AN: Just a few things I'd like to say before you start reading this. First of all, I know lots of people have put the plot of Mystery Dungeon in written form. So the concept is nothing new. However, what's going to happen in this series is that I'm going to be writing the plots of the Mystery Dungeon games starting with Red and Blue Rescue Team and working my way through the series whilst having them all be connected and in the same universe. I will burrow elements from official Pokémon Mystery Dungeon media, Ginji's name, scar, as well as the name of the manga being the first things I'm using, as well as adding some new plots and characters.
I would actually like to thank Pilot231 of Deviantart, YouTube, and Voice Acting Alliance for giving me the inspiration in the first place. I recall him once bringing up that Pokémon Mystery Dungeon would have been great as an actual series, and I'm sure so many Mystery Dungeon fans would agree on that. He even had his own characters and stories set for a fan series. So, thanks dude. If it weren't for you I probably wouldn't even be writing this now.
"Where am I?" The boy thought to himself as he struggled to open his eyes. That proved to be challenging as his head was aching, along with being in a state of morning fatigue. He wasn't aware of his surroundings, but judging by the soft, pleasant breeze lightly touching his cheek and the smell of fresh air, it seemed to be a quiet area outside. He felt something soft yet somewhat itchy against his body, so he assumed he must be laying on the grass. He couldn't quite make out much sounds, but was faintly hearing something, or someone. As he began to force his eyelids open, the sound became much clearer, confirming it was someone.
"Hey, are you alright? C'mon, say something! Please wake up!"
The voice sounded like an adolescent male, maybe a couple years older than the boy. His eyes shot fully open and the first thing he was greeted with was the sun blazing in them, threatening to melt them if he kept staring at the big ball of fire in the sky. He shut them again to banish the heat from his eyeballs, and lifted himself up off the grassy ground to stand on his feet. He fluttered his eyelids a bit to get rid of whatever haziness he had left in him. He opened his mouth wide to let out a yawn before finally checking his surroundings,which consisted of mostly trees and stumps bar a small puddle a few feet ahead. It dawned on him that he was in a small clearing in woods of some sort.
"Wow, you're finally awake! Great!"
He turned to his left to face whoever that voice belonged to and expected it to be anyone besides who he ended up facing. Standing in front of him was a furry yellow rodent with a small red circle on either cheek, long ears with black, pointy tips, and a tail shaped like a lightning bolt. A Pikachu was talking to him.
"You were passed out here. Good thing you came to. I was starting to get worried."
The boy was incapable of speech. How do you respond to something spoken by a giant Pikachu? You don't, usually; seeing as how Pokémon shouldn't be able to speak at all. The only thing he could think of doing was spitting whatever popped into his head out.
"Wow! You're a Pikachu! A giant, talking Pikachu! Just how are you talking? You're a Pokémon! And why are you so huge?!"
The Pikachu seemed to think it was a joke, because the next thing he did was chuckle and say;
"Good one, Torchic! You're pretty funny."
A Torchic? Did that Pikachu just call him that? Why? Didn't he know a human when he saw one? If he'd even seen a human before, that is. Maybe not. But still, how could he mistake one for a Torchic? Obviously he would have seen a Torchic before if he's calling him one. He was about to tell him the obvious, but the Pikachu started asking away.
"How'd you end up unconscious here? What's with the scar on your forehead? Who are you? I don't think I've seen you around before."
Come to think of it, where was he? Had he been here before? He didn't recognize this place. But he was sure he wasn't from around here. At least not that he knew of. But why couldn't he remember? More importantly, who was he?
"That's cause I'm not from around here. At least I don't think so."
"You don't think so? Are you feeling okay, Torchic?"
"Stop calling me Torchic! Don't you know the difference between a human and a Pokémon?!" The boy spat.
"Well, Yeah, I do! And I believe you should too!" The Pikachu answered back with a rushed voice, shocked by the boy's sudden harsh tone.
The boy continued to pester the Pikachu.
"Why are you so big, anyway?! And just how are you talking?! You're a Pokémon!"
The Pikachu kept the alarmed look on his face.
"Well, you're talking too and you're a Pokémon! And we're both normal sized!"
"What?" The boy asked before shaking his head over the realization of what the Pikachu had just called him. "No, I'm not a Pokémon! I'm a human and my name's Ginji!" He argued.
"Well, you look just like any ordinary Torchic to me, except for that scar on your forehead!" The Pikachu argued back.
Ginji was getting more irritated by the minute. He marched over to the small puddle he recognized as one of the first things he saw upon waking up and turned to Pikachu's direction.
"See! I'm not a-" He looked at his reflection in the puddle, and was greeted with an unfamiliar, fire orange, fluffy face. Instead of red hair as he remembered himself having, there were three curved feathers with yellow edges on top of his head. And what he was seeing this through were two puny black dot like eyes as opposed to the ones that were white with a black pupil and emerald green irises around the pupil he would have seen when he looked at his reflection before. On his forehead was a scar shaped like an X. How he got it was the last thing on his mind right now. He backed away in shock. He gazed down at his body. It wasn't the body of a human, though. It was small, round and fuzzy, rather than tall, straight with smooth skin. Two tiny wings were in place of where his arms should have been, and instead of human legs, skinny, chick-like ones stood beneath him. He looked at his rear, and sure enough, there was a short, feathered tail. There was no denying it. He was a Torchic.
"Aaaahhh! I am a Pokémon! But how?! Since when?! And why?!"
Pikachu scurried over to him with a look on his face that told Ginji he thought he was crazy.
"I swear, I was a human! I wasn't like this before!" He objected.
Pikachu held that baffled stare on him.
"You're... kind of wierd. Funny, but wierd." He told him.
Before either of them had time to say anything else, a cry came from the woods.
"Somebody! Please, help me!"
A Butterfree emerged into the clearing, her wings fluttering violently.
"What's wrong, Miss?" Called Pikachu before Butterfree could shoot past them. Ginji stood there quietly, uneasy over the fact that he would be talking to more Pokémon and be expected to see it as perfectly normal.
The Butterfree went on to explain the situation with much concern and fear.
"It's horrible! I was taking my son Caterpie on a walk in Tiny Woods,and then a huge fissure opened up in the ground-of course it didn't affect me as I can fly- and Caterpie fell in!"
"It didn't affect you? No, really? Because I always thought those fissures had a special power that could suck any airborne thing in the ground." Ginji wisecracked to himself but didn't dare say it aloud taking Butterfree's situation into consideration.
"He's too young to crawl out by himself!" Butterfree continued.
Pikachu jumped back, not only startling Ginji, but practically whacking him in the face with his arm.
"What?! And you didn't try to get him out?!"
"Man, can you be any more hyper?" Ginji asked out of annoyance in being startled and almost having a clump of yellow fur knock him off his feet.
Pikachu ignored him and listened to what Butterfree had to say.
"I tried to! But when I went to get him, wild Pokémon attacked me!"
"Really? Wild Pokémon attacking in Tiny Woods? That's new. Tiny Woods is the safest dungeon around, and the wild Pokémon there are usually tame."
"They must have been enraged by the fissure and went out of control! At least that's what I think. I'm not strong enough to fend off all those wild pokemon on my own. What will become of my poor baby?!" Butterfree cried.
Ginji was focused on the way Butterfree moved. She was able to keep herself up in the air, fluttering her wings hard, never getting tired. Even in the most dire of situations such as the one going on here. It was pretty amazing how she was like that. Ginji wondered what other kinds of Pokémon could do in times like this, and how they would react.
"Calm down. We'll rescue Caterpie!" Pikachu announced right away as if he was a six-year-old being offered candy. "Let's go, Torchic."
Before Ginji had a chance to say no or tell Pikachu he didn't want to go in whatever this "Tiny Woods" place was, he was being pushed to the entrance by two small paws.
"Hey, wait a minute, I never said yes! And for the last time my name's Ginji, not Torchic! Quit shoving me!" Ginji yelled one thing after another and Pikachu pretended to remain oblivious to the fact Ginji didn't want to do this. He simply kept pushing the human turned chick Pokémon forward.
"Be careful!" Butterfree called to them. And before he knew it, Ginji had entered his first mystery dungeon.
"So why is this place called Tiny Woods anyway?" Ginji asked as the two of them started making their way through the woods on a dirt covered path.
"Take a guess." Pikachu answered with the tiniest bit of playful sarcasm in his voice.
Granted, looking around the woods didn't look very big at all, even by small Pokémon standards, but how was Ginji supposed to know they were so small when he had just woken up as a Torchic in a place he was sure he had never been to before?!
"Sorry, I'm kind of new to this stuff." Ginji put emphasis on the word "new" so that this mouse got the message that he was not an expert of the Pokémon world.
The two then heard multiple loud squawks overhead. The sound revealed to be a flock of Pidgey flying towards them.
"Do we run?" Ginji asked.
Pikachu turned to him dumbfounded. Obviously Ginji had made himself look like an idiot. "Do we run?! From a flock of Pidgey?! Haven't you ever battled before?"
"Why, no I haven't battled before because I'm a human and I woke up to discover that I am now a Pokémon for some reason and I'm just going to guess I'm an inexperienced one that can't take on simple things like Pidgey yet." was what Ginji wanted to say, but somehow he doubted Pikachu was going to go with his story if he tried to explain it a third time, seeing as how he didn't even buy it the second time he tried to tell him.
"Not really." Ginji answered humbly.
"Man, you must have really hit your head before you fell unconscious. You've got a lot to relearn." Pikachu sounded a bit more understanding now.
Ginji was going to respond, but before he could do that a Pidgey pecked him on the head, causing him fall on his face. The Pidgey perched itself on his back and proceeded to peck at him.
"Ow! A little help over here would be nice!" He called to Pikachu while trying to keep his face out of the dirt and the dirt out of his mouth, making his voice muffled.
"Something tells me I'm going to be doing this for a while." Pikachu muttered to himself.
"Thunder shock!" The electric mouse cried out. A flow of electricity shot from his body, heading towards Ginji's direction. Ginji felt a wave of said electricity flow through his veins, frying not only the Pidgey, but him too. How Pokémon could survive this, he had no idea. The Pidgey fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes. Ginji collapsed in a similar fashion.
"Hehe, whoops. Didn't mean to hit you too. Guess I should practice controlling my electricity." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his head with his paw and smiling innocently.
"Thanks for the help, Pikachu. I really appreciate it, even if you almost turned me into fried chicken." Ginji coughed, a mixture of dirt and cloudy smoke flying out of his beak.
"I have got to teach you about battling." Pikachu concluded.
They had gotten decently far into the woods when Ginji decided to ask the question that had been on his mind for a couple minutes-those minutes being after Pikachu had told him what they were in was called a "mystery dungeon".
"Hey, um, Pikachu?"
"Yeah?" Pikachu turned to him.
"Why do they call these places mystery dungeons? I mean, this isn't even a dungeon. It's called "Tiny Woods."
"Well, to be honest I don't really know either. I guess some pokemon just decided to give places like this that name. No one really knows how and when they appeared." He answered. "But I think the mysterious part has something to do with the fact that every time you enter one, the floor changes."
"What do you mean?"
"You see, when you enter a dungeon, there are different parts of it known as floors. You make your way to the next one and it will have other things to discover, and will be slightly different from the one before. But that's not the big mystery part. Every time you go back to the dungeon, the floors will change. You have to be careful though. It's easy to get lost in them, and if you do, you have to wait to be rescued by other Pokémon if you don't find your way out on your own." Pikachu explained.
"Oh, thanks for making me feel safe in here with that last bit of information." Ginji remarked.
"Don't worry, it's just Tiny Woods. You'd have to have a pretty bad sense of direction to get lost in here." Pikachu assured him with a friendly chuckle.
Ginji nodded, half-certain he got the idea of mystery dungeons.
It seemed that they were almost where the fissure happened because they started noticing little cracks in the ground. They started getting bigger as they continued along.
"Wow, pretty big amount of damage for a place like this." Ginji stated.
Pikachu nodded. "A lot of natural disasters have been happening recently. Lots of Pokémon have been affected by them. They started out small, but as time went by, they started to become more threatening. We don't know what's causing all this, but experienced Pokémon have been investigating."
Ginji nodded back.
There was a small rustling sound behind them.
"Did you hear that?" Ginji asked, turning to Pikachu.
"Shhh! Yeah, I did." Pikachu whispered, his ear twitching. He looked in the direction of a couple of small bushes that's leaves appeared to be shaking. That would most likely be where the sound was coming from.
The two stood staring at the tingling bushes quietly, readying themselves for whatever would eventually pop out. Ginji took a couple steps towards the bush with his beak pointed forward.
"What are you doing?" Pikachu called after him as quietly as he could, though just loud enough for Ginji to hear him.
"Checking it out. I don't scare easily." Ginji answered back. He was now inches away from the bushes. He squinted, peering into the gaps of them, trying to get a closer look. He then noticed a pair of small, black circles much like his and Pikachu's eyes looking at him from the inside. The two circles became multiple ones. Ginji was then knocked on his back by a small force colliding into his torso. He was now surrounded by the sound of bouncing and multiple voices that kept chanting "Sunkern" over and over, While he had the weight of one of these creatures on his chest.
"Ah! Get it off me! Help!" He cried out as he struggled to get up. He somehow managed to get the creature off of him by edging his head down far enough to flick it off with the side of his beak. He rose to his feet and stood in the center of a circle that was filled with yellow seed-like Pokémon with cheerful smiles and cute dotted eyes. They kept bouncing up and down, chanting their names. Ginji looked at them all. They didn't seem vicious. Well, they looked about as threatening as actual sunflower seeds themselves. Pikachu started towards Ginji and the Sunkern. He pushed his way through the seed pokemon, his arms folded.
"Don't scare easily, huh?" He nudged Ginji with his elbow, a huge smirk on his face.
Ginji scowled at him. "I wasn't scared, just a little.. um.. startled. Yeah, that's all."
"Alright, whatever you say." Pikachu teased.
"Anyway, they're just a bunch of Sunkern. And they don't seem to be affected by whatever it is that's going on with the Pokémon. In fact, I think I'm going to ask them if they've seen Caterpie." Ginji stepped in front of the one that pounced on him and looked down at it. "Hi, little guy. We're just a couple of normal friendly pokemon looking for someone. Have you seen a little Pokémon called Caterpie come by. He's small, green, fuzzy. Has no arms or legs. Sound familiar?"
The Sunkern gained puzzled looks on their faces, and looked at one another left and right.
"Well, I probably did something wrong yet again, only this time in front of a group of Sunkern." Ginji thought to himself. That was confirmed by Pikachu's sigh from behind him. He didn't even want to begin to guess what the mouse pokemon was going to say to him. "I think you're offending them by insulting their intelligence." He commented.
"You think?" Ginji asked.
"Maybe you should try asking them in a not so stupid way. Like they actually have a brain?" Pikachu suggested.
Ginji grunted and tried taking Pikachu's advice. "Have any of you seen a Caterpie and Butterfree come by here earlier? If so which direction?"
The cheerful smiles on the Sunkern's faces dissappeared, and were replaced with spiteful ones . They all got in a line and from the looks of it, started preparing an attack. Ginji backed away slowly with a slight smile on his face, and a drop of sweat running down his forehead. "Uh..heh heh... no need to get angry guys, I just asked a simple question." He chuckled nervously. "Pikachu.. why have they started getting angry all of a sudden? Was it something I said or do they just not want us to find Caterpie for some reason?"
"Beats me." Pikachu shrugged. "Maybe they just don't like you."
This caused Ginji to perk his head up and glower at Pikachu.
"But I think it has something to do with the disasters happening. Pokémon could seem absolutely fine one minute and the next minute want to punch your lights out." Pikachu went on to explain, not paying attention to Ginji's glare.
"So what do we do now? There's at least a dozen of them." Ginji pointed out, now standing beside Pikachu.
"Well, Sunkern are grass types, and you're a fire type. Got any fire moves to use?"
Come to think of it, what moves could he use? He had never actually tried attacking that Pidgey they had encountered earlier due to being unexpectedly attacked by it and almost being barbecued by an electric attack. And that was the last thing he wanted to have happen to him again so he figured now would be the perfect time to try out one of his attacks.
"Alright, let's see what I can do. Flamethrower!" He opened his beak, waiting for a wave of fire to come out and fry the seed pokemon. The only thing he managed to do was cough out a puff of smoke. This only gave the Sunkern the opportunity to launch their attack. They spat out a rapid pattern of seeds from their mouths, bouncing off of Ginji's cheek one by one. "Ow ow ow! What kind of dumb move was that?! Why can't I use flamethrower?!" Ginji shouted, his eyes shut tight in order to avoid getting a seed shot in one of them.
"Obviously you don't know how to use flamethrower yet! Try something easier, like ember!" Pikachu shouted back, fending off some of the Sunkern that were now attacking him.
Of course. He was inexperienced and definitely couldn't use a move like that yet. How could he have been so stupid? "Ok, then. Ember!" He opened his beak again, but this time something else happened. The Sunkern were now blue with patterns running up and down their bodies.
"Hey, Pikachu! What's happening now?"
"You just used growl. That's a move that lowers their attack. That would be pretty useful right now." Pikachu told Ginji. He then hit a couple of Sunkern with a tackle, sending them hurling across the grass. "Keep it up!"
Ginji obeyed him, opening his mouth to use another growl. Sure he wished he could use a fire attack, but at least he was doing something right. He kept moving to the side whenever the Sunkern were headed towards him. They weren't hard to avoid at all. In fact, they were really easy opponents overall. But looking at Pikachu fighting them all by himself, Ginji decided he should pitch in a bit too. He tried to find an attack he could use. Peck? He darted at a Sunkern with his beak outstretched. He hit it, but didn't do much damage to it. Not yet. He thought of an attack he should know for sure. Before another Sunkern could run into him, he picked up his foot, and scraped it across the small seed's body. It sent the pokemon flying in the other direction. That must have been scratch. He continued to use scratch on close range ones, and growl for the ones close to Pikachu. It wasn't long before the group of Sunkern were defeated.
"Nice job." Pikachu gave him a thumbs up.
Ginji proudly glanced at him. "I was pretty good, huh?"
"You sure were. But seriously, you really can't use any fire moves yet? You really do have a lot to learn."
Ginji grumbled at this statement. It would have been nice of he was able to use a fire move, but he knew he wasn't experienced enough yet. He also took into account that he wasn't really a Pokémon, either. But Pikachu couldn't have been that experienced either.
"Well, what moves do you know?" Ginji asked him, hoping that the answer would make him feel better about his battling skills.
Pikachu smiled sheepishly and rubbed his paw on the back of his head like he had done so when he had accidentally zapped Ginji. "Um..let's see. Thundershock, tackle, and tail whip."
"Tail whip. That just lowers your opponents defence, doesn't it?" Ginji asked teasingly.
"Hey, at least I can use a move that matches my type." Pikachu retorted, teasing him back. "Besides, growl only lowers your opponents attack, and you seem to be proud of yourself that you were able to help me with that move, so that kind of makes you a hypocrite. No offence."
"None taken. You do raise a good point." Ginji laughed.
Ginji had no idea how they went from not understanding and confusing one another to laughing with one another and teasing each other in a childlike manner and calling one another out on their flaws jokingly. Ginji recalled being told somewhere-possibly when he was younger-that even the most two different individuals could become the best of friends. Perhaps this is what whoever said that to him meant? He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard sobbing coming from the clearing up ahead.
"Hey, did you hear that?" Ginji asked as he focused on the noise.
"We must be at the end of the woods. And that's probably Caterpie." Pikachu suspected.
He was now running towards the clearing on all fours, leaving Ginji on the spot in a trail of dirt dust. Ginji coughed a bit before running ahead to catch up with Pikachu.
"Hey, wait up! Slow down!" He wailed trying to keep up with the rodent Pokémon. Pikachu must have been to far ahead to hear, because the next thing Ginji knew, he disappeared into the clearing, out of sight.
"Mama, where are you?" Sobbed a young Caterpie curled up into a ball, lying at the bottom of the ditch the fissure made. He wasn't hurt or anything, but it was still scary for him to be alone in this deep hole without his mother. Especially after those wild pokemon tried to attack her. He didn't know what to do right now but he hoped they were gone by now and that his mother would come looking for him. He continued to weep some more, but then he heard a shout.
"Hey, Caterpie? Are you there?"
A spark of hope lit up inside Caterpie, and he dried his tears a bit. "I'm down here!" He answered to the shout. He uncurled himself and looked up to the earth's surface to be greeted with a furry yellow face with long, pointy ears and red cheeks looking back down at him from over the edge of the pit.
"There you are!" The Pikachu shouted. "We came to rescue you!"
"Who's we?" Caterpie asked not seeing anyone else with the Pikachu. The sound of pitter pattering up above and the sight of a chick pokemon coming to a halt beside the Pikachu, hanging his head down and panting answered his question. "Oh, that's we."
"Would it... have... killed you to... slow down... just a little... bit?" The Torchic asked in between breaths.
"Sorry." The Pikachu apologized, his ears flattened against the top of his head in embarrassment. He blushed with a wry smile on his face. "I was sure you were right behind me. Guess I should make sure next time, huh?"
The Torchic just gave him a look that answered his obvious question.
Pikachu turned his head back down to Caterpie. "So anyway, what do you say we get you out of here, kiddo? Your mom's waiting for you outside of the woods."
Caterpie's eyes grew wider and began to sparkle with amazement. "Wow, are you guys a rescue team? I've always wanted to meet one of those!"
Pikachu's friendly smile turned into the same nervous one he had a few seconds ago. "Well, you see, we're not exactly an official rescue team. We were just sent by your mom to come and rescue you. Sorry."
"Oh." Caterpie replied, rather disappointed. On the bright side, at least his mother was waiting for him and someone was coming to his rescue. Still, it would have been really neat to be saved by a rescue team.
"Okay." He said, lifting his spirits.
"Um, can you get out of there?" Pikachu asked him.
Caterpie looked at the sides of the pit. He had tried to climb out by himself when he first fell in, and had tried multiple times after that, but he never prevailed. Though, there was a slope at the front side of the pit. One that he had strived to get up, but still never reached his goal. But after multiple attempts at escaping the ditch and tumbling down the slope repeatedly, Caterpie was hoping he had cleared some of the stones that were causing him to lose his grip. Especially after his experience with prying dirt and dried mud that ended up getting stuck to him off. "I guess I could give it another try." He mused to himself.
"I can try." He answered.
"Alright then. You try, and if you can't do it, I'll come down there and get you." Pikachu told him comfortingly. His sweet behaviour somehow interested Ginji. He was more than willing to let the little guy try things for himself and build up confidence. Even though he had never met the kid. In a way, he admired his "never give up" attitude. There was something there that was kind of likeable about him. Whether he was playfully snarking or awkwardly smiling and chuckling. Ginji hated to admit it, but this Pokemon's nature was starting to grow on him. "I suppose I could get used to being a pokemon." Ginji thought to himself.
He broke out of his thoughts to focus on Caterpie. The tiny caterpillar-like pokemon had started slithering his body up the slope. Ginji noticed he did it slowly, and didn't seem to care about the dirt and rock dust that was underneath his belly. His end was sticking up in the air, as if it was urging him on, just as determined as him to escape from the ditch. As Caterpie was working his way up, Ginji noticed a tiny drop of sweat dripping down his face. Ginji found this odd. Could bug type Pokémon even sweat? Apparently. He didn't dwell on the fact for long. He was going to be prepared for discovering things about Pokémon he never suspected he would ever find out had he not become one.
Caterpie was half-way there when a tiny rock gave way underneath him, causing him to tumble backwards all the way down to the bottom of the slope. He lay on his side for a second, then got up and dusted himself off with his tail end. To Ginji and Pikachu's relief, he didn't appear to be injured. Maybe a few scrapes here and there, but other than that, he was in one piece. Pikachu got down on all fours, and stuck his head over the edge of the pit.
"You ok, Caterpie?" He called down with concern to the little bug. Ginji supposed Pikachu wasn't 100% sure he was fine, and wanted to be.
"Yeah, I think I'm alright." Caterpie responded while picking the last bits of dirt out of his fuzz. He wiggled his body in order to get rid of any extra small specks that were left.
"I don't know if I can do it though."
"C'mon, try again!" Pikachu encouraged.
Caterpie nodded and doing as he was encouraged to do, fixed his eyes back on the slope and started to crawl up it once again. He tried not to let the dirt latching itself onto his slippery belly bother him too much. But that was hard to ignore when you had to heave your tiny, thin body onward and you could feel that dirt pressing against you each time you moved.
Ginji stared at Caterpie intently as he struggled up the slope. He could see the poor little guy was getting exhausted, and if he were to make a wrong move, the odds of getting out by himself would be zero to none. At this point it was necessary that someone go down and get him.
"Pikachu, you might want to go and help him." Ginji suggested.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I mean, it's better to fetch him while he's halfway up then having to go all the way down there and work your way back up here. Also, you seem to be good with kids. I think Caterpie will get the support he needs if you're there talking him through it. It'll be easier for him."
Pikachu was taken aback by Ginji's statement last statement. Sure, he'd been good with his younger peers before, but never had he been told that he was a main source of encouragement and support for one of them. It wasn't as if he saw himself as a mentor or anything of the sort. And to be told this by a Torchic he had know for a grand total of an hour and a half who seemed like he barely knew the difference between an ember attack and a flamethrower, and who he had been confused by and thought was weird and a bit irritating before was if anything, miraculous. Granted, he didn't exactly have a legitimate reason to go along with every single thing Ginji said yet, but if the little chick pokemon could fend off a decent amount of Sunkern as his first battling experience, then Pikachu couldn't see why he wasn't capable of picking others to do slight tasks based on shades of their personality.
"Alright then. I guess you can be on the lookout then?" Pikachu suggested.
"Lookout? Do we really need a lookout in a small, harmless clearing that has lots of tall trees surrounding it?" Ginji questioned while shooting quick glances at the overlooking trees and the sky as if to prove to the mouse pokemon that the place was completely clear.
"I just thought of it off the top of my head, okay?" Pikachu snapped. "Just in case. You never know. I mean, wasn't it wild Pokémon that chased off Butterfree? Need I remind you of the fact that another fissure may open up in the ground when you least suspect it with all the natural disasters that have been happening?"
Ginji opened his mouth to retort, but he had nothing. He had lost this game of "comebacks and excuses" to Pikachu. And he had to admit, the mouse was pretty darn good at it.
"Besides, it's all I can think of for you to do right now." the electric rodent smiled at him and shrugged his shoulders before scurrying down the slope on all fours.
"Well, excuse me for being such a burden to you." Ginji murmured.
Pikachu scrambled down the slanted wall as if it was a grassy hill; having four paws that were made to clutch onto things complete with pointed fingers to tighten your grip, and being taller and faster definitely came in handy when making your way up and down angled walls. Caterpie was only halfway down, and it wasn't a long way fully down; so the fact that the tiny pebbles and flecks of dirt that were latching onto the bottom of his paws might make him lose his balance and fall didn't bother him. Before he knew it, he was right next to the young caterpillar pokemon. Caterpie looked at Pikachu with large, wide, innocent eyes that never seemed to wander anywhere; solely focusing on the eyes of whom the little bug was closest to.
Pikachu pulled himself into a cat esque position; his body flattened against the dusty wall, stubby arms stretched out in front of him, head and ears tucked in between them, and back arched down a bit with his tail slanted downwards on an angle against the slope.
"Climb on my back." Pikachu instructed. He flicked his ear for a little more emphasis.
Caterpie was quick to shake his head and say; " I still want to try getting out of here on my own".
"Tough kid." Pikachu thought. After all the countless attempts at trying to make it out of the ditch and back to his mother, he still wasn't going to give in, despite his exhaustion starting to get the best of him. As excitable and eager as most little kids were, it wasn't everyday you found one so strong and intent as this one was. He had guts and that was a fact.
Pikachu could only close his eyes and let his mouth calmly fall open in order to let out a sigh, albeit a friendly one as he was still smiling. His eyes grew sharp as he once again opened them. There was a spark of courage in them, which was made more visible by the now setting sun reflecting off of them. He closed his mouth, forming a smile to match Caterpie's determined expression. With a small nod, He shot his ears back up, one sticking in the air while the other one was pointed doggedly backwards.
"Alright then. But how about this? I'll be right beside you in case you need some help. If you get tired, just let me know, okay?" Pikachu suggested, acknowledging the young Pokémon's weariness.
It seemed like a fair enough deal to Caterpie.
"Okay." He agreed.
He started slithering his way up the slope, thoroughly pulling the front half is his petite body forward, and then dragging the bottom half behind him. Pikachu watched him attentively, studying the way he moved his body. Pikachu tried to imagine what it would be like to get around without legs. He simply couldn't. The thought seemed to unreal and bizarre to him. Perhaps it was a feeling only a dozen bug type Pokémon would ever know about, and that was probably the way it should stay. For a brief moment Pikachu considered asking Caterpie about it, but briskly pushed the question back into the midst of his mind. It was best not to ask the kid such an out of nowhere type question. Especially when he was salvaging his strength for getting out of this fissure.
"Hey, Mister?" Caterpie asked all of a sudden, breaking the silence between them.
"Yeah?" Pikachu answered, finding himself yet again staring into those big, innocent eyes.
"How can you run down and walk right back up the side of the hole without any problems?"
Pikachu smiled to himself at Caterpie's coincidental question.
"Maybe it's not such a bad time to ask him after all."
"You know something little guy, I was actually wondering how you can get around without walking."
Caterpie shrugged.
"I've known how to do it all my life, I guess. It's pretty easy. You just crawl. Like this."
He continued to move up the slope the same way Pikachu had been watching him only moments ago. No later then when he had demonstrated the way he moved did he lose his grip on the wall again, and started to tumble back down. That's when Pikachu flicked his tail into an aligned position(bar the zig-zagged parts of it) right in front of Caterpie's rolling form. The little caterpillar came to a gentle halt thanks to Pikachu's tail. After a couple seconds of being in a curled form, Caterpie got up and shook himself off a bit. Two large bug eyes met with two smaller, dotted ones belonging to the older Pokémon.
"Pikachu?" A small voice asked.
"Yeah, kiddo?"
"Would it be alright if I rode on your back for the rest of the way up? I'm actually getting kind of tired." Caterpie brushed the end of his tail on the dirt slope sheepishly.
Pikachu nodded undoubtedly. "Of course! After all, I was the one who offered to carry you out in the first place."
Pikachu once again pulled his body into the same position he had before when he first offered Caterpie a ride. Pikachu tried to ignore the feel of a fuzzy underbelly rubbing against his fur and skin as the small bug slithered onto his back. What Pikachu knew he should be concerned about was if Caterpie could hold on tightly enough. Granted, the top of the slope wasn't that far away, but still.
"You ready?" Pikachu called over his shoulder to be sure.
"Yep!" Caterpie answered confidently.
"Alright. Hold on tight!"
Once Pikachu was certain the bug type had a firm grip on his back, he rose to his feet and darted up the slope on all fours. He would have slowed down a bit or at least check every so often to make sure Caterpie was still hanging on without any trouble, but the young Pokemon's laughter confirmed that he wasn't making any mistakes. Pikachu's paws pattered against the slope, flicking some dirt dust in his face. He quickly blinked it out of his eyes, and bent his ears backwards to help clear some of the dust. Caterpie didn't seem to mind it as he continued to laugh and shout, clearly enjoying himself. Courtesy of the specks of dirt in the corner of his eyes, he felt a wave of relief wash over him when he tripped on the edge of the ditch opening, causing him to fly forward onto the grass. And never before had Pikachu imagined he would have been so happy to have the honor of his face being planted against the ground. The electric mouse pulled his head away from what he had collided with, and Shook his head left and right to get the dirt(and grass) out of his face. It took him less than a heartbeat to realize that Caterpie was no longer on board his back. Of course he wasn't!
"Caterpie!" He called looking around the clearing. "You alright? Where are you?"
"I'm right here."
The small voice whom startled Pikachu caused him to jump up and yelp, only to come back down and once again collide with the earth, only this time landing on his backside.
"I couldn't have bounced THAT far you know. You okay, Mister?" Caterpie loomed over Pikachu's face, his eyes wide and innocent as always.
"Yeah. My back is throbbing, my heart is pounding, my eyes are stinging, and I think I might still have a piece of dirt in one of them. But other than that, I'm just fine." The mouse picked himself up off the ground and stretched his body, hoping to ease the slight pain in his back. Before continuing to do anything else to fix himself, he turned his attention back to Caterpie.
"Kid, don't scare me like that!"
"Sorry, Mister. But like I said, I couldn't have bounced far away from you at all. It's a small meadow."
Pikachu either sighed and rolled his eyes over the fact that Caterpie had called the clearing a meadow rather than the former; or his own giddiness. He really did underestimate the kid. "You're right. Sorry. I just got a little bit too worked-up there."
"It's okay." The caterpillar Pokémon's eyes abruptly turned sparkly. "You were so cool!" He proceeded to rub against Pikachu's body.
Pikachu blushed until his cheeks were a crimson colour. He let out another one of his embarrassed laughs. "Heh, heh. It was nothing really. In fact, you were the one that was so cool."
Caterpie's eyes all of a sudden sunk. "No I wasn't. I needed you to carry me out the rest of the way."
Pikachu patted the younger Pokémon's head. "Yeah, but you showed a lot of bravery and determination down there. You were ready to try getting out all by yourself. And I can't say that for a lot of kids your age."
"What's deter-min-a-tion?" The young bug asked with those heart melting wide eyes.
"Well, it's… um, it's kind of like… you're…" How exactly do you explain the meaning of the word to a little kid like Caterpie? "You've decided on something and you see it through till the very end. Make sense?"
"I guess so." Caterpie nodded.
"If not you'll figure it out someday." Pikachu told him, knowing he most likely didn't understand. He was just glad Ginji wasn't around to witness this...
"Ginji! Where is he?" Pikachu thought.
"Ginji! Where are you? Ginji! Augh!"
Pikachu smacked one paw against his forehead. "I ask him to do one thing! And he does this instead! I honestly wouldn't be surprised if…
"Pikachu! We gotta get out of here now! I think I heard a noise coming from below my feet!" An all too familiar young voice shouted so fast you'd think the woods were on fire-or flooding in Ginji's case.
"There you are! I was just going to say that I wouldn't be surprised if you hit your head on a tree and developed amnesia yet again." Pikachu faked staring off into space and thinking. "Aww, now that I think about it, I wished that happened."
"Oh, you're a riot." Ginji remarked. "You know, I'd love to stay here and argue with you but I'd love to not be swallowed by a much bigger fissure than the one Caterpie was in even more. Which by the way is entirely possible unless we run for our lives like, I don't know…" Ginji pretended to estimate the time they had. "Now!"
That's when the ground rumbled beneath the trio's feet and the cracking noise in the distance started growing louder and clearer, fast. As if it was getting rapidly closer each second. Now Pikachu knew why Ginji bursted into the clearing screaming like a pack of feral Poochyena.
"Sound like a good idea to you?" Ginji asked.
Pikachu shifted his eyes to Ginji, dropped them, and and his mouth turned into a grin that was clearly not a grin of happiness or relief. "Oh yes, I like that idea very much. I think it's actually the best one you've had today."
Pikachu scooped Caterpie up in his arms and without a second thought, placed him on his back, and made a mad dash for it on all fours with Ginji sprinting behind them, this time keeping up!
Butterfree was alerted from her worried thoughts by the sound of twigs cracking on the ground and bushes rustling which only increased until she saw three figures pop out of the trees and into the clearing. One of which was small, green, fuzzy, and immediately went flying off the back of a yellow mouse she had met earlier. The caterpillar landed a few feet in front of the mouse and went into a curled position, eyes shut, breathing quickly and loudly. His two companions were now sprawled across the grass not too far behind him.
"Caterpie!" Butterfree cried out to her son.
Caterpie was withdrawn from his cowering state by the sound of his mother's voice. He shifted his gaze to the middle of the clearing, where he was greeted by the sight of his mother fluttering towards him, an overjoyed smile on her face, and eyes wet with teardrops.
"Mama!" He called back, picking himself up off the ground and wriggling towards his mother as fast as his tiny body could handle. Before he knew it, he was snuggling his body against his mother's, his back becoming damp from her tears.
"Oh, thank the heavens." She sobbed.
It was only after a few short and sweet seconds of the mother/son reunion that Caterpie was gabbling about what had happened to him that afternoon.
"Mama, you'll never guess what happened after the big hole swallowed me! I was so scared at first and I tried to climb out but I couldn't no matter how hard I tried, but then Mr. Pikachu and Mr. Torchic came to rescue me and Pikachu helped me out of the hole, and then there was this huge earthquake and-"
"Caterpie! You had me worried sick about you for the past couple hours, the least you could do is slow down when you're speaking to me and let me know for sure if you're alright." Butterfree chided, her eyes drying up.
"Oh, I'm fine Mama. Thanks to Pikachu and Torchic."
He signified to his older companions whom had just finished getting off the ground and dusting themselves off and were now making their way towards the two bug types.
"Oh, I don't know how I can thank you two enough. I'm so happy my baby's safe." Butterfree exclaimed once Pikachu and Ginji had come to a stop in front of her and Caterpie.
"Mama!" Caterpie retorted. "I'm not a baby!"
"Well, a can of soda, a box of chocolates, and a flat screen T.V complete with every gaming system in existence would be nice. Oh yeah, and a couple band aids for the scrapes I got while in those woods as well as an apology for asking us of all Pokémon to go in there." Ginji jokingly remarked.
"Ginji!" Pikachu snapped, lightly swatting him over the head. "She's thanking us for saving her kid! Don't be a jerk!"
"Come on, I was only joking! I just wanted to see how she would react." Ginji explained in a haste. Pikachu just rolled his eyes and turned to face Butterfree, who now looked as confused as ever, but Pikachu still couldn't help but notice a glint of amusement in her big red eyes.
Caterpie managed to let out a small titter. "I do truly wish I could repay you properly."
"No, don't worry about it. It's OK, really." Pikachu told her with a smile. "We're just happy we were able to help." Pikachu thought about Caterpie for a second. "Though you should have seen how brave your little boy was. I'm certain you wouldn't have called him a baby then."
"See!" Caterpie stated to his mother. The next thing he did was turn to Pikachu with big sparkling eyes. "You were so cool, Pikachu. Just like a real rescue team!"
Pikachu felt yet another drop of sweat running down his face. Caterpie was indeed ever so adorable with those big sparkly eyes, that went without saying. But the way he looked at him and gushed over him with those adoring eyes full of childlike wonder and admiration was nothing short of a little embarrassing. He nudged Ginji.
"Um, Ginji?" He asked in a whisper.
"Yes?" Ginji whispered back, turning to face him.
"He's staring at me with those eyes. It's a little bit embarrassing. What do I do?
Ginji shrugged. "I dunno. You were the one who went into the fissure and made friends with him."
"Yeah, but-hey! That was your idea!" Pikachu chuckled and shoved Ginji playfully.
Ginji just smirked, dawning a cocky grin in his face. "Yeah, I know. But you were the one who first told Caterpie you'd come get him if he couldn't do it."
"I-" Pikachu opened his mouth but he had nothing. "You're right." Ginji had won this time around.
"You, you were the one who came with Pikachu to rescue me. I guess that's pretty cool too." Came a small, childish voice.
Ginji looked down only to find Caterpie staring at him with the same disgustingly cute stare he just gave Pikachu.
"Well, looks like I'm not alone here, huh?" Ginji could just feel Pikachu's smug grin from beside him.
"I guess not." Ginji grinned right back at him.
"But you know what?" Ginji though to himself while looking into Caterpie's eyes. "It's not so bad. It feels nice to be seen as a hero."
"Thank you so much Mister Pikachu." Caterpie said to Pikachu. "Oh. And you too, Mister Torchic." He added, acknowledging his other new friend.
"Uh, call me Ginji, alright?" He corrected the younger Pokémon.
"OK, Mister Ginji Sir."
"And you don't need to keep calling us 'mister', alright? We're your friends now. Just call us Pikachu and Ginji." Pikachu told him.
"Ok. Pikachu and Ginji. Got it." Caterpie nodded.
"Thank you so much, Pikachu and Ginji." Butterfree chimed. "With all these disasters happening, it's good to know that there are still helpful young Pokémon around. I still wish there was something I could do to thank you."
"Like I said before, don't worry about it." Pikachu told her again.
Butterfree seemed to ignore Pikachu or disregard what he had just said because from beneath her wing, she pulled out three berries.
"Please except these as a token of my thanks. It's the least I have to offer."
She gingerly placed the berries on the ground with her teeth.
"Berries?" Ginji asked.
"I know it's not much, but…"
"Thanks." Pikachu beamed, cutting her off.
He scooped the berries up in his paws and took a small bite out of the blue one. He broke the other two pieces in half, giving one to Ginji, and the other one to Caterpie.
"Thanks, Pikachu." The caterpillar said, popping the half he had received into his mouth.
Butterfree scanned the sky before looking down at her son from where she was fluttering in the air. "Alright then, Caterpie. It's getting late and it will be bedtime soon. It's time we started heading home."
"Aw, but Mama. I want to spend some more time with Pikachu and Ginji. I'm not sleepy anyway." Caterpie complained. "I'm too excited."
"Well, Mama's had a long day and so have you. You can see Pikachu and Ginji all the time during the day, I'm sure." She turned to look at the two young rescuers. "Once again, thank you very much. I hope you enjoy those nice berries." Once she had given her final thanks, she began flying off in the opposite direction of Tiny Woods.
Caterpie continued to look at Pikachu and Ginji with those big, wide eyes.
"You guys are really cool, even if you're not a real rescue team." Caterpie told them.
"Thanks, little guy." Pikachu gleamed. "Really means a lot."
"I can come and see you guys anytime I want, can't I?" He asked.
"Of course! We're around." He cocked his head towards Ginji, giving him an uncertain look. "Well, at least I am."
"Caterpie!" Butterfree's voice called from the distance.
"Coming Mama." Caterpie called back. "Gotta go." He told his two older friends just before crawling away to catch up with his mother.
"We'll see you later then." Ginji called to the small caterpillar.
"Be careful of those fissures, OK Caterpie?" Pikachu cautioned him.
"I will." Caterpie shouted back at him.
Once Caterpie was out of sight, Pikachu turned to look at Ginji who still hadn't touched his berry, instead prodding it with his foot, as if to examine it.
"I seriously doubt that berry is poisonous, Ginji." Pikachu teased.
"I never said it was. I'm just..making sure is all." Ginji retorted, still poking the berry, not looking up at Pikachu.
"OK then." Pikachu shrugged. "They taste really good though."
Ginji simply nodded without saying anything else.
"Hey, Ginji?" Pikachu asked.
"Yeah?" Ginji answered, finally taking his eyes of the berry and fixing them on the electric rodent.
"You were pretty good out there. I'm impressed."
Ginji smiled. Althoigh there was a slight hint of a smirk at the corner of his beak. "You weren't so bad either. You were really good with Caterpie. Even made friends with him."
"Yeah. Thanks for that comment about me being good with kids."
"Anytime."
"Um, Ginji? Do you have any plans?
"Plans? What sort of plans?"
"Well, you do seem to have amnesia of some sort."
"No. That's not it." Ginji shook his head briskly. "I was probably just tired and confused. Yeah. That's it."
"Well, can you remember anything else besides your name?"
Ginji thought for a moment. He tried remembering something-anything about himself. Even the smallest details. Nothing came up. His mind was completely blank. "I don't remember anything! But why? This is really strange. I can remember my name, the things and ways of humans, and the fact that I was once one myself but, why not anything else? And why am I a Pokémon now? This is all so confusing."
"Ginji? Ginji? Ginji!"
Ginji was yanked from his trance by the sound of Pikachu's voice. The mouse's paw was inches away from his face, waving in front of it.
"What?"
"You OK? You kind of zoned out there."
"Yeah. I'm fine." Ginji lied.
"So did you remember anything?"
"Nope." Ginji shook his head. "Nothing."
"That's too bad."
"Maybe I'll remember eventually." Ginji said hopefully. "I mean, I'm a human kid. There can't be that much in my life I forgot." Ginji reassured himself.
Pikachu nodded. "Maybe. Do you have anyplace to stay?"
Ginji became stunned, and left with nothing to say as this question came out of nowhere. He managed to get a; "No. Of course I don't." out of his mouth.
"Well, I suppose I can't really leave you out here with nowhere to go. Why don't you come with me?"
"With you?"
"If you want to, that is." Pikachu quickly stated, obviously not wanting to make Ginji feel like he was pressured into coming.
"Actually, may as well." Ginji agreed after he thought it over for a few seconds. "Pikachu seems like a cool guy. And after today I could get used to him. Couldn't hurt to go with him for now. Besides, it's my only other option." "But only because I don't have anywhere else to go or know anybody else around… wherever here is."
Pikachu gave him a quick nod. "Alright then, follow me." He started to lead on, before stopping and looking down at Ginji's feet, where the piece of the blue berry still lay. "And eat that bit of the Oran berry already. I promise you it's really tasty."
"Oh, right." Ginji was reminded of the reward he was previously poking and prodding at. He picked it up with his beak, and started slowly chewing it.
"Hey, Ginji?" Pikachu asked him.
"Yeah." Ginji answered with his mouth full of berry, spitting out some berry juice as he did so.
"I never got around to asking you this but, what exactly is a flat screen T.V and a gaming system?"
Ginji almost choked on his berry. He had a lot of things to explain.
"Sounds pretty pointless to me. Why stare at things moving and stuff happening in front of you when you can go out and do stuff yourself?" Pikachu asked him after a long and difficult explanation of gaming, television, and film.
"I dunno. It's entertainment, alright?"
"Then you must have had some pretty weird ways of entertaining yourself before waking up near Tiny Woods." Pikachu laughed.
"I didn't really expect you to understand. By the way, you were right. That Oran berry was really good."
"See? What'd I tell you?" Pikachu smiled at him.
"It kind of tastes like a mixture of blueberry juice and grapes. Not like any berry I've ever had before."
"Really? Have you never actually tasted one before? Or had you just forgotten what berries taste like as well?"
"No, I'm pretty sure we don't get these where I come from."
"Wow. You really are weird."
Ginji probably would have said something back, if not for the fact that a small, wooden hut was now standing in front of him. The hut wasn't the only thing that stood out though. Surrounding it were two small hedges on either side of the hut-or at least on either side in front of the hut- a grassy area acting out as a little yard where the hut itself was built on, a stone path leading to the entrance of the hut, a flag with a stump underneath it just in the far left corner of the area, and a single mailbox next to the stone path, just at the front of the area the hedge was surrounding.
"Well, here we are. What do you think?" Pikachu asked him with a hint of nervousness in his voice.
Ginji walked up the stone path and into the house itself without answering Pikachu. The interior was nothing more or less then what Ginji expected from a small hut like this one. The hut itself was round, and there was a small, square window on each angle of the wall bar the back wall. The window there was fairly large. The place was decorated with what looked like sunflowers and buttercups, with some leaves hanging from the ceiling. There was a big stump on the left side of the room, with a smaller one accompanying it. The right side of the room had a nest which seemed to be made of hay and straw. There was a bigger nest underneath the large window which looked to be made of the same materials. It wasn't what one would call a great living space at all, but Ginji didn't care. If anything, he actually liked it here. He couldn't explain why, but he did. It sort of gave off a homey feel.
"Why am I feeling this way?" He curiously thought to himself as he continued to observe the room. "It's so small and crummy looking but, I think it's nice."
Not even the sound of Pikachu skidding to a halt in the entrance could take his mind off the emotion he felt from being in the hut.
"It's not much, but-" The mouse began before being interrupted by Ginji.
"It's cool!"
Pikachu widened his eyes in amazement at Ginji's comment. "You really like it?" He asked bewilderedly.
"I love it!" Ginji exclaimed. "I don't know why, but I do!" He started bouncing from one part of the room to another.
"That's good." Pikachu sighed with relief. "With the grouchy attitude you gave off today, I was afraid you'd think otherwise." He expected Ginji to snap at him with a comeback, but strangely enough, the Torchic said nothing. He was still bounding around the place with an endless amount of energy. It was then he noticed the small chick Pokémon's tiny tail feathers flaring with excitement. "Wow. You must really love it here! Your tail's wagging!"
That caught Ginji's attention. He looked over his back to notice a small, orange tuft of fur flailing from side to side.
"Hey! Stop it!" He yelled pathetically at his tail as if it could hear him. "It's not supposed to do this!" He explained to Pikachu in a feeble attempt.
Pikach laughed. "You're pretty funny Ginji. In a weird sort of way."
"So this is what if feels like to wag your tail." Ginji mused to himself. "It must be a Pokémon instinct. Maybe I'm feeling this happy because I'm a Torchic."
"So this is where you live huh?" Ginji wondered aloud to Pikachu.
"Yep." Pikachu confirmed. "This is my home."
"So, about these natural disasters like the fissure Caterpie fell in…" Ginji started to ask, hoping to get more information on the subject.
"There have been lots of those happening lately." Pikachu answered immediatly, obviously having a broader knowledge on this stuff. "Luckily we have lots of strong rescue teams investigating and doing all they can about them. Of course none of the teams have exactly figured out what's causing the disasters, but I'm sure some team is bound to find something soon enough."
Ginji nodded, trying to take in all of what was just told to him. He thought to ask a question about something Pikachu had mentioned in his sentence.
"What's a rescue team?"
Pikachu gasped in shock. "You really don't know? Man, your amnesia might be worse then I thought. You're probably the only Pokémon around here who doesn't know a thing about what's going on."
"Maybe that's because I'm not a Pokémon at all! I told you I was a human when you woke me up, remember?" Ginji took another try at getting Pikachu to believe him.
"Sure. And I'm a Wingull. Are you sure you're alright, Ginji?"
"You really don't believe me, do you?" Ginji hung his head in annoyance.
Pikachu ignored him. "Listen Ginji. The reason I came here is because of these tough times. I want to help Pokémon in need. And rescuing Caterpie today was just the motivation I needed. Not to mention the way the little guy's face lit up when we reunited him with his mother. It just felt really good, ya know?"
"Oh yeah. Sure was nice to be worshipped by a cutesy little kid."
"I'm serious!"
"I never said you weren't."
Pikachu continued, dismissing Ginji's sass. "I want to help change things so that all the Pokémon can live in peace. And I really like how you handled yourself when we rescued Caterpie."
"Thank you." Ginji puffed out his chest. "Was nothing really."
Pikachu grinned at Ginji's deliberate smugness. "You and I make a good team, Ginji. So I need to ask a big favour of you."
"Ask away." Ginji still held his tough pose.
"I know you don't know what a rescue team is but, would you form one with me?"
Ginji broke out of his pose and looked Pikachu straight in the eye.
"You want me to form a team with you?"
"Yes. I can teach you the ropes and what being in a rescue team is all about. It'll be just like today, except we'll be doing different things, rescuing other Pokémon, and exploring new places. With the two of us working together, I think we could become a great gold rank rescue team. Maybe even one of the best teams in the world someday. How about it?"
"I dunno, I mean, sure it was nice to be a hero, and sure I was pretty cool out there, but-"
"Just you?"
"OK, WE were pretty cool out there, but going through one of those mystery dungeons was quite enough of the experience, and I need to find out what happened to me and why I can't remember anything."
"And how exactly do you plan on doing that, Ginji?" Pikachu questioned him.
"Well, I..um.. I don't know." Ginji shrugged with his head hung low.
"Look, you stick with me, and… I know! Maybe I can help you with your amnesia!"
"Really?" Ginji's face brightened up.
"Yeah. Besides, I'm really the only Pokémon who can help you right now, when you get down on it."
"Oh, you are, are you?" Ginji snorted.
"Yes. I am. Trust me! I'm the only one you know."
"Yeah, since this morning."
"Ginji, please! I know that the two of us can do great things together and make other Pokémon happy. Just think of that little Caterpie."
Ginji stared into Pikachu's eyes, which were very much begging him just as much as Pikachu himself was.
"You know what? That little Caterpie did make me feel pretty special. And Pikachu really does seem cool. Today was pretty fun and new to me. It couldn't hurt to go on more adventures with him. Who knows? I may find out more about who I am."
Ginji gave in. "Ok, Pikachu. I'll form one of these rescue teams with you."
"Yes! Thank you! Thank you so much!" Pikachu scurried around in a circle like a dog chasing its tail. This'll be perfect!"
"But you have to promise you'll help me." Ginji reminded him, a bit sorry to have to spoil his fun.
"I promise." Pikachu smiled at him, more than happy to make that promise.
"Cross your heart?"
"Hope to die." Pikachu finished.
Ginji smiled back at him. "Then it's settled. We are now a rescue team. Whatever that is."
"And from this moment on, we're partners as well."
Pikachu held out his paw to Ginji.
Ginji lifted his foot to Pikachu's paw. "Partners." The two locked paw and foot respectively, shaking them.
"So, I assume a rescue team is a team that helps Pokémon in need." Ginji asked after he and Pikachu let go of one another.
"Something like that, yeah." Pikachu answered.
"Alright. Shouldn't be too hard."
"We'll need a team name by the way." Pikachu told Ginji.
"And you're pinning this all on me?"
"No. I just thought you might have some neat ideas for a team name."
"Alright then. How about team Barbeque?"
"Ginji! That's not a reminder of what I accidentally did to you in Tiny Woods, is it?" Pikachu joked.
"It was just a suggestion. And a joke. And yeah, that too."
"Let's think of something that really stands out. Something meaningful."
"And Barbeque's note meaningful given our types and looks?"
Pikachu gave him a playful smirk.
"Joking."
"C'mon, actually think of a good one."
"Ok, ok, I can only think so hard." Ginji said.
The duo proceeded to think about the name that would define their team.
"How can something so simple as a team name be so hard to come up with?" Ginji thought with frustration. He hacked his brain trying to come up with something, anything that would be half decent.
"Got it!" He silently exclaimed to himself as soon as he had come up with something. Before he could suggest it to Pikachu, he pondered a bit on the name idea. "No, it's too cliché." He started to think of something else but quickly reconsidered. "But then again, so's this whole rescue team concept."
"Hey, what about team Heroes?"
"Team Heroes?"
"Yeah. I know it's a bit cheesy but, Caterpie views us as heroes and you pretty much said we could become exactly those someday."
"Yeah. I guess I did. And it is kind of cool to be seen as heroes by someone. In a way, we'd kind of be doing it for Caterpie."
"When you put it like that, yeah. We would." Ginji willingly agreed.
"It suits a rescue team as well." Pikachu added.
"Then it's agreed!" Ginji proclaimed. "From this moment on, we are team Heroes!"
"Good to have you on board, Ginji." Pikachu smiled at him.
"Great to be on board."
"We start tomorrow, so let's do our best. Shake on it?"
"Shake on it." Ginji's foot met with Pikachu's paw once again.
"I may not know why I'm a Pokémon, how I became one, or even who I am, but as long as I am one, well, someone's got to look out for Pikachu, and I hate to admit it but, someone's got to look out for me as well."
Ginji and Pikachu's eyes locked on one another, both eager and prompt. Their career as a rescue team had officially begun.
So that was the first chapter of Book One in this multiple part Mystery Dungeon Series. A bit cheesy I know, but hey, it's Pokémon. I look forward to writing this and hopefully improving as I go along.