Well, I have for you here, a new story. A couple things you should know first: This story is a sequel to AzzyFox's Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Trials of Hearts, written with his permission, of course. I recommend you read that before jumping into this story. As such, most of the characters that appear in this story are copyright to him, not me. I do not own Pokémon either. Anyway, now that that's out of the way, let's get on with the show.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: The Stones of Virtue

Chapter 1

Awakening

"Uh… My aching head…"

Club rubbed his head tenderly as he slowly regained consciousness. He opened his eyes to see a lush, beautiful prairie surrounded by a dense forest.

"This place… what the heck am I doing here? Come to think of it, how the heck did I get here in the first place?"

For the life of him, Club could not remember how he ended up in the prairie. He slowly got up to his feet, only to stop when laid eyes on his hands… or rather, what used to be his hands.

"WHAT THE HELL!?"

Instead of the typical human hand, he saw a set of three, rigid claws. Panicking, Club looked over the rest of his body. Orange and tan feathers covered almost the entirety of his body, except for his lower legs and feet, which hand become avian talons. He noticed that he was slightly shorter than he remembered. Seeing a pond nearby, Club rushed over, and looked at his reflection in horror. A Combusken with a faded scar just above his beak and a woven choker from which a small, perfectly spherical jewel with a gel-like symbol in the center- a Mega Stone- stared back at him.

"I'm a… Combusken… this is impossible…"

Club backed away from the pond slowly and fearfully. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, he tried again to think over what the heck had happened to him. Eventually, he remembered what he had been doing before he passed out. He seethed in rage as he remembered those backstabbing idiots.

"Good riddance!" Club took a moment to calm himself down again. "Well, since I'm here, I might as well…"

"INTRUDER!"

Club spun around in shock, seeing a massive swarm of Beedrill emerge from the trees surrounding the prairie. He paled at the large numbers of Beedrill coming at him.

"GET THE INTRUDER!" one the Beedrill screeched, and Club immediately made a run for it. The Beedrill chased after him, intent on running him through with their poisonous stingers. Club made a quick turn, and then leaped into a hollow tree as the swarm flew right past him. Club peeked out of the tree as the Beedrill flew by. He sighed in relief.

"That was close…"

As Club climbed down out of his hiding spot, he glanced behind him to notice a Noibat about to crash into him, which it then did, sending both of them, tumbling to the ground. Hard.

"Oh, gosh, I am so sorry!" the Noibat responded to his blunder. "I should have been looking where I was going…"

"It's fine, really." Club interrupted the Noibat before he could finish. "You don't have to apologize."

The Noibat stared at Club strangely as he said that. "What do you mean I didn't have to apologize!? I could have killed you! Look, Combusken…"

"Call me Club."

"…Club, don't you understand how serious you that was!? You could have been seriously injured, maimed… or worse, killed."

"Dude… it was five feet above the ground."

"I still have to do something to make it up to you. Here, how about I let you stay where my two friends and I hide out. We won't be staying there much longer… we're going to be joining Aggron's Exploration Guild tomorrow morning, and become a fully-fledged, official Exploration Team!"

"Exploration Team?"

"Yeah! We'll get to explore a bunch of dungeons, discover cool treasures, apprehend outlaws, and even come to the aid of helpless Pokémon!"

"Sounds neat…" Club was somewhat intrigued by the concept.

"Hey, how about you join up with us!"

"Wha…!? But this is YOUR dream, isn't it? Wouldn't it be kind of awkward if I just barge into it?"

"Not really. We've been looking for a fourth member for a while now, and you would be perfect for the position. So… what do you say?"

Club paused to consider the Noibat's offer. What would he have to gain by joining this Noibat and his friends? What would he have to give up? In the end, it was a bit of a no-brainer for Club.

"I'm in."

The Noibat whooped and hollered in his joy.

"YES! Welcome to the team, Club! I can't wait to introduce you to the others!"

Club slowly got to his feet… er, talons, and began to walk off in a random direction. "Neither can I. Lead the way, Spade." The Noibat paused briefly in his celebration, and turned towards Club questioningly.

"Spade?"

"What, you'd rather I call you by the name of your species?" Club asked, turning back towards his new companion. "You kind of poked me with your ears when you crashed into me back there, and your wings and claws somewhat remind me of a shovel and pickax, so I figured 'Spade' would be a nice nickname for you. You like it?"

The Noibat seemed to grin happily not long after Club asked. "Like it? I LOVE it! Spade! It sounds awesome! Thank you so much, Club!" and without another word, the newly nicknamed Spade led Club deeper into the woods.

As they were walking, Club silently contemplated whether or not he should tell Spade and his two friends he was actually a human… he didn't think they would believe him, or take kindly to the suggestion. For all he knew, they hated humans with a fierce passion. In the end, he decided to keep it a secret. Right about then, a large shadow passed over him. Stopping suddenly, he glanced skyward to see a massive silhouette of what looked like a capital letter Y flying through the sky.

"Is that…?"

"Hey! Club! You coming, or what!?" Spade called from up ahead, snapping Club's attention back to the present.

"Right behind you, Spade!" Club called back, dismissing the earlier sighting as his imagination.

Eventually, Spade managed to lead Club to a massive, hollow tree with a large hole in the base. Waiting inside the hollow were two Pokémon… a Kirlia and a Phantomp. Club couldn't help but wonder why the Kirlia was there… until he remembered that Kirlia was a Psychic and Fairy type, and could more than likely cover for her friends weaknesses.

"Guys! I'm back!" Spade called out as he led Club inside. His two friends turned towards him in excitement when they noticed Club. "This is Club, our official fourth member. Oh, and he also gave me a nickname shortly after I met him! I'm Spade now."

"Really!?" the Kirlia questioned in excitement. "He's giving out nicknames!? Do you have one for me!?"

Club was momentarily put off by the Kirlia's excitable demeanor. "Well… You are a Pokémon with the power to sense emotions… so I think 'Heart' would be a nice nickname, don't you?" He was then forced to cover his ears as the Kirlia squealed in delight.

"Heart! IloveitIloveitIloveit!"

"Ignore her," the Phantomp spoke up then. "She's easily excited. Anyway… do you have a nickname for me?"

Club spent a good minute thinking it over. "Diamond. Might as well complete the deck."

The Phantomp gave him a deadpan look, but accepted the nickname nonetheless.

"So… the four of us are going to form an Exploration Team tomorrow… at a guild belonging to an Aggron…"

"Yes!" Heart screeched in her delight. "Do you think we'll get to meet Team Shell Bell? This is going to be the best day of my life!"

"Is she always like this?" Club asked Spade and Diamond.

"No, she's usually more manageable than this," Diamond answered. Club gave him a look of sympathy.

"So… who's Team Shell Bell?" Spade, Heart, and Diamond all stared at him in disbelief.

"'Who's Team Shell Bell'!?" they all repeated in shock.

"Uh… yeah… that's exactly what I said."

"HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW WHO TEAM SHELL BELL IS!?" Heart screamed into Club's face. "They're only the most talked about Exploration Team since their formation exactly one year ago!"

"Wait… you've been excited over meeting a team that has only been active for a year?"

"One year, and they're already Diamond Ranked!"

Club stared at the excitable Kirlia blankly. "I'm sorry, am I supposed to be impressed?"

"YES!" Club tenderly massaged his ear.

"We actually don't know that much about them ourselves," Diamond interjected. "But from what I understand, the team is composed of two brothers. They choose the name because they wanted to help Pokémon find a reason to be happy… I think. The details were a little distorted, you know how these legends are."

Club nodded in understanding. He was, however, starting to become interested in Team Shell Bell. "So… what else can you guys tell me about these 'brothers'?"

"Well, like I said, there's two of them: a Lucario and a Zoroark, and…"

"Wait a minute… how is it possible for a Lucario and a Zoroark to be siblings? I know the two both share an egg group, but…"

"From what I understand, the two of them used to be humans." Club stared at the Phantomp as if he had grown a second head.

"I beg your pardon?"

"The members of Team Shell Bell used to be humans." Diamond answered, speaking slowly so Club could follow. He then noticed that Club was disturbingly stiff at this revelation.

"You… wouldn't happen to know their names, would you?"

"I believe their names are Rylan and Zorian, respectively." Diamond waited for Club to respond, but the Combusken was stiff as a board, his eye twitching at regular intervals. "Hello? Club?"

"It… It can't be… I thought they were…"

"What?" This time, Spade was the one to speak up. Club was now able to pull himself together.

"Nothing, nothing," he waved off for his new teammates. "It was just a lot to take in."

Diamond gave Club a look that clearly said that he wasn't buying it, but he didn't press the matter. Club was grateful for that.

"Well, guys, it was nice meeting you, I'll just take a look around the place, okay?" Club spoke up again before anyone could start questioning him. Only Diamond seemed curious about his new comrade's unusual behavior… but it really didn't matter right that second.

That should do it for the first chapter. Please leave a review if you can… and just another reminder, I may only claim rights to Club, Spade, Heart, and Diamond for now. Almost all other characters that may appear in this story are copyright to AzzyFox.