POKEMON MYSTERY DUNGEON: THE SAGA OF TEAM SUPERNOVA!

Welcome to Pokemon Aus24's official Pokemon Fan-Fic written, created and owned by the talented FocusPresenceEndurance. Below is the introduction and prologue to the story and every so often I will update with a new chapter.

Chapters 1-3 Here
Chapters 4-6 Here
Chapters 7-9 Here
Chapters 10-12 Here
Chapters 13-15 Here
Chapters 16-18 Here


~Chapter 10

Following in the Footsteps of Idols. Team Charge-Net Takes Off!

It was a calm morning in Thunder Meadows. Dewdrops clung to the yellow grass, which blanketed the still waterlogged soil. Despite having been several days since the massive storm, the effects of it could still be seen. Puddles lay scattered among grass of the fields.

During that night it had been especially bad here. With only a few dead and bare trees to block it, the wind blew untamed. The lightning was constant, though it wasn’t of much concern, since all the inhabitants were electric type Pokemon. The rain wasn’t much of a problem either; draining off the cliff that bordered one side of the meadow. On a good day, like today, one could see all the way to the Pokemon Village from the edge of this cliff.

A faint flapping sound drifted through the crisp air, signifying that Pelliper was taking his usual morning route. He touched down, dropping the newspaper in a rather short mailbox in front of one particular house. This house was shaped like a dome that featured a blue minus sign above the door. Grass was growing at the top, just above the minus sign, as well as above the single window. However, this house was so small that not even a Charizard could have fit comfortably in it. Pelliper flipped up the sign on the mailbox, which made a small squeaking noise, spread his wings and took off on his way to the next house.

Not a moment later, the door to the small house swung open, revealing a small electric mouse with blue minus signs on his cheeks, blue on the tips of his ears as well as a blue minus sign for a tail. Most Pokemon at this time would have been groggy and would have done anything to go back to bed, but not this one. Feeling fresh and alert, Minun dashed out the door and made an all out sprint to the mailbox, coming to a sudden halt when he reached it. Reaching inside, he pulled out the recent edition of the Pelliper news. He’d been doing this for a little while now, searching for one name in particular. Unfortunately, this name had yet to turn up.

He scanned through the paper, glancing at each heading as he went. “NEW CHAMPION AT MAKUHITA DOJO” “OUTDATED BRIDGE FINALLY REPLACED” “ANOTHER AMAZING RESCUE BY TEAM ACT” Eventually, one particular section caught his eye. With a burst of excitement he ran up to the house neighboring his own. It was similar in every way, with a red plus sign above the door instead of a blue minus sign. He knocked quickly on it, shouting, “Plusle! Hey Plusle! Come check this out!”

The door opened and a small electric with red plus signs on his cheeks, red ears, and a red plus sign tail stepped out. Plusle had apparently just woken up, but brightened up right away upon seeing his friend and the paper in his hand. “Oh!” Plusle said excitedly, “You found what you were looking for!?”

“Sure did!” answered Minun with equal excitement, “You know Team Supernova, right?”

“… Yeah!” Plusle said thinking back, “I think so. That’s the team that Cubone is on right? The one that saved you? And then the two other members… I forgot who they were.”

“Take a look at this!” Minun said showing Plusle the paper, “It’s a list of all the rescue teams that have ranked up today.” He pointed at one part of the list revealing the name Team Supernova; “They ranked up to bronze!”

“Bronze,” Plusle repeated, impressed, “Not bad!”

“I know!”

“I know!!”

“I know!!!”

“I know!!!!”

They both laughed between themselves for a couple moments; a passing Flaaffy gave them both an odd look before continuing on her way. They calmed down again, falling back onto the grass to gaze at the sky. Minun sighed with an almost longing expression on his face as he let his imagination take over. “You know, it kinda makes me want to start a rescue team too. That would be so cool…”

“Yep. It totally would.”

“You don’t think we could… oh never mind.”

Plusle sat up again. “Well, why not?” he answered, as if reading his friends mind.

“WHAT!?” At this Minun literally jumped to his feet, doing a midair somersault in the process. “Me!? On a rescue team!?”

“Sure!” Plusle answered, “I’m positive that there are Pokemon that need our help! We might even be able to meet Team Supernova!”

“That would be great…” said Minun thinking a moment. The moment lasted only half a second before he hastily said, “Let’s do it!” He started running on the spot with excitement, but then he suddenly stopped as he realized a hole in their plan. “But, we need another team member. Who would join our team?”

“Well…” Plusle said trying to think of a possible candidate. He paced back and forth which was what he did when he was trying to remember something. He clapped his hands suddenly as he came to a conclusion, making Minun jump slightly. “I’ve got it! Remember a few years ago when Caterpie wanted to start a rescue team and asked us to join? We could take him up on his offer. I’m sure he still wants to be on a rescue team!”

“Hey, yeah! That’s a great idea!” Minun cried, as if his dreams were slowly but surely coming together. “Then we could go to the Pelliper Post Office to get all the stuff we need!”

“So here’s the plan,” announced Plusle, “we’ll find Caterpie, and form a rescue team with him. Then we’ll go the Post Office and get the stuff we need. We’ll pick a mission, and we can even start rescuing today! How does that sound?”

“Yes!” Minun said, beginning to shiver with excitement, “I’ll be on a rescue team just like Tristan!”

Without any more to do, the two friends left Thunder Meadows, with their bold and rash idea in mind. It didn’t take long before they found Caterpie, since he could always be found in the same place.

“You… you… you really want to make a rescue team!?” asked Caterpie in disbelief, “and… and… you’re asking me to join!?” Caterpie had the appearance of a small green caterpillar, shorter than both Plusle and Minun, though not by much. He had a pale yellow underside and small yellow ring-shaped markings that traveled down both sides of his body. This all was topped off with an orange antenna that protruded from his forehead and branched immediately into two. He had an expression on his face as if all his dreams were finally coming true.

Elder Wiscash could be heard chuckling in the background about how energetic youngsters were these days. The water level from that night in the pond had receded back to its normal calm level, and the atmosphere was what it normally was. The gentle flow of water babbled over the rocky wall of boulders, which was topped by the dense trees of the forest. The bright morning sun reflected off of the crystal clear water.

“Yep,” said Plulse happily. “We even thought of a team name.”

“Team Charge-Net!” stated Minun; “You like?”

“I can’t believe this is happening! I can finally be on a rescue team!” his eyes seemed to sparkle with delight as he said something that sounded very similar to what Plusle had heard a few minutes ago, “Wow. I’ll be on a rescue team just like Dave!”

“Well,” Plusle said, “We were heading off to the Pelliper post office to get our supplies! You should come with us!”

“Too bad I can’t come,” said Metapod, coming up from behind. Metapod was a great deal larger than Caterpie, though they were still very close in age (Caterpie was due to evolve soon). His entire cocoon shaped body was green with the exception of his eyes. “I’d probably only get in the way the way I am now, though…” He looked down in disappointment, but then a moment later looked back up. “You should go Caterpie! I’ll harden as hard as I can, and become a Butterfree soon! That way I can come along too!”

“Hey that’s a great idea!” Caterpie exclaimed. He turned to his two new team members who nodded in agreement.

“I don’t have a problem with that,” Plusle said.

“The more the merrier, right?” Minun asked.

Caterpie turned back to his friend. “Okay, I’m going with them for a bit. Become a Butterfree as soon as possible!” He began to leave the pond with Plusle and Minun, but turned back one last time, “I’ll tell you all about our first rescue!!”

“I’ll be hardening until you get back! Tell me something exciting!”

With that, the trio left the pond.

***

“OH WOW!!” Minun exclaimed as they left the post office. It was a large building shaped exactly like a Pelliper, with plants growing where its wings should have been, on the top of it head and other places along its base. He stared at the badge in his hands, as if it were some kind of trophy. “I’m actually on a rescue team!!” His two other friends shared the same thoughts.

The newly formed team turned to face the bulletin board, which was directly in front of the Pelliper shaped building. It was crammed with missions, some of them overlapping each other because of the lack of space.

“So many to choose from,” Caterpie said, overwhelmed with the choices. “How are we gonna pick one?”

“Um… let's choose something easy, but not too easy” suggested Plusle, scanning the board.

“A is the easiest right?” asked Minun, “because it’s the first letter of the alphabet?”

“I think that’s how it works,” Caterpie answered. “It makes sense to me.”

“If that’s the case, then let's choose this mission!” Plusle said pointing at one that was close to the end of the list, just barely in his reach. He jumped to take it down, and began to read from it. “Client: Wooper, Objective: I got stuck! Save me! Place: Frosty Forest Floor 15, Difficulty: A” He lowered the letter to look at the others, “That doesn’t sound too hard, does it?”

“No way!” said Minun, “We can totally do that!”

“That will be a great first mission!” exclaimed Caterpie.

“Then, that’s that!” Plusle said tucking the mission under his arm, while Minun clumsily swung the toolbox behind his back. It was a special toolbox built for small Pokemon. The downside of it was that it couldn’t hold as much as the larger ones. “Let's meet on the bridge just outside the village at noon with our supplies! Then, we’ll get going on our mission!”

The team gathered their necessary items, such as scarves and berries. Finally, after what seemed like hours to Minun, they met at the meeting point. All set, they departed for Frosty Forest.

“I can’t wait until Tristan sees that I’ve actually done a mission!” said Minun, beginning to shiver again with excitement.

Caterpie gave a confused look. “Tristan?” He asked, “Who the heck is Tristan?”



Chapter 11

Meeting Team Blue. Mix-up in the Mail!

It was early in the morning when Team Supernova gathered in the Pokemon Village. By now it had been roughly a week since the night of the intense storm. Seeing the village now, one would never have guessed that such a storm had even occurred. The repairs were finished and the town was back to normal. During that time the team had gone on several minor missions, giving them time to fully recover but still allowing them to get in some much-needed practice. It even took a couple of days for Torchic to stop sneezing.

Some of these missions included finding Poliwag’s missing stamina band in Thunderwave Cave and rescuing a lost Rattata in the early levels of Thunder Mountain. The team was improving greatly with every task they completed, becoming more efficient and skilled in their work. In turn, this boosted the morale of the team, especially Totodile, who proudly wore his shiny new bronze-ranked badge. His sorrow and doubt from the night of the storm had diminished.

This morning would be spent in the Pokemon village, preparing for tougher and more challenging missions to come. Totodile went to re-supply their items at Kecleon’s shop, while Torchic went to Felicity Bank to deposit their earnings from a previous mission. Tristan had wandered over to Gulpin’s Link Shop, one of the taller buildings in the village. It was shaped like a cylinder topped with a dome-shaped roof. Above the walkway on the side of the building hung a small lantern, which would be lit every night. On the other side of the building was a tall, oddly shaped chimney that reached as high as the building itself. Standing in front of the elaborate door to the building was Gulpin, reading the Pokemon News behind the counter as he waited for customers. Tristan was curious as to what linking was.

“NO WAY!!!” he exclaimed, as he got his answer, “You mean you can combine my moves so I can use’em all at once!?”

“Yep,” Gulpin answered, “Though you’re not really doing both the moves at once, rather, you’re doing the moves in very quick succession. You may as well say the moves are done at the same time, though.” Gulpin had the appearance of a small green blob with the shape of a black diamond on his back, as well as a yellow leaf sticking out on top of his… head… or was it his body? Probably both. “And just for the low price of 150 poke, you can link all the moves you like!”

“Ummm…” Tristan muttered, checking his money. He’d asked Torchic to give him some in case he saw something interesting. Well, this sure sounded interesting. He quickly counted the money in his hand. Sweet! Just enough! “Okay, I’d like to link some moves,” Tristan said handing Gulpin the money.

“Let's see… yep, that’s enough,” said Gulpin after he finished counting, “now, what moves would you like linked?”

“Um…” Tristan said, taking a moment to think, “How about Tail Whip and Bone Club.”

“A good choice…” commented Gulpin as he immediately got to work. Most of what he was doing was under the counter, so Tristan couldn’t tell what he was doing. Gulpin made conversation as he went about his business, “Weakening the enemy, then using a powerful attack afterwards, a good strategy. Usually people who come here just link two attacks with no strategy in mind.” Suddenly he jumped out from behind the counter smacking Tristan on the head with his tiny blob for a hand. Tristan gave a startled cry as he fell back “There, you're done,” he stated from behind the counter again, “Will that be all for today?”

“What was that for!?” Tristan exclaimed getting to his feet again. It hadn’t hurt, thanks to his protective skull, but he was annoyed that he’d just been attacked.

“You wanted me to link your moves didn’t you? Tail Whip and Bone Club? Well I just did it for you.”

“Oh…” Tristan said, embarrassed from acting up. “Yeah, thanks. And that will be all for now.”

“Alright then. Oh! And I almost forgot.” Gulpin recalled. Tristan was about to turn and leave, but was stopped by this comment. “Since this is your first time here, you get this as well,” he handed Tristan a strange box from under the counter that appeared to contain a bunch of disks.

“What is it?” Tristan asked, holding it in his hand.

“It’s a link box,” Gulpin answered, “With that, you can link moves wherever and whenever you want. They can come in handy when facing a tough opponent, but remember, it can only be used once and then it’s useless.”

“Cool,” replied Tristan, “Thanks for that.” Tristan started to head back towards Pokemon Square waving as he started down the walkway. As he was turning, however, a slightly larger Pokemon, about twice his height, brushed passed him. His fur was an orange colour and he had brown paws. His cheeks were yellow, as was the lightning shape on the end of his long tail. “Oh, sorry,” Tristan said turning around.

The Raichu looked back at him lifting a paw behind his head, “Hehe… I’m the one who should be saying sorry, so… sorry about that!” With that he continued on his way, which happened to be Gulpin’s link shop. Tristan decided he’d spent too much time here and walked away briskly. He was becoming excited to try out his newly linked moves.

“Hey Gulper,” the Raichu said cheerfully from behind, “I’d like to delink a move today.”

“Wow!” Gulpin exclaimed, getting to work, “I haven’t seen you in a while Dave! That must have been some mission to take such a long time! And when will you remember that my name is Gulpin?”

“Hehe, sorry, I must have forgotten again.”

“Dave!?” Tristan thought, freezing in his tracks. The name had rung out loud and clear, even though he was barely in earshot. Not too far away from him was the person who had once been his best friend. He was standing right there. The person with whom he had to meet, that’s what Gardevoir had said. Tristan considered going back, to try to talk to him, but for some reason he couldn’t muster the courage to do it. His nerves kept him there, only permitting him to gaze at the new face of his old friend. He wondered what Dave might say if he did go see him.

“There, you're done,” Gulpin said, suddenly bringing Tristan back to his senses. Tristan decided that now wasn’t a good time to talk to Dave anyway. He would wait until he could talk to him without any distractions. He headed back to Pokemon Square, behind him he could hear Dave speaking.

“Thanks! I can always count on you when it comes to linking.”

“That’s exactly the kind of thing Dave would say,” Tristan thought, reflecting on his recently discovered human memories. He arrived at the Square to see Totodile and Torchic talking excitedly to two larger Pokemon. Totodile noticed Tristan coming.

“Hey Tristan!” he called, “Come meet Team Blue!” Tristan walked up to the group like Totodile had requested; though he would have headed here anyway without being asked. “So, here is the final member of our team!” Totodile told them, “This is Tristan.”

Both Pokemon in front of him were very tall, even taller than Dave. “Hey,” the one on the right said. It was a lizard-looking Pokemon with green scaly skin all over his body, except for a red stripe across his belly, as well as red under his chin. He had a bush for a tail, what appeared to be leaves growing out of his arms, and strange yellow buds growing out of his back. He seemed to be chewing on something, though Tristan couldn’t tell what. “I’m Sceptile.”

The Pokemon next to him had his eyes closed. He, too, was tall, and rather plain compared to his fellow team-member. His back was covered with blue shaggy fur, with bright yellow softer fur on his front. His posture was hunched over, though he still seemed pretty tall. “Zzzzzzzzz.”

“He’s sleeping…” Tristan said, looking blankly back at Sceptile.

“Typhlosion! You idiot!” snapped Sceptile as he spat a seed which hit him square on the head.

Typhlosion slowly lifted his head, rubbing his eyes as he mumbled, “Why’d you wake me…?”

Sceptile rolled his eyes impatiently. “Because you fell asleep in the middle of a conversation!” He sighed, “Typhlosion, meet Tristan.”

Typhlosion glanced around blearily at his own eye-level, not seeing anyone he looked down face to face with Tristan. “Oh… s'up,” he said lazily lifting a hand making a slight wave.

“This is the team that saved the world, Tristan,” Torchic said looking over at Tristan once Sceptile and Typhlosion had started to talk amongst themselves, “They are diamond rank!

“That’s higher than gold!” added Totodile, “I heard they are striving for Lucario rank, too.”

Tristan couldn’t help but give a skeptical look. Torchic responded with a dark and threatening glare. “Oh! Yeah, yeah.” Tristan said hastily, “I… I never had a doubt. C’mon. You can stop that now.”

“That’s a little better,” she muttered.

“H-Hey! There’s Dave!” Totodile shouted in excitement pointing directly over Tristan’s shoulder. It was so sudden that it caused Torchic, Tristan and even Sceptile and Typhlosion to jump. Tristan turned to where his friend was pointing. Surely enough, the same Raichu from earlier approaching. Tristan froze again, he couldn’t help it.

“Hey, Dave,” Sceptile greeted, his arms crossed, “How did the delinking go?”

“With Gulpin in charge,” Dave started coming up next to Sceptile, tilting his head up slightly, “Did you even need to ask?”

“Hehe,” Sceptile said with a grin, raising one arm behind his head, “that’s right, I guess there was no point in asking. I guess I don’t need to ask if you got his name right either?”

“Aw, come on, you know I can’t help it. Hm?” Dave turned noticing Tristan, a curious look in his eye, “Have I seen you somewhere?”

“H… have you!?” Tristan asked still frozen, “You remember me!?”

Dave thought a moment, then snapped his fingers, “Oh right! I bumped into you a couple minutes ago. Silly me." He stuck his tongue out slightly, grinning impishly.

“Oh… yeah… right,” replied Tristan, heavily disappointed. He had high hopes raised that Dave would recognize him. But, then again, Tristan was in a completely different body from when they last met. It was understandable.

“Well, anyway, nice meeting you,” Sceptile said to Tristan, Totodile, and Torchic. He turned to Dave. “Why don’t we head back to the base” he suggested, “Then I’ll be off to Overgrown Forest for a little rest.”

“Yes,” Typhlosion said blissfully. He’d only caught onto the word rest. “Sleep.”

“Sure thing,” Dave replied, “That mission sure took a lot out of me. I think we all need a break.” He turned back to Tristan; “I didn’t get your name, by the way.”

“It’s Tristan,” answered Tristan quickly.

“Oh, okay then, maybe I’ll see you some other time.” With that, Team Blue left the Pokemon Square back in the direction of the team base area. Team Supernova was about to head to the bulletin board to pick up a mission for the day, for some reason they hadn’t received any mail.

Voices could be heard coming from behind. One of these voices called out to Team Supernova. “Why are you heading to the board!?” Before they even saw the speaker, to their dread, the team recognized the voice to be that of Machop, the leader of Team Supreme. Machop, Aipom, and Misdreavus came up from behind as the Supernova trio turned around. Machop was wearing an annoyingly smug look on his face. “Now, what was it that you said the other day… hmm… Ah! Yes. Didn’t you say you were too ‘popular’ to get a mission from the board? That’s what they said, right Aipom?”

“Ooh ooh, ah ah! Sure did!”

“And yet, here you are,” Machop continued, “Are you so lousy that people will stop asking you for help?”

“You should talk,” answered Totodile, refraining from becoming aggravated.

“Ooh ooh, ah ah!” replied Aipom, “We got mail! Looks like we’re the popular ones now!”

“To top that,” added Misdreavus, “It's an SOS from another rescue team.”

“Oh, really?” asked Torchic skeptically, “let’s see that mission.”

“Read it and weep,” Machop said, flicking the mission over to them, “And don’t even try to run off with it, or you’re gonna get it!” To back up his words he began cracking his knuckles, as if he thought it were somehow threatening.

Totodile read the mission to his team, “Client: Team Charge-Net, Objective: SOS please save us, Place: Frosty Forest Floor 15, Rank: A, Reward: ???” Totodile gave a disappointed sigh, “Darn, you probably just got lucky,” he was about to hand the mission back when Tristan snatched it from his hand.

“Hold on a sec!” Tristan said, scanning over the mission. He thought for sure that he’d seen something suspicious. After thoroughly scanning the front, he turned over the letter and began to scan the back. Looking at the back of the letter for some reason made Team Supreme suddenly nervous.

Machop stepped forward, pointing at Tristan, angrily demanding, “Hey! Give that back! You’ve had that long enough!”

“Here!” Tristan said, finding his cause of suspicion. He showed it to the other members of his team.

“Addressed to… Team Supernova,” Totodile read.

“Hey! What’s the big idea!” Torchic interrogated, “What are you doing with our mission!?”

“If you think we stole it, then you’ve got another thing coming!” Machop shouted back.

“We found this in our own mailbox,” Misdreavus said backing her team-mate up, “not yours!”

“Ooh ooh, ah ah! That means it our mission!”

“No, it doesn’t!” Tristan shouted, “It was addressed to us! But thanks for returning it.”

“Oh no! Oh no no no no no no no!” Machop growled tightening his fist, “You're gonna steal our mission! Again! This is unbelievable! We won’t let you go on that mission!”

“Just watch us,” replied Totodile, “This is our mission, so we’re finding Team Charge-Net!”

“Oh yeah, well you’d be wasting your time!” yelled Machop furiously, “We’ll already have saved the team by the time you get to them!”

“No!” Torchic countered, “We’ll have found them before you even enter the forest!”

“That’s what you think!” Misdreavus shot back, “We’ll be leaving the forest before you get into it!”

“No way!” argued Tristan, “We’ll be back before you even leave the village!”

“Ooh ooh, ah ah! Um…” Aipom thought a moment, they didn’t leave him with much to work with. Everyone was watching at him. “Ooh ooh, we already saved them?” he said quietly not knowing what else to say. Everyone rolled his or her eyes.

“Well, team,” Machop said, calming down, “Let's get ready, let's show these losers who’s the better rescue team.” They were about to head towards the Kecleon shop.

“You're on!” Totodile shouted at them as they were leaving, “It shouldn’t be so hard, being a bronze-ranked rescue team and all!”

Machop stopped in his tracks. “You!?" he turned back, "Bronze!?”

“Yep,” replied Torchic, showing her new shiny badge, “We really don’t have time for lowly normal rank teams like yourselves.”

Through gritted teeth Machop pointed, and burst, “If we win, we get the bronze rank, and you go back to normal!”

“But, if we win,” responded Totodile heatedly, “you take back everything you told people about us! And you leave us the heck alone!”

“Psh! Like that’s gonna happen!” answered Machop, “But, deal!”

“Fine!” Totodile shouted as he and his team left Pokemon Square. He turned back to his team, completely free of anger. In fact he was grinning. “This is great! We’ve done our preparations already! We can leave right now!”

“Heh,” Torchic replied, “Not that we would have lost without a head start.”

“I bet they’ll catch up to us at the last second,” Tristan accidentally thought aloud.

“Don’t say that!” Totodile gasped, “You’ll jinx it!”

And so, the team set off for Frosty Forest at the fastest speed they could, hoping they’d maintain their lead. With their rank at stake and as their motivation to keep going faster, they pushed onward. The team wondered what the weather had in store for them in Frosty Forest. It was said to be among the coldest places on earth, and within it resided a Pokemon of legendary and fearsome power. Hopefully, they wouldn’t have to fight this Pokemon.

“So, you said you linked a move, Tristan,” Torchic said, “What moves did you link?”

“I linked Tail Whip and Bone Club,” Tristan answered, looking forward to being able to try it out. Hopefully on Machop.

“Hmm,” commented Totodile, “I would’ve linked two attacks instead, but that’s just me.”



Chapter 12

Rescue Race! Rival Teams Face Off!

“Brrrrr…” Torchic shuddered, as she buried her head deeper into her Pecha Scarf. “It’s so cold…”

Team Supernova was now marching on through the heavy snow in the early levels of Frosty Forest. The bright snow fell thick, blanketing the forest and mountains in a heavy, white layer that weighed down on anything it touched. It enveloped the entire forest with a white veil, hindering vision and casting a tranquil, yet eerie silence over the team. The snow was knee deep on Tristan, and rising the further they went. Trees sagged as they tried to bear the weight put upon them.

This kind of snow, Totodile mentioned, was unusual to this forest. Usually, the far-below-freezing temperatures would cause the snow would fall dry, light and powdery. Instead, the temperature was hovering around freezing, causing the snow to be heavy, damp and dense. Even here, one of the coldest places on the continent, the climate change was taking its toll.

“Aren’t you guys cold?” Trochic asked. She felt like she was the only one who had to endure this.

“A little…” Tristan answered.

“Me neither,” agreed Totodile, “It feels mild to me.”

“Well, I’m freezing!” Torchic exclaimed.

“I’m not surprised, Torchic,” Totodile said. “Being a fire type, what seems freezing to you, will only feel mild to us.”

“So, it’s like how you were extremely weak back in Uproar Forest, and Torchic was fine?” asked Tristan.

“Yeah,” Totodile said. It had taken some time, but he had finally managed to get over his poor performance in Uproar Forest. “It’s kinda like that. Different Pokemon are better suited for different dungeons.” Tristan was almost surprised that he’d taken the comment so well.

“Ah,” Tristan said, “so Torchic is better suited to hot and dry, while you prefer cool and wet. Is that right?” As he said this he glanced over at Torchic, eyeing her scarf enviously. In truth, he was rather uncomfortable as well. Not as bad as her, but his joints felt stiff and ached slightly as he tried to move them. Maybe ground Pokemon were susceptible to the cold as well. He wouldn’t address the minor issue, though, unless it got serious.

“Pretty much,” Totodile said bringing Tristan’s focus back on him. “Soon enough, we’ll all have a dungeon we drea-”

Before Totodile could finish, though, he was interrupted by a strange noise that filled the air. The sound of cracking emanated from the upper levels of Frosty Forest. Cracking, creaking, and shifting in a low rumble that resonated against the surrounding mountains. The sound didn’t last long before it faded again leaving the members of the team still and silent.

“What was that?” Torchic whispered, unnerved.

“Don’t know,” answered Tristan, “But it didn’t sound good.”

“Either way,” Totodile said, “we’d better keep moving. Who knows how far behind Team Supreme is.” With that, the three continued their approach to the center of the forest. Silence pressed against the team’s ears, like pillows, as the only sound they heard was the sound of their feet trudging through the snow. The snow in the air could be blamed for muffling a good deal of the sound, but that couldn’t explain the reason why they had encountered virtually no Pokemon yet. On rare occasions Tristan thought he could see the movement of a pale shadow in the distance among the trees, but he could never tell for sure. Tristan suggested that perhaps they were just lucky, but Totodile, who said it might actually be a sign of bad luck, dismissed it. Something here was obviously very wrong. It was as if all the life in the forest had been smothered out beneath the heavy thick blanket of snow.

The further into the forest they went, the thicker the snow fell. By now they were waist deep in the stuff. Soon the three found themselves walking single file, Totodile plowing in front, Tristan directly behind, and Torchic taking up the rear. Trying to break the silence, Totodile again tried to spark conversation. “So, Tristan,” he asked while looking back, “remember back when you told us you had some of your human memories back? During the storm?”

“Yes.”

“Well… I was wondering if you were ready to tell us yet. You’ve kept quiet ever since. It could help us to get to know you a little better. And perhaps find out why you became a Pokemon.” He glanced further back to Torchic, “Right, Torchic?”

“Too cold… don’t talk to me…”

Tristan thought a moment. Ever since his memories had returned, he hadn’t told anyone about them. He didn’t know why, he just wasn’t the type to tell people about his life story. He was also worried that he’d be mocked about it, perhaps people would’ve called him a loner. He glanced back and forth at his friends. This time was different. Tristan felt confident that he could tell Torchic and Totodile without the fear of being ridiculed. “Well…” Tristan started, “It’s not so much as memories, but more like feelings from when I was a human. I remember feeling… lonely. I don’t think I had any friends as a human.”

“No friends?” asked Torchic; temporarily forgetting she was frozen. She popped her head out of her Pecha Scarf. “Did nobody like you in the human world?”

“That couldn’t be,” Totodile replied, looking back again, “There’s no way people wouldn’t like you Tristan. You’re a good person, somebody had to like you.”

“I… don’t know exactly why I had no friends…” Tristan answered trying hard to make sense of the foggy memories, “But I get the feeling that it was out of my control. I couldn’t do anything about it. It’s not that people didn’t like me, rather, people just didn’t know me.”

“See, Torchic?” Totodile said, looking back smugly.

“I was simply asking! I never said Tristan was a bad person!” Torchic replied, annoyed.

“There was however, one person in the human world I remember being my friend.” Tristan continued, “but he seemed to have vanished from the world altogether and… I never saw him again as a human.” Tristan didn’t want to mention too much about Dave being his friend. He knew that they would try to help him meet Dave, when all Tristan wanted was to meet him alone. Tristan ended his explanation there.

“That sounds awful,” Totodile said with a frown. The frown though quickly changed to a smile, “Good thing there are people in this world who know you. Now you don’t have to be alone anymore.”

“Yeah. Thanks Totodile,” Tristan said gratefully. Totodile may not have realized it, but the words he’d spoken had a profound impact on Tristan.

“Well…” Totodile continued, “Since you spilled out your guts, I guess I could tell you a little about myself too.”

“Yeah,” Tristan said, becoming curious, “Why did you form a rescue team in the first place? I always wondered.”

Totodile started thinking thoughtfully of how he should start. “When I was a child,” he began, “my mother and father were part of the best rescue team in our village, Team Flash Flood. I’ve talked about them before. They worked perfectly together, so that’s how they managed to do such amazing rescues. I really admired them and always wanted to go on a mission with them ever since I could first walk. They always told me that they needed a third member, and when I was old enough, I could go on missions with them. But…”

“But what?”

“They departed for one particular mission,” continued Totodile, “to a dungeon called Western Cave. And… they didn’t come back. I waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually I had to live with my uncle’s family, but even then, months passed and they still hadn’t come back. They’re out there somewhere, and I started a team so that one day I can save my parents. Then maybe I can finally join them in their missions like I’ve always wanted to.”

“That’s a really good goal,” Tristan said, “I hope you find them.”

“Don’t you mean you hope ‘we’ find them?” Totodile asked, a grin spreading across his face once more.

“Hehe,” Tristan chuckled, “yeah, of course. When we find them.” Satisfied, Tristan turned back to Torchic, “How about you, Torchic? Why did you start this team?”

“Me?” Torchic asked, “well I… I…” Tristan could tell that she was deep in thought. She continued, though, by saying, “Just… because I wanted to help others. That’s it, that’s all.”

“It took a lot of effort to come up with such a simple answer,” Tristan replied.

“What are you talking about!?” she shouted suddenly, getting defensive, “Of course that’s why I joined this team! What other reason would I? Is there something wrong with wanting to help others?”

“No reason to snap at him, Torchic,” said Totodile, turning around in surprise.

“I was just curious…” Tristan said. He was taken aback from the outbreak.

“Oh yeah! Well, it’s none of your business!!” Her voice resounded throughout the forest, bouncing off the surrounding mountains, and echoing back. Moments later the ominous sound of cracking and shifting sounded again. This time the noise was louder, closer and lasted longer than before. The team even felt a slight vibrating on the ground beneath their feet. The sound ceased, leaving the team, once again, silent. The snow continued to fall innocently around them. A clump of snow on a nearby tree fell to the ground, making all three of them jump.

“Let’s keep moving,” Totodile insisted, “We still have a job to finish, then we should leave quickly. Something in this forest is really freaking me out.” Totodile didn’t even need to explain the last part, though, because the concerned expression on his face summarized exactly what he was thinking. He would jump and scan the scenery when he thought he heard the slightest and faintest sounds.

Torchic remembered how cold she was, and tucked her head into her scarf to try to keep warm. “Let’s j… just finish this q… q… quickly, okay?” she said shivering.

Again the team walked in silence. There still wasn’t a single wild Pokemon to be seen, and the deeper they went into the forest, if it was possible, the quieter it became. At one point they struggled against shoulder high snow. Torchic’s feathers were the only part of her visible as she walked through the trench her team members made. It was becoming late in the afternoon when they approached the summit of the mountain that centered Frosty Forest. It was the tallest of the surrounding mountains, and was where the letter had directed them to go. That was where they would find their client, Team Charge-Net. By now, they had reached the tree line, from here on they would be fully exposed to the elements. The actual peak of the mountain was hidden from view by low hanging clouds. It was hard to tell what to expect on the top. Now that they were closer to the center of the forest, it was also slightly colder. The snow was not as wet as it was before, but it was still heavy and dense.

“Looks like we still got a bit of a climb to go through,” Totodile commented gazing up at the summit.

“Brrrr… it looks freezing up there,” Torchic said, just imagining a snow-covered peak.

The team stood there a moment, gazing at the peak. “Well,” Tristan said, becoming impatient, “Let’s get going. We won’t get anywhere by just looking at it.”

“Yeah,” Totodile replied, “Sure thing.” With that, the three began their trek up the mountain.

“NOT SO FAST!!” a voice yelled from behind. “You’ve got a rank we want!” The three turned around to see Team Supreme not too far behind them. Machop cracked his knuckles, “Your bronze rank, that is!”

“How did you catch up to us!?” Totodile exclaimed, “We had such a big head start!”

“Oh that,” Machop laughed. “Fortunately for us someone already made a trail that was easy to follow.”

“Crap…” Totodile muttered, “We ended up helping them.”

“Either way,” Tristan said, clutching his bone tightly, “We’re not letting them get to the top first!”

“Ooh ooh, ah ah! You actually think you’re gonna beat us?” asked Aipom mockingly.

“Yep, it won’t be too hard,” Tristan replied casually, “Maybe we’ll break a little bit of a sweat, but it won’t take too much effort.”

“Haha, would you look at that,” Misdreavus laughed, “I think they’re underestimating us, Machop. Isn’t that cute?”

“A big mistake,” Machop replied, “A mistake that will cost them dearly!”

“You talk big for a normal rank team!” Torchic called down, once again ignoring how cold she was. “Let’s show these guys which team deserves the higher rank!”

“I’m all for that!” agreed Tristan.

“Ha!” Machop said, assuming a defensive stance, “C’mon then! Bring it!”

“Don’t say things you’ll regret!” Totodile shouted. As he said this he started running downhill towards the rival team. “We won’t feel sorry for you!” Tristan and Torchic immediately followed, coming up beside him.

“The only person you’ll be feeling sorry for,” Machop called back, also breaking into an uphill run, “is yourself!” Misdreavus and Aipom quickly joined him on either side.

The gap between the two teams closed quickly, as each team prepared attacks. “Exactly as we planned now guys!” Totodile said turning to Torchic and Tristan. “Time to freeze’em where they stand!!”

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