Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. This is a based on the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Universe. The plot isn't really mine, seeing as it's based on the game, but there will be improvisations on the story line. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1 – Darkness

It was dark.

There was no light, no colour. Just blackness. It was so bland and so deep she could choke on it, had she the ability. But alas, she did not. She was helpless to do anything other than exist in that pit of nothingness. She waited first patiently, then impatiently, then in despair for morning to come. She waited for the light to touch the horizons and bless her with its warmth, but it never came. The darkness – the night – persisted, with no end for miles and miles.

There was no sound, no feeling. She could not even feel her own body within the abyss. There was nothing to indicate that life existed, nor that it ever had or could. Only her own thoughts kept her company, meagre as they were. She craved to hear a whisper, a creek, a murmur, anything at all to prove she wasn't alone in this world. But none came, not a single sound. She couldn't even force words through her frozen lips, cold and numb as they were.

Ah, numb. Yes, that was it. She was numb, to the point that her body had ceased to feel anything. She had the oddest suspicion that she was cold, but not the proof or evidence to believe it. In this dark, endless world she may as well have been a wooden puppet, melding into the shadows. She could be shot in the foot and she was sure that she wouldn't feel it.

This world…was it death? It might as well be. She was nothing. Wasn't that the essence of death itself?

Yet…

Yet, she lived.

Oh, but she was lonely. She craved for the smallest hint of light to brighten her surroundings. She wished for the tiniest smell of fresh soil under her feet. She yearned for the slightest brush of bark underneath her fingertips. She longed for the faintest sound of leaves crunching under her shoe. If only there was the slightest stimuli, she would feel at ease; but the darkness would not give her that. It wanted her to suffer, wanted her to vanish into its depths and become nothingness alongside it. It wanted to destroy her.

So why…was she clinging so desperately to this sham of an existence? Perhaps it was for the best to simply fade away…

…

…

…?

…What's this…? She thought.

It was so vague, so faint she almost believed she imagined it. But-

It struck again, so suddenly it hit her like a wave. She gasped. It was so hot! It burned, but she didn't want it to stop. The heat drew away and she moaned in protest. It drew closer, carving its way over her face and shoulders and she sighed in contentment.

It pierced through the darkness so magnificently that she felt it shatter around her. It was still dark, but she could feel! She could hear! She could smell! There was hot sand beneath her and a chill above her, a rush of cold she couldn't explain. Water – salt water, she could smell it - lapped at her feet, chilling her to the point of shivering but she didn't care, she could feel, she was alive and it had never felt so good!

There was a pressure around her arms and there was no more water, only sand. It was the warmth that dragged her away and her barely coherent mind understood that it was a pair of hands that yanked her back, a pair of hands that were frantically trying to shake her awake. They were so insistent and bold; she wasn't accustomed to this, the feeling of skin on skin. She must not have been touched before, at least not like this.

Then, like an arrow, a voice pierced her dark chamber.

"-y! Hey! Are you okay?! Come on, come on…wake up! What should I do? What should I do? C'mon, think, what would Ren do?"

It was so beautiful. The sound was so precious, she felt as though she should catch it in a bottle and lock it up, so that nothing could ever hurt it. She didn't really even register what the voice sounded like, only that it was filled with warmth and concern and kindness, qualities the darkness were sorely lacking. Could she find this voice? If she tried, could she escape this prison and find the person on the other side, the one so frantically trying to free her?

She focused on the warm hands on her shoulders, the voice above her. She had to concentrate. She had to get out; she had to.

There it was! A mere flicker, but it existed. And so, through a strength and a willpower she had long forgotten were her own, she fought back the darkness and flung herself towards the light.

Hey everyone! Katunei999 here, reporting in with a new story!

Okay, as any fan would know, Pokémon celebrated their 20th anniversary on the 27th February! I am a huge Pokémon fan, having loved it since I was an infant. it's a huge part of my life and as such, I want to commemorate the anniversary with my own contribution. This is something I have been playing around with for a while, but the time has come! With any luck, I'll have a new chapter up every two weeks or so. In addition, I've got something even bigger in the works that will take a lot longer, and I don't really want to publish it while it's so fresh and uncompleted.

In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy my version of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, one of my most cherished Pokémon games.

That said, to another 20 years!

Signing off,

Katunei999