Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Recovering Memories

Chapter 24: Into the Lab

Miobach Badlands, near the entrance to Cavernous Canyon mystery dungeon, August 10th

The quartet of pokemon that composed Team Seekers traversed a narrow pathway between two towering sandstone cliffs. To two of them, this felt fairly familiar looking despite the fact that they had never been there before. The cliff walls had a variety of colors to them, and Ryan recognized it as looking like a national park he had been to with his uncle as humans.

Soon, they arrived at the entrance of the Cavernous Canyon mystery dungeon that they would need to explore to get to the laboratory. The entrance to the dungeon was shrouded in fog, as all dungeons on this continent were, but it was still confusing to Ryan because the air was so dry.

I guess mystery dungeons are just built different, he thought. Well, not built, but... never mind.

Near the entrance was a storage box. Ryan took out his PSB from his bag, curious to see if anything would happen if he stored it in the box. So, he deposited it, but nothing interesting happened.

"Not sure why you thought that would do anything," Lena said, an eyebrow raised, "but... we're here."

"I hope that our trip through there is thoroughly straightforward," Ryan said as he pulled out his PSB, as well as some pure and reviver seeds, from the storage box. "The sooner we can learn about Martin and Kori's situation, the better, so I'd like to make it through as quickly as possible."

The others nodded in agreement, and after eating part of a watermelon that they found in their storage, headed into the opening of the cave. Little did they know that a very angry land shark was watching over them as they entered its territory.

Cavernous Canyon mystery dungeon

The rocky walls on the inside of the mystery dungeon were just as colorful as the cliff faces that were on the outside. It was fairly dark inside, but fortunately, Ben thought ahead and brought along a stick with a bundle of cloth attached to one end. He used an ember attack to light it and get a better view of their surroundings.

"You know," Ben said, voice echoing as the quartet traversed the tunnels, "I've decided that I'm finally ready to evolve into raboot. I feel it's been quite a while overdue, so I left my everstone in storage before we left."

Ryan stopped walking and looked back at the scorbunny. "And you're telling us because..."

"...because, if we get into a big fight and I suddenly evolve, saving the fight for us, I wanted you to know that it wasn't just out of nowhere."

The glaceon continued walking. Fortunately, this part of the tunnel was wide enough that he could stay side by side with Ben, so he wouldn't have to crane his head backwards. "Are you sure that's such a good idea? I didn't instantly gain strength when I evolved, I passed out and didn't even know about my change until I woke up. If the going gets tough, all of us would be out of sorts; evolving during a battle would probably tire you out further, screwing all four of us over."

Ben shook his head. "Have you considered that maybe, you didn't pass out because you evolved, but because, oh, I don't know, a zorua slammed you back first into a rock? It'll be fine! Besides, there's no guarantee that I'll even evolve during a battle anyways, so don't worry about it!"

The ice fox grunted, and the quartet then continued quietly through the dungeon.

Cavernous Canyon is a mystery dungeon that travelers ascend, twenty-four floors to be exact. Aside from the occasional maractus and cacturne it is primarily inhabited by ground types, with gible and silicobra being particularly common finds. That would be bad news for Ben, but fortunately for him, Ryan's ice beam, as well as Lena's ice shard, can make quick work of them, and he himself can take the cacti pokemon.