It wasn’t a pleasant darkness.
“Hey… you alright?”
It sounded like Pachuku. It didn’t seem like he was normally up this early.
“You look bothered by something… you okay? Wake up.”
Sanvu somewhat opened his eyes upon hearing those words. Pachuku was standing right next to his head, his brows furrowed. He looked as anxious as he usually did around strangers, wringing his paws. He seemed to light up once he was aware Sanvu was awake.
“Oh, good! At least you don’t look too bad but… what happened? You were thrashing in your sleep. Made it kinda hard for me to sleep.”
As clarity returned to Sanvu’s mind, he worried about scarring Pachuku any more than he normally looked with details of such a cryptic dream. But he couldn’t lie now; it was obvious Pachuku expected something.
“I… had another one of those dreams again.”
“Another one? When was the first one?”
“I-” he sheepishly rolled out of the curled-up position he’d now grown used to. “They’re just weird dreams. I don’t know if you’d… wanna hear about them.”
“I don’t remember any of my dreams,” Pachuku divulged, staring at him inquisitively. “In fact, none of the Pokemon I know does. So… I’m curious anyway, just for the sake of it. I’m worried about you.”
He bounded away, but the house was very small, so he was only at the other table sorting berries.
“Come tell me about it, while you’re up.”
So Sanvu recalled the black abyss and the repeating words that seemed to change in intonation each time. Upon reaching what was actually said though…
“OH! Yveltal?! The way you were saying it made it sound super weird!”
“It just sounded like “evil toll” to me.”
“Yveltal is one of those legendary Pokemon. I hear they’re related to like, the death of all things or something. But… what does “Yveltal will” mean, what’s that about?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. I don’t know its significance but whoever was talking about it… if it was even one of the voices… who seemed quite thrilled about it, since they laughed right after.”
“…Hmm… you think Yveltal could be in danger?”
“Huh?”
“It sounds like someone was interested in them doing something. Especially since you don’t know who Yveltal is, that’d be strange if you’d dreamt them up if you never saw them before.”
“Unless that’s part of my missing memories or something.”
Pachuku smirked at that. “Sounds to me like it probably wasn’t though, you haven’t been saying it’s familiar or anything. Maybe it’s some kind of message. What was the first one about?”
“Nothing… I could only see the same landscape. Just some dark cliff in the middle of some kind of… void. What makes you believe that it’s a message though?” Sanvu queried, a little surprised at the point.
“I’ve heard of that kind of thing. Sometimes messages will be sent in dreams to help specific Pokemon in times of crisis. If the legends are to be believed, humans also attract dreams for one purpose or another, even those that have saved the world before.”
“So I’m just a magnet for creepy dreams, is your suspect?”
“It might relate to this Amnesiac thing too. The breaking down of memory would have to be related to something terribly bad going on, right, at least, for us to not remember even a sliver of our own dreams?”
“Perhaps. But even if that’s the case, what could we do about it? Should we bring it up with the others?”
Pachuku looked pensive for a moment before responding. “Since the messages were so vague, I’d wager you weren’t fully synced up yet. If we don’t know the full meaning, it’s probably not wise to tell everyone about them, just yet.”
“Synced… up? Odd words there,” Sanvu commented, a little taken aback at his choice of words.
“Well, did you have dreams like that before you came here?”
“Not… quite as vivid.”
“Then I’d wager that’s probably why they’re so vague. You just need to get in touch with each other a little more! Once we get a better idea of what they’re telling you, then we can probably tell Didra what she’ll need to know!”
“Even if it keeps you up at night?”
“At least I know what it is now, so that’s relieving!”
“…Never thought about it that way. I thought you’d be scared.”
Pachuku turned around, sneaking in a wink, “Maybe for you, but it doesn’t bother me that much. I just didn’t want… y’know… you to be in the process of losing more of your memories.”
“Oh yeah. Good point.” Sanvu smiled warmly back.
The morning went by at its usual rate. Besides the dream, they talked about how Sanvu was growing used to how things worked around here. It wasn’t long after they had finished packing their bags that flapping was heard outside.
“Oh! That must be her!”
Before Sanvu could question, Pachuku was already out the door. Outside the mailbox was a large bird Pokemon resembling a pelican. Although it looked like an interpretation of a pelican rather than one directly, with its mouth taking up its entire body instead of being a thin and long beak. It was carrying in its beak several wrapped bags.
“Hey, Plouise! Thanks for the stuff!” Pachuku yelled. The bird appeared to take note.
“Oh, well always happy to provide. Have you gotten into Mindscape yet, Pachuku? Always happy to hear about progress on that,” she chirped.
“I have!” Pachuku was practically standing on his toes, right as Sanvu crept out behind him, bewildered by the Pokemon he was talking to, as usual. “This is Sanvu, and though he’s not an Amnesiac, Didra let me in with him anyway!”
“Oh, well, isn’t that lucky for you two. I’m Plouise, darling.”
“Uhhh, hello. What’re you here for?”
“Doing the usual round of delivery. There’s only so much food one can scavenge from the local dungeons in these trying times, and only fliers can cross the barriers past most of the dungeons these days.”
“I told you about her the other day. It’s how everyone keeps a functioning society around here.”
“The others will be going around town, so, Sanvu, was it? It’s nice to meet you; I’d better pick up the pace. Congratulations, Pachuku! Hope you have the fun you always wanted!”
She then flew off. Sanvu watched her off.
“A pelican..?”
“Pelipper. You got half of that right.”
“Well, I suppose you’ll take care of that, then?” He motioned to the bag with his snout, as Pachuku was already hauling it in.
“Yeah, it’s crazy how much that girl can carry. Anyway…”
“Yeah, let’s get this sorted.”
Sanvu decided to help him before the two made their own way to Mindscape. On the way out of their house though, they met up with a familiar Pokemon. The sky was airborne with several of the same Pelipper, but also a couple of other birds Sanvu couldn’t put to name.
Not that the local Oshawott had anything to say about it. Her teammates weren’t nearby.
“Heya!” She smirked, a big grin on her face. Pachuku smiled back, but with much less enthusiasm as with Plouise minutes ago.
“We’re about to head to Mindscape, there anything you want to tell us?”
“Can’t a girl just say hi?” Oshee teased, sarcastically, as Pachuku remained quiet.
“Anyway, my teammates are going to sort our items, so I should go, uh… help them; just wanted to say good luck since you were right here and all.”
Sanvu couldn’t help but be a little suspicious, but she didn’t seem to catch on, smiling and then dashing off to her right. As soon as she left, Pachuku seemed to ease up a bit. After an affirmation that he was indeed okay, they headed to Mindscape properly.
When they got there, no one was there, although there was a glowing screen-like projection on the wall. When Pachuku went to get a closer look, his badge reacted, and the ‘screen’ morphed into a small note.
“That’ll be how you receive missions from now on.”
Behind them was Trunie, the Gothorita from the training room.
“Everyone left on their own missions, today, so I was told to let you know.”
“and you’re still here, why?” Sanvu wondered.
“To help keep the place running. Only Mindscape members are allowed in right now, so I was coming to see who it was. It’s eerie quiet in here,” She commented, quietly.
“Most members get it from the board, but the first couple are often given by Didra directly. You got promoted, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, though it was more their mission than ours.”
“Any progress is good progress!” Pachuku interrupted, abruptly, before Sanvu could get any more out. He said little more at that.
“Well, to be honest, I don’t know why she keeps up with the whole promotion thing, especially since the dungeons keep growing. But I suppose it’s not my place to talk about it.”
“Pachuku, is there something-“
“I got the mission details; they’re just showing on the thing there.” He pointed to where the screen had a bunch of wiggly writing.
“How does it even work? I almost feel like I shouldn’t ask, but…”
“You say that, yet you ask about a lot,” Pachuku joked. Sanvu grew a bit sheepish at that, attempting to look away, though it didn’t work very well.
“I believe it’s some kind of Orb setup. Not really my place to say, but it’s all based around auras and the internal building system. What, did you think we used something more… traditional?” Trunie asked him, almost smirking.
“Yeah, didn’t quite expect to see… well, a screen here. Why wasn’t it here before?”
“It was, but you couldn’t see it. It’s been here for a while, and only some of the others even use it. Most still go to Didra, since it’s… unsettling, to not see a face these days,” Trunie’s face softened at that, as if saddened.
“What, why’s that?”
He received two flat expressions, and then he put the lingering thoughts together.
“Right, better to see each other’s faces so then you don’t forget each other.”
“Right on!”
Sanvu wasn’t entirely convinced though, given this energy seemed to react even if they had good facial recognition, but he considered that a tad hypocritical, given his current state of memories.
“Beach Expanse, energy rumoured to come from nearby Dungeon, Amnesiac in nature, report if you find a new dungeon or anything further odd around this area,” Pachuku read aloud, “Then it’s just our names and expected rewards for the mission.”
“So where’s…?”
“Beach Expanse, wow, that’s an upgrade! That’s to the northwest of here!” the Gothorita cheered.
“So it’s… more difficult?”
“You could say that, it’ll be full of Ground-types, so Pachuku will probably have to watch himself out there.”
“Those’re the ones that’re easy, right?” Sanvu asked this carefully, to make sure he understood.
“For you,” Pachuku commented, with a hint of sarcasm.
“Just another tip, I think that place has a lot of dual-Water-types for some reason. So it’ll probably be easy for you anyway. You two are free to train before you go, if you want to, though; would probably be best, given your slight type disadvantage.”
“I’ll tell you more about it while we do.” Pachuku agreed. Sanvu attentively listened as they shocked and smashed the dummies, about the things that would make that dungeon difficult.
*Music: Super Mario Galaxy – Dusty Dune Galaxy
After a small training session, their trip had begun to reach the bizarre sandy oasis.
“So…” Pachuku began “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but, there’s been a lot that’s… off, lately.”
Sanvu was silent, encouraging him to continue.
“Well, for one, this is a beach, but, where’s the heat from the sand? It’s been too cold, and the usual seasonal changes don’t seem to be happening either.”
Sanvu looked out upon the beach. The sand looked like sand, if more dirt-like in colouration, but Pachuku was right. The temperature should be scorching, but it was only mildly hot.
“A beach’s still a beach, though. Now how’re we meant to find the dungeon?”
“Follow the Amnesiac energy, I guess. Track with the badges, I guess?”
“That feels too unspecific. This place looks enormous.”
“Do you have any better suggestions?”
He didn’t, grunting, just picking a direction and letting his feet carry him. After a while of just going in one direction, he began to notice things scattered around.
One thing that caught his eye in particular was dried plants, and many rocks that they passed. All the while, it was just nothing.
Despite that it was colder, it was still just the sun, sand, and the various things scattered about. No other living thing attacked them out here; for the only attack were the elements themselves.
Despite that the walk was little more than just tedious; Pachuku had voiced his discontentment with sand quite a many times. Sanvu could only agree silently, for while his feet were on the sand, his head was in various other places, trying to piece together why the beach felt off despite the temperature. Even in his warped memory, he’d only recalled beaches vaguely from back home, and could not recall being in one himself. For any memory he could actually recall, he had an extra sense of gratitude for it, but also his usual inquisitiveness, as to why that particular memory hadn’t just been wiped clean.
But even despite that he hadn’t been in any beach before, Pachuku’s face told him all he needed to know, something was odd about this place, and it wasn’t just that their badges didn’t work.
They snaked one way, then another. Eventually, they stopped for an Apple break, as much as they could muster, given that the sand was still sand, and ended up in all the uncomfortable places you could imagine sand to be in, especially with as small the bodies they had, making it easier to kick up and attach to them. Eventually, they came to… water. In the most unexpected form possible.
~~
It looked normal at first, extending infinitely across the horizon, petering off into much smaller beaches with much lighter sand on both ends, of what they could see. Both were flabbergasted.
“…So… doesn’t look like any particularly odd beach?” Sanvu finally concluded, as they stood, observing the water. They turned back, and Sanvu noticed the shade had been off the whole time; as if the beach itself had been desaturated, squinting a little to make absolutely sure.
“I… haven’t really been here. So, to see what actually happened here… that the expanse is just… weird is…” Pachuku looked like he’d expected it, with a hint of cynicism, shaking his head to finish that sentence.
Sanvu watched the water, despite being grateful that he wasn’t trudging through sand uselessly, he began to notice something strange.
He stood at the edge of the water, and while it felt like water, it seemed to run in and out at a uniform rate. The waves themselves felt unnatural, they felt like water, but it was as if the water was moving at a very specific rate, as if the water itself was unwilling to enter an invisible boundary that couldn’t be seen.
“Do you think…?” Sanvu began, as Pachuku looked at him.
“What do you think?”
“Was this ‘beach’ underwater? Until it wasn’t? Look,” he motioned, pointing with his arm. “this sand looks too dark here compared to over there,” he pointed to one of the beaches to their left, which featured lighter sand more reminiscent of a regular beach.
Pachuku was nodding along silently, as he continued. “You were talking about seasons and heat earlier, but shouldn’t it be colder the closer you are to the coast?”
“You remember that? From where?”
“Guess it’s just one of the things I didn’t forget. But that would suggest things should be hotter, not colder, since water normally makes things colder, hence the whole coast thing, but if it’s receded…”
“So the cold then is something else? But how’s that explain this?”
“Maybe it’s part of the freak of nature thing? We saw those rocks bleach in the dungeon before, maybe this… very odd large beach is another.”
Pachuku nodded along, satisfied with that answer. “So something’s freezing the world while at the same time messing with the water.”
“But why did nobody come to the water…?”
Pachuku then jumped, startled by something that Sanvu was oblivious to.
“Y…Your badge! I thought I saw it flicker for a second!”
Sanvu looked at Pachuku’s, and there was a very faint shimmering going on with it. As they followed the coastline, observing the water all the while, they soon came to a massive hole, where the badges shone much brighter. A small cliff was all they met nearby, which seemed to divide the beach into two.
Inside the hole was the spacial distortion one would find holding a Mystery Dungeon inside.
“Ready?” Pachuku asked, as Sanvu nodded, the two proceeding into the dungeon.
*Music: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky – Quicksand Cave
They entered a location that despite being underground, was quite hazy with splotches of light that seemed to dot the area like little spotlights, despite that the ‘lights’ in question only lead to sun-baked sand.
On the floor were various bits of debris left behind, like small rocks and seeds. Pachuku pretty much decided to take charge of gathering them up. Sanvu was trying to commit to memory most of these strange knick-knacks, but could only really make sense of the berries; most of the seeds still confounded him.
The room they were in wasn’t a flat rectangle, but a slightly more cramped room. The hallways, however, remained the same.
So off the duo went, through many floors. Sanvu was often battling here, his vines getting much usage wiping down the few apparitions they came across. It wasn’t as if Pachuku was slouching, but he rarely used electricity; almost all foes in here were part Ground-type, so using it was basically useless. Sanvu hardly tired anyways, entering a state of flow as he went through the motions. Even the names of the species of the apparitions they faced only entered his autopilot state before promptly vanishing. Wooper. Trapinch. Barboach.
On the 6th floor, in a room surrounded by a few hallways, an apparition bubbled into being.
“Stunfisk!” Pachuku yelped, as the flat fish creature lurched up, prompting Sanvu to attempt his usual tactics, which prompted it to lurch a blast of water that sent Sanvu back away. As Sanvu recovered, Pachuku was instead pelted with mud, which stung as if he’d been pelted with fire. Pachuku was dashing and flailing as the flat creature crept closer. Sanvu got back closer after recovering, his vines smacking it, which only elicited flinches from the dual type, but not anything significant.
Sanvu tried reaching into his bag, which Pachuku had filled with all manner of berries and orbs that he’d had to swap out various times in the previous floors, mentally figuring he should use more of them but unsure which ones would actually do anything. He couldn’t do this while holding it off, but instead of a Water Gun, the attack was Electric-type.
Pachuku finally got out of his stupor enough to continue quick-attacking the Ground and Electric type while Sanvu recovered from the shock, shaking off the sparks that still danced on him. He reached in and fished out a blue seed with a small green vine that coiled around it. He threw it at the foe, and upon its consumption, the apparition disappeared-
And appeared in the hallway behind them, crawling closer.
“A Warp Seed?!” Pachuku noticed, seeming flustered. “And it’s one of the times they don’t work as well as they should.”
“I thought that one was the Stunning one?”
“No… augh…”
Pachuku dashed over and fished out an Oran Berry and fished out a different seed, this one brown and wrapped in purple strips. Sanvu didn’t get quite a good look before the creature locked in place, unable to move.
“Now let’s get going!”
Sanvu couldn’t find it in him to disagree, as they turned left and proceeded further to the next couple of floors, all suspiciously close to the stairs.
~~
*Music: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon – So Hot…
It was the 9th floor, after defeating a Diglett that they began to notice something. The light was no longer filtering through, the depths being illuminated softly on all ends to reveal a long, brown path leading somewhere that couldn’t be fully seen.
Upon exiting the stairs to what seemed like the bottom of the dungeon, both were exhausted, Sanvu from the overuse of moves, and Pachuku from all the flailing about after being hit with various moves.
Sanvu noticed the light in amidst the path, and kept peering at the badges, glowing bright amidst the dim atmosphere. The light didn’t have a clear source; their badges illuminated a small area in front of them, but otherwise petered out well before the walls that could be seen of the long dim cave.
They proceeded with caution down the narrow hallway in front of them.
“You think… there’s anyone here?” Sanvu softly murmured, trying to find out where the light was coming from. They were clearly underground, so this was unnerving.
Eventually, Pachuku was drawn to something to their right.
A small jar… of sand.
The small jar appeared to glow, it looked a little light like a lamp, but while it lit up a small area around it, the rest of the dungeon remained a dim hue. It were as if the light were directly facing the ground it was placed down on, and the light itself contained to an area around it, not too dissimilar from their own badges.
The inside was illuminated, and while it looked like it contained sand, among it, specks of light were darting around inside.
“What is it?”
“…Dunno…” Pachuku breathed.
“You know practically everything there is to know about items and this is new to you?”
“Okay, to be honest, I really haven’t seen this before. Maybe we should take it with us?”
Pachuku went to touch it, and that caused some sparks of light to jump out towards his paw, which illuminated some more jars that were around that hadn’t been lit. Inside the jars were various substances, from purple goop to what looked like a red strand, to more that looked like minerals, or even, in one particular case, energetic pulses of blue energy.
Each looked pretty, and Pachuku attempted picking them up again, finding them lightweight enough to hold, despite the height ratio. They were only a little taller than he was.
“Whatever they are, they’ll probably be related to this whole thing, right?”
“What’s… in all of these?” Sanvu asked rhetorically, though Pachuku didn’t catch the intent.
“Like I said, I dunno. I hate that I don’t know, but then again, I haven’t been here, so maybe things are just different down in the depths here.”
“No, like… why’s one got sand, another… what is that, some kind of metal?”
“They look kinda like items that’d relate to Pokemon types, but I’m no expert,” Pachuku accentuated that with the best kind of shrug his anatomy could muster, “Seems a bit awkward to leave them in the open like this though.”
Sanvu walked a little past Pachuku as he was picking these strange jars up, when suddenly…
Something tore through above them, pushing them back quite a ways. They got up, but both had to muster an effort to do so…
And were met with an intimidating Pokemon, who towered above them, its large grey body almost taking the entirety of the small hallway they were cramped in.
Its maw was huge, wings outstretched, and its eyes pierced their souls.
Pachuku could barely react before it screeched, being sent to the floor as both were swiftly knocked out by the creature.
The next thing either of them would hear was the clacking noises of the jars as it echoed the walls that echoed farther and farther away.
~~
It was an unknown amount of time later.
All that could be felt was…coarse sand.
Sanvu sat up at once, making Pachuku jump at how fast he’d reacted. The squirrel hadn’t quite anticipated his fast reaction.
“Where…”
“We were at the end of the dungeon, when…” Pachuku recalled, “something took the weird jars. I think it was part Flying, but I didn’t get a good look.”
“Why’re we-“
“I think the badges saved us? Whatever the case, we got smashed by that thing.”
“And that’s meant to make me feel better how?”
“We can end the mission now, I guess. We certainly aren’t gonna get them back from it with that disadvantage.”
Sanvu stood up and groaned, “I thought you were good against flyers, or something like that.”
“Y-Yeah but… this one had a huge mout-oh I know what it was now!” he shouted, smacking himself in the face with a paw.
“It was an Aerodactyl! Underground!”
Sanvu didn’t quite grasp the meaning of that, and was already exasperated. He just huffed, as Pachuku continued.
“It very well was probably meant to keep us out.” Pachuku sparked, his cheeks practically glowing in anger. “They don’t normally live underground. Something’s happening there.”
Sanvu sighed, dejectedly looking at the sky, whose hue had turned dark.
“Let’s just go back.”
“…Yeah. We at least know about the beach part.”
Neither said much of anything as they slithered their way away home.
“And that’s what happened?”
That was the end of their recount. They had explained everything, from the beach to the weird hallway with the jars to the Aerodactyl that had creamed them. Sanvu couldn’t help but be a little disappointed, even if it didn’t look like Didra was particularly worried.
“Well, I had figured such a dungeon would at least be alright, but if all that’s beginning to happen, I can see why that would be an issue. You did a fine job today. Though I do hope you’ll at least… have better luck next time.”
Didra wandered off, Pachuku grabbing the rewards; slightly less due to not being able to complete it. Sanvu couldn’t help but be disappointed in his own incompetence. Yet again his futile strategies had doomed them to failure.
But more than anything though, Sanvu felt it in the way Pachuku carried himself.
He wasn’t telling the truth. His mannerisms betrayed him. Even when being told they hadn’t fully completed the mission, Pachuku was smiling the whole way through. ‘Somebody’ was still there, and yet Pachuku didn’t care?
The night was spent with Pachuku trying to cheer him up, clearly noticing Sanvu’s exhaustion but still unsure of what it really meant.
Neither of them would know for a long time to come.
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