A/N: Here's the second chapter of my story. I know its a little slow but I am experimenting with a couple of things at this point. The format itself may stay the same, but the pacing may change a bit here and there as the story progresses. Anyway, for those who have played Explorers of Sky before, they would know that a certain Pachirisu would always hang out in that Cafe. So I took the liberty of expanding on his character a bit. I'll also be introducing a some more characters later on in the story. Without further ado, enjoy!

PMD: Ch.2 Beyond the Eyes of Man

"Who would've thought it was this hard to find any willing partners these days?" An Eevee sighed dejectedly as she took a sip of her white gummi tea. The Spinda Cafe was a gathering place for exploration teams looking to relax or have a good time with old acquaintances. Other pokemon have taken a liking to just lounging around in the comfortable environment of the Cafe itself.

"Well, these days, its become rather dangerous to even venture on a D rank mission. This sudden growth in evil and danger is an omen, I say." Said the Spinda who was currently making a drink for a Pachirisu.

"He's right, ya know. Not many young pokemon have the will to form, let alone join, an exploration team. They think its "throwing your lives away." Well, that's complete and utter crap. At least, it used to be." It was the Pachirisu that spoke up this time.

"As I was saying, exploration teams are dying! And I mean the good ones too! Something's amuck, but no one is brave enough to find out what it is. All the high ranking teams are doing their best in investigating the matters. Not to mention the fact they are also rescuing Pokemon in need and taking in criminals. These times aren't exactly filled with rainbows and smiles." The Eevee took another swig of her tea and continued thinking.

"Speaking of criminals, the outbreaks have been more numerous these past weeks," The electric squirrel spoke again. "It seems that this generation has been filled with so much desperation and danger that these degenerates have formed teams amongst themselves. More so than usual, I might add."

"I am well aware of what's going around the world. As much as I actually want to help out the situation at hand, I can't really do much on my own. I just wish SOMEONE would at least partner up with me…" And with that final quip, she drifted off into her own thoughts. But, it wasn't long before the Pachirisu addressed her again.

"You know, I think I can help you with finding a suitable partner for you." This got the Eevee's attention.

"Really?! I'd appreciate anything at this point!"

"Well, I'm sure you've heard a rumor that's been going around Treasure Town lately."

"You mean about the Mysterious Stranger? To be honest, I haven't heard much about him." The electric squirrel gave a smile.

"It just so happens that I may "know" a little more than what most would think. I got to talk to him for a bit as well."

"Do go on."

"Alright, let me start from the top," he motioned the Spinda behind the counter for another cup of apple juice before starting his story. "This Mysterious Stranger walked into Treasure Town about a week ago. It was around night time, so not many have actually seen him in person. And I can tell you for a fact that he was a Chimchar."

"A Chimchar?"

"That's right. But this ain't your run-of-the-mill Chimchar. This guy looked like he just fought a legion of criminals and lived to tell the tale! I mean, it was unbelievable. Scars were all over his body. He also had an eye patch over his right socket. And it almost felt like he had an air of enmity around him. For someone of his stature, he sure was incredibly intimidating. I'll be honest with you; I was actually kinda scared of this guy. I mean, he is actually bigger than your usual Chimchar by a few inches."

"So, he just waltzed into the town? What did he do???"

"Hold your Ponytas, I'm getting to that point! Anyway, he walks up to me and starts to ask me the strangest questions like "where is the nearest mystery dungeon" or "are there any hotel rooms"."

"Which means he must not be from these parts then…"

"Exactly. After I told him about Beach Cave, he just up and left without a trace. Its been a week, and no one has seen hide nor hair of the Mysterious Stranger. A couple of the locals got worried and asked any exploration team if they are willing to look for him. Of course, no one would take the job. After all, they only see it as a job for a small fry. And the small fries are too busy with their guild training to even bother with this little outing."

"So, what you mean to say is, he went into a mystery dungeon all by himself, and no one has seen him in at least 7 days?"

"Correct. I figured you might want to go look for that potential recruit. Even during these dangerous times, Beach Cave is still categorized as an easy dungeon. So I am sure you won't have any problems, even if you have a limited inventory on you."

"Wow, thanks for the info!"

"Anything for aspiring exploration teams. I do believe we were never properly introduced before. May I ask for your name?"

"The name's Melissa."

"Nice to meet you, Melissa. My name is Bach. Refer to me whenever you need help."

"Thank you so much. I'd better get going now. I'll see you some other time!"

"Take care, Melissa." With that, she bolted off to the exit of Spinda's Café.

"Sorry to intrude but, I can't help but think that you didn't tell her all you know. Why is that?" Bach looked towards Spinda with an almost worried look.

"There is something off about that Chimchar. He is, for lack of word, unique."

"Hm, is that why you choose not to recruit him for your own team?"

"You could say that's half the reason…" Seeing that Bach's reasons started turning personal, Spinda wisely took his nose out of others' business. After all, a bartender's job is to serve drinks and soothe the ailing soul.

Melissa ran as fast as her legs can take her to the entrance of Beach Cave. She stopped before the opening to steady herself.

"Although its an easy dungeon, I still must remain cautious," She said to herself. I wonder what happened to that Chimchar anyway…" Melissa continued on as she thought back to the earlier conversation. "Well, it shouldn't be TOO hard to spot him."

"Where are those buffoons? I could've sworn that they would be here…" A lone figure was walking through the numerous passages of Beach Cave. He had heard from a few passing pokemon that there was something of great value at the bottom of this dungeon. With the promise of new companions and maybe even powerful allies, Nathan agreed to accompany the pair. However, during their trek to the bottom of Beach Cave, they became separated.

"Damn it all. Even with combat training, this place is confusing! It's built like a maze." He had lost all track of time the moment he descended into the dungeon. It could've been 15 minutes, a few days, or even a month! It didn't matter to him. Although Nathan was a patient pokemon (man), his situation was starting to get to him. Deciding to take a quick break, he stopped to think about his current location in hopes of finding a clue on how to escape.

"Its nearly impossible to ascertain my location at this point. My only hope is to continue descending and find an exit."

"Hello? Is anyone here?" The feminine voice shook Nathan out of his train of thought.

"I'm over here!!" he responded.

"Stay there! I'll get to your position now!" Nathan more than willingly obliged to the voice's request. Then, he saw an Eevee jogging towards his location. There wasn't anything in particular about her save for the fact that she has a Sky Blue Bow tied around her neck.

"Wow. The rumors about you were true after all."

"Rumors? What rumors?"

"You mean you've never heard? You're the talk of Treasure Town! Everyone's been calling you the Mysterious Stranger since no one knows your name."

"How was I supposed to know all this? I've been trapped in this blasted dungeon all this time!"

"You do realize you've been here for a week now, right?"

"A week, you say? That's impossible! I've only been here for a couple of hours, at most. I've been doing nothing but going down stairs, fending off those annoying pokemon, and trying to find my comrades."

"Wait, you weren't alone? You have to tell me what's going on."

"Why should I trust a complete stranger?"

"You trusted whoever was with you."

"Good point. But I don't think this is such a good spot to prolong this conversation. The inhabitants of this place may find us soon. You lead the way out of here!" Melissa agreed, though rather reluctantly. She took point in trying to find the exit. They went through a network of tunnels before they came upon the final set of stairs. However, it wasn't long before the resident pokemon deemed them to be intruders of their territory.

"Damn it! It's a monster house! And the exit's just right there too."

"I don't know what the hell this monster house is, but it looks we'll have to fight our way through!" Nathan quickly took the initiative by using Scratch at a nearby Shellder. Melissa unleashed Tackle on the Corsola closest to her. Soon, the scuffle turned into an all out battle. Thanks to Nathan's previous life experience with war and tactics, he quickly took down the opposition with great speed. However, he was still adjusting to not having any ammunition or long range weaponry. Melissa had previously trained in these caves herself, which made her a force to be reckoned with. Despite their strength, it doesn't change the fact that they were still heavily outnumbered.

"There were more of them than I thought!" Melissa shouted as she tackled a Shellos into the wall.

"No time to think! We have to push through!" Nathan replied. He clawed his way out of the corner, realizing the enemies' tactic in trapping him. Melissa, however, was soon stuck in the corner, with nowhere to evade. Seeing this, Nathan quickly came to her rescue by unleashing Ember on a pair of Corsola. Nathan and Melissa stood back to back as they braced themselves for the final assault. As expected, the remaining enemies closed in on their position, unleashing a fury of attacks. Pain was quickly accumulating as the unrelenting strikes began to pile up. As he saw them tiring out, Nathan took advantage of the window of opportunity and burned the closest victim. His partner followed suite and resumed smashing the enemies into walls to break through their natural defense. In the end, Melissa and Nathan were the victors of the struggle. The floor was painted with the blood of their foes along with their own. To Melissa, it was a grisly sight. In Nathan's eyes, it was nothing but a skirmish.

"They fought with all their might! Why were they so vicious?"

"Let's go. There will be time to talk about all of this." They exited the dungeon without another word.

By the time the duo made it out of Beach Cave, it was late afternoon. The sun was just a few inches above the horizon, as if it were almost refusing to let the night take over. Melissa and Nathan sat down in the sand, just in front of the water line. They decided to rest up and catch their breaths from their brawl before continuing their conversation.

"Did we have to resort to taking their lives, though?"

"It was us, or them. And frankly, I have a lot to live for right now." Seeing that she didn't want to talk about no longer, Nathan quickly changed the subject. "I never thanked you for saving me today."

"Don't mention it. It was my objective after all. Anyway, my name is Melissa."

"The name is Nathan Wade. You can just call me Nathan."

"Nathan… So tell me. What were you doing there for a week?"

"I can't really say that it has been a week but, I can tell you about my business. It wasn't too long ago that I found myself on this very same beach. Although I can't exactly remember why I would sleep here… Anyway, I was awakened by a group of rather rambunctious characters…

Flashback…

"Hey, you think he's dead?"

"Eh, I wouldn't doubt it. He looks halfway there already."

"Whoa-ho-ho! He sure does."

"Hey, we could use his help, don't ya think?"

"In that condition? Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! Boss told us to get the mystery part that's supposedly at the end of Beach Cave. And he gave us an extra word to be on the lookout for potential recruits."

"So, uh, you want us to force him to help us get this treasure and recruit him at the same time?"

"Exactly! Oh, he's stirring! Hey buddy, you awake?"

"…urgh…"

"Wake up! We could use some help here."

"Wha? A talking Koffing and Zubat???"

"Yeah, nice to meet you too. Anyway, we've got a proposition for ya. And you ain't in the best situations to deny us of this request."

End Flashback

"That's how I ended up in that dungeon in the first place. I went into Treasure Town to gather more info, but it had been nightfall, and only a few pokemon were out and about. I thought that it would be best for my temporary group to wait until noon to start the excavation. In summation, I was rather forced to help these cretins. After all, they could've been valuable allies at the time. I somehow got stuck in that dungeon for a week and you came along and saved me somehow."

"It coincides with Bach's story then..."

"Excuse me?"

"Ah, its nothing at all," she replied hastily. "Well, it was a good thing that I found you! You wouldn't like being around Team Skull anyway."

"Team Skull? Who are they?"

"They are a group of notorious villains who have been around for quite some time. Nobody likes them, and they are quite two-faced. We need to watch out for them in the future."

"Duly noted. Wait, we???"

"Yes, I am referring to us! Who else is here? Don't you want to be in an exploration team?" This threw Nathan off guard. In any other circumstance, he would've seen through all this and get to the gist of it. However, recent events are still sinking into Nathan's psyche.

"That's probably the sole reason for her rescuing me in the first place…" he thought somewhat bitterly to himself.

"Please? You're the only capable candidate I've ever run into at this point. I need your help! Although you're a stranger, I just know you have some sort of redeeming quality to you!" Nathan's mind was racing through all the events that had transpired so far. His options were few and far between, and an ally at this point would be better than anything else.

"Well, alright then. I'll join with you and make an exploration team. After all, I feel obligated to repay my debt to you."

"That's great to hear! Its settled then. We go to the Wigglytuff Guild now!" Nathan could do nothing but follow the rather ecstatic Eevee.

"Oh, one more thing," his voiced stopped Melissa in her tracks. "I get to choose the name of our team." They smirked at each other as they came in silent agreement for the second time. She continued onwards at her breakneck speed towards the Guild, leaving the scarred Chimchar in the dust.

"Hm, I suppose it wouldn't be so bad. Perhaps this is the redemption she had in mind after all…" Although the sun was still setting, the heavenly bodies were starting to become visible in the transforming sky. He looked towards the vast emptiness penetrated only by the glimmering lights of the stars. The same stars Nathan saw when he was still human. He took on a somber expression as his thoughts trailed back to that fateful day.

"…Redemption…"