Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness

Chapter One: The Birth of an Exploration Team

A ginormous storm raged, lightning lit the sky, showing off Sharpedo bluff.

"Hang on!"
"I-I can't!"

"Quickly, take my hand!"

"I can't hold on!"

"I'm losing my grip! N-NO! KA-!"

On the beach laid a skitty, glasses nearly broken, she laid unconscious after the rough trip the sea gave her.

Meanwhile a treecko paced in front of a wigglytuff shaped building. He swallowed and took in a deep breath. "I can do this. I will join the wigglytuff guild! I just have to be brave." He looked down at a stone with an odd pattern on it that was tied to string and wrapped around his neck. He wrapped a paw around it before stepping onto the grate.

"POKEMON DETECTED! POKEMON DETECTED!"

"WHOSE FOOTPRINT?! WHOSE FOOTPRINT!?"

"THE FOOTPRINT IS TREECKO'S! THE FOOTPRINT IS TREECKO'S!"

All the yelling startled the gecko pokemon, causing him to fall back with a yelp. He got up and ran off straight to the beach. After he left a zubat and a Koffing revealed themselves.

"That little wimp had some sort of treasure didn't he?" Koffing asked.

"Yea and it sure looked valuable…" Zubat agreed.

"Do we go after it?"

"We do…."

"Man…I'm such a coward…" He panted and looked up as the krabby started blowing bubbles making the sunset look more beautiful than any jewel. The treecko smiled at the scene. Then he heard a groan off to his right, turning his head toward the noise, he gasped at the skitty collapsed in the sand and rushed toward it. "H-Hey?! Are you alright?! Can you hear me?!"

The skitty groaned and opened her eyes, her broken glasses sliding off her face. "Wh-where am I?"

"Oh good, you're awake, you gave me a scare for a minute there. My name's Twigs."

"A talking treecko?!"

"Uh yea…? So what, you're a talking Skitty."

"I am not! I'm a human!"

Twigs blinked at that. "You certainly don't look human, you look like an ordinary skitty and every way."

The skitty looked at her reflection in the water. It was true, she was a skitty.

"H-how did this happen…? I…I can't remember anything…"

"You are one odd pokemon…I like you! What's your name?"

"My name? Oh, it's Kassandra. You said you were Twigs right?"

"Yup! Twigs the treecko! What are you doing out here?"

"To be honest….I can't remember anything…" Kassandra lowered her ears in thought. "I know it seems to be hard to believe but I can't remember anything but my name and the fact I was human…"

"Well you don't seem like a bad pokemon, so I'll happily help you out."

"Thank you Twigs, but why are you out here."

"Oh…" Twigs looked down a bit shamefully with a light flush growing on his face. Y-you see I wanted to join the Wigglytuff Guild and become an explorer but…I kinda chickened out…" He showed Kassandra his stone. "I thought my relic fragment would give me a little courage but…I was still too afraid…"

"I'm sorry Twigs…" Kassandra said sympathetically.

"It isn't your fault…it's mine for being such a coward."

It was then that Zubat rammed into Twigs knocking him to the ground and the relic fragment off. "I'll take that!" the poison type grinned grabbing the stone.

"H-Hey give that back!" Twigs snapped.

"Come and get it then wimp!" Koffing taunted. Twigs didn't move, he looked too afraid. Kassandra took charge and Tackled Zubat.

"If there's one thing I hate it's a bunch of bullies!" she growled. Koffing used Smog but Kassandra avoided it and tackled Koffing following it up with Fake Out. Koffing cringed and Zubat tried to Tackle and landed a hit on Kassandra, knocking the already weak skitty back.

"Heh heh, you're as wimpy as he is!" Zubat laughed.

"Whoa ho ho not as tough as she thinks she is!" Koffing taunted. Twigs clenched his teeth then and used Pound on the two, clubbing them with his tail. They laid there weakly groaning.

"Ugh…take you're stupid fragment!" Zubat snapped tossing it.

"Whoa ho ho, don't think this is a victory, this isn't over yet." Koffing said as they both left. Twigs helped Kassandra backed onto her paws.

"Thanks for your help…I couldn't get my fragment back on my own there…"

"It's no problem…but you took the last shot and saved me. So I should be thanking you."

Twigs smiled at that. "Hey Kass, what if we formed an exploration team together? Maybe with you I'll feel braver…and we could figure out why you're a pokemon!"

"Really…? Well I guess I don't really have anywhere else to go…and we do seem to make a good team…Alright! I'll do it!"

"Awesome! C'mon! Wigglytuff's Guild is this way!" Twigs said running ahead with Kassandra following.

They reached the Guild. Torches were lit and there was the grate. Twigs sighed, he didn't have to be afraid…now he had Kassandra with him. He stepped onto the grate.

"POKEMON DETECTED POKEMON DETECTED!"

"WHOSE FOOTPRINT?! WHOSE FOOTPRINT?!"

"THE POKEMON IS TREECKO! THE POKEMON IS TREECKO! YOU HAVE A FRIEND HAVE THEM STAND ON THE GRATE!"

"I-I think they mean you Kass…"

"Ok…" Kassandra said slowly and cautiously stepped onto the grate.

"THE POKEMON IS…uh…um…"

"SENTRY DIGLETT! WHAT'S THE MATTER?! IDENTIFY THE POKEMON!"

"m-MAYBE SKITTY! MAYBE SKITTY!"

"WHAT?! MAYBE?!"

"W-well it isn't a footprint you see often around here!"
"Isn't identifying pokemon's footprints your JOB!?"

"Well yea but…I don't know what I don't know!"

"What are they doing down there?" Twigs asked.

"I uh…think they're arguing…" Kassandra said with a sweatdrop. Suddenly the gate opened.

"SORRY about that! It's true you don't see many skittys around here…but you don't SEEM like a bad pokemon! Come on in!"

Twigs and Kassandra went inside. They were greeted by a chatot. "Welcome to the Wigglytuff Guild! Now shoo! We have no interest in whatever you're selling!"

"But we're not selling anything! We wanted to join as apprentices so we can be a true exploration team!"

"O-oh…even with our tough training…these kids want to join…"

"Is it really that difficult?" Kassandra asked with a tilt of her head, catching Chatot off guard.

"Oh nonononono! Our training is as easy as pie! Come! I'll take you to the guildmaster!" he chirped happily before flying off with both young pokemon following. Chatot opened a door and there sat Wigglytuff in his chair.

"Oh visitors! Welcome to the Guild!"

"Guildmaster, these young ones want to become an exploration team and train here." Chatot told him.

"Oh? That's great! What's your team name?"

"Team name…I didn't think about that…You got anything Kassandra?" Twigs asked.

"Um…" She hummed in thought. "How about Team TidalLeaf?"

"TidalLeaf? Huh…I like it! It suits us! Alright, we're Team TidalLeaf!"

"A great team name, now I'll register you as an official exploration team. YOOM-TAAAAAH!" Wigglytuff shouted, the Hypervoice was strong enough to knock Twigs and Kassandra back. "There, you are now registered as an official exploration team." Wigglytuff grinned. "Chatot will take you to your room. Welcome team TidalLeaf!"

"Follow me young apprentices." Chatot said walking out of the room. Kassandra and Twigs followed after recovering from the Hypervoice. "This is your room, you'll be staying here while you train at the guild." Inside the room were two straw beds and a wooden window that gave a view of the sunset. "Now go to sleep early tonight, you will be expected to awake early in the morning and the Guildmaster will not be happy if you are tardy tomorrow!"
With that said, Chatot left the two. Kassandra laid on her bed comfortably and pulled out her still broken glasses. "I hope someone can fix these…" Twigs looked at her and then at her glasses.

"I'm sure someone here can. Maybe after we get our first mission tomorrow, we can stop in Treasure Town and see." He assured with a smile. The Skitty returned it.

"Thanks Twigs."

"In the meantime, we should get some sleep…we got a bright and early day tomorrow."

Kasssandra nodded in agreement as they both settled down and fell asleep.