Explorers of Origin: A Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Fanfiction, Volume 2

Interlude

The pendulum of souls swings, drawing an arc of hope shined by light.

"Lop, are you sure we're going the right way?"

"A thousand percent! My nose is sure of it. There must be a town nearby where we can rest up."

"Well, considering that this road trip has been going on for a week straight, we really need a shut-eye."

"Right!? Not to mention the immediate threat of those purple things hunting us down like humans hungry for a buffet."

"That's a bit of a stretch, but I get the point."

"By the way, I wonder what our new friends are up to? The last time we saw them was before they left Açaí."

"You mean the Mawile, Pikachu, and Espeon?"

"Uh-huh!"

"I would not fret too much. I'm sure they will do just fine. The trio must have gathered many allies by now."

"Yeah... That's my hope. But the fact that we never fulfilled our end of the bargain we made back there makes me feel terrible..."

"We had to get out of there when Noctowl warned us about the Gumshoos and his gang plotting to tear up Flussufer Town. What else could we have done?"

"Part of me doesn't want to lean on that idea. There has to be a deeper reason than that."

"I get that there must be a more complex meaning behind his decision, but for now we need to stay alive. Do remember that."

"Always, Mien-mi."

Coming off a grueling seventy kilometer march across a thick grassland that seemed to loop in circles, Mienshao and Lopunny approach a small-scale town in the middle of the night. After receiving a cryptic request from Noctowl that detailed their mandatory evacuation from Flussufer Town, the confused duo had departed in search of a different shelter, one that has not been threatened by any malicious force.

"'Busan Provincial Village'... when was the last time we've been here...?"

"There was a charity mission we conducted during our Rescue Team days. This place suffered major corruption scandals that caused an enormous decrease in resources for its residents. Things have gone better since then, but the extent of that recovery is still incognito."

"How could the town's re-establishment be unknown if things had gotten better? You oughta be contradicting yourself, Mien-mi."

"I might, but not without reason: time has passed since we last arrived here, so it's not certain how much the village has improved."

"Why not just go inside, then? It's the only way to be completely sure, ya know!"

"You have a point, Lop. Let's go."

Taking her partner's simple yet effective advice, Mienshao follows Lopunny inside the dimly lit village, searching for any consistent sign of life.

Busan Provincial Village, once a major commercial and cultural hub on the same stature as Koruno City, had fallen off its former glory over the past twenty-five years. Constant threats of 'cultural cleansing' plagued the community's hyper-conservative minority, blocking any chance of beneficial progress. During the period known as the "Eodum Saga," tensions rose to the point that factions broke into smaller sub-factions that constricted their trust onto select groups of Pokémon, often based on type or species. The breaking point of the village downfall is illustrated by its abandoned state; even with recovery efforts established to reconstruct them, the vandalized buildings stand firm, serving as the painful reminder of the small but powerful dark side which infected the social well-being of its inhabitants. Because of this lingering will, the village has garnered the title of "Town of the Damned," in which the 'damned' are those who caused its dire instability in the past.