Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Broken Ideals

Special Episode: The Shadow Hunter

"The Shadow Hunter"

At sundown, a convoy of eighteen Pokémon trudged through a dark forest, dragging behind them a payload of food and supplies.

A Chesnaught and a pair of Gogoat pulled the wagons, and a trio of Kabutops stood vigilant guard at the front of the procession. The rest of the herd followed solemnly behind in silence, keeping watch into the darkness.

The world had become a savage place, and nobody was quite sure how it had happened so fast. News of the plague demons and their genocide had come from western Shiron over the months, but nobody had taken them seriously at first; everyone thought that surely it was just something blown out of proportion, or some ill-fated vigilante group that hadn't a chance to cause any real damage. But the news kept coming, and far-off acquaintances were reported dead in staggering numbers, and entire cities were said to have been gutted by the swarms of demons. The breaking point came when the cost of necessities rose to overbearing levels, and merchants began disappearing entirely. Soon, it became impossible for cities to provide their people with the supplies needed to live comfortably, and entire communities of Pokémon began to fracture, walling themselves into fortresses and burrowing underground in one final effort to survive the impending doom and the demons who had brought it.

Even in Anderon, one of the last remaining places of refuge on the continent in Eastern Shiron, hope was at its lowest. Society had turned against one another. Scavengers ran wild and looted whatever supplies they could find. It was not uncommon to find corpses of civil Pokémon who had been robbed and murdered, or worse, eaten; the caravan had run across four fallen civils in one day alone. All that was left of the once mighty Anderon region was perhaps a dozen tiny strongholds scattered along the eastern mountains where the most resilient of the Pokémon laid low and worked together to stay alive. Their exact number was unknown, as the factions made contact with one another as little as possible; any movement out in the open could give away their position. The necessary supply runs were made with careful planning and extreme caution.

The sages said that Anderon had no more than a year left before the plague would hit the eastern coast, and that was only a generous estimate. It was assumed that the rest of Shiron was already taken over by the demons, and everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before the plagued ones would be sighted crossing the mountains and bring doom upon everyone.

Though the travelling Pokémon kept watch for ferals and bandits who might attack from the side of the road, they understood that they didn't stand a chance against the plague demons who would swoop down from the sky. None had ever defeated them. None had ever fought a plague demon and lived to brag about it. The only stories that spread were about witnesses who had seen their slaughter and somehow escaped.

Shiron had fallen, and they were next. All that remained was to live out the remainder of their lives in peace, by whatever means necessary.

The lead Kabutops hissed, drawing her claws. One second later, the entire procession was frozen in their tracks, holding their breaths.

"Akka? Something wrong?"

She cocked her head.

"I'm not hearing things... am I?" she whispered to her companions.

"There was something," the other Kabutops affirmed. "Up ahead."

"Can't see anything. Maybe just a Rattata..."

"No... too heavy."

"Traveler?"

"Traveler wouldn't be so quiet."

"Spy?"

"Spy wouldn't attack from the front..."

"So... this is a foe," she realized, darkly. "Someone who thinks they can take us down."