I wanted to write another PMD fanfic carrying on from my previous one-shot I did, seeing as I think starting fresh from scratch might open me up more for fair critiquing and how well I can better phrase some of my writing. Due to being influenced by my current uni gaming course, I'm wanting to broaden my horizons and look ahead to the future with an open mindset, and confidence that I'll be able to enjoy myself in the best way I can. Rather than using the characters from my other fanfic, I wanted to write something fresh from the two starters I picked during my playthrough of Rescue Team DX, but repurpose it to my team of Super Mystery Dungeon, so it'll be those characters shifted to the fourth game's setting. I don't consider myself creative by any means, so if this isn't up to par with what other people would expect out of someone like me, I do apologise. Regardless, enough rambling, and I hope you enjoy.

Characters:

Cormac - Mudkip

Sprout - Bulbasaur (Originally also Bulbs but will change his name for this fanfic)

Team Name: Kipsaurs (from Rescue Team DX)

It had been a long time since we saved the world from Dark Matter. I, alongside my best friend Sprout, had stuck with each other through thick and thin, fighting through countless dungeons, saved other Pokémon trapped around enemies exploiting them and retrieved so many lost items that it made even my head hurt. Regardless, it was what I was used to all this time, ever since that fateful day all those months ago outside Nuzleaf's home in Serene Village. Looking back on it now - all those times together, the laughter, the tears, the trouble we got caught in... hah, that look on Principal Watchog's face... it felt like it all was a blur, or a fever dream, stuck look dormant into the deepest depths of my sub-conscious.

It's strange. Reminiscing on all of those old memories evoked something inside me I thought that was long gone by now. A feeling of loss... or was it acceptance? Acceptance just like Sprout had when talking to Dark Matter?

"And I... I accept you!"

It was those words that clung to me when he hit that orb of malice, of hate and anger... but also of loneliness. It was the manifestation of everything wrong with this world, the pain, the conflict, the anguish and the constant struggles of refusing on wanting to go to sleep to see another day, as there was no hope to find in a world of struggle. I still have flashbacks to the time when we fell from the sky, from the stratosphere back down to the planet's surface and everyone, ranging from Ampharos to Espurr and the other Expedition Society members, thanking all of us and crying, being so thankful we saved their future.

But after that? It just doesn't feel right. Something just doesn't feel the same. For me, most of our journey was about discovering my partner's identity. From an outcast, a bullied kid who would take his frustration out of other villagers because he felt lonely and not understand, something only his Pops understood. He longed for someone to talk to, to relate to and be friends with. He wanted a feeling of compassion and love. He knew he wanted to express himself in the only way he knew how - but somehow, he just couldn't understand why nobody wanted to surround himself with him and be in his company. From lonely kid, to meeting me, to the wish he said on wanting to be my friend and form our Expedition Team, the Kipsaurs - and eventually wanting to see the world, being scared of losing the one he called his father after he turned to stone, to fighting alongside me and traversing the rising ground to reach the Tree of Life, to be the hero the world desperately needed after we had our Harmony Scarves.

"(I'm going to get you up there... so you go on and reach the Tree of Life!)"

"Cormac... you really are the one who..."

...understands me.

After everything we had been through, we were in sync with one another. But I just didn't feel like I was the one fitting to end it. It was his fight against Dark Matter, and I as an ancient human who fought alongside Mew in the original time me and Sprout were together, my consciousness flashed before my eyes and was transported into the present, and we fought the malice again. Just like old times, except the attachment and stakes could have never been higher. All I ever wanted was to make myself happy, but to make him happy. My best friend, and the only one who didn't betray me, just like how the others inadvertently led me.

Even so, on that day, on the hill with the big tree, it evoked a feeling of acceptance and regret. I thought I was the one who had to go that day. Everything I did just didn't feel right. I did my duty, got thanked by everyone for it, but I never had the same kind of attachment that Sprout had. To him, this fight was personal.

Thinking back... it was probably because of his regret I had lost my memories that he needed to end what we started. Not only did we seal up the luminous water up on Revelation Mountain, and I was the human to protect it... I was also the human to break it.

Something beneath him, his worries and his fear... he swallowed everything and bottled up everything just so he could make the world happy. That selflessness of him was a complete turnaround to the often cocky kid he used to be in Serene Village. He wanted to make the world happy... and me happy.

There was something he said to me back all the way then, saying I was the one to have influenced him and the only reason he did all of this was to work with me. And so when we sat together, for last night time, the morning after the stories we told from our long journey back home from Lively Town, our second home, to the one where all of this began. He told me everything from what he was told by Xerneas, from figuring out his identity to his acceptance to want to change the future and finally accept his feelings as a whole. He told me I was the one to help him out, I was the one to give him strength, I was the one to finally give him closure.

And just when I was wanting to tell him all that I wanted, he smiled. He knew what I was gonna say, and yet, flipped my entire life as I knew it upside down into one sentence.

"It's not you who has to go, Cormac... it's me."

He began shining, and he was the one crying those tears. I didn't understand, why him? Why did he have to leave, and yet I, the human who feels like the incomplete jigsaw piece, have to stay behind? He kept telling me, he really wanted to stay with me, but couldn't... how the world only kept going because everyone helps and supports one another and began to work together to stop the planet's paralysis on its collision course into the sun... and how I was the one to tell it to a "self-centred fool" like him.

"I had a lot of fun... getting to have a dream, getting to meet you, getting to live..."

The light got thicker, shining brighter than I could muster.

"(Wait! Sprout!)"

"Thank you... it was all because of you, Cormac."

The light got even brighter, enveloping him and making him begin to rise into the sky.

"I'll be fine! I'm always fine, aren't I?"

How could you even possibly think that? What about me, everything we ever did together? Everything we've been through?

"So Cormac, do me one last favour... and don't you cry!"

It was there I realised, all I had gone through, everything I had done up until that point, had all been because of him. He provided me company, and he provided me strength. He knew, from the bottom of his heart, that he had to leave one day and go back to Mew. He was the reincarnation, and he was the one who brought me here into this world, albeit as a new life. Accepting Dark Matter made him set about his own destruction... I just couldn't accept it. It wasn't how it was supposed to end. Did I give up everything just for the sake of the Pokémon world and for Sprout, knowing that one day, I would be emotionally devastated from the loss of it all?

"(Sprout! SPROOOUUTTT!)"

It was his revelation, just like on the mountain. And here I am. I'm nothing without him, and on that day, what was supposed to be the happiest day of everyone else's lives... turned into the saddest my lonely heart couldn't accept. My eyes, despite being a Mudkip, just kept falling and falling. I shook my head in denial, refusing to accept what just happened, and even then, nobody could have even anticipated after on what happened.

After what was hours of crying, the so-called ancient hero was now reduced to a single member of the team. No partner, no resolve. Just sadness. I had lost everything that made me the being in this world at that point. I thought to myself, I would never see him again.

I looked up, somehow sky still shining brightly and betraying my thoughts, I glumly walked back into the direction of the village. It was still relatively early afternoon even after the morning, but my heart throbbed and burned me badly. The very type weak to me became super effective, not because of physical appearances, but to what happened in here, my soul.

This reality couldn't be real - it just can't be.

When I wandered and pulled whatever mental strength had left my being, I collapsed outside Carracosta's home, crying like a baby. Hearing me, he came to the entrance and gasped at my radically changed personality. He never expected to see me like that, a weeping mess on the grassy floor outside, and frantically rushed to pick me up and lifted me to the bed I used when staying round his last night.

"Cormac! Cormac! What happened to you...? It's okay, it's me, Sprout's old Pops, Carracosta, remember?"

I couldn't hear him. I kept repeating the same words again and again.

"Why was it not me? Why was it not me?"

"Cormac! Cormac! Stay with me, please!" he pleaded, shaking me out of an act of desperation to make sure I was okay, still able to decipher the outside world.

"Why was it-" I began again, tears welling my eyes, before realising where I was laying down. A fear-stricken Carracosta was staring at me, eyes dreading what might have happened to me. He kept his distance a bit, wanting to try and give me space, but without hesitation, I lunged and hugged him tightly. I did not want to let go.

"Sprout is... Sprout is..."

"What?! Whoever dares touch him, I'll lay my claws on them if it's the last thing I-!"

"Sprout is gone and he's never coming back and I'm all alone!" I ushered, hugging him even tighter.

"...W-what? Sprout is... no, no he can't be, he was just up this morning, I saw him, he wished me well and went to the tree..."

I shook my head.

"It's because he did go, and I went, and he told me a whole story about who he really was, and he suddenly was enveloped in a ball of light and rose into the sky and disappeared, and now he's... he's... gwaahhhhhhh!" I thrust my head into his stomach and cried again, memories resurfacing of what happened earlier.

Poor Carracosta stood there dumbstruck. The infant he took in, the child he raised and looked after and now finally proud of him after being reunited after so long... had vanished, and rose up into the sky. Gone, parting ways and returning to the essence of nothing. The only thing I had to remember him by was my Harmony Scarf he gave me when we became an Expedition Team, junior members of the Expedition Society, preparing for anything to fight and live another day. We were a team, we became a team. And yet... here I was all alone.

"You're not... joking? My Sprout has gone?"

I cried and cried, refusing to accept the truth. All he did was wrap his arms around me, tightly embracing me into a hug and beginning to well up himself. We both knew we lost the same important figure in our lives. He was gone, gone for good. And all we had was each other. I became the child again, only this time, I was his lucky charm. He wouldn't dare lose me, or at least that was the sad eyes he gave me when we exchanged looks.

We understood one another, and I lost the essence to want to focus on what makes me happy to want to go on in life.

We were held in each other's embrace, not wanting to let go of the other, and eventually the other villagers heard us crying inside the home. One by one, they lined up the entrance, all looking through in concern and found out why we were feeling the way that we did. All looked in shock and pain as they all began to look up at the sky, then at the hill with the big tree. The end would justify the means, but for me, it ended my drive to keep on going. Because why should I keep on going just to appease the others when they wouldn't even know how I would feel? The day would never be the same anymore, and with it, it would be remembered, but for all the reasons we would want to forget.

Hours turned to days, and days into weeks and months. I had returned to Lively Town, beginning to perform expeditions again and filling up my connection orb. As my Harmony Scarf never made me evolve into a Swampert again as the Tree of Life was no longer under threat by Dark Matter, I cherished and wore it every day, never taking it off. I knew, no matter what, I had to remember him. I would never forget those eyes, those tears and that light bringing him up into the sky.

I was depressed thinking about him, and even then, everybody else noticed. People in town would begin to sing their "Song of Hope", wanting to keep singing so that there would be hope left for tomorrow and if anything were to threaten the balance of the planet, the power of Pokemon, even myself, would answer the call and would answer it without delay.

But yet, despite everyone's best efforts, nothing felt the same. It was there that I felt even more isolated than ever before. Everyone around me had their power and strength to keep fighting for, saving the ones that they cherish and never want to part with again. A feeling I so longed for, I would often skirt around whenever other townsfolk, including the vendors like Kecleon, Klefki and even Coffagrigus would attempt to notice.

I didn't want other's help, so I became isolated from even my fellow ES members. I faked my enthusiasm when we would all get up, and Ampharos would perform his usual pompous speech.

"Okay team, time for another day for expeditions!"

"Yeah!" we would exclaim, save for a hungry Swirlix who would still keep snacking on everything she sees and the others laughing on the glutton she never changed from.

Everybody would wander to their usual positions, Bunnelby outside, Archen and Buizel now chilling at the dock near the Lapras Travel Liner, Dedenne talking with Ampharos, Mawile going to research fossils found during the Prehistoric Ruins expedition during the fight against Dark Matter upstairs, Jirachi falling asleep near the observatory telescope and Swirlix going to cook tonight's delicious meal. But as for me? I didn't have that drive, so I found myself alone. I looked up at the sky, idling thoughts of Sprout reappearing in my mind, when I realised I needed to focus on going for an expedition today.

...

After finishing for the day, I would've gone to a part of Lively Town to just be by myself, and knowing the others, they would've redirected me to either come back or give me some potential advice for how I could cope with the loss of Sprout from my life. Even then, when they said I could go and meet Xatu, meet Mew... none of it stuck with me, because the more it kept going, the more suspicious I got that the others were purely doing this just to make me happy for the sake of it. Something about it, a feeling I was always being watched or being manipulated just like Nuzleaf did to me... at this point, I felt like I couldn't trust anyone else except myself and my instincts.

That night, when the town fell silent and all except a few had gone to sleep, I got up and snuck outside of the building, double checking to make sure the other team members weren't going to be disturbed by my actions. There was one burning question in my mind I just wanted an answer to - why did Sprout just have to up and leave without me knowing? Did I have a role in this seemingly broken overarching fight this has caused for my heart as well?

I pondered to myself, with narrowing options as to who I could talk to for someone who could understand the thoughts I had been having on a consistent basis, until I realised there was someone central to this and who caused Sprout to find out the truth about who he was.

Xerneas.

The life Pokémon who knew that Sprout's time on the planet was coming to an end. If anyone were to know how I would be feeling, it would be him. Now knowing what I wanted to do, I crept around buildings and sleeping vendors at their stalls to get to the dock, where I was greeted by a still surprisingly awake Lapras.

"Cormac...? What are you doing up late at this hour?" she asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"It's important, and out of all of the other townsfolk around here, I trust you the most with keeping this visit I want to make a secret. Is that okay with you?"

He still looked confused, but nodded none the same. "Of course, where is it that you would like to go?"

"I want you to take me to the Tree of Life. Just me and you and nobody else if you don't mind."

"Are you sure you're not going there for Pokémon evolution with the others you have connected with your connection orb?"

I shook my head, and I looked down, face with doubt. "Personal reasons, this means a lot to me."

"Oh, okay... by all means, hop aboard, and we'll make our way over there now."

"Thanks Lapras, I know I can count on you." I smiled a bit, trying to give her some reassurance that I knew what I wanted to do for my trip to go see Xerneas. She nodded in return, and like so, I mounted her back before we proceeded to the Sea of Wonders on my quest to find out the truth, as well as the answers I had been seeking.

"Are you sure you'll be okay? You are the world's hero Cormac, don't forget that."

I attempted to nod, but the anxiety inside of me was welling up. I knew what I wanted to do, but did I have the courage to face it head-on? Even I didn't know that.

"If you're sure then," she began, "and now, off we go!"

The journey would not be long, but it would still take time to get to our destination and why I had been feeling the way I had. The Sea of Wonders, huh? I hope the wonders of what I want to know can be answered, or otherwise I'll never be able to look upon the future.

Thank you for reading the first part, chapter 2 I plan on writing as soon as I can once I've managed to sort out most of my other uni work. Next time, our hero and Lapras talk about the loss he's felt upon losing Sprout, as well as the discussion from main human and legendary Pokémon.

Signing off:

-Leah