I finally made my way out of the freezing cold, but I somehow managed to find myself in an even more dreary place. The soil of the ground was dark, almost black, and so was the rest of the world around me. Small, white specks floated in the air like dust, illuminating the world around them ever so slightly. Little blades of blue grass poked their heads out of the ground, also with their own bioluminescence.

What was most strange were the flowers though. These blue glowing plants stood high into the air and blossomed largely, but if you stood close enough to them in the silence you could hear them speak. Stories from long ago, voices not heard in years, echoes of the past.

This part of the world was both mesmerizing and unnerving, but something told me that I should get out as soon as I could. I walked at a slightly faster pace than usual, and then it hit me.

Where are all of the wild pokemon?

I hadn't seen a single wild pokemon since I entered this world, and compared to the world I was used to this bothered me. What's even more strange is that the pokemon that the monsters I had encountered up until this point hadn't always been the most common pokemon ever, so how they managed to get rarer creatures when I had yet to find common ones confused me.

I walked on and on in the vast underground network. I didn't see any other living beings, even the monsters that seemed to populate this land. The isolation and loneliness were nothing new to me, as I had often purposely gone into hiding before, but this time I was in an unfamiliar place, and something didn't feel right.

I walked through an area with pools of glowing water, once again contrasting to the dark landscape. The water was almost perfectly still, and not a sound was uttered other than the whisperings of the flowers. It wasn't until I found myself walking across a boardwalk did another sentient form make their appearance.

"Icicle Spear!"

I twirled around, but not fast enough. One of the ice weapons scraped against my hand, and I barely was missed by the others. I saw a dark suit of armor across the black water and a Cloyster by its side. I ran.

Blood streamed down the side of my right hand, and I put my other hand over it to try and pressure it to stop bleeding. I assumed that some of my tendons were torn, as I couldn't move my fingers, but perhaps it was just the excruciating pain that did this.

I ran down across the wooden panels, huffing and puffing for air as my assailant launched more and more shards of ice at me. My footsteps thumped at an almost rhythmic pace as I ran as fast as my legs would take me. Strangely, it seemed that at some point the boardwalk had stopped being over water, and now was floating over a dark abyss below.

What did I do to deserve this?!

I wanted to reach down to pick up one of my pokeballs, but the pain prevented me. The endless stream of icy spears stopped, and for a second I thought I was safe. Then I realized that I was at a dead end.

The hairs on my neck stood on end and goosebumps ran rampant on my body as I heard the metallic footsteps and the jumping of the Cloyster behind me. I slowly turned around and found that my worst fears were true.

The large shelled pokemon launched a few final spears at a few points just short of my feet, and I heard the cracking of wood. The part of the platform that I was standing on gave way and fell into the dark space below.

-----

I awoke on a bed of yellow flowers. The sound of rushing water plagued my ears as I sat up and rubbed the back of my head.

Wait! My hand?

I looked at the hand that I had just used to rub my head, my right hand, and saw that it was completely healed. I marvelled at it, for how could an injury disappear so quickly like that?

I stood up and got a look around me. Around the bed of flowers was land flooded with murky water. There were piles of trash here and there, and the smell of it made me feel a little nauseous. There were also few foot high waterfalls all around me, both from above and below, coming from and leading to places unimagined.

I called out Lapras to give me a ride. Soon as he landed in the water, though, he immediately wanted out. He looked absolutely revolted at the quality of the water. I sighed and pulled him back into his pokeball.

I dipped my foot into the dirty mess, but found that it wasn't but a few inches deep. Reluctantly, I waded through it.

After several minutes of wading, I finally saw an exit to dry land, and I speedily sloshed through the water to try and get out as fast as possible.

Suddenly, a splash was made behind me, and in front of me appeared a very angry dummy.

It looked very similar to the first dummy that I had seen, except that this one was bursting at the seams, and had a very active and angry face. It floated there in front of me, hovering up and down in the air.

"Hey! It's you! You're the one that bored my cousin to death! Almost literally! I bet you don't understand this about ghosts: we can become corporeal if we bond with a body for long enough. Well guess what?! Your boring actions when he was half expecting you to slice him open made him so anxious that he decided to leave his body! Yes! He is now in search of a new body, and it's all thanks to you! Get ready for my vengeance!"

One of the seams ripped open to reveal a pokeball firmly wedged in the dummy, and the capsule popped open to let a Primeape out.

I wanted to get out of the polluted filth that I was standing in, but it looked like I needed to battle this dummy first. I let out Charizard, who immediately after splashing down forced itself into the air out of disgust, then shot me a dirty look.

Sorry, but since you don't always fly you don't come out that way.

"Rage!" commanded to stuffing filled adversary, and the angry monkey obliged. However, all Charizard had to do to avoid it was fly a little higher, almost hitting its head on the rock ceiling.

"Flamethrower."

Instant win.

"I'm not done yet!" The pokeball sucked the pokemon back in, and another seamed ripped open to let another Primeape out.

This cycle continued three more times.

The dummy was starting to look nervous as it brought its last Primeape in. "Oh y-yeah?! Well... I still have another pokemon!" He let out a Doublade.

I didn't even need to issue my command, Charizard automatically used Flamethrower.

"Errr, I'm out of pokemon! That's it! I'll just block your path!" The dummy didn't look too threatening with a score of new holes on its body or the stuffing falling out of said holes.

Well I can't exactly hurt him...

As much as I hated it, I eventually came up with a solution. I reached down, scooped some of the mystery water, and splashed it on the dummy.

"Eww! Stop that! Fine! I'll go!"

After that the dummy floated up and out of my way, and I proceeded forward out of the despised garbage region. Only for a brief period of time did I escape the blue and black dark areas in a weird purple town, after which I went back to the darkness. I followed the paths lit by mushrooms and grass until I once again made it out, this time finally out of the caves.

I kept on pushing through everything I saw. I thought that surely I would find something interesting eventually, but all that I had really run into was trouble and eccentrics.

When I was making my way through some grass that went over my head, I suddenly heard the footsteps of metal boots. I froze on the spot.

The footsteps got louder and louder, until they were nearly right behind me. I held my breath. This was the first time in all my journeys where I legitimately feared for my life.

"Hey?! Is that you Undyne?!"

The suit of armor shifted and walked out of the grass.

"Papyrus, I thought I told you not to bug me today," said a feminine voice. "I'm human hunting!"

"Oh I'm sorry! I just was making my way over to Alphys's place and saw you, so I thought that I would say hi!"

"What are you headed to her house for?"

"My pokemon fainted!"

"Oh."

"Yeah! So I need to go get them healed!"

"Did the human defeat them?"

There was hesitation. "Yes! It was a brilliant fight! I think that even you would have trouble against them!"

"Hm. We'll see about that."

"Alright then! Bye Undyne! I'll let you hunt the human now!"

The suit of armor sighed. "Yes, see you later Papyrus."

I listened carefully for the movements. It seemed that my hunter gave up on finding me there, because she moved away from my spot.

A load fell off my shoulders and I quickly and quietly fled the area.

I was safe until I came to a large, rocky hill that resembled a small mountain. It had a tunnel going through it, so I decided that I would travel that way, but I was stopped at the entrance.

"There you are! I've found you now!"

I looked up and to my terror the suit of armor was standing on the hill. The mask had been taken off to reveal a scaly blue flesh with fins on both sides of the head and a plume of red hair.

Without thinking, I let out my trusty Pikachu.

"I see, so you do use pokemon. No matter! I will defeat you with my own!"

I had no idea why she had been hunting me, but it wasn't in my blood to turn down a pokemon battle.

"Vaporeon!"

I can see the resemblance. "Thunderbolt."

Once again, an effortless defeat. I was beginning to wonder if all the monsters here were just that bad or if I was just that good. Regardless, why would Jirachi send me here if I was so much better?

"Hmph. Not bad. Have a taste of this! Cloyster."

"Thunderbolt."

The minor electric attack was enough to secure victory. This was rather anticlimactic.

"No no no! It can't end like this! I have too many others to protect! You will not get pass me! Gyarados!"

What is she talking about? Why is it so important to her to stop me? I thought that I'd be able to end it right there, but she wasn't done yet.

Undyne yelled out into the open air and the water dragon started shining brightly. Fueled just by her resolve, the Gyarados Mega Evolved.

"Thunderbolt."

My Pikachu let out shocks of electricity which landed on the opponent, but it didn't seem to do as much as I thought. For once, a pokemon in this land was taking more than one hit to beat. I smiled.

"Dragon Dance!"

"Thunder."

The serpent did its dance, and was hit mid-way with the lightning bolt, but it was still standing after the damage.

"Crunch!"

"Wild Charge."

The two collided in a flurry of energy, and sparks flew. They both backed up after the attack, and to my surprise they both were heavily damaged. Undyne looked like she was in a bit of shock.

"Aqua Tail!"

"Iron Tail."

The tail ends of both pokemon hit each other like swords, and both were repelled away. My Pikachu fainted, but the Gyarados was still hanging on by a thread.

She... beat one of my pokemon?

Undyne thought that she had won. "I've got you now, human!"

I retrieved Pikachu, then pulled out a second pokeball. All the confidence from Undyne's face visibly left. I let out my completely healthy Venusaur. "Vine Whip."

The vines slapped the Gyarados across the face, and it was finished.

We both retrieved our pokemon.

Undyne was at a loss for words, and stumbled back. For someone who seemed to be super courageous, she sure fled fast from the scene.

Interesting... So some of them are strong.

I rubbed my hand, still remembered the injury, but I wasn't angry. I felt that I had understood something in that quick battle, like we had exchanged words. I knew that for whatever reason she had, she thought she was doing the right thing, and I couldn't exactly reprimand her for that.

I pulled my hat down a little further on my face and continued my journey.