Hello! Welcome to the first chapter that is not part of the prologue! I hope you enjoyed the prologue. Okay, this is going to be a short chapter in comparison to the last one. This chapter is also more focused on the characters and not on some sort of major event happening. Like I said, since this is pretty much inspired from the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series there isn't always something related to the plot occurring instead give a few days of expedition or having fun. But next time, there'll be a longer chapter or at least I'll try. Besides that, I hope you enjoy what we have here!
Internal Mystery
Chapter 1
Dawn of a New Day
The sun was shining very brightly! The six pokemon in the house woke up without any worry in the world. For Mat, Channah and Danny it was one of their first true days together in what might have been a while. Luckily for them, they were able to meet three other pokemon who were kind enough to let the stay for as long as they needed to. That morning Danny woke up full of energy and ready to spend time with his friends! The zealous dedenne was the first pokemon stirring in the house, he exited the house and got a few good breaths of the morning's fresh air! Danny came back inside only to find Pan wake up only moments later, she was the second one ready to start the day!
"Oh, why good morning Danny." Greeted the pikachu, still a little sleepy from waking up.
"Good mornin' Pam!" Replied the dedenne.
A little longer after the two electric pokemon woke up, the rest of them were awake too. But of course Mat had the most difficulty waking up...
The morning continued. Nymphia was in her room upstairs doing work, Danny was playing outside and Channah and Pam were talking to each other in the room with the table. After eating breakfast, Mat went back to bed; completely bored and too lazy to go outside. He rolled over, looked at the ceiling, stretched and eventually fell asleep.
"Hey Nymphia, so water you doing?" Danny curiously asked the sylveon.
In the upstairs room, Nymphia was studying some sort of ancient table inscribed a bunch of symbols. the tablet rested on top of an ordinary, rectangular, boxed-shaped table. She also wore a magnifying monocle that was attached to her ear. As she continued to study every individual symbol, the dedenne was by her side acting as a backseat driver; bouncing and constantly asking questions. While Nymphia kept ignoring him to concentrate on her work, occasionally signaling with her ribbons to tell the boy to leave. Meanwhile, all of Danny's bouncing around created noisy banging sounds which was unpleasant for anyone below.
"Oh my, that is quite a bit of a racket! I hope it is not bothering Nymphia" stated Pam, worried for the sylveon.
"Speaking of her," Channah blurted. "what is she doing upstairs? I know that Nymphia isn't the type to really venture but what has her so occupied?"
"Oh yes, that. That is her research duties! You see, Nymphia has been studying ancient artifacts for as long as I met her!" Informed the pikachu.
This news amazed Channah! Even though they have only known each other for a few days now, the chikorita had yet to learn what Pam had thought her. It wasn't much of a surprise either, considering how Nymphia is the oldest (tied with Mat) and seemed to be rather intellectual.
"So, is there any mysteries or secrets those artifacts hold," asked Channah.
"I am afraid that we do not have an answer yet," answered Pam, in a sadder tone. "You see, Nymphia has been searching for answers for a long time. But she has yet to discover anything astronomical for a long time... But I believe with her hard work and dedication that something will turn up!"
"Well, I hope so too!" stated Channah.
And so time continued for several hours. Not much changed besides Danny going outside to play. It was a bit after noon, Kyle entered the house from the front door by barely pushing it due to being unlocked. He casually walked through the entrance and turned left, only to find the dewott fast asleep in the middle of the day. Out of nowhere, the keldeo decided to shoot water at the dewott using aqua jet but it had little effect. Now the dewott's surroundings we flooded nearly covering half the room in water, including the other piles of hay. The keldeo was persistent though and had another plan to awaken Mat. Kyle walked over to Mat and began poking him with his horn, which did not prove to be successful either. His last plan was to poke him very hard. Kyle took a few steps back, pointed his head towards the dewott who was in a very comfortable nap and charged at him...
"So, what was it that you needed?" Mat asked calmly, with all his effort focused on containing his blinding rage as the pain swelled in his back.
Mat searched for signs of apology on the keldeo's face but it only gave a serious vibe. The two sat in the same room as before, only a few minutes after being woken up. They sat on the wet floor which didn't not bother them in the slightest. Surprisingly, no one else was bothered by what had happened. Mat suspected that Channah would blame everything on him but what he did not know was that Pam would later explain what happened since she knew what his plan was, thus saving him from being lectured.
"So, what's up? Did you, need anything?!..." Mat very impatiently asked.
"W-Well, you see. I have a favour to ask you." Requested Kyle.
"After all this? You could've waited for me to finish sleep y'know..."
"Yes and I apologize for that. But it is not something I can spare any more time on. Because I'd like you to be my sparring partner for today!"
A pokemon with as much pride as Kyle must have felt ashamed to ask his guest for such a request. The keldeo's head was looking downwards, he was surely embarrassed but he pulled through to ask something important to him.
It took a few seconds before the dewott finally replied, "sure, why not? Got nothin' better to do."
"Alright, that sounds fantastic!" Kyle said gleefully.
"But first," Mat said, stopping Kyle before they left. "What's your reason?"
"Well you see," began Kyle, hesitant to explain. "I wasn't able to watch your performance against that victini. But from what everyone has told me and from the fact we are safe, I can not deny the fact that you actually won the battle. I would like a demonstration of the power you used that day please."
The two walked outside, down the hill and continued straight for a few minutes. After their short stroll, the pair entered a small clearing in the forest; clear sun entering the small open area and a nice open space to train!
"Shall we commence?" Kyle asked.
Mat grabbed both of his scalchops and Kyle readied his horn and got into his battle stance. The two of them sparred for a few hours with some breaks, all until Mat got too tired to continue.
Mat was sitting on the grass, sweat pouring down his face. The two pokemon had battle for over two hours without stopping and the dewott was incapable with keeping up with the keldeo's stamina.
"I still don't understand how you were able to become triumphant yet I perished in battle," Kyle complained, reminding Mat that he was still a young pokemon with a hidden childish side.
"All I did was land a few good hits," replied Mat. "Besides, I did notice a few flaws in your battle. For starters: you used sacred sword too much, your hydro pump attack wasn't aimed well and you left yourself vulnerable whenever you jumped for an attack."
"I-I see," Kyle said, showing as bright as day that he was disheartened. "But I'm impressed Mat. Your analyzing skills are impressive, for a pokemon who appeared practically from thin air."
"Yeah, sometimes I actually try y'know," replied Mat nonchalantly.
"It still doesn't explain how you were able to beat Nick ." Kyle complained even further, reflecting his young age.
The dewott got off the ground and replied, "well we're all safe now and that's what matters. If you wanna find an answer then we're gonna have to continue with this, right?"
Mat wiped his head, grabbed both scalchops once again and smirked. Kyle grinned and prepared himself. The dewott would've preferred to do many other things that day that did not involve much effort but it felt nice to help his friend for once. Hopefully for that one time only.
By the time training was over, Mat was completely drained of his energy but Kyle was still capable of sparring for another hour or two! Once the two of them finally arrived home, Mat was using all his efforts to walk back into his bed where he would fall asleep the moment he closes his eyes. And that is exactly what he did! Kyle opened the door and Mat made a last-ditch effort and dashed inside, took a left turn, jumped onto his pile of hay and was finished for the rest of the day! The sun was only beginning to set and he was done for the day. To Mat it didn't matter since he took every day for granted, he believed nothing would ever go wrong again nor change. Just a normal day everyday which was what he wanted.
It was now supper time. Channah had helped Pam clean up the water from earlier and eventually Danny helped out too for the fun. Everybody except for Mat were eating supper and had fun talking in the room across from him. Several times Danny tried waking up the dewott but he was almost as if in another world. Another peaceful day for them had begun to end, it felt great to live peacefully and without any worries.
In several hours night had grown and everybody was asleep. The house was left pitch black and the pokemon slept together on their individual piles of hay in the round room. In the middle of the night Mat was awoken after rolling off his bed. He slowly woke up, wiping his eyes before findings that his surroundings were pitch black. Carefully navigating through the room, he eventually found the exit and looked across and into the other room where some snacks were left on the table in case Mat woke up in the middle of the night. Before crossing into the other room, he noticed that there was some light coming from the spiral staircase leading upstairs. Curiosity caught his attention and he soon found himself carefully climbing the staircase. Before entering the room he peered around the corner and found Nymphia; examining something very carefully through a magnifying monocle. The room was pretty messy: papers everywhere, an apple that was half eaten on the floor, the sylveon was hunched over and her hair (especially on her head) was scruffy and sticking out in many directions.
Mat silently entered the room and said quietly, "s'up, what're you doing?"
"Oh, it's you Mat," Nymphia said sheepishly, turning around and looking a bit embarrassed to see him and let him find a mature pokemon like herself in such a disorganized state. "I'm just, working a little late and doing extra work..."
"I see. Cool, cool. So what's bringing you up so late?" Mat asked, genuinely curious about someone else's activities which was pretty rare!
"O-Oh, well you see, I guess you can call it a hobby of mine," Nymphia replied, embarrassment displaying all over her face uncharacteristically.
The dewott walked towards Nymphia and inspected for himself what she was studying. Tablets, scrolls and rocks all containing symbols that were some sort of ancient inscription. To Mat, it looked like nonsense but to Nymphia it was a mystery for her to uncover. The things she collected were from all around the region! When she was a young eevee, Nymphia discovered these artifacts but as time went on Kyle started to also involve himself in her quest. Nymphia would stay and research while Kyle would occasionally ventured if they thought of another location to explore. After many years of work, the sylveon was only able to understand a small amount of the language inscribed on the artifacts.
It took a bit time but the explanation was over. Nymphia was a completely different pokemon during that time: shy, face boiling red with embarrassment, shaky voice and incapable to keep eye contact. She did not seem to be the type of pokemon who was open to talking about what she enjoyed. She seemed to be more like the quiet/mature type who hid many things about themselves.
"Cool stuff! I actually found that interesting, even though I don't normally enjoy learning." Mat complimented with a smile, showing continued interest.
"S-Sure, glad you enjoyed it..." Nymphia sheepishly replied, her eyes darting away from the dewott in a heartbeat.
"Well, I'll see you later!" Mat said before leaving.
"W-Wait!"
"Huh? Something's up?"
"Well you see," Nymphia began, pulling all her courage to say a few more words. "If you're ever interested to help, don't hesitate to say so!"
"Alright, don't sweat it! I'll be back whenever, plus I'm not the one nervous and blushing so I won't ponder much." Mat teased, before exiting.
After that, Mat left the room as silently as he came and Nymphia later followed. As the dewott fell asleep, he could only marvel about how cool Nymphia's research was: to research ancient artifacts and potentially discover something incredible. She was doing something that Mat couldn't; dedicating years worth of time into a passion. What interested him the most was the question: where did it all come from? Like himself, those artifacts hold an unknown origin and Mat felt let like they can uncover something truly outstanding and it only kept intriguing the dewott. But as his mind stirred away in his sleep, he felt as if discovering the truth could somehow lead to something ominous.