Chapter 3: 寂しい (Lonely)

POV: Franklin (Froakie)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or Mystery Dungeon. I do own any original characters, places, names, character personalities, and plot elements.


"Don't let a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life." -Author Unknown.


"Tis a fine day to introduce thyself. Thy name is Franklin. Sir Franklin the Frog, knight protecting the village of Serene."

If I was, of course. You see, ever since my parents died in a fire back in Steampunk Town, I've lived in Serene Village alone. I had nobody to talk to but myself. I was my only companion. My only friend. If only someone would see me as an actual hero.

But, alas, no heroes have set foot, paw, and/or gill onto the plains of the village. All I am is a geek with a love for role play. Yup, I'm a LARPer. Go figure. All I ever do now is go on adventures in mystery dungeons, which is where my LARPing instincts kick in.

Huh? What's a mystery dungeon, you ask? Well, when you enter a mystery dungeon, the layout changes each time, so it's kind of difficult to create a map of one. There are different items, different routes, and occasionally different Pokémon as you go through the dungeon. When you faint in one, however, you lose everything. Literally everything. Your money, your items, your food, everything...gone.

So, I just go to mystery dungeons that are safe enough for Pokémon like me, mainly Open Pass and Lush Forest. And since most of the dungeons around here are full of Grass-types, nobody would be happier to accompany me in mystery dungeons than Fennica.

Yeah, I know that I said that I had no friends. I don't really the little lass a friend, and that's because she can be a bit...ah, what's the word I'm looking for...childish, at times.


See, whenever we go into a mystery dungeon, no matter how many times I try to warn her, Fennica will run straight to every room looking for treasure, and enemies are always popping up. See, enemies won't move unless she moves, and she can't move until I move. That's something about mystery dungeons that's...mysterious. Also, Fennica is so busy looking for the stairs that lead to the next floor that she doesn't even notice that her stomach rumbles. Starvation is deadly in mystery dungeons, and that's another thing about mystery dungeons that's mysterious. And then Fennica finds these weird, amazing, nature-distorting sticks (or W.A.N.D.S, for short), then uses it all on me, blowing me up, paralyzing me, warping me to another room, or summoning a monster house, which is yet another thing about mystery dungeons that are mysterious!

Recently, our adventures have gotten a bit out of control. And a bit more local.

There was one time Fennica trampled all over Lombre's lotus pond, even though she hates water so much. I insisted on not to go into someone else's property, but she said: "Oh, come on, Franklin. I'm not scared of some silly ol' pond. You are so, like, nervous sometimes." And, of course, she scared a Yamna and ruined Lombre's pond. Lombre was ticked the next day.

Then, there was another time, where Fennica ran around Hippopotas' cave without a single care in the world. She told me not to tell anyone that she was going in to find 'treasure' in the cave, and came out with what looked like one of Hippopotas' famous sand sculptures! It was a life-sized replica of a Sharpedo, complete with very sharp teeth and very rough Rough Skin. It was nighttime, so it was dark enough to hardly tell if the sculpture looked fake or not. Fennica pulled the Sharpedo sand sculpture all the way to the lake, where she dropped it there! Okay, so she took a friggin' Sharpedo sculpture, thinking it was real, which it wasn't...and somehow THREW it into the lake! And to top it off, she waved to the now-destroyed sculpture and said, "Bye, Mr. Sharpedo, you're free now from Hippopotas' petrifying spell!" Then she turned to me, sniffled sadly and said, "I'm so glad for that Pokémon. He's going to a better place!"

What kind of Pokémon other than Fennica would do something that flipping stupid?! I wouldn't!

The next morning, Hippopotas was sizzling mad that, that day, he cursed more frequently than anyone in the village would in a week's amount of time! Fennica was smiling that day, too. She eventually whispered at my side that "The wizard (Hippopotas, in this case) has been weakened, me good knight. A quest well fulfilled, would thou might say?"

Sigh, I guess Fennica will never understand how LARPing actually works...

I decided to go into Open Pass...alone...so I could get Fennica off my back. And that's when I saw that streak of light plummet down from the sky. What could that have been? I went to check it out and I found that a Chespin was lying unconscious. I figured it was wild so I slowly hopped away from it before it could wake up. Soon, I heard a growl.

"EhEhEhEhEhEhHhHh...YoU fOoLiSh PoKéMoN, yOu ShOuLd'Ve StAyEd DeAd."

All of a sudden a black wispy cloud of darkness started to form around the two of us. I wished someone would save us.

Then, I felt someone pushing me into the lake, as was the Chespin. That someone howled in pain as the darkness took control of it. Yet, I never got a good look at that someone, I would have probably thanked him/her for saving me and that Chespin from harm.

Everything started going black, due to the force of that push. My grasp of the Chespin was starting to slip away as my eyes closed slowly and my actions were petrified.


A/n: Okay, yes, it isn't September 18th yet, but I wanted to publish at least something that would make up for those embarrassingly bad foreign-language versions of Pocketay Genesis (time to cross "get flamed" and "publish a foreign language version of a Pocketay story" off on my to-do list!). Shout-out to Chuuny, I hope this makes up for everything that happened on "Flaming Friday." (That's what I calling it from now on!)

And that's all for now, again: September 18th, 2016! Be there or be twigged! Until then...

Slow and Steady writes the Story!

And, as always, read and review!