Chapter 5: Jobs aplenty.

That night was short, nothing revealed, but the dreams I had were vivid, I don't know why, but I think it had something to do with the hope Dream Cube. I just wanted to get out and explore, I was exploding with anticipation, I had wanted to see the request board. I was the first up, and I woke the other two up, I rushed to the town.

I wasn't surprised by the emptiness, it was early in the morning. I had gotten to the board rather quickly, and immediately read the requests, they were exactly what I had expected. People needed help, and I wanted to help them, I didn't know which one to pick.

"Just pick the ones who have the most in the same dungeon. If we do them all we help more Pokémon that way." Jordan pitched in, Thomas wasn't very talkative as of late, he seemed like he was constantly thinking of something. I nodded, it seemed like the most common was in Resonant Bluffs. I was pumped to help people, I knew I could. The requests were, in this order, starting on floor 2, going to floor 8, search for a 'strange rock', get revenge on Kadabra, rescue Machop, rescue Joltik, find a stolen clear gummi, deliver unknown seed to Roselia, and escort Ghastly to floor 8. It seems like the place Thomas was at was a midway point, on floor 5, not actually all the way up. We were returning to Resonant Bluffs, it was a short trip, and Team Mirror caught us on the way out. They wanted to talk.

"Where you going, and how's the request board?" Umbreon asked.
"The place is Resonant Bluffs, and the board is perfect."
"Ah, using it already? Well don't take too many requests, leave some for us!"

"Yeah, we're heading off now. It shouldn't be too long before this town is bustling right?"

"Shouldn't be too long."

"Bye now, see you tonight."

We had taken off, it was a short trip, and we meet Ghastly at the entrance. He was ecstatic, excited that he would finally see the top. We started off, it was a quick journey on floor one, only Abras, but on floor two, we had passed by the stairs, and Ghastly noticed it.

"What's the big idea?"

"Just so long as we get you to your destination, we're fine right? We've got some side-jobs first."
"Fine, just so long as we don't take too long." A strange rock… Where could we find that?
"OW, MOTHER OF A CUBONE!" Oop, Thomas found it.

"Did you find it?"
"Yeah, I am in great pain."

"Alright, let's move on." Short trip, it was floor three, we made it there easy, but we had to force Kadabra to faint. Our first step was to find him, he was in a side passage, with no other exits, he was just meditating, it felt rude that we had to take revenge upon him. We had walked up. I had to wake him up and make it fair, I reached out to him when he spoke.

"I know why you are here, yes I did those things, if you wish to fight me, then do so."

I hit him with Pursuit, it was super-effective.

"Stay back Ghastly!" I yelled as the Kadabra used confusion, on Jordan, he could read my mind so he knew not to attack me with Psychic type moves.
"Why is the world spinning?" Jordan was confused, I had to avoid getting hit by him, that's the only damage that could be done to me by Kadabra, indirect damage. I dodged Jordan's attempt to hit Kadabra with Rapid spin, the confusion would be annoying. Thomas was silent, he had attacked Kadabra, and did some damage. I was the one to hit hard in this case, kinda rare, but I liked it. I used Pursuit again, Ghastly used Confuse Ray on Kadabra.

"What is this, I cannot sense anything anymore." Kadabra commented, I knew the opportunity was now, as I recognized Jordan snapped out of confusion. I hit Kadabra with another Pursuit, and Jordan had a Rapid Spin right after, Kadabra went down.

It was floor 4 and we had to look around for Machop, I wonder what he's doing here. It's rare that a fighting-type could make it so far, especially in a psychic-type place. He did good, it was on the way to the stairs we saw him, in a corner trying to avoid the Pokémon here. I ran over and dug through our bag to find an escape orb, then I saw a group of pins, with a note just under them. "Use these to have people escape the Mystery Dungeon, just have them touch the center of the pins. -Team Mirror." I held up the pin and told the Machop to touch the center. There was a bright flash and he was gone. The stairs were quite the while away, even if he did continue he wouldn't have made it to the stairs. On floor 5 we did the same thing, just had to rescue an absolutely tiny bug, if I was human I probably wouldn't be able to find it. This world is a strange place, but oddly welcoming. It was strange, the Joltik we had to find was down a crack, and in a pretty secluded corner, I went over to it and told the bug to touch the center of the pin, I held it to the Joltik in my mouth. Joltik disappeared in a strange light, and we moved on.

At the end of floor 5 we took a break in the cavern that we decided to make an exploration team in. We rested with Ghastly, and chatted, it was a short chat, and as we chatted we had lunch, I checked what we had left, it was finding a Clear Gummi, delivering a seed, and finishing escorting Ghastly. The trip was half over. It was easy to go the distance, but I knew it would only rack up in difficulty from here.

The last 3 floors were easy, the Clear Gummi was just to the right of where we came up from the stairs, and the stairs were in the same room. The strange seed we took to Roselia was a seed that had unknown effects, according to her when we took it to her, she was apparently studying the effects of certain types of areas on plain seeds. She had no conclusive results, but she wanted to keep it there for a couple of years before retrieving it, I pointed out it was a mystery dungeon and she waved it off, saying that for the past five times she came here this room was always intact, and on floor 7.

It was when we finished escorting Ghastly that I noticed something, I was ignoring it up to this point, but the halls started to feel more and more unnatural, and were more and more sticky, but only psychologically, there was something on the next floor. "Thanks for taking me this far, I'll be back in town with your pay."

"No problem, we've got something we want to check out first, see you in town." He touched the badge and warped to town. I told them that we were going to the final floor, something there has my attention, and it's powerful enough to radiate between floors.

"Didya feel the atmosphere? I'd go up there without any reason to." I knew it was going to be a tough fight, and checked our supplies. It would be enough with four Oran Berries, and three Max Elixirs, of which I am told if you drink them you gain some energy to use moves that you had depleted, how that worked I had no clue, but I went with it. I walked to the stairs, the last 2 floors were empty, devoid of evil Pokémon. The staircase was in a room with purple like fibre climbing down from the floor above, something evil was happening. I climbed up the last set of stairs.

The final step and I was itching, and no matter how much I reassured myself I couldn't get rid of the feelings. I had reached the Peak of Resonant Bluffs, a place filled with neutral psychic energy. The peak felt tainted, and I saw someone, I called out, hoping to know if they were an evil Pokémon.

"Hello, no need to fear, just examining the area, something here is tainting the surroundings, although I have no clue what. I am suppose to be the protector of the region, but the region has come down with an ailment that I fear I cannot cure." It was a massive, distinctly male voice. I couldn't tell why it sounded so powerful.

"What's your name, sir."

"I am Ho-Oh, the searcher of the pure, and the guardian of the skies." I heard Jordan and Thomas gasp, I knew he was powerful, like a legend.

"That's a legendary, Derrek, be careful, don't anger him."

"Alright, Ho-Oh, what's the ailment's symptoms?" I started the sentence quiet, then addressed Ho-Oh directly.

"If we meet again I shall tell thee, but until such a time, I bid thee Adieu." He sounded stuck-up, but also Gentlemanly, a person I would want to know, but not to associate myself with. It would seem I saw what I came to see, the area was corrupt. I could tell, but something didn't seem right…

We had gone back home, and Thomas had something to tell us. It was important, and had to do with the team. As soon as we got in the house he told us.

"Thanks for letting me explore with you, it was one of my most enjoyable times. Although now I have to tell you that I want to go and explore by myself, or maybe find my own partner and do it with them. I have no quarrel, and I have no complaints about you. It's just I don't want to explore in my home when there's nothing I can do to save it. I'll go out and find someone to explore with in Isthmus town. If you wish to come find me, I'll be there. It's been grand, I suppose I'll see you later?"

"Go ahead, I'll see you later. You'll always be my friend." I said, but looked over to Jordan and he stood there shocked.

"But you can't go! It'll just be us two! We can't explore by ourselves!"

"It's fine Jordan, it's better he goes on his own terms and be regretful, than he leaves on another's and is hateful, and evidently he's thought about this." I looked to him as he nodded, I gave him the spare bag we had and a small collection of our Rescue Pins.

"Hey, see you when we solve all of our problems, okay?"

"Yeah, got it." Thomas said, he left, Jordan and I were waving as he disappeared into the tree line.

It was a short walk to town, the people weren't out, but we got our rewards at the request board, it totaled up to about 900 Poké, 3 Oran Berries, 1 box, and a strange rock. I kept the strange rock on me, as neither Jordan nor I knew what it did, I put the box in Kengaskhan storage, and buried the majority of the cash behind the house, we would need a more secure location for the cash. I stood on the doorstep and stared to the sunset, I knew that it was very rare that I would ever be human again, but even if I could become human, I would probably turn it down, the experiences I had here were indescribable to any who didn't have them. The joy, the pain, and the sorrow, I've felt was already amazing. Although my thoughts were interrupted by Team Mirror.
"You know that you didn't come by, right?" It was Leafeon.
"Yeah, sorry, I had other things on my mind."

"No problem. I honestly thought you would go straight to bed, never expected you to be on your doorstep staring at the sun."

"Hey, as I said, other things."

"So any origin story you wish to tell?"

"What?"
"I am no idiot, Kecleon said you showed up with amnesia, that's rare out here, even with concussions. That's like finding a shiny."
"Oh, huh. Can you keep a secret?"

"Only if it isn't from my own team."

"If they must know, then go get them. I'll be here."
"Alright. I'll be back soon, I'll try to make it before twilight." I snickered, thinking of how hard that would be.

"So are you telling a secret?" Jordan must have overheard the conversation.

"Yeah, I'll tell you it when I tell Team Mirror, just wait outside."

"I'm back!" Leafeon yelled, with general murmur following from his fellow team.
"Alright, gather round."

"It's a story!" Leafeon got excited, ecstatic even.

"Alright let's hear it."

"It all begins with a young boy, a human, who had just lost a thing of great value…" I began. The story of the events that I figured lead to my being here.