Hey guys, bet your wondering why I decided to write and publish another story huh. Well it's very simple, I'm letting out my inner masochist and adding another story to my work load. I'm also trying to write more while I try and get my creative flow back.
Now I'll go ahead and tell you that I will work on the summary when I have a plan for the story, until then I'm just going to wing it like I always do, see where it takes me.
Anyway, I wanted to try my hand at a Mystery Dungeon fic because, why not you know. I just wanted to post the first chapter before I actually tried to work on it, just to see how it is received by the community. This means that absolutely nothing in this chapter is set in stone, everything can be changed around as i see fit, or unless you all have some suggestions.
Also, I'm experimenting with POV change so I'm seeing how that goes for awhile, should be fun.
Now please, go on ahead and read on my lovely viewers and feel free to tell me what you think.
Some people say that death is not the end, that the end of your life is truly the beginning. The Christians believe that when you die, you will ascend to heaven to live for eternity in paradise, or fall to the depths of Hell for never ending torment. The Hindu's believe that after death, you are reincarnated as another species, depending on your karma. Every religion describes their idea of the afterlife, but I don't think any of them can even begin to explain what I found before me.
I thought I would have found myself in either Heaven or Hell after my death, but somehow I ended up in the rainbow universe with a gay pride deer and a holy pony staring at me. Said pony was looking at me with a look of interest while the deer turned to it, nodding softly, before its antlers started to glow with every color of the spectrum.
I felt a heavy pressure settle on me from all sides, making me fall to my hands and knees while my head throbbed. I felt my skin start to burn as the world around me started getting brighter and brighter while the pain kept getting worse, eventually getting to where my own body started failing and I felt my muscles give in, making me fall to the ground and cry out in agony. I could feel everything in my body shifting and moving, and after I finally felt everything stop, was when my body finally decided I had enough and shut down, taking my consciousness with it.
I believe that's what happened anyway, kind of hard to remember every detail while going through what might as well have been a garbage compacter. I figured I had made it to Hell before I fell unconscious, thinking that seeing Xearnes and Arceus was just another way for Satan to torture me. This was not the case though, which meant I should have been overjoyed that I had not found myself in eternal damnation, but I was instead left confused and a little bit frightened.
Why was a Pokémon, something that definitely should not exist, there to greet me in the afterlife? Why did I not remember how I even died in the first place? The most important question however, was how in the name of all that was good and holy was I a freaking Riolu.
It's one thing to wake up in a cave with little to no memories of your life other than that you were human, but looking at your reflection and seeing a face that was not even of your same species staring back at you was a whole new level of crazy.
This is how I found myself after waking up, staring face first at a crystal stalagmite with pair of ruby red eyes and a black and blue muzzle looking right back at me. I'm not going to lie, I screamed like a little girl for about fifteen seconds, the panic attack followed soon after, now I was just hyperventilating while staring right at my reflection.
It took me a good half hour to get myself together, even longer before I was able to actually stand up on my new paws and stumble my way out of the hole I popped up in, trying to keep my balance on legs I was very much not used to. I eventually figured out how to work my tail after about five minutes, which provided a lovely counterbalance that kept me from falling face first into the rock floor of the cave.
The cave itself was also a constant reminder of my little transformation, the very wall and ceiling being made of highly reflective crystal that showed me my new body every time I looked up from the ground.
Eventually I found my way to a clearing, almost a perfect dome of crystal with multiple openings to enter and exit from, with a set of stairs sitting smack dab in the middle. I couldn't help but blink in confusion while I stared at the staircase, trying to figure out why they were there in the first place, before realization struck me like a punch to the face, figuratively and literally.
I rubbed my jaw and quickly got back onto my feet, turning to regard the one who had hit me, letting my eyes settle on a Machop, the grey skinned Pokémon standing a bit higher than I was while it looked back at me with a face of pure anger.
"Ah crap, here we go" were the only words to leave my new muzzle before I jumped back, stumbling a little to right myself on my new legs, and growled at the superpower Pokémon whose fist was embedded in the ground where I once stood.
He immediately charged me again, making me feint left and dodge his fist, hitting him square in the jaw in retaliation. He tried to swing at me with the arm that was still outstretched, making me duck and jab him right in the kidney before sweeping his legs out from under him and driving my fist right into his throat, hearing a small pop after the impact.
He either fainted from the pain or asphyxiation afterwards, I wasn't sure which, but all I knew was I had beaten him. I may not know how to use any powers that the Pokémon can, but at least I can still fight without them.
After finally calming down from the adrenaline high, I was able to think on the new information presented to me. I was apparently in the Pokémon universe, this one being the Mystery Dungeon variation, meaning I had been both transformed and reincarnated by both Xearnes and Arceus.
While not what I had personally asked for, it was better than death, so I couldn't complain. I only wish I was allowed to keep all of my memories, but instead I got to keep the knowledge of my world, because that makes sense.
Who thinks that literally plopping someone down in the middle of a cave without an identity or clue what's going on a good idea? One of those legendary bastards either has a sick sense of humor, or I have the shittiest luck possible.
I couldn't dwell on that though, I had to get out of this cave and try and get a layout of the land I now found myself a resident of. The only way to do that was to get out of this place, meaning I would finally figure out how these stairs worked, hooray for learning.
"We've been walking for hours, are you sure were even going in the right direction?" I felt my eye twitch, my teeth clenching and my blood running hotter while trying my best not to straight up shout at the annoying little cat following me right now. Said cat was a small Shinx named Raidan, my best friend since my hatching and the only other member of Team End Game. Not the most creative name I could have come up with, but the Guild Master put me on the spot and she definitely doesn't like waiting.
I could change it anytime I wanted, but it actually started to grow on me, so I talked to Raiden and decided to keep it as it was.
I couldn't let myself fall too far into memories though; I had an annoying feline to attend to.
"We've been walking on this floor for five minutes, and it's a mystery dungeon, there isn't a right way, it gets jumbled up every floor, remember?" I asked him without looking back, looking at him through the reflection in the cave wall while occasionally glancing at the Zorua looking back at me though the crystal. "Besides, our rescue target is somewhere on this floor, so were almost out of here."
"I know Kaage, but you know I have trouble with long treks right now, my ankle is still healing." He picked up his front left paw to me as emphasis, showing me the bandage still covering the yellow furred band around his sky blue paw.
I sighed and came to a stop where the cave split in two directions, letting him rest on the cave wall while I sat down beside him.
"Don't take too long, we need to keep moving if we're going to find the target before they get themselves lost on another floor." I told him, receiving a nod before he let his head fall to the ground and his eyes slid closed soon after.
I sighed and followed his lead, snuggling into my neck fluff while I stared at my reflection and relaxed while I waited for my friend to rest up.
I must have dozed off because I felt my consciousness return quickly and my heart skip a beat from the scream that brought me back to the land of the living. Raiden copied my actions, sharing a look with me before we sprinted off towards the scream, hoping to find whoever was in danger before it was too late.
Alright, I was officially lost, that much I definitely knew. I couldn't find the stairs anywhere near the other one, so I just started walking in a random direction and hoped for the best. Not the greatest idea I ever had, but it's the only one I could have come up with.
There was no map to go off of like there were in the games, so I was stuck wandering aimlessly until I could find the next set of stairs while fighting any Pokémon that decided to get in my way. Fortunately I was able to figure out how to use Force Palm so that made it a bit easier to deal with all of the wilds. I actually found it pretty fun after awhile, already figuring out new and creative ways to punch the super powered animals.
That's right screw you PETA.
In fact I had just gotten out of a small battle with a particularly weak Kirlia when I suddenly heard a shrill scream echo through the caves, making my ears twitch and my head turn in the direction it came from. I looked around before shrugging and running off to check out why someone was screaming.
I didn't have to go far, seeing as the sound came from literally one room away. So when I walked down the hall to the next room, I was greeted by a small Eevee cowering in the corner while three Geodude slowly closed in on her.
I sighed and sprinted towards them, making all three of them turn around before superman punching the one in the very middle with a Force Palm, throwing it into the wall and knocking it out instantly. I quickly punched the one on my left and threw it into the last one, knocking them both out and leaving me and the Eevee the only ones in the room left standing.
Thank God they were so weak; if they were anything like the rest of the Pokémon in this cave I might have had quite a problem.
"Are you alright?" I asked her, kneeling next to her shivering form. She nodded wordlessly, shrinking away from me when I tried helping her up. I backed off slowly, trying to avoid startling her and letting her stand up on her own, which she did after an extended period of silence. When she did move, I expected her to get up and shake herself off, but I instead found myself on the ground with a small ball of brown fluff on my chest with little paws clasped around my neck.
I blinked and looked down at the Eevee on my chest, gently curling my arms around her and picking us both up off the floor.
"It's alright, your safe now." I told her, tightening my hug around her before looking up at another entrance to the room, hearing footsteps closing in on us. I quickly hid the Eevee behind me and crouched down in a battle stance, preparing myself for another fight. I didn't really know this Eevee, but I was prepared to fight my hardest to keep her safe.
"It came from in here, I'm sure of it." I said to myself more that Raiden, but I couldn't care less at this point. The only thing I cared about was getting to the screaming Pokémon and making sure they were alright.
Thankfully it was relatively close by so it didn't take us even a minute before we found the room and charged through the opening to combat whatever was in there, but were instead left in confusion when we saw our rescue target, Eva I think was her name, cowering behind a Riolu of all Pokémon. This one looked the same as all Riolu really, a male if I had to take a guess from looking at its build, but the fact there was one even here was a bigger concern. Most of my moves wouldn't even faze him and Raiden was still a little slow, meaning a fight with him would not end well. Yet he made no hostile move towards us, he just kept glaring at the both of us while keeping the Eevee out of our sight behind him.
"Oh crap" I heard Raiden say beside me, to which I turned to regard him for a moment before snapping back to the Riolu, expecting more glaring from his part, but now he just looked confused. I blinked in realization and silently let out a relieved sigh before relaxing my stance and smiling at the fighting type.
"Hey there, it's alright, we aren't feral" I told him, making him drop his stance a little, but still keeping his guard up. His eyes trained solely on me and his head cocked ever so slightly, curiosity shining in his pretty red eyes.
"You can talk...well that solves a couple issues" he told himself quietly, those eyes of his scanning me from head to tail before settling on the small metal badge clipped onto the black scarf around my neck. "Rescue team?"
I nodded immediately after his question, making him drop his guard entirely and smile in relief.
"Good, didn't want to fight while guarding a little one, never was good at escort missions." He chuckled and stepped to the side so that the Eevee could see us, to which we both smiled at her while Raiden made his way towards her.
"You Eva right?" she nodded in the affirmative, "Well your parents sent us to get you out of here and back home, so can you please come with us."
"...O-Okay." She stuttered, almost impossible to hear had we not been the only ones in this quiet little room.
"So what's your name?" I heard the Riolu ask, looking over to lock eyes with him.
"Kaage" I answered, gesturing over to my partner immediately afterwards, "That Raiden, how about you?"
He actually looked a little confused, his paw coming up to scratch his head while his eyes left me to look at his reflection in the wall with a look of concentration. It took him a good three minutes, in which Raiden had secured Eve and was now back at my side facing Riolu, but he finally answered with "Jack."
"Jack?" what an unusual name for a Riolu, but I'm not one to judge, if that his name that's his name.
"It's the only name I remember...I think people usually add another word or two after it, but I can't really recall.
"Wait, what do you mean you can't recall? did you actually forget your own name?" Raiden asked in surprise, taking the words right out of my mouth. Jack just shrugged and rapped a paw against the side of his head.
"This sucker right here is pretty empty right now, don't even remember the names of my parents, much less my own." He answered with a small chuckle, making me look at him in astonishment.
He doesn't remember who he is, yet he's so calm despite that simple fact. If I had amnesia, I would be freaking out and doing whatever I could to bring it back, yet he just laughs it off like it's no big deal.
"Don't see what good throwing a fit is going to do me, not like having another panic attack is going to jog my memory." He said with a shrug and looked to the wall once again. I felt Raiden nudge my side and turned to him, only to find him an inch from my ear.
"You're thinking out loud again" he said, making me blush and clear my throat to catch Jack's attention.
"Right, well...why don't we get the both of you out of here. Eva's parents are probably worried sick and you more than likely have questions that only the Guild Master could answer."
He nodded quickly, closing in on us and standing at my side, making me look up at him with a grin before I reached for my explorer's badge, only to stop dead with my paw inches from the escape button.
My ears swiveled to the right and I jumped in surprise when I felt the very ground shake repeatedly, making my heart rate spike and freezing my blood cold.
"Why do I hear boss music?" Jack asked us, anxiety clear in his tone. Raiden quickly scooted up next to my and begged me to push the button to get us out of here, only for the both of us to look on in horror when the escape button did nothing but beep softly. "I have a feeling that's the 'were boned' sound."
"Were in a dead zone, the badge's escape feature won't work in this room, only the emergency abort mission will get us out of here."
"But that won't bring either you or Eva with us, so that's not an option." Raiden answered the unasked question, making the Riolu growl and move to stand in front of Eva with the two of us flanking him. He looked like he was about to say something else, but stopped dead in his tracks when whatever was responsible for the tremors suddenly crashed through the undersized passageway, making all of us adopt expressions of pure terror.
"A...Tyranitar" Raiden muttered, slowly backing away while moving Eva behind him, already getting her as far from the giant Armor Pokémon as possible.
"I think this is the part where we run" Jack said, backing away as well. I would have likely agreed, save for one small issue.
"That's the only way out of here" I whimpered, cursing my luck, while Jack just growled louder.
"Why can't anything ever be easy?" he muttered turning to the both of us and then back to the Tyranitar. "Alright, do you know any ranged attacks?"
"Of course, Shadow Ball and Dark Pulse" I answered, confusion clear in my voice. He nodded and turned to Raiden next.
"Keep her away, edge back towards the room exit while hugging the wall, we'll distract it and take off running when you're clear." He turned back to me. "I need you to help me keep its attention divided between us. Hit it with a ranged attack every time I get in close, that way we can keep these two safe while slowing it down enough for us to make a break for the exit."
I wasn't about to question him, seeing as I did not have a plan of my own, and it seemed like a pretty good one if he literally just came up with it. So I just nodded and watched him break into a sprint towards the duel dark/rock type. I shot a Dark Pulse as soon as he noticed the canine charging at him, making it look up at me with a face of pure rage, only for its head to snap back after a swift uppercut to its chin.
Jack was quick to jump away off of its chest, lest he leave himself open to a counter attack. I immediately hit it again with another Dark Pulse and ran the opposite way of where the Riolu was running so we could keep its attention away from Eva and Raiden, which seemed to have worked so far, since Tyranitar couldn't figure out which one of us to focus on.
Thankfully feral Pokémon were pretty stupid, or else he would have kept its attention solely on Jack since he was the larger threat, but it kept switching between us with me and Jack constantly hitting him with Dark Pulse and Force Palm.
"Hurry up; he's starting to figure it out!" Jack shouted, back stepping from the Tyranitar's downward punch that left a large crater where Jack used to be. I momentarily wondered what he meant before noticing that, after another Dark Pulse hitting the back of its head, it kept its eyes solely on Jack.
"Dammit" I muttered and used a few illusions to try and distract it while I moved to stand by the exit while Raiden ran out with Eva on his back. I quickly turned towards Jack and was about to shout for him to hurry up to the exit, only to see the dog fly over my head and crash to the ground barely inches from the exit.
"…I'm okay" he groaned, picking himself up from the ground with a paw pressed firmly on his side. He took one look at the now very pissed off Tyranitar before moving to grab my scarf and dragging me into the exit, practically tossing me towards the others.
"Hit the button!" he ordered while running towards me, tackling Raiden and Eva on his way over. I did just that, practically smashing the escape button right before he landed on me, making us all glow bright white for barely a second before warping us out of the dungeon and back into the light of day.
Would have been a nice experience had I not had a collective of all three Pokémon lying right on top of me. I actually had to pry myself out of the little dog pile before collapsing on my side inches from the others, trying my model best to calm my racing heart.
"Well…that could have gone better" I heard Jack groan before he collapsed on the other side of my, probably deciding it was high time to move before he crushed our client.
"It usually does" I sighed and rolled onto my belly so I could look at my teammate and the Eevee as they both picked themselves up off the ground and made their way towards us.
"Come on you two, we need to get back to Kalda Town before nightfall" he told me, nudging me lightly, receiving a nod from me before I pulled myself off the ground and softly kicking the Riolu beside me.
"You heard the mon Riolu, let's get out of here and back to town, get you something to eat before seeing the Guildmaster" I offered, hearing him sigh and pick himself up before following us back to town without a word.
Just like I said up top, feel free to tell me what you think.