Hey guys, long time no see! I just wanted to let you all know that I may be returning to a more steady writing schedule soon, with free time finally starting to open up for me.

I also wanted to tell all of you that this story may start to become a little…confusing, I guess. So far, it's been a relatively Sans-centric story, most of the plot focusing on Sans' journey through the PMD universe, but it will start branching off from there.

Now, enjoy the story!


[Sans]

Sans and the Flareon stared at each other for at least ten solid seconds before either one of them spoke.

"um…hi," said Sans, trying to break the silence.

"Hey, don't sit there and act so stupid!" shouted the Flareon. It got up and paced around the bed a bit before sitting back down. It had a small red ribbon on it's head.

"sorry? i guess?" Sans shrugged and gestured to Cameron.

"did you do this?"

"Yeah, what do you think? He walked in on my beauty sleep!"

"so you knocked him out?"

"Yes."

"Geez, someone's aggressive," whispered Amber. The Flareon caught Amber's quip and growled.

"Hey, you're the one to talk!"

Amber snarled in return and stared down the Flareon.

"How about you shut your mouth?!"

"Come at me! I'm not afraid of you!"

"GRRRR-." Amber tried to lunge at the Flareon, but Faith and Papyrus held her back with all their strength.

"C'mon Amber, don't make this worse!" shouted Faith, pushing against her.

"NYEEEEEH!"

Sans turned to the Flareon, who was still eyeing Amber.

"and…why are you here? who are you? how did you get here?"

The Flareon rolled its eyes and sighed.

"So needy…well, my name is-."

Sans heard footsteps growing closer to the room, turning to face the door in the process. By the time he turned back, the Flareon was at the window, looking outside.

"you aren't going to-."

"No, of course not, stupid! I'm just getting out before they know I'm here!" The Flareon turned around and winked at Sans.

"See ya later. Maybe." The Flareon did a backflip out the window, Sans running immediately to where she was standing. Peeking out the window he could see the pink blur running on the treetops, until she was out of sight of Sans.

"jesus, that was…weird."

"You call that weird?" laughed Amber. "Have you been living under a rock this entire time?"

"you'd be surprised."

"Hey Sans…look at this."

Sans turned and saw Faith kneeling to pick up a red object from the ground; the ribbon from the Flareon.

"it must have fallen off when she escaped."

"Here, you hold onto it."

Faith held the red ribbon in her hand, outstretched for Sans to take. As he pocketed the ribbon in his right hoodie pocket, he felt a cold, metallic object touch the back of his fingers. That was odd; he didn't remember putting something like that into his pocket.

"eh?"

Amber turned her head and gave Sans a confused look.

"Something…wrong?"

Sans wrapped his fingers around the object, feeling it's size and shape.

"HEY! Earth to SANS!" Faith was waving her hand in front of his face, trying to get his attention. He must have spaced out.

"oh, sorry…just got a lot on my mind, that's all."

He reluctantly pulled the object out of his pocket.

"what in the…" Clutched in his right hand was a fragment of what seemed to be a golden medallion, only a small part remaining. It was attached to a dark blue ribbon, which was the same color as his hoodie jacket. As he turned the gold-plated piece in his hands, he could see the edges of some sort of design imprinted onto the medallion. Without the full disc, there was no way he would be able to know exactly what the design was.

"finally, something helpful.." he muttered under his breath.

"Huh? What was that?" asked Amber, overhearing his soft chatter.

"eh?! oh…it was nothing." Sans cursed under his breath; he accidentally said that out loud. Luckily, nobody actually heard him.

Sans continued to dig in his pockets as the others talked and waited for Cameron to wake up. It didn't seem like the rest of the medallion was in his pockets; dammit.

He held the broken medallion in front of himself then slowly slipped the ribbon over his neck-.

"ey, alphys, what did you make this time?"

Sans darted his head around in a panic. That was his voice but…he didn't say anything. And neither did anyone others looked at Sans like had gone insane and returned to their personal conversations.

"Sans, this is a v-v-very important piece of t-technology," replied Alphys' voice. He thought about who Alphys was, but every time he tried his head began to throb.

He heard the rustling and exchanging of some sort of item; likely whatever the other person was working on.

"it just looks like a regular 'ol disc to me."

"C'mon S-Sans, you know that i-if-"

"yea, i know alphys, i was just messin' with you."

There was a pause of silence in the conversation. Sans carefully looked around his surroundings; he was still conscious. In the past, his "memory flashes" knocked him out, so there must be some outside cause for this.

What was he planning?

"what does this thing do again?"

"Well, Sans, it's supposed to…"

The next few seconds were jumbled and gargled to the point he could no longer tell what words were being said.

"…It should be useful…a-as long as i-it's whole."

"and…will paps have one?"

"This is the o-only one I have Sans…I'm w-working on another b-but-"

"just get it done. time is of the essence."

"O-Okay, Sans…"

Sans waited for more of the conversation, but it seemed like whatever memory that was, was finished. His mind drifted towards thoughts about the kid-.

"oh my god." A few of his memories, or at least fragments of more of his memories, had been restored by the broken medallion.

"Sans?" he turned to see Amber looking at him worriedly. "Something wrong?"

"don't worry 'bout me, i'm fine."

That was a total lie. Sans was panicking inside, trying to take in the influx of memories of his past. Unfortunately, they weren't much help in solving his current problems, but at least they were something. He remembered his friends, but not what they looked like, where they were from, or exactly how long ago the memories were. Only the conversation he had just re-experienced in his head seemed to offer any clues.

Sans saw movement in the corner of his eye, and spotted Papyrus leaning against the wall, looking at Sans quizzically.

"bro, you all good?"

"NYEH HEH HEH! OF COURSE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ALWAYS GREAT!" Papyrus gave Sans a dramatic pose, making Sans laugh. That was his bro.

"Ugh…what happened?" Everyone turned to see Cameron stirring on the floor, rubbing his head.

"You got knocked out by a girl," laughed Faith, prompting Cameron to knock her feet out from under her.

"Besides that…" He sat up and crossed his arms, obviously upset. His expression changed when he saw the broken medallion around Sans' neck. "Where'd ya get that?"

"i…don't know actually. it was just there."

"Huh…I don't buy that." Cameron stood up and began to walk aggressively towards Sans.

"i'm telling the truth, bro, what else do you want from me?"

Sans continued to back up as Cameron advanced on him, forcing Sans against the wall.

"Hey Cam, what are you doing?!" shouted Faith, trying to pull him back. Unfortunately, her efforts did nothing.

"I've been watching you, Sans, and you've always been a bit iffy since day one." He poked Sans in the chest as Sans stared into Cameron's eyes, face to face with him. Sans furrowed his brow curiously, noticing a glint in Cameron's eyes he never saw before.

"hey man, i don't know what happened to you while we were gone, but you just need to relax."

Almost as fast as he noticed it, the glint was gone. Cameron blinked his eyes a couple times and looked around.

"S-Sorry Sans…I don't know what got into me." He stepped back a couple feet and frowned. "I think being in my brother's old room is starting to get to me."

Sans gritted his teeth silently as he looked at Cameron, who had just seemed to go from absolutely furious to apologetic in an instant. That look in his eyes didn't seem natural, but then again Cameron wasn't typically angry, so Sans tossed it aside.

"Sans, you okay?" Amber trotted over to him and looked between Sans and Cameron nervously.

"yeah…i'm fine." His eyes quickly darted to the broken medallion, which seemed harmless enough.

"We should…get going." Cameron awkwardly picked up his bag from the ground and left the room, speechless.

"i'ma follow him. we should really head out for fountain bluff tonight to maximize the time we have tomorrow."

In reality, this was only partially true; Sans just wanted to escape the tension that was lingering in the room.

"NYEH! I AGREE!" Papyrus sprinted out past Sans, to who knows where. Faith and Amber just stood where they were, seemingly unwilling to move.

"well…are you coming or not?"

"…Yeah…" they both muttered as they shambled out of the room.

Sans took one last look in the room, meticulously picking the details apart. He shrugged and muttered something under his breath, before finally closing the door.


[?'s POV]

Ugh…another boring day. I never thought it would be possible to go insane from doing nothing, but, like always, the universe has proved me wrong once again.

I stand up from the grass bed, stretching all four of my legs and shaking my tail in the process. I can see in the corner of my eye that it's bright outside; have I slept in past dawn again?

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEY, SLEEPY HEAD! GET UP!" A girl's voice rings from outside my makeshift hut. You've got to be kidding me.

"Ugh…give me a minute." I plop back down to the ground and bring my brown and white tail back around as a pillow. It's not worth waking up yet.

"Michael, am I going to have to drag you out myself?" The girl's voice was closer this time. I murmur a complaint under my breath and bury my face in my tail.

"I'm coming in there in three seconds if you don't move!"

I do nothing.

"Three, two, one…" Her voice trails off as I remain on the ground, unmoving.

"OKAY MICHAEL! I'M GOING IN THERE!"

I hear loud footsteps entering my hut and teeth come down around my tail. I yelp a bit in both surprise and pain as I jolt my eyes open.

"Ow!"

I look up drowsily to see an Espeon dragging me out of the hut by my tail, all four of my legs dragging along the floor.

"C'mon Sarah…really?"

I slam my face into the ground for no reason.

"Yes Michael! If you're sleeping past me…it's DEFINITELY AN ISSUE!"

The bright light of outside stings my eyes. I attempt to cover them with my front two paws, but it doesn't really work. I hiss.

"You aren't a vampire or a Zubat, Michael. Man up. You're the only guy here!"

How did I get myself into this mess? I wake up in a pile of leaves with zero recount of literally anything, including my name, then I end up living in a forest, isolated from civilization, with these crazy girls? I mean, I know Sarah and all since we're pretty good friends, but this is just…whack. On at least fifteen levels.

"Well…good morning Michael…or should I say AFTERNOON?!"

As Sarah drops my tail, I roll on my back, my vision blurry. As I blink, I realize someone's standing over me.

"AH! M-Monika!"

A Sylveon was staring at me from above, her expression showing her obvious disappointment at my lackluster sleep schedule.

"Uh…s-sorry." I quickly roll back onto my belly and start reverse army-crawling my way backwards, trying to cover my face with my ears. I had gotten surprisingly good at that over the last couple months.

"You aren't getting away, mister!"

Monika wrapped one of her ribbon things around my front two paws and began to reel me back in, Sarah laughing in the background.

"Just because you aren't evolved doesn't give you an excuse to slack off!"

Not even fair. I'm just an Eevee, and the others are already evolved.

"Uncalled for, Monika…"

Monika stood over me as I looked up, defeated.

"I don't want you just mooching off everyone else's work!"

Monika started to slowly approach me, a playful gleam in her eyes.

"C'mon, you're a boy. Don't you have to treat us ladies nicely?" She gave me a playful wink.

"U-Uhh…" Jesus Christ, I get flustered easily.

Before I know it, I get hit in the face by Monika. I hold my front right paw over my nose, where I got hit.

"Jeez Monika, I know I'm slacking but you don't have to whack me like that!"

"Then DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE!"

"Okay, okay! I'm going!"

I slowly limp my way out of camp, which is basically five makeshift huts arranged in a circle. It's not much, but it's home I suppose.

I decide to go to look for more firewood in the forest, when I see a black entity in front of me, staring off into space.

"Uh…Iris?"

She doesn't move. I decide to leave her alone and continue on to the forest.

When I reach the forest, I pick up bits and pieces of firewood and stack them into the bag on my back, and after about an hour of doing that I decide to head back to camp. On my way back, I keep an eye out for Iris, but she doesn't seem to be anywhere in sight. Probably back at the camp.

As I approach home, I can hear some loud noises coming from nearby. I unsling the pack from my back as I walk around the nearest hut and-

"MICHAEL GET DOWN!"

"Wha?-"

I'm tackled by Monika just as a dark beam narrowly misses my head. We tumble along and she ends up standing right on top of me. We're both blushing.

"What's going on?" I ask, both startled and curious.

"Can't explain. Something's wrong with Y-I mean Iris."

She quickly looks around, her ribbons flowing in the air. I carefully lift myself back onto my feet and start picking up the wood I spilled.

"You don't need to do that."

I drop the bag.

"Oh…okay."

Monika is looking at me like I'm absolutely retarded. That must mean that I am either absolutely retarded, or I have no idea what's going on. It's probably both.

"Careful," she begins, "don't make a-."

I step on a branch, the snap resonating in the forest.

"Sound." She sounds angry.

"HEHEHEEHEHEEHEHE! I FOUND YOU MONIKA!"

I jump and turn around, startled, to see Iris staring at the two of us with the biggest grin I've ever seen. I don't know if she's just being herself, or if something's gotten into her head.

"Michael, get out of the way, now!"

I dive out of the way as Iris shoots a dark pulse right at me. Monika manages to shoot some sort of laser and block Iris' attack. I'm laying down in the sidelines as I watch Monika and Iris duke it out, biting, scratching, and firing lasers at each other. I must be dreaming right now.

After what feels like an eternity, Monika manages to knock Iris down, breathing heavily as she looks at Iris' unmoving body. She's probably just unconscious.

As I get up to walk to Monika, I hear her mutter something under her breath, but she turns to look at me as soon as I stand up.

"Monika…tell me. What's going on?"

She turns away from me, tears in her eyes. She's obviously hiding something.

"I can't…tell you."

"Why not?"

"I just can't, okay?!"

"You can tell-."

"I CAN'T!"

She suddenly snaps at me, surprising me. I don't ever remember Monika being this angry since…ever.

I look at Iris.

"What's going on between you and Iris?"

Monika gives me a weak smile and laughs.

"Don't worry about me, okay? I can handle myself. You just need to get as far away from here as possible."

"What?"

Did I do something wrong?

"Trust me, okay? You have to. To stay safe."

"Um…"

I'm speechless. My brain is completely overwhelmed by the sudden change in events.

"Sarah got hit by Iris, and she's not moving. You should take her with you."

"Monika-"

"You have to find Natalie and make sure she doesn't come back. Take her with you too if you wish." Monika continues on almost as if I didn't exist.

"But…"

"No buts." Monika gives me a peck on the cheek and smiles.

"Now, do what I say. Before-"

I hear a whoosh in the trees behind me. I see that Monika had stopped talking; she must have heard it as well.

"Uh oh…" Her expression suddenly darkens, and she begins to back up from the tree line.

"Monika?" I look at her. She glares back, angry.

"I told you to-"

Suddenly, a giant dark mass snatches Monika from the ground, and pins her against a tree. To me, it just looked like a giant blob incapable of having a solid form, let alone a grip on Monika, but whatever.

"Ack…" Monika is struggling to free herself from the grip of the dark…thing. She looks at me from behind the dark creature and smiles.

"Now's…your…chance…" She passes out and goes limp up against the tree. Of course, I, being an idiot, did absolutely nothing.

"Erm…"

The dark creature turned what I think is it's head and snarled at me.

"I'ma just…go."

"GRAAAAAR!"

I turn and sprint away from the dark creature, narrowly dodging its outstretching hand. I manage to snag my bag on the way out, thanks to practice running from an angry Monika.

As I pass into the middle of camp, I spot Sarah lying on the ground, unconscious. I begin to drag her out of camp as I hear the dark creature grumble in the background, giving up it's chase.

"Gaah…haaaah…"

She's surprisingly heavy. I accidentally trip and fall into a bush, where I see an unusual-looking rock sitting in the bush. I can feel cold air coming from the stone.

"Heeeeeeey…Michaaaaael!" I can hear Monika calling from behind me, but…

I turn around and see both Iris and Monika looking at me, both having that weird glint in their eyes.

"Oh crap."

I grab the nearest thing to me, which happened to be that rock.

"UHHHHHHHHHH-"

I feel energy coursing through me; is this evolution? Who just leaves an evolution stone sitting in a bush?

Bright light fills my eyes, and when I'm able to see again, I look at myself.

"I'm…a Glaceon…"

Yeah, I'm a Glaceon now. Great time to evolve when I'll probably have no time to enjoy being an evolved piece of crap with my friends.

I look nervously between Sarah, Iris, and Monika.

"Can we just talk-"

Monika suddenly fires a moon laser straight at me, and I'm able to dodge it with newfound speed.

"I'll take that as a no."

I prepare to try and fight back, and to my surprise, I fire a beam of ice straight at Monika and Iris, creating a huge wall out of ice. I stare at it in awe.

"Wait…I'm supposed to be getting out of here."

I grab Sarah and I'm able to sling her on top of my back, despite us basically being the same size. I start running in the opposite direction, trying to get as far as I can before they start chasing me. I have to warn Natalie, too.

"God…"

I hope you're okay, Sarah. We'll get through this. I know it.


Who is this…Michael? What are these new characters?! wHo Is MoNikA-

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Down to the Bone!

If you ever have any ideas or constructive criticism for my story, please let me know.

I'll see you all in the next chapter!

-Blox