A sudden rush of energy hit Tom straight in the chest. He had the sensation that he was falling through nothing.

He heard a voice call off from a distance, "What happened here!?"

"It's him!" Someone else called.

"No that's impossible!" a third voice called.

"Is it?" a fourth voice called. This one though sounded cold and menacing.

Tom had no idea what was happening and before he could figure out what was going on a sudden rush of white light hit him.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon

Bonded Destinies

Chapter 1

A New Journey

"Wha-" Tom sat up with a start and a Starly flew off when he did.

Tom looked around and winced at this awful headache.

"Ah what happened?" He looked around and thought about what happened. He was in some sort of room listening to three voices, what were they saying? Something about rescues, the sky, and some sort of gate. Then some weird shadow seemed to hit him.

Did that really happen? He thought to himself, weird.

He held his hand up to his face but he instead saw a Pikachu's hand instead.

What the? He thought and he looked at himself. What he saw was a Pikachu's body.

He then panicked and ran to a pool of water. When he looked in he saw that he was in fact a fully fledged Pikachu.

He then heard the sound of a snapped twig and then he heard something move… something big.

Then out of nowhere a group of Beedrill came out of nowhere.

Uh oh, Tom backed up into a tree, They don't look happy.

Then one of them spoke, "How dare you trespass on our territory! You'll pay for this!"

Tom looked around and saw that he was almost completely surrounded. But then he had an idea, If I'm a Pikachu then that means...

Tom focused hard and then...

"THUNDERSHOCK!" Jets of lighting surged toward the Beedrill and it was now his chance.

Tom ran through the forest and he kept running until he came out onto a road.

Tom then looked up and down the road and took stock of his situation.

Ok, he thought, So I've turned into a Pikachu and I am now in the middle of nowhere. I have no memory whatsoever, well except that I'm human and that my name is Tom. Also those weird voices that told him about something...

"Hey are you ok?"

"Wah!" Cam down, he told himself, it's just someone behind you.

He turned around and he saw in front of him an Eevee?

The Eevee then spoke, "Are you ok you look like you were just thrown onto the ground."

"How are you talking?! You're an Eevee." This is just weird, Tom thought, Wait those Beedrill talked to!

"Yes I'm an Eevee what does that have to do with anything." The Eevee smiled, "You are a very odd Pikachu."

"But I'm not an Pikachu I'm a human-" Wait why did you just say that? He thought.

"I'm sorry did you say that you are a human?" She won't believe me Tom thought. The Eevee then began to walk around him with a look that was like an evaluating and observant look. I shouldn't have told her she'll obviously not believe me.

"Hmm you're a very odd Pokémon." She said slowly as if making up her mind, "But, I believe you." She then put a smile on her face.

"What, why? Isn't it stupidly unbelievable?"

"Yes but I have this weird thing where I can tell if someone is lying or not. Most of the time without even knowing anything about them first."

"Wow that is very unique. Thank you for believing me." Tom was amazed, not only was this a talking Eevee but it was also a Pokémon that can sense the emotions of others. What a weird day.

"Real quick", The Eevee asked, "What were you doing in the forest? Don't you know that this is a confirmed Mystery Dungeon?"
"Uh... well you see I woke up in there with no memory whatsoever of my human life except for my name." What is a Mystery Dungeon, Tom thought.

"And your name is?"

"Tom, I think. You said this is a Mystery Dungeon what is that?"

The Eevee appeared to shrug, "That is right if you have no memory then you wouldn't know what that is. It is basically a place where things seem to change and behave weird. They are filled with many dangers like wild Pokémon and deadly traps."

Why did that sound familiar?, Tom wondered.

"Do you have anywhere to stay Tom?"

"No uh... What's your name?"

The Eevee smiled, "It's Ve. If you can help me then I can give you a place to stay."

"What do you need help with?" Tom said not knowing what else to say.

"I always wanted to form an exploration team but, I've never had a team to join me. I was wondering if you could join my team?", She then saw Tom's confused face, "Is that ok?"

"It's just why do you want me? You just met me."

Ve looked embarrassed, "Well it's just that for one like I said I can sense many things about a person. I sensed that you have a love for adventure."

Adventure? Tom thought, Come to think about it I do, it's like a distant memory.

"So how about it?" Ve asked, "Do you want to form a team with me?"

Well I don't have anything else to do. "Sure, I'll join your team."

Ve looked extremely happy, "You will? Really? Oh thank you!" She then looked down the road, "In order to become a team will have to register at Comb Town down the road, I live just outside of it. Come on you'll love it!"

And with that they set off toward Comb Town and as they were walking Tom noticed something, Hey her right ear is slightly notched at the end, interesting.

Meanwhile on South Island

Rose always loved the morning it was the best time to think. The coolness of the air, the smell of due on the grass, and the sound of the bird Pokémon waking up to the busy day all combined to make a relaxing time. Rose always loved the morning even before she became a Chikorita. She was the type of person who was quiet and reflective always thinking about how her past affected her future.

Even though it was early fall and the air had a slight chill to it she still cherished the beauty of the morning.

She was now thinking about her previous year in this strange world of Pokémon. It began with her first journey with her dear friend Mudkip when he stayed with her even when she was called a monster and was being hunted as a fugitive. He was a good friend even though he was sometimes a bit drastic. Whenever he was in trouble he did sometimes freeze up but when he wanted to he was very determined to win.

She sometimes thought that he helped her because of all the times she saved him. (The opposite is also true. Rose laughed.) But she knew that was not the case even after her first adventure with him he still never left her side when they were in trouble and the answer was that it was because they were true friends. They cared for each other with an undying loyalty

"Hey Rose, we have a letter from Guild Island!" Mudkip shouted from outside.

"All the way from there? That is a very long way for a letter to travel!" Rose wondered what they could've gotten from that far away.

Mudkip bought the letter to their table and looked at the address information:

Addressed to: Rose and Mudkip from Team LeafWave

From: The Great Wigglytuff Guild

Guild Island to South Island

"Wha- the Wigglytuff?" Mudkip had a look of awe on his face.

"What would the famous explorer have to say to us?"

"Who knows? There is only one way to find out."

They opened up the letter and saw several items in it, a large amount of Poke, a map showing much more area than a standard Wonder Map, and a piece of paper with a long letter written on it:

Dear Team LeafWave,

You have been invited to join us at the first ever Explorer Gathering. Many rescue and explorer teams have been invited and we hope that you join us. We know that it is a long way from here to your island so we have given you a large amount of Poke and have hired a very professional team to help you get to our Guild. We have also given you a new Wonder Map to help you find your way.

Hope to see you,

Wigglytuff

"Wow, we are invited to meet the Wigglytuff!" Mudkip looked like he was about to faint from amazement.

"Now now Kip let's not get ourselves hurt before we even go." Rose came up with the nickname when they first met. "We should prepare ourselves before Wigglytuff's friends get here."

"Yeah let's start now!"

A few moments later…

"Hello is anyone home!" Someone shouted from the front door.

"Coming", Rose shouted, "Hold on!"

She opened the door and saw three Pokemon waiting for her, a Pidgeotto, a Swellow, and a Staravia all who looked very impressive.

"Hello good to meet you", the Swellow said, "We are Team Airborne and are here to escort you to Guild Island. My name is Talon"

"Yeah and we were told to go as fast as possible," the Staravia said, "sorry we're late. My name is Raptor by the way"

"My name is Hawk." The Pidgeotto said, "In case you were wondering."

They're late, well they must have very high standards, Rose thought "Oh no you're not late at all if fact. Hold on. Kip! Wigglytuff's friends are here."

"Well we're not really his friend," Hawk whispered to his team, "we just know him as an acquaintance." The rest of the team laughed to themselves.

Kip came down and was carrying there explorer pack with him.

"Ok ready to go!"

And with that they began their journey to Guild Island.

Elsewhere...

A lot has happened here in Paradise since I returned. And that was only 2 months ago.

Me and Wott have been working hard to expand it further and it seems that things may be calming down finally.

Dan had a very, how would you say? Fun experience in the Pokémon world. He was tricked, crushed, frozen, and even then he was deeply saddened when he had to leave it all behind.

It was the worst thing in the world when he had to return to that terrible place he used to call home, in fact he never considered it to be his home. That place in the human world was filled with nothing but evil and cruelty. And he was related to those who lived there.

"GET UP DAN!" Dan sat up and saw his friend Dunsparce in front of him who had a relieved look. "Oh thank goodness I was beginning to worry."

Dan felt extremely dizzy he looked around and saw he was in a cave, "What happened?"

"That outlaw Dustox used sleep powder on you!" Then Dan remembered.

"That's right" He bolt straight up fully aware of what was happening. "Where is he?"

"He got away but we caught his friend. So that's one of the two outlaws in the Bug Duo."

He turned around to see a Beautifly knocked out on the ground and saw his closest friend guarding it.

Wott looked over at him and smiled, "Hey it's good to see you're up, we were beginning to worry about you. Emolga went to go get Quagsire."

Dan frowned, "Looks like our job is done, shame that we couldn't catch Dustox."

A few moments later...

"Thank you for hmm, catching one of the criminals." Quagsire said in his unique way, "Too bad that you couldn't hmmm, catch both of them."

"Well we did our best!", Emolga said in a slightly offended way, "It's not our fault that Dustox was too fast!"

"Don't worry too much about it Emolga." Wott said in his newly found confident voice, "You can't possibly win every time."

"Yeah I guess you're right.", Emolga replied, "Oh well."

"Well since you did half of the job I guess you should get hmm, half of the reward." Quagsire then handed them half of the reward money for the two."

"Thanks", Dan said, "Tomorrow we'll try again."

"Yeah!", His team agreed.

Then two of Dan and Wott's friends came up to them, they were Umbreon and Espeon, they both looked excited.

"We got a long distance letter from Guild Island it was marked urgent." Espeon looked very enthusiastic, "And it's from an old friend of ours."

Dan took the letter to see who it was from:

"From the Wigglytuff Exploration Guild." Dan read, "To be delivered to Team Paradise. Well that is us. Let's take it home to read it."

When they got home they all rushed to the table and opened up the letter to find several things in the envelope. A letter, a good amount of money, and a map. There were also a few other things inside...

Wott was the first to catch on, "Entercards? What do you think those are for?"

Entercards were the key component to a Magnagate a device used to manipulate a Mystery Dungeon and create new ones entirely.

"Maybe the letter will say, this is all very exciting. A letter from the Great Wigglytuff! Awesome."

On the letter someone with very neat handwriting wrote the following,

Dear Team Paradise,

The Wigglytuff Exploration Guild would like to invite you to the first Global Meeting of Explorers and Rescuers. We have included a large amount of money to help you on your travel and even though you live a far way away we have included a way of fast travel that you should be able to use. We hope to see here and have included a new Wonder Map that is much bigger to show you some of the things that we may discuss about. We hope to see you in one week.

Hope to see you there,

Wigglytuff Exploration Guild

"Well that's interesting." Emolga was studying the map.

"What?" Umbreon asked.

"This wonder map covers a very large amount of area. All four of the main islands!" Emolga looked very impressed.

Dan was amazed, "I didn't know there was anyone that skilled in map making."

"What I am wondering is how do they know how to make Entercards?" Dunsparce asked, "I thought only Umbreon, Espeon, and Keldeo could make those."

"Well Wigglytuff is one of the greatest explorers ever he may have ran across someone who knew how to operate a Magnagate." Umbreon answered, "Me and Espeon ran into him once a while back when we were researching Magnagates."

"Well they want us to go within a week, that could be problematic." Wott pointed out, "With Virizion and Keldeo running an errand they won't be able to join up with us in time. And Hydreigon has gone off and he didn't know when he would get back."

"Well I have a solution." Emolga said, "Two four us can stay and in a week when Keldeo and Virizion show up all four of them can use the Entercards to come to Guild Island as well."

Dan remembered one small detail they were leaving out. "That sounds like a good idea but doesn't someone have to stay behind anyway because of the... Happi laws."

The Happi laws were rules made by an organization called Happi that helped new exploration groups start out. One of them were that when a major expedition occurred one member of the team had to stay behind to keep watch. This same problem had happened a while back when they had their first expedition.

"Hey there's writing on the back of the letter." Wott began to read, "The Wigglytuff Guild has spoken to the Happi organization and has come to the agreement that you can take all members with you. Hey that means we can all go!"

Everyone was delighted, Espeon then said, "Me and Umbreon can stay here we have some matters we need to attend to anyway."

Emolga then said, "So we're all in agreement that will leave as soon as possible for Guild Island?"

"Yeah!" Everyone agreed and they all began to make preparations.

Meanwhile on Southern Island

One voice kept telling him the same thing in his mind, Just keep running, don't stop, don't look back, you know they're gaining.

Notch was an Eevee who was a lone explorer, where others seeked out gold and treasure he searched for information on something only he would care about... his family.

Now his quest had gotten him into trouble. He was being pursued by a gang of bad Pokémon. And they were gaining.

Notch then turned a corner into a canyon, Hopefully I can lose them here, he thought desperately.

He didn't even know why they were chasing after him he paid them off and kept his part of deal, I knew I shouldn't trust them.

He turned a corner to find himself at a dead end. "Oh no! Not good." He said to himself.

He turned and saw that his four pursuers had already caught up to him, each was a Buizel. The lead one stepped up to him.

"Well, well, well, you thought you could escape us: The Buizel Brothers. There is no escape, it's time to pay up."

Notch was outraged, "Last time I checked I didn't owe you anything!"

"Ah, but the fee increased when we learned how valuable that information was." Notch looked for an escape route and the lead Buizel noticed, "Don't think about running, in fact coming into this canyon was a very stupid idea, you do realize there is a river here."

Stupid, I should've known. Notch thought.

The lead Buizel smiled, "And don't think about fighting, especially when there are four of us and one of you."

Eevee also smiled, "Well I guess that makes it a fair fight huh?"

"Strong words from a lone Eevee!" A buizel in the back said.

"Than enough words let's finish this! SAND-ATTACK!" Notch sent a cloud of sand and blinded the lead Buizel.

"Why you little-, fine then will take you out with our combo-attack!" Two of the Buizel attacked with Water Gun and the other two attacked with Aqua Jet. They all hit precisely on target. But when the dust cleared Notch was not there.

The leader was confused, "Where did he g-"

"Right behind you!" Then he used, "Quick Attack!"

He lunged at the lead Buizel and when he hit he bounced off and the second he hit the ground he took off running in the opposite direction.

"FOOL! You will never escape the Buizel Brothers!"

Idiots, Notch thought to himself with a chuckle, they think they're so special.

He looked up to see three flying Pokémon in the air. Notch hoped that they were an Exploration Team that would help him.

Meanwhile Kip was looking straight ahead enjoying the view of South Island from this height. Who knew the air was so clear up here?

"Hey Talon do you see that down there?" Hawk shouted over the loud noise of the air rushing by them.

"You mean the Eevee and those Buizel chasing after him?" He shouted back.

"Looks like he's in trouble." Raptor said back then he looked to Rose on his back, "You wouldn't mind if we helped him would you?"

"No, of course", She said in a shaky voice, "not besides I think I should get down from this height for a minute. Just don't-"

"Alright boys let's dive!" Then Raptor, Hawk, and Talon all went into a very sharp dive, to Rose's displeasure. Kip on the other hand loved this rush of air, the feeling of going extremely fast, and the thrill of seeing the ground come closer to you. He loved flying.

Notch looked up and to his relief the Exploration Team was coming to his rescue. He could finally stop running. Behind him the four Buizel didn't seem to notice anything. In fact they thought he gave up.

"Finally realised that we were right huh?" One of them shouted.

"No, I just was wondering... how much do you like birds?"

"What are you-"

Raptor shouted, "Rose jump off of me!", and after she did, "CLOSE COMBAT!"

Raptor got right in one of the Buizels face and began to pelt it with slaps from it's wings and scratched it with his claws.

"Ah!" The Buizel shouted, "Not the face!"

Hawk then used Twister to blow two more away from the fight.

The lead Buizel was infuriated, "NO! You won't get away AQUA JET!"

He then formed a column of water around himself and shot toward Notch, but Talon was faster.

"AERIAL ACE!" He shouted and he deflected the Buizel's attack and it barely missed Notch.

Talon then landed next to Notch, "Get on my back!" Notch had no complaints and got on. Then Raptor landed near Rose who then jumped on Raptor's back. Within a few seconds they were once again very high up in the air and were already moving fast.

"Thanks for the help guys!" Notch shouted to all three of Team Airborne.

"No problem", Talon replied, "It's the least we could do for an old friend."

Kip was surprised, "You know this Eevee?"

Hawk looked back at Kip, "Course we do, how could we forget him, a lone Eevee with a notched ear. That's where he get's his name. How did you get in trouble this time?"

Notch smiled, "Yup my name's Notch and I wasn't trying to get in trouble this time."

"Of course you weren't." laughed Raptor.

"No I wasn't!" Notch shouted, "I was just trying to get help from them but that turned out to be a mistake. They obviously were getting greedy and tried to cheat an unsuspecting Pokémon."

"You're an unsuspecting Pokémon?" Talon shouted, "I thought you were better than that!"

"Well I'm not but they sure thought I was. That was there big mistake." Notch laughed to himself, "So where are you headed?"

"Guild Island! We're doing a favor for Wigglytuff." Raptor answered.

Notch was impressed, "You guys know Wigglytuff? You must know everyone."

"I was needing to head to Guild Island myself, could you guys take me there as well? I'll pay you of course."

Hawk smiled, "Oh no you don't need to do that we love flying long distances. It makes for a great challenge for us!"

"You guys are the best!" Notch shouted.

"You know we are!" Swellow shouted back.

Everyone, except Rose who was desperately trying to hold on, laughed at Talon's remark.

Meanwhile at Guild Island

The shadow seemed to be staying away as if it was being cautious. It was looking back and forth as if it was lost. Matt tried to call it toward him to try and help it, whatever it was. It didn't seem to hear him so Matt shouted again.

This time it seemed to hear him and was starting to head toward him. But then Matt heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Matt run! It's a trap! Don't trust anything it says!"

Matt turned around to see Grovyle behind him, his old friend from the future. But behind him was... Dusknoir?

"Don't trust it!" Grovyle yelled again. Matt was confused, Dusknoir was an enemy of theirs why was he there.

It's a trick Dusknoir is up to this, Matt thought and he started walking toward the shadow.

"NO, DON'T IT'S EVIL! YOU SHOULD KNOW!"

Matt tried to tell Dusknoir to shut up but he remembered he couldn't speak so he just kept walking.

He was almost at the shadow it was a-

"Hey Matt it's morning, time to get up!"

Matt sat up and accidently hit his head on his partner Torchic's.

"Ow, well if you really wanted to sleep in then you could've just told me.", she laughed.

"Sorry just a weird dream. It's actually the first dream I've had in a while." Matt looked around.

Sharpedo Bluff looked like it always did with everything on Torchic's side a complete mess and everything on Matt's side in order. However the sun wasn't even rising yet. A fire was made in the center of their room.

"Why did you wake me up this early?"

"Well you know today is the day the guild is going to-" But before she could finish her sentence Bidoof came down into their base.

"Hey guys Chatot wanted me to check on you to see if you were coming, you know he doesn't like people being late. Yup, yup."

"Yeah, you can tell him that we are getting ready right now.", Matt said with a yawn, "Why does he pick on us by the way?"

Torchic smiled, "You know he does that to everyone?"

"Oh well, hey Bidoof do you know how many people are coming to this meeting?"

"Uh, well I know that there are quite a few coming from all four of the islands. Yup-yup."

"Ah, even Colony island?", Torchic said enthusiastically, "That place is full of much mystery, I hope to see it one day!"

"Who knows the day has only just began." replied Matt. It's funny to think that just eight months ago she was scared of almost anything. That was the reason she found me on the shore turned into a Piplup. Aww that was an interesting day.

"That would be a wonderful sight wouldn't it? Yup-yup. Anyway I'll see you at the guild! Yup-yup."

Bidoof then left the base as the sun was beginning to rise.

"Well what's our job in all of this by the way?" Matt asked.

"Today we're supposed to meet all the guests and exploration teams at the crossroads. Spinda's Cafe will be packed." Torchic checked there adventure bag, "I'm ready whenever you are."

Matt looked through his own stuff to make sure they were ready, when he was sure he had everything he and Torchic went to the crossroads.

When they got there the sun had just risen and it was still slightly dark out because of the cliff the guild was built into. Yet even though it was this early many Exploration Teams were already coming.

There were so many Pokémon they had never seen before and most of them were very pleased to meet them. They were a little famous for saving the world from the planet's paralysis.

Then they heard someone's voice: "Hello down there!"

Both Matt and Torchic instinctively looked up to see three bird Pokémon coming in for a landing. They recognized them as Team Airborne, an exploration team that was famous for flying long distances. When they landed three other Pokémon got off as well. A Mudkip, a Chikorita, and an Eevee.

The Mudkip and Chikorita stepped forward to greet Matt and Torchic.

"Hello!", The Chikorita said in a cheery voice, "We're Team LeafWave, I'm Rose and this is my partner Kip."

"Hi! It's great to meet you." Kip said happily.

"You're the Team LeafWave?" Matt was amazed, "Didn't you fight Groudon and Rayquaza?"

Rose smiled, "Yes and you must be Team Hope, the team that fought Primal Dialga and Darkrai."

Torchic laughed, "Well it looks like our reputations precede us all."

The Eevee began to walk toward Treasure Town.

"Notch, you're leaving already?" Rose said to Notch.

"Yeah, I have things to do in town.", the Eevee named Notch replied, "See you later."

"That's interesting." Matt said.

"What?" Torchic asked.

"That Eevee had a notched right ear, did you see them?"

Torchic looked curious, "I guess that's where he get's his name?"

Just then it became dark all of the sudden. They all looked around in confusion. Then in the middle of the crossroads a red light appeared. Then it was surrounded by three red rings and a mysterious pattern formed around it. Out of this weird light stepped out four Pokémon.

As the light disappeared Matt asked, "Who are you and what in the world did you just do?"

A Pokémon that looked like a grass snake looked at the group and smiled, "You've must've not ever seen a Magnagate before have you?"

The other Pokémon looked just as strange as the others but Matt knew who they were the second he said Magnagate, "So you must be Team Paradise? It's Dan, Oshawott, Emolga, and Dunsparce isn't it?"

"Yes it is.", Oshawott said, "Oh by the way call me Wott."

Rose looked at Team Paradise, "You're Team Paradise? We've heard so much about you. I remember when your island got renamed to Paradise Island after that Paradise you created."

Wott shown a look of embarrassment, "Well, yeah that was a surprise when they did that and we got to remember that it wouldn't have happen if it weren't for Dan's help."

"But it was your dream in the first place." Dan replied.

Emolga laughed, "And it of course we must remember that it was me and Dunsparce here that made it worth going to."

Kip looked at Team Paradise and smiled, "Seems like there is never a dull moment when you guys are around."

"Isn't that true for all of us?" Matt joked. The entire group laughed at it.

Meanwhile elsewhere...

It had been a week since Tom's first day in the Pokémon world. In that time many things happened. Ve showed Tom around Comb Town which was famous for it's large population of Combee and their leader Vespiquen. Other than that it was a very small town that was mainly focused on serving as a temporary base for explorers.

They were also a registered Explorer Team now. That meant that they could freely explore the surrounding Mystery Dungeons and help others with requests that came in.

It helped for Tom to get his mind off of his dilemma of being a Pokémon, but the more time he helped others and went exploring with Ve the more and more he wondered about where he came from and who he is.

One day when they were looking for a job to take a Sentret came running up to them.

"Excuse me?" The Sentret asked, "Are you an Explorer team?"

"Yes we are." Tom replied, "How can we help you?"

Sentret looked at both of them nervously, "Uh... you see there's this one library that is deep underground called the Grand Library and I would be very glad if you could take me to it."

"Of course we can help you", Ve said cheerfully, "I happen to know where the Grand Library is."

"Great! That would be very helpful. I can go as soon as you're ready.", Sentret looked delighted, "Uh what's your team name?"

Ve and Tom looked at each other, "We don't have one yet, you see we just became a team a couple of days ago."

"Oh that's ok", Sentret said, "It doesn't matter that much."

In a few minutes Ve and Tom were all set to go and all three of them were off for The Grand Library. To get to it they had to go through a long tunnel that was a confirmed Mystery Dungeon.

For the first few minutes it seemed like there wasn't too many obstacles in the way, only a few wild Pokémon that didn't seem that strong either.

All was going well until...

Tom was walking through a room that looked empty but then he heard a click beneath him. Within seconds several Pokémon appeared out of nowhere: Zubats, Geodudes, and several other Pokémon had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Everyone be careful!", Ve shouted, "We've stumbled across a Monster House!"

All three of them got into the center of the room and they were all prepared for a fight.

The Zubat struck first with Supersonic attacks. The noise was so horrible it was worse than someone scratching a chalkboard. This didn't phase Tom, in fact it gave him an opportunity to attack.

"Thundershock!", He shouted and jets of electricity shot out from him and struck the Zubats but had no effect on the Geodudes.

Ve was next to make a strike, "Tackle!" She shouted as she knocked a Geodude back that was coming close to them.

There fight kept up like this with them sending blows at each other but no progress was being made by either side. Sentret was doing the best he could to try and help but all it could do was use scratch which proved ineffective against rock type Geodudes.

Then out of nowhere a Geodude used Rock Throw and it scored a direct hit on Tom who was blown back from the blow.

"Are you ok Tom?" Ve asked.

"Yeah I think so." Tom replied although he was injured from the attack.

"That's it!" Sentret shouted, "Faint Attack!"

Sentret seemed to disappear then reappear directly behind one Geodude and then he struck it. This seemed to scare the other wild Pokémon and they began to retreat into the dungeon.

"I'm not finished yet! Shadow Ball!" A sphere of dark energy appeared in front of Sentret and then he shot it down toward the fleeing Pokémon.

"Can a Sentret learn those moves?" Tom asked in a confused voice.

Ve was just as confused as Tom, "Not normally. Sentret how did you do that?"

Sentret looked at both of them, "I have something to tell you. I'm not a Sentret." He then leapt into the air and was surrounded in a purple light for an instant then came back down not as a Sentret but as a...

"I am a Zorua. A Pokémon of illusions."

Tom wondered about something, Zorua? Where did he hear that name before?

"A Zorua? What were you doing pretending to be a Sentret?" Ve asked.

"Well that's a long story. To sum it up I was being chased by some not-so-pleasant Pokémon and I had to pretend to be a Sentret to hide in plain sight. When we came into this monster house I had to reveal myself to help you. It didn't look like it would end well so I decided that it was worth the risk."

"Why did you need us to come with you on this exploration if you could handle yourself?" Tom asked.

"Well it's because I needed someone I could trust." Zorua replied then he looked at Ve, "I'm surprised you forgot about me Ve. Has it been that long?"

What? Ve thought, I don't know him! Wait, is he that Zorua?

"Zero?" Ve asked, "Is that you?"

"Yes! You remember!"

Tom looked at both of them, "Ok now I'm really confused! How do you know each other? What am I missing?"

"About a year ago a Zoroark and her son were passing through Comb Town. That Zorua was Zero here. Me and him became friends and we would always share stories every time he and Zoroark visited but in recent months he stopped coming." Ve looked at Zero, "Why did you stop coming by? Did something happen?"

"Actually that is why I came here." Zero replied, "I need help. Zoroark has disappeared. I don't know where she's gone or what to do, so I came here to see if you could help me."

"Wait!" Tom said, "Those Pokémon you said were coming after you. Did they have anything to do with Zoroark's disappearance?"

"I have no clue." Zero said, "They could want anything."

"Ok well where were you when Zoroark disappeared?" Ve asked.

"You mean you'll help me!"

"Of course!" Tom said, "We're an exploration team. Our job is to assist those in need."

"Thank you!" Zero said, "Well in response to your question Ve, we were on Guild Island."

"What!?" Ve said shocked, "What were you doing there? That's extremely far from here."

"Well we were exploring the many dungeons that were there and one night she just, disappeared."

"Well the first thing we should do is get to Guild Island. But that may take us awhile." Ve began thinking.

"Oh don't worry." Zero said, "I have a very quick way." He then pulled out a weird orb out of his bag.

What is that? Tom thought but then he seemed to remember, Another memory? He thought, That orb it's a-

It seemed to happen in an instant.

First Tom shouted "NO WAIT!"

Then Zero shouted, "Warp Orb-X!"

After that the orb began to glow and suddenly Tom felt the floor around him give way and he was now falling or what seemed to be falling. He felt as though he was just thrown an extremely long distance at top speed, then in an instant it was over.

He landed on the ground softly but what landed on him was the part that hurt. Zero had landed directly on top of Tom.

"Zero if you come with us do me two favors." Tom said.

"What's that?" Zero asked.

"For one try to warn us before you catapult us a great distance, and two try and not land on top of me every time you do."

Zero laughed, "Sorry about that."

"Isn't that true for all of us?" They heard someone say.

They looked to see that they just interrupted a conversation between a few Exploration Teams.

A Mudkip looked at Ve, Zero, and Tom and said, "First Magnagates and now teleporters? What else will this day bring?"

End of Chapter 1