"A-Are you okay?" A salty breeze ran through my face. The warm sun and sand felt nice on my back and chest. It would've been nice if it didn't feel like my body got hit by a truck.
"Five more minutes…" I grumbled.
"Did you say something? Are you okay?" I sighed. Looks like there was no getting out of this one. I peaked my eyes open, almost blinded by the blazing sun overhead. Eclipsing the sky was a curious figure peeking down at me. His features contorted in concern. Speaking of features, something was clearly wrong here. The figure looking down at me was definitely not human. Blue fur, black nubs, crimson eyes… no matter how I thought about it, a Riolu in the flesh (or fur?) was peering down at me right now. I blinked once, twice, three times, but the sight didn't change.
"Can you do me a huge favor?" I asked the Riolu. His expression shifted from concern to curiosity, now that I had demonstrated that I was indeed, not dead.
"Um, sure?"
"Smack me right in the face. I think I might be dreaming." Now he just looked plain bewildered.
"Isn't that a little much to ask of a stranger? I came here to make sure you weren't injured, and I didn't plan to injure you in doing so." Damn, either my dreams were really starting to get advanced, or I wasn't dreaming. If the pain pulsing through my body was any indicator, this probably wasn't a dream. And, if I was right about where this was going… I stood up, not on two feet, but on four. I awkwardly shuffled to face the water. Yup. I was a Pokemon, too. An Eevee, to be precise. Though, my fur was gray instead of the typical brown that Eevees normally had. I thought only Celebii was shiny in this world? I lifted my front leg and examined it. "Are you sure you didn't hit your head on a rock or something? You seem pretty messed up." I turned around to face the Riolu.
"Rude! Well, not completely false though. I… can't remember anything. About how I got here, or anything that happened before here, except…" I bit my lip. The Riolu was looking at me with wide eyes. Would he really believe my unbelievable story? "I wasn't a Pokemon. I was human." His jaw dropped in surprise. He seemed to mull it over for a few moments before his surprise changed to skepticality.
"Are you… playing a prank on me?" I shook my head vigorously.
"I swear I'm not. Believe me, I know how crazy it sounds… but I'm telling the truth." He held my gaze for a few moments before the tension dropped from his face. He let out a sigh.
"I guess I'll believe you. You don't seem like a bad Pokemon, anyway." I smiled at him. Though, something about his words bothered me. Bad Pokemon… oh, crap. I realized it a moment too late. A Koffing slammed into my Riolu companion, knocking a small patterned stone out from who knows where onto the sand. His partner in crime, a Zubat, picked it up. Seriously, how were these Pokemon picking up things? Zubat doesn't even have hands!
"Hey Koffing! It looks like this little twerp has a cool looking stone on him. Maybe we can sell it for a buck or two." The Riolu stood up, brushing the sand from his legs.
"Give that back!" His voice wavered. Was he nervous?
"Fat chance, punk. This belongs to us now." I had had just enough of standing around watching this. Well, maybe this won't play out the same way, but it's worth a try, I guess.
"Like hell it does!" I roared a very unimpressive battle cry considering my size, and jump-tackled the Zubat. He groaned and was sent back a considerable distance. Not bad for my first fight, I thought. I only had a moment before a shot of poison gas nailed me in the side, sending me skidding through the sand back to the shoreline. I grunted. My vision was blurry.
"That hurt, punk! Koffing, let's get out of here." Through my blurred vision I could barely see two blobs of purple heading east down the beach, probably towards Beach Cave. In a last ditch effort, I gripped a stone from the sand in my paw as best as I could and hurled it in their direction. I grinned as I heard a satisfying Oof! I shook my head. My vision was starting to clear. The Riolu was looking wistfully in the direction the two had gone.
"Seriously, how petty can they be? Stealing someone's stone like that…" The Riolu looked at me with a strange expression. Sadness? Gratitude? Anger? Maybe all of the above. It was hard to read.
"I'm sorry… you fought so hard for me, but all I could do was sit here and watch…" I marched right up to him and ruffled the top of his hair with my paw. His fur was surprisingly soft. I lowered my leg. He stared at me with bewilderment, his cheeks lightly dusted red.
"Don't sweat it. All we have to do is go chase them down, right?" He nervously rubbed his paws together.
"We? You mean…"
"Of course, I'm coming. I have to pay those bastards back for catching me off guard like that." He looked like he couldn't decide whether to be grateful or completely confused. "What, you didn't really think I'd let you have all the action to yourself, right?" He shook his head with a dazed look. I guess this was a lot for him to take in. "We're burning daylight. Onwards!" I took off marching down the beach, the Riolu in tow. He still looked lost for words. Walking into the cave felt like passing through a wall of jelly. I guess that meant that we were officially in the mystery dungeon. "Hey, what is this place?" The Riolu shook his head.
"What? Oh. This is a mystery dungeon. It changes layout every time you enter, and always has different items scattered around. There should be a staircase around here that leads further into the dungeon."
"Huh." I picked a path at random, picking up a random seed from the floor. It was shaped like a mushroom cloud, meaning it was probably a blast seed? "Can you hold this?" I passed him the seed, and he stuck it in a little pouch on his back that I hadn't seen before. As expected from the first dungeon, the enemies were fairly easy to defeat. Being in the front, I took care of them all. The Riolu didn't seem very keen on fighting. A Shellos approached us. I could've just tackled it, but… "Why don't you fight this?" The Riolu jolted to attention, surprised that he was being addressed.
"Me?" I looked around for the comedic effect.
"Unless there's anyone else I could be talking to here, yes you." He rubbed his paws together again.
"I'm… not very good at fighting."
"Give it a try! I bet you're better than you give yourself credit for. Plus, if anything goes wrong, I'll be right behind you." He hesitantly stepped in front of me to face the Shellos.
"If you say so…" He waited until the Shellos was sufficiently close, then charged it. His paw glowed blue, and he smacked the Shellos with his palm. Was that Force Palm? Whatever it was, the Shellos disappeared immediately. I bounded up to his side, surprising him.
"That was amazing!" His hesitant eyes now lit up with a glimmer of hope, and maybe even a little bit of pride.
"You think so…?"
"I know so! You turned your paw blue, and then wham! That Shellos was gone before he even knew what was coming!" He scratched the back of his red, cheeks faintly red.
"It wasn't that much, but… thanks." He looked more confident now - he stood with his back straight, hands ready to fight, and a new confidence in his expression. I smiled. I could get used to being around him. He kinda reminded me of… I shook my head. Not now. The rest of the cave was a cakewalk, especially now that the Riolu was helping me. Finally, we came upon the final floor. The cave opened up in a round clearing. Water dripped from stalactites on the ceiling of the cavern. Hushed voices came from further in the clearing, most likely the Zubat and Koffing from before. We hid behind a stalagmite. The Riolu kept clicking his teeth together, gently rubbing his paws together.
"Okay, so here's our plan." I crudely traced a circle on the cave floor with my paw, drawing two crosses where our enemies were. "You're going to go out and distract them, and I-"
"D-Distract them?! I don't think I can do that…" He cut in.
"You'll be fine. All you have to do is say some words, just get their attention for a sec. Meanwhile," I traced another line leading around the circumference to the back of the clearing, "I'll sneak around them and get a surprise attack. Then, we'll both charge in! Definite victory, I can guarantee." He looked skeptical, but I flashed him a probable award winning smile and the best thumbs up I could give with neither hands nor thumbs.
"Okay. I'll trust you." He turned to face our enemies, still unaware of our presence.
"Go give 'em hell!" He looked at me curiously. "Nevermind. Just do your best out there." He stepped out of our cover and walked up to the pair.
"Oh? The little coward came for his rock? Where's your Eevee friend, did she leave you too?" Good, they noticed him. I carefully snuck around the edges of the cave, hiding behind the cover of conveniently placed stalagmites.
"I-I'm perfectly capable of handling you two…" he paused to think of a word, "you two… FIENDS by myself." Nice one. They kept exchanging petty remarks. It was actually quite entertaining. I crept along the side until I was standing right behind them. He kept sneaking looks at me, waiting for my signal. I took one, extremely quiet deep breath, and pounced with a loud, "HIYAAAA!" The surprised Zubat fell to the ground, where I swatted him with my paw until he passed out. That's one down, I thought. Riolu was dealing with Koffin, exchanging blows every now and then. "Use the seed!" I called out. Riolu stepped back and hastily dug into his bag, producing the seed. After a moment's hesitation, he chucked the seed with all of his might. The seed exploded on contact with the Koffin, causing him to deflate to the ground. The stone fell out of… wherever he kept it. I puffed my chest out in pride. My first boss battle, passed with flying colors! Or flying seeds. Whatever. I glanced at my Riolu partner, curious how he was taking the whole thing. He looked… really excited.
"We… We did it! We actually beat those thieves!" He had retrieved his stone, now facing me with pure exhilaration.
"See? I told you, my plans never fail." He burst out into laughter, taking me completely by surprise. It was the infectious type of laughter - one that makes you feel happy just listening to it. Soon, I was laughing right alongside him. I still had no idea why we were laughing, but it felt good. How long had it been since I was laughing like this? The thought made me stop laughing. Soon, he stopped, too.
"Man… you should've seen the look on that Zubat's face when you tackled him! Priceless." I tried to give him a convincing grin, but I wasn't feeling it. He tilted his head with concerned eyes. I headed towards a staircase that I assumed would leave us outside of the dungeon.
"Let's get out, shall we? I wouldn't like to be around when they wake up, and I think I could use some sunlight for a change." He still seemed concerned, but nodded and followed. Somehow going up the stairs led us to the outside of the cave, where sand replaced the stone ground. The sun was lower now, filling the sky with an orange hue. Somehow looking at the sun setting in the sky filled me with a calming sensation. Riolu appeared at my side, looking at the same sunset. He clutched his stone in his hands.
"I found this stone when I was exploring a mystery dungeon one day. Do you see this pattern?" He held out the stone for me to see. Indeed, it did have a strange pattern engraved on the top. "Maybe it's nothing but," he trailed off, "I'd like to think that somewhere, sometime, this stone could be the key to a big secret! Some hidden treasure, and I'd be the one to find it!" I smiled. If only he knew. He shifted his gaze down. "When they stole it from me, I felt like that hope vanished. I couldn't join the guild, and without the stone, I wouldn't be able to fulfill my dreams." He swiveled his head, setting his gaze on me. "But then you showed up! You were so brave, fighting those bad guys like that without any hesitation." I felt my cheeks heat up a little.
"Stop it, you flatter me."
"I'm serious! It made me think that," the corners of his mouth upturned in a slight smile, "maybe I could be like that, too." Hearing him say that filled my chest with a wonderful warm sensation. I smiled, genuinely this time. His expression suddenly took on a more pensive look. It looked like he was staring through me rather than at me, gears turning in his head. Was this where he was going to ask me to join him? He snapped to attention. "You're human, right? Or at least were human."
"Yessir."
"And you just woke up here, in this new world, with no memories." I winced a little.
"That would be correct."
"Meaning, you don't really have any place to go, do you?"
"...I guess not." He looked increasingly more excited with every checkbox I marked off.
"Then, will you join the guild with me? Please? If we're together, I get the feeling that we could explore dungeons unknown to everyone! And maybe, we could even discover the purpose of my relic." I paused briefly, considering what would happen if I said no, and decided to go my own way. Would he keep asking, like in the game? Or would he leave me alone, causing the planet to reach eventual paralysis? Either didn't seem that appealing, especially when he was giving me those puppy dog eyes I absolutely could not refuse. Plus… maybe this was a good thing for me. Maybe this new start was what I needed, with a new friend to share it with me. I flashed my still dubious award-winning smile. I would have to enter a contest at some point before I could officially dub it as award-winning.
"I guess I don't have any reason to say no," I said.
"Yes!" He started doing a little dance routine. I laughed. He really was similar to him.
"If we're going to be part of a guild together, you'd think you'd have the decency to introduce yourself, first. And maybe explain a little bit of, I dunno, what a guild is? Might be helpful for someone who just woke up on a beach with amnesia this morning." He stopped cold in his victory dance, looking flustered.
"O-Oh! I completely forgot, didn't I? I'm Alex. You are…?"
"Emilia. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Alex." I dipped my head in a mock bow. He gently whapped my head with his paw, causing me to fall to the ground with a laugh.
"If I knew you were going to be a smartass about it, I would've opted to stay nameless to each other."
"Oh? Well, it isn't too late to rescind my acceptance to your offer…" He was laughing too now.
"Nope, your acceptance was binding. I will be in contact with my lawyer should you break our contract."
"Oh yeah? You can't contact your lawyer if you don't make it out of here alive!" I tackled him, causing us to both roll on the sand. We wrestled between laughter until we were both too tired to continue, sprawling out on the sand panting. It felt good to blow out some of my pent up energy. Plus, it really was fun to play-fight. Whether this was a characteristic I picked up as a Pokemon or not, I couldn't ignore the pounding in my heart and adrenaline in my veins. Beside me was my new partner, a Riolu that started out nervous but quickly opened up to me. Somehow, knowing that he was with me made it easier to think about what was ahead. "And? Are you going to tell me about the guild?" I said after I caught my breath.
"The guild is basically a parent organization that oversees a bunch of rescue teams. They post jobs for helping Pokemon, be it seeking out a lost item, rescuing a Pokemon from a dungeon, or defeating an outlaw, the guild collects all those requests. In exchange for housing and access to these missions, the guild takes 50% of the reward issued by the Pokemon who requested the rescue."
"50%?! Cheap bastards…" He laughed.
"Maybe so, but the guild does contribute a lot to the teams under it. Some free services are provided in town to members of the guild."
"So, we're going to form a team?"
"Yup. All teams start from normal rank, and work their way up from there. Doing more missions contributes points towards ranking up. Higher ranked teams have access to jobs in more dangerous dungeons, which are typically more rewarding as well." Normal rank, huh? I guess everyone starts somewhere. "...I was going to join earlier, but I chickened out. But, no more!" He jumped up from the sand. I stood up, shaking the sand out of my fur.
"Then, let's head right on over. Before it's too late, right?" I pointed towards the setting sun. He nodded, looking determined. Side by side, we walked up the winding path to Wigglytuff's Guild.