DING
CONGRATULATIONS USER FOR KILLING HIS 1ST DUNGEON LIZARD — REWARD: 3600 EXP
Drake smiled at the notification and suddenly remembered his little buddy who was exhausted and sent back to his Pokéball.
"Starly, come out." He tossed the Pokéball in the air. The energetic Starly appeared and began flying excitedly around him. Seeing his companion so lively, Drake took out a few stored crystals and started feeding them to Starly. The small bird happily munched on the crystals, and then a notification popped up:
STARLY LEVELED UP! LVL 9STARLY LEARNED BRAVEBIRD
"Oh nice! Looks like they don't need to train to learn new moves, they just level up," Drake thought.
As he read the notification, a question came to mind. "System, what happens to my Pokémon if I die again?"
THE POKÉMON AUTOMATICALLY RETURN TO THE USER'S INVENTORY UPON USER DEATH.
Relieved, Drake didn't hesitate. "System, use the remaining lottery ticket. I need a new companion."
UNDERSTOOD. STARTING THE LOTTERY.
A familiar lottery wheel appeared. Drake pressed spin and closed his eyes. After a moment, a DING sounded. He opened his eyes and read the notification, dumbfounded:
CONGRATULATIONS USER FOR GETTING THE MOST COMMON KANTO POKÉMON — PIDGEY
"Are you fu*king kidding me, you stupid system? Do you want me to have a flying Pokémon army or what? Sometimes I really hate this system… oh well. Pidgey it is."
Suddenly, a blood-red translucent screen appeared in front of Drake. As he read what was displayed, his shadowy face paled.
ATTENTION USERYOU HAVE SWEARED AT THE SYSTEM 3 TIMES.SYSTEM IS FORCED TO DEAL WITH YOU.
CONGRATULATIONS USER FOR TRIGGERING A PUNISHMENT QUESTREACH LVL 15 IN THE NEXT 3 HOURSREWARD: POKÉMON LOTTERY TICKET X1
PENALTY FOR FAILING: YOUR 2 POKÉMON WILL BE PUT INTO STASIS FOR 2 WEEKS.GOOD LUCK USER. TIME LEFT: 03:00:00
"Okay, I'm in deep sh*t." Starly chirped nervously on his shoulder.
Recovering from the shock, Drake withdrew Pidgey's Pokéball and tossed it into the air. "Pidgey, come out." From the blinding light appeared a small, plump bird. It was brown with a cream-colored face, underside, and flight feathers. On top of its head was a short crest of three tufts — the center feathers brown, and the outer two cream-colored. Pidgey glanced around, noticed his new owner and the other flying type on his shoulder, and immediately tried to push Starly off.
Drake noticed and stopped the little feud with a thought: "Relax, Pidgey. I'll need your help."
He looked at Starly and said, "Let's get moving. We have to kill everything in our way."
The three of them rushed forward. The first enemy they spotted was a dungeon lizard. Before Drake could react, the two birds shot forward: Starly used Razor Wind to slice the lizard's legs, and Pidgey closed in and used Sand Attack to blind it.
Seeing this, Drake sprinted and lunged forward, beheading the poor lizard.
"Thanks, you two. Let's keep going." Both birds nodded happily at the praise.
Together they slaughtered every monster in their path, gathering EXP. Checking his time and progress, Drake started to believe there might be hope.
EXP: 650,000 / 1.2MTIME REMAINING: 01:23:34
"I might make it," he thought. Turning a corner, they entered a circular room and heard a familiar rumbling. Both birds tensed on Drake's shoulders. Drake knew something was wrong. A massive hole opened and a huge red-scaled creature rose — a half-dragon, half-humanoid with blood-red scales covering its body, wielding two large broadswords.
Above it appeared a black screen:
[DUNGEON LIZARD VARIANT KNUCKLES LVL 26]
"Alright, let's start the show." Drake quickly called out, "System, show me the attacks Pidgey knows."
UNDERSTOOD. PIDGEY KNOWS:QUICK ATTACK, STEEL WING, SAND ATTACK
Drake formed a strategy in his mind. "Pidgey, get close and use Sand Attack to blind it. Starly, fly high and charge Brave Bird. Once Pidgey succeeds, charge in."
Pidgey charged bravely, but Knuckles noticed and swung both swords at him. The little bird dodged and slipped next to the lizard's eyes, throwing sand to blind it. At that moment, Drake and Starly charged in.
Suddenly, Drake felt something fly past and hit the wall — a notification appeared:
YOUR POKÉMON PIDGEY HAS SUSTAINED A MORTAL INJURY. RETURNING TO STASIS.24H REMAINING.
A powerful rage clouded Drake's mind. He charged forward. The giant lizard brandished its swords to strike, but Drake phased through the blades and sank his claws deep into its chest, then jumped back as Starly appeared covered in bluish energy, striking the lizard.
An explosion rocked the room. As the smoke cleared, a bloody and panting lizard remained. Drake didn't hesitate. Sprinting and lunging forward, he drove his razor-sharp claws into the creature's head. The lizard turned to black dust and dropped a huge crystal, which Drake immediately stored.
DING
CONGRATULATIONS USER FOR KILLING LIZARD WARRIOR VARIANT LVL 26 AND OBTAINING 500K EXP
EXP: 1,150,000 / 1.2MTIME LEFT: 00:25:15
"I'll make it. Starly, let's go! We can do this."
Starly nodded, and they rushed to the stairway, moving down. Hearing the notification for clearing the floor, Drake hurried down the familiar caves.
Suddenly, he heard a weird croaking. With Starly on his shoulder, he went to investigate. Turning a corner, they saw three frog-like monsters with one large eye each.
As they emerged, Starly charged the nearest frog with Quick Attack while Drake charged at the other two. Suddenly, both frogs opened their mouths and fired tongue-like projectiles at Drake. He barely dodged and lunged at the frogs.
He heard a ding — Starly had taken care of his target.
Drake appeared beside the remaining frogs, slashing through their eyes with his claws. The monsters turned to smoke.
Suddenly, three dings sounded in Drake's mind. Two caught his attention:
CONGRATULATIONS USER FOR COMPLETING THE PUNISHMENT QUEST — REACH LVL 15REWARD: POKÉMON LOTTERY TICKET X1
USER HAS REACHED LVL 15REQUIREMENTS FOR EVOLUTION GAINEDCHECKING USER'S STATS TO DECIDE APPROPRIATE EVOLUTIONSTART EVOLUTION PROCESS TO NEEDLE RABBIT? Y/N
"Needle Rabbit… I hope I at least look a bit humanoid. Okay, system, accept the evolution."
UNDERSTOOD. USER STARTING THE EVOLUTION PROCESS.
Blinding white light covered Drake's body. Starly, frightened, flew away as his owner began shrinking. Drake felt his body changing.
"Wait, wait, wait! Why am I shrinking? System, what did you do to me? Noooo!"
As the light faded, Drake opened his eyes. Starly looked huge in comparison. Drake was now on all fours, looking like a freaking rabbit. Starly tried to hide his beak with his wings to keep from laughing loudly.
Drake, seeing this, laughed himself, realizing how ridiculous he looked.
As he examined his new body, he noticed a peculiar weight on top of his head — a unicorn-like horn. "So this is supposed to be my weapon… This is going to be hard."
Drake tested his new muscles, trying to move. He put too much strength into his back legs and smashed forward like a bullet, crashing into a wall and raising a cloud of dust.
As the dust settled, Starly watched his master hanging off the wall by his horn, swearing loudly.
"SYSTEM, WHAT THE F*** HAVE YOU DONE TO ME? AARRGGHH!"