Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Midnight

Chapter 1: Introductions

"Ugh! Where am I?"

An Eevee slowly staggered to her feet and surveyed her surroundings, her eyes still adjusting to the noonday sun. She struggled to see, squinting her eyes to no avail. Finally, she could make out her surroundings; it appeared to be the bottom of a rocky cliff. In front of her was the ocean.

Well, it appeared to be the bottom. She barely stopped herself from stepping off the ledge she was on, and realized that she was not at the bottom, but about halfway up it. She gasped in horror as she saw the fifty foot drop below her, and the fifty foot climb above her. There was no way she could scale that cliff, much less jump down. She had to try, though, unless she wanted to be stuck here for who knows how long.

She found it hard to walk, though; much less climb up a fifty foot cliff. Maybe she hadn't gathered her senses all the way yet. She couldn't seem to remember anything, though; she attributed that to her grogginess, as well, though.

She waited for a while, trying to regain her balance, or at least a memory of how the heck she had gotten up here, not to mention why she was up here anyways.

It was a while before she saw any living beings besides her and a few Wailord in the distance. She began to cry, terrified that she would never get down from this cliff, and she would either starve or fall to her death.

"Hey! Are you alright?"

The Eevee's head shot up, and she looked down to see a Chikorita on the sand. It seemed larger than a normal Chikorita, though; in fact, it was taller than herself. She remembered Chikoritas as being much smaller than that.

"N-no," she stammered, trying in vain to wipe her tears away. "I can't-c-can't get down."

The Chikorita gave her a weird look. "How'd you get up there in the first place?"

"I-I'm not sure. I just w-woke up, and I was h-here..."

The Chikorita looked around nervously. "You weren't put up there by Team Bandit, were you?"

"Team... Team B-Bandit? No... N-not that I remember..."

"Alright then... What do you remember?"

The Eevee paused for a moment before she began bawling again. "Nothing! Absolutely nothing!"

"Whoa, whoa whoa! Calm down! Here, let's get you down from there." The Ckikorita reached up the cliff with a pair of vines, wrapped them around the Eevee, and set her gently down in the sand. The Eevee collapsed on the beach, hit with the utter certainty that she had lost her memory.

"So... what's your name? You remember that, right?"

"My name?" The Eevee struggled to remember. "Right! My name is Echo!"

"Echo, eh? I'm Fern. Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too!"

There was a short pause as the two of them sat awkwardly on the beach. The sun had begun to set, and turned the water a rusty orange. Occasionally, a Wailord would spray water into the air, letting the auburn droplets fall into the ocean. It was a very beautiful sight, framed by a grove of palm trees swaying in the breeze.

"So, uh... I don't mean to sound rude, but why are you such a big Chikorita?"

Fern shot Echo a puzzled look. "Pardon?"

"It's just, well... I'm not used to Chikoritas being as big as you are."

"I... I'm a perfectly normal Chikorita. Are you alright?"

"Yes, but..." Echo looked down at her hands. Or, as she discovered, her paws. "GREAT ARCEUS I HAVE PAWS!" she screamed, leaping to her feet and wobbling on two legs. "And I have a tail, and fur... And a mane!" She put her paws on the sides of her face in shock. "I'M AN EEVEE!"

"Yes, you're an Eevee..." Fern appeared very disturbed. "Hey, uh... do we need to get you to a town?"

Echo looked down again, embarrassed. "Yeah, I suppose so. You see, I clearly remember being a human before... not that I don't want to be an Eevee, but it does seem a bit strange, doesn't it? Of course, you probably won't believe a word I'm saying, and neither will anyone else, but..."

Fern began smiling. "Well, you don't seem like a bad Pokémon. I guess I can trust you for now."

Now it was Echo's turn to look surprised. "You... You actually believe all that? I'm honestly not sure how much I believe it. Imagine that! I don't believe my own memory."

Fern let out a giggle. "Well, we should probably get you to a town anyways, and get you checked up. Jewel City is nearby."

"Jewel City?"

"I'll show you around," replied Fern with a wink.

-~-~-

When Fern had said 'Jewel City,' Echo hadn't actually expected jewels. Or a city. After all, it would take forever to build a city made of jewels, and even longer to grow one naturally. Echo was still convinced that this was a world of humans, though, and Pokémon were a lot more capable of such accomplishments. But sure enough, Fern led Echo into a cave, and the sight was breathtaking.

Jewels. There were jewels everywhere. There were buildings dug into the rock, dotted with gemstones. Some of the houses in the center were carved out of crystals themselves, hollowed out and sculpted to look like their residents. A small cluster of these 'gem buildings' had counters in front of them, as if they were shops. Torches hung along the walls and stood like lampposts in the center, making each crystal explode with color. It wasn't as large as a human city, but the cavern was still enormous.

Most beautiful of all was the largest building in the city, a building carved into the shape of an old, gnarled tree, with windows skillfully hidden in its leaves, and a hole in the trunk which fit with the grain of the 'wood.' Even more amazing, it was changing colors as Echo stared at it.

"That's Ryu's Guild," said Fern, causing Echo to jump. "That's where Exploration Teams go to train and get missions."

"What's an Exploration Team?" asked Echo, her eyes still fixated on the crystal tree.

"Oh, right! I forgot you don't know anything about this place! Well, an Exploration Team is a group of Pokémon who defeat outlaws, help others, and explore the world. I've always wanted to join one, but I'm too scared..."

Echo smiled, and turned to Fern. "Well, if that's the case... Would you like to join an Exploration Team with me?" she asked. As the words came out of her mouth, she wasn't sure why she had said them. She was going to join an Exploration Team, which she still hardly knew about, and do it with a Pokémon she had just met.

Fern was left speechless. "You'd really do that for me?" she asked after a long pause. Echo could only nod in response, still pondering over shy she had said that. Silence again, and then Echo was knocked off her feet with a glomp from Fern. "Oh, thank you, thank you so much!" she squealed.

Fern let Echo get up, who grinned happily. "Well, it's not like I've got anything better to do!" she laughed. "Where do we start?"

"Well, first we have to go to Ryu's Guild," replied Fern, "and register ourselves as an Exploration Team."

"What are we waiting for, then?" Echo raced off towards the tree, Fern beside her.

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Short chapter is short. Well, expect some longer stuff in the next few chapters ;3