Chapter 1: Welcome to the World of Pokémon

Eterna wandered in a white realm. This blank space was her first she had ever dreamt of. After some walking, she was bored and decided to sit down and thought about what was the best solution to deal with the overpopulation of humans. She always thought of annihilate them, but she believed in good will and so killing was not her option. The best solution was not having children would solve the overcrowding issue in a long run. By doing so, there would be less unfortunate people around and happiness would be easier to achieve.

However, she hated herself for succumbing to negativity, though she could not help it as she was too in an unfortunate state. In urban areas that money was everything, it was hard for her to find a full time job due to competitiveness in a small country. So, she tried to opt for being a physiotherapist as she loved to help people to recover from their injuries and the after effects of surgeries. It was funny how her wants contradicted to negative thoughts.

She shook her head to stop reasoning to herself and staring at the never ending space. All of a sudden, she heard a voice echoing in space that she did not know who it was.

"You who know the ordeals of life and the blessing of death, I summon you to come to my aid. Save the land that is in peril. Save the ones that are not supposed to be in their end and, stop The End of his impulse…"

"Wait…huh? I don't even know what you…"

Then she heard another voice.

"Hey! Wake up! What are you doing here?"

The nudge by an unknown someone was enough to wake her up. She opened her eyes and her heart stopped a beat. It was night time and she was in an area full of rocks with symbols glowing in blue light. Some of them were about eight stories high. She turned her head and saw a monster that looked like an African kid with a leafy turban on its head. It had a wristband with a badge icon on it on his left arm and carried a sling bag. She quickly scrambled a short distance away from it and pinched herself. It was painful.

"It isn't a dream at all! Where am I?" she thought.

She did many deep breathing to calm down. The monster approached her cautiously and asked.

"Hey, I don't mean you harm. However, I must ask you this. Why are you sleeping in Mystical Mount? This area has great magic that is capable of silencing all Pokémon's moves at night!"

"Huh? Uh what? And…I can understand your words?" she stuttered.

"Oh no. You must be in a shock. Come on Fennekin, I shall lead you to Horizon Town so that you can rest properly."

"Fennekin? What is that?"

The monster crossed its arms and said, "Isn't that is your Pokémon name?"

Eterna looked down and realised she was yellow, fluffy and had no arms. She also felt that she had a tail and able to twitch her huge ears. She quickly stood up on her four feet. She tried to walk but stumbled many times on the floor. After being mesmerised of her body, she had forgotten that she was supposed to be shock that she was no longer a human! She screamed and the monster beside her jumped.

It managed to recover and tried to persuade Eterna, "Whoa whoa! Don't frighten me there! Okay okay, I shall carry you. Just…don't heat up your body too much okay?"

It carried her with ease. Eterna did not understand what it meant by heating herself up, until she felt embarrassed of it carrying her. The sudden spike of heat frightened Chespin, so she insisted that she should walk so as not to trouble it. While she was getting used to walking on fours, it started another conversation with her.

"I should introduce myself. My name is Chestnut the Chespin. It is a name given by my parents. They…passed away when I was three years old. Right now I am fourteen years old male and already able to manage on my own. Though, it is mostly thanks to Mistress Hoopa for introducing me to rescuing in mystery dungeons. How about you?"

"So I can address it as a he isn't it?" she thought and spoke after that, "My name is Eterna. I am twenty-five years old."

"What!? Are you sure you are twenty-five years old? You look like a youngster to me!"

"Umm…I don't know what to say, I was a human sleeping in my room and when you woke me up, I am in a different form and…"

Chestnut was surprised like he had heard a keyword, "You were a human?"

Eterna looked down on the ground and replied nervously, "Yeah. I don't know why I am here. The only clue I have was a voice I heard in my dream."

"Please explain it to me."

"It was a female voice and it sounded desperate. She said I should save this land. To me, that speech of hers was too sudden to me, and I am not a Hero Type at all! I don't have a clue of how to save the monsters of this land!" she took a big gulp of air and continued, "By the way, is Pokémon a shorten word for Pocket Monsters or something? What an odd name."

"Are you who I think you are?" he muttered and did not reply to her question.

"Huh?"

"We have no time to lose! Hurry! We must meet Mistress Hoopa as soon as possible!" he gestured her.

"Ah…okay." she followed. She was amazed she could run effortlessly with her four legs now and she did not pant much like her human counterpart. She was not unfit, but because of years of swimming made her clumsy on land, especially when she was running.

Once they were out of Mystical Mount and ventured into the forest, the sun began to rise over the west. It was a magnificent view for Eterna as she never seen a sunrise before. However, her moment of appreciation stopped when her tummy growled so loud that Chestnut turned his head towards her.

"Haha! Oh well, I guess we should have our breakfast first then. Wait here while I gather some berries in the forest." he said.

"Okay."

Eterna finally could view the sunrise without any interference. She sat down and glazed the symbolic rocks bathed under the sunlight. When the sunlight reaches the glowing symbols, they stopped illuminating. She would never forget the magical sight, but at the same time she worried about her being in a foreign world. What would her parents do if they learned that she had disappeared? She could not even imagine of their reactions.

By going through her thoughts to kill time, it did not take long enough for Chestnut to come back. She spotted two big unusual coloured fruits, especially a fruit looked like blue chestnuts crowded together. She narrowed her eyes and spoke to Chestnut.

"Are they poisonous? They don't look like edible fruits."

"Oh they aren't. They are berries in this world. The blue one is Rowap Berry and the yellow grape lookalike is Jaboca Berry. They tasted very good! Here, take the Rowap Berry."

She did not take it, so Chestnut munched a little of the berry and swallowed it to prove that there was nothing wrong with it. Seeing that it was okay to eat, Eterna took the berry from Chestnut and bit a huge chunk of it. Then, she spat it out as the spiciness in her mouth was too unbearable for her and she shot flames out of her mouth, literally. Chestnut backed away to prevent himself from getting barbequed.

"Argh! Bleh! Too spicy…and sour!" she began to cry and her mucus fell from her nose.

Chestnut apologised, "I…I'm sorry! I thought Fire Types love spicy food! Here…take the Jaboca Berry instead. The bitterness will ease the spiciness in your mouth."

She swapped the berry and immediately bit the Jaboca Berry. Sure enough, the extreme bitterness eased her discomfort and she munched away happily. As for Chestnut, he could finally finish his berry after being worried for her. Once they had their meal, they continued their travels into the forest. That gave lots of time for Eterna to wonder who was Hoopa and whether she was trustworthy or not.

Then Chestnut stopped in his tracks which stopped her from pondering. She wondered what was wrong until she heard some conversation in front of them.

"…no matter how many times we save the locals beyond the mountains and lead them here, their life force still continue to dwindle!" spoke from a Pokémon with a low-pitched tone.

"I know…Oran Berries aren't enough to vitalise them. We have to give them Heal Ribbons to constantly boosting their recovery. Unfortunately, they are hard to find." replied a Pokémon that sounded quite young.

"Geez! This is so frustrating!"

Then, a third voice can be heard. It was a female but somewhat monotonous.

"I am sorry that my power cannot save them. But I have a suggestion. Remember what she said that she will use her remaining powers to summon a human and transformed her into a Pokémon so that can save the locals here? We should find that Pokémon."

"I see. We can't do much on our own. But where do we find that Pokémon? This continent is huge." asked the young Pokémon.

"We can head to Town Horizon. It is most likely he or she will be there.

As the group walked far away for Chestnut and Eterna to listen to their remaining conversation, he looked at her with a worrying face.

"I don't know who those Pokémon are. I never heard those voices before and yet they know that The Being of Life had summoned you to come over to aid us. Anyway, we should see the mistress and hear what she has to say."

They pressed on. By now, the sun had fully risen and the mist was noticeable in the forest. The forest's trees were unlike any trees Eterna had seen in her country. The tree leaves here were big and the colourful fruits were in abundance. She spotted an apple tree as well; an oddity growing in a tropical forest. The mushrooms were red caps with orange spots that looked poisonous, yet Chestnut said they were not. It was like this world was not based on reality at all.

It took them about two days of walking and avoiding other Pokémons to finally exit out the forested area. Eterna complained that her legs were aching from the travelling, but Chestnut shut her off. He told her that the town was not far away and they should continue walking. She sighed and faced her frustration at the hills looming at a distance. The hills were covered by trees as well, and some waterfalls can be seen. The odd thing about the hills was that they were about the same height and width of each other. Her curiosity of the formation of the hills overwhelmed her anger towards Chestnut.

Moving through the grass plain was not easy for her as the grass were taller than her height but she could not afford to lose sight of Chestnut or else she would not be able to find her way out. As for him, he had no troubles navigating through by occasionally hopped out of the grass to find his bearings. They encountered many Pokémons that fed on grass. There were Miltanks and Tauros in herds, big rodents such as Pikachus and Dedennes, big birds and even predators such as Pyroars. They were all significantly bigger than the animals in Eterna's world, yet they bore some similarities. Maybe the planet she was in was Earth as well, but in another dimension?

The Pokémons did not pay heed to Eterna and Chestnut as they hastily made their way out of the grassland. Another few hours passed and eventually, they spotted the wooden fences that covered the huge settlement. There was an entrance guarded by two Pangoros. As Eterna and Chestnut approached them, she realised that those pandas were huge. The two Pangoros looked down at them and nodded before letting them pass through. It seemed that they knew Chestnut, so they allowed his guest to come in as well.

Horizon Town was the only settlement of diversity of Pokémons getting supplies for their journey, accommodation for travellers and where the Rescuers stayed as well. The buildings were made out of either clay, wood or both. The town had bushes and trees all over the place so the buildings were not neatly aligned like Eterna used to see in her homeland. The pathways were made by clearing the grass. There also were water holes and crops with irrigation around the centre of the town.

With greetings from the Pokémons along the way, Eterna felt that she was a celebrity. Humans don't naturally greet strangers as they thought it was too tedious to greet so many of them, and they did not feel any sort of attachment to them to start a conversation unless they needed assistance.

Eterna and Chestnut reached the pink dome house with exquisite designs. Two circles on the side of the pink door were painted in gold and the house stood about one and a half stories high. He knocked on the door and a feminine voice could be heard.

"Come in."

They entered the house. Eterna was marvelling the simple yet homely household items in the vicinity, totally different as what she expected from the exterior. There was a short table at the right and a basket of berries on top and four feathery cushions on the ground around the table. There were flowers placed below the two metre width window at the middle end of the house. At the left was a bed with soft pine leaves and a wooden tub of water. The floor was carpeted with straw mats and a big lighted lamp hanging at the centre. At the centre top end had another long rectangular table with scrolls, pens and other sort of papers neatly stacked up. A Pokémon was sitting on a wooden chair with feathery cushion backrest and placing her cup on the table.

Chestnut greeted her first, "Good afternoon Mistress Hoopa, I am back from the recon mission and brought a Pokémon with me. Her name is Eterna and she fits your description of a being from a foreign world that can aid us on defeating The End.

Hoopa's eyes widened, "Is this true Chestnut? Well done! Let me take a closer look of her!" She stood up, levitated around Eterna and smiled, "Hmmm…I sensed great power hidden in you and…it seems that you can fully utilise it based on your mentality. The best way to awaken it is to go for rescue mission. Alright, you shall partner with Chestnut to learn what you need to survive in the mystery dungeons, and know what it takes to save the land!

Eterna stiffen a little of the training she had to go through, "I understand. I will try to keep up with him. Mistress Hoopa, may I know what is my hidden power?"

"That is for you to find out."

She felt disappointed of not telling her, "Oh, okay."

"Splendid! Chestnut, I leave her to your care. For now, just take the easier missions that do not need to travel far away from here. And you must inform me of her progress every evening. Is that alright with you?"

"Yes Mistress Hoopa." he replied without a delay.

"Good! Both of you are dismissed. I will notify you two when I think she is ready for the quest. Eterna, I am sorry that you have to go through so many troubles for us, but we really need your help. If something bothering you, you can ask for my advices anytime."

"It is okay, and thank you Mistress Hoopa." she replied.

Chestnut bowed down and walked towards the door. Eterna was not used to the custom of bowing in front of a boss so she frantically followed him out of the door. The only thing Eterna heard before the door close was Hoopa's warning.

"Be careful of your true self".

Eterna did not understand what she meant. Nevertheless, she walked with Chestnut to his house.

His house was not far away from Hoopa's. It was made out of wood with dried palm leaves as the roof cover and the shape of his house was rectangular. Inside his house was just a pine leaves bed at the centre of the wooden floor, a basket of berries, a wooden tub with water half- empty at the left and baskets of orbs, scarfs and seeds at the right. Chestnut asked Eterna to wait in his house while he went out to gather more pine leaves for her to rest on. Eterna wondered how he could find the pine leaves in a hot and humid area, but since after she saw an apple tree not long ago, she had nothing to comment about.

She ate a Mago Berry and loved the taste. She also helped herself with some water by biting the wooden bowl to scoop it. Licking the water using her tongue was not efficient as gulping it down, but at least she could restrict herself from overhydrating. Feeling sleeping after she was full, she stared at the pine leaves bed. She thought that she should try whether the bed was comfy for her standard. She sat on the bed. It was softer than her mattress and she did not feel the hardness of the floor. She yawned and lied on her side to sleep. It did not take long to dream a huge withered tree with only two branches surrounded with tall leafy trees in front of her.

It spoke, "At last, you have arrived. I am sorry that you have to see me in this state. My name is Xerneas. Although I need you to see me as soon as possible, you aren't ready to face the challenges yet. Get yourself prepared and once you are ready, come to Nature's Grace. I shall bestow a power that you can use to defeat The End."

For the first time, Eterna was able to gather her thoughts and spoke to her, "Xerneas, are you already in this state before you summoned me?"

"Yes. My power was mostly drained by The End. I do not know his actual name. He isn't like this years ago. His role was to slowly drain all life force so that living beings should not waste the blessing they were given with and also, helps to recycle the materials creating them. But something must have happened that made him decided to end so many Pokémons' life quickly. I can still sustain myself, but I am unable to control Nature. Nature is the driving force of life and able to provide resources to sustain them. Without control, it will plunge the land into merciless storms and turn the land into barren wasteland. The sea will not be spared as well, and I fear that the effect will spread to other parts of the world. So far, even though Nature is out of control, it will take about a month before things go out of hand."

"So…I have to learn quickly so that I can be an assistance to you. Speaking of power, isn't I already have one hidden in me?"

"That power you are now possessing is something similar to a dark being that entered this land not long ago. However it does not bring any harm and it is trying its best to help the Pokémons as well. As for you, you need to train mentally to keep it checked. If not, it may…I feel that I should not say any further about this. The power I will give you can limit your native power. Yes, the power you have is already in you before you are born. It is just that you can't use it in your world."

"That means the power I have within me is dangerous?"

"It can be, and at the same time, it doesn't. It is how you use it defines you whether you are good or evil. And now…I should let you have a good rest. We shall meet again Eterna…"

After that, she dreamt of nothing.

She woke up afresh and saw Chestnut sleeping beside her on a new bed. Another Mago Berry from the basket had disappeared so she assumed that he had eaten one. She stretched her legs and her back and pieced up the words she had heard from Hoopa and Xerneas. Hoopa said that her power could save the land, but Xerneas warned that her power was not to be messed with. For some reason, Eterna was excited to see what her power looked like since it could be the one that she thought of as a human if she had a supernatural power. Hoopa said she should go on rescue mission could mean that her power could be activated when she was in stress.

She woke Chestnut up and begged him to bring her on a rescue mission now. He rubbed his eyes and stared at her.

"Are you sure you want to go today? We had travelled quite a distance to reach here. You should use this day for resting as starting from tomorrow, you will have to come with me every day."

"Hoopa said if I awaken my power, I will be ready for the journey to save the Pokémon here. Isn't it is better that I should awaken it as soon as possible?"

"I agree. Eterna, I am sorry that you have to go through all these ordeals to save us. Very well, let's go to the bulletin board."

Chestnut had refilled his sling bag with necessity items and led Eterna out of the house to the board. It took about ten minutes to walk there. The bulletin board for requests for rescuing or battle challenges were next to where the item stores were. Eterna browse the stores' intriguing items while Chestnut looked for a request. After he took the paper from the board, he tapped Eterna to follow him out of the town's exit. There, another two Pangoros guarding the openings and they wished them good luck on their mission.

Eterna asked what was the mission was. Chestnut explained that there was a youngster requesting for help in the Oddity Hill Mystery Dungeon.

"…It stated that he is in F10 and could not move on to another floor as there are too many strong Pokémons guarding the stairs."

"Wow…how did his letter able to get to the town?"

"When the Pokémon requested for help, the dungeon will warp the letter to a dungeon-made bulletin board. It is the one that we had seen."

She beamed, "Ooh! It is like emailing!"

"What is emailing?"

"It is human's way of communicating with each other. Okay I am ready for the mission! Let's go!"

They headed to the hills that she had memorised by their identical heights and width. The sight of the tall hills put her country's made up name for their lump of rock to shame. It did not take them long to reach there. Upon arrival, there was an opening with a swirling golden portal. There was a purple box called Inventory Box beside it and whatever opened the box would allow them to browse their own storage items and Pokécoins.

They entered the portal. Eterna was astounded by the design of the dungeon. The walls were made out of light brown harden soil with shrubs growing on it, the ground was grassy and there were water holes with creeks following all over the place. The dungeon had an artificial blue sky as the ceiling as well.

"Okay," Chestnut explained, "This dungeon consists of rooms and corridors. There are residents roaming here to toughen themselves up so when we encounter them, we have to fight our way out. Luckily, there are no traps here. Traps are hidden on the ground and will only appear when the explorers step on them, not the residents. Treasure chests and items may be in the rooms as well and all of them can be useful for our exploration. Of course we can't take them all due to the sling bag's limited space. The bag can store up to forty-eight items regardless of their sizes. Currently I am carrying twenty items. Ah yes, you should put on this ribbon."

He passed her a Joy Ribbon. It had no straps. She tried to put on her chest fur and it managed to stick on it.

"This ribbon will help you learn faster. As for me, I don't need any ribbon in this dungeon since I am pretty high level. Alright then, let's go."

They ventured in the corridor and soon they encountered Honedge. This sword Pokémon swung its blade violently at Chestnut, but he managed to stop his attack and clamped his blade.

"Come on Eterna; attack him with your fire attacks."

"Fire? Oh, I did shot one when I ate that nasty berry before. But how do I do it?"

"Heat up your body hot enough, and you are ready to fire away!"

"Okay. I will try."

She visualised that she was in a fire and it worked. Her body instantly heated up and when she felt the raging flame in her mouth, she exhaled and the string of fire escaped. Chestnut managed to dodge her attack and let Honedge burned in her flames. It screeched in pain and soon, it was warped away somewhere.

"Hey! Where did he go?" she asked.

"He had been warped out of the dungeon with his health fully recovered. So don't worrying about defeating the Pokémons." he explained.

"Oh! Will do!"

Floor by floor, Eterna managed to topple all the Pokémons they ran onto. She even gained new insights of the moves she could perform. She had Flamethrower, Light Screen, Flame Charge and Fire Spin. She loved to spam Fire Spin to trap the opponents, before using Flame Charge to boost her speed to tackle other opponents swiftly. Once they reached F10, Eterna was already exhausted from using her moves so she depended on Chestnut to defend her. Chestnut managed to defeat any Pokémons here with one hit. She envied his strength and smarts for his age even though she understood why he needed to be tough and resourceful. However, she did not notice a distance Psybeam attack from behind. She was hit and she let out a yelp. Chestnut turned his back and was stunned that she was not around.

She had warped out of the dungeon.