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Description
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Investigators of Soul/Heart/Spirit

a fanmade story

The next morning, I woke up feeling refreshed, and Aileen shortly followed suit. We got a filling breakfast, waited for Shiinotic to leave, then got what we needed at Crossroad City and went to Lurantis' Firm.
She let us in and gave everyone else their assignments for today while we looked through the sticky notes on her desk.
But today, one in particular stood out to us.
I nabbed it and read it over:
"Summary: Berries have been mysteriously disappearing from Plantation Zone 10F for unknown reasons. Reach the scene and investigate."
The whole thing was written differently, more "refined" than Lurantis' handwriting, and there was no client given; only a thick, super-fancy "Z" in the bottom-right corner.
What is this…this strange signature? I thought.
I exchanged glances at Aileen, who looked it over herself and was just as confused as I was.
I was going to ask Lurantis about it, but she was still going over the assignments with the other investigators, so I kept quiet.
I turned to Aileen. "What do we do with this?"
She studied it over once more, thinking, before finally telling me:
"Let's follow it."
I nearly jumped. "What?!"
"Lurantis clearly didn't write this," she reasoned, "and I know it's not in our given search area, either…but I've got a good feeling that this leads to something, something big."
"So we're going to completely ignore everything we've been told this far and just go on a whim?"
"Well, when you put it THAT way…"
We just stared at each other for a couple moments.
I sighed. "Welp, here we go…I don't know HOW you're talking me into this…"
"What're you talking about?" Aileen was puzzled. "I haven't said much at all!"
I facepalmed and shook my head. "Whatever. If we're going to go, let's go now."
"Right."
So we breifly checked the globe on the counter to figure out where we were going, and were off to the Plantation Zone.
When we arrived at the specified location, we saw open fields. Fields upon fields of trees, bushes, and plants, growing berries like you'd never seen before. The sun was shining now, but the grass still had dew from the last rain. A gentle southeastern breeze passed us by, heading onwards into the mystery dungeon.
"Plantation Zone, huh?" I thought aloud. "Well, it certainly fits."
"Are you kidding?!" Aileen shouted, taking it all in. "I mean, look at all these berries! If I lived here, I'd never go hungry again!"
"Job first, mouth-watering later," I reminded her. "Let's go see why there are less than usual on 10F."
"Right…" she couldn't even hide her brief disappointment.
But in we went.
(Plantation Zone
10F
A lot of "natural" and "food" Pokémon here, such as Comfey, Bounsweet, Munchlax, and Gulpin
Gabriel: 13 [no change]
Aileen: 13 [+1])
Plantation Zone Bounty.
As far as we could go into the place, we made sure to stay hidden as we looked for anything out of the ordinary.
We didn't have to look long. Or far.
From behind the bushes, I saw it; a tall, multicolored figure, mainly a brown torso and a dark gray head, picking Oran Berries from the bushes and dropping them into its hand, where they seemed to disappear. It also seemed to be eating, but nothing was going into its bright green mouth.
It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
"Who…who IS that?!" Aileen whispered to me.
"I don't know," I turned to face her.
She peeked back out at the figure. "I-is that even a Pokémon?!"
"Why're you asking me?" I asked.
"Only one way to find out…"
We charged into plain sight, ready to confront the…thing.
"Um…hey!" Aileen challenged it.
"Huh?!" Its green expression turned orange, as it was caught off guard before it turned to face the source of the voice; us.
"Oh…Pokémon," it said, in a childish, slightly distorted voice, its face turning green again as it became a lot calmer. "Eheh…it's not often targets come straight to me…"
"Give…give those berries back!" Aileen tried.
The figure donned a more sinister, "try me" expression. "Ha. Ha ha. Or what?"
The pep suddenly left Aileen, as her argument had little force to it. "…that's a pretty fair question."
But I knew something was going downhill. As the figure crouched into a battle position, I saw where this encounter was headed.
"At this point, forget it," I warned Aileen. "I get the feeling we're in for a fight anyway!"
The mysterious creature lunged at us and got the first move, but we quickly Dodged in opposite directions and avoided the attack.
I tried to keep my distance with Shadow Sneak, and, though it hit, it didn't seem to faze it much at all.
Aileen tried a similar approach with Disarming Voice, but again, the foe was seemingly unhurt.
Its attack was different.
It slid over to target me and kicked me upside the head, and I was down by brain freeze, until the Reviver Seed in the Pocket Dimension activated and rejuvenated me.
The back of my head still feeling cold, I turned and attacked with Confusion. It was a critical hit, but still didn't show much in terms of damage.
Aileen started her way over to help, but that was a mistake. The figure literally picked me up and threw me right at her, hard, severely damaging us both on collision.
That battle didn't last long. We got absolutely DEMOLISHED.
On my knees, struggling to retain consciousness, I barely heard the figure say, "That's enough of THAT…now for the big finish."
Something popped out of its hand, but not the berries that went in. It was a small ball; half white, half black, with a big white circle in the center and some marking just above it in the white half.
The figure spun around, showing off, and threw the ball in the air.
Aileen lifted herself onto her flippers as the ball flew at us, trembling in weakness.
"Ngh…come on, Gabriel…get back up!"
"WHAT?!" I found the energy to say. "Aileen, you're insa-"
Suddenly something hit me from the side.
"NGH!" was the last thing I heard myself and Aileen cry out before I passed out.
When I came to, we were just behind the firm, on the edge of the river.
Still hurting all over from the assault, I forced myself back onto my feet, as Aileen began to wake up with a "guh…".
"Ow…" I groaned, barely able to stay standing.
"Wh…where are we?" Aileen asked.
"Apparently back at the firm," I told her. "My question is how."
"We…we were fighting that strange Pokémon," Aileen recalled, "getting our butts whooped, and then…something hit me from behind?"
"Something saved us," I put together, "and got us out of there."
An awkward silence, except for the water rushing nearby.
"So…" I just kind of said. "What now?"
Aileen thought it over. "I think we better go inside, at least…"
"What'll we say?" I asked, knowing that we were in for more if Lurantis knew what we just did.
"I dunno…whatever comes to mind, I guess."
I shrugged.
Just as I expected, when we walked in, our boss caught on quick.
"Holy…whoa…" she noticed and took in our bruises and wounds from the fight. "What the heck happened to you two?!"
No point in trying to hide anything, I figured. "Something in Plantation Zone happened."
"Plantation Zone?!" she freaked. "What the heck were you doing in Plantation Zone?!"
I handed her the note that we followed.
Sure enough, when she looked it over, she affirmed, "I…I never wrote this! This isn't my handwriting…and what's with this Z in the corner?"
She turned her gaze to us. "You followed this?"
"Well, I mean…yeah…?" Aileen admitted.
Lurantis checked the note again. "What did you find that beat you up so bad?"
I tried to remember. "Tall…brown torso, black head…face changes color depending on expression…"
"What?" Lurantis was puzzled.
"Simply put," I explained, "some kind of strange Pokémon, I don't even know if it's actually a Pokémon, was picking berries and…eating them through its hands? I dunno, what else did it say…something about targets? Targets not coming to them often? Does that sound right, Aileen?"
"Sounds about right," she remembered.
"Hold up," Lurantis stopped us there. "Let me sum this up, get everything straight. So there was a strange, unidentified Pokémon picking berries in Plantation Zone when you followed this suspicious lead? And when you confronted them, they said something about targets coming to them?"
"Yeah…" Aileen affirmed. "But we barely made it out in one piece. When we woke up, we were just outside here. We were saved…but I don't know by what."
"No! No, no, no!" Lurantis insisted. "You're onto something! Don't you get it? That Pokémon could have something to do with the disappearances!"
"Wait, what?" Aileen was caught off guard.
"It's a baby step," Lurantis went on, "but it's a step in the right direction! This is our first legit lead on this, the best news we've had in forever!"
"You're SERIOUS?" Aileen was excited.
"Dead serious," Lurantis nodded. "Thank you so much for this! I can't wait to tell the others!"
"Yes!" Aileen and I drew our fists back and high-fived each other. We're gaining ground on the crisis! I mean, it hurts, but we're making headway! If we keep this up, we'll be at the bottom of this in no time!
We went home that night feeling pain in our bodies, but good about ourselves.
Thankfully, Shiinotic didn't seem to notice, as the injuries had mostly visibly healed. We ate all we could before heading to bed, more than ready to crash, but decided to hold out for Stacia's sake.
"Hey, guys," the voice said once everyone else was asleep. "How'd it go today?"
"Never better," I said, "aside from the part where we got beat up."
"Wai-wha?!" Stacia panicked. "A-are you alright?!"
"Calm down, calm down," I reassured her. "We're okay, thanks to…someone."
She let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness…what happened?"
"We followed a strange lead to Plantation Zone," Aileen explained, "and encountered a strange Pokémon there who demolished us."
"Oh, man…remind me, what made today so great again?"
"Because Lurantis thinks our aggressor has a link to the disappearances."
"She does?"
"Yeah," I affirmed. "Not even a week in and we're breaking more ground on the crisis than the team has been the entire time before our arrival."
"That is great!" she applauded. "It's a start!"
"Now all we gotta do," Aileen said, "is take the lead and run a marathon with it."
"You two better rest up, then," Stacia suggested. "A lot of running to do."
Aileen laughed. "Not literally!"
"You get my point," the ghost said. "Get the energy you need, so next time you can show that thing who's boss."
"Fine," Aileen gave in. "G'night."
"Good night, kid."
It took a while after getting herself comfortable, but she did eventually doze off not long after I tried adjusting myself, too.
"Hey, Gabriel," Stacia wasn't done with me yet.
"What?"
"Remembering anything yet?"
I thought as hard as I could, but nothing came. "No…"
"No? Okay…" my invisible friend absorbed it. "I just thought that maybe the thing you encountered today might've triggered something."
I was confused. "Should it have?"
"I don't know if it should've or not. It was…just a thought."
Stacia yawned, and I tried to think harder. Was there anything about the Pokémon that seemed familiar at all?
…
………
……………………………………
Out of place, heck yeah, but familiar? No.
"I mean, no, I don't recognize anything, but there was something else weird," I thought out loud. "Like, just before I passed out, I remembered it threw some kind of ball-like thing at us…"
I waited for Stacia to say something, but instead was met with an unsettling silence.
"What do you think about it, Stacia?"
No response.
"…Stacia?"
"…zzz…"
"N-no?" I realized she had fallen asleep during my thought process, and was bummed out. "Y-yeah, okay, that…that works too…g'night…"
Sleep didn't come as easily as I hoped that night. It seemed like every time I began to nod off, something inside me snapped me awake, saying something wasn't right.
Well, if I don't sleep now, I'll never MAKE it right, I eventually thought and finally slept.
In the morning, Aileen shook me awake, we ate breakfast, and were headed out for the day.
The whole team waited for us at the firm.
"Haaaaaay, l'k who jest wahked in!" Dhelmise noted our presence.
"Hey, rookies!" Heracross waved.
"Nice work yesterday," Excadrill put his claws on his hips. "On complete accident, and nearly got yourselves killed, but hey; we finally got a lead, I ain't complaining."
"I don't think any of us are, o blessed children," Talonflame sarcastically stepped aside and bowed.
"Cut the nonsense, Talonflame," Lurantis ordered with a laugh.
"Whatever you say, boss."
I smiled. There was a lot more enthusiasm in the air just by looking at everyone. Now that we had something to go off of, the team was finally out of the gutter and ready to spring into action.
"Now," Lurantis gathered everyone's attention and set yesterday's sticky note down so everyone could see it. "I thought this over last night and determined that someone - presumably this 'Z' - deliberately placed this here so someone would find it. Whether it was to send us into danger or in the right direction, I don't know, but one thing's for sure - it's got something going for it."
"Did you check the pile today for more like it?" Aileen asked.
"Nice train of thought," our boss commended her, "and I did, actually, though I didn't find any. Yet, at least. But yeah, we're looking for more leads like that. If anyone finds one, immediately let everyone else know, and we'll plan out our next course of action from there. Everyone understand?"
Nods, "yes"es, and "mm-hm"s all around.
"Alright…then let's get to it!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
(Two more days of doing standard jobs pass, and Chapter 5 begins. Yes, I know this was a pretty short chapter.)

Description
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Investigators of Soul/Heart/Spirit

a fanmade story

The next morning, I woke up feeling refreshed, and Aileen shortly followed suit. We got a filling breakfast, waited for Shiinotic to leave, then got what we needed at Crossroad City and went to Lurantis' Firm.
She let us in and gave everyone else their assignments for today while we looked through the sticky notes on her desk.
But today, one in particular stood out to us.
I nabbed it and read it over:
"Summary: Berries have been mysteriously disappearing from Plantation Zone 10F for unknown reasons. Reach the scene and investigate."
The whole thing was written differently, more "refined" than Lurantis' handwriting, and there was no client given; only a thick, super-fancy "Z" in the bottom-right corner.
What is this…this strange signature? I thought.
I exchanged glances at Aileen, who looked it over herself and was just as confused as I was.
I was going to ask Lurantis about it, but she was still going over the assignments with the other investigators, so I kept quiet.
I turned to Aileen. "What do we do with this?"
She studied it over once more, thinking, before finally telling me:
"Let's follow it."
I nearly jumped. "What?!"
"Lurantis clearly didn't write this," she reasoned, "and I know it's not in our given search area, either…but I've got a good feeling that this leads to something, something big."
"So we're going to completely ignore everything we've been told this far and just go on a whim?"
"Well, when you put it THAT way…"
We just stared at each other for a couple moments.
I sighed. "Welp, here we go…I don't know HOW you're talking me into this…"
"What're you talking about?" Aileen was puzzled. "I haven't said much at all!"
I facepalmed and shook my head. "Whatever. If we're going to go, let's go now."
"Right."
So we breifly checked the globe on the counter to figure out where we were going, and were off to the Plantation Zone.
When we arrived at the specified location, we saw open fields. Fields upon fields of trees, bushes, and plants, growing berries like you'd never seen before. The sun was shining now, but the grass still had dew from the last rain. A gentle southeastern breeze passed us by, heading onwards into the mystery dungeon.
"Plantation Zone, huh?" I thought aloud. "Well, it certainly fits."
"Are you kidding?!" Aileen shouted, taking it all in. "I mean, look at all these berries! If I lived here, I'd never go hungry again!"
"Job first, mouth-watering later," I reminded her. "Let's go see why there are less than usual on 10F."
"Right…" she couldn't even hide her brief disappointment.
But in we went.
(Plantation Zone
10F
A lot of "natural" and "food" Pokémon here, such as Comfey, Bounsweet, Munchlax, and Gulpin
Gabriel: 13 [no change]
Aileen: 13 [+1])
Plantation Zone Bounty.
As far as we could go into the place, we made sure to stay hidden as we looked for anything out of the ordinary.
We didn't have to look long. Or far.
From behind the bushes, I saw it; a tall, multicolored figure, mainly a brown torso and a dark gray head, picking Oran Berries from the bushes and dropping them into its hand, where they seemed to disappear. It also seemed to be eating, but nothing was going into its bright green mouth.
It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
"Who…who IS that?!" Aileen whispered to me.
"I don't know," I turned to face her.
She peeked back out at the figure. "I-is that even a Pokémon?!"
"Why're you asking me?" I asked.
"Only one way to find out…"
We charged into plain sight, ready to confront the…thing.
"Um…hey!" Aileen challenged it.
"Huh?!" Its green expression turned orange, as it was caught off guard before it turned to face the source of the voice; us.
"Oh…Pokémon," it said, in a childish, slightly distorted voice, its face turning green again as it became a lot calmer. "Eheh…it's not often targets come straight to me…"
"Give…give those berries back!" Aileen tried.
The figure donned a more sinister, "try me" expression. "Ha. Ha ha. Or what?"
The pep suddenly left Aileen, as her argument had little force to it. "…that's a pretty fair question."
But I knew something was going downhill. As the figure crouched into a battle position, I saw where this encounter was headed.
"At this point, forget it," I warned Aileen. "I get the feeling we're in for a fight anyway!"
The mysterious creature lunged at us and got the first move, but we quickly Dodged in opposite directions and avoided the attack.
I tried to keep my distance with Shadow Sneak, and, though it hit, it didn't seem to faze it much at all.
Aileen tried a similar approach with Disarming Voice, but again, the foe was seemingly unhurt.
Its attack was different.
It slid over to target me and kicked me upside the head, and I was down by brain freeze, until the Reviver Seed in the Pocket Dimension activated and rejuvenated me.
The back of my head still feeling cold, I turned and attacked with Confusion. It was a critical hit, but still didn't show much in terms of damage.
Aileen started her way over to help, but that was a mistake. The figure literally picked me up and threw me right at her, hard, severely damaging us both on collision.
That battle didn't last long. We got absolutely DEMOLISHED.
On my knees, struggling to retain consciousness, I barely heard the figure say, "That's enough of THAT…now for the big finish."
Something popped out of its hand, but not the berries that went in. It was a small ball; half white, half black, with a big white circle in the center and some marking just above it in the white half.
The figure spun around, showing off, and threw the ball in the air.
Aileen lifted herself onto her flippers as the ball flew at us, trembling in weakness.
"Ngh…come on, Gabriel…get back up!"
"WHAT?!" I found the energy to say. "Aileen, you're insa-"
Suddenly something hit me from the side.
"NGH!" was the last thing I heard myself and Aileen cry out before I passed out.
When I came to, we were just behind the firm, on the edge of the river.
Still hurting all over from the assault, I forced myself back onto my feet, as Aileen began to wake up with a "guh…".
"Ow…" I groaned, barely able to stay standing.
"Wh…where are we?" Aileen asked.
"Apparently back at the firm," I told her. "My question is how."
"We…we were fighting that strange Pokémon," Aileen recalled, "getting our butts whooped, and then…something hit me from behind?"
"Something saved us," I put together, "and got us out of there."
An awkward silence, except for the water rushing nearby.
"So…" I just kind of said. "What now?"
Aileen thought it over. "I think we better go inside, at least…"
"What'll we say?" I asked, knowing that we were in for more if Lurantis knew what we just did.
"I dunno…whatever comes to mind, I guess."
I shrugged.
Just as I expected, when we walked in, our boss caught on quick.
"Holy…whoa…" she noticed and took in our bruises and wounds from the fight. "What the heck happened to you two?!"
No point in trying to hide anything, I figured. "Something in Plantation Zone happened."
"Plantation Zone?!" she freaked. "What the heck were you doing in Plantation Zone?!"
I handed her the note that we followed.
Sure enough, when she looked it over, she affirmed, "I…I never wrote this! This isn't my handwriting…and what's with this Z in the corner?"
She turned her gaze to us. "You followed this?"
"Well, I mean…yeah…?" Aileen admitted.
Lurantis checked the note again. "What did you find that beat you up so bad?"
I tried to remember. "Tall…brown torso, black head…face changes color depending on expression…"
"What?" Lurantis was puzzled.
"Simply put," I explained, "some kind of strange Pokémon, I don't even know if it's actually a Pokémon, was picking berries and…eating them through its hands? I dunno, what else did it say…something about targets? Targets not coming to them often? Does that sound right, Aileen?"
"Sounds about right," she remembered.
"Hold up," Lurantis stopped us there. "Let me sum this up, get everything straight. So there was a strange, unidentified Pokémon picking berries in Plantation Zone when you followed this suspicious lead? And when you confronted them, they said something about targets coming to them?"
"Yeah…" Aileen affirmed. "But we barely made it out in one piece. When we woke up, we were just outside here. We were saved…but I don't know by what."
"No! No, no, no!" Lurantis insisted. "You're onto something! Don't you get it? That Pokémon could have something to do with the disappearances!"
"Wait, what?" Aileen was caught off guard.
"It's a baby step," Lurantis went on, "but it's a step in the right direction! This is our first legit lead on this, the best news we've had in forever!"
"You're SERIOUS?" Aileen was excited.
"Dead serious," Lurantis nodded. "Thank you so much for this! I can't wait to tell the others!"
"Yes!" Aileen and I drew our fists back and high-fived each other. We're gaining ground on the crisis! I mean, it hurts, but we're making headway! If we keep this up, we'll be at the bottom of this in no time!
We went home that night feeling pain in our bodies, but good about ourselves.
Thankfully, Shiinotic didn't seem to notice, as the injuries had mostly visibly healed. We ate all we could before heading to bed, more than ready to crash, but decided to hold out for Stacia's sake.
"Hey, guys," the voice said once everyone else was asleep. "How'd it go today?"
"Never better," I said, "aside from the part where we got beat up."
"Wai-wha?!" Stacia panicked. "A-are you alright?!"
"Calm down, calm down," I reassured her. "We're okay, thanks to…someone."
She let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness…what happened?"
"We followed a strange lead to Plantation Zone," Aileen explained, "and encountered a strange Pokémon there who demolished us."
"Oh, man…remind me, what made today so great again?"
"Because Lurantis thinks our aggressor has a link to the disappearances."
"She does?"
"Yeah," I affirmed. "Not even a week in and we're breaking more ground on the crisis than the team has been the entire time before our arrival."
"That is great!" she applauded. "It's a start!"
"Now all we gotta do," Aileen said, "is take the lead and run a marathon with it."
"You two better rest up, then," Stacia suggested. "A lot of running to do."
Aileen laughed. "Not literally!"
"You get my point," the ghost said. "Get the energy you need, so next time you can show that thing who's boss."
"Fine," Aileen gave in. "G'night."
"Good night, kid."
It took a while after getting herself comfortable, but she did eventually doze off not long after I tried adjusting myself, too.
"Hey, Gabriel," Stacia wasn't done with me yet.
"What?"
"Remembering anything yet?"
I thought as hard as I could, but nothing came. "No…"
"No? Okay…" my invisible friend absorbed it. "I just thought that maybe the thing you encountered today might've triggered something."
I was confused. "Should it have?"
"I don't know if it should've or not. It was…just a thought."
Stacia yawned, and I tried to think harder. Was there anything about the Pokémon that seemed familiar at all?
…
………
……………………………………
Out of place, heck yeah, but familiar? No.
"I mean, no, I don't recognize anything, but there was something else weird," I thought out loud. "Like, just before I passed out, I remembered it threw some kind of ball-like thing at us…"
I waited for Stacia to say something, but instead was met with an unsettling silence.
"What do you think about it, Stacia?"
No response.
"…Stacia?"
"…zzz…"
"N-no?" I realized she had fallen asleep during my thought process, and was bummed out. "Y-yeah, okay, that…that works too…g'night…"
Sleep didn't come as easily as I hoped that night. It seemed like every time I began to nod off, something inside me snapped me awake, saying something wasn't right.
Well, if I don't sleep now, I'll never MAKE it right, I eventually thought and finally slept.
In the morning, Aileen shook me awake, we ate breakfast, and were headed out for the day.
The whole team waited for us at the firm.
"Haaaaaay, l'k who jest wahked in!" Dhelmise noted our presence.
"Hey, rookies!" Heracross waved.
"Nice work yesterday," Excadrill put his claws on his hips. "On complete accident, and nearly got yourselves killed, but hey; we finally got a lead, I ain't complaining."
"I don't think any of us are, o blessed children," Talonflame sarcastically stepped aside and bowed.
"Cut the nonsense, Talonflame," Lurantis ordered with a laugh.
"Whatever you say, boss."
I smiled. There was a lot more enthusiasm in the air just by looking at everyone. Now that we had something to go off of, the team was finally out of the gutter and ready to spring into action.
"Now," Lurantis gathered everyone's attention and set yesterday's sticky note down so everyone could see it. "I thought this over last night and determined that someone - presumably this 'Z' - deliberately placed this here so someone would find it. Whether it was to send us into danger or in the right direction, I don't know, but one thing's for sure - it's got something going for it."
"Did you check the pile today for more like it?" Aileen asked.
"Nice train of thought," our boss commended her, "and I did, actually, though I didn't find any. Yet, at least. But yeah, we're looking for more leads like that. If anyone finds one, immediately let everyone else know, and we'll plan out our next course of action from there. Everyone understand?"
Nods, "yes"es, and "mm-hm"s all around.
"Alright…then let's get to it!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
(Two more days of doing standard jobs pass, and Chapter 5 begins. Yes, I know this was a pretty short chapter.)