Hey, everyone! Ta-Ni here. This has always been a bit of a pet project for me: to narrate all the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, with my own spin on things, and now I'm finally ready. I promise I'm not abandoning my other projects; they will be updated intermittently as I break through their respective Writer's Blocks, but this I will be updating regularly. Anyway, let's get started with the first one!

Darkness, nothingness. Only a sense of exhaustion, of weakness of body and mind.

Then…a scent. The smell of a coming storm, the burning scent of ozone. Followed by a voice…

"Hey, are you okay? Wake up!"

I cling to the scent, the voice, and slowly crawl into consciousness. I weakly open my eyes to reveal an unfamiliar landscape: a forest meadow, surrounded by really tall trees. In fact, the trees seem almost too tall… Then, a yellow face enters my vision and smiles.

"Thank goodness! You didn't seem to be moving; I thought you were dead!"

I blink a couple of times in confusion. Despite my fuzzy head, I recognize the yellow mouse with the lightning tail in front of me; I mean, he's only the primary mascot of the entire franchise! What's baffling me is how he is standing in front of me and TALKING! In my own language, nonetheless. Giving my head a shake to clear it, I ask, "Who are you?" Hearing my voice, I frown for a moment. Something seems off about it: it sounds almost child-like; much higher than normal.

"Of, me? My name's Sparky," he replies happily. "You're lucky I was walking by; what are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"I-I don't know," I reply honestly. "I can't remember anything before I woke up here." I tried to concentrate, diving into the haze in my mind, and manage to recall something. "Wait! I remember my name; it's Lauren."

Sparky looks at me for a moment, bewildered, and then he broke out laughing! I glare at him as he said between chuckles, "You had me going for a moment. That sounds too much like a human name."

I jump to my feet and shout, "Because I AM human-" I pause mid-sentence because I realize three things wrong about this: 1) I'm eye-level with Sparky, when I should be towering over him; 2)I'm still on all fours, when I know I'm standing up; and 3) I can feel something sticking out behind me, something I swear wasn't there before.

Slowly, I turn to look behind me and see a chocolate-brown tail with a pure-white tip standing straight up in the air. Curious and slightly afraid to know, I think about wagging, and it responds, waving back and forth a couple of times! I slowly pan over the rest of my body, my panic growing as I see more brown fur, tiny paws instead of hands and feet, and a fluffy white ruff around my neck, before looking back at Sparky. He isn't laughing anymore, thoroughly confused at my panicked expression. "You look like a normal Eevee to me; did you hit your head too hard or something?"

I stumble over to a nearby puddle; my new legs seem uncoordinated and clumsy. Looking into its rippling surface, a round brown-furred head looks back, long pointed ears twitching on top and big brown eyes staring in shock and confusion. At this point, I'm nearly out of my mind from panic, and seeing this is the final straw. I throw my head back and scream at the top of my lungs, "HOW AM I A POKÉMON!"

Raw emotion burns my throar, as I collapse and start to cry. My sobs sing too loudly in my sensitive ears to hear anything else, but I feel a paw rest on my shoulder and smell the ozone scent get much stronger. Oddly, the scent seems calming to me, and I feel my tears lessen and cease. I look up to see a blurry image of Sparky with a gentle smile on his face. "it's okay," he says soothingly. "We will figure this out together." I manage to gather a weak smile in return and stand back up, blinking my tears away.

Just then, another voice speaks up. "Excuse me, I thought I heard someone scream. Is everything all right?" We both turn to see a large purple butterfly with white wings fly over and hover near us. A new scent wafts from the Pokémon: a mix of a brisk wind and a sort of sickly sweet smell, like that of a flower's nectar.

Since I am still lost in the scent, Sparky speaks for me. "Sorry, Ms. Butterfree. She was just a little confused, is all." This seems to satisfy her, but I notice the worry hasn't left her expression. If she's not worried about me, then…

I decide to ask, "Is there something else wrong, Ma'am?"

She shakes her head and replies, "Nothing you children should worry about. I'm just looking for my little Caterpie. I haven't seen him in a while; he's too young to be wandering alone."

Just then, the slight breeze shifts a little, and a new scent drifts past my sensitive nose. Well, not a new scent per se; it is the same sweet scent that Ms. Butterfree had, but no wind scent to accompany it, and it seems to be weaker, or maybe younger…? Curious, I start following it, leaving behind a confused Sparky and Butterfree. I am so entranced by the smell, I'm not watching where I am going!

At the last moment, I feel someone tugging on my tail, pulling me to a stop, right before I walk off a ledge into a crevice in the ground! I turn to see Sparky holding me back, still looking bewildered. "Uh, where were you thinking of going? Besides into a pit."

"I was following a scent," I explained.

He looked at me in confusion, and then sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything," he remarked.

"You don't?" I ask. "It's very strong; it smells like a flower's nectar. Ms. Butterfree smells the same, except there's also a windy smell to her."

"Really, dear?" she asks, flying up behind us. I nod. "Maybe there might be something to your senses. Regardless, I don't remember this crevice being here earlier today. My little one and I were walking through here this morning." She pauses, and then gasps. "You don't think…"

I sniff the air again, and then point down the crevice. "The scent is strongest from the crack; I think he might have fallen down." I got ready to jump down, but Sparky still held my tail (which is starting to hurt from being pulled, by the way).

"I wouldn't be so hasty, Lauren," he comments. I look at him, noticing Ms. Butterfree looking startled at hearing my name. "I recognize the place down there: it's called Tiny Meadow. It's a mystery dungeon."

"What's a 'mystery dungeon'?" I ask, confused.

"Oh right, memory loss," he notes. "A mystery dungeon is a weird occurrence that warps a certain area, creating shifting passages and multiple floors. It's like a maze, except it's different each time you enter. Only by reaching the end can you escape from it. However, the native Pokémon inside are very violent and will attack without hesitation, so you need to be careful."

"Oh no!" Ms. Butterfree exclaims. "If my poor baby fell into there, then…"

Sparky turns to face her. "Don't worry, we'll go get him. It shouldn't be too hard with the two of us." He turns back to me. "That is, if you want to."

"Of course I'll help," I reply. "Besides, I think I can track him through the dungeon, so we won't get lost."

He smiles, saying, "Then, let's get to it, partner!" The two of us jump down into the dungeon.

And there you go! Next time, we will explore our first mystery dungeon! Let me know what you think about our start in the reviews, and I will see you next week.

Read and review, and may your Embers never fade!