Act 2 Start

Raymond's Perspective

It's been 10 days since the zombie apocalypse almost started, 4 days after Jolteons funeral, 2 days after Lucario fully recovered, and 2 hours after Jojo was invited into the Peacekeeper Agency.

The Peacekeeper Agency is a special type of guild that's funded by the government, they're sent in to do jobs and requests that people in other guilds don't have the balls/skills for.

I wanted to be in this guild the moment I heard about it, so you can imagine my jealousy when I heard Jojo was invited by the guildmaster himself.

Hopefully, I can ask him to recommend them to let me in, if not, I am fully prepared to get on my knees and beg.

But there was something surprising that the guildmaster said in the invitation, they were specifically looking for pokemon with " special properties ", after doing some more research, it meant that Jojo caught their attention because of his hamon ability, which means that there are other pokemon like Jojo.

" uhh Ray, you're rambling again… " Evie butted in while I was explaining all of this.

February 1, 2020 - Pecha Town Square

" oh sorry ", I chuckled.

" you should be happy for him dude ".

" I know I know, but I just wish It was me that was invited ", she wasn't happy at my comment, " yeah I know, it sounds really selfish ".

She sighed, " where is he anyway? ".

" hey guys! " The blue dog called out from behind us, " I brought donuts! ", he was carrying a plastic bag with a large box of donuts in his left paw, he was also donning a snazzy green and yellow striped long scarf.

Evie walked up to him and fist-bumped his right paw, " congrats on the invite ", she looked over to me and grinned, " Ray wanted to ask you something ".

Arceus damn it Ev, " hmm? " Jojo tilted his head.

" I was uh, wondering if you could… ", why did you have to put me on the spot like this Evie? " if you could recommend me to the agency? ".

Jojo rubbed his chin, " you do know that they don't let just anyone in right? ".

I clenched my teeth, I guess it's time for plan B, I was just about to collapse and start begging when he perked up, " you know what, how about this… ".

YES! YES! YES!

" if you can prove that you can handle yourself in a mystery dungeon, then I will vouch for you ", I immediately agreed.

" can I get in too? " Evie asked.

She wants to join the agency too!?

He shrugged, " but first, let's chow down before these donuts go stale ".

Later…

So after we ate an extremely unhealthy amount of donuts Jojo led us to the town's bulletin board.

" so apparently people put out requests on the board asking you to fix their problems, most of it is just from lazy wankers but sometimes you can find actual emergencies ".

He scanned the bulletin board and plucked a paper off of it, " ah, here's one… ".

He held the paper a few inches away from his face and read it.

" It seems that a couple of spelunkers dropped some equipment in a cave and dont have the time to look for them " he turned to us " that's where you two come in ".

He gave me the paper and walked away, " I have to go to the guild's headquarters so I'll see you guys when the job is done ".

He left us standing alone in front of the board, Evie examined the paper closely, " alright… it doesn't seem too hard, let's check with the people who sent it ".

Later…

I packed some medical supplies in a knapsack just in case. It was hanging off my back.

We approached a moderately sized house and knocked on the door, the door opened and a Dewott popped out, " uh… hi " he said.

Evie pulled out the paper, " we're here for that job you posted on the bulletin board ".

Dewott beamed, " oh really! Thanks, I dont have the time to go digging around in mystery dungeons for lost stuff, yeah… wait just a second ", he closed the door and we heard some shuffling inside the house.

The door opened and Dewott was now holding 2 small headlamps, " there's a cave north of here, you'll need these, you can give them back once you finish doing your thing " he handed us the headlamps.

We fastened them on our heads and went on our way towards the cave.

Later…

Evie's Perspective

Wait… I know this place, the entrance was so familiar, I looked over to Ray, he knew exactly where we were.

I frowned, " you know… we could try a different job if y- ".

" n-no, I can do this, it's been 4 years since then, I can take this", we both entered the dungeon.

Six floors in…

There weren't many wild pokemon that attacked us, we only came across a few zubat that didn't pay us any attention, they only attack when they feel threatened.

" are you alright Ray? " I asked him.

" yeah yeah i'm fine " he snapped back, " lets just get t-this over with ".

The cave was now pitch black, the only thing illuminating the area around us were our headlights.

We heard some screeches to our left, Raymond yelped and covered his head as an entire colony of zubats flew over his head.

Ray started screaming in terror as more zubats started flying around us, a vine started extending out of his collar.

" Raymond don't provoke th- ".

CRACK!

He vine-whipped a zubat… oh dear.

Ray was swarmed by the zubats, all I could do was watch as he flailed around screaming while getting bitten by the colony.

" Evahhhh! help please! " he choked out as a zubat was mauling his throat.

" get off of him! " I shot out a hyper voice at the swarm of zubats, that wasn't a good idea…

They at least stopped shredding Raymond, but now they were going to shred me. When they quickly recovered from the hyper voice they started to fly around me.

Suddenly a sharp pain shot through my body, a golbat's jaws chomped down on my back, I screamed as I felt the fangs dig deep into my frame.

I was getting lifted off of the ground, several more sharp fangs penetrated my skin, in the distance I could see Ray shambling away as some zubats were chowing down on him.

I shot out another hyper-voice to lure them away from him, if i'm going to die then at least I'll do it knowing that someone else lives!

The golbat started shaking my limp body around, blood was being splattered all over the cave walls, my blood…

Thankfully Ray was out of sight, I closed my eyes as more zubats started eating me alive, goodbye world…

May 7, 2016 - The Zubats Cave

Young Raymond's Perspective

" ah come on Ray… it's just a cave~ " Charlotte the espurr teased.

" ugh… fine " I answered, I hated this place, it's just so eerie.

I pulled out a flashlight and followed Charlotte in.

One floor in...

Weirdly, the place didn't behave like a normal cave at all, there were multiple " rooms " and hallways connecting each other, as if this place was 'mon-made.

" Hmm, I think this place is one of those mystery dungeons that my parents always told me about, " Charlotte remarked.

" what!? This is a mystery dungeon!? " I exclaimed.

" shut it!, you might piss off the zubats, " she hissed.

" sorry ".

We delved deeper into the dungeon, despite our parents warnings before.

Four floors in…

" I think we should head back, we've been here a while… " I suggested.

" You can't go backwards in a mystery dungeon, we have to keep going forward until we find the exit " Charlotte explained.

" oh… " I frowned, how much farther does this cave go on for!

Six floors in…

I'm pretty sure an hour or two passed while we were in here, I'm pretty sure our parents are worried right now, I tried voicing my concerns to the cocky espurr I was traveling with but she didn't listen.

I was getting tired, so was she. " uuuugh, I'm so bored! " she groaned as she kicked a rock into the darkness.

We heard a " squeak " where the rock landed, I shined my light to the noise, we heard more and more " squeaks " as my flashlight slowly went over to it.

When the flashlight met the source of the sound, we were shocked to see that Charlotte kicked a rock at a ( now very angry ) colony of feral zubats.

We both stood there in horror as the zubats started going berserk, one of them flew up to me and bit me on the neck, I started stumbling around screaming while trying to pry off the zubat.

Charlotte started firing psybeams at the zubats, she started getting swarmed by them, I heard her screaming as more and more psybeams were being shot out.

I tore the zubat off of my neck and started running away in fear, I could hear some other zubats chasing after me, I ran down a pathway and accidentally tripped, I flailed around my vines in a vain attempt to scare away the ferals

I suddenly felt a horrible pain in my abdomen, I looked down to see a golbat tearing through my torso!

I repeatedly struck it with my vines but the feral didn't even budge, he chomped down on my torso and tore it open!

I shrieked in agony as I saw it wrench out my organs, my vision started getting blurry, I don't want to die here…

My vine-whips were getting slower, until they eventually stopped, I let my head go limp as I watched the golbat eviscerate me.

" there he is! " a distant voice called, " Okuyasu get him over here! ".

In the distance I could see a Riolu and a Squirtle, they both had scarves around their necks, the RIolu was wearing a black coat.

A weird white and blue ghost manifested besides the squirtle, it swung its right hand in the direction of the golbat and it was warped towards them, the ghost punched the Golbat into the walls of the cave.

" oh crap his insides are gone! " The squirtle named Okuyasu freaked out, " Josuke do the thing already! ".

" On it! " I now noticed that the Riolu had a pompadour hairstyle, weird.

Another one of the strange ghosts manifested around the Riolu named Josuke, it was bright pink and clad with silver armor.

The ghost's fists glowed bright yellow and it gently placed its hands on my face, I watched as my guts started floating in the air and repairing themselves, they then floated back into my body and the giant hole in my chest sealed up by itself.

Josuke put his ear against my chest, " he's still alive, oh thank Arceus… " he he sat down.

I slowly got up and looked at them both with shock, how did they do that? What were those things?

We were all relieved that I was still alive, wait a minute… oh no I left Charlotte back there!

" Charlotte is st- ".

" dont worry " Josuke held his palm towards me, " your girlfriends safe ".

I blushed, " she's not my g- ".

Okuyasu laughed, " ah stop lying! ".

Josuke shushed him, " there's only a few more floors in this dungeon, come on… follow us ".

Present Day

Raymond's Perspective

I dove behind a rock and watched helplessly as my friend was getting mauled, I have to do something!

There were only a few light cuts on me, zubat bites don't do that much damage, but that golbat is tearing through her.

I looked around and saw Dewott's lost equipment bag, I quietly made my way over there and looked inside it for anything.

I pulled out a whistle, a knife and an escape orb ( how convenient ), I can lure the zubats over to me and wound the Golbat with the knife, then I can grab Evie and use the escape orb.

I slung the bag over my shoulder and ran out in the open and put the whistle in my mouth and silently prayed to Arceus that this would work.

I blew as hard as I could into the whistle.

TWEEEEEEEET!

The zubats diverted their attention away from Evie and started flying around wildly, the golbat dropped Evie and charged straight at me.

I pointed the knife towards it with one of my vines, the Golbat collided with me and bit me in the chest, I started to slash it in its face repeatedly, I managed to slice its eye.

A bloodcurdling screech erupted from the Golbat as it tossed me away, I landed next to Evie, who was too busy bleeding out to notice me.

I quickly got up and hauled the bleeding fox over my shoulders. I ran as fast as I could, still carrying the tools.

Once we were a safe distance away from the colony, I pulled out the escape orb and chucked it at the ground beneath us.

Everything around us got engulfed in light, I shielded my eyes as I felt the ground disappear around me.

When I opened my eyes we were back in front of the cave, I rested Evie on the ground and looked at the entrance, thank you Josuke... if it wasn't for you I would be dead a long time ago.

Oh crap Evie is dying! I crouched down in front of her body and rummaged inside my knapsack, I pulled out some oran berries and some rags.

Evie was still bleeding, how much blood does an Eevee have!? I applied pressure on the bite with one of the cloths until it stopped bleeding, I then cleaned it with some nearby water and disinfected it, finally I wrapped a bandage around her and called it a day.

I sat down and popped an oran berry in my mouth, the cuts on me faded away, a few minutes passed until Evie's opened.

She shifted around a bit before getting up, she noticed the bandage and rubbed it, " w-what happened? " she groaned.

" We almost died, that's what happened " I passed her an oran berry.

She held it with one of her paws and took a small bite, " Well I guess this jobs a failure " she frowned.

" actually, it isn't " I held up Dewott's bag.

We both high-fived each other and went over to Dewott's house to drop it off.

" I hope he doesn't mind his knife being covered in blood " I muttered as we approached his front door.

Dewott opened the door and was utterly horrified at Evie's injuries, " what happened in there!? ".

" SOMEONE vine-whipped a zubat " Evie growled.

" y-yeah… " I passed the equipment to Dewott, who was still extremely concerned, " you should get checked for rabies then, wild zubats bites can be fatal if unchecked ".

We both gulped, " r-rabies!? " I whimpered.

" yeah, there's a small hospital over there " he pointed to a far off building.

" o-ok " we turned around and started walking.

" oh wait! Here's your reward " he gave us a pouch of coins and some berries.

We both said thanks to him and walked off.

Somewhere else…

Jojo's Perspective

I stood in front of the doors of the agency's headquarters with my invitation letter in hand, I took a deep breath in and out, " alright… here we go " I said to myself.

I pushed open the doors and walked in, I was blasted with cool air from the air conditioner, the floor was made out of blue and yellow tiles, the walls were blue and had several pictures of high ranking teams.

At the far back was a giant staircase leading up the building.

In the middle of the room was a desk with a Lopunny behind it, she must be the secretary.

I took one step forward and got backhanded across the room by a Charizard, " ey kid! What are you doing in a place like this huh!? " he roared.

Not a very good first impression…

I got up and looked up at the giant lizard, he was wearing a red tank top and a standard rescue team scarf.

" ugh… its none of your damn business, piss off! " I snapped back at him and picked my letter off of the ground.

That wasn't the right response, he jabbed me with a mega-punch to the face and sent me flying into a wall.

Some guild members started to crowd around us, " I bet 500 on Charizard! " one of them hollered, they started murmuring and passing around coins, is this seriously supposed to be the most esteemed guild in the continent!?

I clutched my face as I got up and I realised that my nose was bleeding, I removed my paw from it and glared at that fire-breathing twat.

Charizard chuckled, " you want some more pipsqueak? ", that Arceus-Damned fool…

I got into a fighting stance and glared harder at him, " do you always assault new recruits like this you bumbling punk? ".

" whaaaa? " he sarcastically replied, " new recruit? Well then welcome to the guild tiny tim " he chortled.

He came at me with his claws extended, I ducked down as he swung at me and jabbed him in the stomach with my hamon-infused arm causing him to stumble backwards.

I charged up my right leg with hamon and roundhouse-kicked him, I heard a snapping sound as my leg collided with his body.

He was sent tumbling to the side, clutching the side of his chest, I think I broke something in him…

The audience around us gasped at the turn of events, a few seconds of silence passed, but then a speaker on one of the walls went off.

" medical team needed in the lobby, repeat, medical team needed in the lobby * click * ".

The crowd around us quickly dispersed and I hastily went over to the front desk, leaving the Charizard on the ground.

The Lopunny was too busy doing some paperwork to notice me, there was a bell on the counter, I pressed it.

DING!

She jumped up from her chair and looked at me, " oh hi there~ what can I do for you? ".

I placed the invitation on the counter, " uh I got an invitation from the guild a few hours back, I was wondering when I could start doing uh… guild stuff ".

She inspected the letter, her eyes widened once she saw the signature, " o-oh you were the RIolu on the news! W-well… how do I put this… you aren't actually in the guild yet, you have to attend the tryouts first ".

" tryouts? Oh ok… when? ".

" the next session is about… 6 months away, also for your age you need permission from your parents or guardian ".

I already know that Lucario would approve of me joining, but I'm unsure about Raymond and Evie.

" ok, thanks… I have another question… ".

" hmm? ".

" am I able to… invite other people into the guild… to join my team? ".

" of course! But they would have to pass the tryouts beforehand though ".

" Okay, thanks " I said as I turned around and walked towards the exit, I was stopped by the sound of the speaker beeping.

" Joseph Joestar please make your way to the guildmasters office, repeat, Joseph Joestar make your way to the guildmasters office * click * ".

I did a 180 and looked at Lopunny, she smiled, " his office is up the stairs, you'll know it when you see it ".

I walked around the counter and up the staircase, she was right, I did know it when I saw it.

The upstairs room was enormous, the floor was a clean red carpet with old statues and paintings scattered about, at the end of the room was a giant door guarded by 2 Magnezones.

I walked up to the door, the two Magnezones pointed their magnet-guns at me, " halt! State your business! ".

" he's with me! " a strange voice said behind the door, the door opened revealing what seemed to be an Alakazam, but he looked strange, he had a long, white bushy beard, his armor was purple and bulkier, he had an additional yellow spike on his head and a bizarre red oval on his forehead, there was also a myriad of spoons floating around him.

The two Magnezones immediately backed off at the sight of the guildmaster and tilted their body downwards as if they were bowing.

I panicked and bowed down as well, but halfway through my torso just refused to move down, " there is no need for that young Joestar " Alakazam assured me, suddenly my upper body was forced up so I would be standing straight by a mysterious force.

" w-what was that? " I was at a loss for words.

" its telekinesis, now… follow me ", he motioned for me to come inside, I walked through the door and into what seemed like a private museum.

The place was breathtaking, there were old paintings, devices, firearms and other memorabilia luxuriously displayed everywhere, my jaw was practically on the floor.

" impressive… isn't it? human -era technology has always piqued my interest, so with my funds I built a private collection of artifacts and devices ".

" yeah… its cool ", Evie would love this place.

Wait… did he say " human-era "?

" why yes… I did ".

Wait who said that!? I looked around frantically, Alakazam was now looking at me, " don't fret, I simply talked to you through my mind, yes… these artifacts are from the times when humans roamed the planet ".

Interesting… maybe Alakazam could help me figure out how I ended up here, " what happened to the humans? ".

" in the most simplest explanation I can give you… they just disappeared, leaving only their cities and technology as evidence of their existence, and by the way… I know you were a human before ".

I jumped back, " h-how did you know!? ".

He pointed to the red oval on his forehead, " I read the pasts of everyone that comes in this building, when I read your memories, a large portion of them were unreadable, combined with the memories resulting from Lucario's memory probe I deduced that you were a former human, follow me… I need to show you something ".

I followed him deeper in the museum, the artifacts passing by me as I walked started looking more older as I passed them.

" I have met 2 other human-turned-pokemon in my years as a guildmaster, and all of them had the same unreadable portion in their memories. If you, a human, ended up here, then that means… something big is coming… ".

Something big? " what kind of thing? ".

" every time a human is sent here it's because they're here to stop a calamity, an evil that can engulf the entire world in chaos ".

Damn… the pressure is already setting in…

" Did the other humans sent here stop the calamities? ".

" only three humans were sent here… including you, the first one succeeded, the second one didnt… " he frowned, " after the second human failed the world was plunged in corruption for over two decades " he didn't want to explain more.

" so you're saying I have to fight some bad guy or else the world ends? ", he nodded.

" I think it's time you head home now, I have to make a call… " I said goodbye to him and left the building.

Maybe Straizo was the calamity he talked about, I really hope it is, or else I'm going to be in a lot of trouble…

Later…

I was standing in the town square, waiting for Raymond and Evie to come, what taking them so long!?

The snake and the fox finally arrived, holy crap they look horrible.

" damn " I chuckled, " it seems you guys had a worse day than me~ ".

" shut it " Evie hissed, she had a giant bandage wrapped around her back, maybe I should have picked an easier dungeon ".

Raymond sighed, " we got attacked by a swarm of zubats and we had to get tested for rabies, but at least we finished the job ".

" good " I answered.

" GOOD!? " Evie tackled me to the ground " FOR FUCKS SAKE WE ALMOST DIED! "

" woah woah woah calm down! I didn't know you could've died alright! " she was standing on my chest, making it extremely hard to breathe.

" both of you stop! " Ray pulled her off of my chest with his vines, she stumbled back, still fuming.

I realised that a lot of people were watching us, " what the hell are you looking at! " I yelled at them while making myself glow with hamon.

I got up and lightly glared at Evie, " the guys at the agency said that the tryouts would be in six months, that gives us plenty of time to train… ".

Evie finally calmed down, " a-alright, six months, that's more than enough time ".

The sun was setting, " well I'm gonna go catch some Z's, see you " i said as I made my way home.

Later…

Evie's Perspective

I entered my room and yawned, this was one hell of a day I had.

I was lightly tapping my paws on the ground, I guess the adrenaline didn't wear off yet.

I shambled over to my bed and jumped in, as I rested my head on the ground I saw my personal trunk.

" I suppose one small review of my notes wouldn't hurt… " I whispered to myself.

I went over to the trunk and opened it up, I pulled out some notebooks and…

A stone mask.

I let the notebooks drop on the floor as I held on to the mask with both of my front legs while standing on my hinds, this damned thing was responsible for turning Straizo into… whatever he was.

And I also had a gut feeling that it had something to do with the dungeon, this could finally be a lead…

Mom… dad… i'm going to find you

Somewhere else…

Narrator

Alakazam walked down his private collection, and towards a wall mounted phone, he picked up the receiver and dialed.

" hmm hello there can I speak to the CEO, I am Alakazam of the Peacekeeper Agency... okay I'll hold ".

After a minute of waiting he was redirected to the CEO.

" oh hey Alakazam, why are you calling me so late? " the person on the other line asked.

" Speedwagon, we found Joseph… "

Chapter 12 End