Exbel Woods is a dungeon and the third section of the starting tutorial before officially entering PMU. The player awakens in a wooded area, only to be greeted by a peppy Buneary.
The player is encouraged to follow it through a pre-mapped dungeon, leading the user through a tutorial. The actual dungeon and by extension, the tutorial can be skipped using the stairs on the bottom right. Using these stairs will take the player to the dungeon clearing to face the boss.
No Pokémon are recruitable in this dungeon, save for the boss, who automatically joins you on defeat.
Attributes
There are 3 floors to Exbel Woods, having three pre-mapped floors in maze like patterns.
Throughout the tutorial, Buneary guides and gives tips to the player. A Slakoth makes a minor appearance at the beginning of the dungeon, helping Buneary demonstrate how to battle and use moves.
- Entrance
- Buneary: Hiya, are you asleep?
- Buneary: Hee-hee... come on, rise and shine! It's a beautiful day today!
- .....
- Buneary: See? What'd I tell you? The weather is just great, great, great!
- Buneary: Why would anyone wanna sleep on a day like this?
- .....
- Buneary: Oh, you're not from around here, are you?
- Buneary: It's easy to tell from that silly look on your face! Hee-hee-hee!
- Buneary: This is the entrance to Exbel Woods!
- Buneary: It's home to a lot of friendly and happy-go-lucky Pokémon like me.
- Buneary: Exbel Woods is a wonderful, peaceful, fantastic, splendorous place! I've lived here my whole entire life and I just love, love, looove it!
- Buneary: Don't tell me - you're some kind of traveller, are you not?
- Buneary: Surely, I would have remembered your face if I had seen it before... and seeing as I don't, that must mean you're new here!
- Buneary: So, with that settled: where do you come from, stranger? Tell all, tell all!
- .....
- Buneary: Huh? You seem a bit... confused. Or maybe more like... a lot confused.
- Buneary: Heya, don't worry about it!
- Buneary: I know these woods like the back of my paw, so you can follow me and O'll show you around - I mean, it would be quite rude of me not to. Hee-hee!
- Buneary: Well, what are you waiting for, stranger?
- Buneary: Come on, the day's still young! Follow, follow! Unless you want to be a big meany and not follow me, you can use that exit on the bottom right!
- Buneary:
- B1F
- Buneary: Oh, hi again... have we met before?
- Buneary: Hee-hee, only kidding!
- Buneary: I'm not sure where you came from or where you're heading, but these woods lead out to pretty much anywhere you could possibly think of!
- Buneary: It couldn't get more convenient than that, could it?
- .....
- Buneary: Oh! You're telling me... you've never battled before?
- Buneary: Like, never battled? Never never ever?
- Buneary: Hee-hee... not to worry!
- Buneary: The Pokémon in these woods are all very friendly. They do love to practice battling for far though, so I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you wanted to practice, too!
- Buneary: Just watch me and I'll demonstrate how it's done. Okay?
- Buneary: Ooooookay!
- Buneary: Now, where to find someone to test it out on... ?
- Buneary: Oh - heya hi there, Slakoth! Talk about perfect timing!
- Buneary: How goes it here in your neck of the woods, buddy, Hee-hee!
- Slakoth: Ohhh... you knooow... same old, same old...
- Slakoth: Sayyy... didn't you just ask me that question... when you ran into me a couple hours agooooo... ?
- Buneary: Yes, yes! I think I most certainly did, but it seemed so long age that I'd forgotten.
- Buneary: Silly, silly me!
- Buneary: Anyway, Slakoth, we have a special visitor here today!
- Buneary: I was hoping you wouldn't mind if you could help me in giving them a little demonstration on some crazy awesome battle moves?
- Slakoth: .... Anoooother visitor of yooours... ?
- Slakoth: Suuure... I don't mind giving you a paw... anytime for yooou, Buneary...
- Buneary: Hee-hee, great! This is gonna be fun, fun, fun!
- Buneary: Hey, stranger! Are you watching this?
- Buneary: Come on down and join us. Don't be shy!
- Buneary: Okay - great, great!
- Buneary: Listen to my instructions carefully, and watch what we do!
- Buneary: Ready for this, Slakoth? Hee-hee-hee!
- Buneary: Okay... there are certain commands you can use in battle, but first, we'll show you how to use your standard attack!
- Buneary: Every Pokémon has a standard attack, and it's really easy to use!
- Buneary: Oh yes - very, very easy!
- Buneary: All you have to do is approach your opponent, and press the F button to unleash your standard attack!
- Buneary: The F button on your keyboard, of course... hee-hee! What else?
- Slakoth used its standard attack!
- Buneary took 4 damage!
- Buneary: Ooohh... nice one, Slakoth!
- Slakoth: Heh... thaaaanks...
- Buneary: See? Easy enough, right? Right?
- Buneary: Now... one things about standard attacks it that they only earn you half the amount of experience, which isn't always good when you're trying to level yourself up.
- Buneary: So how do you earn more experience, you ask?
- Buneary: Well, I'll show you... yes, yes, I certainly will!
- Buneary: To use one of your attacks, hold down the W, A, S or D key to choose which attack you want!
- Buneary: W, A, S and D all correspond to each of your four moves... if you're new to battling, you might not have four moves yet, but you should have at least one or two for now.
- Buneary: Try holding down W or A for a start! Okay?
- Buneary: When you hold down either W, A, S or D, you should see boxes or grids displayed... those will show you the range of the attack you chose!
- Buneary: Tackle, for example, can only hit the Pokémon directly in front of you... but try a more advanced move like Flamethrower or Razor Leaf, and you might be able to shoot your attack across the room!
- Buneary: Once you hold down W, A, S or D to choose a move, press your standard attack button at the same time to unleash the attack!
- Buneary: The standard attack button being F, of course! Hee-hee-hee!
- Buneary: Sorry, I might have been talking a bit too fast... would you like me to repeat my explanation?
Yes ↺Repeats dialogue- No
- Buneary used Pound!
- Slakoth took 6 damage!
- Buneary: not only will moves give you more experience, but they usually inflict more damage as well!
- Buneary: Hee-hee - useful isn't it?
- Slakoth: Ooooh keep in mind, though...
- Slakoth: Moooves, unlike your standard attack, have a certain amount of... PP... or Pooower Points, that it takes to use each oneee....
- Slakoth: If you run out of PP... you wooon't be able to uuuse that move until you recover pp for it again...
- Slakoth: So, be caaareful... and use your PP wiiisely...
- Buneary: Slakoth is right, right, right! Of course!
- Buneary: Sorry to take so much of your time explaining, but we just wanted to make sure you understood!
- Buneary: Have fun practising your moves on your own, now!
- Buneary: I'll meet you further down the road, stranger... when you're ready, that is!
- Buneary: Gooood luck!
- Slakoth: Seeee you laaaterrrr...
- Buneary: Oh! I almost forgot!
- Buneary: You may notice that there are some items scattered about around here.
- Buneary: You can pick those up using the ENTER key on your keyboard and... Voila, they're all yours!
- Buneary: It might be a good idea to pick up items, seeing as they can be very useful in certain situations.
- Buneary: Something else very useful that you may encounter are signs, which may give you helpful tips from time to time. Oh, yes!
- Buneary: You can read those by simply facing up to them and pressing ENTER as well - that ENTER key is quite handy, wouldn't you say? Hee-hee!
- Buneary: Don't forget to take the time to read signs, when you get a chance!
- Buneary: Anyway, I think I've kept you long enough for now!~
- Buneary: Try out some of the new stuff I taught you... and I'll come by and meet up with you later. Okay?
- B2F
- Buneary: Hello, hello, hello! It's my new friend again!
- Buneary: Did you get the hang of using your attacks? Don't worry, you still have plenty of time to practice - hee-hee!
- Buneary: Anyway... I just thought of a couple more things I should probably address. Yes, yes!
- Buneary: If you haven't figured it out already, you can open up your explorer menu with the Esc button on your keyboard!
- Buneary: Very helpful it is, indeed!
- Buneary: As you open it, you'll be able to see how your Hit Points (HP) and Experience (EXP) are doing!
- Buneary: You may have also noticed, however, that your belly has been decreasing as you explore.
- Buneary: That means you're getting hungry, silly!
- Buneary: Nothing an Apple can't fix, I always say... or, do I ever say that? Hee-hee-hee!
- Buneary: Anyway, it's best to eat something when your belly starts going down.
- Buneary: If it empties all the way, you can faint in a dungeon from hunger!
- Buneary: Oh no no, that's no good at all...
- Buneary: Luckily, you won't faint in Exbel Woods - but for explorations in the future, but sure to keep food in your inventory just in case!
- Buneary: Another way you can faint - if you're not careful - is if you linger a little too much on one floor!
- Buneary: Don't get me wrong, sometimes it's super fun to stay on a floor and train for a while...
- Buneary: But if you stay soo long, you'll get a warning about a mysterious wind passing through.
- Buneary: If you begin hearing warnings like that, it's probably best to find the stairs and go to the next floor of the dungeon as soon as you can!
- Buneary: Trust me, it's not fun at all!
- Buneary: No, no, no - not fun in the slightest!
- Buneary: Anyway, keep up your training and I'll meet you again on the next floor.
- Buneary: Remember to keep having lots and lots of fun, as always!
- B3F
- Buneary: Guess who it iiiiis?
- Buneary: Hee-hee... it's me of course, silly! Who else?
- Buneary: Anyway, we're on the last floor of the woods now, so we should be nearing the exit pretty soon!
- Buneary: Since this will be our last meeting together, I should probably give you one last helpful tip.
- Buneary: Yes, yes! I most certainly should!
- Buneary: Up ahead, you will find the woods clearing.
- Buneary: In most dungeons, there will be a boss Pokémon waiting to fight you at the end. Oh no, how very terrifying!
- Buneary: Here in Exbel Woods is, of course, no exception!
- Buneary: There's almost always a Pokémon hanging around the clearing, waiting to battle the occasional visitor... so do be careful!
- Buneary: Usually, a boss Pokémon is a bit stronger than the other Pokémon you've already faced in the dungeon.
- Buneary: My best advice is to use your moves, items and strategies to your advantage in order to defeat them.
- Buneary: I wouldn't worry too much, though - I'm sure you'll do just fine, fine, fine! Hee-hee!
- Buneary: Anyway, I hate to leave you already. I'm going to miss you sooooo much!
- Buneary: All you have to do now is continue down this path to the clearing, defeat the boss, and you should be out of here in a jiffy!
- Buneary: Good luck, stranger! It was very, very nice of you to visit us!
Boss
Joey the Rattata is the boss of the dungeon, and is fairly easy to beat, only knowing the moves Tackle and Tail Whip. After defeating him, he will request to join your team (and does even before so). Even if you deny him, he will join you anyways. Joey will always drop TM Hidden Power when defeated.
Boss drop:
TM Hidden Power
Dialogue:
Before fighting
- Rattata: Hey, you're that Pokémon Buneary has been talking about, aren't you?
- Rattata: Do you think you have what it takes to beat me, rookie?
- Rattata: Why don't you come over here and show me what you've learned?!
- Rattata: C'mon, give me your best shot!
After defeating
- Rattata: Awwww, you beat me! No fair!
- Rattata: Ah well, it gave me a lot of good practice, at least! And come to think of it, you're pretty strong too, for a rookie.
- Rattata: You don't suppose I could join your team?
- [Player Name]: .....
- Rattata: Oh, maybe I should explain...
- Rattata: Sometimes, when you beat a Pokémon in a dungeon, they'll come to admire your strength and ask you if they can join your team.
- Rattata: Now, I'll have you know that I'm a real strong Rattata. In fact, I'd probably rank myself among the top percentile of Rattata.
- Rattata: But even I can admit that you've got some real skill, and I think the two of us would be unbeatable if we were to team up together!
- Rattata: So, whadd'ya say? Will you let me join your team? ↷Repeated
- Yes
- No ↺Repeats dialogue
- Rattata: .....
- Rattata: C'mon... Don't be mean like that!
- Rattata: I knew you'd say yes, of course! It's only natural you'd want someone as strong as me on your team!
- Rattata: Luckily for you. I've already taken the liberty of joining your team before I even asked... so you really had no choice in the matter, anyway! Ha ha!
- Rattata: Furthermore, you need someone to escort you out of this forest.
- Rattata: So who better to help you with that than me - your newest and greatest team member of all time?
- Rattata: Now, come on, let's get out of this place.
- Rattata: I've had enough of Exbel Woods to last me a lifetime.
Pokémon
Pokémon in bold are recruitable. Please visit the Recruitable Pokémon page for more information.
| Portrait | # | Pokémon | Floor | Recruit rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 019 | Rattata | B1-3F | Unrecruitable |
 | 161 | Sentret | B1-3F | Unrecruitable |
 | 287 | Slakoth | B1-3F | Unrecruitable |
 | 396 | Starly | B1-3F | Unrecruitable |
 | 427 | Buneary | B1-3F | Unrecruitable |
Items
All items found on the ground here are extremely common, but useful for new users, allowing them to get some supplies before adventuring further into Exbel.
| IS | Item | Location | Tile | Hidden |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Apple | B3F | Floor | No |
 | Ether | B3F | Floor | No |
 | Oran Berry | B1-3F | Floor | No |
 | Leppa Berry | B1-3F | Floor | No |
Dungeon Objective
The objective is to go through the tutorial and learn about the first steps of playing Pokémon Mystery Universe and the basic mechanics it has. The player learns a variety of things that are taught in Exbel Woods:
- How the Stairs work
- How battling works
- How to use Moves
- How to pick up items
- How recruitment works
- Hunger
- Wind
- Bosses
Tips
- You may skip straight to the boss using the stairs towards the bottom right of the entrance to the dungeon.
Trivia
- Exbel Woods, like the Summoner's Platform, made an appearance in early 2012, as it was highly requested.
- This dungeon is the only place where a recruitable Pokémon already has a nickname and the only place with a recruitable boss.
- Joey is a reference to Youngster Joey from the main series games (mainly Gold, Silver, and Crystal) (Youngster Joey would always call the player to tell him about his Rattata and how it was top percentage).
- Despite Joey being male, the recruited Joey can be female.
- The same Buneary from Exbel Woods returned in the Easter 2015 event, and Boss Rush along with Joey.
- Buneary is also listed as the champion of PMU in the Hall of Fame.