Explorers of the Life Force, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon

On the Road Again

There were no words to describe this. I may have been in Crystal's body before, but this was intimate on a whole new level. Once we entered that portal I actually became Crystal and vise versa, I saw her soul. I heard it said the eyes are the window to the soul, this was breaking open that window, climbing through, stripping that soul to the very heart and putting it inside you... a gross analogy but you get it. Then when we were exiting the portal's other end, we got ripped apart and shoved back into our own bodies.

I landed beside Crystal shaking my head, "I was not ready for that level of personal connection."

"Ugh... ditto."

"Where?!" I look around for any purple blobs.

"No Chase, ditto as in the same, not the Pokémon."

"Oh, yeah that makes more sense." I turn to see if the portal was there... it wasn't. "Poor Nari and Vince, I may have... disliked them,"

"That's putting it mildly."

"But I still feel bad about leaving them behind."

Crystal shakes her body before stretching, "Yeah, but I'm too tired to really get into feeling bad for them right now."

I turned to her gesturing around our area. "We're free, but where do you suppose we are?"

Surrounding us was a dark forest area, the bark on the trees a dark grey... the leaves too... why does the air feel... dead? I started looking around frowning, why does this place feel familiar? "Uh, Crystal? I think we should get out of here... Crystal?" I turn to see her passed out. "Crystal!" I run up checking her over. She seems fine, she must be more tired than I thought. I myself started dozing off before shaking my head firmly. "No, I can't sleep here."

I did another take of the area, "Seems like it's another mystery dungeon. Shoot." I grabbed Crystal up before heading down the halls. "Whether it's an Ellie or a Crystal, I'm their mobile hammock when they wanna take a snooze."

I continued for a good while running into the occasional Pokémon before finding the stairs. The Pokémon here weren't all that tough to be honest. It almost seemed too easy. I would just set Crystal aside, deal a blow to the attacking Pokémon, then continue. I already made it to the eighth floor? Maybe more.

I then heard voices ahead. Silently I approached the area.

"I can't believe it's not here!"

"Aria, the chances of the time gear being here was already a slim one. I'm wouldn't be surprised if the others come up empty on their searches too."

"Come on Ellie, at least try your weird power thing. Maybe you can see who it was that took it?"

"I told you, I don't know how it happens it just does. I already tried anyway so it's pointless."

I could hardly believe it, it was Aria and Ellie. I smiled already trying to imagine their surprise when I would step out and- "Come on Aria, we need to report back to the guild."

"... Fine."

"Wait!" I shouted too late, they were gone. I looked for tracks or anything they would leave behind, but it seemed they teleported away. I sigh setting Crystal gently on the ground. I then walked towards the center of the clearing.

This was it, no question. This is the area from my dream. The Time Gear... that's what Aria and Ellie called it. The green Pokémon in my dream took it, but why was that a bad thing? He told me time was coming to a halt, but he didn't seem like the type who wanted that to happen. Perhaps I was wrong? Maybe he was trying to stop time, but why and for what purpose? The better question for now, how do I get out of here?