A/N: Hello! Welcome to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon:Soul of the Corrupted. Thank you for checking out my story. This is the first story I've ever written so I would greatly appreciate feedback from the reviews so that I can better my skill at writing and make the story more interesting for you to read. So let's get the disclaimer out of the way.
Disclaimer: I do not Pokémon. Wish I did though.
Dawn was barely arising over the Nevma Region. The cool crisp air that always accompanies the rise of the early morning sun. Silence dictated the forest as it was too early for the bird pokémon to awaken from their slumber. The silence was broken by a groan from the inside of a cave not far from the forest.
"*Groan* Man, my head's killing me. It hurts so much." A figure lied inside the cave facing the ceiling as it grasped it's head. "Where am I? How did I get here?" The figure questioned as it slowly tried to sit up only to regret the action when its body protested its movements. "I guess my body is pretty sore too, but why? I can't remember anything that happened." Its voice was seemingly male, a young adolescent. As he tried to sit up again, he failed once again. "Damn it. Guess I'll just have to wait but I'll keep my eyes open for anything suspicious or helpful, who knows what's out there."
As he observed his surroundings he identified that he was in a cave, the exit, that provided the only source of light, was a couple feet away. The light that filtered in was not enough to completely illuminate the cave but was just enough to make out abstract shapes. He figured it was probably early morning judging by how cold it was in the cave but he wasn't as cold as he thought he'd be. After laying there for a few more minutes he finally realized how thirsty he was. His mouth felt rough and his throat was dry.
"Okay,time to get up. I'm going to go crazy if I don't drink some water soon." He started out slow, inching his upper body up ignoring the pain and lightheadedness as he did. Finally he sat up and got to work trying to stand up. He used the wall of the cave for stability as he rose. Slowly but surely, he was finally on his feet but his body felt odd, different. He chalked it up to dehydration and the headache playing tricks on him. Walking was very difficult not only did his head hurt severely and his muscles ached, he was also very dehydrated and that just made it more difficult. After what seemed like an eternity he exited the cave, his breathing labored and searched frantically for some source of water. He only took a second to register that he was in some kind forest when he heard something. He quickly started looking around to find the source of the sound and followed it through some thick foliage.
On the other side he found the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. An enormous lake with a waterfall as the source of the water. He found beauty not in the lake, nor the waterfall but just the mere thought that he could finally FINALLY get something to drink. As fast as his weakened state would allow him he wobbled towards the lake bed. As soon as he was close enough he plunged his head into the water and drank greedily.
*Gulp* *Gulp* *Gulp*
He brought his head back out for much needed air as he sighed with content. "Aw yeah, Water has never tasted so good. So delicious." As he went to drink some more he noticed something in the surface of the water. He saw his reflection but not how he remembered himself. He stared at a bipedal pokémon with bluish fur on its top half and a cream colored underside, it had a long long snout and squinted eyes. It had short little stubby arms and short little legs with a single claw protruding out from them and had four red dots on its back.
"A Cyndaquil? W-Why is m-my reflection a C-Cyndaquil!? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ME!" He shouted as loud as he could, freaking out over the startling revelation. "I'm dreaming." He said in denial. "That's it, I'm dreaming. This all a bad dream and I'll wake up as a normal human again."
Minutes ticked by.
Then hours.
He pinched himself for the millionth time to 'wake himself up'.
As time passed he finally accepted the truth that this was not a dream. This was actually happening to him, but why him? He thought and thought, trying to remember anything but kept drawing a blank. The only things he could remember was that he was human, his name, and an abstract figure but that was about it "What now?" He thought to himself. "I'm a Pokémon now but why? Why am I here and why can't I remember anything else?" He was about to get up and go, deciding that sitting here wouldn't accomplish anything when he heard a twig snap. Immediately he was on his feet, the motion a little awkward for his new body but that was to be expected he guessed. "I know you're there, come out." He said to a pile of bushes. At first, nothing happened for a few moments just as he was about to go and drag whoever or whatever it was out of the bushes, it emerged.
It was a small rodent pokémon, almost as tall as him but the former human was just a bit taller. It's covered in yellow fur and has long ears with black tips. It has brown eyes and red circle pouches on its cheeks. Its forearms are short with five fingers on each paw and its feet have 3 toes each. It also has two brown horizontal stripes on its back and it's tail is shaped as a lightning bolt with a patch of brown fur at the base of the tail. It was a Pikachu, a male judging by the tail. "Who are you?" The former human said to the new arrival.
"Were you the one who screamed?" The Pikachu asked, apparently not paying attention to the question he was just asked.
"Why do you want know?"
"I was worried someone was in trouble so I came as fast as I could."
Cyndaquil looked up at the sky to see where the sun was. It was still morning but the sun was higher in the sky. "That was hours ago. Why show up now?"
The Pikachu looked a little embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head. "I...uh...sorta,kinda, got a little lost."
"Really? How long?"
"Uh..when did you scream?"
Cyndaquil tilted his head in confusion, wondering where this was going. "A few hours ago. Why?" He repeated.
"Then a few hours ago." Pikachu answered.
"How did that happen?"
"I accidentally wandered into the mystery dungeon near here."
"What's that?"
Pikachu looked a little confused by the Cyndaquil's answer. "How do not know what a mystery dungeon is? Every Pokémon in Nevma at least knows what they are."
"Well I wasn't a Pokémon in the first place, I used to be human."
Pikachu grew even more confused. "A human? You look like a perfectly normal Cyndaquil to me."
"I wasn't always a Cyndaquil, I used to be human until I woke up looking like this." He said as he gestured to himself.
"I guess that explains why a Cyndaquil would be here." Pikachu said seemingly in deep thought about how a Cyndaquil could possibly be here.
"What does that have to with anything and what is Nevma?" Cyndaquil said growing even more confused by what the Pikachu was saying.
"Nevma, the region we're in, hasn't seen a Cyndaquil, Quilava, or Typhlosion since they all left after the incident five hundred years ago."
"Incident? What incident?"
Pikachu adopted a thinking pose as he tried to recall the story of the incident. "Ok, the story goes tha-" However, as he prepared to tell the story they both fell silent and froze as both heard a rustle in the bushes. Both pokémon fell into a combat stance, both on all fours. Cyndaquil was working on what his pokémon instincts were telling him, his senses on edge. As the source of the noise came out of the bushes he felt his muscles tense up only to sag in relief as he finally identified the pokémon in front of them.
Said pokémon was covered in light orange fur except around its muzzle which was a tan-ish yellow and a slightly paler tan crescent moon marking on its face. It had black eyes, a small black nose and round ears atop its head. It was bear like in nature with 3 claws on its forepaws, 2 claws and yellow paw pads on its hind paws. Its tail was small, round and puffy.
A Teddiursa.
Cyndaquil turned to look back at Pikachu but noticed that he looked terrified at the sight of the little bear Pokémon."What's wrong with you? It's just a teddiursa, It's not like it can hurt us, looks like it's just a cub."
Pikachu made eye contact and Cyndaquil could see the horror on his wide eyes. "I'm not scared of the teddiursa, I'm scared of its mom. We have to go now!" Pikachu said incredulously. Just as he was about to turn around and run, he heard something that made him pale, if you could tell anyway, and freeze.
*Growl*
Cyndaquil turned back towards the teddiursa, only to see it's mother come out of the bushes. "Oh crap. That's the mom?" He thought in panic as he now began to understand why Pikachu was terrified.
In front of them stood a large bear like bipedal pokémon covered in brown except for its muzzle, inner ears, and paw pads, they were a light tan color. It had narrow eyes, a triangular shaped nose, a wide mouth with visible fangs in its upper mouth. Its round ears were atop its head and its stomach had a large tan ring shape on it. It had long forearms each ending with five, sharp claws and short legs ending in 3 equally sharp claws. Its tail was large and round.
An Ursaring and a pissed off one at that. She did not seem happy that they were near her cub, if the growling was any sign. "run! Run! RUN you idiot!" Cyndaquil's thoughts screamed at him to get the hell out of there but his body wouldn't respond. He was broken out of his stupor when Pikachu nudged him on the side.
"Just back away slowly and don't make any fast movements." Pikachu said in a soft voice so as not to provoke the protective mother. Cyndaquil did just as he said and was sure to be very careful to not set the bear off. Just as they were nearing the bushes Pikachu come out of he stopped. "Alright on the count of three we turn around and run as fast as we can."
"Why would we do that?" Cyndaquil said failing to see the logic in the plan Pikachu had.
"If we try to through the bushes we're just going to make a lot of noise anyway so might as well get a running start right?"
"Ok I get it, on three."
"Alright, 1..2..3!"
As soon as he heard three Cyndaquil turned and ran as fast as he could through the bushes, some twigs nicked him but it was nothing. He looked at Pikachu for the next action they would take. "Where to now?"
"This way, follow me." He ran to the left as Cyndaquil followed running on all fours as well to keep up. "The mystery dungeon should be this way." He said as they ran.
"Why are we going there?" Cyndaquil questioned as he heard the ursaring burst out of the bushes.
"She won't stop chasing us unless she catches us or we outrun her and both those options aren't any good. It's the only way." Pikachu said panting hard as he looked over his shoulder to see the ursaring catching up. "We're almost there, take a left."
*Roar* The ursaring roared at them with anger as she was nearing closer to her prey.
They turned and that's when Cyndaquil saw something weird. The space they were approaching was..moving? It was like the air around it was water as it moved and rippled. "Is that it?"
"Yeah, Jump!"
The duo jumped into the space in front of them and all Cyndaquil saw was the world around them distort and move, watching it was very disorienting as it felt like his body was shifting before finally a flash of light enveloped his vision before blacking out. The ursaring outside stopped short knowing that her prey escaped into a mystery dungeon.
Overgrown Forest 1f
Cyndaquil was woken up from unconsciousness by a slight headache. "What is it with the headaches?" He thought irritated by the pounding in his head. He looked around to find the pikachu sat in front of him.
"You alright?" He asked with concern.
"It's nothing, just a little
headache."
"You'll get used to it. So, what's your name?" He asked out of the blue, slightly surprising the former human. "I mean I can't keep calling you Cyndaquil, so what is it?"
"What's yours?" Cyndaquil said, returning the question. He was slightly reluctant to say his real name.
"Mine? My name is Storm. You know, like lightning storms." Pikachu, now identified as Storm, revealed his name. "Your turn."
"My name is Rei, nice to meet you." Rei said as he held out his hand..er..paw for a pawshake, hoping the gesture was universal in meaning. His hopes were proven correct as Storm accepted the paw held in front of him and shook. "Now that proper introductions are out of the way, where exactly are we?" Rei looked around to observe their surroundings. The nice, tame forest from before was replaced with a wild, overgrown, jungle like forest. The trees high up above them partially blocked out the sunlight. There was also a slight change in the air, it was slightly different though he couldn't tell what it was.
"We're in the Overgrown Forest mystery dungeon." Storm answered and just saw Rei look at him, tilting his head in confusion. He then remembered a certain angry bear chase after them before he could explain. "You see, a mystery dungeon is just what it is, a mystery. No one really knows how they form or why. All Pokémon scholars could come up with is that they are somewhat of a time-space anomaly."
"Time-space anomaly?"
"Yeah, when you enter the entrance to one of these dungeons you're transported to some kind of pocket dimension where time doesn't function normally."
"How so?"
"An example would be where we are now. You notice how this place would not belong in the place where we once were. That's because this section of the woods got affected by the power of the mystery dungeon and completely altered it. The trees are way taller and the foliage is really overgrown, that's because time moves differently in a mystery dungeon. Got it?"
"Kinda, but more or less." He was still trying to make sense of it but at least he wasn't completely clueless on what was happening. "So how do we get out?"
"We just have to reach the end of the dungeon and we're home free."
"Awesome, let's go." Rei said eager to leave this strange place. He and Storm walked side by side in silence for a short time until Rei broke it as he had another question. "Are there any other pokémon here?"
"Yup. There are some pidgey, weedle, nidoran, and some other feral pokémon around here."
"Feral? So they'll attack us then, fan-freaking-tastic." Rei said bitterly having had enough of Pokémon trying to kill him.
"What are you so worried about?" Pikachu said. "You're a fire type, any of those pokémon pop out just burn them to a crisp and we'll be fine."
"I don't know how to do that, I used to be human, remember?"
Storm stopped walking and just stared at Rei with wide eyes. "O-Oh, Oh, You were serious then about that weren't you?"
"Of course I was, I thought you believed me, what happened to that whole 'No one has seen your kind in five hundred years' thing then?"
Storm gave an embarrassed smile and rubbed the back of his head. "I thought you were joking, or crazy, and I thought I found a Cyndaquil but I guess not huh?"
"Nope." Rei deadpanned.
They continued walking until they heard a chirp and both assumed their battle stances. Out of the trees swooped a tiny bird pokémon trying to swipe at them with its talons. The pokémon landed in front of them. Said pokémon had brown and cream colored feathers, and both its beak and feet were a pink grayish color. It also had black angular markings around its eyes and a crest of brown and cream feathers above its eyes.
"It's a Pidgey, shouldn't be too much trouble so you could probably take it." Storm said as he backed up.
"Why me?" Rei said, confused by his decision.
"You're going to have to learn how to fight sooner or later, now's a good a time as any." He reasoned.
Rei grumbled something incoherently before facing his opponent. "How do I fight?"
Rei could hear the facepaw as Storm answered him. "You're a pokémon now it's in your blood, trust your instincts."
"Alright then, just gotta listen to my instincts." He thought to himself. The pidgey then lifted off the ground and flew towards Rei in a surprising burst of speed. He awkwardly dodged to the right but he wasn't fast enough as one of the talons nicked him on the side. "Shit. Ok, just a scratch but not too bad." Rei then charged towards the tiny bird pokémon as he rammed him into a nearby tree. The Pidgey recovered quickly and took to the skies once more out of Rei's reach. The pidgey kept swooping towards him and started a routine of diving down, attacking, and flying back up missing on occasion. "I'm getting better at dodging but I can't reach him." He thought starting to get very irritated now as his body was getting covered in scratches, each wound that stung would only add more fuel to his anger. He then felt something in the pit of his stomach, something burning begging to be released he let his instincts take over as he took a deep breath as the four red spots on his back ignited in flames and a fireball spewed from his mouth. The Ember attack caught the pidgey by surprise as he was burned by the flame. The pidgey crashed to the ground and fainted, covered in black scorch marks. Rei sighed in mild exhaustion as he sat down, strangely dissatisfied at how the fight ended. "Why do I feel that way though, I won I should be patting myself on the back. So why do I feel like I wanted to…" He trailed off as he saw Storm approach him with a blue berry in his hand.
"Here, catch." He tossed the berry towards him and he caught it. He gave the pikachu a confused look as he started to explain. "It's an Oran berry, it'll heal your wounds and fatigue but only to a certain degree."
The former human nodded and bit into the berry and noticed it tasted bitter. After he swallowed the effects were immediate as he saw his wounds heal rapidly and his energy replenish. He finished off the berry and stood back up. "Where did you get this?"
"The tree I was hiding behind grew them so I took one for you."
"You hid behind a tree." A smirk crept it's way onto the former human's face.
"I hid so that the pidgey could focus on you and not me." He said defensively. "Let's keep moving and you take point, you need the practice."
"Fine." Rei said, knowing this was, most likely, going to be very annoying.
Overgrown Forest 4f
Oh, how right he was. For the past few floors Rei fought enemy after enemy, he was getting better at battling and if he was being completely honest he enjoyed it a little. The thrill of battle, the adrenaline that flowed through his system was a bit addictive. "Calm down Rei, don't go losing yourself in the heat of the moment." The former human said to fought a couple pidgey, nidoran and a few rattata. His Emberattack was starting to become his best attack, he would wear the enemy down and then finish them with a volley of fireballs. Now while he did enjoy battling they got irritating at times, mostly the pidgey. The bird pokémon would always stay in the air, out of his reach and he still had trouble aiming his fire. This did have a bright side however as he learned how to channel his inner fire, his anger seemed to be the source of the flames. "Talk about hot-headed." He joked to himself as he displayed a smirk. The times where he did struggle, Storm would help him out whether it was a Thunder Waveor Thundershock.
"Storm how much further until we finally leave this place?" The fire mouse pokémon said in exasperation, wanting to exit the dungeon already.
Storm, who was walking next to him, thought for a moment. "This is the last floor, I think, it shouldn't be that much farther to the stairs." The two turned down a path to the side. As they approached a new room they could barely make out the form of a staircase.
"Finally, let's get out of here." Rei sighed in relief as he picked up his pace. They both entered the room but stopped as they heard the collective sounds of pokémon around them, a lot of pokémon. They all bounded out of the foliage and surrounded them. 3 nidorans, 4 rattata, 2 pidgey and 3 weedle. "Damn, and we were so close. Think we can take all of them?"
"It'll be hard and most likely painful but I'm not giving up without a fight." The yellow mouse pokémon said as he dropped on all fours.
"Same here." The former human agreed before mimicking his actions. "Let's do this." He then faced the pidgey flying above them and unleashed a volley of fireballs but they were able to dodge the flames. "Damn it." He then barely dodged a Tackle from one of the nidoran, as Storm engaged the rattata. He then noticed a pidgey headed towards the yellow mouse pokémon. "Storm behind you!"
Storm turned just in time to duck under the tiny bird pokémon's talons. "Thanks, look out." He warned Rei as he stepped out of the way of the rattata's Tackle.
Rei turned only to see a barrage of needles narrowly miss his head. He looked at the weedle who fired at him with an angry expression. "Prepare to burn little bug." He said menacingly as he prepared an Ember, he was about to scorch the bug when he felt something ram into his side. He skidded to a stop and looked back to see a nidoran huff at him. "Alright then" He said very irritatingly as his back lit up in flames. "You go down first." He said as he fired his Ember.
Over with Storm things weren't going that well either. The pidgey and rattata were very difficult to deal with. It's not that the wild Pokémon were strong or powerful, the problem was their numbers. Every time he tried to shock a pidgey the rattata would charge him and vice versa. "Ok," He thought to himself. "If I can just paralyze a pidgey then I can finish it with a Thundershock." He then attempted to put his plan into action, 'attempted' being the key word. He tried a few times but as always the rattata would charge him. "I'm going to need some help." He turned to look over to Rei's side of the battle and saw he too was struggling to deal with the nidoran and weedle. "Rei, mind burning one of the guys?" He shouted towards the former human.
Rei dodged another Poison Sting before replying. "Which one?"
"One of the rattata, doesn't matter which."
"Alright but I need one of these nidoran out of the way."
"Got it!" Storm then shot a Thundershock towards the unsuspecting poison type. The nidoran was hit due to it not expecting an electric attack and was stunned for a moment but that moment was all Rei needed to defeat it. He threw a few fireballs at the stunned pokémon.
"Thanks." He said gratefully and then returned the favor by sending an Ember towards one of the mouse pokémon and succeeded in hitting one and caused it faint. He then got an idea. "I can't get close to these Pokémon but I can attack the ones across from me." "Storm!" He called to his fellow pokémon as he sent another stream of flames towards a rattata.
Storm stopped for a brief moment to face towards the cyndaquil to answer. "What is it?"
"I have an idea." Rei stopped and turned towards him for a second.
"Lay it on me."
"We attack each other's enemies from a distance."
Storm made a confused face. "What?"
"What I mean is I'll keep the pidgey and rattata busy by distracting them with my flames while you pick them off and vice versa. What do think?" Rei clarified a bit more.
Storm thought for a moment. "It's a good plan but really risky. If it doesn't work we'll drain our energy rapidly but it's better than nothing." He concluded. "Alright let's do it."
"Awesome." Rei said enthusiastically. He then put his plan into effect by firing Ember after Ember at the rattata and pidgey while also dodging the attacks from the poison pokémon. Once he got them down to a manageable number Storm was able to defeat them easily. Now Storm was the one launching attacks towards the other pokémon as he and Rei were able to defeat them quickly with their combined efforts. Once the battle was over was over they gave themselves a once over to see their injuries. They were both bruised and bloodied by the attacks they had to endure plus the fatigue they felt by using their special attacks so many times in a row. "I hope we don't run into anymore surprises, I'm so tired." He thought wearily to himself. He looked over to the staircase and allowed a tiny, tired smile to grace his face. "Let's get out of here."
"No arguing about that." Storm said equally tired. They marched towards the staircase and phased through it, once they did the world once again shifted around them as a flash of light filled their vision as they left the dungeon.
Seishin Woods
Rei awoke to yet another headache. "I'm seriously starting to get annoyed with this." He thought irritatingly as he rubbed his head to quell the pain in his head. He looked over to the pikachu at his side doing the same. "I thought you said you get used to it." He questioned the yellow mouse.
Storm looked over to him while still rubbing his head. "I did say that, doesn't mean it'll hurt less just power through it." He said while getting up in the ground, Rei following suit. "So, what's next for the human turned pokémon?" He said to Rei.
He thought about it but came up with nothing. "I don't know, I don't really remember anything else or why I'm here."
"Amnesia huh?"
"Yeah"
"Well, how about I help you then?"
Rei just gave him a look. "Why would you want to help me? You hardly know me."
"What kind of friend would I be if didn't help my own friend reclaim his memories? A terrible one, that's for sure." Storm said with a sincere look.
If Rei's eyes could widen they would about now. "A friend? How could he call me that when he just met me? He looks serious about it. He said to himself in disbelief. A friend huh? Sounds nice." He thought to himself. "Alright then, friends?" He stuck out his paw.
Storm eagerly accepted it. "Friends." Once the pawshake was over Rei started to feel lightheaded and slightly swayed side to side. His vision doubled and he was suddenly extremely tired. "Rei, what's wrong!?" Storm said frantically as the former human collapsed to floor.
The last thing Rei saw before blacking out was the concerned look in his new friend's eyes. His last thought rang out. "What's going on?"
Then darkness.
A/N: First chapter done, Awesome! Remember to review and leave some constructive criticism.