"Is it just me, or does that world look really…cheerful?" Bowser growled as they arrived at their destination.
"Not just cheerful, this world is different than most," Tippi said, attracting all the attention towards her. "This world is a special world; its inhabitants are mostly Pokemon?"
"Poke-whats?" Sora asked.
"Do you remember Red from the Smash Arena?" Luigi asked. Sora nodded. "He's a Pokemon trainer, his attacks aren't so much as physical as much as he sends out Pokemon to do battle."
"That was what those ball things held!" Sora realized. "And this world's filled with creatures that fight."
"Only inhabited by them," Tippi said. "A stray human may come by, but it's a Pokemon world for a reason. If we show up…it'll be reasonably hard to stay hidden as we are. Bowser and I might be able to pass off as Pokemon, but you two would never be able to succeed at that task."
"Is there a spell I can learn to change us all into Pokemon then?" Sora asked.
"There are shapeshifting spells, right? Why can't I just use one so I no longer look human."
"It's a difficult spell that I don't even know fully, but perhaps I could teach you it."
"Again…" Tippi murmured.
Sora waved his hand in front of the Pixl. "Um, Tippi?"
"Huh? Oh!" Tippi zoned back in. "You wanted a shapeshifting spell, right?"
"That would work, why, do you know one?" Luigi asked.
"Yes, but it's difficult and I don't know if I can use it on multiple people…" Somewhere deep inside of her, Tippi knew that was a lie. It wasn't that she didn't know, she couldn't remember. What scared her about most was the fact that memories were resurfacing whenever she was around Sora, memories that couldn't have had anything to do with him, and she didn't know why. "I'll try…" She flew around each of them. "The spell has been cast to activate whenever we arrive on a new world in which we'll need to change to fit in."
"That simple?" Luigi asked.
"Pixls are filled with magic of the Tribe of Ancients…so long as I know a spell within reason, I could perform it," Tippi said. "It would be hard for Sora to change himself and you, but not that hard for me."
"Then let's go down!" Sora cheered.
"Great…" Bowser said before they were put onto the new world.
The area they landed in was a town square filled with various shops and Pokemon of all shapes and sizes. A black ghost Pokemon with a skull for a face stood in front of a building shaped like its head, much like a pink Pokemon with an egg in a pouch on its stomach. A yellow and blacked striped Pokemon with four wires coming from its back stood in front of another building with another building nearby like an animal skull. On the other side of the bridge were two more shops, the first manned by two chameleon like Pokemon in green and purple while the other was run by a brown kangaroo Pokemon.
Sora himself was a small brown dog Pokemon with two pointed ears and a paler brown scruff around his neck. A fluffy brown tail extended right into Luigi's face, a green dog like Pokemon with yellow accents and a pointed snout. Bowser was a turtle like Pokemon with a dark black shell and a red face and feet. Tippi didn't change at all, remaining her usual rainbow Pixl self.
"Whoa cool! What are we?" Sora fluffed his tail up and looked at it with interest.
"You're an Eevee, Luigi's an Electrike, and Bowser is a Torkoal. I'm a afraid I won't be able to identify most of the Pokemon, or else you'll look really suspicious about not knowing Pokemon," Tippi said.
"That's fine, now let's g-" Sora started running only to hit a yellow mouse Pokemon with red blushes and black tipped ears. Its tail was shaped like a lightning bolt with a heart shaped tail.
"Ow!" The two said at the same time. The Pokemon looked embarrassed. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going."
"It's fine," Sora said.
"Yeah, nothing to worry about, Sora's taken worse," Luigi said.
"We all have, but I should have watched out," the Pokemon said. "I'm Nicole."
"Nicole?" Sora asked. She nodded. "I'm Sora. These are Tippi, Luigi, and Bowser."
"It's nice to meet you all. Are you guys new to Treasure Town? I'm a bit new here too." The statement was followed by a nervous laugh.
"Hey Nicole, come on!" A green dinosaur like Pokemon ran up to Nicole, a leaf sat on her head. She stopped short when she saw the four heroes. "Who are they?"
"These are Sora, Luigi, Bowser, and Tippi. They're new to Treasure Town," Nicole said.
"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Megy," the dinosaur Pokemon said. "Did you, um, come in for the expedition?"
"Expedition?" Sora asked.
"To the Fogbound Lake!" Nicole answered. "Wigglytuff's guild is going, us included since we are apprentices, the expedition's tomorrow, we're here to get the supplies we need for the journey."
"Wigglytuff's guild?" Tippi asked.
"You guys must really be new to the area, you're as clueless as Nicole was when she first woke up," Megy said with a slight smile. "Wigglytuff runs a guild dedicated to training exploration teams like us."
"Huh?" Sora asked.
Nicole smiled at him slightly. "You guys have to be like me…I mean, humans or um…"
"Wait, what?" Tippi asked. They all looked at each other.
"Nicole was once a human, I found her on the beach as a Pikachu," Megy said.
"Imagine my surprise when I found a talking Chikorita…you all must have been in shock too when I ran into you," Nicole said.
"Uh…" Luigi looked for a way to change the subject rapidly. "You were talking about an expedition?"
"Oh yeah! If you guys were planning to go it might be hard to get on since we go tomorrow, but you can talk with Wigglytuff!" Nicole said.
"Yeah, well, we've done good jobs of getting into things all the time," Sora said.
"He's right, take us to this Wigglytuff and we'll be on the mission by the end of the day."
-x-
"Hello there." When they'd asked to meet Wigglytuff, the one thing Sora wasn't expecting of the guy was for him to be a giant pink bunny. "Are you the friends Nicole and Megy talked to me about?"
"Uhh…" Sora shook his head clear of all the preconceptions he'd had of the guildmaster before arrival. "Yeah, I'm Sora, and these are Bowser, Luigi, and Tippi."
"And you all want to be a part of the expedition, right?" Wigglytuff asked. They all nodded eagerly. "Okay then. You all can join us."
"But Guildmaster-" A blue and yellow feathered parrot with a music note for a head tried to speak against it, but Wigglytuff laughed.
"Chatot, how could we turn down the Keyblade Master when he offers us his help," Wigglytuff said. "You'll make an excellent part of the mission, assuming you can fight as an Eevee."
"I'm sure he can," Luigi said.
Wigglytuff nodded. "Alrighty then friendly friends! Welcome to the expedition to Fogbound Lake. If you're ready, we can set off immediately. You'll be traveling with Team Cutie of course."
"Team…Cutie!?" Bowser looked at Wigglytuff with disgust. "What team has such a childish team name as that?"
"We do…" Nicole said quietly. They all turned to the Pikachu as she entered. "It was Megy's idea…since we're both adorable Pokemon and all…"
"I think it's a cute gimmick," Sora said. "After all, you two are pretty adorable."
Nicole gave Sora a grateful smile. "Let's get going! Megy's already planned our route!"
"What way are we going to go?" Sora looked at the map in Nicole's bag.
She pulled it out eagerly. Megy began to point to a path marked in green. "If we go by this way, we'll arrive at the Foggy Forest quickly, that's where the guild's setting up camp. Once we meet up with them, we can head straight for the lake!"
"Why are we standing around here then? We should head off right away!" Sora said.
"Wait a second, what are we going there for anyways?" Bowser asked.
"Treasure! Exploration! Mystery! Memory! Anything we can find and learn about the cave!" Nicole said.
"Memory?" Both Sora and Tippi asked at the same time.
"That's why we want to go…Nicole can't remember anything," Megy said. "We're hoping…" her voice dropped low. "We're hoping Uxie will be able to tell us what happened. It's rumored that Uxie has power over memories, along with the ability to erase them."
"Erase…memories…" Tippi felt hope blossom in her chest. She'd finally be able to learn the truth about herself, who she was before she became a Pixl if, what the duo said was true.
"Uh, Tippi?" Luigi looked at Tippi in confusion.
"It doesn't matter," Tippi said. "Shall we get going?"
"Yeah!" Megy cheered.
Nicole took lead of the group as she lead them up to a dark cave. Just as they entered the cave, a swarm of Heartless surrounded them, none of the typical variety, but instead all Heartless that looked like different Pokemon, except in shades of dark blue with the Heartless emblem on their heads or sides. "What's wrong with these Pokemon?"
"We'll take care of them!" Sora summoned his Keyblade into his mouth.
"There are two new kinds of Heartless here. The first are Nido Heartless, dark blue and purple Heartless similar in appearance to a Nidoran. They fight using poisonous quills all over their body. The other type is a Mari, a Heartless much like the Pokemon Marill," Tippi said. "Bowser, you'll want to avoid the Maris, you're weak to them as they fight with water."
"Thanks for the warning!" Bowser growled and sent a long torrent of flames at several of the Nidos. A couple of Nidos ended up with burns all over their bodies. One fired a poison quill at him that stuck in his shell just as he ducked inside of it. Much to Bowser's surprise, he still felt pain at the quill's contact. Instead of reacting, he ducked inside of his shell and began spinning around rapidly, ricocheting into Heartless after Heartless, knocking several of them out before he slammed into the Mari, who blasted him with an army of bubbles that surprisingly did a lot of damage.
Seeing his friend in danger, Sora left the Nido he was fighting to Luigi (who blasted it with a lightning attack) and charged at the Mari, Keyblade in mouth. The Keyblade hit the Mari and succeeded in taking its attention off of Bowser. The Mari proceeded to use the same bubble attack on Sora, but it did much less damage then it did to the Koopa King. Sora slashed at the Mari once more before it got hit by a combination attack of electricity and razor sharp leaved. The Mari released a heart and vanished, revealing Nicole and Megy behind it, smiling victoriously.
"Woah!" Sora looked at them in surprise.
"We may look cute, but we can handle ourselves in a fight," Nicole said with a shrug.
"How is that even possible? I'd end up losing to cute little baby creatures," Bowser said.
"Actually, you'd probably win," Tippi said. "Fire beats grass."
"So, who wants to enter the cave now and get to the Foggy Forest?" Megy asked, quickly changing the subject before a fight ensued.
-x-
"You're a bit late Team Cutie, guests," Chatot said as they walked into the camp.
"We…uh…ran into trouble," Megy said.
"That's okay! The others are all up ahead, so you should hurry up and get to the cave," Wigglytuff said.
"Yeah, thanks," Luigi said and waved.
They began the walk into the forest and quickly arrived at a statue of a large Pokemon. "What Pokemon is this?" Nicole asked.
"Who knows?" Sora asked and looked at a red gem on the ground. "Hey, what's this?"
"Let me see!" Nicole picked it up and suddenly got a dizzy appearance, nearly falling over for a moment before the dizziness cleared.
"What was that about?" Luigi asked.
"D-dizzy spell. I can see the future and past with it…" Nicole shook her head to clear it of any remaining fog. "We need to put the stone in the statue's chest." She put it into a small indent and the sky cleared of most of the fog as a bright beam of sunlight filtered in. It revealed the entrance to a hidden cave.
"That has to lead to the Fogbound Lake!" Megy walked over to the cave with excitement. "We're almost at Uxie, so let's go."
"Right!" With excitement in the air, they all ran into the cave only to be shocked as a massive roar sounded from inside the cave and a Pokemon emerged. The Pokemon was large and red, nearly identical to the statue Nicole placed the red stone in.
"Who dares to try to enter the Fogbound Lake?" the Pokemon asked.
"We're hoping to-"
"I do not care why you are here. Turn back now."
"We can't do that Groudon," Nicole said. "I have to be here, to meet Uxie."
"There is only one fate for those who refuse to leave here," Groudon said. "Death." The ground beneath the six of them started shaking, instantly crippling Nicole to her knees and injuring both Bowser and Luigi heavily. Sora summoned his Keyblade and ran at Groudon, slashing the giant Pokemon with an attack it couldn't avoid. Bowser fired a powerful flamethrower, twice as powerful as normal simply for being in Groudon's presence. Megy, the one who took Groudon's attack best, fired out sharp leaves, pelting him with each hit and causing a surprising amount of damage. Luigi and Nicole both aimed powerful electric attacks at Groudon, but with minimal success, hardly slowing him down as he summoned the rocks from behind him and threw them as Sora charged. Sora barely got out of the way in time, but the rocks kept moving, instead hitting Megy and knocking her back several feet.
"Freeze!" Sora sent a barrage of snowflakes at Groudon using his Blizzard magic, the attack seeming to do much more damage than expected and freezing Groudon in place. All the Pokemon in the area began attacking nonstop, pummeling Groudon before he fell to the floor before vanishing.
"Where did he go?" Luigi asked.
A new Pokemon with a yellow head and blue body teleported into the cave. Although its eyes were closed, it appeared to be staring at the group with minor interest. "Impressive, not many manage to defeat the illusion."
"Illusion?" Bowser asked. "You mean that thing wasn't even real?"
"If it was the real Groudon, I have little doubt you all would be dead," the Pokemon said.
"Excuse me, are you Uxie?" Nicole asked. The Pokemon nodded. "We came here to meet you."
"And not for the treasure of the lake?" Uxie seemed genuinely curious.
"Well, I would like to see that," Sora said.
"Of course," Uxie said and lead them behind the cave where a large opened up. A glowing fountain surrounded by firefly like Pokemon appeared, awing everyone there. A Keyhole appeared in the air, which Sora's Keyblade sealed.
"So the Keybearer truly has arrived," Uxie said, his voice curious. "You will be leaving soon."
"Yeah," Sora said.
"Hey Uxie?" Nicole asked.
Uxie looked towards her. "That's right, you wanted to meet me?"
"You see, I can't remember anything and maybe…you could tell me if you erased my memories?" Nicole asked.
Uxie shook his head. "I can't take away all of your memories. What caused your amnesia was not my doing."
There goes that theory, Tippi thought.
"Uxie, besides that thingy Sora fired the light off of, what's here?" Megy asked.
"You really want to know?" Uxie asked. Everyone eagerly nodded. He stepped aside and allowed them to look into the water at a blue gear located below.
"A Time Gear?" Megy asked in surprise. Uxie nodded. "Wow! I can see why it's important to keep this secret. Don't worry, it'll be safe with us, right Nicole?"
"Right, Team Cutie won't betray this secret," Nicole said.
"Then I'll let you keep your memories," Uxie said. He turned to Sora. "Keybearer, be aware of the fate you will face soon. Your path is no longer one of simplicity, and I hope you succeed in your quest."
"Hey, what does that mean?" Bowser asked.
"You will know when the time comes." Uxie teleported away.