Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky

Chapter 1-1: A Storm at Sea

A single flash.

"Whoa! Wh-wh-whoa…! Are… are you OK?!"

Another flash.

"No! Don't let go! Just a little longer… Come on! Hang on!"

Another flash.

"N-n-no! I can't… hold on…!"

Several flashes.

"Waaaaaah!"

A heavy storm brewed through the violent seas. Bolts of lightning lit up from the sky, striking down on wherever it hits. The dark clouds blocked what would have been an afternoon. No one dared to leave their homes, in fear of the wrath of nature. Occasionally, the flashes lit up and anyone insane to be out in this weather, would have been able to see a strangely-shaped cliff resembling a shark of some sort...

"Uurgh… Where… where am I?"

A figure opened their eyes slowly. From their narrow view, they could only make out light brown and blue. It couldn't find any energy to move. It laid on the grainy ground, completely helpless to move.

But their consciousness didn't last long. They could feel everything darkening.

"…I-I can't… Drifting off…" was the unknown figure's words before their eyes shut.

"Hmm…"

At the top of a hill, where a large tent resembling the shape of a pink rabbit Pokémon, and a torch and a totem resided on both sides of the tent, a yellow mouse, or known as a Pikachu, paced left and right. Judging by the sharp lightning bolt tail, this Pikachu is male. After several rounds, the Pikachu stopped pacing and took a deep breath and exhaled.

"No. I refuse to be paralyzed by this any longer!" The Pikachu said. "This is it. It's time I steel my courage today." The Pikachu stepped forward towards the tent. Only when he stepped on the wooden grate in front of him, he heard a voice which caused him to freeze.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" Said a squeaky voice.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" Boomed a very loud voice.

"The footprint is Pikachu's! The footprint is Pikachu's!" The squeaky voice said.

"Waah!" The Pikachu yelped, falling backwards off the grate. He looked around. No one else was there but him. "That was too shocking!" The Pikachu said. The two voices he heard didn't respond for some time.

"Phew…" The Pikachu sighed. He began to tilt his head downwards. "…I can't…" The Pikachu said. "I can't work up the courage to go in, after all… I told myself that this is the day, but…" The Pikachu looks down, his paw touching a piece of granite with a mysterious symbol on it hanging around his neck from a string. "I thought that holding on to my personal treasure would inspire me…"

The Pikachu sighs, getting on his feet. "I just can't do it… I'm such a coward… This is so discouraging…" With his head hung low, the Pikachu walked away from the tent. The hill remained empty… only for a while as two figures emerged from a bush.

"Hey, Zubat. Did you get a load of that?!" The first figure said.

"You bet I did, Koffing." The second figure said.

"That little wimp that was pacing around… had something good, right?"

"That wimp had something, that's for sure. It looked like some sort of treasure."

"Do we go after it?"

"We do."

The sun was slowly falling from the skies, painting the skies with beautiful shades of orange and red. Crab-like Pokémon rested on the sands and rocks, blowing out sparkling bubbles which glided through the beach and the ocean elegantly. The Pikachu walked on the sands of the beach, kicking a pebble. He lets out a sigh before he turns to see the sunset. Immediately, his mood brightened. "Oh, wow! What a pretty sight!" The Pikachu exclaimed. He could see the sparkles of the ocean as the rays of the sun reflected on the water surface. The bubbles glistened in the sun's rays as they floated over the ocean.

The Pikachu rested himself on the sand by sitting down. "When the weather's good, the Krabby come at sundown to blow bubbles… All those bubbles catching the setting sun's rays off the waves… It's always beautiful." The Pikachu said to himself. The Pikachu remained there while he watched the scenery in front of his eyes.

The Pikachu soon looked at the rock around his neck. "This is where I always come when I'm feeling sorry for myself. But it always makes me feel good here, like always." The Pikachu continued to talk to himself. "Coming here is uplifting. It cheers me up." The Pikachu looked over to his left, noticing something. Something that doesn't belong to the beach.

"Hey… what's that?" The Pikachu wondered. "What's going on over there?" He got up from his spot heading over. He spotted… blue seaweed? Nah, seaweed isn't blue. Unless it's some sort of new plant. When he got closer, the Pikachu could tell that it wasn't seaweed, but an unconscious Pokémon.

"Waah! Someone has collapsed on the sand!" The Pikachu gasped, hurrying over to the Pokémon. From what he saw, this Pokémon is mainly blue, and has a penguin-like body. The Pikachu began to shake the penguin's body. "What happened?! Are you OK?" The Pikachu asked.

"…Ugh…" The Pokémon began to shift. The Pikachu stepped back to give the Pokémon some space to get up slowly. After the Pokémon fully stood up, the Pikachu could tell that this Pokémon is a Piplup. How odd. Piplups aren't common at all in this place. In fact, they should be found in the icy regions of the world. Nonetheless, the Pikachu didn't let that bother him. "You're awake! That's a relief!" The Pikachu said.

"…Where… where am I…?" The Piplup asked, looking around and still quite dazed.

"You weren't moving at all. I was seriously worried!" The Pikachu said. "Do you remember how you ended up unconscious here?"

'I… I was unconscious? What happened…?' The Piplup wondered to himself.

"Well, I'm Rica! Glad to meet you!" The Pikachu introduced himself with a beamed smile.

The Piplup stared at the named Pikachu for a moment before he let out a loud shriek. "Y-you are a Pokémon!" The Piplup said, somewhat horrified. "A-and you're talking!"

"Talking?" Rica said. "Of course I can talk."

"B-but you're a Pokémon!" The Piplup said. "Pokémon aren't supposed to be speaking!"

"You're odd. You're a Pokémon too, aren't you, Piplup?" Rica scratched his head.

"Wha-?! I'm not a Pokémon!" The Piplup said. "I'm a human! And you're one oddly large Pikachu for a Pokémon!"

"A human?" Rica tilted his head. "Did you hit yourself somewhere, Piplup? Do you need to rest?"

"I said I'm no Pi–" The Piplup stopped speaking when a bubble drifted over to the space between him and Rica. The bubble clearly showed his reflection. A Piplup was staring at him from the bubble. "GWAAAAAAH!" The Piplup shrieked when the bubble popped. He turned and hurried over to the ocean. He gazed at the water. Once again, he was face-to-face with a Piplup from the ocean.

"GAAAAAAH!" The Piplup screamed again. He soon touched his face, looked at his flippers, gave weak tugs to his fur coat and stared at his feet. He touched his face again. "I…I…I turned into a Pokémon!" The Piplup screamed. "But… how…?!"

"Are you sure you're not pulling some trick on me?" Rica asked.

"Of course, I'm not!" The Piplup said. "I wouldn't have freaked out like this if I were a Pokémon! I'm a human!" The Piplup rubbed his head. "I think I am… but… everything's hazy…"

"You're telling me the truth?" Rica asked.

"I am!" The Piplup said.

"Okay, then…" Rica nodded, although he thought the Piplup seemed a bit suspicious. "Your name? What's your name?"

"My name is…" The Piplup rubbed his head. "My name… is… Hold on, gimme some time to think." The Piplup turned around as he continued to ponder. 'What's my name again…?' The Piplup thought. 'I can't remember! What was it…? Think! Think!' The Piplup began to pace around, trying to figure out his name.

"If you don't have a name… I could call you "Piplup" for the time being, okay?" Rica said.

"I have a name!" The Piplup screamed in exasperation. "Gimme time to think!" The Piplup rubbed his head again. His eyes soon noticed an aqua blue band on his flipper. There was a word imprinted on the band.

"Dia…mond…" The Piplup said. He knew his name now. Well, he was sure that was his name. He really didn't want to be called "Piplup".

"Huh?" Rica said.

"That's my name." The Piplup turned to meet the Pikachu. "Diamond."

"Oh, Diamond's your name?" Rica said. "A really odd name… to be called after a rock… But you don't seem to be a bad Pokémon, at least." He scratched the back of his head. "Sorry I doubted you."

"It's alright." Diamond said. "But a diamond isn't actually a rock. It's a… a… a…" Diamond realized that he didn't know what a diamond is either, but for some reason, he was supposed to know. He lowered his head. "…Never mind."

"Ah, well…" Rica said. "More and more bad Pokémon have been turning up lately, you see. More Pokémon have gotten aggressive lately. Things have grown somewhat lawless… That's why I doubted you earlier… Sorry about that again."

Diamond nodded and looked at Rica again. And then, he noticed two Pokémon sneaking up at the Pikachu.

"Behind you!" Diamond warned.

"Wha-?" Rica was about to turn, but it was too late. "Ouch!" The Pikachu fell forward on Diamond, knocking him down on the sand. Diamond lifted his head from beneath Rica to see who hit him: a Koffing and a Zubat.

"Well, I do beg your pardon." The Koffing apologized, but with a smirk. Diamond, somehow, had a bad feeling about the duo.

The Pikachu, after recovering from the tackle, angrily got off Diamond and turned to the two Poison-Type Pokémon. "Hey! What did you do that for?!"

The Zubat simply grinned at Rica with a chuckle. "Can't figure it out? We want to mess with you! Can't face up to us, can't you?!"

"Wh-what?!" Rica took a step back.

"That's yours, isn't it?" The Zubat gestured to his left. The Pikachu turned to see the stone lying on the sand. He gasped. It must have fallen off from the string on his neck when he was tackled. "No! That's…!"

"Sorry, kiddo. We'll take that!" The Zubat flew down and picked the stone up with his tails.

"Aaaah!" Rica screamed. He tried to charge at the Zubat to get his possession back. But he couldn't move.

"Whoa-ho-ho!" The Koffing laughed tauntingly. "Not gonna make a move to get that back? What's the matter? Too scared?" The Pikachu flinched when he heard "scared". He stood rooted at his spot. "I didn't expect that you'd be such a big coward!" The Koffing turned to the Zubat. "Come on. Let's get out of here." He said.

"See you around, chicken." The Zubat said at the now shaking Pikachu. He chuckled before he and the Koffing headed off from the beach and into the cave in front of them. All Diamond could do was just stare at the duo as they disappeared into the cave. 'What the…? What just happened…?' Diamond thought.

He turned to see Rica on his rear, head hung down. "…Ohhh…" Rica said weakly to himself. "Wh-what should I do? That's my personal treasure. It means everything to me." He started to shake. "If I lose that…" He spoke in a cracking sob. Diamond walked around, and now he noticed that the Pikachu was crying.

Seeing the energetic Pikachu reduced to a whimpering coward in mere seconds was the last straw for Diamond. He needed to help this Pikachu. No, he must! Even though that he thinks that someone cares for a rock so deeply is just weird. Nodding on his own course of action, he tapped Rica's shoulder. "Hey."

"H-huh…?" Rica turned to Diamond.

"I'm getting your rock back." Diamond said.

"Wh-what!?" The Pikachu said.

"You heard me. That's your rock, isn't it?" Diamond turned to the cave where the duo entered. "I just can't let this slide." He said. "I'm going in there to get your rock."

"Y-you mean…" The Pikachu began, wiping his tears away with his paws. "You're going to get it back?"

"Yup. That's what I said. Just stay here, I'll get it back for you." Diamond replied. He was about to head inside when he was stopped suddenly. "W-wait!" Diamond felt his flipper being held by a furry paw. He turned to see Rica facing him. "I-I'm going too. It's my treasure." Rica said. "And you're right… I have to get it back!"

"Rica…" Diamond said. He breathed before continuing his sentence. "…You're too close to me."

"…Ah." Rica just realized that he was indeed very close to the Piplup. He released his paw, walking a distance away from Diamond, but not too far. When he looked back at the Piplup, he could have sworn he saw a tint of red from the Piplup's face. "So… they headed into this cave, right?" Diamond said.

"That's Beach Cave." Rica said. "It's a Mystery Dungeon."

"A what?"

"Um…" Rica said. "Don't worry! I'll explain about it when we're inside!"

And so, Diamond and Rica headed into Beach Cave, one of the many Mystery Dungeons around the world…

…Of course, neither of them realized that this marked the beginning. The beginning of an grand adventure to come.

Hi! I was playing PMD: Explorers of Sky. Most of the story is based on my run of the game, so… expect to see a lot of oddness, I guess? The teammates that'll be formed will also play their part in the entire story. I'll be covering "post-game" content as well. And since this is Explorers of Sky… for those who are familiar with the game, you'd know what's coming.

I think I am suckish at novelizations... so forgive me if half of it turns out bad.