This story is a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanfiction. It features original characters and is not connected in any way to any of the official games, and was simply inspired by the premise of the series.

To my watchers, this story is a reboot of my first story, "PMD - Friends Through Fire". The main plot of that story distracted from what I was actually trying to write, and I didn't realize that until I was 20 chapters in, so I'm writing this story as a 2nd attempt. These two stories have very similar character arcs for the main duo, but the main plots are vastly different (specifically, there's no Wildfire in this story), so I hope you'll enjoy this story even if you've already read Friends Through Fire.

Now without further ado, please enjoy the story.




Chapter 1
Saying Hello


Where... am I? I open my eyes to see a... vortex of colors? I squint to see what's actually in front of me, but as I continue to wake up, the image just gets clearer; a vortex of colors, spiraling upward. Feeling below me with my arms, I notice that my bed is gone. Wait, then what am I laying on?

I shake myself awake and look around, but there's nothing but a dreamlike view of those rising colors all around and- There's no ground! I'm falling! Before I can figure out what to do, I feel... something weird nearby, and my body starts to go numb. I look down at my hands, only to find my arms melting into glowing light! As my body disappears, my hearing fades away, and darkness takes over my vision. Finally, my thoughts start to go quiet, and I fall unconscious...



... Something's poking me.

"Hey. Hello? Mudkip?"

I groan and open my eyes to find a Snivy looking down at me. It wears a pink scarf around its neck and a bag on its waist, and it seems... oddly tall? I try to stand, but I stumble and fall back down; my body feels like five different kinds of weird.

The Snivy pokes my face again.

"Hey, cut it out," I say, though my voice sounds higher than normal.

The Snivy giggles. "Just checking to make sure you're alive. So, how come you were napping inside a mystery dungeon? Not exactly the safest place to sleep."

Yeah, what AM I doing here? My head is fuzzy, but I try to remember what happened. "Well, I was- Wait, did you just TALK?!" Startled by the talking Snivy, I try to stand again, but my body isn't cooperating; everything feels like it's bent out of shape, and my arms and legs aren't moving how they should.

"Um... Yes? Are you hallucinating or something? Because in case I look like a talking rock to you or something, I'm a Snivy." Well shoot, I'm not hallucinating.

"But, you're a pokemon! Pokemon can't talk!"

The Snivy stares at me, stunned and bewildered. There's a long, silent pause before the Snivy speaks. "... Then how are you talking?"

"Huh? Because I'm a human, obviously."

The Snivy laughs out loud. "What's that supposed to mean? You're obviously a Mudkip!"

I push myself up with my arms, trying to stand once again. "What are you talking... about..." I trail off as I look down at my hands; they're gone, replaced with a pair of little blue stubs. I look behind me, and see a pair of blue hind legs, complete with a tail fin. I reach up and touch my face, feeling large spiky gills on my cheeks and a big fin on top of my head. With only one arm holding me up, I lose my balance and drop to the ground again. "I'm... a Mudkip?"

"Uh, did you hit your head on something? You know humans aren't real, right?"

"What do you mean humans aren't real?!" What just happened? Where am I? Why am I a Mudkip!?

"O-kay, I'm just gonna leave you to freak out here then." The Snivy turns and starts walking away, deeper into the... tunnel? I look around and find myself in some kind of weird cave; rock walls surround me, lit by shining yellow crystals. Veins of yellow light zigzag across the stone, drawing paths that connect the crystals. Looking at it all, I get a strange, unfamiliar feeling...

Getting back to my current situation, I have no idea where I am or what's going on, and the only person who might have answers is walking away. "Wait!" I call to the Snivy. "Can you at least tell me where I am?"

"Yikes, you really must've hit your head hard. You're in Circuit Cavern, a mystery dungeon."

I try again to stand, finally managing to balance myself on four legs. "What's a mystery dungeon?"

"... Yikes." The Snivy pauses to think for a few seconds. "Say, you seem pretty helpless. You wanna come with me until we get out of here? It'll be easier for both of us, and WAY safer for you."

"Alright, but seriously; what's a mystery dungeon?"

"I'll tell you while we walk." The Snivy takes a step forward and extends its arm. "I know I already told you, but I'm Snivy."

I hesitantly reach out and shake Snivy's hand. "I'm Jamie."

Snivy pauses. "Ja... mie..?"

"What? That's my name."

"You're clearly a Mudkip."

"Well, I guess I am now. What does that have to do with my name?"

"You... You are a Mudkip. Your name is Mudkip. That's how names work."

"Well I was a human before, and human names work differently."

"Sure you were Mudkip. Anyway, lets get moving, yeah?" Snivy says as they walk away. I don't like Snivy.

It takes me a bit to figure out walking in this body, but it turns out four legs are pretty stable, and I can keep pace with Snivy with some effort. Once I get used to walking, my attention turns back to my surroundings; along with the small crystals in the walls and ceiling, we walk past groups of larger crystals on the ground, about as big as me. A few glow yellow, while most just look like clear chunks of glass. "Hey Snivy, you haven't told me yet; what's a mystery dungeon?"

"Oh yeah. They're, well, uh... Oh yeah!" Snivy clears their throat. "Mystery dungeons are areas of land that share a set of abnormal properties not found anywhere else, including rapid natural terraforming and spontaneous object creation. To translate that to English, they're weird places where the land shifts around, and stuff like special berries and wild pokemon just kinda pop into existence. And I," Snivy puffs out their chest, "am an explorer, traveling through mystery dungeons and hunting for the Guardians' Gate!"

"So, they're like magic caves?"

"Not always caves, but basically yeah. I'm surprised you don't know about them, they aren't that rare. Did you forget when you hit your head?"

I sigh. I've never heard of anything like this, and yet here I am, surrounded by glowing crystals. I wander over to one of the big yellow crystals on the ground, but as I reach out to touch it, a vine wraps around my arm, pulling me away. My eyes follow the vine to its source, and I find Snivy looking at me.

"Don't touch those, they'll zap you." Snivy releases my arm and continues walking.

Yup, this is definitely new. I leave the crystals and keep following Snivy. "What was that about mystery dungeons creating wild pokemon that you mentioned before?"

"Oh yeah, that's a really cool part of mystery dungeons! They can create fake pokemon that are called 'wild pokemon'. They don't have actual brains, so they act pretty much purely on instinct. All they do is wander around the dungeon and randomLY ATTACK PEOPLE!"

Snivy suddenly jumps to the side, and I turn to follow their gaze further down the tunnel just in time to see a bolt of lightning fly into my face! Electricity courses through my body, and my legs give out, dropping me to the ground. From further down the tunnel, a Shinx and a Pichu are running towards me.

"Get up Mudkip," Snivy shouts, "we need to fight!" Snivy dashes forward and lashes at the Shinx with vine whips, and the Shinx counters, lunging forward with a bite. The Pichu ignores Snivy and runs right at me.

I struggle to my feet, shaking off the numbness of the electricity, but just as I'm standing again, the Pichu circles around and tackles me from the side, throwing me off balance and knocking me back down! I stand again, and the Pichu tackles me from the other side. This time, I manage to stay standing, but I can't just keep getting hit like this...

The Pichu again circles around me, but I turn to stay facing it. Soon, it prepares for another tackle, and I see my chance. As it lunges toward me, I jump forward, countering it with a tackle of my own! My first tackle in this body goes about as well as I expect; I land the hit, but I completely fail to land from my jump and collapse to the ground. If anything, the Pichu's attack hurt me even more when I jumped straight into it, but at least the Pichu got hurt as bad as I did, as it's sent tumbling across the ground.

I get back up, but before I can think about what to do next, electricity starts sparking around the Pichu's cheeks; it's going to throw another lightning bolt! As the sparks peak in intensity, I leap to the side, and lightning strikes where I had just been standing! But of course, I'm still not used to jumping around like this, and I again fall to the ground when I land. But before I can get up again, the Pichu starts charging up another bolt! I try to get up, but I'm too slow, worn out from Pichu's attacks. The sparks peak in intensity, the Pichu moves to shoot-

Wham!

A green, leafy tail slams into the Pichu, knocking it into the cave wall. The Pichu lies there for a moment, motionless, before it suddenly evaporates into purple smoke.

"You're welcome for the assist," Snivy says with a smile.

"Hey, why did that Pichu turn into smoke?"

"Oh yeah, that happens when wild pokemon get hit enough. I don't know why. But anyway, uh, what was that?"

"What was what?"

"What was that fighting back there!? You got your butt kicked by a Pichu, and you barely did anything! Seriously, it looked like that was your first battle!"

"That was my first battle! What, did your first battle go better?"

"I wouldn't know, because I was a BABY at the time! Sheesh, didn't you ever spar with your siblings or friends? It's in a pokemon's instinct to fight!"

"I already told you, I'm not a-"

Our conversation is interrupted by a shrill cry, and I turn to see an Emolga swooping down at us! Snivy jumps backward to dodge it, and I barely stumble out of the way in time.

"Stand back, I got this!" Snivy says, dashing forward as the Emolga turns around for another attack. They're both pretty agile, their battle becoming a dance of attacks and dodges, vines and thunderbolts. Well, the dancing is mostly on the Emolga's part; Snivy is more just jumping and flailing as they struggle to hit a flying enemy. Next to their fighting is a big glowing crystal on the ground...

I sneak around the fight and stand next to the crystal, waiting for my chance. After a moment, the Emolga dodges backward to avoid a vine whip, and I press my hand against the crystal. The glowing intensifies, and I immediately leap away to avoid the sudden discharge of electricity all around the crystal! The Emolga is caught in the discharge and drops to the ground, stunned by the crystal's electricity!

Snivy takes advantage, and when the electricity fades, they leap into the air, spinning acrobatically. A whirlwind of leaves gathers around their tail, and as they fall, they use the momentum of their spinning to slam their tail into the Emolga, sending it flying! The Emolga crashes to the ground, lying there for a moment before evaporating into purple smoke.

"Hey, that was a neat plan!" Snivy says. "But, uh, how did you know the crystal would do that?"

"What do you mean? You told me, didn't you?"

"I told you it would zap you. I didn't specify that it would explode into lightning all around."

Oh yeah. Why did I think it would work like that? "I guess I just... assumed?"

"Huh. Well anyway, I guess you aren't completely helpless in a fight."

I do not like Snivy. But now I'm wondering... "Hey, what would've happened if those wild pokemon had beaten us?"

"They'd roast us over a fire and eat us, of course."

"WHAT!?"

"Oh my gosh, you should see the look on your face! I'm kidding! They'd just throw us out of the dungeon, or leave us lying there. Anyway Mudkip, we gotta get moving; we have a whole dungeon to explore!" Snivy marches onward into the cavern, humming a little tune. I do not like Snivy.

But still, they're my best bet for getting out of here. I just have to tolerate them until I get out of here. But then what? If this Snivy has never seen a human before, I'm definitely super far from civilization. And I've never even heard of a place with magic caves and talking pokemon. And how will I become human again? How did I turn into a pokemon to begin with? None of this makes any sense...

For now, I just need to get out of this dungeon.




Thanks for reading! Comments, questions, and criticisms are encouraged and appreciated!