Last Time: Nero and the others had made it to the Town of Hermes. Bianco took the children to the town's sights to enjoy the day while Apollonia talked with the Guild's leader. A Raichu named Julius. Nero and Halo were asked to join the guild while their enemies watched afar.
Nero walked down what he thought to be the same hallway when he got the sword and shield in his fight against Ivan. While looking around, he saw that the walls were missing any engraved markings. Once he made it to the door, it looked different. There were no marks or scratches on it. It even looked untouched, very old, but still intact. Once Nero put his Riolu hands on the door, it looked new. It then started to open on its own, and on the other side was an open field, a large open field with a clear blue sky. There are tons of beautiful plants and a pawn with what looks made up of the purest water. There was one tree that had a mixture of fruits and berries.
"What is this place?" Nero asked. He looked around and saw that it was very peaceful. All he wanted was just to lie down and rest. "This is my domain, Nero." Said a voice that Nero remembered. It was the voice of someone he had met, one of the people who sent him to this new world. "You're that old man who sat in the middle!"
"Hey, don't call me old. I am not that old... okay, I'm old." Said the voice. Nero started to see if he could find the voice's origin to no avail. "I am not here, but I am here, young Nero."
"What is up with these cryptic messages I'm getting lately? Can't you straight up tell me-"
"I understand you're confused, child, but that is how we are. Being cryptic is part of what we do; it is in our nature." Said the voice.
"Alright, then, can I ask why I am here? You never did explain it to me."
"You're here because we have chosen you to come to this world to help it." Said the voice, still not giving full details.
"Help this world? Why me? Can't you help the world?"
"I'm afraid that even I, a being of pure power above anything, also have its limits of laws and rules that I need to obey. If not for those limits, I would take care of everything myself. But as for you, I cannot say everything, but you have what it takes as you are willing to help those who need help." Said the voice as the pawn started to glow. Nero walked up to it and looked inside to see that it showed something, the past when he was still younger and human. As a human, Nero was beaten up by three other children who looked older than him. He didn't even fight back.
"I remember this. Those three were picking on a little girl from the orphanage and stood up to them. I didn't fight back. I couldn't because they were much stronger than I was, but our town's officer Jenny saw what they were doing, and they were in trouble after that." Nero said, sounding proud of himself for standing up to those bullies and not using violence as an answer.
"Yes, what you did was very honorable and respectful. However, what you did the following week shows that you were not a saint." As the voice said this, the pawn showed another vision. This one showed Nero hiding in a bush in a forest, waiting for the three bullies to walk by. Once they did, Nero showed himself, threw three rocks, one for each of the bullies, and started running away with the bullies after him.
Nero then jumped past something and stopped to turn around to face the bullies, and once they were a few feet away, they fell into a trap, a large plot hole in the ground. Nero then picked up a box hidden from anyone and opened it, revealing berries inside it. He then threw the berries into the hole that attracted wild Pokémon to enter the spot. Luckily, they were not harmed, but they had to learn their lesson, don't be a bully.
"Heh heh, right that," Nero said, holding a nervous smile on his face. "Took me about a day to dig that hole and to find all those berries."
"Right, well, that does not matter here. I wish I could explain why you're here more, but I cannot say fully why." Said the voice.
"Why can't you tell me?"
"I just can't... I wish I could explain, but... There are my reasons." The voice said as Nero wanted to ask again but couldn't think of anything else. "Young Nero, I can't say anything about you anymore, but I will tell you about your unique ability to summon your sword and shield that you had just the other day." The voice said, catching Nero's interest. "The sword and shield are a part of you. They will come when you need them. They can give you the strength to face any foe Pokémon or the defense to take on an army. What you do with this power is up to you. I know it will be in great hands."
"That does sound cool, but how did I get them?" Nero asked. The voice stayed silent. "You've got to be kidding me. First, I'm sent somewhere without reason as to why and I still don't get a reason when I ask after coming here, and now I don't know where that sword and shield first came from. WHY?!"
"I know this does not seem fair, Nero but all or most things have a reason that is not just given and explained but must be found if you wish to seek information about this power, then I cannot just tell you, but you must find out for yourself. I hope you understand that." Nero did not, and the Voice knew that. "You will wake up soon. I am sorry if I did not help you." Said the voice.
"Wait, did you say wake up?" Nero said as the door he had entered through started to move and forced him to go back into the hallway. Once the door closed, it vanished into thin air, and a second voice began to speak. "The boy did seem nice. Now I must ask why you didn't tell him?"
"If I did, it would ruin the boy, turning him hopeless. The truth will be what would bring him down. I won't let that happen, not again."
"And if he does find out?" The other voice was silent as it did not know what to say in response.
Location: Artemis House
Nero was lying in small bedding that looked like a blanket that matched his size, sleeping without a care in the world until he finally got up. He looked around and saw he was the first to wake up in the room while the others, Apollonia the Espeon, Artemis the Umbreon, Halo the Eevee, and Bianco the Zangoose, were still sleeping.
Nero looked out of a window to see that the sun was rising. It was a brand-new day for him. He was a little nervous as today he would join the Guild for which Apollonia, Artemis, and Bianco worked. The Grand Light Expedition Guild. When they were asked if they wanted to join, Nero didn't know what to do or say at the time and said yes without thinking. He didn't know what to think at the time. "Morning, early bird." Said Bianco as they got up and spoke quietly so as not to wake up the others.
"Morning Bianco, I didn't wake you, right?" Nero asked with an apologetic look on their face.
"Not now, but you kicked me in the face around midnight," Bianco said, having a flashback of him getting kicked in the face in their sleep by a sleeping Nero.
"Sorry." Said Nero, as he thought maybe he moved more in his sleep.
"It's alright, but what about you? Are you nervous about joining the guild?"
"Yeah, just a little, though. When Caesar asked us to join, I said yes because I didn't know what to say. I just said yes without thinking after he fixed his back." Nero said as he broke eye contact to think and asked Bianco. "Am I making the right choice here?"
Bianco walked to the window and sat next to Nero, with him looking out the window and continuing talking. "Choices, they're hard to make at times. You can never really know if you are making the right or wrong choice. It is your choice. After all, no one controls your life, and it is all you."
Nero looked at Bianco and then to the window, seeing his reflection and the town outside. He remembered what those three strangers once said. "We can change your fate." Was everything he has faced all by them or was it by his own hands? Nero then looked at Bianco out the window with a wide smile. He may have gotten some knowledge of this world from Uxie, the Pokémon from the lake, but he still didn't know a lot. Apollonia told him that a Guild has many different functions, from exploring unknown territories such as Mystery Dungeons, ancient structures, etc. While also doing rescue missions like saving Pokémon or getting items from dangerous places worldwide. They also had the right to arrest criminals they either encountered or chased as a bounty. Guilds were essentially a large group of Pokémon that were a form of public service that did more than one primary function, and they could help him find answers since the voice he encountered in his sleep wouldn't give him any, so he could try and look for them himself.
Nero let out a huff and had to do something, which could be a way for him to get his answers all in due time. He clenched one of his hands and palmed his fist, symbolizing that he was ready to face his problems. "Alright--" Nero said, nearly saying it out loud but stopped as he remembered that the others were still asleep, so he repeated what he was saying but kept quiet. "Alright, let's do this. I'll take it all on." Nero said with Bianco giving him a quiet yet supportive cheer with him, lifting his clawed hands in the air and a smile on his face, all while Apollonia was listening to their conversation the entire time and had a smile too. He could need this guild for his reason and perhaps even meet some friends on the way.
Location: The Dust Desert.
The Dust Desert lived up to its name, a vast land of mainly sand with a few mountains or high rocks, if lucky enough you could find a cactus, just don't get too close, you can never know if it is really a Pokémon who was to give a hug or else.
The Dust Desert looked like a wasteland that lacked life but it was far from it as there are a few towns such as the Oasis of Psamathe, a paradise gem of the desert where dozens of Pokémon travel through the desert for the rest, and relaxation or Bacchus Town a town that mines both rare metals but mainly mines or creates clay for pottery and makes the most fantastic drinks from an amazing well-kept orchard that was maintained by the town's Grass-type residents.
On the outskirts of the desert, a large figure was walking through the desert. In the morning it was naturally cold so not a lot of Pokémon would go out, some would but not many. The Pokémon in question had the figure of a statue that had a golem that walked close to a cliffside of a mountain, at the very top looked to have different terrain, it was like a forest. At the bottom of the side of the cliff looked to be a tunnel with the outside of it having what looked to be symbols in the form of scratches. The figure then walked into the tunnel, into the Mystery Dungeon they go.
Location: Town of Hermes, early morning.
A while later, after everyone had woken up, Nero, Bianco, and Halo walked down the street with the three still tired because it was early in the morning. After waking up, they all had breakfast, and the trio left the house after eating. Nero looked around and saw a street post that looked like a clock that read it had just turned seven in the morning. He also began to look around and noticed a lot of the town. Bianco mainly just showed them places where he usually hung out at. The town had a European town vibe to it with cobble streets and some houses that he thought looked like they came out of the Galar region. He had never been there but grew up in Kalos. "Why did we have to go so early?" Nero asked with a yawn leaving his mouth at the end of his sentence. "I mean, we couldn't have gotten more sleep. Halo is so tired that she has already crashed into a wall six times."
"Ow," Halo said as she again crashed into a wall because she was tired. She was starting to get a bruise on her forehead.
"Seven."
"Because if we get there early, we could finish your starting mission sooner." Said Bianco, who also let out a yawn at the end of his sentence. "It won't take too long, only a max of a few hours. We'll most likely finish around the launch. Everyone must go through a simple starting mission. It could be like, "find a lost item in a mystery dungeon."
"Mystery dungeon?" Nero said, a little confused. "That sounds familiar. Where have I heard of that before?"
"Wait, have you never heard of a mystery dungeon before?" Bianco asked Nero, only to get a blank face as a response from the Riolu boy. "Well, a mystery dungeon is a strange phenomenon that appears worldwide, large areas that change no matter what. They're also a great source of almost anything, money, items, even a way to get stronger, and a quick way to travel. Nobody knows where they first started, yet they can always be found all over the world."
"That's awesome." Said Nero was getting interested in the mystery dungeons.
"Not really. A dungeon will have Wilds, Pokémon with only feral instincts inside them, attack anyone who enters. Luckily if you faint in a mystery dungeon, you'll be kicked out, but almost everything on you will stay in the mystery dungeon. And then there's Mystery Madness, where if you stay too long in a mystery dungeon, you'll go mad and attack anyone you see until you either leave, get kicked out, or... parish."
"Okay, never mind, that sounds bad." Said, Nero.
"It is," Bianco said as they finally made it to the guild. Nero expected the same thing that happened yesterday to happen once they walked in. However, once they walked in, it was quiet and almost empty. There was only one Pokémon that he saw. The Scrafty from the other day was reading a book at a table, minding his own business.
However, once Nero walks in, something falls and lands behind him, and a lone curved blade is around his neck. Nero was a little scared about the sword close to his neck, but he noticed it had tiny lines on the edge with numbers that reached from the blade's tip and stopped right when it started to curve. It was like a ruler, a very sharp ruler. "Rune, please don't scare the kid," said Bianco. Nero then noticed that the blades were a part of someone. It was the Kabutops from the other day. Nero now knew who he was. His name was Rune the Kabutops. Apollonia talked about them last night while they had dinner. He was the guilds historian and exploration veteran. His shell was very clean and polished, and with no authentic look of the face under his said shell, you'd think he was young when he was old, not as old as the guild master was, but still old.
"I'm not trying to scare the child. I am only trying to observe and to see what makes them different." Rune said as he looked over Nero, keeping the blade close but not too close, around a few inches away. Most would have difficulty measuring unless the ruler was up close, but Rune knew what he was doing.
"Different?" Said the trio in a union, but Halo and Bianco said it in a questioning tone. Nero sounded worried as Apollonia did say to keep the fact, he was human a secret for some good reasons. She never really explained how but he guessed it wasn't good.
"Yes, I asked our guild master why he let this child and the Eevee into our guild. He said this boy was special, and I wondered what it was." Said Rune. "A-ha found it!" He said, making Nero panic a little as he didn't know what Rune was talking about. "This Riolu Is exactly two Inches shorter than a normal Riolu? He needs more sleep and to drink more milk to grow." Rune said as he patted Nero's head with the side of his blades. Please don't do this. It is not safe for kids.
"Alright, Rune, that is quite enough of that." Said the voice of the guild master, Julius the Raichu. Walking up to them alongside him looked like a small child-like Pokémon with a pink body, with what looked to be a large blue hat on top of its head, carrying a wooden box. Nero recognized this Pokémon. It was Hattrem, the Serene Pokémon. "Good to see you both here. Now, are you two ready to join our guild?"
Nero was still nervous about this. Everything was happening so fast. He didn't know what to do. "Um- yes..." He said out of instinct and without thinking.
"Diva, would you be a dear?" Julius said as the Hattrem named Diva walked up to a table with everyone following. Diva then put the box on the table, revealing two badges inside. The badges were round-shaped with wings on both sides. They had the same shape and form as Bianco's but were different colors. They were a porcelain color with a pure white gem in the center. "These are your Badges. They are proving you're a member of our guild, pick them up, and then they will activate." Said Julius as both Nero and Halo hand-picked up their new badges. Nothing was happening.
At first, both badges started releasing some light from the gems. Once the light had stopped, they saw that the badges hadn't changed much, only that the gem was now red. "Nice job on making it into the guild, you two. I guess that was a 'Grand light' show." Bianco said, making almost everyone except Nero look at him with annoyance, but Nero laughed.
"Why is he like this?" Said Diva in her sweet and young voice.
"That is a valid question." Said Rune as he looked like he wanted to throw the Zangoose out of the building and into the sea, holding back the urge to do so.
"I thought it was funny." Said Nero, with everyone looking at him with surprised looks.
"Really?" Said everyone, excluding Bianco, in a union.
"Hey, let him think it was funny." Said, Bianco.
"Anyway, now that you're a part of our guild, you must complete a starting mission. We have a few missions you can take. Go to the mission board to pick one. Also, Rune, could you follow me? I need to ask you something important." Said Julius as he was walking off to his office with Rune but stopped as he remembered something. "Oh, right, another thing, you'll both be joining Bianco's team. It is against the rules to have Rookie Ranked explorers go independently." He then went back to his office with Rune behind him.
"Are you okay with us on your team?" Halo asked Bianco.
"Yeah, I'm fine with it. Apollonia said she recommended me to teach over you two. I wouldn't blame her after yesterday. I don't think she would trust anyone here after that." Said Bianco as both he and Halo and Nero walked to the Mission Board, which had some papers. The papers looked to be holding information on them, with some having either a picture or drawing. "Here we go," Bianco said as he picked out one paper. "This is a simple starting mission-level job. Going to Athena Forest's mystery dungeon and finding a Diet Ribbon shouldn't be that hard."
"Wait, they want us to look for an item? How do they know it is even in there" Nero asked.
"Well, it isn't like they know, it is that the Mystery Dungeon would steal from them, it is still unknown how, but Pokémon and Items would get snatched out of thin air. Sometimes it is due to them being around close to the dungeon itself." Bianco answered Nero's question.
"Okay, when should we go?" Nero asked.
"Soon, I only need to grab a few revivers and heal seeds. I'll go get them." Bianco said before starting to leave but was stopped by the Scrafty, who had walked up to him.
"Hey, Bianco, you said you're going to Athena Forest Mystery Dungeon, right?" Said the Scrafty.
"Yeah, why you're asking, Rusty?" Bianco said to the Scrafty named Rusty, Bianco talked about them and the Morgerm they were fighting the other day.
The Scrafty, named Rusty, then put a messenger-carrying bag on a table with some items inside, including seeds. "I have a few seeds that you need. I also have some personal business in Bacchus town to visit an old friend, and my team comes back from a week-long mission after fighting some bandits, the Mystery Dungeon in Athena Forest also leads to a shortcut to the Dust Desert, which is also close to Bacchus town. Hence, I thought of meeting up with them halfway."
"Alright then, I guess it is the four of us then. Well, head out soon." Said Bianco, "Oh, Nero, Halo let me show you how the badges work." Bianco then pulled out his badge to explain what the badge could do to Nero and Halo. "The badge has many uses for when you're in a mystery dungeon. It can both send other Pokémon out of a mystery dungeon if they are willing to leave or get you to leave safely. They also will send criminals to certain areas where they will hold for what they have done, but they have to faint first. But there is also one more feature about them: " Bianco tapped on the gem on his badge, which started to light up and project something. It was a small flat screen with an image of Bianco with information about him. It showed his moveset, LV, Ability, and stats. "Status information reader, since the badge belongs to you, it can give you information about yourself."
"Oh, that's so cool," Nero said as he and Halo did what he had shown them and tapped onto the gem on their badges, which had shown them who they were. Cool, I'm LV. 5. My ability is inner focus. Those are my moves, Quick Attack, Endure, and Feint-- Wait, I'm still LV. 5? How? I helped beat that creep the other day. Then again, we didn't entirely beat them or something? It also doesn't say anything about the sword or shield, so I guess it won't help. Nero thought to himself as he saw the information. It would help to know what he can do in future battles. Nero then looked at Halo and asked. "Hey, Halo, what about your info?"
"Oh, is this good?" Halo asked as she showed them her information status, which showed that she was only Lv. 1. Bianco was a little confused until he remembered that Apollonia kept her from danger, which also meant away from any way of leveling up.
"Halo, you might need a lot of training," Bianco said, keeping a straight face as what they see isn't the best. They would need to be careful since one hit could knock her out. If Bianco had any ideas to level her up, they'd give them to her.
"I-Is this bad?" Eevee asked with her head and ears low like she was ashamed of herself.
"No, it's just low. You'll do fine someday." Bianco said as he was trying not to make them upset. A thought then came to his mind as he just remembered something. "Oh, right, every team has a name, so we have a team name."
"Wait, we have a team name?" Asked Nero.
"Yeah, it was originally Apollonia's Team name, but I took it over after she and Artemis retired."
"What's the team's name?"
Bianco then looked at Nero with a prideful smile and told him. "We're called-"
"Team Hopeful Heart."
Location: Athena Forest.
After a long walk, the team of Nero, Halo, Bianco, and Rusty finally made it to the Athena Forest Mystery Dungeon entrance. They had stopped right before it to rest after the long walk. "So, this is the entrance of a mystery dungeon. It looks more like a cave?" Said Nero as he looked at the entrance. It did look more like the entrance to a cave than anything else.
"Yeah, nobody knows why they look like ordinary places sometimes. The main reason there called Mystery Dungeons is that there is so little known about them. They're always too dangerous to explore full-time since they are full of Wilds and traps, and don't get me started on Bosses." Said Rusty as he was going through a bag he had.
"Bosses?" Both Nero and Halo said in a confused union.
"Bosses are strong Pokémon in a Mystery Dungeon. They are normally twice or three times as strong as the other Pokémon in the dungeon. There is normally only one in each dungeon, but they're mostly near the last floors." Said Bianco, who had chimed in.
"Oh, how many floors are in this dungeon?" Nero asked.
"Just five is more than the minimum amount in any dungeon. There has never been a dungeon with less than three floors. Although some dungeons would have dozens of floors, some even reach over a hundred." Bianco explained to Nero that it amazed him the sound of the challenge of those dungeons that had so many floors. They must have been a serious challenge for so many Pok Now let's get ready." Said, Bianco.
"Are you sure we can't just rest for a few more minutes?" Said Halo, who was a little tired from the walking.
"Um, sure, but only for ten minutes." Said, Bianco. As they were resting, someone was watching them from the sky, watching closely at the group. It seemed to be a Murkrow. This one seemed strange. However, as they were all pitch black, this wasn't a normal Murkrow but was Al the Murkrow, the same one that attacked them not too long ago.
"Why is our master so interested in this child? Whatever the case is, they could be troublesome for us all," Al said as he remembered seeing this same child aiding in the fight against Ivan, and he did need to look out for the others on the team. He thought he could take on the task of watching them alone with the rest of his team in town but might regret it now.
As Al watched, he saw that Nero looked at the tree he was hiding in and began to panic. He forgot that Riolus were known as the Aura Pokémon for a reason and thought his cover was blown.
"Hey Nero, what's up?" Bianco asked him, wondering what he was looking at.
"Oh, I thought someone was watching us, but I guess it was just my imagination, or it was something in the trees minding its business and saw us. I never really went into any forest when I was being raised in the orphanage I was from," Nero said to the others, which calmed Al down.
"You're from an orphanage?" Said Rusty, Nero didn't tell others where he was from, but he did have his reasons with mainly Bianco and Apollonia being the only ones who knew.
"Yeah, I was, but it wasn't a good one," Nero said, showing that he didn't want to talk about the subject like he was uneasy about it. Rusty then placed a hand on their shoulder like he was trying to let them know he doesn't have to.
Bianco then tried to change the subject to lighten the group's mood with a joke about the forest, with only Nero liking it and Rusty and Halo wishing he would just stop. While they talked, Al picked up the ring that was around his leg and threw it at the base of the tree, and when it did, it opened a portal with the silhouettes of something that looked to be a humanoid fox and rabbit and a ferret-like creature on the other side of the portal. "I'll watch over them from the dungeon. You three look around the town to blend in and spy over the guild." Al said to the silhouettes, who nodded before he turned his attention back to the party of guild members who looked like they were about to get ready to enter the Mystery Dungeon.
Not long after the group had gotten back up and began to enter the dungeon along with them, Al started to follow with the ring returning to normal and flowing to his leg, where it phased onto it and was then attached to him like a piece of jewelry and flowed after the group.
Location: Athena Forest Mystery Dungeon F1
The team had finally entered the Mystery Dungeon. The ground was soft grass, and the walls looked like they were made of dirt, stones, and roots of plants and trees. The room was large, with a few hallways that led in and out of the room. "This is a dungeon. Don't look that bad." Said, Nero.
"Normally, it's like that. You won't encounter Wilds for a short while when you first enter a mystery dungeon." Said Bianco as they began to walk.
"Wait, where's the entrance?" Said Halo as she pointed out that the entrance they had just walked through and seen was gone.
"The entrance sent us to a random location on the floor. That's how it works, kid. The dungeon changes shape too, over time, though, so we are fine for now," said Rusty, then they looked at their badge. "Our badges can also track our movements and map the path and rooms we have taken. It can even locate items and other Pokémon within the dungeon." The group then started to move forward to look for the item they came to seek.
"So, how do we find the item?" Nero asked.
"Just by looking around, we can find it easily. Normally, it's on the last floor," Bianco said as they began to look around. "Another thing, be careful and look out for traps." As he said that, Nero had stepped on something, a trap. The ground beneath Nero had turned into a gated metal platform with a fan below that began to activate and spin at incredible speeds creating a powerful blast that sent Nero flying.
"AHHH!" Nero screamed as he thought he would hit the ceiling, but once the blast began growing weaker, Nero fell and hit the ground wasn't in the exact location; he was in another room of the mystery dungeon. "Where am I?" Nero asked himself as he found that he was all alone, separated from his friends. He then remembered the badge, used the map feature to find his friends, and saw that they were in the room next to where he was. "Okay, they're not that far-" Nero was cut off, and he heard someone shout, "String Shot!" and was hit by some string wrapped around him. "Huh?"
Nero looked behind him, and as a tiny caterpillar, it was Caterpie the Worm Pokémon. It was attacking him. This was going to be Nero's first solo fight alone. He had tried to dodge an upcoming Tackle that was coming at him slowly but was somehow slowly getting hit by the attack. "Right, the string shot, I guess. I'll have to fight this bug. I should use my normal moves and not the sword or shield. It would be to overkill, plus." Nero said to himself aloud before closing his eyes, and instead of talking, he thought of what he was saying: "There is the fact that I still have no idea how to call them out." Nero thought as he never did call for them again since the fight with Ivan and Al.
Nero then faced his first enemy he'd fight alone. "Quick Attack!" he then charged at the Caterpie, knocking it back just a little, and as it tried to attack back, Nero got ready and used another Quick Attack which landed a clean hit making the Caterpie faint from the battle. "I did it!" Nero said with glee that he had won his first real fight. Nero saw that the Caterpie was gone, vanished into thin air like it was never there.
"Nice work, kid, you beat up a small Caterpie." Said the voice of Rusty from behind Nero's point of view. Nero turned around and saw his team, who had just entered the room.
"Just don't get that you beat up a small bug over your head. It won't help." Said Bianco, who walked up to Nero, taking a closer look at him to see if he was alright. "Looks like you're okay. Just walk off whatever it was you took."
"Great job Nero you've won a fight. I can't wait until I win my fight!" Halo said, happy for Nero.
"Thanks, guy, and it's good to see you too. I feel like I can handle this dungeon now that I've seen what it offers." Nero was full of determination to take on anything head-on.
"Famous last words." Said, Bianco. They all then began to move again to the next room of the dungeon to find the next floor without knowing that someone was following them. What they were going to go through wasn't going to be easy.
Location: Athena Forest Mystery Dungeon F4
After about an hour of setting off traps and being attacked by wilds, the team finally made it to a large room, with the exit to the next floor right next to them. Everyone took this moment to rest. "Oh, thank Arceus! It's a Clearing room, a giant size room that only Pokémon with Badges can enter. We can just rest here for a second." Said, Bianco.
The team then stopped to catch their breath. Six blasting traps, seven sleep powder traps, nine paralysis traps, and nineteen wilds that had attacked them without warning came out of nowhere. That is what they faced from first entering the dungeon to the point they are now.
"Great place to rest," Nero said as he lay down basking in the sunlight- well, light in general, Nero noticed that though out the dungeon they would find a staircase that would take them lower and lower through the dungeon, they had to be underground for that but yet there was light coming from the sky or ceiling or whatever. He didn't mind just enjoying the feeling of rest. Rusty had taken food out of his bag and tossed everyone their food to eat, the meals were small, a single apple and two Oran berries, it wasn't a big meal since they couldn't bring much other than their items, but it was enough to fill up their stomachs and heal them up, mainly the two newbies of the group since Rusty and Bianco have been avoiding the traps and just one-shot all the wilds they have faced so far. The group sat in a circle and once they had their food in front of them, they all clapped their hands and yelled out. "Thanks for the food!" They then all started to eat.
The group did have a light snake, but they knew to savor it as it was both some and they would choke if they ate too fast. Nero then opened his eyes and felt something, something near them. Nero stood on his feet and looked around; the others looked confused. "Nero, are you okay?" Bianco asked the young Riolu.
"I can feel like someone is close?" Nero said confusing the group as they looked around, it was a large area with only one thing in the room the staircase to the next floor. There was no way anyone could hide, but there was someone close by, Al the Murkrow.
Al was hiding in his own style, in plain sight, just like Iven, he was also what was known as a Cross-Void, a Pokémon that is a mix of another. The Pokémon he was fused with was the color swap Pokémon, Kecleon, using that Pokémon's main ability to swap their color and remain invisible. There was no way they could see him, could there? He was hidden perfectly in the background, which is how he got the spy position after all, he can hide anywhere.
How can a child know where they are? Al then remembered what Riouls were known for, auras, they can sense auras. Al panicked like a gambler getting caught cheating, something he can relate to dearly. Was he going to be caught, he may have a type advantage but they had the numbers. All that fear of being seen was washed away when Nero looked towards the stairs, he wasn't talking about this floor, it was something else, something below them. "It is just something below, eh? Well, that was close, I didn't want to be seen, but I have to wonder, what is down there that got this kid riled up?" Al thought as the others were just as confused.
"Nero, what are you talking about?" Halo asked her friend, who didn't know how to explain it. How do you explain the weird gut feeling you can see as a blue mist surrounding the only exit to the room?
"I just have this weird feeling that there is something below us, something strange about the next floor," Nero said to the others. Rusty and Bianco had the same thoughts as Al. This could be the power of a Riolu, as they can sense and even use their aura as power. They all got up and looked around. An uncanny feeling washed over all of them. Nero felt something, and they had no idea what he was talking about, yet they couldn't take any chance or risk with whatever they were about to face.
Every explorer or rescue squad always knows to never let down their guard and follow their gut, sometimes they would drop their guard inside a Clearing room, mainly due to it being safe, but now Nero felt the danger charging at them all. They didn't know what to expect, Rusty and Bianco kept their cool thinking that maybe Nero was just having an anxious feeling about being in a dungeon for the first time.
All thought of Nero just feeling anxious was tossed out the window as they looked at the stairs to the next floor and saw it starting to close purple. Bianco has never seen this before but Rusty has before in a book. "I know this is, it's an Upper Orb! It makes those who use it go up a floor, someone is coming here!"
Down below was a figure that had an orb in front of that that glowed the same purple energy at the stairs before it started to flow up into the ceiling of the dungeon, a warping portal appeared above them, and enter it. Back in the Clearing room, the team looked at the stairs and started to shift into what seemed to be the same warping portal that was on the ground with something coming out of it, launching out like a cannon going into their air around ten or close to eleven ft. into the air.
The others looked on at the being that came out of the portal with it falling back down to the ground the portal closing and the stairs returning to normal and the being landing right in front of them. As they clashed onto the ground a large cloud of dust and dirt washed over the room and slowly died down, what the team saw shocked them. "Is that what I think it is?" Nero asked.
"Yes, it is kid," Rusty confirmed the thoughts of Nero. "I didn't even know they left castles or ruins, I just thought they were always there."
"Forget that, why is it here?" Bianco questioned how something this strong was inside a dungeon mainly full of weaker Pokémon, this foe had to have been stronger than almost anyone they have seen since in the dungeon. Even Al knew what this was and that it was a major threat to everyone.
What stood before the team was a giant statue-like figure with a blue-colored body and yellow markings on the shoulders and back of its hands, like square swirls, and a crack on its chest with a brass-looking band aid over it and the same materials around its wrist and ankles. It looked like it had a skirt but more of the kind warriors would warrior in the era of spartan warriors. What was the most eye-catching was that it had a sign around its pointy head and yellow eyes, a sign with a chain wrapped around its neck that was made of oak wood with the word "Clay" written in a language that Nero knew, it was poorly written, either it was hard to write with big fingers or it was still learning how to. With another chain wrapped around their waist with a metal box on their left side. They stood just over nine feet tall. They were the Automaton Pokémon, Golurk.
End of Chapter 3
A/N: A quick message, ahem:
AHHHH! Oh my God! It took me SO long just to finish this chapter, to anyone who liked this story I am so sorry for both taking this long to finish and for leaving it on a cliffhanger! I have been busy with both school and work, I am very happy to have finished this and again I am so sorry for taking SO long, I wished to make this a little longer, but I don't want to add too much. Anyway thank you for reading and hope you have a wonderful day, I'll try and work on the next Chapter as soon as I can. Peace out!