Author's note:Just so we're clear, this is not a novelization of PMD explorers of sky. It loosely follows the plot for the first two and a half chapters or so, then diverges into something completely different.

Where am I? What... what's going on? I can't see anything.

"Hello, brave hero," a voice says.

"What? Where are you? Who are you? What's going on?" I ask.

"None of that matters right now. You have to listen closely. Take your courage, and become a hero. Save the innocent. Only after becoming such a hero can you find me. Only then can you find your destiny. Do you understand?" The voice asks.

"Kinda, but his makes no sense. Who are you? Where am I?" I ask. The voice sighs.

"We don't need to waste the limited time we have on whom I am."

"Yes there is. Come on! Who are you?"

"My name, since you seem so intent on knowing, is Minna. Keep an eye out for me when you wake up. You won't see me for a while, but keep my name in your mind."

"Wake up? Wake up from what? What's going on?" But the voice doesn't respond. I feel myself growing more and more tired, until I eventually drift off.

The relaxing movement of the tide is the first thing I hear. In... out... in... out. A constant repetition of sound; beautiful sound, really.

Where am I, though? The more I try to think about where I am, the less I seem to know.

I can't... hold on... I'm... drifting off...

I hear a voice. Ugh... I can't piece together any words, though. Maybe... Maybe if I just stand up I'll be able to do something.

I slowly get up, I hate getting up from a good sleep, this had better be important.

"You're awake! Thank goodness!" I heard a feminine sounding voice exclaim. Yes, I am awake, I guess. I open my eyes and look around. I'm on a beach, the sun is setting while glistening bubbles float through the air. Next to me a Vulpix stands, she's looking at me. Was she the voice? She must be, no one else is nearby.

Where am I? I know that this is a beach, but it's certainly not one from my memory. Then again, now that I think about it, no place really is from my memory. I have to remember something! Think! A place, a name, a friend?

Nothing. All I remember is that I'm a human... a human being. I remember what those look like, at least.

"You wouldn't move at all. I was really worried about you!" The vulpix says. I turn to her. "Do you have any idea how you ended up unconscious out here?" I was unconscious? Well, that's news to me. Looks like neither of us knows what happened. "Anyway, I'm Avia. Glad to meet you!" She smiles at me, her smile is infectious; I can't help but smile as well. "Who are you? I don't think I've seen you around before."

"I don't know who I am, or anything, really. Only that I'm a human being," I say. She jumps.

"What? You say you're a human? You look like a normal eevee to me," She says. An eevee? That's a laugh. I am completely sure that I'm... Since when do humans have fur? And I feel a tail, humans don't have tails! I guess I am an eevee. But how? I'm completely positive that I'm a human, yet here I am. But how did this happen? I know that I'm a human, or at least, I used to be a human. When did that change? When did the humanity stop and the eeveeness start? I don't know, that's for sure."You're...a little odd... Are you pulling some kind of trick on me?" I shake my head vigorously. I can't have her thinking bad things about me, she's the closest thing I have to a friend right now. "You're telling me the truth? Okay, how about your name? What's your name?" My name? I doubt I'll remember that, it's not like I remember anything else. My name... Oh yeah, I remember now!

"My name is Jiro," I say.

"So your name is Jiro, huh? Okay. You don't seem to have a sinister intent, at least. I'm sorry that I doubted you. More and more bad pokemon have been turning up lately, you see. Many pokemon have become aggressive lately. It's just not safe anymore..." Wow, you're pretty easy to gain the trust of, considering that all I had to go to gain your trust was talk with you for a few minutes. A zubat and a koffing float/fly up behind her. The zubat slams into her, knocking her to the ground. A stone falls out of her possession and to the sand. "Arg!"

"Well, I do beg your pardon," the koffing says.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?" Avia yells at them. The zubat laughs.

"What, you can't figure it out? Maybe you're as dumb as you are cowardly. We did it because we wanted to mess with you. Can't face up to us, can you?" The zubat says to her. They seem to be completely ignoring me. Maybe I can help in some way.

"Wh-what!" Avia exclaims.

"That's yours, isn't it?" The zubat says, referring to the stone, which, now that I look at it, has a strange symbol on it.

"Oh! That's..." Avia starts.

"Sorry, kiddo. We'll take that!" The zubat says. He picks up the stone.

"Aah!" Avia screams. The koffing laughs.

"Not gonna make a move to get that back? What's the matter, are you too scared? I didn't expect that you'd be such a coward!" He turns to his zubat companion. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"See you around, coward," the zubat says. This rock obviously means much to Avia, but she's not going to stand up for herself. I guess that means that I'll have to be the hero. The zubat and koffing fly/float towards a cave.

"T-that's my personal treasure, it means everything to me," Avia says quietly, so that only I can hear. "If I lose that... No. No, I can't lose that, not now, not ever."

"You're not going anywhere," I say while the zubat and koffing are passing us. They stop and laugh.

"Really? And who's going to stop us? Certainly not the coward, and I'm sure that we can take you," the zubat says.

"Are you, now? Because, the way I see it, both of your assumptions are wrong," I say. And I'm right, too, because just as I finish talking, Avia slams into the zubat, sending his body crashing into the rocks behind him. I follow Avia's lead and slam into the koffing, causing him to have the same fate as his partner. They try to grasp the situation, but before they can Avia and I slam into the zubat and koffing respectively. They smash into the walls once again, dropping the stone that we're battling over.

"Blast it! How'd we get wiped by wimps like them?" The koffing says.

"Bah. Just take the stupid stone back, then," the zubat says.

"Don't think you're so awesome. Your victory was a fluke," The koffing says.

"Yeah, you just remember that," the zubat adds before both him and his koffing friend run away.

"My relic fragment!" Avia exclaims. She's practically bouncing with joy. She picks up the 'relic fragment'. "Thank goodness... I actually managed to get it back." She turns to me, tears welling up in her eyes. "This only happened because you helped me, Jiro. Because you had confidence in me, because you encouraged me to fight for what's mine. Thank you, Jiro!" I'm not really sure if I did much, but I shouldn't dare to correct her, she seems to happy right now to disrupt. "Thank you very much!" I only helped because I happened to be here... Was this the right course of action to take? Well, Avia seems happy, so I'd say so. It's nice to be appreciated.

"It was no trouble," I say. She drops the relic fragment in front of me.

"This is what they stole. This is a relic fragment. Well, at least, that's what I started calling it. This relic fragment is my precious treasure. You see, I've always liked legends and lore. I always get so exited when I hear tales from the past! Don't you feel the same way? Hidden troves full of treasure and strange relics, uncharted territories veiled in darkness, and new lands just waiting to be discovered! Such places must be full of gold and treasure! And history! Wouldn't it be dramatic to make historical discoveries? That's what I always dream of. It's all so exiting to me. And one day I found this relic fragment. Sure, it doesn't look like much, but take a closer look," Avia says. I look at the relic fragment, and just as I noted earlier, there is a strange pattern on it. "See that strange pattern inscribed on it? There must be some meaning to this pattern. This relic fragment must be the key to legendary places! To areas where precious treasure lies! At least that's the feeling I get. That's why I want to join an exploration team. This fragment must fit into something somewhere, and I want to discover where that is. I want to solve the mystery of my relic fragment! So earlier, I tried joining an exploration team as an apprentice, but... I was too cowardly... What about you, Jiro? What are you going to do now? You lost your memory, and somehow transformed into an eevee... Do you have any place where you can stay? If not, can I ask a big favor? Would you form an exploration team with me? I think we could make a good team together, Jiro. So will you do that with me? Please?"

What should I do? I'm being recruited out of the blue. I don't know what an exploration team is, but even the thought of one seems to make Avia happy, so how bad can it be? And it's not like I have anywhere to go anyways. Maybe I can discover more about myself by hanging around with Avia. Plus, Minna said that I'd have to be a hero to find her, and my destiny, and being on an exploration team sure sounds heroic.

"Sure, I'll form an exploration team with you, it sounds like fun," I say.

"Oh? Really?! You'll really form an exploration team with me? Yay! Thank you! We're going to be a great combination! Let's make this work! First we need to go to Wigglytuff's place and sign up as apprentices. That's where we can get the training to become a proper exploration team. I think the training will be very tough. So let's give it our best!"