Pokémon Mystery Dungeon
Treasure Hunters of the World
Epilogue: Change
by Alex Albion
On the first day of 153 A.S., the dawn rose on a new world.
Regigigas and the Golems took the Jewel of Life back to the Omega Chasm. But before that, they helped us to extinguish the dragonfire. Regirock used sand and gravel to extinguish the flames. Regice cooled the air around us. Registeel sent the ingot soldiers to douse the trees with silver water. Regieleki, with the help of the Gyarados of Gold, created storm clouds that spread across Itori. Regidrago cleared the smoke from the sky.
Ruby Forest is no more. Thanks to the brave acts of Lord Dreigo Varia, a vast majority of the Ruby Pokémon inside were saved. But some still died, and the rest lost their homes. I remember seeing the Gods' expressionless faces as they took in the destruction around them, the damage they, in part, caused. I could feel their pain in my heart like it was my own.
Their last act before returning to their slumber beneath the Halo Mountains was to free all the ingot Pokémon; bronze, silver, and gold, in Itori and beyond. All released from their metal prisons alive and well. Sometimes you can still see the tinge on their skin, feel a kind of metallic hardness to their bodies. The longer they were in there, the stronger the ingot's influence became. Feather is an absolute beast, and the ones who've been there for years now may as well be terastallized as steel-types. But the important thing is that they survived, to return to their homes, their friends, their families. Together we began picking up the pieces.
The damage was bad. We lost thousands of acres of farmland, countless Pokémon have been left homeless, their villages and towns and cities destroyed; bleeding wounds where civilisation once stood. Tenrai fared better, being a much wilder country than us, but for the past five years Itori has been worked to the bone.
The Jewel of Life buried seeds in the burial ground of Ruby Forest. With Regigigas' influence gone, it's growing into a rich, green, gentle woodland. But it will take decades to become a forest again, maybe centuries. I don't know if it's because Arceus wasn't there to wield their own creation, or if it was just a case of my imagination spinning from what we saw in the Omega Chasm, but it didn't all grow back in a day like I'd expected. The houses (which weren't even touched), the fields, the forest, all of it is still slowly struggling back to its feet. I know I will never seen an Itori like I remember again in my lifetime.
The decades ahead, like this one, will be marked by our efforts to regrow the land and the homes destroyed. Many Pokémon are returning to the wild, but now our country's ecosystem has been thrown out of balance. More and more missions appear on the board everyday, we have six of them now, once each for Ranks E-to-S. And there's something else. Mystery Dungeons are growing more and more violent, and they're growing stranger. Shifting rooms, trap tiles appearing seemingly out of the ground (or possibly just laid by the wild Pokémon themselves), ominous winds; they're creating more and more tricks to keep us settled Pokémon out. And the wild Pokémon there are aggressively defending their homes; the second they see a Pokémon in a scarf, they attack on sight. I can't say I blame them, but there are people relying on us, and we're still going to be there for them.
But because of this, we've found the need for a little extra fire power. Another classroom has been built at the academy: the Hall of the Arts. Magic. Khan has been studying thaumaturgy, an ancient and dangerous esoteric art, but one with the potential to save Pokémon in the most dire situations. Tobias is a sorcerer, and has been studying soul magic, the art of harnessing the aura of humans and Pokémon. I am now a warlock, a student of mana, the force that runs through the bodies of all living things.
Oh yeah, us! I'm sure you're curious. If not, what are ya doin' here, weirdo?
Things are still peaceful in lil ol' Emerald Town. Hage has become very popular, and mana magic is quickly becoming a cultural landmark of the southern regions. Old Morty finally retired to live a nice quiet life, leaving the town in need of a leader. And through a series of dramatic and frankly bizarre events, Piplup the Great is now Piplup the Mayor, somehow, please send help. Nah, I'm kidding. Pompous as he is, the guy is smart. We're running as smoothly as ever, and his campaigning across Itori has been bringing new recruits to the Academy in droves (well, maybe the three of us saving the country had a little bit to do with that here and there, but who's counting?)
Tobias and I commissioned the Gerda Gunther Construction Crew to dig out our home base; it's ten times the size it was before! Sounds like a lot, right? Well, mine and Tobias' living quarters are pretty much the same, except for one extra bed. The other rooms are for our new friends. We had Rhys and Rebecca commission a painting of us all to hang up on the wall. We have a lot of blank white space, they add a new portrait every time someone gets their Badge. (We pay them well each time, of course. Support your local artists!)
Auburn became the third member of Team Goldenrod, now a Platinum Rank Team. For the most dangerous missions we'll go just the three of us, but for most we'll take one of the new recruits with us, although sometimes we'll prioritising matching team-to-mission. Sometimes a lower-ranking mission request will tug at our heartstrings and one of us will take three of the young-ins for some in-field training. We get a lot of requests in our Pelipper Post Box, more than we could possibly respond to. Auburn's trying to convince Tobias to let the kids go in their own groups, but naturally, he's very protective of them.
Before we took on Auburn, we made the decision that she would be the only new member we recruited from the outside. There are far too many glory-seekers and attention-grabbers out there, and we want Pokémon on our Team we know we can trust. So the nine additional members of Team Goldenrod were all hatched from Eggs right here on Oran Berry Beach:
In our first year after Auburn joined, 154 A.S., we welcomed Lucy the Snubbull, Sassafras (Sassy) the Lotad, now a Ludicolo, and Ruby the Trapinch, now a Flygon. She named herself, once she realised the name we gave her didn't fit. She named herself after not after the Forest, which she was far too young to know, but after the brilliant, shining gem. Which is fitting, because that's what all of them are. Our younger members are Tito the Sprigatito, Coco the Fuecoco, Quackers the Quaxly, Dewi the Fidough, Brownie the Maschiff, and Haka the Greavard.
For bigger missions, ones that don't involve Dungeons, we often join up with Team Renegades, Silver Rank. Our last mission was throwing Harriet and Yukiko's wedding. Fortis and Titan, naturally, were Best Mon. Tobias was ring-bearer, and Emma was flower girl. Sadly, they did not allow me to officiate. Apparently Khan was more "dignified", according to Fortis. But to me they gave the honour of being the candle lighter. I mean, who better, right?
Both the Academy and the Dojo were rebuilt. They've kept their names, but this time they've been designed in the image of a Garchomp and a Machop. I think that was the right decision. It's good to keep lost loves ones in the heart, but it's time for Khan to move on.
A third instalment was set up in Tenrai: The Bruiser Hope Boarding School. Led by none other than our very own Wyatt Hope. Cynnamon and Giuseppe now work as his right-hand-Pokémon. All the kids at the Care Home singed up as soon as they were old enough (one year old for trainees, two years old to be sent out on missions). They all decided to share the last name, united as their own kind of family. Tobias took the name as well. The first Team from outside their ranks to sign up were, you guessed it, Ken and Cream, leading members of Team Crystal, Bronze Rank. You might notice that the names of our ranks are somewhat… uncomfortable, the events of the War of the World. But Khan said it was a nightmare gearing up those Badges to change colour like that and he's not bloody well changing it now.
Taka, Jane, Enid and their families are doing well. It's pretty much public knowledge what happened on the Isle of Legends now, but they've taken it with grace. Tobias doesn't really speak to them, but we'll always end up running into them when we visit Karma City, and it's civil, at the very least.
The Rumble Rangers returned to the wild to continue their goblin mayhem. The Guards of the Golems have all migrated to the Halo Mountains, where they continue to serve masters they can actually see, in the underground temple of the Omega Chasm.
The Varias, after many, many, many lengthy court sessions (every one of which I was apparently invaluable to), were pardoned. But they were stripped of their claim to any kind of power in settled areas, and if Octavia catches so much as a trace of rebellious intent, both older brothers will be chucked into the Void (the prison, not like, a wormhole or something). The brothers and their remaining loyalists returned to Mount. Chronicle and are now working with Asa to investigate the Unown. Dreigo is still Guardian, and Zweil has become a renowned master of both magic and science. Dei is now a carer. He's grown into a fine young adult.
He and I have made peace. He stepped up to be the bigger Pokémon, and forgave me for the scar. I am immensely grateful. We actually ended up having a really good talk. We were visiting Asa in Gracidea Field, just below Mount. Spring, to celebrate his birthday (and we also happened to have a mission in Sunset Hill the week before), when Dei invited me to watch the sunset with him.
We were both used during the wars. Me by the Skarsgards, him by his brothers. He still loves them, forgives them, but he told me it's important not to let them get used to treating you like a doormat, and that it's especially important you don't get used to it. I agreed. That's why I resigned as a knight of the Skarsgards.
A year after the war ended, Queen Octavia announced publicly that she was in love with Lord Vex, the Dusknoir, and declared that they were soon be wed. King Vex's statue was added to the Hall of Monarchs. To continue the legacy of the Skarsgards, they adopted a child, a Larvesta named Topaz. The next queen will still have the Skarsgard name, but it's a start. I did wonder why she didn't choose a Charmander. She just said it's what her sister would have wanted. Topaz Jr. (T.J. to friends) is training hard, and just last month she evolved in the reclaimed Candlelight Springs.
They took the underground back from Mr. Finley. The Skarsgards allowed the Burrowwilds to reclaim their territory (provided they pledge allegiance to the Crown), but having a group of semi-wild Pokémon directly beneath Grande City has caused a lot of conflict and uproar. Sometimes even the Dojo has to get involved.
The city itself is still in repair. The farmlands around it will never be the same, but new life is still growing here and there. The redwood trees around Grande City are pyrophytes, so Fitzroy's attack ended up spreading them all over, green trees with red in their name. Most of the buildings are a mish-mash of different materials scraped from anything they could find. There was so much to build, and the disturbance in the Glacier Region caused by Team Arctic hardly helped. Grande Castle had its damage repaired (all six floors of it), and was given a shiny new coat of paint for good measure. Of course.
There was no such good news for Goldenrod Tower, but its legacy lives on in our name. That patch of land is a cemetery now, tombstones kept inside reinforced stone, a different approach to the one Itori took. A vast, open-sky graveyard now takes up Glory Valley. I went there a few weeks ago to visit Fitzroy. I brought him some chrysanthemums.
Now that it's much easier to travel to and from Grande City, we see the Victory Hunters quite often. None of them have evolved any further, just like Tobias and I, but they're all slowly changing in their own ways as time goes on. Bonnie taught me Iron Tail in exchange for Metal Claw, and Scar got her husband Batu to teach Tobias Aura Sphere in exchange for Rapid Spin. I have a good relationship with my parents now. I never got to meet the ones who made me, or the ones who cared for me early on, but Enya and Cedric really are good for me. They live close by, in the re-built Hallore Village.
It was quite a blow to the Skarsgard's armada when Feather decided to become a member of the New Paige Dojo, leader of a large group of other ingot survivors, named, wait for it, Team Survivors. To be fair, the army had technically given away his position.
Achilleus is travelling north of Itori to find a wild land to settle down in. Frost is journeys south to find a place to build a new icy civilisation. The Polar Region has only one settlement and one Dungeon left, though many still choose to remain, a lot of the ice-types have been left to wander. A large amount of the missions we get are to rescue them from dangerous areas they've wandered into.
Mickey ended the Finley line, saying it was poisoned by corruption, and returned it to the bug-types. He's travelling now with Mikey and Evie, currently exploring the prairies of the Taiga Region. Lady Elizabeth Shade, Masquerain, was given her grandmother's place in Great Cedar Cabin. The bloodlines remain, but still, it's a start.
Mickey's father on the other hand isn't doing so peachy. The jails were reformed after details of the cruelty and deprivation inside went public. Pokémon are now placed in prisons corresponding to their types. It's a lot more comfortable, but personally, if we have a run in with a criminal, we do whatever we can to settle it out of court. I do not feel bad for Mr. Finley, however; wether he helped us in the end of not, none of this would have happened without him. Or would it have? Hell if I know. The clemency the Skarsgards offered as thank you for his help during the Battle of Dragonfire was to let Mr. Finley and Connie be together. Mickey went to see his father in the Desert. It sounded like he was genuinely remorseful, but dude's gonna be in there for a long time.
Team Runaways, however, have been acquitted for the crime they didn't commit, and are now a Bronze Rank Team working under Kara and her wife Baylee (officiated by Thrasher). We offered a Badge each to Caesar and Tom, but they declined, preferring to travel freely and change the world as wild Pokémon. Sasha, Saffron, and Louis were just recently released from prison, and have now found work as personal bodyguards. We bumped into them on a trip to Grande City. Sasha looked at the thick black scar on my left wrist below the Chariz-Fang, and we both laughed.
Little Susie, now a strong and spirited Sawsbuck, was made a Centurion in Markus' armada. The Emboar and my father shared a tearful, warm hug during her inauguration ceremony. Japeth, Lucas, and Ewan watched on, and it was hard to tell if they were more proud of terrified.
The Gyarados of Gold, real name Aquamarine, was returned to the sea by Zweil and his conjurers. Poseidon was brought from Kingdra Canyon to join her. Speaking of magic, Miloslav is now the newest teacher at the Academy, my new teacher in fact, a spiritual and inspiring genius, but notoriously hard to get ahold of Miloslav check your mailbox I know you know how to open the latch I've shown you three times.
People are taking hard lines on civilisation vs. nature these days. Prey Pokémon attack outsiders like predators, and predators run and hide from us like prey. Settled Pokémon lock their children indoors and forbid them to wander into the tall grass where wild Pokémon might lurk. Some in settled areas have been advocated for Chieftain control over all the land, with the wide stretches of wild areas being nothing more than glorified playgrounds. The Chieftain of the Coast Region has declared strict laws on building; nothing but beach huts and temples will ever be built there during my lifetime, at least.
The earthquakes have stopped, but conflicts over territory, food, and ideology are rampant. Sometimes Evie and I need to be careful where we go, some people here still hate humans, and I'm pretty easy to spot. If I stand in harsh sunlight I take on a gold shine. Nate's calling me a poser. I'll pose him one of these days.
Is it a good thing to have more problems if it means we're more likely to work together? In my opinion yes; so long as lives aren't on the line. So long as people's ways of living aren't wrecked along the way. Well, I suppose you all know how I feel about this kind of thing by now.
I'm writing this as an end to the series. It'll all be there in Creams' library; my book, Tobias' journal, Khan and Asa's scroll, along with everything else we managed to gather from people who wanted to tell their stories with us. It's been incredibly cathartic, and I appreciate you all giving me this space to discover myself. I want to thank every single person who came with me, wether it was just for a few chapters or for the whole long, crazy, terrifying journey. I'm extremely grateful to you all, but it's time for me to move on.
If I could leave you with one last message, it would be this. You don't have to change the way people expect you to, you don't have to try to become what they want. But you should always look for new ways to grow. And if there's someone you want to be, don't you dare give up on being them. Never, ever, give up hope. Wether you want to be stronger, smarter, more charismatic, more thoughtful, successful or worldly or funny or kind. You will be that person. With determination, passion, and the pursuit of knowledge, you will grow. But don't be cut-throat. Make sure the person you want to be is good, and don't ever step on another person's back to get your own way, because will never do anything but make you into someone worse. Be compassionate. And you have to be the one to make that choice, to tolerate the growing pains, to keep going despite it all, and (very importantly!) to appreciate the journey along the way. Accept your own freedom and your own responsible over yourself and the way you treat others. And always remember it will take time, and that's okay.
Change is hard. And change is slow. But mighty oaks from acorns grow.
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon:
Treasure Hunters of the World
The End.