Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Pokemon and its characters belong to the various license holding companies that are responsible for manufacturing video games that have consumed hundreds of hours of my life in the blink of an eye. The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series produced by Chunsoft in particular is responsible for what you are about to witness.
Author's Notes: Let me assure you that I have absolutely no idea what has possessed me to begin writing this, let alone where this is going, but wherever this journey shall lead it's bound to be interesting.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Enigmatic Origin -- Chapter 1
The sky above the Sinnoh Region's famous Mt. Coronet was dark with the shadows of ominous looking, thundering black storm clouds that would occasionally become illuminated by flashes of lightning. In fact, although it was only actually around mid-day it was as if the entire mountain range had become shrouded by some kind of artificial eclipse. And in the midst of such dreadful weather a solitary human figure was attempting to scale the now treacherous mountain.
Upon closer inspection it was a girl who looked to be in her late teens wearing a short sleeved orange hoodie vest over a navy blue tank top and a pair of blue jeans. On her feet were what appeared to be a hybrid of what looked to be a pair of hiking shoes crossed with a pair of sandals. Being wet from the rain had darkened and matted down her usually dirty blond hair that typically hung down just below her shoulders. Around her neck hanging from a stainless steel chain was a small pendant that was in the shape of a dragon. True to form, a belt sporting six visible pokeballs was around the girl's waist. This would undoubtedly mean that she was supposed to be some kind of pokemon trainer.
She gradually approached the summit of Mt. Coronet. There was a circular gap in the clouds above the Spear Pillar where it seemed as if some kind of invisible spiral vortex was causing the surrounding clouds to revolve around the mountain range. And it was within this gap in the clouds that the two familiar titans of time and space, Dialga and Palkia, were once again locked in a battle for dominance. However, the two dragons were not alone as it became apparent that the third dragon and representative of the mysterious Distortion World, Giratina, was also involved in the dispute.
"This doesn't look good," the trainer frowned at the three clashing pokemon. Her blue-green eyes were filled with both concern and an unwavering sense of determination. She didn't stop climbing the mountain. When she reached the Spear Pillar on the summit of Mt. Coronet it became apparent that a much more mysterious pokemon had taken shape between the three massive combatants. As the trainer watched the sky surrounding this new arrival became filled with numerous rays of light shooting upward into the center of the vortex before raining down in even greater numbers causing everything to explode around them. It was as if reality itself were being torn apart. By the time the trainer realized she had been caught in one of the explosions it was already too late.
The world around her went dark and then she lost consciousness.
An unsuspecting Buizel had been taking a leisurely stroll down the beach when something rather unusual caught his eye. It appeared as if a lone Cyndaquil had been washed ashore a little ways down the beach. This seemed all the more peculiar considering fire type pokemon didn't usually spend a whole lot of time by the water. Given these strange circumstances the Buizel approached the unconscious fire mouse with caution.
"Hey you," he called out when he was only a few paces away. When he didn't get and answer he became frustrated and took another step closer. "Are you alright?" When he still didn't get an answer this time the Buizel decided that it was safe to assume that whatever else was going on, this little Cyndaquil was out cold. Well, there was one way to deal with that. He stepped just a little bit closer before unleashing a Water Gun attack in the Cyndaquil's face, quickly jumping back as the fire mouse woke with a start.
"What the heck was that for?!" the Cyndaquil jumped to her feet. She nearly fell over again when the burst of flames erupted from her back. What was that? And why do I suddenly feel so small? The Cyndaquil stared at the Buizel in disbelief. Don't tell me that voice just now was him. I must be losing my mind.
"Well," the Buizel started uncertainly, "you wouldn't wake up when I called so I figured you could use some help."
You call that helping? Hang on a second... I know that's a pokemon, but I can understand him when he talks. What in the world is going on here? The Cyndaquil seemed to be both confused and a little bit freaked out by all this. Of course the idea of talking pokemon wasn't entirely unheard of, but she got the distinct impression that there was something just a little bit off about her present situation. She could remember light raining down from the sky and the world rapidly dissolving around her, but then she didn't have a clue what had happened to her after that.
"Hey," the Buizel took note of the Cyndaquil's seemingly odd behavior, "are you going to be alright?"
"That's a good question," the Cyndaquil responded automatically. "Considering I'm human and not accustomed to being able to understand pokemon speech this is all kind of new to me."
"Human?" the Buizel looked at her strangely. "But you look like a perfectly ordinary Cyndaquil. Well, I guess it is kind of weird that I found you here on the beach." He paused for a second and thought better of it. "So, you got a name then?"
"It's Crystal," the Cyndaquil answered absently. She stepped closer to the ocean to try and catch a glimpse of her reflection in the water. There was no mistaking the identity of the pokemon that stared back at her from her own reflection. She really had become a Cyndaquil. I knew there were myths about humans turning into pokemon and pokemon turning into humans back when humans and pokemon first began to coexist in the world, but this is ridiculous.
"Well Crystal," the Buizel spoke up again, "I'm Taki. I'm not sure what you mean about being human, but I guess if you've got nowhere else to go I know someplace you can stay until you get things figured out."
Crystal nodded, "That's probably a good idea. So, where exactly is this place?"
"Well," Taki began to explain, "this is the Silver Bay and the place we're headed is through the Inland Forest in the caves beneath the Rainbow Mountain." He paused and added, "Of course we're going to have to pass through a Mystery Dungeon to get there."
I guess the Silver Bay and Rainbow Mountain must correspond to Lugia and Ho-oh respectively. At least, Crystal assumed that must be the case if the world she had found herself in was anything like the one she was accustomed to. That last part, however, was totally unfamiliar to her. "What exactly is a Mystery Dungeon?"
"You really aren't from around here, are you?" the Buizel known as Taki seemed to find this amusing. "A Mystery Dungeon is an area that is arranged differently every time you visit it. They tend to be filled with aggressive pokemon, items and in some of them you can even find treasure." At this he seemed to smirk, "Of course you've got to be tough to stand a chance in a Mystery Dungeon so I hope you won't be holding me back."
"We'll see about that!" Crystal responded indignantly as a fresh burst of flames erupted from her back. She nearly fell over again in surprise. This was definitely going to take some getting used to and she still didn't actually know which moves she would be able to use.
"Don't worry," Taki continued as he ignored Crystal's outburst, "I'll walk you through the basics when we get there."
When they crossed the threshold into the forest it became quite apparent that the terrain was unlike that of a regular forest when the whole thing apparently had walls like a hedge maze. The pokemon inhabiting the Mystery Dungeon were mostly bug and grass types which meant that once Crystal got the hang of battling she had an advantage just by being a fire type even if her best move so far seemed to be the rather basic Ember attack. Still, it was better than nothing and if she kept at it there was no doubt in her mind that she would inevitably become stronger just like any other pokemon. If she was going to be stuck as a Cyndaquil for awhile, then she might as well make the most of it.
When they arrived at a large tree in the middle of what looked to be a dead end a fairly menacing looking Beedrill flanked by a pair of equally fierce looking Kakuna blocked the path. The Buizel known as Taki assumed a fighting stance.
"It looks like they want to battle us," he sounded confident. "Let's make them regret it."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Crystal answered in agreement.
"I'll take the leader," Taki declared boldly. "You handle the rest." And with that he launched into a high speed Quick Attack easily knocking the Beedrill out of the air with the momentum of his own body.
Crystal homed in on the Kakuna that was waiting to the right and slammed into it head on with a forceful Tackle attack. She braced herself when the Kakuna retaliated with the barrage of darts of its Poison Sting attack, but fortunately she didn't suffer any serious ill effects from it and was able to exhale the barrage of tiny fireballs that comprised her Ember attack. After that the first Kakuna was down for the count.
Meanwhile Taki took evasive action as the Beedrill began jabbing at him with its stingers in a Twin Needle attack. When the attack ended and Taki was certain he was out of danger he retaliated with a spray of water from his mouth that represented his Water Gun attack. The Beedrill intercepted the spray of water with the darts of a Poison Sting attack so that they collided in midair effectively canceling each other out.
Crystal was now going after the second Kakuna. The Kakuna's shell shimmered as it used its Harden attack to raise its defense as Crystal prepared to launch into another Tackle attack. However, the attack didn't go exactly as Crystal had been planning because at the last second she became surrounded by the glow of flames before she impacted the Kakuna. She had learned the much more effective Flame Wheel attack which conveniently rendered the Kakuna down for the count despite its valiant attempt to defend itself.
Taki took this opportunity to swat aside the Beedrill with the shockwave that was produced by swinging his two tails while using his Sonic Boom attack so that he could regroup with Crystal, "Mind lending a little of that fire power over here?"
"Sure thing," Crystal nodded. Standing side-by-side they combined the tiny fireballs from Crystal's Ember attack with the barrage of shooting stars from Taki's Swift attack to deliver the finishing blow on the Beedrill.
With the opposition out of the way the two of them easily found that there was an exit just beyond the large tree in the middle of the field. They had finally reached the far side of the forest so that they were now at the foot of the Rainbow Mountain. It seemed somehow fitting that at the mountain's peak was a massive quartz crystal that acted as a prism casting the rays of the late afternoon sun along the face of the mountain in a steady rainbow of color.
"You know," the Buizel known as Taki started as the two of them started up a winding path toward where the mouth of a cave became visible in the side of the mountain, "you weren't half bad out there. If you don't mind, we could become apprentices at Garchomp's Guild to get some training so we can form our own Exploration Team. It might be a good way to gather some information about how you got here and why you're a pokemon."
Crystal shrugged, "I guess I don't really have anything else to do while I'm here." I suppose I might as well do something productive if I'm going to be stuck here for awhile. Then she nodded, "Sure. Why not?"
"Great," Taki practically beamed with enthusiasm. "Let's get started right away!"
To Be Continued...