple pokemon producing the sound as well. In fact, Aaron took notice that the buzzing sounds were not, in fact, coming from the ground in the slightest, rather the walls and the ceiling. Lilly and Aaron wasted no time and began sprinting until the buzzing could not be heard. Once unable to hear the buzzing sounds. Both of them stopped, panting. Lilly took the first opportunity to say something.

"Do you think we're safe now?"

Aaron took a moment to hear out for any buzzing sounds. Luckily, there was next to sound, aside from their breathing.

"I can't hear anything in the slightest. I think we lost whatever that was chasing us," Aaron answered while panting through his words.

"Good, I think the best decision would be to just go forward, don't you think?"

Aaron nodded and the two walked through forwards.

...

Walking in a never ending circle of the caves, brown and dusty environment. Alex felt exhausted to the point of having the urge to collapse and die dead on the spot, but he never did. He kept on marching forwards no matter how far it is until is freed. He refuses to die in this drenched cave. With there just being the scars now. It hasn't been as hard to keep walking but exhaustion has now built up, feeling it take over his body.

His eyelids were beginning to give out on him. He resisted the tiredness taking over him and walked on.

...

With more walking through an endless black abyss, he saw a bridge. Upon getting closer to the bridge, he found that there was a river a few feet down below. There are no fences, meaning falling off the bridge would require to just jump off it. Alex knew now that he will be resorted to walking without a wall for quite some time now.

He slowly released himself from the wall and proceeded to tirelessly flail himself through the bridge.

When reached to the bridge. He took a look at his surroundings. To his left, the river seemed to keep on going from there out, while the right which is where the waterfall is pushing from.

About halfway through the bridge. Alex couldn't help but hear buzzing coming from the right. No more than a few seconds have he heard the sounds. A gigantic bee flew out of the cave.

This enormous bee had massive big red eyes, two black antennae with a sharp bend in the middle. Yellow with black stripes was painted to its abdomen, along really yellow painting the rest of its body.

Alex gulped to see that the bee bigger than him is staring in his direction. The Bee locked his eyes onto Alex. The creature kept its eyes peeled onto Alex. Alex gulped with how intimidating the glare was. With making eye contact alone. Alex could tell that this monster was bad news.

Alex felt petrified, he knew there was no way of running from a monster that was obviously faster than him with it having wings. Then again, Alex knew full well, that this thing would kick his ass. What scared Alex the most is that this Beast strike something familiar to him. The thought of this thing being familiar to him sent chills down his spine. He just stayed in his position, frozen in fear.

The Beedrill launched its stinger for an attack. With a gasp coming out of his mouth. He acted fast and launched himself away from the attack. Only just managing to just avoid the stinger. Alex was now on the ground, exhausted. The Beedrill tried again. Flying closer and closer to the lizard. Alex just covered his eyes with both of his paws, waiting anxiously for the Beedrill to end his life by stabbing him with that stinger. The Beedrill Launched at him at full speed and instead picked him up. This caught Alex off guard, making him open his eyes. The Beedrill flew all the way up the ceiling. Alex felt sick being so high into the sky. The giant bee then started spinning Alex around, finishing the fire lizard by throwing him in the river.

He Plummeted into the river in under five seconds. Hitting the water immediately, Alex's flame had disappeared out of sight. Alex tried to swim up but no matter how much he tried, the waters, the current was too strong for him. Alex sunk while being thrown by the waters strong current. Water began leaking into Alex's nostrils.

Alex wrapped his paws around his neck in a desperate attempt to keep oxygen, however, it did nothing, eventually returning him to the black abyss known as the unconscious.

...

"Hey let's stop here, I'm getting hungry," Lilly asked.

"Yeah, that would be nice. My stomach kinda hurts anyway," Aaron said, with his legs exhausted.

Aaron dropped his bag on the floor. He unzipped one the bag and began checking his bag for something to eat. He grabbed out a small brown bag out of his bag. The tiny bag was wrapped up and tied up well, so he untied the bag and opened what was inside.

There was a ton of food, arranging from berries to fruit and to even fancy cupcakes. They both chose the food to their likings. Lilly took only five bites to finish her apple. Aaron on the other hand, he finished his apple in two bites, both bites taking half of the apple away. When they both finished their apples they sat down and started chatting with each other.

"Hey, Aaron! "What's your best bet on where the artifact would be?" Lilly asked, with her tail wagging in excitement.

Aaron took a moment to think.

"Where? I don't know. I just don't understand how they could be so clumsy to drop something this valuable to them in the first place. Unless…"

"Unless what?" Lilly asked.

Aaron stared deep into her eyes. "If my beliefs are correct. This could potentially be a trap."

Shocked what she heard. Her eyes widened and her ears pointed straighten up, along with her tail.

"What kind of trap?" Lilly asked with part of herself not wanting to hear the answer.

"Perhaps they could've strapped a bomb or maybe even an ambush. I suggest staying on guard for anything possible."

Lilly nodded.

"Well, we better get going. That artifact won't come to us after all," Lilly laughed.

Chuckling, Aaron agreed and they both set off to venture deeper through the cavern.

...

Aaron and Lilly have been walking for miles at this point. They came across a small tunnel. The tunnel is very thin, only able to fit a small Pokemon. The two Pokemon would have to go one by crawling inside the tunnel.

"Lilly, no offense, but your shell is very wide. I think you would get stuck in the tunnel. Here, let me go first," Aaron instructed Lilly.

Lilly nodded waited for further instructions. He crawled through inside the tunnel, with his body only just being able to fit inside.

Halfway through the tunnel. Aaron began to hear noises, from the other side of the cave. Goosebumps grew on his fur as his heart skipped two beats. At this point, he didn't want to check what lurks on the other side. it sounded like a buzzing noise. He just froze, feeling too scared to move.

HIs entire body was shaking in fear. He thought it would be best to just stop being a chicken crawl in further to see what's making the racket. Once he reached the end of the tunnel. He froze in fear from what he just witness. At the end of the tunnel, there is a tall room, filled with Beedrills sleeping away in their nest all across the walls.

With Aaron's remaining confidence completely wiped away from him. He did his best to not disturb the massive Beedrills with them in the slightest, he crawled back as silently as possible, not wanting to see them angry. When he was nearly out of the tunnel, Lilly made dumb decision to not look at the tunnel to see if he was okay but to shout his name.

"Aaron, are you alright in there?" Lilly said. Aaron almost had a heart attack, he looked back at the where all the Beedrills were. They have all awoken now, coming through the tunnel to deal with the intruders.

In a panic, Aaron gasped and rushed out of the tunnel while screaming, getting before the Beedrills do.

"LILLY!" "FLOOD THE TUNNELS, NOW!" Aaron yelled.

Without hesitation, she sprayed a huge water pulse in the tunnel, both drowning and pushing the Beedrill's back.

"OKAY, LET'S GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!" Aaron ordered, but from every angle, they were surrounded by hundreds of Beedrills.

"Ah crap, there's… there's got to be at least a thousand of them," Aaron said with his fur straight up.

Lilly was unable to even speak. Aaron and Lilly tried to be brave, but with death staring into their face, it was easier said than done. Their entire bodies were paralyzed, feeling the fear consume both of them.

Both of their limbs were shaking in anxiety, their tail's froze and both of their ears were straight up. Both of their eyes were widened, along with jaws wide open as well.

There were Beedrill's up in skies and roof, giving just enough space for the duo to breathe. Hundreds of them in front of the two and thousands upon thousands of Beedrills all a distance away.

The Beedrill's slowly hovered closer to Lilly and Aaron. Aaron needed to think fast before it was too late. He snatched the bag off his bag and searched for any helpful berry. He snatched one of the berries as quickly as he can, realizing that the Beedrill's were getting more aggressive with the Riolu dropping his bag on the ground.

Aaron saw a crack, a crack wide enough for Lilly and Aaron, but not for the Beedrill's. However, were a few Beedrill's blocking the gap.

"Lilly, on a count to three, I want you to blast as many Beedrill's as you can with those water pulses to your left. I'll cover you with this blast seed okay?" Aaron whispered.

"Okay, are you ready for this?"

Lilly took a deep breath and nodded.

"One..two..three NOW! She shot water pulses rapidly in the air, taking twelve Beedrill's down. Aaron swallowed the Blast seed and released a huge flame from his mouth, killing at least fifty Beedrill's as the remaining army of the Beedrill's were forced to retreat back from the fire, giving enough time for the duo to make a run for it.

The duo ran as fast as they can into the gap. Lilly and Aaron were lucky to be the right size for the gap. Lilly and Aaron were extremely lucky to be the right size for the crack, but are the Beedrill's?

The two watched as the Beedrill's violently buzzed as they tried to squirm through the crack. They screamed and shoved themselves in the gap but to no avail. The massive Bee's eventually gave up, realizing that there probably just gonna get themselves stuck. No longer than a few seconds, there was no Beedrill's to be seen, along with the buzzing sounds. The only sound now is the two rescuers heavy breathing.

With only just having enough room for the Riolu. Lilly was forced to slide through the place.

"Do you think the coast is clear?" Lilly asked.

Aaron motioned Lilly to be quiet with his paw. He then began to try to hear any sort of sound Beedrill's produce. It was quite hard, however, with Lilly's hyperventilation drowning any possible sound that could be made.

After five minutes of not hearing a thing, the two assumed that the Beedrill's have given up."

The two remained cramped at the very end of the small cave. What's worse is that there was a small leak of behind them, meaning Lilly and Aaron are getting themselves covered in mud. This meant that the lower half of their bodies were smeared in mud, especially poor Lilly who is right next to leak, also getting wet.

"Okay, I think we're fine now. Just give me a minute to check," Aaron said.

With that said, Lilly stayed put while Aaron went out to check if they're gone. With every step closer to the crack, the more his heart raced.

Finally, he peeked his head through the crack, to see no sign of the Beedrill's at all. Nevertheless, luck decided to come to bite him in the ass once again, with a Beedrill suddenly charging at him full speed, pointing its stinger towards Aaron. Only just by a millisecond, Aaron thankfully avoided the attack and retreated his entire body back into the cave.

"AARON!"

Before Aaron could turn his head to Lilly. Lilly let out a cry right before hearing something slam to the ground. Aaron turned and gasped to see that the cave has shrunken with no signs of Lilly anywhere.

"LILLY!" "Are you okay?" Aaron screamed.

With each second of anxiously waiting for the Wartortle's response. Tears started to appear in his eyes. But, at last, he heard a faint scream, coming from the other side of the wall.

Aaron got closer to the wall and placed his pointy ears to the wall to see if he could hear something clearer this time.

"Aaron, get me out of here," The familiar voice said, presuming to be Lilly's.

The Riolu gasped. He couldn't believe it but somehow the cave sealed itself completely, blocking the two rescue members.

"Lilly, what just happened? And most of all, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm unharmed. Somehow the roof dropped down between us, blocking us completely," Lilly answered, also placing one of her ear against the wall in order to hear the Riolu better.

"Lilly!" "Is there any way out?"

"Give me a minute to check," Lilly said, trying to remain calm about the situation, but found it almost impossible to do so.

Lilly checked for a way to be with Aaron once again, but with the ceiling, and walls and floor being sealed. She realized there was no escape. She was trapped with only the supplies in her purse to keep her dying from starvation.

"Aaron!" "There is no way out. I'm trapped!"

Aaron growled in frustration but with his quick thinking, a plan was quickly formed into his mind.

"Lilly!" "Try using your strongest move on the wall."

Lilly did as she was told and aimed a ton of water pulses at the wall, to no damage done. She then tried charging head first into the wall. The collision with her head to the wall hurt her skull a lot but it managed to leave a small crack into the wall. She got back up, feeling very dizzy. She shook off the dizzy spell and checked the damage again, to witness that the damage to the wall regenerated into the front of her eyes.

"Aaron, did you see that?" Lilly asked.

Aaron even more uneasy with Lilly screaming at the top of her lungs.

"What do you mean Lilly?"

Lilly took a moment to respond, still trying to comprehend with what she just saw.

"Aaron, the wall just regenerated all on its own. Do you have any idea what this could mean?"

Aaron took in the words that the Wartorlte just spilled out and immediately lost all faith in surviving. He remembered what his father told him and him and he feared the reality of going into one of them. Aaron took a deep breath and responded with, "Lilly, the Resistance have intentionally or unintentionally sent us to a death trap. I fear this is a Mystery Dungeon," Aaron said.

With hearing those two worlds collide. The Wartortle's heart sank. Lilly and Aaron have heard of the so-called Mystery Dungeons. They both have studied the horrendous things the dungeons can do like speed up time, slow down time, change the layout of the cave and many more.

Both members of the rescue team could no longer contain their anxiety and stress. Both of them wanted to cry in fear but they never did. It seemed that everything has taken a turn for the worst. They are separated, they are being hunted down by Beedrill's and the worst of all. They are trapped in a Mystery Dungeon.

"Lilly, make the mud as wet as possible with your water pulses, asap!"

Lilly followed Aaron's commands and began firing water pulses at the dirt beneath her.

"It's done! What now?" Lilly yelled.

"DIG!" Aaron yelled.

Lilly gulped and began questioning Aaron's decisions.

"Are you sure Aaron?" Lilly asked.

"JUST DO IT LILLY!"

With a gulp. She started digging through the mud, feeling all the dirt with her once spotless claws. The deeper she dug, the more she wants to kill Aaron for forcing her to get her claws and paws dirty. Now, her lower body and her paws are just covered in wet dirt.

She kept on digging and digging for what felt like an eternity until she could feel the dirt no longer. Curious, she dug more to see what's below. The results were a cliff below, with nearly falling off the dirt.

"It's done, and the result was a cliff. What now?"

"Get in your shell and roll off the cliff. Maybe, just maybe. You might be able to survive with the protection of her shell," Aaron said.

"ARE YOU CRAZY AARON!?"

The Riolu sighed.

"Look, I get it. It may be suicide, but trust me. It will at least be a better death than starvation and it has more of a chance for you to live.

You are a tough Pokemon Lilly. Not only is your shell powerful enough withstand even some of the most powerful attacks out there but your skin alone is tough as well," Aaron said.

Lilly said sighed and prepared to launch herself off the cliff. But before she did, she said her, last words.

"Goodbye Aaron," She said, only to get inside the shell and roll off the cliff.

Authors Notes: Hey everyone. Sorry that this chapter took a while to make. First off, me and my editor had to plan the editing some more, leading me to do 70% of this chapter. So, tell me if anything needs improving upon. Alright, see you all! I'm also very sorry for how this chapter has dropped in terms of writing from the previous. As I said, I did 70% of this, due to my editor having problems with her computer (she couldn't edit the chapter).