Prologue

Deep, beneath the earth, was a dark and arid room in the shape of a square with four round stone pillars cracked and aged. The ground of the room was like that of almost every other room in the underground dungeon, they were made of square stone tiles, and the walls were that of a very smooth light grey stone. The room had three doorways, one locked at the east, an iron one with boards nailed to it in the south end, and to the west was one wide open. In a corner were some barrels, while a wooden structure stood at the north of the chamber. The four pillars were decorated with torches whose flames danced wildly, illuminating the room.

Those flames weren't the only things dancing in the room...

The barrels collapsed as something was thrown into them, the sound of wood snapping echoed throughout the room followed by a groan. Buried in the rubble of broken barrels was an orange and cream furred creature with black stripes along his back. Flint, the growlithe, groaned while trying to get up after being thrown recklessly into the barrels. He looked around in the rubble to see if there were any items inside the barrels, all he managed to find was an apple and some purple ring that illuminated mysteriously, both useless to him in this situation.

Emerging from the darkness was a mankey, around its wrists, was some silvery metal that glistened with the fire. The mankey was walking closer to the corner Flint was pinned in, Flint felt too tired to even try getting back up after the mankey performed a seismic toss. In his head though, he still had a quick backup plan ready. The mankey was now out of paws reach for Flint. Flint quickly reacted by using his teeth to grab a sharp wooden piece still left in the debris. He shoved it just above the mankey's left leg, digging into its skin and causing it to scream in pain. The mankey ripped the wood out of its thigh area, and slapped Flint across the face with it, causing a couple of splinters to force their way into Flint's skin. Afterward, the mankey raised a fist in the air, ready to finish him off, Flint clenched his eye anticipating the inevitable.

The flames continued dancing as blood splattered onto the wall. The mankey stood above the growlithe, and silently, yet slowly, fell to the ground. Sticking out its back was a radiating pink light in the shape of a sharp needle, the aura of energy began dissipating into the air.

Flint slowly opened his eyes to see the mankey lifeless on the floor, he let out a sigh of relief as he looked at the northern wall. Something red reflected in the darkness. The third pokemon who was in the room, the one the mankey was completely oblivious to, the one who just saved Flint, that's who was there.

"That would have been helpful much earlier," Flint said to the pokemon in the shadows while beginning to pluck the splinters from his face.

Jumping down from the wooden structure and walking up to Flint was a lilac cat-like pokemon with a gem in its head and a forked tail, an espeon, known as Starshine, "Maybe you should have killed him sooner," she said mockingly.

"You know I don't like killing if I don't have to..."

Starshine rolled her eyes since this wasn't her first time listening to Flint complain about not enjoying taking another's life. Starshine started investigating around the room, "Anyway, were you able to find any useful items in here?"

"I found an apple and some strange purple ring," Flint said while brushing the dust from his fur. Then he looked at the ring which was now on the ground.

"I didn't find anything up on the wooden platform, perhaps the mankey was wearing something?"

"He was, definitely, his punches were a lot more powerful than regular ones, it might have something to do with his silver braces around his wrists," Flint suggested while walking over to the dead mankey.

Starshine followed him and inspected the mankey's silver braces, placing her palm on them and closing her eyes. Starshine, just like any psychic type, could sense magical powers within things, which helped when she touched the silver braces, she did indeed notice magical feedback from them. "Hmm, I see, the silver braces increase attack power but reduce speed, which makes sense. We could probably sell these, or perhaps they might be useful in the future."

"What about the purple ring? What does it do?" Flint questioned while getting ready to touch it.

"Don't!" Starshine warned, "That's a ring of poison, put that on and you'd soon be on the floor withering away and foaming out the mouth. "

Flint abruptly stopped, "Yeah, that wouldn't exactly be a pleasant day, now would it? How is a ring of poison even useful though?"

"Well," Starshine started while walking over to the boarded-up door and inspecting it, "they're usually used by assassins who trick their targets into wearing the ring, little does the victim know, they're slowly being injected with a toxin that will shut down their organs. When they do realize," Starshine was now using her psychic powers to remove the nails keeping the door in place, "it's too late, the damage is done, their organs don't work, they're bleeding internally, and eventually, they die..."

The two were silent leaving only the sound of torches burning, "So," Flint began with a pause, "do we take the ring or leave it?"

"It would be best to collect everything we find, everything serves a purpose. We could sell it, find a use for it, or maybe become allies with someone who could wear it, like a steel type or maybe a gliscor with the ability poison heal,"

Flint simply nodded his head and grabbed the ring to take it to his backpack that was laying against the northwest pillar, he had removed his backpack before engaging in battle with the mankey. As he reached it, Starshine was finished removing the nails from the door followed by the boards keeping it in place. Flint dropped the ring in the bag and put the straps of the bag around his forelegs, then he uses his paws to buckle a strap around his waist.

"What do you think is on the other side?" Flint asked while walking up to the mankey's corps and removing his braces to put in the bag.

"Well, it was boarded up, perhaps they're trying to keep something inside."

"Or maybe they're trying to keep someone out."

"Either way you look at it, it's the same thing, something is in there," Starshine opened the door slowly, the aged hinges creaking every inch of the way. The room before them was void of light, but the air was dusty.

"Flint, use a fireball real quick," Starshine commanded the fire dog.

"What? Why?"

"Just do it."

Though still confused, Flint cooperated, he used his heat sacks to build up heat in his mouth which mixed with the oxygen and his flammable saliva, thus creating a fire within his mouth. With a spit-like motion, Flint shot the ball of fire into the darkness. It didn't travel far but instead levitate in the air. Flint was confused, Starshine was aware of the fact and decided to explain.

"I created a force field around your fire, there's also a direct flow of oxygen, so it should last for some time." Flint was impressed.

The room now had its own source of light. The room was square, just like the last one, however, its northern door was its only door. The tile floor was decorated with a brown, tattered rug. The south end of the room contained a desk that was cluttered with paper, a bottle of dried ink and a quill, and also candles. The walls were covered in claw marks. Most noticeable of all was a skeleton of a pokemon on the ground.

"Well," Flint stated, "that's not a normal sight." the duo began searching the room in search of more valuable items, mainly a key to unlock the locked door from the previous room. "What do you think happened here?"

"From the looks of it, whatever this pokemon was, it was locked in this room and attempted escaping. Perhaps these papers can tell us more, but honestly, it only slows the matter at hand that we need to get out of this dungeon."

"Still, I'm curious about what happened." Flint walked over to the cluttered table and began rummaging through the disorganized papers. "Huh, they're actually in order by day,"

"By day?" Starshine inquired.

"Yeah, this one starts with 'Day 5,' and another over here says 'Day 7.'"

"But we're underground, how could they have any idea if a day passed or not?"

Flint was taken aback. "I didn't even think about that, but I'm not too sure myself. Anyway, I'll read them aloud if you don't mind."

"Suit yourself," Starshine said while investigating the skeletal remains on the carpet.

Flint cleared his throat, "'Day 1, I did not think it would happen but it did, they finally found me, and they're not happy. I thought for sure they would kill me, but they found something else than ending my life quickly. They have trapped me in this room, I am unable to open the door, it is blocked from the outside. Now, they have access to my treasure room, I left the door wide open, I didn't even think of locking it, if only I had, then they wouldn't have been able to claim what they came for. Luckily, I have the key hidden in this room with me. Hopefully, I find a way out of here soon...'" the two sat in silence and let all of the new information sink in.

"So," Starshine said, breaking the silence while still looking at the features of the skeleton, "there is a key, but where is it?"

"I'm not too sure, probably under the rug?" Flint suggested, "But I wonder who 'they' is referring to, and what it was they were after. Anyway, 'Day 2,'" Flint began. Starshine became less interested in the skeleton and lifted the rug as Flint suggested. "'Well, I am not sure if another day has passed or not. I judge days by falling asleep, and when I wake up I assume it's the next day. I haven't had any food, but I've been able to use my ice attacks to at least provide water for when I'm thirsty,'"

"Hmm," Starshine thought, "so it was an ice type I assume. Also from looking at the skeleton, it was bipedal,"

"That's still a broad description to distinguish what pokemon it was, but seeing as there are scratches on this wall, it would have to of had sharp claws, so I'd guess it was a weavile or cubchu." Flint shivered a bit, remembering a time he had a run-in with a weavile.

"Realistically though, it looks more like a weavile, but that's irrelevant. We need to find this key,"

"I know I know, let me see if there are any more letters that'll give us a clue," Flint searched through the papers looking for the proceeding day but to no avail, "huh, there's no day three or day four, I suppose I'll just read from day five then. 'Day 5, I forgot to write the previous days, I was sidetracked trying to escape, I've tried everything! I've tried digging, breaking the hinges from the door, I even cried for help. No one's in the dungeon though, I'm the only soul here. I started talking to my key, it's the only thing I have now to comfort me in this lonly time,' lonely is spelled wrong," Flint noted.

"Well, no one's perfect," Starshine replied.

"Yeah, anyway, 'Day 6, I can hardly stand the hunger anymore, I have started eating random things in the room. The rug for instance, it was not a plesant experiance,' those last two words are also misspelled,"

"Are you going to make that observation every time you notice it?" Starshine asked with a raise of an eyebrow.

"No, it's just strange, all the previous letters had perfect spelling, it just seems odd I suppose. Just a minor gripe."

"I don't care at the moment, just keep reading in hopes of finding a clue or hint for the location of the key."

"'Day 7, my candle is almost dead, it actually makes me feel sad, I have known the candle for such long time. It matters not at leest I still have key. I tryed my key on door erlyer but didnt work. Key is use less to me now,'" this time Flint refrained from mentioning the multiple errors.

Starshine now walked over to Flint, deciding to take a break from searching for the key. The two noticed Flint's flame was about to die as the room grew darker. Flint once again produced a flame effortlessly and shot it into the floating field, fueling the fire once more.

"'Day... question mark?'" Flint said confused.

"He called it question mark?" Starshine said while looking at the same paper as Flint.

"No, it's literally a question mark, as in the symbol."

"Keep reading," Starshine instructed.

"Ive lost track of the days, my candle has gone dark and I cood hardly see a thing, my sight is better now, Ive grown use to the darknes now. I now can rite agin. Key is gon to,' is it me or do the letters seem more rushed?"

"I see what you mean by the spelling errors, and yes, they do seem rushed, but I'm unsure why..."

"Well, there's one last letter, let's see if there are any clues here or if we're wasting our time...it just says goodbye at the top..." the room fell silent.

"It...killed itself...?"

"Or it accepted death?"

Suddenly Starshine realized something, "The darkness..."

"The darkness? What about it?"

"Think about it, being trapped in complete darkness for a week, with only candlelight. How would you feel?"

"I would feel alone, to say the least."

"Besides that, think harder a little. Don't you think you'd feel like you're losing your sanity? Darkness has a strange way of working, it causes us to see things that aren't there. It deceives us of reality, we are blinded by it, darkness is pure evil if you think about it. I can tell you that from experience."

"Insanity," Flint quietly said to himself.

"It was losing its sanity, think about it, it started with the misspelling of words, then the change in writing and using the rug as... well, food. But, most of all, when it said the key was 'useless' to it. It was all because of the darkness driving it insane."

"Wow," Flint said admiring Starshine, "that's cool that you could determine that from these notes. But, still, the most important question is, where is the key? Without the key, we're still stuck here and we've both agreed on no going back."

The two spent the next few minutes searching up and down the room, but nothing was found. It took some thinking, but eventually, Starshine thought of something that may have been useful.

"Wait a minute," said Starshine.

"What is it?"

"Well, I'm just thinking, not that I'd ever considered it, but if I were to take my life, I wouldn't want to be alone, I'd want to die near someone at least,"

"Okay?" Flint said with a raise of an eyebrow

"It referred to the key as if it was a friend of sorts, perhaps he died with the key?" Immediately, the two had the same idea and decided to search the weavile's skeletal remains, Starshine stopping abruptly though.

"What's wrong?"

"It's...dead," she said with disgust.

"Yeah, and? So is the mankey outside."

"I'm not going to touch that, it's nasty!"

Flint rolled his eyes, "Fine, then I'll do it." Flint began reaching for the skull but stopped himself and cringed at the sight of it.

"Well?"

"On second thought, I'd rather not..."

"Don't be a baby, search the skull!"

"Can't you use your telekinesis to search it? Perhaps shake it around a bit in case it's inside?"

Annoyed, Starshine picked up the skull with telekinesis and even gave it a shake, to which no sound was heard. "Where is the damn key?" Starshine said with frustration while dropping the skull on the tile. The contact of the tile with the skull echoed through the room. Still frustrated, Starshine smacked the skull away, it collided into other tiles along the floor. Starshine's ears twitched at the sound. Something so hard to notice that it would require a lot of concentration.

"What is it?" Flint asked, after noticing her ears twitch.

"Wait a sec." Starshine tapped the tile she was standing on with her claws, then she tapped an adjacent one. Flint noticed it this time, there was a slight difference in the pitch of the sounds. Starshine then tapped the other adjacent tiles, all sounding different from the first tile she tapped.

"Um, is that a good thing?" Flint asked unsurely.

"A good thing? Hell, this is brilliant, Flint. This one tile is hallow, we may have found the key," using her psychic powers, Starshine lifted the tile with relative ease. Beneath the hollow tile was indeed the key they were searching for. It was brass with three teeth, the front one being the longest.

Both jumped for joy at the sight of the key. "Let's not waste any time, let's hurry and open that door shall we?"

"Indeed we shall. But I'm feeling a little hungry at the moment," Starshine said.

"Well, it's a good thing I found that apple after being propelled into those barrels earlier."

The two left the room and split the apple from earlier. Afterward, the two approached the locked door to the east and brought the key to the hole. It fit perfectly, allowing them to unlock the door and proceed through the dungeon.

"I can't wait to see what treasures await us!" Flint said while trying to subside his excitement.

"I thought you weren't here for the treasure," Starshine said suspiciously to the growlithe.

"Well, no, the main goal is still to get you to Whitestone, but getting a reward on the way is always nice too."

"Why is it you and so many others only care about wealth?"

"Oh hush, you wouldn't understand, Princess."

That word specifically angered the espeon, "I told you I don't like being called that."

"Stop acting like such a cliché princess from a story, and either way I'm still calling you that since it's your title, Princess Starshine."

It was true, Starshine was a princess, however, she didn't like being called one since she didn't like being born into royalty. She was mad at her parents for giving her so much responsibility at such a young age. Though, age wasn't given much of a choice due to a certain incident. Although she didn't want to return to Whitestone, she had to because many lives were in danger. She decided to no longer argue with Flint, but instead continue into the new room before them.

There was a tunnel-like corridor that led into a circular-shaped room with large rock pillars and a few boulders placed about the room. The room was very spacious and seemed eerie to Flint. Starshine kept a watchful eye on the room looking for anything out of the ordinary, as well as an exit. After spending a good minute searching, she found one. At the far east of the room was a staircase going up that was blocked off by bars.

"Flint, there's the exit, let's go!"

Though Flint was disappointed in not finding any treasure, he was reluctant to find an exit so they could escape the eerie feeling of the room. The two started running towards the stairs. A large figure fell from the ceiling crashing down in front of them before they could even make it halfway. Standing before them was a large, round, rock pokémon. It was none other than a golem, however, it looked much different from an average golem. Its rocky shell was a dark black color while its arms, legs, and head were grey. Its eyes were a dark red while red fog flowed from the cracks of its rock shell. Both Starshine and Flint were shocked by the sight of the evil-looking golem.

The golem didn't hesitate to attack as it stomped its foot into the ground causing rocks to fly toward the two smaller pokemon. Both barely dodging by jumping to the side.

"What are we gonna do?" Flint panicked.

"The only thing we can do, we're gonna fight. I need you to distract him... or her."

"On it," Flint said while getting into a battle stance. As before he generated heat with his heat sacks and mixed it with his spit and oxygen to create a fire, this time instead of making a fireball, he created a steady stream of fire which was a flamethrower instead. All while Starshine was preparing one of her signature moves. She was building up a radiant energy at her gem and aimed it towards the discolored golem. As she was focused, she shot a thin needle-like aura toward the golem. It pierced its shell which was now softened from Flint's flamethrower. The golem showed no signs of pain but instead readied its next attack.

The right hand of the golem began to glow red as a fire was lit around it and was concentrated in its palm, the left hand built-up static electricity eventually causing bolts of lightning to fling around its arm. It let out a deep roar that reverberated throughout the cave-like room. Flint and Starshine were caught off guard by the golem knowing fire punch as well as thunder punch, so much so that they didn't dodge the attacks in time. The golem's sizzling right hand collided with Starshine's head throwing her to the back of the room against a wall. Then the crackling left hand smashed head-on with Flint sending him tumbling into a boulder.

Flint struggled to get to his feet, he looked in the direction of Starshine and saw she was out cold, and part of the fur on her face was charred. Flint's entire face was numb and blood oozed from his mouth, his vision was blurry but he could see the golem was heading in his direction. Flint's fight or flight instincts kicked in as he tried to fire a quick fireball... However nothing came out, it was too painful to even try. Any attempts now were futile...

The black golem looked down menacingly at the helpless growlithe making Flint feel pathetic. The golem's body began to glow white and Flint's eyes widened as he instantly recognized what it was doing.

"No..." He said weakly as the golem continued building up energy to explode. Before the golem did explode, Flint's life began flashing before his very eyes. Memories from when he was just a cub back at home to memories where he began living on his own and making friends. However, the memories that were still fresh in his head were those of recent events, now specifically was when he and Rose were traveling to Mardol for the first time...


Hey guys, ShadowForge from the current day. Firstly, I'd like to thank you for reading the story and I also apologize for all of the early chapters you're about to read. I'm currently still in the process of editing them and rewriting them while working on where the story currently is. For my sanity, and clarification when you see them, I'll have one 'X' at the bottom of a chapter when I have finished spell and grammar checking them and two 'X's when I do a rewrite of a chapter.