> Pony Mystery Dungeon > by CometandAqua > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Through the Time Gate > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prologue Through the Time Gate "Twilight, what kind of spell are you trying this time?" Spike asked. The young dragon stood a small distance away from the violet unicorn. A large space was cleared within the center of the library, every book was covered in the shelves to prevent damage. "I'm attempting a different kind of time travel spell, unlike the other one I did a few months ago." Twilight replied. "This particular spell will open a hole in time-space, allowing me to travel to any time period I desire. I can then cast the spell again when I want to come back. What could go wrong?" "Never say that Twilight. You know something will probably happen if you do," Spike said. He inched away from the center of the room, almost leaving the room altogether. "Don't be silly, it's not like Pinkie's Pinkie Sense is going off." The unicorn replied simply. Over at Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie's body was shaking madly. "Oh no! A giant doozy's gonna happen at Twilight's house! I've gotta warn her!" With that she ran to Twilight's house. Twilight's horn began to glow with her magenta aura, the pony herself concentrating on the edges of time-space itself. A small, dark blue rip in space appeared in the center of the room, only big enough for a cupcake. As Twilight concentrated harder on the gap, it grew gradually, first reaching the size of a book, then of Spike. With one last push, Twilight forced the hole to the size of a grown pony, sparks flying off her horn in a frenzy. She cut off the flow of magic and admired her own work. "What is that?!" Spike gasped from behind one of the doors. The hole itself was a wavering gap of dark blue, energy flowing off of it in waves. "This here is the Time Gate. I programmed it to bring me 5 years in the future, to the room upstairs. A small test but definitely worth it." At that point Spike inches closer to the hole and reached one of his claws towards it, which Twilight quickly slapped away. The young dragon yelped and jumped back just as fast. "What was that for?!" Spike whined, sucking on the bruised claw. "You can't touch the Time Gate or else you'll be sucked through it, then I'll have to go in to bring you back." She replied evenly. Twilight then took a step towards the gap, Spike taking an even step away from it. Twilight took a few more steps to the Time Gate, then the door was pushed open with such speed Rainbow Dash couldn't go that fast. "TWILIGHT!!! A ANOTHER DOOZY'S GONNA HAPPEN, HERE!!" Pinkie rushed in and screeched, throwing Twilight off balance so much that she fell into the Time Gate, horn blazing as she when. "Pinkie--!!" She cried before the Gate closed behind her. The hole disappeared with a blink of an eye, no sign of the unicorn who fell in. "Well, that was the doozy!" Pinkie said happily, bouncing back out the door, leaving Spike to replace the furniture and await Twilight's arrival back. > Red and Yellow > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1 Red and Yellow Falling, I'm falling. Twilight thought as she found herself dropping from hundreds of feet above the ground. Either the second floor of the library was hundreds of feet above the ground 5 years in the future, or the "space" part if the Time Gate had been changed. As she quickly plummeted towards the ground, she had a few seconds to determine what had happened, then she hit her head on a tree branch and passed out. • • • "Are you okay? Wake up!" A voice said, something shaking her. Twilight guessed that somepony had found her unconscious on the ground and tried to wake her up. She slowly opened her eyes to see not a pony, but some yellow mouse thing with long, black-tipped ears and bright red cheeks. "Oh good, you're awake!" The creature exclaimed. Twilight pushed herself up into a sitting position, examining the surrounding. She was in a lush forest, mosses and grasses covering the ground and every type of tree she could think of surrounded her. "This isn't Ponyville, did the Everfree forest overgrow the town?" She asked to herself. "Ponyville, Everfree? I've never heard of those places, this is Oran Forest." The mouse said. Twilight examined it to be about half her size. "What exactly are you?" She asked the yellow creature bluntly. "Oh, sorry. I'm Pikachu! My friend and I live over in Treasure Town not far from here!" Twilight had never heard of Pikachu, or Treasure Town, or Oran Forest before. Cautiously, she stood on all four legs. "Well where in Equestria are we? I probably need to speak to Princess Celestia about whatever's happened." "Equestria? Princess Celestia? What are you talking about? This is the world of Pokemon!" "Pikachu" replied. "What?! Oh no! My spell took me to another dimension! What to do?!" Twilight paced around in a fit. "What kind of move did you use? I've never heard of an Espeon using something that can transport you to other dimensions, Palkia maybe..." Pikachu mumbled. Startled, Twilight ran towards the nearest pond and looked in. What she saw wasn't a pony, but a creature with her fur color and cutie mark surrounding a gem on her forehead. "Now what have you found Pikachu? Oh..." A different voice said behind her. Twilight turned around to see an orange and yellow fox-like creature walk up to Pikachu. "And who are you?" Twilight asked the fox. "I'm Fennekin. I believe you already met Pikachu." She replied. Twilight nodded. "And who might you be? We told you our names, so we'd like to know yours." Pikachu asked. "I'm Twilight Sparkle." She answered. Both Pikachu and Fennekin began to laugh at her unusual name. "Okay Espeon, we get it. Stop kidding around." Fennekin laughed. "I'm serious. I'm Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia, bearer of the Element of Magic." At this the two stopped laughing. No one who could describe themselves like that and so confidently could be lying. "Well, this is awkward..." Pikachu said. "I guess we should get you a place to stay. We're going to join Wigglytuff's Guild tomorrow, the best exploration teams have graduated from there. Would you like to join us? You don't have anywhere else to go." "Well, I guess so. I don't know anything about this place though so pardon any stupid questions about any basic Pokemon knowledge." Twilight huffed. "Don't worry, we'll help explain as we go along," Fennekin replied. The trio walked out of the forest and towards the small town close by. • • • "This is Treasure Town, all the necessities an Exploration Team could need are here. Over there's Kecleon Market, and that's Duskull Bank, and over there is Kangaskan Storage," Pikachu said, pointing out various buildings throughout the town. Twilight studied each one carefully so that she knew where to go later on. "And this is where we live," Pikachu said, gesturing to a small tent on the edge of town. "We won't need this tent tomorrow, Wigglytuff gives you a room to stay in while at the guild. We can pack this up and store it for later," Fennekin said happily. Pikachu led the way inside the tent, and in it were two piles of straw and a crate full of apples and berries Twilight had never seen before. "We'll just split part of our straw for you," Pikachu said, pulling off a chunk of his bed. "We shouldn't need it tomorrow." Fennekin pulled off an equally sized chunk of her bed and they together made a suitable sized bed for Twilight. Pikachu grabbed an sple out of the crate, and handed it to Twilight. "Let's eat, then we'll get a goods night sleep. We'll need it tomorrow." The three Pokémon finished their apples quickly, then settled into the straw. "Goodnight Fennekin, Goodnight Twilight." Pikachu said sleepily. "Goodnight Pikachu, Goodnight Twilight." Fennekin replied, equally tired. "Goodnight Pikachu, Goodnight Fennekin," Twilight said to the two. "Goodnight Spike," she whispered into the night, no one awake to hear her. > The First Adventure > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Twilight, wake up!” a voice said in her ear. It wasn’t Spike’s voice, because it was a female’s. It wasn’t any of her friends’ voices. Oh, right, she thought. She opened her eyes to find herself still in Pikachu and Fennekin’s tent. “We’ve got to get ready to join Wigglytuff’s Guild!” the foxlike Pokémon said happily, pushing on Twilight. “Sorry, I forgot I was here and not in my old bed,” Twilight apologized to Fennekin. “It’s alright! All we have left to do is put our stuff in storage anyway,” Fennekin said, pushing a box of food into Twilight’s paws. “This is the last box.” Okay magic, let’s see if you work in this body, Twilight thought, focusing her energy on the box. She saw a fuchsia aura surround the box, and used her magic to lift it. “Hey look Fennekin, Twilight can use Psychic!” she heard Pikachu say from the tent entrance. “Nah, just a simple levitation spell, any unicorn can do it,” Twilight said, waving off the comment. “But remember, you aren’t a unicorn anymore, you’re an Espeon. Psychic types use moves like Psychic, Confusion, and Telekinesis.” Pikachu said. “Well at least I know one my moves, however they work,” Twilight sighed. She carried the crate behind Fennekin, who was carrying a relatively small bag of berries. They passed a building with a large yellow Pokémon working inside, and another shop was being run by two lizard-like Pokémon over a bridge. Fennekin stopped in front of a large brown building, a large, brown, kangaroo-like Pokémon working inside. “Hello Kangaskhan,” Fennekin said cheerily to the Pokémon. “Oh hello dearie! Are you here to deposit the last of your items?” Kangaskhan asked her. “Yes ma’am, this is the last of it besides the tent. We’ll be coming back for some of it after we join the Guild,” Fennekin replied, setting her bag on the counter. Twilight took that as cue to set her crate down as well. “And who is this, Fennekin? A friend of yours?” the motherly Pokémon asked, gesturing towards Twilight. Fennekin nodded. “Pikachu and I found her lying in the forest unconscious. She says she opened up a portal from another world, and then got turned into a Pokémon. She’s staying with us until she finds a way back home.” “My, that is something,” Kangaskhan said in awe. She picked up the bag and crate and carried them into the back. Pikachu came running out of nowhere with the tent. “I brought the tent,” Pikachu said, out of breath. He sat the rolled up tent on the counter, and Kangaskhan appeared just at that moment. “Oh thank you dearie, let me put that away,” she said, carrying the tent with the rest of the stored supplies. “What did I miss?” Pikachu asked nonchalantly, leaning against the counter. “Just Fennekin telling Kangaskhan the whole story of how I got here,” Twilight said, avoiding Fennekin’s embarrassed gaze. "Maybe that's not the best idea Fennekin, we don't want something like that team from Pokémon Square years ago*. I know you don't want to be outlaws." Pikachu said to the fox Pokémon. "Yeah, good idea. Are we all set?" Fennekin asked. "Yep, and I kept a few gummis for us, let's stop by Spinda's Cafe before we go." Pikachu answered, holding up three candy-shaped objects. Twilight looked at him with a questioning stare, which Pikachu easily understood. "Gummis are candies for us Pokémon, and they boost our IQ levels, which helps us learn new skills. Spinda's Cafe is a place where Pokémon go to get drinks made from food items, come on." Pikachu finished, motioning Twilight after him as he left. The three Pokémon walked over the bridge again and past the stores with the yellow and green and purple Pokémon, and again past a store with a black, one-eyed, ghost-like Pokémon. "Oh, hello Pikachu and Fennekin. How're you today?" "Great, Duskull. We're headed off to Spinda's Cafe then to the Guild. We'll see you later!" Fennekin answered happily. Before Twilight could even ask, she answered her question. "Duskull runs the bank in this town. We keep our small amount of cash we have there. We'll drop off any extra cash we get there." Exiting into the crossroads past town, Twilight looked down each path, as to see where each went. "The north path leads to the guild, the south to the beach, the east to various mystery dungeons and we just came from the west path." Pikachu explained. "Spinda's Cafe is right down here," he continued, walking down a tunnel into a large room bustling with Pokémon. A few greeted her two companions, and they quickly made it to the juice bar before anything major happened. "Hello you two! Are you and your friend here to get a few drinks?" A cream and pink spotted Pokémon asked, tottering around behind the counter. "Are you okay?" Twilight asked the Pokémon. "Of course I am! I'm always like this!" The Pokémon replied. "I'm Spinda by the way," "Oh, well I'm new here so I wouldn't really know," Twilight shrugged. Pikachu walked up to the counter and placed the gummis down in front of Spinda. "We'd like three drinks," he said calmly. "Okay! Shake it this way, shake it that way, stir it all around, and it's done!" Spinda said as she spun around, shaking the drinks. "Wo-buffet!" A voice said on the other side of the Cafe. Spinda sat the drinks down, one a yellow juice, another a red smoothie, and the third a golden purée. Pikachu and Fennekin picked up the red and yellow drinks, and Twilight picked up the golden one, assuming it was hers. The three sat at an empty table closer to the entrance, as the Cafe had emptied somewhat after they had emptied. "I grabbed the right drink, right?" Twilight asked, eyeing her drink. She sniffed at it, then took a sip. "This is great! It's just one gummi in there?" "Yep, psychic Pokémon tend to like golden gummis, so that's what I had Spinda make your drink out of," Pikachu explained. He took a sip out of his juice, smiling as he enjoyed the drink. Fennekin was equally enjoying hers, too busy drinking it to even look up. Twilight took another sip, then another, savoring the wonderful flavor. The three quickly downed the drinks, then left the Cafe, but not before dropping the cups back off. "Time to join the guild!" Fennekin said happily, actually jumping into the air. Three Pokémon came from the north path, then stood in front of the east path. There was a cream feline Pokémon, a dark purple ghost-like Pokémon, and a giant orange lizard with wings and a flame on its tail. "Which dungeon should we go to first?" The feline Pokémon asked the other two. She took a look behind her team, and saw Pikachu, Fennekin, and Twilight. "Oh hello. Are you an exploration team?" "We're going to join now," Fennekin answered happily. "Hope you know what you're getting into, it took us forever to graduate from there," the ghost Pokémon said to the trio. "Might I ask who you are?" Twilight asked the exploration team. "Oh, my apologies. I am Persian, this is Gengar, and this is Charizard," the feline Pokémon, Persian answered, motioning to each team member. "Altogether we are Team Razzia, glad to make your acquaintance." "The pleasures all ours, now if you don't mind, we should probably get there before dark," Pikachu said calmly, walking off towards the guild. "See you later!" Fennekin called back to Team Razzia as they left. "Interesting bunch," Charizard muttered as they continued to determine where to explore. When Twilight, Pikachu, and Fennekin arrived at the top of the cliff, they found themselves in front of a large tent. "Is this it?" Twilight asked. "It sure isn't much. How are they supposed to run an entire guild from this?" "The rest of the guild is underground. We'll be staying underground with the rest of the apprentices," Pikachu explained. "How do you know all this?" Twilight asked him. "I had a friend who graduated from here. She moved to a different town far away a few years ago. I promised I would become an explorer and find her again. That's why I want to do this so bad," Pikachu explained, blushing a bit. "Then let's do this, for your friend," Twilight said, wrapping her tail around the yellow Pokémon. The trio walked up to the tent, then Pikachu stopped them. "Let me go first," he said. He walked up to the grate in front of the tent, and voices spoke up from underneath. "Pokémon Alert! Pokémon Alert!" "Who's footprint? Who's footprint?" "The footprint is Pikachu's! The footprint is Pikachu's! You other two! Get up there!" Fennekin and Twilight were startled by the voices, but Pikachu stood still and stood back for the others. "Come on Fennekin, you heard 'em." Pikachu encouraged the fox Pokémon. Fennekin stepped on the grate, and the process with the voices repeated. Twilight stepped on the grate and they repeated again, but she could faintly hear the voices conversing from under. "What do you mean, different?" One asked. "I mean that isn't a regular Espeon print, something is different. Should we let them in?" "ALRIGHT, come IN." They heard the louder voice say, and the gate began to open. A small, parrot-like Pokémon hopped out. "You must be the ones Loudred and Diglett just identified~♪ I'm Chatot, the head of intelligence here. Come in, for whatever reason you have." The Pokémon said, ushering the trio inside. Twilight stared in awe at the lower level as they went down the ladder. The room was large enough for several groups of Pokémon, and two boards were on the walls on either side of the room. "The Guildmaster is on the lowest level~♪ Follow me." Chatot said to the three. They followed him as he crawled down another ladder. All three looked first at the window in the side of the wall, but Twilight could tell that it was possible only because of the guild being on the side of the cliff. Chatot opened the door, and a large pink Pokémon stood inside, admiring an apple. "Guildmaster, we have visitors," Chatot said to the Pokémon, who looked up quickly. "Hi friendly friends~♪! I'm Wigglytuff, the Guildmaster! What do you friendly friends want today?" He said happily, even spinning around. Twilight wondered how much apple cider he had been drinking. "We'd like to join the guild as apprentices." Pikachu said flatly, but with passion burning as well. "Okay then! What do you want your team name to be?" Wigglytuff asked the Pokémon in a carefree way. Pikachu glanced at Fennekin, then turned back to Wigglytuff. "We decided long ago that our team name would be Team Fireworks." "Okay Team Fireworks, 1, 2, 3, YOOMTAH! Congrats! You're now registered as an officially exploration team! Here's your official starter kit!" He said, producing a box. Pikachu opened the box and pulled out a bag, a badge, a map, and a fuchsia bow. "That there is the three most important things for an exploration team. A bag holds items that you take into Mystery Dungeons, the Badge shows that you are an official team, and can be used to rescue Pokémon from dungeons, and the Wonder Map shows everywhere in the known Pokémon world." Chatot explained to Team Fireworks. Pikachu held onto the badge, and gave Fennekin the bag and map. Pikachu lastly tied the bow around Twilight's neck. Twilight looked down at the ribbon and blinked. "Why give it to me? Wouldn't one of you need it?" She asked the other members of the team. "You'd need it much more than us, plus it looks good on you," Fennekin said, admiring the ribbon around the Espeon's neck. "Your dorms are on the very end of the hallway to the left from the door. Go ahead and rest and we'll get you ready for your first mission tomorrow," Chatot said, ushering the team out. They walked down the hallway and into the room at the very end. Three straw beds awaited them, each one arranged in a way comfortable to all. The team settled into one of the beds each, and they each began to go to sleep. "Goodnight Fennekin, goodnight Twilight," "Goodnight Pikachu, goodnight Twilight," "Goodnight Pikachu, goodnight Fennekin," "Up and addam! It's MORNING!!" A voice thundered from in the hallway. "I think that's our wake-up call," Fennekin mumbled. After a minute or two the trio was able to successfully climb to their feet, and the slightly stumbled to the main room. They saw a large group of Pokémon standing in front of the door of Wigglytuff's room, Chatot and Wigglytuff outside. The new team carefully walked over to the edge of the group, and stood in place with the group. "Thank you," Chatot said to the team. "Guildmaster, please address the guild members," "ZzZzzzzZzz...." Wigglytuff snored. A few of the guild members giggled at this, but Chatot just sighed. "Um, thank you Guildmaster. We shall, value, your words." He sighed. "Now let's not forget our morning cheers!" As Chatot uttered those words, the entire guild spoke up in the cheer. "ONE, DON'T SHIRK WORK! TWO, RUN AWAY AND PAY! THREE, SMILES GO FOR MILES!" "Okay Pokémon, get to work!" Chatot called to the group. "HOORAY!" everyone called back. The other guild members began to disperse to various areas to do ther guild work, and Chatot called out to Team Fireworks before they could even move far. "For today, I think you should take a job off the Bulletin Board. You shouldn't need to be acquainted with Pokémon Square, since I know you two have lived here for so long," Chatot said specifically to Pikachu and Fennekin. "I believe you know how to accept jobs, correct?" "Yeah, my friend who graduated from here told me about it," Pikachu replied. "Good. The Bulletin Board is on the left side of the floor, choose something easier to begin with," Chatot finished, walking back to the Guildmaster's room. "Let's go! I want to get a good mission before they're all gone!" Fennekin said, bounding right or the ladder. Twilight and Pikachu ran after her, not wanting her to just grab a random mission. When they reached the top of the ladder, Fennekin was already scanning through the missions. "How about this one!" Fennekin said, pushing a job listing right in front of them. Pikachu grabbed the mission, and read over it. "Fennekin, we can't do this one. Read over the details. Happy Outlook is too far and too hard for newbies like us," Pikachu sighed, putting the mission back on the board. He looked over the board, and pulled off a different mission. "How about this?" Twilight and Fennekin looked at the letter. It was a simple mission, all they needed to do was retrieve an item from one of the dungeons. It was rated "E", and only on the 3rd floor. "That looks simple enough, should we go?" Twilight asked the two, who nodded. "Let's get a few berries just in case though, you can never tell with mystery dungeons," Pikachu said, rolling up the mission. He slid it into the bag, which Fennekin had already opened. "Team Fireworks, let's go!" After quickly and easily grabbing a few berries from in storage, Team Fireworks stood at the mouth of a small cave. “Beach Cave, right?” Twilight asked, looking towards Pikachu. “Yep, that’s what the mission says,” Pikachu replied, looking back and forth between the mission and the map. “I forgot how close Beach Cave was to town, you can see Sharpedo Bluff from here.” The group looked out towards the small path they had taken from town. A large shark-like shape stuck out the cliff. "Which item are we looking for again?" Fennekin asked, struggling to catch a glimpse of the mission. "We need to find a Chesto Berry, shouldn't be too hard," Pikachu shrugged. The three walked carefully into the cave and soon began to search around. "What are we doing?" Twilight asked, confused. "First we have to find the stairs to get to the other floors." Pikachu explained. "We should stick together, just in case." The trio stayed in a group as they continued to explore, picking up a few berries and seeds as they continued. As they entered the room with the first set of stairs, Pikachu stopped them. "Wait a sec, notice all of those items? The gummis and TMs and stuff? Good items like that don't just all appear in a room at once. I suspect a Monster House, which doesn't make sense," Pikachu said cautiously. "Beach Cave is too small for Monster Houses, either something is screwed up, or mystery dungeon's are getting more dangerous." "Then let's tread carefully, we really don't need a major battle before we even get to the second floor." Twilight whispered. "But that's the thing, they appear as soon as you step foot in the room. We can't avoid them," Pikachu sighed. Twilight sat down for a second, thinking hard. "I know! We can enter from the corridor closest to the stairway, and make a beeline for the stairs. We can't go wrong like that," Twilight suggested. "Good idea, Twi. And luckily for us, this is the closest entrance to the stairs," Fennekin said. "Should we try it?" "So simple, yet effective. Let's do it," Pikachu confirmed. The team readied themselves and entered the room. Various Pokémon appeared, Shellos, Anorith, and Shellder. The team ran straight for the stairway, but it was quickly blocked. "We're surrounded!" Twilight gasped. "Fight through them! Aim for the stairs!" she heard Pikachu yell over the noise. Fennekin let loose a burst of embers, taking out a few Pokémon. Pikachu zapped a few with a lightning bolt, which surprised Twilight. She herself used her "magic" to levitate one of the Pokémon, sending it flying into others. "To the stairs!" Pikachu cried, and they all ran down the stairs and onto the next floor. "What was that?" Twilight gasped, staring at her teammates. "That was a Monster House, we get attacked by lots of Pokémon and try to survive," Pikachu gasped. "Not that! The embers, the lightning!" Twilight asked desperately. "I thought we told you, those were some of our moves. Fennekin used Ember, I used Thundershock. You used Psychic. All Pokémon have them, that's how we battle and survive," Pikachu deadpanned. "Ignore that, the stairs are right here!" Fennekin said from across the room. Leaving the conversation behind them, the three climbed down to the next floor. On the next floor, the three went over the plan again. "What are we looking for again?" Twilight asked. "A Chesto Berry. They're generally purple, and shouldn't be hard to find," Pikachu replied. Twilight nodded. The three first walked through a north-facing tunnel, where they encountered a small room. "Only a Cheri Berry here," Fennekin said, placing the berry in the bag. They continued through the only other corridor from the room, to find a sleeping Shellos and a purple berry on the other side. "Is that it?" Twilight whispered to Pikachu, trying not to awaken the Pokémon. "Yep, let's get it," Pikachu whispered back. "But don't wake up the Shellos!" he aimed at Fennekin, who shrugged. The trio carefully walked towards the berry, before Twilight stopped them. "What are we doing?" she whispered, facepawing. She levitated the berry right into the bag from where she stood. Pikachu and Fennekin looked at her, stunned. "Why walk to an item to possibly get attacked when you can just levitate it towards you?" The other two Pokémon shrugged, and Pikachu used the badge to bring them out of the cave. "That, made absolutely no sense," Twilight said once they exited the dungeon. They re-entered the guild, where they saw a brown rabbit-like Pokémon apparently waiting for them at the Bulletin Board. "How did they-" Twilight began to ask, before Pikachu stopped her. "Do not question the power of the guild system. No one understands it," he whispered back. The three of them walked up to the front of the board, where the Pokémon was waiting. "Thank you for finding my Chesto Berry!" It said, as Pikachu handed it the berry. "How did it-" Twilight began to question again, before Fennekin stopped her. "Here's your reward!" the Pokémon said, handing Pikachu two scarves. It left right after the items were handed to Pikachu. "And what, the, BUCK, was that?!" Twilight finally was able to ask. "That my friend, was an everyday encounter after successfully completing a mission." **Thanks to Alicon Glactistar for Prereading!** * Reference from Red/Blue Rescue Team.