So...as of me writing this, I had actually forgotten to post Chapter 2 until just now basically. ^_^'

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: The Shroud of Darkness

Chapter 04: How to Save a Mind

Slowly, the black began to fade away into a foggy gray. Wait...no, this was that...that place with the monoliths! I'd been here once or twice more while I was here, but nothing new or exciting really happened. Just new wisps and slightly more lively monoliths.

"Here we are," said a cold voice.

I turned around, surprised to see Sylvie and Giuseppe there.

"This looks a bit different from other minds we've been in..." said Giuseppe in a strangely deep, gravel-y voice.

"Hush...we're not alone," said Sylvie.

Giuseppe immediately began looking about.

"...The Cubone?!" she exclaimed suddenly.

I retreated a step or two.

[Yes, it's me...?]

Wait, that wasn't quite speech...what?

Sylvie looked quite stunned for a moment longer. "Well...I suppose we should take him along...Giuseppe!" she cried.

Giuseppe came trotting over. Sylvie nodded at him, and he began waving the end of his tail around in the air in an odd fashion. As he waved his tail about, a brown...thing began to take shape. It looked small, had a lighter belly, a snout, horns, tail, and some back spikes...wait, that's kind of...like me?

"Cubone, come here and get into this," she said.

[I...okay!]

I approached the Cubone in front of me, when suddenly I was sucked into it.

And now...everything felt more like I existed...

"There, now follow us, we will fix your lost memory." said Sylvie.

I was...confused and amazed at the same time. I kind of just followed along in silence, amazed by the simple joy of being able to walk unaided, which took a little getting used to.

Still, one question was hot on my mind; what kind of Pokémon was Sylv-

"I'm known as an Espeon, and my companion is a Smeargle," explained Sylvie.

I was surprised once again. Could she read my thoughts or some-

"I'm inside your mind, of course I can," said Sylvie.

I was dumbfounded. "...Okay."

"Now, I'm going to say that you've been here on more than one occasion. Correct?" asked Sylvie.

"I...yeah, actually," I responded, "is that bad?"

"No..." came her response.

I almost felt like she was...withholding information, but I couldn't be sure.

Then, as if to justify my thoughts, she gave a brief sigh.

I could see in the distance one of the monoliths. Giuseppe seemed quite intrigued by it, judging by his expression. When we got closer, intrigue changed to concern. We all remained silent as we approached.

"Stop." said Sylvie suddenly.

I did just that, and just before I smacked into the monolith myself.

The monolith seemed surprisingly lively today, though there was still a lot of dull wisps floating about, and cracks still laced the surface like a spider's web. Giuseppe then began to concentrate, and started making motions, when Sylvie stopped him with her tail.

"Not yet, there's...there's some thing very strange about all of this..." she said.

"Wait, what's wrong?" I said.

She sighed heavily, scrutinizing the pillar with her eyes. She paused a moment, then. "So what do you know of these, then?" she asked me.

I thought for a moment. I knew that the wisps had to be memories, so I figured that the monoliths must be some sort of way to keep them organized or something.

"You would be correct," said Sylvie.

That would never cease to surprise me, would it?

She motioned to a wisp floating past. "Those are indeed memories. They make the whole of your entire knowledge of everything. These obelisks are the foundation on which memories are stored. If the obelisk is damaged, so too are the memories." She turned towards me. "To restore your memories, we must repair the obelisks."

I nodded slowly. The thought then occurred to me, the thought of just how badly damaged these obelisks were.

"If this one is anything to go by, it's in dire shape," she responded.

...Oh.

She studied the monolith a bit, and the memories floating around it, as well as even the empty, foggy void around us. I almost felt she was keeping something from me, but I couldn't tell what. I also figured that even if I asked, she wouldn't tell me, so I decided I would keep my concerns to myself and move on.

She breathed out quickly, before turning to her assistant. "Giuseppe, now."

He began to move once more, closing his eyes as he took a broad stance. He remained still for some time, as Sylvie herself then began concentrating, her eyes and jewel glowing. As she did so, I could see the cracks along the surface of the monolith begin to glow very slightly. I took a few steps back, not wanting to be in their way.

Giuseppe opened his eyes then, a strange green hue to them, as he took his tail and began to make very large motions with it, almost as if he were trying to paint the monolith from a distance. As he did so, bright lines appeared along the surface of the monolith, covering the glowing cracks. Stroke after stroke, the pillar was gradually covered in glowing lines. The duo eventually began moving slowly around the monolith as well, covering every side. I watched them work silently, seeing the gradual covering of the entire structure.

Fast forward a bit, and Giuseppe finished the last stroke, and the two relaxed, the glow disappearing from their eyes. The bright lines slowly began to fade, and as they did so, the monolith itself began to shine a little bit more. I even noticed a small number of the memories coming back, fading from gray to white.

As everything settled, the obelisk seemed more lively than I had ever seen it, though I still saw that it was still quite dead, especially considering that probably only 1/8th of the memories seemed to be present. I then felt something akin to a cool breeze flow through my head for a brief moment, which felt really weird and kind of calming at the same time.

"Not everything is complete, but this will allow these memories to recover by themselves better," said Sylvie, turning my way, "but you'll remember events much better now."

"We should make progress on the other Pillars of Memory now, Madame Silvers," said Giuseppe.

She gave a curt nod in response. She pulled me along as we left the monolith behind us.

I would fill you in on what we did from there, but it was nothing but that from there on out. If you really need the details, just read those paragraphs up there a few more times, and you'll get the picture. As for conversation...really any attempt I made was met with silence.

As the glow disappeared from the final monolith, memories popping back into color, Sylvie and Giuseppe breathed sighs of relief.

"It is done," remarked Giuseppe.

Sylvie then paused, brushing right past Giuseppe as she walked away from the obelisk, but not on the path.

"M-M-Madame Silvers!" exclaimed Giuseppe.

She walked a few steps forward more before stopping, and then she looked up and around. I looked myself, trying to see what she was looking at. Then, I saw it: the black memory. The one with red eyes and an evil presence. Sylvie looked very tense all of a sudden.

"...We are leaving now, Giuseppe, Cubone," she said, with an almost urgent tone.

Not knowing what was happening, I followed them as they hurried away from the obelisk. Even Giuseppe looked a bit more than just worried.

When we finally stopped, we were on the main path again. Sylvie immediately turned to me, a mix of anger, confusion, and fear on her face.

"Who are you?!" she exclaimed.

I backpedaled, very startled and somewhat scared. "I-I what? Huh?" My mouth was not in sync with my head, was it?

Sylvie glared at me intensely for what seemed like an hour. Nothing existed around us, save for Giuseppe – who had cleared the area – her furious expression, and the rapid drumming of my heart. Eventually, her resolve disappeared, and she returned to her normal expression, though fire still burned in her eyes.

"We leave now," she told Giuseppe, her voice so sharp you could have cut a hair with it.

Giuseppe was by her side so quickly, it would have been slower to teleport to her. Giuseppe also pointed his tail at me, scribbling in the air towards me. I suddenly felt a lot less...present.

[Wait, what's the big deal? What's going on?]

Just as I (Said? Thought?) this, Sylvie's eyes glowed once more, and in a blinding flash they were gone.

After that bright flash of light, the world around me seemed much darker than before...and continued to get darker and darker. Eventually, I was enveloped by fog, and everything went black.

As I became aware of myself once more, I found myself waking grogglily. I stared around me for a moment, seeing Sylvie, hackles raised, talking to the doctor.

"...nd now we must rest. You have quarters prepared?" she said in a firm tone, almost more of a demand than an actual question.

Bronson himself looked quite taken back himself. "Yes of course, I have. They are down the hal-"

"Good, we will rest there then. Come, Giuseppe," she responded quickly.

The two left the room, determination and confusion – from Sylvie and Giuseppe respectively – evident in their stride.

We all sat silently, quietly processing what just happened.

"...What's eating her?" I asked timidly, afraid I'd somehow done something wrong.

Bronson took a long pause before shaking his head. "I've never fully understood her."

I cocked an eyebrow (I think I had eyebrows...) at him, silently begging an explanation.

"Don't worry, you've done nothing wrong. Just...rest for now, alright?" he responded.

I nodded slowly, still concerned. I laid back down, troubled. Ellie looked worried too as she looked me in the eye. Happily, she tried to strike up conversation.

"So do you remember anything cool, Sky?" she said, hiding her troubles behind a smile.

I searched my thoughts for a moment, realizing I could remember quite a lot more...but nothing that quite made sense. Shadowy figures danced within my thoughts, making friendly gestures despite the lack of details. Odd places came to mind, structures which seemed familiar, but so cloaked in fogginess I could not make them out. Vague notes chimed through my head, but nothing connected together. But suddenly, peaking out like the sun hiding in an overcast sky, came one thought, one memory, one name that shrieked its existence to the stars and beyond.

"...Jacob," I said slowly.

The name struck a chord in me, a bright, warm, happy chord that swept away my troubles and filled my chest with joy. A smile grew on my lips.

"Hah?" asked Ellie. Dr. Bronson looked interested as well.

"...Jacob!" I said, with a little more enthusiasm.

It was my name! Oh, a memory I had been searching for my entire time here! It could not have been a better day! I could feel my eyes closing by themselves as for one last time the name escaped my lips, bursting like a bubble of happiness.

"Jacob..."

And then...blissful, peaceful sleep...

Agh...my wrist is hurting...

Oh, sorry, uh...yeah, story!

I do feel bad for not writing there for a while, but in my defense, I'm easily distracted by video games. I hope you'll forgive me there.

Also, as of writing this, reviewers are returning! I might be doing Reviewer's Corner again, but I'm not certain as of yet, so...yeah.

Also, mystery! What does that black memory have to do with anything? Why is it so scary? Why did I name the main character after myself again? Why am I asking all these questions that I also know all the answers to myself, making them somewhat rhetorical in nature? So. Many. Questions!

...Yeah...that's about it...

I should probably go get ready for work now or something...

Anyway, I'll end this off now.

Au revoir!

- JacobDaGun