Pokémon Mystery Dungeon – Insane.
Chapter 1 – A Storm at Sea
"H-Hey! Ho-hold on there!"
The dark blue body grunted, its plump paw gripped tightly around the young human's wrist. She whispered a prayer to anyone who was listening; her head bowed as crystal-like tears slowly dripping down her face.
"Si, help me!" it hissed, flicking an ear towards the green shape behind. Nodding its lizard-like head, it hopped over; grabbing the girl's other hand.
"It's okay," he whispered, pushing his snout behind her ash brown hair, "You'll be okay."
The girl's hazel eyes blinked, brimming with tears. "Thank you," she whispered back. She stopped, her pupils widening.
"G-guys," she whispered.
"Not now," the blue Pokémon hissed, "Almost...there!"
The girl slid back onto the ground, but her pupils were so wide.
'What the-'
"Dark Void!"
"NO!"
"HUH?!?"
The girl ran in front of her two Pokémon, taking the hit. Slowly, she fell back over the side, before any of them could grab her again. "SEREN!" they yelled in unison, eyes wide.
"Urg...Jesus."
Raising her head, she groaned, eyes slanted against the sudden harsh sunlight, blinking meekly.
"What the?" she whispered, placing her hands into the soft sand beneath her, attempting to push herself up, "Frick." She smacked back down onto the ground, pupils slitted angrily.
"Jeez, where am I?" she muttered, flicking her head slightly. She felt cool water lap against her side, but it burned into a deep cut on her waist.
Moaning, her head hit the floor, and everything went dark.
"All right, I can do this. I can do this."
The male Pikachu clenched his paws, and then nervously licked a strand of his chest fur down, ears flat against the back of his head.
"Come on Ashton," he whispered, gently flicking his tail, green eyes shut, "Focus, focus, focus..."
He glanced up at the Wigglytuff shaped tent, its pale pink canvas reflecting the setting sun behind it.
"All right!" he cried, his mild North Welsh accent breaking slightly, "I am going to do this!"
Electricity bounced off of his tail, as he sprinted towards the grate.
"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"
The jagged fur on the end of his tail stood up nervously, as the young male voice was replied by a gruffer one.
"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?!"
"The footprint belongs to...PIKACHU! The footprint belongs to PIKACHU!"
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?!" he exclaimed, tumbling off of the grate, panting hard, "That was...woah..." He sat up, gasping for breath. "Well, screw this," he growled, glancing at the small patterned rock tied around his neck, "Not even my lucky charm could make me brave enough." His tail flicked impatiently. "Natures – what the hell are they for?!"
He stormed off; face dark with anger as he randomly cursed to himself.
i "Psst. Hey, Karl, did ya' see that?"
"See what Zak?"
THWACK!
The Zubat hit the Koffing across the back of its head. "That Pikachu, dumbo," she hissed, eyeless face glaring – somehow – at her gassy companion, "Didn't you see that rock he had?"
"Just looked like a rock," the Koffing – Karl – muttered, slanting his eyes. "Well, it looked like more than that to ME," the Zubat – Zak – growled, rubbing a wing under her chin, "Come on, I've got an idea." She flew off. Karl rolled his eyes at her, muttering angrily. "She'll be the death of us one day," he hissed, floating on after her. /i
"Stupid...STUPID PIECE OF CRAP!" Ashton snarled, ripping the rock from his neck, and throwing it into the distance of the beach. It landed with a soft 'thump' in the sand. Sighing, he trotted over to it, and glanced out to sea, watching the sun slowly setting beneath the waves. A soft smile covered his small yellow face. He slowly padded out into the water, then caught his reflection in the water, and snorted. Unlike most Pikachus, his cheeks were an azure-blue, instead of a bright cherry red. Green eyes glimmering, he stared at the small, triangular patch on his head, the same colour as that of a Shiny Pikachus, but, it was the only part of him that was. He didn't know how he was like this – he knew the triangle was because he had some Pachirisu in him, but what explained the blue cheeks? And the green eyes for that matter – his family had either dark, chocolate brown eyes, or bright, sky blue ones.
Growling, he stamped his paw in the water and stormed back onto the beach, flicking sand off of his wet paws.
"Urg..."
He jumped, fur on end. What was that? A...monster?
'Don't be so stupid Ashton,' he thought angrily, flicking his ears, 'There's no such things as MONSTERS! Tch!' He rolled his eyes at himself, and then slowly trotted forwards. Funny. He never remembered there being a massive teal rock on this beach before.
"Oh Dialga..."
He placed a paw back, eyes wide. It talked?! "Oh my gosh," he whispered, "This is beyond wicked."
He slowly padded towards it, holding his breath. "Hello?" he asked, pawing the 'rock', "Are you okay?" His paw sunk into its soft, chubby back. He frowned. This wasn't a rock...
He grabbed a stick and poked it again. Part of the rock came apart and pawed it away, mumbling. "It's a Pokémon!" Ashton gasped, lurching backwards, "Oh my god...ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"
"Urg...my head..." Slowly, the strange Pokémon began to stand up, digging its front paws into the sand. The claws on its feet glinted menacingly, its plump shoulders raised up. Pointed ears flicked quickly, the left hand one with jagged fur lowering down slowly.
"Um, excuse me," Ashton said, slowly padding around it. He saw that the right side of the whatever-it-was was covered with a long side fringe. He pushed it out of the way to be met with a glimmering hazel eye surrounded by purple fur. "Are you alright?" he asked, tilting his head.
Its pupil flickered towards him, and it blinked hardly at him.
"Holy mother of Galifrey, who the blydi hell are you, munchlax-munch?!" it growled. Its pupil shrunk and its mouth drooped open slightly, the edge of its large pink tongue lolling out slightly. Its voice was quite deep, but also low and feminine, with a slight Welsh accent – Swansea, maybe? Or Cardiff? He couldn't decide...
It sat up quickly, obviously a little too quickly, because its eyes glazed over slightly then squeezed shut, as a low groan escaped its mouth. Ashton's eyes widened.
'It's a Munchlax!' he thought with a quick gasp. He stared at its belly and raised an eyebrow. 'And a really fat one at that!'
"Oh jeez," it groaned, staring at the sky, "Please don't tell me that I took some of Aled's meds..."
"Who's Aled?" he asked, pawing up towards it. It paused, frowning. "I...I can't remember..."
Its pupils shrunk. "I-I don't remember anything..."
"What?" The Pikachu placed his paws on the Munchlax's rotund stomach, chuckling. "What kind of bump on the head did you get?"
"No, I didn't bump my head," it said, shaking its head, side fringe flailing about as it did so, "I...fell...into the water..."
"From where?" he asked. Something about this Munchlax wasn't normal. It pushed its fringe from its eyes – he noticed the purple fur was in the shape of a five-point star. "From...from...OHHH!"
It slapped a paw to the side of its head, teeth gritted. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" it growled.
"Well...can you remember your name, at least?" he enquired, kneading his paws into its belly in an absent minded sort of fashion.
"Starts with an s...s...s...Sarah? No, no...Se...Ser..."
"Seren?" he suggested.
"YEAH!" it cried, "How'd you know?"
"Well, I took the hint with the stars," he chuckled, nodding at the purple patch on its right eye, and the neon pink stars on the fingerless gloves that covered its fat paws. He made a mental note of the fact the wrists looked a bit squeezed in there. "And I remember my parents telling me about the name once."
"Oooh, riiight," it said, nodding.
"Though, I've gotta ask...are you a guy?"
Seren's pupils because slits. "I...am...a...girl," she snarled, "Couldn't you tell from the bo-"
She paused, her left paw still pointing at her chest. Her pupils shrank, a small raspy sound emitting from her mouth.
"I'm a...a...a..."
"Munchlax?" Ashton finished for her, "I thought you knew."
"I shouldn't be a Munchlax," Seren said, completely ignoring him and grabbing hold of her head. She jumped to her feet, jagged ear twitching. She stared all around her, from her chunky belly to her clawed toes. "HOLY SON OF A TROUT!" she screamed, "I'M A FECKING MUNCHLAX!"
Her pupils widened. "I'm...I'm a Munchlax..." She squeaked slightly.
"Holy joys," she hissed, "I am a Munchlax. I am officially awesome and made of win! Kikiki~!"
Ashton sweatdropped. "That's wonder –OOF!"
He fell flat on his face, his Relic Fragment slipping from his neck.
"Oh, terribly sorry!" a soft female voice behind him cackled, "I'm afraid I slipped. Karl!"
"Okie-dokie!" He spotted a Koffing swoop towards the rock and grabbed it between his teeth.
"Take that, bitches!" a female Zubat snickered, sticking her tongue out at him.
"HEY!" Ashton yelled, jumping back onto his paws, "Give it back!"
"Um, lemme thi – no," the Zubat said, "Want it?"
He nodded. "Then come get it, loser! HEH HEH HEH!"
The two zoomed off into a cave. Ashton's face grew dark.
He'd never get it back now! Unless...
"Hey, uh, Seren!" he said, turning towards the Munchlax, before a major sweatdrop rolled down his face. She was twirling about on the sand, singing on the top of her voice.
"iALL WE'VE EVER WANTED WAS TO LOOK GOOD NAKED, HOPE THAT SOMEONE COULD TAKE IT~!/i" She belted, twirling around on the sand towards him, "Oh, 'olla!"
He frowned at her. "Did, did you not see what just happened there then?" he asked, pointing.
"Um...nope," Seren replied, smiling, "Too busy spazing."
"...great," he muttered, "Look, will you help me get those twits who stole my Relic Fragment?"
"Me?" she snorted, "A strange Munchlax you just found on the beach who used to be human?"
"Ye – wait, WHAT?!" Ashton backed off slightly. "How big a bump on the head did you have?"
"But I am a human!" she cried, "I swear!"
"Okay...tell me something only a human would know."
"I told you, I've forgotten a load of things."
He rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever. Come on, we'd better get started in this cave."
He stomped off into it, Seren skipping behind him.
"By the way, what's a Relic Fragment?"
Ashton flinched. It was going to be one long day...
"They are sure taking their time, aren't they?" Zak muttered, glancing behind her.
"Yeah, they are," Karl replied, raising an eye, "By the way Zak, why the hell did we steal a freaking rock?!"
"Well, just look at it Karl," the Zubat replied, pointing at the Relic Fragment, "It's got some interesting tribal-ish markings on it – it could be worth a few bob down the market."
Karl nodded and glanced at his friend. "D'you think the boss will be happy though? That we're flunking off to steal a pretty rock from some runty Pikachu?"
"Oh come on, when we sell this for some good money, he won't give a damn," Zak cackled.
"That's where you are wrong!" a harsh voice behind them snapped.
They turned to see Seren and Ashton standing there, Ashton's fur on end with nerves, Seren's eyes glinting.
"Oh, so you finally turned up, did you?!" Zak cried, "Goodness, I was starting the think you'd chickened out!"
"Whatever," Seren said, making a w with her claws, "Just hand Ashton his dumb rock and let's be done with it."
"Um, no," Karl said sharply, "But we'll fight you for it."
"Deal," Seren snarled.
"WHAT?!" Ashton yelled, "Seren, we can't fight them!"
"Oh yes we can," she replied darkly, "We can whip their asses into next millennium if we try hard enough." She turned to face him. Her mouth was pulled into a large smirk, her hazel eyes twinkling mischievously. "Metronome!" she screamed, her claws glowing a bright white. She hurtled towards the two, roaring loudly. She stepped back, her eyes glittering. "Oh my God, I used Roar!" she cried, shoving her hands into fists and squealing loudly. Ashton rolled his eyes and cried, "Discharge!"
Seren stared at him, her face bright pink, giggling. "YOU SAID A FUNNY WORD!" she screamed, laughing hard.
Ashton stared at her, shook his head and then fired his ball of electricity at the two vagabonds.
"BITE!" Zak cried.
"Smog!" Karl added. The thick gas formed around them. Ashton lay low, coughing madly. Seren strained her eyes to stare through it, and managed to see Zak hurtling towards her, fangs bared.
"Shi-"
Too late, Zak had bitten into her arm. She screeched in pain. "Get off!" she cried.
"Nether!" came Zak's muffled reply, as she used her wings to flap away the gas. Seren growled. "You will get off my arm now or I will do something drastic," she hissed her voice low and dark.
Ashton frowned before being hit by a Tackle attack from Karl. He hissed and aimed a Thunderbolt at the Koffing, who cried out in pain and smashed into a wall, fainting. He turned to Seren to help her to see...
"SEREN!" he squeaked, eyes wide. She had Zak grasped between her jaws, and was shaking the Zubat madly from side to side. He ran over and punched her in the mouth, making her drop Zak to the sandy floor with a soft 'flump'.
"Seren," he whispered, "What was that for?!" Seren licked away the trickles of blood from her muzzle, grinning at the salty, tangy taste. "She should've let go," she hissed, staring at the bloodied Zubat, who nervously got into the air, wings flapping steadily.
"You'll regret this!" she cried, "For the rest of your life! Come on Karl!"
"Urg...coming Zak..." The Koffing got into the air, and the two legged it.
Ashton shook his head and picked up his Relic Fragment with a happy sigh. "Thanks Seren," he said, "How can I ever repay you?"
The Munchlax paused, a wide smirk over her face.
"Well...there is...ONE way you could..."
"Anything," Ashton said with a soft smile, "I'm just happy to get my Relic Fragment back..."
"Good, good," Seren giggled, "Let's go back to the beach while I think about how you could repay me..."