Chapter 3
Joy Scarves


As we walk through the cave, Snivy suddenly perks up.

"Hey, look over there!" Snivy says, running over to a pool of water.

I follow them and look into the water. The pool is bigger than most others in the dungeon, but looks about the same, with clear water and a crystal bottom. "Huh? It's just another pool."

"Not quite, look there." Snivy points to a spot under the water. I look where Snivy points and notice a hole in the cave wall. "I'm pretty sure there's something just through that hole! You should go through and check it out."

"Me?! Why not you?"

"I'm no good at swimming."

"Neither am I! It was hard enough learning how to walk, how do you expect me to- huh?" Snivy interrupts me by putting a hand on my shoulder. They look at me with an unamused stare for a few seconds...

Then shove me into the water.

I'm barely able to take a breath before I hit the water. I panic and flail around for a moment, not knowing how to move around in the water, and luckily end up angling myself towards the surface. I frantically kick my legs and wave my arms in a swimming motion, which successfully pushes me upward.

I gasp for air the moment I breach the surface. I wasn't under very long, but I wasn't ready and didn't have much air in my lungs. "Why did you do that?! I could have drowned!" I yell up at Snivy.

"You're a WATER TYPE, you CAN'T drown!" they shout back.

"...Oh. Really?"

"Yes! How do you even- Ugh, forget it. Look, you can keep whatever you find back there, just go get it."

Well now I feel like an idiot. Of course water type pokemon can't drown. Still... I dive back under the water and hesitate a moment, planning on taking in a small breath, when I realize I'm not running out of breath. I'm a little confused, until I remember hearing something about some pokemon breathing through their skin, so I guess Mudkip can do that too? In any case, I'm not drowning.

With that settled, I swim towards the hole in the wall fairly easily. Mudkip are made to swim, so it makes sense that I'd be able to pick up swimming without much trouble in this body. As I swim, I start to think about all this. I'm a pokemon, in some world with no humans. I don't want to be here; it's dangerous and unfamiliar, and I don't like this body. I need to get out of here. I want to go back to the life I had before... Wait, is one of my new body parts moving?

I stop swimming and turn to look at my tail fin. I wiggle it, and I move forward a bit. I think I was subconsciously using it to swim? As I start swimming again, I try using my fin, and it makes moving around in the water a lot easier. Neat!

By now, I've passed through the hole in the wall, and I swim to the surface on the other side. I find a small room with a bit of dry land in it. On the ground is a piece of cloth. I get out of the water and inspect it, and it appears to be a pink scarf, just like the one Snivy wears. I decide to pick it up, but I realize I can't; I don't have arms, but instead front legs, which I need to walk and swim. I pick it up in my mouth instead, and dive back into the water.

Soon enough, I surface on the other side and climb onto land.

"Oh? Hey, that's a joy scarf!" Snivy says, pointing to the scarf in my mouth.

"A what?" I ask, dropping the scarf.

"A joy scarf, like the one I have." Snivy points to their own pink scarf. "Pokemon grow stronger as they battle and use moves. You did know that, right?"

"Actually, yeah, I did know that."

"Good, you should. Anyway, a joy scarf speeds up how fast you grow. It's super valuable for pokemon who have lots of room to grow, like us, so it's pretty lucky that you found one!"

"I guess so..." I'm not really interested in getting stronger as a pokemon. I want to leave this world as soon as possible. But then again, I might be here awhile, so getting stronger might be helpful. I wonder, how long am I gonna be stuck here?

Well, there's no reason not to wear it. I reach down to try and put it on, but again, I don't have fingers. I struggle with it for a bit before Snivy grabs it and ties it around my neck for me.

"I didn't ask for your help."

"You didn't ask for help when that Buizel was kicking your butt either, but you needed it."

I look away in frustration, then I hear a low grumble.

Snivy jumps at the noise and looks around. "What was that?"

"Um, I think that was my stomach," I reply.

"What?" Snivy says. We hear another grumble, this time from Snivy. "Oh. Well, like I said, this is why you don't go into a mystery dungeon unprepared," they say, grabbing the bag at their side. They open it up and pull out a pair of apples and a small picnic blanket.

Moments later, we're sitting down and having a snack. Eating is awkward without teeth, but I figure out that I can tear off small chunks and swallow them whole. "So Snivy, you seem to know a lot about mystery dungeons. How many have you been in?"

"This is my second."

"What? But then how do you know so much about them?"

"Well, a long time ago, a team of explorers stopped in the village I lived in. They were traveling the world, and just so happened to stop there to rest and restock supplies. When I heard they explored mystery dungeons, I was interested at first, so I asked them to tell me what it was like. The more I listened to their stories, the more interested I got. I asked them more questions about how mystery dungeons worked. That's when I decided I wanted to be a world famous explorer!

"They told me it would be difficult and dangerous, and that there was no guarantee of finding anything valuable, but I didn't care. I asked more questions, about what it would take to become an explorer." Snivy reached up and grabbed their scarf. "Eventually, they gave me this scarf, and said it would help if I was serious about becoming an explorer. They left my village the next day. I stayed at my home for a while after that, but eventually, I left. And so here I am now!

"I haven't actually explored many dungeons, but I'm getting the hang of it! And one day, I'll be the greatest explorer in the whole world..."

I finish my apple as Snivy finishes talking. "I didn't ask for your life story."

"Too bad!" Snivy says before finishing the rest of their apple in one bite. They're lucky; they have fingers AND teeth. "Alright, let's get moving." Snivy says, returning the picnic blanket to their bag. "We should be pretty close to the end now."



Thanks for reading. Comments, questions, and criticisms are encouraged.