AN: Finally, I'm out with a brand new story! And it's not Sonic this time! Hurray for variety! Anyway, since this is the initial chapter, and my very first Pokemon story, I'd like your opinion, so please do me a favor and review!

Disclaimer: I neither claim nor own anything from Nintendo, Game Freak, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, or other Pokemon affiliated games, companies or corps. I hold no claim on the music that is suggested, and it is owned by the said artist. Please support the official releases.

Claimer: I own all characters and plot changes not affiliated with the above mentioned.

Storms: the bane of all sailors and seafarers. Storms that were violent enough had the power to sink ships, throw them off their course, or cause some of the crew to fly overboard, to be lost at sea and perhaps never seen again. For many ocean-bound cases, storms were perilous and undesirable.

Even if not at sea, storms can be dangerous to travelers, causing pneumonia in extreme cases and electrocution from lightning in other possibilities. They blinded the eyes and chilled the bone, making

For the travelers we observe right now, they are experiencing a very different storm.

Light flashed, as if caused by lightning. Whirring winds sounded in the midst, signifying that it was a very intense storm indeed. In a place such as this, a storm was unheard of. Something had clearly gone unexpectedly wrong.

Another nearly blinding flash of light. The wind blew harder than before. "H-hold on! Just hold on!" a deep voice shouted in the midst of the dark storm. The figures could hardly see each other, let alone anything else in the middle of the raging tempest.

"I'm trying!" A younger voice shouted in response. His grip loosened; his eyes widened. If he didn't hold on it would be ruinous. "I… I'm slipping!"

Both hands gripped each other harder. "I don't care, just hold on!" the deeper voice yelled back, desperately keeping hold of his partner. As the winds strew them about in its violent torrent, the younger one was screaming in terror, never having been more horrified in his life.

Their hands began to slip and the younger one gasped a bit, trying to cling harder as his grip slipped. "Ah! I can't hold on!" he screamed.

"No, Just keep trying!" the older voice yelled again, trying to maintain a grip. One hand finally slipped between then and they were left hanging by one limb apiece.

It wasn't long until even that slipped through their grasps and the two were lost to the mercy of the raging storm.

^/\^|v\/v

…Syaoron the Fox presents…

...His First Pokémon Story…

Beyond the Sky

Chapter 1

Premonition to a Fresh Start

^/\^|v\/v

He tried to ease his eyes open; tried to get up. His body felt like a boulder was sitting on it though, and his eyelids weighed down on him by the tons. Barely, he was able to crack his eyes open just enough to be almost instantly blinded by a bright light. "Ah!" he groaned, rolling over to protect his eyes from the bright light.

As he rolled onto all fours, he felt something soft and gritty beneath him. As he fluttered his eyelids, he moaned a bit from the penetrating light and his bright surroundings. He laid his sights on the ground for a moment and blinked. "Sand?" he wondered to himself. He tried to stand up, but his movements felt awkward and out of control and he ended up falling back into the sand.

He couldn't even go on all fours after that. A massive headache suddenly came over him and he laid there on the ground. No… I can't… he thought to himself as his vision dimmed. Fading too fast… can't stay awake… He was able to catch sight of the sun in the sky before passing out entirely.

^/\^|v\/v

Wigglytuff's Guild. Though the name sounded silly to the unexposed ear, it was one of the most respectable guilds in all the lands. The guild tended to produce many impressive explorers from its bowels, and many aspiring trainees worked there. The guild was an impressive place indeed.

Not only that; it also served as commerce for the local, traveling explorers as well. Many of the Pokémon who were on the road often came to the guild to earn pay by performing certain tasks that were commissioned for the guild. Yes, it was a very interesting place by all due respect. But, how does one become an explorer? Though arduous as the process is, it's often worth its own while in the end.

At least, that was what a certain Eevee hoped as she came to the gates of the guild. The massive, looming teepee designed to look like Wigglytuff himself shrouded the entrance to the hideout that was on the side of a cliff, beyond which a vast, expansive ocean stretched out. To the small she-Eevee, it brought nervous shivers to her core.

"Alright; this is it," she said to herself, trying to imbue herself with courage enough to enter the foreboding guild. She took in a deep breath to try and calm herself as she stepped forward, trying to keep her cool. As she breathed deeply—in and out—she puffed out her chest, trying to seem confident and collected.

Her façade was shattered and left in pieces as she walked over a grate in front of the teepee, a squeaky voice shouting out, "Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"

The Eevee's heart stopped for a moment when she heard the voice and she looked around for its source. A mere second later, a booming voice sounded in response; from somewhere in the guild, she assumed. "Who's footprint?! Who's footprint?!" the voice responded.

"The footprint is Eevee's! The footprint is Eevee's!" was the given response by the squeaky voice. The she-Eevee was more than frightened enough to back off of the grate, and she let out a sigh, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart.

She became depressed suddenly, signified by her drooping tail and the ears that were flattened back against her heard. "I… I can't do it," she murmured in her disappointment. She brought a paw up to her neck fur, feeling around for a string and she sighed upon finding it. She looked at the thing attached to the string around her neck: a small stone with a four-spoke wing –like design on the flat surface. "I thought that carrying around my precious treasure would help encourage me," she mused before stuffing away in her neck fur. "Guess that didn't work like I thought it would…"

With a discouraged expression, the lone Eevee sulked away from the guild, back down the stairs that led to the town crossroad. Behind her, in the shadows of the totem poles that stood aloft near the Wigglytuff teepee, a duo of Pokémon waited. "Well, did you hear that, Zubat?" the first one asked, his voice dull and heavy.

"I heard everything, Koffing," the Zubat responded in his high-pitched, know-it-all tone. "The kid said something about a precious treasure. It sounds valuable."

Koffing looked back over to Zubat, puffing gas from his spherical body to keep himself afloat. He raised a brow to his compatriot, nodding in the direction that the Eevee ran in. "Do we go after the runt?"

Zubat nodded, only able to see his sidekick through the use of echolocation. "We do."

^/\^|v\/v

[Now Playing: "Life In Technicolor" by: Coldplay]

The young Eevee couldn't hold back a few tears as she walked straight across the crossroad. She chastised herself constantly as she meandered around. How could she have been so nervous? It was just some shouting from underneath the grate. She knew she could've handled it if she had only been more patient and less timid.

She pondered so many questions in her mind that it almost hurt to realize how foolish she had been to back away. How could she have been so cowardly? That question had plagued her again and again and she finally hiccupped in realization. Hot tears splashed onto the ground as she stopped her walking. "It's because I am a coward…" she cried softly, shaking as her tears slid off her cheeks.

At that very moment, she shook her head, a look of determination suddenly crossing her face. She slapped herself in the face, wiping away her tears. "Don't be so ridiculous," she scolded her own actions. "You're not a coward. It just surprised you, that's all. Just keep a cool head and go back and try it again."

However, as she turned back and saw the guild entrance from below, she sighed. "Aw, who am I kidding," the Eevee grumbled under her breath. "I'm still afraid. What if they reject me? What will I do then?"

Though a frown had been on her face for a while, when she hung her head to feel sorry for herself, she noticed the soft sand that was under her paws and a smile suddenly lit up her face. "I'm already at the beach?" she wondered a bit giddily as she looked up, across the ocean. The sun was beginning to set and her eyes glistened in happiness when she saw it. "Oh wow, it's beautiful!"

As she slowly exhaled, she decided that she'd wash away her worries for the time being by watching the sunset. A giggle escaped her lips as she noticed bubbles floating out toward the horizon. She finally decided to sit down in the sand and she turned her head enough so that she could catch sight of the crab-like pokemon on the cliffs, blowing bubbles out into the ocean.

"I always love it when the Krabby blow bubbles at sunset," she mused contently to herself, lost in thought. "The bubbles always twinkle when the sun shines on them right. It makes me feel at peace."

So lost in her thoughts as she was, she might've been building castles in the air. The Eevee took another glance at her 'precious treasure' and she gripped it tightly. She planned on going back to the guild some other time. However, she knew that going at it alone again would solely result in backing down once more and more sadness to follow. She kept wondering about what she needed to keep from running away again well into the evening, even as the sun dipped its heavenly body into the horizon of the ocean.

With her thoughts being inconclusive, she stood from her spot on the beach and gave a mighty yawn. It would probably be best—she decided—if she went home for the night to get some rest. As she was about to leave however, she took one last look at the coast and noticed something that seemed out of place. "Huh… I wonder what that is," she muttered as she walked over to the thing in the sand.

Upon closer inspection, the Eevee realized it was the motionless body of a Pokémon; a Riolu to be more precise, though she'd rarely ever seen a Riolu before. Upon noticing this, her heart skipped a beat and she rushed to the Pokémon's side. "Hey, are you alright?" she asked nervously while pushing on his side, trying to get him to wake up. "C'mon! Please wake up!"

[Stop Music]

Her persistence seemed to do some good as she finally got the Riolu to groan. As he sat up, holding his head as if from a migraine, he blinked and looked up at the Eevee. "Uh… hello?" he said, unsure of what else to say.

The Eevee girl only huffed a bit, wearing a confused expression on her face. "Hello? I wake you up on a beach in the afternoon and all I get is a hello?"

The Riolu only cocked his head to the side. "I… don't understand what you mean," he responded.

The she-Eevee only put a paw forward and poked his forehead. "What happened to you, silly?" she asked, full of curiosity. "What are you doing out here on the beach? It's getting late, and the sun will set in an hour or so. Did you hit your head or something?"

The Riolu only felt at his head, wondering if he had gotten a bump. He frowned when he didn't find one, and his mind came up blank. "I… don't remember," he groaned as he tried to stand up, only succeeding in falling back into the sand.

"Oh, I guess that's too bad," the Eevee said. "So, tell me about yourself! I've never seen you around town before. Do you live nearby? Where'd you come from?"

The Riolu only shook his head and scrunched up his expression in thought. "Slow down. I can only answer one question at a time," he said, tapping his chin in thought. "But, come to think of it… I don't remember where I'm from either…"

The Eevee looked disconcerted, sitting down with her forelegs propping her up. "Weird. Riolu are Aura Pokémon, right? Aren't they supposed to have like… a good memory or something?"

The Riolu looked around, puzzled by her words for some reason. He finally glanced at her, his brow furrowed. "Riolu? Me?" he asked her. When she nodded slowly, he let out a loud laugh. "Oh, that's a good one! I'm not a Riolu; I'm a human! Haven't you ever seen a human before?"

The Eevee felt even less sure about the Riolu's sanity now than she did a few minutes ago. "I've seen a human before once, yeah," she assured him. "But you are definitely a Riolu."

The Riolu suddenly held a hesitant look on his face, though confused as he was. Out of his curiosity though, he decided to amuse the Eevee and he peered into tide to see his reflection… and found her to be absolutely correct. "What?" he asked as he looked at his paws, noting the spike that protruded from the back of them. "I don't understand. I know I was a human!" He beat himself over the head, trying to focus and bring some sort of reasoning for his transformation to mind. "Why can't I remember anything?"

The Eevee blinked, frowning to the Riolu. "So, you remember being a human, but you don't remember anything else?" she asked skeptically. "Is this a trick or something?" When she received a confident headshake from the Riolu, she sighed and the edges of her lips curled up into a smile. "Well then, you at least remember your name, no?"

The Riolu blinked again, scratching his head as he tried to think of something. He felt something ping in his mind, a word that seemed to fit itself in his mind perfectly, much like a key to its proper lock. "Aru," he said with some confidence. "My name… it's Aru."

After finally getting her answer, the Eevee nodded. "It's nice to meet you, Aru," she greeted him on a more friendly basis. She offered her paw forward and spoke again, "I'm Thali."

Aru smiled at Thali, taking her hand and finally standing up on his own two feet… though as he looked down, it looked more like he was standing on hind legs rather than normal legs. "So, anyway," Thali began to speak. "I was wondering if—"

She never got to finish her sentence when she was thrown back by a powerful force. She let out a grunt as she hit the ground and the two glanced over at her attackers; a Zubat and a Koffing. "Oh, whoops. Excuse us," Koffing said sarcastically.

Aru rushed over to Thali, helping her up and the Eevee lobbed a glare over to poison Pokémon duo. "Hey, what was that for?" Thali shouted at them, wincing a bit from the blow.

"No, please, don't get up," Zubat continued to tease them with a malicious smirk. "We came to mess with you. Ain't it obvious?" Thali and Aru could only remain silent; Thali was simply too shocked to do much of anything, while Aru was simply waiting things out, wondering what their goal was. It was soon shown when Zubat pointed to a small rock attached to a string laying in the sand. "That's yours, isn't it?"

Thali's quivering eyes widened in surprise when the Zubat picked up the stone and hung it around his neck. "Hey wait! That's my treasure!"

"Bingo, kid," Koffing said, another smirk beheld on his face. He noticed the Eevee's shaking and he snorted, "What's the matter, squirt? Ya' too chicken to take it back?"

Thali frowned, her ears flattening as held back tears welled up in her hazelnut eyes. The Zubat only chortled. "Thought so," he badgered the timid Eevee before flying past them, with Koffing following soon after. "See ya' around, morons."

As the duo of perpetrators disappeared into the nearby cave, Thali let out a disheartened respire. "But… that was my most precious treasure…" she whined, a kind of anxiety showing in her voice that implied that her confidence was on thin ice. She turned to Aru, her eyes glazed with hanging tears. "You… you have to help me get it back! Please?"

The Riolu looked taken aback, unsure of how to respond. He'd only met her a few minutes ago, and she was already asking for his help. However, concluding that it was the right thing to do, Aru nodded to her briefly. "Sure thing!"

No sooner than those words were said, the odd duo ventured into the cave.

^/\^|v\/v

Aru looked around the cave as they entered; an aura of uncertainty about him. Of course, the timid she-Eevee felt similarly, and a bit afraid as they entered. The Riolu simply tried to stick it out, glancing over to Thali and nodding. "So, tell me about yourself," he suggested, trying to lighten the mood in the dank cave.

Thali only nodded as she walked forward. "Well, I'm an Eevee," she stated. A blush suddenly crossed her and she shook her head. "You probably already knew that though. We—us Eevee, I mean—we're naturally really… um… what's the word for it?"

Though Aru pondered for a word to finish her statement, he was kept from doing it when a Shellos suddenly came out from around the corner in the cave. The Shellos, being native to the area and defensive of its territory, glared at the two and shot a wave of mud at the two. "Get down!" Aru yelled at Thali, tackling her to the Eevee to the ground to avoid the blow. Thali seemed scared stiff as Aru jumped up to defend her. In that instant, Aru threw forward a punch at the Shellos, sending it packing.

When Thali looked up, taking her forepaws off of her head, she noticed Aru helping her up. "I think the word you're looking for is timid? Maybe it's afraid?"

Thali pouted defiantly, trying to hide her blush and keep whatever pride she had left. "Yeah… something like that," she said. She took a glance back down at her newfound friend's paw and hummed thoughtfully. "You threw a pretty fast punch out there," she discovered. "For a moment there, it looked like it shined silvery or something."

"Yeah…" Aru muttered. He glanced at his paw again, clenching it; wondering how he had done something like that. "That's one of my… abilities or moves, right?"

Thali only nodded, deciding to take the lead. "Looked like it," she remarked with a keen eye. "And I'd say that was Bullet Punch. I didn't know Riolu could learn it."

The human turned Riolu only shrugged. "I guess I… didn't know I had it in me."

Thali simply nodded, going down a corridor and to a lower floor in the cave. "You never know," she said. Her best serious expression was put on as she looked down to lowest section of the cave. "They're probably stuck at the bottom. Y-you ready?"

Aru glanced at his companion, a bit shocked by her determination. Though her knees were trembling, threatening to drop her on the floor at any moment, he saw a fire that burned in her eyes, burning with a drive to get back her stolen treasure. Now that he focused on it, he could almost sense an orange aura around her, making her perseverance seem evident. The Riolu, after identifying all of this, bowed his head with a chuckle. "Yeah, let's go."

Upon entering, they found the duo of poison Pokémon looking about the small chamber. "Aw man, Koffing. I think this is a dead end," Zubat groaned as he searched around with echolocation. "There's not a single way out except the way we came in."

Koffing slowly turned around and nearly paled. "It looks like our only way out is gone, too!" he shouted as they were met with a pair of brown, scowling eyes.

[Now Playing: "Thriller" by: Fall Out Boy]

Zubat put on his most confident smirk, looking almost overconfident as he flew forward a bit. "Well, if it ain't the squirt and her tagalong," he mocked them. "What'd you come for?"

The Eevee only glared daggers at Zubat. "You know exactly what we came for!" Thali accused them. "I want my treasure back, now hand it over!"

The Zubat only scoffed, barring his fangs and preparing for a fight. "Not likely, kid," he taunted her. "You'll just have to take it back from us."

Though Thali gritted her teeth, still unsure about fighting, Aru patted her back and gave her a thumbs-up, stepping forward. "We can take them," he assured her before giving a piercing stare to the Zubat and Koffing. "You're on."

Aru smirked and rushed forward, trying out his Bullet Punch, but the Zubat swiftly dodged to right. Instead of staving off in case of another attack, Zubat rushed in for a flyby, knocking into Aru and throwing him to the side.

The Riolu rolled a bit, getting to his knees. Before he could stand up again, Koffing appeared in front of him, preparing to blow poisonous gas in Aru's direction. Before the gas was prepared, Aru rolled to the side and narrowly avoided the toxic fumes.

Getting up swiftly, the Riolu backhanded Koffing, sending the gaseous Pokémon reeling. Unbeknownst to Aru, Zubat appeared swiftly behind him and utilized his Supersonic move. The sound waves caused by the bat wracked the Riolu's ears, causing his vision to blur and his balance to wane, bring him to his knees. Still though, Aru stood back up and whisked by the Zubat, using his Quick Attack.

Thali could only watch from afar, amazed at how her companion so quickly jumped into battle. All for my treasure, she remembered. Her cheeks flushed as she made note of that, wondering for a moment why he had helped her at his own expense. She watched as Aru began battling with Koffing again, throwing powerful blows but not hitting the dodgy target.

However, as Thali watched her Riolu friend slowly tire, she caught sight of Zubat sneaking around to try and get a hit on Aru's blind spot. "Aru, watch out!" she called out to him, hoping that he would notice in enough time to dodge it. However, with enemies to his front and rear, Aru was unable to dodge the Zubat's attack as it was boastfully announced, "Poison Fang!"

Aru was taken by surprise when the bat Pokémon latched onto his shoulder, biting into him. He winced from the pain, and swatted the bat off of his shoulder, jumping back from the fight and gripping his shoulder, which was leaking with blood. He felt a pang in his shoulder and groaned, suddenly feeling weakness enswathe him.

"Aru!" she exclaimed as she rushed to look at his wound. However, when she spotted him fretting over such a small wound, she frowned. "What happened? What did he do?"

"Your friend is out of luck, kid," Zubat said with confidence. Though he had no eyes, he still managed a glower at the odd duo. "That's some of my most potent poison. If he's lucky, he'll get out of here with only unconsciousness. Worst case scenario, he dies." However, the bat realized at the end of his speech that the Eevee wasn't paying any attention to him and he groaned. "Hey! Listen to me when I'm talking!"

The Eevee only shook her head and she reached into the fur of her tail, pulling out a small pink fruit. "Eat this," she urged him as she pushed it up against his lips. "I may be scared, but I'm not stupid. Going up against poison enemies; I thought I'd pick up a Pecha Berry along the way. It should be enough to heal that poison."

Aru nodded to Thali as he took the berry in his mouth and swallowed it. The sweet taste made it easier for it to go down, and it wasn't long before he felt the toxic fatigue fade away as well. "Wow Thali, thanks. You really saved me right there."

Zubat only groaned as he watched the moment between the two, growing annoyed at their ignorance. "Hey, pay attention when I'm fighting ya'!" he shouted at them as he swept in for another attack.

Though Aru was still recovering from the poison, unable to react fast enough, he didn't need to. Eevee stood up confidently and briskly spun around, striking Zubat with her strong tail. "How do you like my Tail Whip, thief?" she boasted in her moment of brief triumph.

The Zubat was sent tumbling and he tried to no avail to relieve the buzzing in his head and the cloudiness in his vision. As soon as he was able to see again, he was met swiftly with Aru's Bullet Punch, which effectively kayoed him.

The Koffing looked to his fallen partner, to the stone that had fallen on the ground, and to his foes and began to panic. "A-alright, just take the rock!" he said as he heaved Zubat over his body. With his surrender given and dismay written all over the Koffing's face, he floated away as fast as his bloated body would carry him with his partner in crime slung over him.

Aru then turned to Thali and nodded. "I guess we should be getting out of here too, huh?" he suggested, panting from the exhaustion that the fight had brought on.

Thali bobbed her head in affirmation, picking her treasure up by the string and placing it around her neck. "Sure," she breathed out, also a bit tired. "Let's get going."

[Stop Music]