I woke to the rushing sound of waves and sore muscles. I tried, and failed, to sit up look around. As my head fell back to the sand I felt the shadows of unconsciousness creeping in when I heard a female voice, then darkness.
I wake up again still lying in the sand to the sound of someone yelling for me to wake up. As I open my eyes I see a kirlia, only instead of the normal green, white, and red, her hair and legs were crimson red, her dress was black and the two horns at the base of her pony tales were a luminescent gold.
"Hey, you ok mister?" she said
"Huh? Talking Pokémon now that's a new one," I said a drowsily as I sat up. Behind the kirlia was a cubone, but there was something off about them, and me. I crawled to a pool of water near me to wake myself from this dream, but when I say my reflection I yelped and backpedaled with surprise; it was a riolu with dark purple eyes instead of the usual red in the reflection rather than me!
"What's wrong mister?" that kirlia again.
"You're Pokémon, that's not possible; Pokémon are extinct!" I yelled.
"I'm not sure what you mean by that," she said with a hurt look, "but you're talking like you're not a Pokémon yourself."
'It might be a good idea not to tell them I remember being human they might think I'm nuts.' I thought. I took a look at my reflection again and sighed, "Sorry, just before you woke me I was having the strangest dream where I was a human in a world without Pokémon."
"That's horrible!"
"I know, but you woke me up, although I'm not sure how I got here, but thankful nonetheless. I am Zack Roxas."
"I'm Hanah and this is Glare." She gestured to the cubone behind here, "And if don't mind me asking what is that on your eye?"
I raise my hand, I mean paw, to my left eye and feel a metal tear drop shaped thing over my eye, the moment I touched it a heads up display came up.
*self-diagnostic finished*
*lv. 20 riolu*
*moves: Agility, Force Palm*
*Force Palm use: focus aura to hand and punch*
*lv. 21 kirlia *
*attacks: Confusion, Teleport, Confuse Ray*
*lv. 23 Cubone *
*attacks: Skull Bash, Growl, Bone Club, Rage*
"It's a scanner that can tell me things like a Pokémon's species and strength."
"Scanner, what's that?"
"Let's just say it's a very rare item."
Just as I finished a chilling voice from behind me says, "Wow that sounds pricey. Mind of we 'barrow it?" then something hit me and I was falling to the sand unconscious again.
When I came to again the first thing I noticed was that my scanner was gone and replaced with a note; after the shock of that was over I noticed Hanah and Glare had been knocked out as well. I ran over to them, "Hanah, Glare wake up!"
"Hm, what happened?" she said, still dazed.
"We were attacked from behind by some thieves that stole my scanner. They also left a note saying that they're in the Beach Cave Dungeon, whatever that, and demand 1,000,000 Poké; which I'm guessing is your form of currency."
"You don't know what a Dungeon is?" she asked.
Then a deep, vibrating voice came out of Glares skull saying "Next he'll say he doesn't know what an Exploration Team is."
"I don't," I said with a shrug, "and before you ask anything else, let me put it out there that I'm from a very faraway place." They nodded but I could tell the subject wasn't closed just by the look of pure wonder in Hanah's eyes. "Ok so explain the Explorer Team thing to me as we walk to the dungeon."
"Well it's not that hard to explain or understand," Hanah said as Glare lead the way, "an average Explorer Team has two or more members and their job is to help Pokémon in need and catch out laws.
"That sounds like a fun, yet dangerous, life to live."
As we entered the dungeon a kabuto and 2 lileep came out of a passageway and charged us. We split up when they got to us; I took on the kabuto while Hanah and Glare took the lileeps. The kabuto came at me with a water gun making me dive to the side to avoid it; as I stood up the kabuto came at me to use scratch, "Big mistake." I said and hit it with a Force Palm into its face plate, cracking it and sending it flying, "Home Run!" I shouted and threw my hands, err paws, into the air.
"Zack! Help!" I turned and see Hanah and Glare cornered 30 or so feet away, so I turned and stated to run to help them when this white glow came around and I shot forward, everything slowing a little bit, 'What the hell?' I thought closing in on the 2 lileep, 'This must be what Agility feels like.' Deciding to use this move to my advantage I decided to charge into the lileep with an added Force Palm, leaving them unconscious. "Well it looks like we'll have to fight our way to those thieves." I said as I handed Glare his bone that he had dropped.
It took nearly 3 hours to reach the end of the dungeon, but thanks to the Oran Berries we found along the way we were still ready to go. As we walked into the dark cavern that was the end of the dungeon that chilling voice said, "Ah, you came," the air felt like it dropped by 20 degrees making me shiver, "and the Poké? Did you bring it?"
"No, we didn't," I called into the darkness, "so hand it over so no one gets hurt." I sounded calm but my bravado was quickly draining with this creepy atmosphere.
"Ooh, he'ssss a feisty one." Said another voice, it sounded somewhere between the clacking of 2 wood blocks and a hiss of a seviper; neither male nor female.
"Show your selves, rather than hiding in the shadows like a weakling!"
"If you insist," the chilling voice said. All of a sudden torches lit up around the chamber revealing 3 Pokémon a few feet away at the center of the chamber. In the middle was a Gastly and on his flanks were 2 little bug types, Nincada, with milky white eyes 'They must be blind.' I thought.
"So," said the Gastly once we were finished studying each other, "still think you can beat us?"
"Yes, but quick question, why are you doing this." I asked.
"We wanted to make an easy Poké, saw a chance and took it; Now Melody, Nick ATTACK!" the Nincadas, Melody and Nick, ran forward one for Hanah the other for Glare.
I shot forward towards the gastly trying to use agility, but failing do to the fact I'm new to this Pokémon magic thing. He didn't even move, but when I tackled him, I didn't, I just passed right through him. "What!?" I said, shocked. The gastly started chuckling as I turned back towards him; I think it was a him; I'm just going off voices here.
"Are you stupid or something boy? Normal and fighting type moves do nothing to ghost types." He said and opened his mouth wide as he continued to laugh at me, but in the center of his mouth I saw a glint of silver, my scanner. I smiled at this and felt a plan forming; I tried to use Agility again, this time it worked, and used it 3 more times making everything around me slow down a bit more 'I have to work quickly.'I thought as I started to feel the strain of using this much psychic power. I sprinted at him, but just before I reached him I lost my gripon the Agility, and grabbed my scanner as I paced through.
"Ah ha!" I said as I turned around I put the metal tear drop over my left eye and smiled as the heads up display came up.
*lv. 30 gastly *
*Immune to fighting and normal types*
'No really?!'
*new move capability opened*
*Dark Pulse: focusing on negative emotions causes a pulse of dark energy*
"Hey, Mr. Gastly, what did you say your name was?" I called.
He stopped laughing as he turned and stopped smiling all together when he saw me with my scanner. "How…" he said before clearing his throat then continued, "Um, my name is Chill."
"Well Chill say goodnight." I started to focus on my confusion of coming to this world and the anger from the theft of my scanner, causing dark energy to form around my body and threw my arms out, expelling the dark energy at Chill.
"Noooo!" he yelled as he was hit with the by the pulse and knocked unconscious.
I sighed as I turned to see my new found friends still fighting the nincada. As I ran towards them my scanner did its thing and gave me the info of the Pokémon.
*lv. 27 Nincada 2x & *
*strength low*
As I reached Hanah she knocked out her Nincada "Good job Hanah!" I praised, causing her to blush, "Now to check on Glare."
We turned to where we last saw him to see him come walking up with a bored look in his eyes, "how'd your battle fare Glare?" I asked as he reached us. He just shrugged as if to say, "It was a bug type, what can you expect?" nodding I said, "Ok, let's head out."
"Hey Zack, I found a shortcut!" Hanah called from a behind me. When I turned she had a small blue, sphere slightly bigger than my paws, in her arms.
"What's that?" I asked.
"It's an Escape Orb," she answered as she walked over, "when it is broken it will teleport you and any one close by to the exit of the Dungeon."
"Well that's handy, but can't you use teleport?" I asked.
"Yes," she said hesitantly, "but I've never done it with a big group before."
"Fair enough." but as I walked over to take the orb she took a few steps back, "what's the problem?"
"I s-saw you fighting the gastly and w-was wondering if you would help Glare and m-me form an Explorer Team." She stuttered hesitantly.
"Of course, you guys helped me, it's the least I can do. Any ways, it sounds fun and I don't know anyone here so I need help getting around."
She smiled, "Thank you." And then threw the orb on the ground, a yellow flash, and we found ourselves on our backs, looking up at the night sky.
When I stood up I noticed a strange pink hut in the shape of a wigglytuff with a metal gate blocking the entrance and a hole with a wood grate over it in front of the gate. "Um, Hanah, I think I took us a lot farther than you thought."
She gasped, "Wow, it took all the way to the Guild."
"Well, at least it saved us the walk." I said.
"Visitors must step onto the grate." Said a voice.
"What?" I said as I looked for the source.
"Visitors must step onto the grate." The voice said again.
"Computer analyze voice and recognize."
*voice recognized: Diglett*
*source: bottom of the hole*
"Ladies first." I said as I turned to Hanah. She gave me a shy smile and stepped onto the grate.
"Pokémon detected!" Hanah jumped with the sudden volume of the voice, "Pokémon detected! Whose foot print? Whose foot print? It's a kirlia; next Pokémon step onto the grate."
Glare stepped up and the diglett once again said, "Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected! Whose foot print? Whose foot print? It's a cubone; final Pokémon step onto the grate."
I took a deep breath and stood on the grate "Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected! Whose foot print? Whose foot print?"
"Does he have to do that every time?" I said with an exasperated sigh; Hanah giggled and Glare chuckled at this.
"It's, um, it's possibly a riolu?" the diglett said hesitantly.
"POSSIBLY!? POSSIBLY!? WHAT, in the name Arceus, do you mean by POSSIBLY!" said another voice.
*voice recognized: loudred*
"I'm sorry, I've never seen this foot print." said the diglett indigently.
"Ok, sorry I yelled, I'll just go up and check." The loudred said with a sigh.
After a few minutes the gate in the tent opened and a loudred stepped out, "What do y'all want?" he asked rather curtly.
"We want to make a team." I said
"Oh, ok then," his tone shifted away from the curt tone he just used yet his voice was still overly loud, "follow me to the Guild Masters room." He stepped back to give us room to get in the tent and once we were in he closed and locked the gate behind us.
We followed him to a ladder leading down into the ground. When we reached the bottom we were in a room filled with Pokémon with colored and patterned scarfs, bow ties, and other accessories. The room was a large, rough square with candle chandeliers and windows on the left wall lighting the room. On the walls with the ladder we came down were two corkboards, but most of the Pokémon in the room were clustered around them so I didn't see much of them; in the left corner near the opposite wall with the other ladder was an empty podium. Through all this the loudred lead us to another ladder leading down.
At the bottom of this ladder was a bigger room than the one above with a tunnel branching away on the left and right wall. Directly to the left of the ladder were wood double doors that the loudred took us to. After he knocked a sing-song voice answered "come in."
When we got in the room I first noticed the giant window at the back showing the sun setting. Next was the simple wood desk in the middle of the small room piled high with papers, pencils, and pencil shavings. In front of the desk were two Pokémon. The one on the right a wigglytuff, to the left was a chatot.
The chatots' head and tail feathers were moving like a metronome at a mellow pace when we walked in, but sped up as he hopped up to the loudred and us. He turned to the loudred and said, "What is it you need Loudred? Wigglytuff and I have some important things to talk about."
"Well Chatot, sir, these three want to form a team."
"Oh very well, thank you Loudred you may go." Loudred nodded and walked out, closing the doors behind him.
"So you want to form a team," said Chatot as he turned to us, "We've had many recruits this year, but that's not important, the more the merrier, as they say. Now let me ask you some questions so we have a better idea what you want to do. First, what are your names?"
"I am Zack the Riolu," I said giving a little bow, "this is the lovely Hanah the Kirlia," Hanah curtsied, "and this is Glare the Cubone." Glare only nodded. As I finish introductions my scanner beeped to tell me some very important info.
*chatot lv. 75*
*wigglytuff lv… ERROR*
*strength and psychic abilities abnormally high, caution advised*
'What the hell? Wigglytuff lv. Error, what's that supposed to mean?'
Chatot looked at me and my scanner and asked "What is that on your eye Zack?"
"It is my scanner sir; it has the ability to inform me of the strength and species of any Pokémon, level of exhaustion of said Pokémon, and in rare cases the movers known by the Pokémon." I answered.
Chatot's eyes widened, "Ok Guild Master, want to finish the questions?"
Wigglytuff nodded and asked, "What kind of team do you want to be?"
"What are the different kinds of teams?"
"Well there is Rescue team that does rescue and errand missions, Adventure team that goes out into the wilderness for long periods of time exploring and expanding our maps, and there is the Explorers team that does a little bit of both."
I turned to Hanah and Glare and said, "What do you guys think, I'm leaning towards Explorers."
Hanah glanced at Glare, who nodded, and said, "Yeah that sounds good."
"Ok Explorer it is," continued Wigglytuff, "what will be the teams' name?"
Hanah and Glare looked at me expectantly; well Hanah did not so sure about Glare, so I thought about it for a moment and then said to them, "How does Team Fusion sound?" when they nodded I turned back to Wigglytuff, "We are Team Fusion."
"Good, now for the final question; who will be team leader?"
"Zack will." Hanah said instantly with an agreeing nod from Glare.
"Zack do except the responsibilities of the safety of your comrades and to never lie to me or Chatot on your mission reports?" asked Wigglytuff with a serious look in her eyes.
"I do." I answered without hesitation.
Chatot nodded, coming out of the thinking trance he had been in since I described my scanner to him; saying, "Let me just do the paperwork and then I will show you three to your room."
That night while the other two were sleeping I was laying in my bed reflecting on the events that led to me appearing on the beach.
Flashing red lights, blaring alarms, then someone yells "The warp core is going critical, everyone to the teleport pads!" I was running with a group of engineers towards blue, circular pads on the ground. But as I was reaching an empty one the core went critical, I was mid transport when the blast hit me. My last thoughts were, 'She was on the bridge, she got out first, I'm sorry Rai, I'm-'
'Hello'
"Who's there?" I called into the darkness.
'You will learn soon enough, what is more important is who are you?'
"Is this a dream?"
'Don't change the subject, Shade'
"How do you know that name?!" I exclaimed in shock.
'Oh, I know a lot about you, but the question is, do YOU know who you what and where you came from… day is coming, awaken Shade'
"UP AND AT'EM! IT'S MORNING!" Loudred yelled waking me up.
"Thanks Loudred." I said a little dazed.
"Any time." He said all too happily as he stomped off to wake more recruits.
As I got up I noticed a chest at the end of my bed, same for Glare and Hanah. "When did these get here?"
Hanah shrugged, "Not sure, but they definitely weren't here last night."
The chests were about 1x1x1ft pine and brightly colored. Mine was gold, Glares was blue and Hanah's was pink; 'welcome' was inscribed on the lid. Inside mine were three silver discs, a long red scarf, a leather satchel bag, and an explorers badge. "Ok," I said after I but the scarf around my neck and feeling a little tingly, "these look like care packages put together for new teams; with a few TMs, a bag, team badge, and magically enhancing pieces of clothing."
"Same here," Hanah called," but I got a charm bracelet and Glare got a red Bandana… Um Zack?"
"Yes ma'am?"
"Aren't we supposed to be at morning cheer?"
"No, we still have three minutes, so done your gear, put everything else in your bag, and let's head out!"
"I have an announcement today teams," said Chatot, "We have a new apprentice team, Team Fusion." Everyone politely clapped, some cheered, "That is all, do good today." Everyone did a great cheer and dispersed.
After everyone left Chatot took us to the floor above and explained that the two boards were jobs, one was rescue and exploration and the other was outlaws. These boards apparently get refreshed by Dugtrio every few hours; He also explained the badges safety crystal and the ranking system. "Now let's give you an easy rescue mission for your first," Chatot said as he scanned the board, "Ah here we go, a spoink has lost his way while looking for his lost pearl, you'll need to go into the Drenched Bluffs dungeon and find both. Good luck."
Though it took a while, we finally found the dungeon. Going through it was fairly easy, the wild Pokémon were weak, but it was good team work building training. Just after we found spoink and sent him to the guild with his pearl I saw a gastly turning down a path. 'Strange, I don't think gastly are common to this area.' I thought. "Hanah?"
"Yeah chief?" she answered.
"Are gastly common in any area near here?"
"NO…"
"Then follow me; I think I saw one."
We went down the path I saw the gastly go down, all of us at the ready for an attack. At the end of the tunnel it opened up into a chamber not unlike the one we saw in the Beach Cave, and just like Beach Cave the gastly, Chill, was in the center of the chamber. But instead of only the nincada twin with him there was a Nidoran as well. In the middle of their huddle I could just make out two Pokémon tied up in the middle, but I couldn't make out their species.
"Oi, Chill, what do you think you're doing?" I called as we walked up to the group.
"Nothing of meaning to you," he said, "now be gone you meddlesome pup!"
"I think it is meaningful to us, since we're an Explorer Team, Team Fusion, and as an Explorer Team we are honor bound to help Pokémon in need. And I happen to see two Pokémon tied up in rather erotic poses, so are we going to fight or are you going to hand them over nicely?"
"Nick, Melody ATTACK!" he growled. The two bugs shot forward, one reached me and I used Force Palm and slammed it into the ground while the other was dispatched by Hanah holding it with confusion and Glare clubbing with his bone.
"Well that's half your team out, any other plans?" I teased.
"Retreat," said the Nidoran
"But Maria…" Chill complained.
"I said retreat Chill we are losing and you know it."
"We'll be back, and stronger." Chill growled as Maria pulled out an escape orb from the bag under her body and smashed it, luckily the two captives were left behind.
"Do either of you have something to cut the ropes with?" I asked as we ran up to the tied up Pokémon. Now that Chill and his crew were gone I could now make out the tied up Pokémon, a gothorita and buneary.
"No, but I can snap the ropes with confusion." Hanah answered.
"Then do so please."
Once the two were released I kneeled next to the gothorita and tried to wake it. 'That didn't work so…' "Computer, give me the statistics of the gothorita and buneary."
*Gothorita lv. 16*
*Mentally stressed, fatigued, nonlethal high lactic acid content in legs from long* *physical use*
*Buneary lv. 13*
*Similar conditions as gothorita*
"I only have one reviver seed; Hanah, do you have another?" she handed it to me and I crushed them and sprinkled the revitalizing dust over the heads of the two Pokémon, bringing them quickly back to consciousness.
The first one to stir was the gothorita. Her eyes flickered open, "who? What?" she mumbled as she tried to sit up.
"Welcome back to the world of the living." I said as I put a hand on her shoulder to hold her down, "Can you tell me what happened?"
"Who are you?" she asked quietly.
"Zack, of Team Fusion, you?"
"Rita." She said weakly.
"Well Rita, can you tell me what happened to you and the buneary?"
She took a deep breath like she was gathering her courage and said, "Grace and I were just meeting up to spend the day together when we got kidnapped by two nincada. That was three days ago; they starved us for two days and said once they had their way with us they were going to sell us as slaves. We had just passed out from exhaustion when they started to tie us up." Hanah covered her mouth in shock and Glare's jaw dropped.
"Unbelievable, well you're safe now. We'll bring you back to the Guild to rest and you two can be on your way."
*back at the guild*