Welcome to the valley of optional sidequests. You have me concerned with your loyalty to my work.

When I end up with something random to show off for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Altered Bonds, it goes here. They are all standalones, with notes given on what chapters you'd want to read first from the main fic (to avoid possible spoilers), and on whether they are omake stories, footnotes on lore that doesn't fit anywhere else, or scrapped/beta scenes.

Some of what you see will be a little unhinged. Some will be rather serious. Most are goofy in one way or another.

Enjoy if you will.

Altered Bonds Extras

Omake 1 — Burning Love

(Best read after Chapter 8)

(Canon? — No)

It was the smoke that Lucario noticed first, his nose wrinkling as he entered the attic of Gabite's cottage.

Then there was the fire.

Oh goodness, that was a literal fire in the house.

Lucario gawked, dumbfounded for a solid few seconds as he took in the immense blaze of destruction gobbling up a select space in the middle of the attic area, blue Water Gems and lighter-hued Ice Gems surrounding it in a ring as if to magically prevent its spread. Charred pages and book spines flailed and prayed for repentance within the flames, their calls shunned by all.

Vulpix sat next to the fire in a giddy trance. "The what?" Lucario found himself saying.

Eira the Alolan Vulpix. An Ice-type Pokemon in disguise sitting next to a fire. Burning books inside of Gabite's house. Am I hallucinating this? Is this a dream? he wondered, before grimacing at the heat that clung to his fur. That fire was burning hot, alright.

Again — why was Vulpix sitting right next to it like it was but an ordinary campfire? "Kid? Did you start—" he questioned.

"Had to." Vulpix's voice was horrendously monotone, like she had been replaced by one of those computer voices that humans generated for their electronic devices back home. "They had to go."

Her tails flicked toward one of the bookshelves lining a corner of the attic, Lucario turning to find it somewhat barren of its book supply. "The romance novels," Vulpix went on, her static smile widening impossibly — and yet she could make Hattrem jealous with how emotionless she seemed. "Such horrors have no place on this planet. The world must be cleansed of them. We must be exorcized of the love triangles."

Okay, this was getting trippy. Why was Vulpix talking like an insane grandma sage? "Uh—"

"Lucario." With a swish of her tails Vulpix faced him, not a bead of sweat to be found dripping from her fur. "The flames cannot touch me. They burn with passion, and yet my heart remains cold, aloof, and indifferent. It was what those books deserved. You know this to be true, don't you?"

A part of Lucario wanted to admit that okay, yes, romance novels were a glaring blight in the universe and one of humanity's — and Pokemon-kind's — worst creations, but this was a bit excessive. Another grew horrified at what had possessed Vulpix, if that even was the faux vixen herself in front of him. Or was that a doppelganger? Some stupid illusion from the Mismagius? Vulpix wouldn't act like this, or be resourceful enough to use Elemental Gems like this to keep the fire from spreading, wherever she got those from. Really though, why wasn't that fire burning a hole into the floor—

WAIT SHOOT THERE'S A FIRE IN AN INDOOR SPACE WHAT DO I DO—

Lucario frantically turned tail to inform the others, only to pause as he found Gabite behind him. The dragon-shark had snuck up on him, gaping at the fire with narrowed eyes. Vulpix barely looked at him before rubbing her paws in front of the flames, humming a chirpy tune to herself.

Gabite pressed his lips, turning to the bookshelves. Then back to the fire, noticing the books set alight within. Then back to the bookshelves.

The undignified, shrill scream of desperation that left his throat was one no eldritch monstrosity would dare make. Maybe a stand up comedian, if anything.

"THE ROMANCE BOOKS!" he said, diving right into the flames. His typing must have been coming in handy, Gabite completely unfazed by the fire tickling his scales as he rushed to stamp out the blaze and salvage whatever scraps remained from his smoldering books. A lump formed in Lucario's throat as he made tearful noises, pulling out a pitch-black piece of paper and staring at it with trembling claws, before letting it flutter back into the fiery pit.

"Why?" he asked Vulpix, his face the very picture of agonized defeat.

Vulpix looked up, staring at the dragon-shark submerged in raging fire, stuck in a world that was not fine and would never be fine. She tilted her head without a single shred of care for his feelings.

"Wynaut?"

Late that night, Vulpix stuffed her face into her pillow bed, appalled. She had gone too far.

"What came over me today?" she kept questioning herself, fur prickling from the weight of Lucario's wordless gaze. Gabite's sobs were audible from across the hall, his emotional state pounding on her ears.

Mother would have found this extremely funny. She also would've smacked her for committing property damage.

She did leave burn marks and soot on the second floor, after all.

Worth.

No, it wasn't! Vulpix yelled at whatever demon was messing with her. Get out of my head!

I took a break from working on a somewhat messy Chapter 9, wanting to refresh my mind by writing something else.

This was the result.

I promise you my other omakes aren't nearly this weird. Some of them anyway.