Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Parallel Lives

Chapter One

"Ugh... What happened to me...?"

In a lush forest, a certain someone was beginning to stir from their rest... As the sounds of running water hit her ears, they twitched as her eyes began to open and look around.

"...Where...? I don't remember falling asleep in a forest..."

She yawned and stretched as she slowly got to her paws-

"Wait, paws?"

She looked down at her paws, both them and her legs donning a snow white color. This wasn't right... She was some kind of animal...?

"Ugh... What happened to me...?"

She took some time to look at her new form. She was supposed to be a human, right...? Her memory may have been fuzzy, but she remembered that for a fact. But now... instead of a human, she was some kind of white fox...?

"...Where even am I? I don't remember...

I don't remember.

I can't remember anything."

She began to panic somewhat.

"W-who am I? Can I even remember that?"

After a brief moment of careful thought, she found that at the very least, she could remember her name.

"That's right... I'm Annabelle. I couldn't forget who I am after all."

She gave a sigh of relief to the somewhat quiet forest around her. She was less panicked about turning into this... thing since she knew she was still herself. That's when she noticed the sound of running water again.

"A river maybe? I am... very thirsty."

She hadn't noticed just how much she wanted something to drink until then. Taking some shaky steps at first, she slowly began to make her way over to the source of the sounds, albeit tripping multiple times as she did so.

Despite the fact she had a memory problem, water was more important than figuring that out for the moment. She definitely wasn't used to walking on four legs, but in the distance, a lake with a waterfall running into it was visible, encouraging her to move faster. Her tails began to wag behind her, unknown to Annabelle as she was just happy to see something to drink in her current situation.

"Water!"

She quickly reached the lake, as she lowered her head to start drinking from it, she noticed her reflection in the water. The unfamiliar face of the white fox she had become stared back at her. At least her eyes seemed somewhat familiar, their hazel gaze comforted her knowing that she was still herself, even in an unfamiliar body.

She began to happily drink from the lake. Her eyes widened as she tasted the water.

"This-! This tastes so good!"

Never had water tasted this good for Annabelle. She simply kept drinking from the lake until she had enough. After she was done with her drink, she raised her head as she looked around more at the forest she was in. It was a lush, green forest. The grass and leaves were swaying gently in a small breeze.

"Wow..."

Even with all the concern she held at her situation, the natural beauty of the area had her captivated. She had never seen- or at least, didn't remember seeing anything this pretty before.

"I guess that's an upside, if you could even call it that. I get to experience things as if I've never seen them before."

Her ears twitched naturally as she heard something approaching her. More accurately, three somethings. They looked like some kind of bronze aliens with green eyes. They all looked down at Annabelle as they floated off the ground.

"U-uh, hello...?" Annabelle greeted. She may not know who or what they were, but hopefully they were friendly...?

None of them gave a verbal response. They all turned to each other and began flickering some lights on their hands- Were they hands? The lights were the only things on them, but they were probably still hands of some kind. They all turned back to look at her as their lights stopped flickering.

"What-"

Before Annabelle could continue with what she was saying, one of them suddenly rushed at her and punched her. She recoiled backwards after getting hit.

"W-what's the deal all of a sudden?!"

The other two also approached, looking like they were about to replicate what the first had done. She did not want to stay around long enough to find out if they would. She quickly turned and began to flee. The punch didn't hurt that much, but she didn't want to get into a fight with the first people- Were they even people? She couldn't get distracted as she pushed that thought aside for another time and continued running.

She seemed to be gaining distance from her pursuers, but they still had the advantage. They could float, and she was being very careful not to trip as she ran. She kept running, seemingly deeper into the forest. It wouldn't take long before another figure entered her view. It was taller than she was, had light brown skin, and had a large green leaf on the top of its head.

"W-Woah! What's got you all in a fuss for?" The voice revealed it to be a male, and he had a noticeable accent of some kind.

"This one talked to me!" She thought, realizing she could ask for help.

"These three... things are chasing me for no reason! Help me please!" She pleaded with the stranger.

He looked slightly taken aback by the sudden request. "Hang on there, settle down now-"

It was at this point the other three caught up to her. They didn't immediately attack, but rather turned to each other and flickered the lights on their hands again. Was that how they talked to each other...?

"Alright now, what's the prob-" Before the stranger could continue, one of the three rushed towards him and punched him just like they had done to her. It didn't appear to hurt him that much. "Eek! I'm scared!" He nevertheless shouted as he began running, quickly motioning for Annabelle to follow.

She didn't even need his cue to begin running after him. At least he was also scared of the three. They once again began their pursuit, quickly floating behind them. At least both of them were still faster and could outrun them. All of a sudden, the helpful stranger skidded to a stop.

"Dagnabbit- Ain't that there a Mystery Dungeon?!" He said, looking ahead at a seemingly thicker patch of trees.

"What?!" "Mystery Dungeon? What even is that?! It sounds dangerous!"

"Agh, we've got no choice but to go through! Stick close to me, ya hear?!" He said, before running off into the Mystery Dungeon, not wanting to give their pursuers any more time to catch up.

Annabelle hesitated a moment, before running off after him. She trusted him more than anything else at the moment. They had a common fear of the three that randomly attacked them out of nowhere.

As she entered with the stranger, the way they came in through was suddenly blocked by trees.

"H-huh?!" She skidded to a stop, turning around to look at the now blocked entrance. What just happened?!

Meanwhile, the stranger skidded to a stop as well, turning to Annabelle with what seemed to be a surprised look on his face. "Ain't you ever heard of a Mystery Dungeon before, kiddo? They seal off their entrances after someone gets into them."

Being called kiddo didn't sit right with her for some reason. She didn't remember anything about a Mystery Dungeon either. "But then again, I don't remember anything other than my name and that I was a human..." She didn't exactly feel comfortable sharing her situation just yet, and so she decided to tell a small lie.

"Uh- Yeah! Sorry, just- confused." She didn't sound that confident, giving away the lie relatively quickly.

Surprisingly, he didn't say anything about it. "Well then I'm sure ya must know how dangerous they are, right? C'mon, we don't got all day to wait around." He said as he began walking off down a suspiciously hallway-shaped space free of trees.

"At least we aren't running anymore." Annabelle thought as she followed him. She was confused about a lot of things right now, but if she wanted to support the lie she just told, she had to keep her questions to herself.

"Don't let yer guard down in here. There could be ferals anywhere." As soon as he finishes speaking, a large bull with what appeared to be an afro emerged from another corridor. "See? What'd I tell ya? I've got this."

Annabelle nodded, watching with anticipation and worry. The bull started charging towards him, making some really strange noises as it went. He stayed still and looked like he was about to hit him head on, before his hand was covered in some kind of dark energy and he jabbed the bull under their chin, instantly knocking it out.

"Was that magic? What was that?" Her confusion and awe was visible on her face, which the stranger picked up on.

"Heh. Never seen a Feint Attack in action before?" He asked, chuckling a bit as he did so.

"N-no. How did you do that?" "That was cool too!"

"Well... I reckon ya might be able to pull it off. I've seen some Vulpix that know how to use it." He replied, bringing a hand to his chin in thought, before he seemed to shrug. "I reckon I could show ya how I do it if that helps."

Annabelle's face lit up. She could do magic like that?! She excitedly nodded. "Yes please!"

He chuckled a bit before crouching down slightly and raising a hand in front of his face. "Whatcha gotta do, is make it look like you're about to hit someone, and then switch it up at the last moment to hit 'em somewhere else." He was moving his hand in different motions as he was talking to show what he meant, dark energy covering it when he made a second jab at the air. "Ya got that?"

She took a moment to process it, before nodding. "I think so."

"Good, but we can't stay around here for too long, gotta keep a move on. I'll let ya take the lead." He said, standing back up fully as he did so before moving aside to let her go ahead.

She nodded before leading the two through the hallway-esque gaps in the trees. She lead them into a small clearing, though there was a sleeping two-headed bird directly in the middle of it that they would have to sneak around if they didn't want to wake it up.

She didn't bother asking what it was, trying to keep up the facade that she still had her memories. She tiptoed around the edges of the clearing, the stranger behind her doing the same until they slipped into another- She's just going to call them hallways now, they essentially are.

They trekked down the hall, their pursuers still on Annabelle's mind. At the end of the hall, a... set of stairs was there? Leading visibly nowhere? "Huh...?"

Meanwhile, when he saw it he raised his arms in celebration. "There's the stairs. Let's get going."

She nodded and ran ahead to the room with the stairs, but barely out of the corner of her eye she noticed another bull charging at her. It was too late for her to do anything about it.

"Wait!-" He was too slow to help her as she got hit and launched into a nearby tree. He quickly ran up and hit the bull with another Feint Attack, knocking it out in one hit like before. He ran over to where she landed. "Kid! You alright?"

"That really hurt..." It hurt much more than their pursuers' punches. She weakly stood back up, supported by the stranger- No, her friend. She could stand alright, but she was still feeling the after effects of the attack on her. "I-I'm fine..."

"Darn... We should find you an oran, that looked like it hurt." He said, looking around as he continued supporting her. "Don't see any... Let's head to the next floor, maybe there'll be one there. C'mon."

She began walking to the stairs, she didn't need to be supported by her friend anymore, but she couldn't run in the pain. As they walked up the stairs, it was like her vision flickered for a moment.

And then suddenly, they were somewhere different, no traces of the staircase they just took behind them. She was confused, but she wouldn't get much time to think about it.

"There's one!" Her friend said as he walked over to some kind of blue berry and picked it up. She assumed it was an 'oran' as he said before. He walked back over and held it in front of her. "Eat up, this should help ya."

She took a bite of the oran. It tasted great! She kept eating, perhaps a little too excited. Nevertheless, she quickly finished it. Her friend chuckled as he watched. "Feelin' better now?"

She hadn't noticed until he asked, but the pain... it was gone. The berry was magic too? She didn't exactly expect that, though she probably should've given that her friend said it would help. "Yeah, I feel better. Thanks... uh..." She had never asked his name.

"The name's Doug, nice to meetcha. What about you?" He said, realizing she never asked before either.

"I'm Annabelle, thanks for helping me, Doug." She happily replied.

He paused for a moment, before turning towards a hallway and getting right back into business. "Can't stick around for too long, we shouldn't waste much more time or the wind will get us."

She didn't know what he meant by the wind, but she trusted him enough to know what he was talking about. She nodded, and as Doug began to walk through the halls, she followed. They didn't come across any other ferals in the halls, but in the next clearing there was another two-headed bird. This time, awake and angry.

Dan, surprisingly, stepped behind her, putting her between him and the bird. "I think you can handle this, right?"

Suddenly being put on the spot between the feral and Doug, she was pretty scared. She didn't have time to think about what to do before the bird ran at her, beaks glowing. She didn't know what to do, but she had to at least try Feint Attack. She raised a paw and looked like she was about to hit the bird head on, before she quickly circled the bird and hit it in one of its necks, paw coated in dark energy.

The bird was knocked back a bit, recoiling from a direct hit to a neck as Annabelle jumped back to get some distance. It felt... natural to her. Like her body knew what it was doing, even if her mind didn't. Something felt like it was rising from her throat. She had no clue what it was, but her body told her it was normal. She just followed what felt natural to her body at this point, since it seemed to know more than her mind did.

Soon enough, the bird repeated its previous tactic, running at her, beaks aglow. However this time, a blast of freezing snow interrupted them as they got knocked out. She stood, calming down from the fight she had gotten into, before Doug approached her and pat her on the back.

"There ya go! I knew ya could do it." He proudly said.

"H-heh, thanks." She said, before looking more closely at the room they were in. There were two hallways out, not including the one they entered through.

"Well, which do ya think we should take? I'm leaving it up to you."

"Hm... Right is always right but that's wrong so..." "We go left." She said, nodding before she took the lead again.

"Left it is then." He followed her lead, looking ahead for the stairs. They weren't in sight, but there looked to be another room up ahead. "Keep an eye out, try not to get ambushed like last time."

She was a little hurt by that, but he was right, she did rush off before. That was the reason she got hurt in the first place. She didn't run into the new room, walking in normally instead as she took around. No ferals in sight, and-

"The stairs!" She shouted out. Another step out of here. Were the stairs even the way out? She didn't exactly know, but Doug was excited enough when they found the first one.

"Oh, we got lucky! Let's get a move on then." He said, approaching the stairs as she followed behind him. When they ascended the stairs, their vision seemed to flicker once more...

What awaited the pair this time was a clearing. An actual clearing, not one that visibly looked like it was part of the dungeon.

"Hey, we're out! Good going kid." Doug proudly complimented.

"Hehe, t-thanks." Annabelle politely replied, looking around. It didn't look like there were as many trees around them.

Doug quickly changed his tone however. "Why in the world were them Beheeyem after ya in the first place?" He asked, his tone less happy and more concerned. "This isn't the consequences of any childish pranks, is it?"

"Childish pranks?!" She was too caught up with that to notice that Doug had actually called their pursuers a name. "I'd never do anything like that. ...If I'm being honest, I don't really remember why. I can't remember anything before I woke up by the lake..." Her ears slightly drooped as she talked.

"What, you got amnesia or somethin'? I thought you knew what a dungeon was though?" He asked, confused.

Her ears drooped a little more. "I... might have lied. I didn't think you'd believe me if I said no, so I just pretended I knew what you were talking about. Sorry..."

"Now that ain't nothin' to be apologizing for. Why, if I was in your situation-" He was cut off by the familiar sound of robotic flickering coming from the direction they came from.

She jumped at the sound. "They're catching up!"

"C'mon, we can talk more later, there's another dungeon up ahead and we gotta go quickly!" He said before running off ahead, making sure she was following.

The two of them entered another verdant dungeon, trees lining the area to form walls like before. They didn't waste any time getting a move on to find the stairs this time. They didn't engage in any unnecessary fights, but when they had to defend themselves, Annabelle took charge and did a good job protecting them, though Doug also helped. He didn't want her to do everything after all.

One floor went smoothly, the second floor went smoothly, the third and the fourth, finally the pair emerged from the dungeon into another clearing.

She was pretty tired from going through two dungeons in a row, and the second one was twice as long as the first. "You... you think they're still following us?" She worriedly asked.

"Nah... I think we lost em. If we didn't... we don't need to rush as much at least, they're gonna be stuck in the dungeon for a bit." He replied, wiping some sweat from his forehead. "Anywho, I reckon we could do some more talking out here."

"R-right. So, uh, my amnesia..."

"Ya can only remember your name?" He guessed.

"And that I'm a human." She wanted to say, but she kept quiet, simply nodding her head. Maybe keeping the fact that she's human a secret would be safest considering she didn't know if humans were even around here. They had to be though... right?

"Well, ain't that a problem then... I don't suppose you know somewhere you can stay in that case?"

She shook her head. She didn't even know what she was, nevertheless where she would be able to stay. The thought hadn't even crossed her mind until now, but she did need some shelter for the night.

"Well then... I wish you luck in finding somewhere to stay then. As for me, I reckon I'll be heading back to my home." He turned away slightly, waving in farewell. "See you another time maybe, Annabelle."

"W-wait!" She suddenly shouted.

He turned back around. "What're you shouting for now?"

"C-can I come with you?!" She asked. Her eyes were wide as she semi-shouted this out.

"Woah there! Calm yerself down a bit. ...It would be irresponsible of me to leave a kid all alone in the woods... Ah, what the heck. I reckon it wouldn't be too much trouble for you to stay with me for a bit." He replied, turning back around to face her.

Her tails were happily wagging behind her, and she had a look of pure joy on her face. "T-thank you!"

Doug chuckled a bit. "Now, let's get a move on to the village. Serene Village. It's a lovely place, I'm sure you'll like it, though it is a bit of a long ways away."

"T-that's fine. I'm just h-happy to have a place to stay." Her big hazel eyes looked up at Doug in gratitude.

"Heh, yer welcome. Now then, let's get a move on. I reckon we'll probably make it back before sundown." He set off along the forested path, followed by Annabelle behind him.

If either of the pair looked up through the canopy of leaves above them, the sun appeared... not even at its peak yet.

They had a fairly long journey ahead of them, yet that didn't deter them in the slightest. Especially not Annabelle, who was happy to have found a friend in Doug.

Editors Note

Thanks for reading my first attempt at a chapter! How do you think I did?

It doesn't take that much to realize that this is a retelling of Super, but there are many more surprises in store ahead of us. Many familiar faces will show up, as well as many new ones. One of which will be revealed next chapter. Hope you're as excited as I am!

One thing to note is that I will not be setting any deadlines for chapters. They will be uploaded when I'm done writing them because I don't want to rush myself. Hopefully it won't take too long for new chapters to be uploaded though.

Up next, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Parallel Lives Chapter 2: "This is a dream come true!"