NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: Chapter 7 - Expert Difficulty
"Hehe, thanks for coming with me. To be honest, I still feel scared facing both of those guys by myself."
"Think nothing of it. I'm also curious about these Mystery Dungeons you're talking about."
Dante and Pikachu are currently standing in front of the entrance to a cave in the beach where Zubat and Koffing entered. This cave is the first Mystery Dungeon that the player will enter and is named the Beach Cave.
In the official PMD Explorers of Sky, this cave is composed of level 1 to 2 Pokemons such as Shellder, Kabuto, Corsola, and Shellos. With the Starter Pokemon and their partner both being level 5, players can just worry about familiarizing themselves with the gameplay and not worry much about dying to the enemy Pokemons.
While entering the cave, Dante began to inquire more information about the Mystery Dungeons from Pikachu. In the game, Mystery Dungeons are Dungeons that are magically different each time you enter, hence the term Mystery.
"I don't know much about Mystery Dungeons, this is also the first time I entered one. However, I heard from other Explorers that it's like a maze inside and the walls in the dungeons can move. The Pokemons inside are also very aggressive towards Pokemons that came from outside the dungeon."
"Huh? Why is that?"
"No one really knows. Some say it was just Dungeon Pokemons being more territorial, but I think it was due to the war between the Dungeon Pokemon and Surface Pokemons thousands of years ago."
"What? What was that about a war thousands of years ago?"
Hearing about some war made Dante a bit confused.
'I don't think there's some sort of thing like that in the game. Atleast, I don't remember any mention of that. Is this world different from the official Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game?'
"Hehe, I also learned about it from one of the scrolls I read while reading the adventures of famous Exploration Teams. It was only mentioned in passing though. Something about gigantic Pokemons and dungeons being destroyed."
"Gigantic Pokemons? Like Onyx and Steelix?"
"I don't know. It just said 'Giant Pokemons wreak havoc throughout the land and the deep dungeons have become the only safe haven.'"
"Huh, that's interesting…"
Dante and Pikachu's chatter began to die down as they entered the deeper parts of the dungeon. They entered a hallway-like entrance that widened up to a large room.
After entering the room, Dante and Pikachu were shocked to find three Pokemon staring at them. There was an Electrike, Wooper, and Chingling scattered throughout the room, now focusing their attention on the two of them.
"Get out of here, outsiders!"
That was the only warning the Pokemons gave before they suddenly attacked Dante and Pikachu.
'Calm down, Dante. This is just the beginner dungeon. You can take them on, no problem!'
Dante readied his body as the Electrike rushed first with its faster speed. Dante, still unused to this body, had to roll to the side to avoid being hit. Pikachu, meanwhile, used Grass Knot to trip Electrike.
Dante didn't even have time to stand up when his body felt a little weak.
At an unknown point, Wooper was beside him and used Tail Whip, lowering his Defense. Chingling that was located just in front, let out a Growl that made Dante feel a sense of lethargy and lowered his and Pikachu's attack.
Dante steadied himself and prepared to release a skill. On the way to the Beach Cave, Dante tried to see whether he had access to the menu that he had in the game, and he succeeded.
The menu allowed him to see his current moveset, items, team members status, the map, the current mission objectives, as well as an option to get back to the real world.
In his moveset, Dante currently has three skills: Leer, Scratch, and Astonish. Although he himself does not know how to use those moves, he can select those moves using his mind in the menu and his body will automatically move to use it.
Facing Chingling, Dante selected Astonish and his body automatically attacked Chingling while letting out a startling shout.
Astonish is a Ghost type physical move with a base power of 30. While inflicting damage, it also has a chance to make the target Pokemon flinch.
Astonish is a Ghost type move and Dante is a Normal/Ghost type Pokemon, the same type attack of the move boosts the damage when used by Dante.
Chingling is a Psychic type Pokemon that takes double damage from Ghost type attacks. After being attacked by Dante, Chingling's body flew for a short distance, slammed into the ground, and fainted.
However, while Dante just finished his attack, Wooper took this opportunity to fire a Water Gun at him. Dante tried to dodge it again, but Wooper was too close and his hindleg was hit by the water.
Dante let out a grunt of pain. Looking at the Wooper close to him, he frantically chose Astonish from the menu.
Even while he was in pain and unable to move, his body automatically made an action to attack Wooper. Wooper was hit by Astonish and flinched, giving Dante some time to breathe.
Choosing Astonish again, he felt something run through from the center of his body and to his mouth and head. Dante let out a shout again while tackling Wooper.
Wooper was not able to withstand the blow this time and fainted. Dante panted, his heart still beating fast from the adrenaline of his first Pokemon battle.
He looked towards the other side where Pikachu and Electrike were battling. What he saw made him speechless.
Pikachu was using Thunder Shock to attack Electrike and keeping a distance while Electrike retaliated with a Thunder Wave towards Pikachu. Seeing this, Dante shouted.
"Pikachu! Don't use Electric moves! Electrike can absorb it, the same way you can absorb Electric moves! Hold him there with Grass Knot and I'll come to help!"
In the PMD games, Pokemons usually have two Abilities instead of one like in the main game series. Even Dante, as a Hisuian Zorua, has the Ability Super Luck in addition to Illusion.
Pikachu and Electrike both have the Static and Lightning Rod ability. Pokemon with Lightning Rod Ability absorb Electric type moves and boost their own Special Attack.
After Pikachu heard Dante, he stopped attacking with his Thunder Shock and instead used Grass Knot again.
Pikachu currently only has four moves: Thunder Shock, Growl, Grass Knot, and Tail Whip. He can only use Grass Knot and normal attacks in order to damage Electrike.
Dante dragged his body towards Electrike and used Astonish. He felt the feeling of something running through his body again, but it was much clearer this time. Electrike let out a yelp of pain after being hit, and then Tackled Dante.
Dante was ready this time. And with Electrike being entangled by the Grass Knot, he easily dodged it. Dante used Astonish again and finally took down Electrike.
"Are you okay, Dante?"
Pikachu trotted towards Dante, a look of concern on his face.
"Haa haa, yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired from the battle."
Dante forced a smile at Pikachu while thinking about the recent battle. Looking at the menu, he and Pikachu both gained a level from the recent battle. However, Dante was more concerned about his HP which is currently one third of his maximum HP (11/32).
'What's going on? In addition to the Pokemons being different from the game, why are they so strong? It's almost like they are as strong as the both of us. If I took that Tackle from Electrike, maybe I would have fainted by now. Is this Pokemon world really different from what I know or is there some other rea…son…'
Dante then remembered that, in addition to choosing his starter and partner at the beginning, he was also given a choice to choose his gender and the difficulty…and he chose Expert mode.
Thinking of this, Dante almost banged his head on the ground. If only he knew that he would personally experience the difficulty, he would definitely choose the Easy mode.