PMD: Explorers of the Day

November 4, 3047

“It…is time. Time for me to leave here. I’m so, so sorry you can’t come with me, but I have to do this. Don’t worry for too long though, because I’ll be back. And when I’m back, we can all be together again. While I am gone, you will be the new guild leader, and it will be up to you to take care of everyone there and make sure things are going well. Don’t worry, I know you’re the right person for the job. If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t be putting you in this position. Plus, you’ll have some help. Please, stop worrying. If all goes well, I’ll be back by tomorrow. And if I’m not back, then you know what to do.
I promise we’ll come back. Goodbye…”

December 16, 2021

Footsteps could be heard going down the street on an otherwise silent night. A teenage boy trudges through the snow on the sidewalk, holding a handgun in his hand. On his face, a look of blunt shock. In the distance, another distraction to the silence filled the air, as police sirens signaled that the police were headed to a small house. The cars pulled to a stop in front of it, as two cops headed into the house. The boy puts his left hand into the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt, but continues to grip the gun tightly in his right. Seconds pass, then minutes. The police exit the house, and drive in his direction. The cars once again pull to a stop as the two officers jump out and aim their guns at the boy.
“Put the gun down, kid.” One of them says. The boy tilts his head at the cop, and looks down at his right hand. He starts to hold his right hand out in front of him, about to drop the gun. Instead, he just holds it there, pointing towards the ground.
“Come on now, just drop it. We need to ask you some questions.” The other cop insists, taking a step towards the teenager. Looking at the gun with a completely blank expression, the boy looked up at the two men, before pointing it towards himself. He could no longer hear the two men of the law pleading with him, unable to do anything as to not give him any more reason to fire. With one last look at the two men, the boy pulled the trigger. A bullet dug through his chest, leaving a red splotch on his sweatshirt.
His body dropped to the ground, and he felt no more.

“Wake up.”
The voice spoke to the boy as he opened his eyes. All he saw was a wide array of colors, hurting his eyes with the brightness.
“You are about to enter a new world. A world inhabited by creatures known as gijinkas. These creatures are crosses of humans and pokemon, looking more on the human side.”
Trying to open his mouth to say something, but with no success, the boy stayed silent.
“What’s your name? You can just tell me in your head, you have no need to talk.”
…Jason.
“Jason? That’s…a funny name.”
The voice chuckled, before continuing to talk.
“I already know much about you, believe it or not. You’re quite the interesting person. Sadly, you don’t remember anything about yourself. I can hint at your past at different times, but it’s up to you to remember the details. And no matter what happens, just remember…”
Remember what?
“…”
Please, tell me.
Don’t…don’t leave…

March 3, 3047
“You did it, didn’t you?” A woman, dressed in a beige colored dress questioned. Another woman stood on the other side of the room, though much younger looking, and wore a green and white dress. “Don’t think I can’t feel it. I’ve been around longer then you have!” The woman yelled at the other, getting more emotional the more the younger woman stayed quiet. “I had to. We had to, Ninetales. If we didn’t we wouldn’t have a chance of stopping him.” The younger woman stated. “There were plenty of other ways you could have done this! You’ve stolen two of them from their normal lives, and practically sentenced them to death!” Ninetales continued to yell, her voice echoing off of the walls of the icy chamber. “This is the way it has to be.” The younger woman stared at her, feeling genuine sorrow at seeing her friend hurt so much. “You cannot understand this right now, but in time you will come to see that we made the right choice.” She continued to say to Ninetales. The woman stared in disbelief at her friend, wondering how she could bring herself to do something like that. She sighed, gently putting her head against the wall for support. “Please, just leave me…” Ninetales said to her friend, feeling herself start to calm down. The younger woman nodded her head, and went for the exit. “You have no idea how much pain you have caused them now, Gardevoir.” Ninetales stated to her friend sadly. Gardevoir stopped for a moment, looking downward. “Actually, I do. I really do.” Gardevoir murmured in reply, before exiting the icy room.

A lone figure walked carefully through a burnt forest, almost as if he was gliding, the darkness of the night hiding him almost completely from sight. “So pitiful…” He muttered, stopping and standing in one position in the middle of the forest. “These mindless are creatures all fighting for their lives out here. It’s a shame, really. Their death is mercy on them.” He continued, and heard a lone twig break. He made a quick turn to face the person. A young girl, looking about twelve years old, was sitting in front of a tree, whimpering and cowering from the figure. “So, so sad…” He mused, walking closer to her, and holding out his hand to her. He caressed her face, enjoying the expression of pure horror on the girl’s face and her inability to react. “You aren’t one of them, are you? No, you have full control of your sanity.” The girl started to uncontrollably shiver all over, letting out involuntary cries. “There there, don’t worry; you have no need to suffer any longer. Death shall greet you with open arms.” He whispered in a cheerful way to her, and held up his hand, a dark aura coming from his fingers. As he prepared to slash downward on the girl’s chest, aiming to slice her completely in half, he felt something he hadn’t felt in a while before. He felt that something was at work that hadn’t been at work since he had performed it himself. “That…that’s…” he faltered in finishing his thought. He stepped away from the girl, as she finally managed to get up and run away. “This feeling…you, you’re finally responding to my ultimatum.” He spoke out loud, once again floating a little bit above the ground.
“It’s time for our game to begin…” He mused, laughing as he glided away from his spot in the forest.




March 4, 3047
Austin let out a quick yell as he pushed through the bushes in the woods, running as fast as he could go. He looked behind himself quickly to see if he was still being followed, and noticed some of the leaves behind him rustling. Suddenly, a purple ball of energy came flying through the air, forcing its way through the scenery and heading straight for him. Letting out another yell of surprise, Austin dove to his right, falling onto a steep hillside, and rolled down to the bottom. He coughed a couple of times, before crawling into a nearby bush, hiding from his pursuers.
“Finally, I lost them…” He muttered to himself, and stood up, brushing the dirt off of his blue jeans and shirt. He pulled his backpack off of his back, checking it for any damage. It still held its sturdy form, looking like a turtle shell. Sliding it back onto his back, Austin started to walk away from the place he had fallen from, and went deeper into the woods, hoping to find another way out. He looked around his surroundings, cautious of every twitching branch or leaf, and continued to walk forward, until something tripped him up. He yelled in fear of having tripped over some kind of trap rope, or a cliff edge, and waited for the pain of hitting the ground.
Don’t…don’t leave…Jason thought, until he felt something hit is stomach hard. His head lurched up, looking at the boy now lying over his chest with his eyes closed in fear. Not only was this kid lying on top of him, but he was wearing all blue clothing, pants and shirt, had a backpack that looked like a shell, and had blue hair.
“…Can you get off of me and stop squealing?” Jason asked bluntly, still in shock form the sudden scenery of the woods. As he finished saying this, the ground shook, making him look around to see what was going on. The boy let out a surprised scream, making Jason jump again due to the noise.
“That depends. Am I dead?” The boy asked back, sounding more genuine then Jason thought he would be.
“Well, I would say no, since we’re both here and neither of us are dead.” He sarcastically remarked, and gave the boy a shove off of him. Finally opening his eyes, the boy got up from the ground and looked at Jason curiously as he stood up.
“Who are you? I’ve never seen you in the area before.” He asked Jason, eyeing him closely as if examining him.
“My name’s Jason. Now, who are you, and do you know where we are?” Jason replied, walking a couple steps ahead of Austin and looking around, trying to get a feel for his surroundings. The boy watched Jason curiously for a couple seconds, intrigued by him, before finally responding.
“I’m Austin, and we’re in Tiny Woods, just outside of the square. I’m guessing you’re not from around here, if you don’t know that.” Austin chuckled, earning an annoyed look back from Jason.
“You’re right; I’m not from around here. I’m from…” Jason started to say, before realizing he was mentally blanking on where he came from. Austin crossed his arms, looking at Jason and waiting for him to come up with something like an impatient sibling would.
“I’m from somewhere. I can’t exactly remember at the moment. Maybe if we could get out of the woods I could rest up and see if anything comes to me.” Jason admitted, and started to walk further on ahead then he had already been. Austin laughed for a moment, following Jason as he walked further into the woods.
After a couple more minutes of walking, Jason let out a frustrated growl and slumped down onto the ground, sitting down. Austin looked down at him with an amused grin.
“You know, if you wanted to leave, you could have asked me. I know my way around here.” Austin told him, making Jason groan and flop backwards, laying on the ground in exasperation. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the two heard a noise, making their heads jerk over to the direction it was coming from.
“Please, is anyone there? I need someone’s help!” The voice yelled, sounding panicked and frightened. Jason jumped to his feet and ran off towards the voice, and Austin followed behind, despite his own objections. After some running, the two found themselves at the source. An injured woman, wearing a purple jacket with something on the back, which Jason thought for a second were wings. The woman looked nervous at first, backing up a step and getting defensive, until Austin spoke up.
“Relax, Madam Butterfree, it’s me, Austin. We’re not going to hurt you. Now, what’s going on? You look hurt.” Austin stated, sounding calm and innocent. The woman became more comfortable, standing normally to face the two, but still seemed injured.
“That’s not the problem. My son, he was playing around in the woods, and he was trapped in a fissure! Please, you have to help him.” The woman pleaded, her voice faltering towards the end of what she had said. A fissure? That probably came from that rumbling noise we heard earlier. Jason thought, and nodded his head.
“Alright ma’am, we’ll go find him for you. Just tell us where the fissure is” He responded, receiving a relieved look from Madam Butterfree, and a nervous look from Austin.
“Hold on a second, you’re injured, how did you get hurt?” He questioned, fidgeting with his fingers. The woman’s expression dropped, as she looked to her feet.
“I…was attacked by some natives to this area. But you two are more than capable of helping him, please, you have to!” She answered Austin, suddenly becoming worried that the two would change their minds and leave. Austin looked over at Jason, about to say something, but Jason opened his mouth first.
“Like I said before, don’t worry, we’ll go get him for you. Come on Austin.” He responded, and dashed off towards where Madam Butterfree came from, making Austin sigh and run after him.
Soon, Austin caught up with Jason, seeing him standing still on the edge of a fissure in the ground. Austin walked up to the edge, looking down into it. It wasn’t too far down, but wouldn’t be the easiest place for him to travel through. As he did this, Jason walked along the edge for a couple of feet before stopping, finding whatever he was looking for.
“What is it? Did you find a way down?” Austin asked, walking over to where Jason was now standing. Jason smirked mischievously, and crouched down, grabbing on some ivy hanging down the side of the fissure.
“You could say that, though I would wait for me to go first and see if it’s sturdy or not.” He replied, dropping his legs off the edge and grabbing onto the vines of ivy, descending with their use.
“So, how come you’re so ready to rush after Madam Butterfree’s son?” Austin asked, watching Jason climb down. Reaching the top part of the pathway, Jason hopped off of the vines and looked up at Austin, waiting for him to follow. Begrudgingly, Austin copied what Jason had done, and started to descend the fissure wall.
“Well, no one else was around. We can’t just let some kid get killed down here.” Jason responded, looking further down the path. As Austin was close to the bottom, one of the various vines he was holding onto snapped, making him lose his grip. He let out a surprised yell and fell towards the ground, only to be caught by Jason as he almost hit the path. Austin let out a sigh of relief, before being placed onto the ground by Jason.
“Try to be more careful for future reference; I don’t need to be looking out for two people.” Jason commented calmly, before heading down the path. Austin stood up and hastened his pace of walking so he could catch up with Jason.
“Well, you didn’t seem to care too much before when I fell on top of you.” Austin mumbled, which caused Jason to chuckle slightly.
“That wasn’t a matter of life and death.”
“It was pretty freaky for me! There was a chance I could have died with that fall.”
“Oh yes, that fall of about four feet on top of me could have definitely killed you.” After this exchange, the duo continued to walk forward, finding themselves nearing the bottom.
“We should be close. Hopefully the kid is still alive.” Jason said, and stepped off of the pathway, reaching the bottom of the fissure. Austin followed, looking around, gasped. He poked Jason, getting his attention, and pointed towards two people standing near the corner of the fissure. A smaller looking kid, dressed in light green clothing was crying, sitting down against the wall. The other figure was an older looking boy, wearing tan clothing with wings coming from his back. The wings were tinted with some red and yellow colors at the tips, and seemed to move like extra limbs with the rest of his body.
“Jason, we need to do something. That’s one of the natives Madam Butterfree mentioned, a Pidgey.” Austin said, watching as the bird-human mix got closer to the younger boy.
“Hey, do you mind getting away from him?” Jason asked, walking closer to the Pidgey. This seemed to get his attention, and he turned away from the boy, looking at Jason with a blank stare.
“Jason, what are you doing? He’s not going to listen to you!” Austin scolded, still standing back. Jason was about to retort, when the Pidgey’s face contorted from blankness to a look of unusual anger, rushing towards him in an attempt to tackle him. Reacting quickly, Jason grabbed the Pidgey’s arm with his left hand, elbowed into his chest with his right, and flipped the Pidgey over him, throwing him onto the ground and adjusting his elbow to cover his neck, keeping him down. Austin watched on in shock, and Jason smirked.
“That was pretty impressive, huh?” Jason commented, backing off of the Pidgey, seeing that he was knocked out.
“Oh yeah, you spent all that extra work on it, real impressive.” Austin sarcastically responded, getting a confused look from Jason.
“What do you mean? It’s not like you were helping, and what else should I have done to make it quicker?” He asked Austin, genuinely confused. Austin started to laugh more, until he realized that Jason was serious.
“You could have just used an electrical attack. You know, a thunderbolt or something.” Austin remarked, only succeeding in worrying Jason even more.
“What are you talking about? I can’t control electricity. I’m pretty sure no normal person can.” Jason remarked, now making Austin as confused as he was.
“Yeah, no normal person can. In case you haven’t noticed, we aren’t exactly normal. Take a look at yourself.” Austin told him, making Jason look down at himself. He nearly fell over, seeing that he looked completely different then he thought he would look like. He was wearing unusually yellow pants, looking like jeans. His shirt was a yellow long sleeved shirt, with a brown colored vest on top of it.
“That’s not even the best part. Feel around on the top of your head.” Austin continued to say, pointing to two spots on top of his own head. Jason mimicked these motions, and indeed felt something there. He grabbed the two objects attached to his head, and pulled them down into view, seeing that they were ears.
“What…the heck is this?” Jason asked in disbelief, not sure of what to make with everything. Austin turned away from Jason and walked over to the young boy, who was no longer crying.
“Hey, we’re here to pick you up. Your mom sent us.” Austin told the child, and held out his hand. The child hesitantly reached back to Austin, and let Austin pull him up.
“I’ll explain everything to you on our way. But for now, let’s get out of here.” Austin said to Jason, and the three of them walked back onto the path, none of them speaking, as they were all in thought.

Reaching the area they met Madam Butterfree at, the woman was sitting down on a rock, looking anxious for them to return.
“Mama!” The boy immediately called, and ran towards her, hugging her tightly. The mother and son embraced for a while and talked to each other, leaving Jason and Austin standing to the side awkwardly. Soon, Madam Butterfree turned back to the two of them.
“Thank you so much. I don’t know what would have happened if you two hadn’t found him.” She thanked, with some tears in her eyes.
“Don’t worry about that, all that matters is that we were around to help.” Austin replied, smiling at them. Jason nodded his head, showing a smile. It feels…I don’t know, nice to be thanked by someone. We did the right thing, but I still have some questions for Austin. Jason thought, watching the mother and son walk away from them, heading home. Before Jason could ask anything, Austin turned to him and started talking.
“Alright, here’s the deal. You have a lot you don’t know about the area apparently, and you also need a place to stay.” Austin told Jason as if it were a fact. Jason crossed his arms, and started to tap his foot, as if urging Austin to get to the point.
“I have a house you can stay in with me. I’ll explain everything to you there about what’s going on here, on one condition.” Austin finished, grinning now. Jason waited a couple seconds in silence, before realizing that he was supposed to respond.
“And what is this condition?” He asked Austin.
“I want you to make a rescue team with me. Deal?” Austin answered, looking fairly excited. Jason shrugged, looking around and thinking about what Austin was saying.
“What’s a rescue team? Just, going around and rescuing people, like we did today?” He asked. Austin nodded his head saying yes. After a couple seconds, Jason sighed, smirking.
“Why not? Sure, now let’s get out of here. I’m looking forward to being able to rest on all this.” Jason responded. Austin grinned, and nodded his head.
“Alright, let’s get going then. I’ll explain all the specifics to you tomorrow, but it’s getting late now.” He told Jason, noticing the sun was starting to set. Jason nodded his head, and Austin started to walk away, with Jason following behind as the two walked through the woods, heading for the exit.

March 4, 3047
“…this is your house?” Jason asked as he and Austin walked up to a slightly shady looking hut with some water around it. The two boys had had a fairly non-eventful trip back, although their trip was lit only by the stars and moon, with Jason feeling incredibly tired and waiting to get to the house Austin had promised, only to realize that the house was more like an old hut. It had blue wood paneling, and was dome-shaped, with a couple fountains and small ditches with water filling them. Austin sighed, and fiddled with his fingers, seeming slightly nervous.
“Well, it’s what I have, and therefore it’s what you have for the time being. So get used to it.” Austin replied, and walked towards the door at the front of the house. Jason followed behind, walking inside the hut as Austin held the door open. He was surprised to see that there seemed to be more room then he first thought on the inside, and had a couple beds in it, and yet another water fountain with blue colored décor in the room.
“Let me guess…your favorite color is blue.” Jason commented, noticing the trend between the color Austin was wearing and the coloring of the hut. Austin snickered, closing the door behind him and walking into the small one-room house.
“What gave it away?” He asked sarcastically, before actually responding. “Yeah, I tend to like the color blue. Especially since blue’s the color of water.” Jason opened his mouth to respond, but Austin kept talking. “I happen to like water for the same reason you’ll probably find yourself enjoying the thunderstorms that pass by. You see, we’re not exactly humans here. We’re gijinkas. Gijinkas are a mix of humans and pokemon, so we have some pokemon-like qualities, but we’re mostly human.” He explained. So, that explains the ears and tail…Jason thought to himself, and also noticed that his clothing also fit the color scheme of a pokemon.
“With your clothing, ears and tail, I think it’s safe to assume you’re mixed with Pikachu. You know, electric mice pokemon?” Austin commented, walking over to bed and jumping into it, ready to get some rest.
“No, actually. I don’t know.” Jason said, prompting Austin to look over at him with a confused expression. “I actually don’t know anything but my name. For some reason, I don’t remember anything that happened before you tripped over me in those woods.” He continued, sliding into another bed in the room, feeling too exhausted to talk more that night.
“Well…alright then. Maybe I can help you out with remembering things. I bet you lived somewhere around here, maybe wandering around. I’ll tell you what, tomorrow I’ll give you a tour of the town, and order the supplies we need to form our Rescue Team. They won’t come for a couple days probably, so we can take some time to explore the areas around here and see if we can jog your memory. Are you up for it?” Austin asked, not having noticed until then that Jason had fallen asleep in the other bed while he was talking.
“Well fine then. I’ll just sort things out tomorrow.” He commented, before closing his eyes and also falling asleep.
March 5, 3047
Jason kept his eyes closed as he woke up in his bed, not bothering to look around. Crap, that was a weird dream. At least I’m back to normal, and… He started to think, until he realized he couldn’t remember where it was he should be. Finally opening his eyes, Jason noticed that he was in the same room from his supposed dream, which could only mean one thing.
“So, that wasn’t a dream. Hey Austin, what were you planning on doing?” He asked, and waited for a reply. After a couple minutes, Jason hopped out of bed and looked around until he realized that he was alone. Alone except for an envelope at the foot of his bed of course. Picking it up, Jason read the contents of the letters in order out loud.
“Jason, went out to the Pokemon Square to take care of some things. Meet me there-Austin.”
“P.S.: Sorry, I forgot you don’t know where that is. Take a right after leaving the house and keep walking, you’re sure to see it. See you there-Austin.”
“P.S.S.: I meant left. You take a left when you leave. You know what that is right?” Jason chuckled at the three notes, picking up on the fact that Austin was a rather disorganized guy. He walked out of the front door to head for the square, remembering Austin’s attempt at directions.
Well, Austin had been right about one thing. Jason could definitely recognize the Pokemon Square when he got to it. There was a series of buildings, all with various goods and services available. He smirked, happy to see a large source of some form of civilization nearby.
“Now, to find Austin…” Jason muttered to himself as he looked around the busy area. While Austin had eventually given him the right directions, he had failed to mention where exactly he was going to be in the square. Making a mental note to tell Austin how to give better directions, Jason decided to go to his plan B, which was asking for anything that might give him an idea of how to find Austin. Looking around at the various people, well gijinkas, around his eyes fell on a boy about his age, wearing ghostly purple colored clothing.
“Um, excuse me.” Jason said, getting the boy’s attention. “Could you tell me where someone would go to make a Rescue Team? A friend of mine went to-“ He started to ask, but the boy cut him off, starting to laugh after eying him.
“You’re making a Rescue Team? Unless your ‘friend’ is able to carry the weight of two people, you should back out now.” He responded to Jason, giving him an evil smirk. The Pikachu gijinka’s expression went from one of confusion to one of obvious annoyance, glaring at the other boy.
“Look, I didn’t ask for your opinion. I just need to know where to find my friend. I’m new to the-“ Jason once again started to say, before the purple clothed boy’s hand started to glow with a dark aura, and punched Jason straight to the face, knocking him onto the ground. He let out a grunt, landing on his backside and looking up at the boy, now full on mad.
“Like I said, you shouldn’t bother starting a team. You’ll only get yourself killed out there, and maybe someone else. I would know, I happen to be the leader of a strong team. The name’s Gengar, leader of Team Shadowforce.” The boy commented, looking down at Jason on the ground with an amused expression on his face. Clenching the ground with his fists, Jason almost lunged forward to give the guy a punch in the gut when he heard a surprised gasp come from a couple feet away.
Austin had just stopped at the post office, ordering the supplies for him and Jason to start their Rescue Team. Of course, he had to think of a name to register, and regrettably Jason wasn’t there with him to decide. Having taken matters into his own hands, Austin had signed them up as Team V. He thought it would catch on, and he didn’t want to have to wait any longer to sign up. So, having taken care of everything, he started to walk back through the square to go get Jason from home, when out of sheer dumb luck, or lack of, he came across a certain purple-clad boy delivering a greeting to Jason in the form of a fist.
“H-hey, what’s going on?” He asked the two, stuttering a bit and obviously seeming uncomfortable. Truth be told, it was exactly Gengar’s fault that he had found Jason in the woods.
Austin let out a quick yell as he pushed through the bushes in the woods, running as fast as he could go. He looked behind himself quickly to see if he was still being followed, and noticed some of the leaves behind him rustling. Suddenly, a purple ball of energy came flying through the air, forcing its way through the scenery and heading straight for him. Letting out another yell of surprise, Austin dove to his right, falling onto a steep hillside, and rolled down to the bottom. He coughed a couple of times, before crawling into a nearby bush, hiding from his pursuers.
“Oh, well if it isn’t you again. How did you like the shadow ball?” Gengar taunted him, gaining a cruel smile across his lips. Having turned away from Jason though, Austin suddenly saw Gengar’s form drop to the ground. Jason pulled his leg back from kicking out his legs and hopped back up, walking over to Austin.
“Thanks for the help there…” He commented sarcastically, and gave Austin a pat on the back. “And I may not remember much, but I should probably give you some help on writing instructions. You need it.” He continued to say, and hearing Gengar laugh as he got back up off of the ground.
“You expected him to help you? Wait…don’t tell me, he’s your partner? You’ve got to be kidding me. You do know that he’s the most useless idiot you could pick up off of the streets here, right? Can’t even fight…” He said, chuckling at Jason and Austin as he did so. Jason rolled his eyes, and looked at Austin as if expecting him to come up with some kind of retort. Instead, he just stood there with an embarrassed expression on his face.
“Anyway, I’ll leave you two on your own for now. Not that you’ll get very far…” Gengar commented, and started to walk away. The two remaining boys stood there for a while, before deciding it would be best to walk back to the hut to talk.
“…And so I jumped out of the way of the shadow ball attack, and found you.” Austin finished explaining how he had met up with Jason the day they met, with both of them sitting on Jason’s bed.
“Well, I guess something good did come out of it.” Jason replied to his explanation, smirking. “Now, he said something about his team name. Did you pick a team name for us?” He asked Austin, thinking about the various possibilities for a name they could have had. I bet he could come up with something pretty cool. Like Team Storm, or Team Shinesplash. Maybe even Team…
“Team V…” Austin answered, smiling almost childishly at Jason in anticipation. Jason blinked, taken out of his thoughts by the answer to his question. That’s…not what I expected. At all…He thought to himself, but returned Austin’s smile.
“Sounds pretty awesome. Team V…what does it stand for?” He asked Austin, hoping that there was something meaningful or good in it.
“Well, we can add more to the list, but for now it stands for victory.” Austin answered, keeping up his own grin, but started to think about it. Oh Arceus he hates it…
I hate this…but I guess I can get used to it. Jason thought, and held up his hand to show Austin, holding up only his pointer and middle finger.
“Team V. Victory, and makes a peace sign.” He said, making Austin start to chuckle slightly. Jason also started to chuckle, and soon it broke out into full blown laughter between the two. Being the first to recover, Austin got up and headed for the door, opening it up.
“We can continue this conversation out in the woods I guess. Maybe we can head back to where I found you, see if there’s anything around there that can help you remember things again.” He suggested. Jason nodded his head and walked for the door, looking at the area outside.
“I’m up for it. Let’s go, I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”

March 5th, 3047
A teenage girl, about 16 years old, walked out along a small ridge hanging over a pathway in the woods. Her bright red jacket and orange pants made her stick out from the rest of the foliage, which would normally be a problem for the type of mission she was going on, but due to a height advantage she figured she would be alright. As she stood by she crossed her arms, awaiting for her guide to tell her what to do next. As she expected, a slightly chilling voice came out of nowhere, speaking only so she could hear. Of course, it may have been chilling to others, but she had grown used to it, along with most other things that would make someone uneasy.
“Remember, Kelly, I need that bag. Get it to me from the two who will be passing by and I promise you I’ll keep my end of our deal. Got it?” The voice spoke. Kelly’s facial expression stayed neutral, and she wasted no time in responding.
“Of course. And you’re sure that the people with this thing won’t be very skilled?” She asked, knowing not to ask too much, but to get the bare necessity of information. Sure enough though, without a response, two boys came walking through the passageway underneath, one of them dressed in yellow in brown, holding a certain familiar bag, and the other dressed in blue, following behind.
“Seems easy enough. Showtime…” Kelly muttered to herself, grinning a bit as she jumped into the passage way behind them, ready to take them out.





March 5th, 3047
“Come on Jason, I don’t want to lose track of you here.” Austin called back to his partner as the two walked through the woods. He could hear Jason grumbling something about being cautious and unfamiliar with the land, and chuckled a little bit. The two had previously decided to head back out to the area where Austin had found the Pikachu gijinka passed out on the ground to see if anything was left there to see where he came from, and were nearing the area.
“Are we there yet?” Jason asked a bit impatiently as he continued to follow behind at a slower pace than his companion.
“We’re almost there. Of course, we would be there faster if you picked up the speed.” Austin retorted, smirking about it for a good couple of steps until he felt something fall out from underneath him. He let out a quick scream and managed to grab onto the side of the hole that he was now hanging inside, and looked around for something else to grab onto to help himself get up. Preferably before Jason showed up, because getting that shoved in his face was not something he wanted to suffer through. He noticed that the hole was fairly wide and long, and there wasn’t something around to grab onto.
“Well great…” He muttered to himself as Jason caught up and ran over to the hole, grabbing onto Austin’s arm and pulling him up.
“Gee, “Keep up Jason!”, “Pick up the pace!”, and now I’m here dragging you out of a hole.” He remarked as Austin looked at what he had just almost fallen down. It seemed to be pretty deep, and he couldn’t see the bottom of it. Also it had been covered by leaves, almost as if it were some kind of trap.
“Well that’s strange. We better keep our eyes out for things like these. Don’t know what’s down there…” Austin told Jason, and looked over only to see him walking ahead. Sighing, he got up and ran after Jason, wondering if he saw something.
Well, I guess we’re back at the clearing finally. Jason thought as he walked over to a grassy area, and proceeded to look around. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary, except for the lighting. The area wasn’t as covered with trees and allowed plenty of light to get through, and also showed some of the shadows from the tree tops, one of which had an odd shape dangling for it. What the heck is that? He wondered as he turned and looked up at the tree creating the shadow. Dangling from one of the branches was an old looking tote bag, hanging by its single strap.
“What was all that about being cautious if you’re just going to run off on your own?” Jason heard Austin complain as he caught up with him, and took quick notice of the bag.
“Is that yours? Does it seem a bit familiar?” He asked as Jason walked over to the tree and examined it, seeing if he could climb it or not.
“No idea. It could be mine, or maybe it isn’t. But nevertheless, we might as well check it out. Now come here, I need to give you a boost so you can go get it.” He told Austin, who walked over to the tree and looked up.
“Why do you have to give me a boost? Can’t I get you up there?” Austin questioned, not really liking the idea of being pushed up into a tree to grab a bag that may or may not be Jason’s.
“Look, it’s not too bad. Plus I’ll catch you if you slip up or something. Just trust me.” He continued to try and convince Austin, and crouched down, holding his hands out to give him a foothold. Sighing again, Austin placed his foot in Jason’s hands and felt himself getting pushed up, and grabbed onto a branch. The tree was fairly stable, and luckily easy to climb. Within no time, Austin had gotten the bag and climbed back down, dropping in front of Jason and handing him the bag.
“Here. Now, how about checking out what’s in the bag?” Austin questioned, while Jason seemed to become a bit curious and look at the bag.
“In the bag? Oh, yeah. That might be something to check on.” Jason told him as he started to open it up.
“Wait a minute. You sent me up there to grab a bag for you, which could help you remember things, only to look at it and never even consider looking in it?”
“Well I wasn’t really thinking that much about it.” Jason responded, and pulled something out of the bag.
“Austin? Do you know what the heck this is?” Austin looked at what Jason was holding and frowned, not completely sure of what the glowing object was.
“I honestly don’t know. It looks like it's shaped like a gear. We should keep it on us though, it seems pretty important. I don’t suppose you remember anything yet?” Austin asked, but Jason only shrugged and turned away, starting to walk back through the woods.

The duo started to walk through a narrow passageway between two ridges, and after some walking Jason swung his arm out, stopping Austin from moving forward as they looked at the path ahead.
“So…how many of those leaf-covered areas do you think have pits beneath them?” Austin asked, as the pair now saw multiple sections of the dirt ground covered in leaves.
Jason started to walk a little bit ahead, holding onto the bag they found cautiously avoiding the potential pit-falls.
“I’d say most if not all of them are. So be careful, I don’t want to have to pull you out of another one of those.” He joked back, and simply received a sigh as an answer. I was right. For the time being at least, I’m not recovering from that mishap. Austin thought as he followed slightly behind Jason. As he started to become lost in thought, he felt something come into contact with his back, and suddenly his legs were swept out from underneath him and he felt himself make contact with the ground. A red blur ran past him and threw a punch at Jason, but he had already turned around and grabbed her arm, using the momentum to flip her over his shoulder. The girl broke free with a cartwheel as her legs and other arm hit the ground and lashed out with her feet, kicking Jason’s legs out from underneath him. After that final move, both gijinkas disappeared.
“Jason? Jason!” Austin called out as he got up and ran over to where they last were, only to see a pit that looked like the one from before. Oh crap, they must have both fallen in there… Austin deducted as he wondered what he could do to help out.
“This isn’t good.” Understatement of the century.

That could have gone better. Kelly ran a hand across the back of her head, checking for any important injuries from the drop. She had gotten the jump on them, took out little boy blue easily, but it seemed that her yellow friend was a bit tougher to take down, and now just so happened to be stuck in the same predicament as her. So instead of making enemies, let’s make a friend. I’ll see if I can get him to cooperate until we can get out, then I’ll take the bag and go. Simple enough. She finished planning in her head as Jason let out a groan and started to sit up.
“Hey, sunshine. Snap to it.” Kelly remarked as she held out one hand to help him up and the other in the air, where a small red flame sprouted out, providing them with some light. Now becoming more aware, Jason looked up and saw the girl, and got to his feet on his own. The girl smirked and walked a couple steps away from the boy, facing away from him.
“Alright, well, we seem to be stuck in similar situations.” She stated bluntly, and paused slightly before continuing.
“I think we’re going to have to work together to get out of this. Do you have a name?” The girl asked, turning back to face Jason. He didn’t exactly seem happy, but more neutral.
“I don’t suppose you were the one making those holes out there to trap someone, was it?” Jason asked. Avoiding the question, and with a completely idiotic one. Kelly mused as she responded.
“Oh yes, I fell into my own trap. Honestly, I’m not a complete idiot. Unlike some people apparently.” She mumbled the last part. Jason frowned, before taking a look around at their surroundings. The walls and floor were still dirt, so they couldn’t have fallen too far, which explained their relative lack of injury. The ceiling, however, seemed to be a bit more on the rocky side.
“Hey. Are you coming along or what?” Jason heard Kelly ask, as he turned to see her walking down a pathway with their only light source.
“Yeah, I guess.” Jason started to respond, and looked down at the bag. Of course he could always split off from her, maybe that gear inside would provide enough light for him. Or it could attract all sorts of other things and you would be alone. It’s probably better to work together. He finally decided and jogged over to Kelly, walking next to her down the passageway.
After a couple of minutes of running through the woods alone, Austin had gotten back to town, and started to wonder how to find help. Running through the road and yelling for help probably isn’t the best idea, but I don’t have time for asking around… He debated, finally deciding that the former was better than the latter option. Heading into the main square, he looked around at the various people standing around. He wanted to ask someone who seemed capable of helping him out, and yet there didn’t seem to be many people like that around. Except, of course, for someone standing off to the side with a couple of leaf fans and dressed in white.
“Hey, excuse me sir!” Austin exclaimed as he ran over to the guy, earning some less then amused looks from others and him. “I’m sorry to bother you, but me and my friend were out in the woods and he fell down a hole after being attacked by someone, she didn’t seem to be feral like some of the others.” He explained, panicking slightly.
“Look, I’d love to help you out, I really would…for a price, at least. If you have nothing to offer then I have nothing to offer you.” The gijinka responded, looking at Austin and seeing his facial expression start to become more worried and shocked.
“Wait a minute, can’t you please just think about it? I don’t have too much to offer, but I can find something!” Austin started to nearly beg, until someone else’s voice interjected.
“What’s going on here, Shiftry? Refusing another client?” Another guy, dressed up in a darker shade of yellow then Jason had been asked. Shiftry huffed, starting to walk away.
“He’s got nothing to offer me. I know you like to waste time and energy, so you can talk to him about it Alakazam.” He responded as he walked off. Austin looked up at Alakazam, slightly nervous about the stranger.
“Now, what seems to be your trouble?” He asked, and Austin started to explain what had happened.
“So, you still haven’t told me your name.” Kelly commented as she walked along with Jason. The two had been walking for a little while, but to no avail. They hadn’t found any exits yet, and were still stuck there.
“I don’t have to tell you my name you know. For some unexplainable reason I have difficulty trusting you.” Jason responded, putting emphasis on the sarcasm of the second half of what he said.
“Alright, fine then. I have to call you something. How about…Pika. Yeah, that’s it for now.” She suggested, though even if he was opposed to it she wasn’t going to change it until he told her his real name. Jason let out a sigh of annoyance, and continued to walk until something caught his eye.
“Wait a minute…that’s sunlight. And something’s reflecting the light over there.” He said, and started to run ahead towards a hole in the ceiling. This one was a bit closer to the ground, but still not close enough to climb out through. Switching his attention to the shining material, he walked over to it and examined it, having an odd feeling.
“Wait a minute…” He murmured as Kelly started to catch up, and felt the material that was reflecting the light.
“It’s metal. But more than that, I know this…” He continued to say to himself as Kelly caught up, and the light she was projecting showed him exactly what it was.

June 21st, 2021
The sun shone bright on the hot summer day, but Jason wasn’t seeing it currently. Currently, he was inside his garage, focused on one thing only. A motor-bike, which was propped up and ready for him to fix up. As he started toying with some of the wires and parts, he heard a voice say something to him.
“Wow, what a great day. And here you are, wasting it inside fixing up your bike.” The voice said. Jason smirked, and turned to the entryway of the garage to see a girl about his age standing there.
“Hey, and here you are wasting your day visiting me.” He responded, earning a smirk back from her also as he got back to work on his bike.
“I still can’t believe you managed to crash that. I mean come on, I get it was dark and all but something tells me a medium sized metal railing would be a bit more obvious.” She continued to joke.
“Well, it was fairly dark you know. And I’m fine, by the way. It’s a good thing my dad happens to be a mechanic, and that he’s already passed enough words of wisdom on to me to fix these kinds of things.” Jason said, and got up. “I can take a break though if you’re looking to go do something. It is a great day, you know.”
“Obviously. Come on, let’s go then.” The girl responded again, and Jason started to walk towards her.

March 5th, 3047
“It’s a motorcycle.” Jason finished, surprised to see a suddenly familiar sight in front of him. He suddenly felt a lot more energetic, remembering a couple of things.
“Bravo, an ancient piece of human technology. Maybe you can sell it for 30 poke.” Kelly remarked, sounding obviously unimpressed.
“No, no, no. I know how to fix it. It’s not much different from the old bike I had.” Jason continued to say, obviously too excited about his discovery to recognize her sarcasm. Kelly rolled her eyes, before seeing something else on the ground that she recognized from what she had learned. Picking it up, it was a gun with a claw-type thing on the end, which she took a wild guess at what it was for.
“Well, it’s been fun Pika, but I’ve got to run now.” She said quickly, and punched Jason in the back, grabbing the bag and lifting it over him before he could react and running off to the hole in the ceiling with a branch placed above it. As she got under it she turned around to face Jason, smirking as he got up and started to run over to her. Pointing the gun towards the hole, she pulled the trigger and heard the cling of the hook making contact with the tree branch, and felt herself being lifted out of the hole and standing on the edge of it, the claw retracting back in.
“Huh, a grapple-gun. Pretty effective if I say so myself, I think I’m keeping this.” Kelly commented, looking down into the hole to see Jason and holding his bag.
“I’ll take care of it, don’t worry. Your friend probably went to get help, he’ll be back. See you around.” She commented, and pointed her grapple-gun back at the ridge, sending herself up to the top with ease before running off.
“Hey, wait! Dang it…” Jason sighed, standing beneath the hole in the ceiling and looking over at the motorcycle once again, wondering if he would be able to get it out at some point. He sat down on the ground, thinking about everything that had occurred until he started to hear footsteps above him.
“Hey! Austin, is that you? Over here!” He yelled, looking up at the hole. After a couple moments of a panicked feeling, he saw a familiar face poke into the hole.
“Hey, Jason! Nice to see you’re okay. I think it’s short enough in this area for you to grab onto my hand.” Austin yelled, and stuck his arm through, holding it out. Wondering if it was a good idea or not, Jason jumped up and grabbed onto Austin’s hand, who seemed to almost fall in with him until a pink aura appeared around him and seemed to stop him.
“Uh, what’s that?” Jason asked, slightly unnerved about it as Austin pulled him out of the hole, and he noticed another man with Austin.
“You’re Jason. Nice to meet you, your partner got me to help get you out of your predicament. And that was a bit of Psychic ability, just thought you could use the help. I wouldn’t want the two of you to be stuck together in there.” Alaskazam responded as Jason and Austin got to their feet.
“Well, uh, thank you for your help.” Jason thanked the gijinka, though finding something about him slightly unnerving.
“No problem. I can see that you two know your way back, so I think I will leave you here. Farewell, maybe I will run into you again at some point.” Alakazam commented as he started to walk away. As he did, Austin turned to Jason with a questioning look before Jason spoke.
“Alright, my turn to be mysterious for now. I’ll tell you what happened when we get back, I think I’ve seen enough of this place for now.” He said, to which his partner sighed and nodded his head.
“That sounds fair. Come on then, oh, and watch your step. I don’t want to have to pull you out of another one of those.” Austin responded, smirking at Jason as he started to walk away.
“Touche…” Jason muttered as he followed behind, grinning to himself about the comment.

Kelly leaned against a tree, looking around and waiting for her client to show up, giving her time to reflect on the day’s events. Well, he certainly seems interesting. She thought to herself, wondering if she would run into the boy again. He was a bit of a mix between naïve and logical, and she found that this set of personality was fun to toy with.
“Do you have it?” A voice suddenly spoke, as out of the shadows a man materialized, dressed in black and red. Kelly tossed the bag over to him, which he then looked inside, grinning in an almost creepily calm manor.
“Perfect. Thank you for your services, I may call on you again…” He simply said before melting into shadows once again, taking the bag with him. Waiting a couple of minutes after he left, Kelly smirked and started to walk away, awaiting her next job.