Prologue-

Rain and thunder, thunder and even more rain! Huge waves of water bashed against the ship "Hey!" "Are…are you okay?!" thunder clashed and boomed as the ship tried to stay afloat "C-come on... Hold on!" a gruff male voice shouted as he tried to help his partner who was dangling off the side of the small ship "I... I can't!" the crashing of the thunder got louder and the waves became fierce "Ahhhhh!" "Mina!" a long ear shattering sound came and a huge flash of light as the person fell off the ship and into the murky depths of the ruthless ocean "Miiiinaaaa!" More rain and thunder as the light from it showed a gigantic cliff shaped like a "shark"…. .

Chapter 1: A storm at Sea

"…" "….." "…." "Arrgh…" Morning, the storm subsided and things were now calm at this beach, ocean in front and cliffs and rock formations "Where…" a groan sounded "…Where am I?" there on the beach laying on the sand by the water front was a Buneary "….." "…I can't… Drifting off…" she blinked trying to stay awake, but failed passing out again. We see a troubled Riolu as he stands in front of a tent, an underground organization called "Wigglytuff's guild" and surprisingly the tent is shaped like him. Maybe it was meant to look Indian or Native but the Indian poles with Pokémon carved into them and fire poles on each side of the tipi, the Riolu sighed "Hmm…" he paced to the left then to the right a few times then put on a straight face "No. I refuse to be paralyzed by this any longer!" he took a deep and exhaled "This is it. I have to steal my courage today." He walked forward to enter and soon being shocked as he stepped over a gate covering a hole in the ground; loud voices came from under it "Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" a small but gruff voice shouted "Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" "The footprint is Riolu's!" "The footprint is Riolu's!" he jumped from the voices "Jeepers!" the Riolu yelped lightly and gulped "That' was too shocking!" "Whew" he sighed and held his treasured item close "…" "…I can't… I can't work up the courage to go in, after all…" a sad look came to his face as his eyes pricked up with tears "I told myself that this is the day, but…" he stared at his treasured item "I thought holding onto you would help…" he sighed wiping his eyes "Sigh…I just can't do it." "I'm such a coward…" he walked away from the guild slowly and proceeded to climb down the steps. Coming out from behind the poles two Pokémon that were eavesdropping "Hey, Zubat. Did you get a load of that?!" one said to the other "You bet I did, Koffing." They stared at each other and smirked "That little wimp that was pacing around…had something good, right?" the bat like Pokémon nodded "That wimp had something, that's for sure. It looked like some kind of treasure." They turned to each other "Should we go after it for da boss?" "We do" they then proceeded to go after the Riolu's special treasure.

Back at the beach the sunset more, and Krabby came out to blow bubbles, and walking along the beach was our friend the Riolu stopping to stare at the beautiful sight as the sunset was caught in each perfect bubble they Krabby blew from their mouths "Oh, wow! What a pretty sight!" he smiled and giggled a small one as he stared at the wondrous sight "When the weather's good, the Krabby come out at sundown to blow bubbles…" "All those bubbles, catching the setting sun's rays off the waves…" he closed his eyes "It's always beautiful." The water sparkled from the sun rays and bubble reflections "….." "This is when I always come when I'm feeling sorry for myself." "But it makes me feel good to be here, like always." He sat down and stared blankly at the horizon "Coming here is uplifting. It cheers me up" he looked over to his left spotting something "Hey…what's that? What's going on over there?" he jumped up in shock as he walked over to the figure on the sand "Jeepers! Someone has collapsed on the sand!" running over to check on the Pokémon "What happened?!" "Are you okay?!" he patted its head '…' they thought '…Ugh…' they sat up "Ah! You're awake! That's a relief!" the Buneary looked around stared forward 'Where…where am I…?' she looked over to the Riolu blinking her confused light brown eyes the Riolu blushed a light blush "Um.. Y-you weren't moving at all. I was seriously worried!" she stared at him still her thoughts slow on what she was seeing and hearing "Do you remember how you ended up zonked out here?" she tilted her head her ears flopping to the sighed 'I… I was zonked out? What happened…?' a pout came amongst her lips "Well, I'm Tobi. Glad to meet you!" "And who are you?" he thought to himself "I've never seen you around before." She jumped and nodded away from her thoughts "Well I'm human!" she said nervously as his faced turned to one of shock "You say you're human?" "But you look like a totally normal Buneary to me!" he told her like it was more than obvious she gasped and checked herself 'Ears?! Buneary ears! The fluffy bits too! Oh my goodness a cotton tail and it actually moves! It's…its true!' 'I've turned into a Buneary! But how!? And why!?' Tobi crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at her antics "You're…a little odd…" "Are you pulling some kind of trick on me?" "What?! No never! I'm telling you the truth." He kept his gaze on her not changing his face "Are you telling me the truth?" he sighed "All right, then. What's your name?" 'Oh my name, almost forgot about my name is…' "It's Amina!" she exclaimed happily "So it's Amina?" he said the name slowly liking the way it sort of rolled of his tongue "Okay. Well, you don't seem like a bad Pokémon, at least." He poked his paw fingers together in a worried way "Sorry that I doubted you." She nodded and held her ears still mulling over the fact she's a Buneary! "You see…, more and more; bad Pokémon have been turning up lately, you see! They've have gotten aggressive as well. Things seem to be turning lawless…" as he said that the two Pokémon from earlier showed up behind him and pushed him into Amina sending them both into the rocks dropping his treasured item "Well I do beg your pardon." Tobi helped Amina as his normally happy face turned angry "Hey! Why'd you do that?!" The two mean Pokémon laughed "Can't figure it out yet? We wanted to mess with you" "Can't face up to us, can you wimp?!" the Zubat looked over to the treasure he dropped "That's yours, isn't it?" he gulped "No! That's…" "Sorry, kiddo. We'll take that!" and in one fell swoop the Zubat picked up his special treasure "Nooo!" laughing now at him "Whoa-ho-ho! Not gonna make a move to get it back?" "What's the matter?" "Too scared?" the Koffing laughed and teased the Riolu as he looked over to Amina who was trying to recover from her blow to the head "I didn't expect you to be such a coward!" they both shouted they looked to each other "Come on, let's get out of here" The Koffing said "See you around, chicken." They flew away into the nearby Ocean cave and Tobi sighed as his eyes pricked with fresh tears "…My relic fragment…" he looked to Amina who stood up now "What…what should I do?" "That's my personal and special treasure. It means everything to me." He sniffled as Amina gave a sad look "No! There's no time to cry or to waste!" he took on some pride and nodded "I've got to get it back! Hey Amina can you help me?" she nodded and tugged on her fluff to make a tough face "Defiantly!" "Come on let's go!"

Amina's pov-

As we walked through the slightly dark and damp cave I wondered why I was helping this random Pokémon who says I'm a Buneary…and I am. But why? I don't know, I didn't have to, and he didn't make me, I guess I did it because I wanted to…but what he told me was right Pokémon are going aggressive for no reason and things are looking lawless. I'd expect at least a few to welcome us in and some to be quite territorial but this is bonkers! "Hey, Tobi?" I asked him as I dodged an attack from a Shellder "Yeah Amina?" he answered back as he growled at the Shellder having it run off "Why are Pokémon so aggressive?" I asked as we walked down stairs he held up a torch and nodded "Well there's been a lot of earthquakes recently, I guess that could be it" I nodded and we came down to the last floor, the pit of the cave and in the cave pit was Zubat and Koffing! Tobi growled "Uh…hey!" catching their attention the Koffing chuckled "Well, well…" "If it isn't our old friend the chicken." He stepped back and I huffed "You guys stop that Tobi came all the way down here to get back his special treasure!" "Well too bad girly!" they shouted having me hold my ears "We're giving this to the boss! Because if you say it's a Treasure..." "It's worth loads of dough! The boss would be so proud!" Tobi gasped and shook his head "What… No you can't sell it! It's mine and it's special to me!" I watched as he shook trying to not burst with tears but inside I knew he was angry "All the more reason to not give it back!" the evil duo stared at each other "But if you want it back that badly…" "Come and get it chicken!" Me and Tobi glared at them and stood in fighting positions "Bring it on bat breath!" I shouted and jumped up tackling the Zubat having him flinch and Tobi using Tackle as well but on the Koffing "Oh man these two got spunk, but they ain't no match fer me!" the Koffing growled and Tackled me down having me struggle to breath because of his always spewing toxic fumes "Don't worry I got you Amina!" Tobi exclaimed and pounced onto the Koffing and used Scratch his claws digging deep into the gas like Pokémon and out leaving three scratch wounds "AH! Y-you're going to pay for that you little punk!" Koffing turned around as Zubat took me on and I was about to put a world of hurt on him Koffing breathed in deeply and exhaled a poisonous gas "Tobi!" I ran over to him as I threw down Zubat who finally fainted and Double-Slapped him into fainting with my ears 'Whoa these things are strong! I wonder what they'll be like when I evolve!' "Are you okay, Tobi? You're not poisoned are you?" I asked worriedly as the Riolu smiled patting his chest "I'm a Fighting-Type, Amina. I've been through worse!" he chuckled as I blushed lightly 'Easy for you to say!' we looked over to the two troublemakers as they laid on the moist sand in the cave pit water made it's sounds of pushing up onto the sand and back, and dripping from stalagmites hanging from the ceiling "Ow, ow, ow, ow ,ow, ow!" "Ugh… We got roughed up…" they groaned in pain and slowly floated up again "D-dang it…, How'd we get wiped out by wimps like them?" Zubat scoffed "Here take your stupid thing back! We don't want it anyway!" he threw Tobi's Relic Fragment at us and I caught it with my ear "Whoa-ho! Don't think you're so awesome. Your victory was a big mistake!" "Yeah remember that wimps!" they pushed passed us in a haste to get away "Yeah! you better run!" I gave a 'cute' angry pout not noticing Tobi staring at me "Oh yeah!" I turned to him as he fixed his gaze to his special precious treasure "Here you go Tobi." I smiled watching his eyes fill with happiness "Oh! My Relic Fragment!" he looked up and sighed holding it to his chest "Am I ever glad…, I actually did manage to get it back" he put it in his backpack as I watched his happily relived face but he stared at me "A-and it's all thanks to you, Amina…" he jumped up happily and hugged me a look of surprise came to me as he hugged me.. 'But I did it because I was there…'

-Back to third person-

As our new friends made it back to the beach Tobi wouldn't stop thanking Amina she was getting embarrassed to say the least 'Ah well, it's good to help Pokémon in need' she giggled 'It's nice being appreciated' she smiled softly as Tobi took out his Relic Fragment "This is what they stole." she nodded staring at the rock with a flat surface, strange markings she wondered what they meant or were "I call it my Relic Fragment. It's my one treasure!" she sat down and looked up to him as he went on "You see, I've always liked legends and lore…I always get so excited when I hear tales from the past!" he gave her a look that made even her happy inside "Don't you feel the same way? Hidden troves full of treasure and strange relics like mine…" he looked out to the almost set sun as she looked around the orange and pink sky and white fluffy clouds passing their way "…uncharted territories veiled in darkness…and new lands just waiting to be discovered!" Amina sighed lightly and nodded "Such places must be full of unimaginable gold and treasure! And history! Wouldn't it be amazing to make historic discoveries?" he looked back over to her and nodded "That's what I always dream of. It's all exciting to me." She tilted her head "So when did you find your Relic Fragment?" he chuckled "I'm telling you now" he giggled along with her as he sat down next to her "So one day, I came across my Relic Fragment." He looked down at it "I admit it looks like junk, but take a closer look." "Whoa!" he smiled as her light brown eyes gazed upon it with wonder "See? That inscription forms a strange pattern, doesn't it?" she nodded 'I've never seen anything like it before' she thought "There has to be some significance to its pattern. It must be the key to legendary places! To areas where precious treasure lies!" he blushed lightly from his little speech but Amina was even more interested now "At least, that's how I feel…" he patted his pouch bag tied to his side as he put it back "That's why I want to join an exploration team. This fragment must fit into something…somewhere! I want to discover where that is." He jumped up happily and put on a tough face "I want to solve the mystery of my Relic Fragment!" Amina stood up as he looked down in discouragement "So earlier, I tried joining an exploration team as an apprentice…" "But…I chickened out." He looked up and towards her "What about you, Amina? What are you going to do?" she looked down "You lost your memory. And you somehow transformed into a Pokémon…" she nodded slowly and looked at the sun "Do you have anywhere to go and stay after this?" she tilted her head to the side and pouted '…..he's right, I just appeared here in this Pokémon body….but of course I have nowhere to go or nowhere to stay either….what am I to do?...' "If not, can I ask you a big favor Amina?" he breathed in and exhaled lightly "W-would you be willing to form an exploration team with me?" She stepped back in shock at the question 'W-why? Is it because I helped you get your Fragment back?' she thought "I'm convinced that I can form an effective exploration team with you, Amina." He gently sniffled as he practically begged her "So will you? Please?" 'Oh geez, w-what should I do? I'm getting recruited out of the blue!' 'I don't know what an exploration team is' she looked around and blushed light from her sudden shyness 'I mean, it's for the best right? We get a place to stay and… maybe I'll discover who or what I am by hanging out with this guy' she nodded and balled up her paws in a tiny fist "Yes" Tobi's sad looking face brightened within seconds "Really?!" "You'll form an exploration team with me?" she nodded soon being hugged by Tobi tightly "Yes! Thank you!" he let her go holding both her hand err…paws "We're going to be an awesome combination! Let's make this work!" he crossed his arms "First, we should go to Wigglytuff's place and sign up as apprentices." Amina tilted her head letting go of his paws "Wigglytuff's place?" he nodded "It's where we need to go to train to become a first-rate exploration team." She nodded again and tapped her chin 'So it's like a guild then? I don't even know what an exploration team is…..' "But the training will be very tough, I'm sure on that…" she pulled up her fluffy bottoms and put on a tough face having him chuckle "But let's give it our best, Amina!" they nodded and jumped up giving each other high paws.

And so…Tobi and Amina…formed an exploration team. This turned out to be…their very first step into…many fantastic realms of adventure that awaited their arrival.

(The Pokémon Company) Patched Rabbit and Friends present: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon; Explorers of time!