Chapter 1: A Storm At Sea

Most of the areas explorers travel around are known as mystery dungeons. These dungeons are inhabited by wild Pokemon, frail or strong. These areas also have the eerie ability to throw out fainted individuals who have come to rob of its precious treasures. How this ability works is unknown to the world. It brings new explorers horror, yet it brings others excitement.

This world is governed by glowing objects known as Time Gears. These gears are the pieces that maintain peace around the world. They put time in place, and keeps it flowing. There are five Time Gears known in existence. Only a few chosen dungeons are selected to contain these divine things, and a few individuals to guard them.

Several years have passed since the day that the Time Gears have arrived in their rightful places. These places are now in the hands of time. If one gear is gone or damaged, time flowing in that area slows down, and eventually stops. Even the most notorious person knows not to steal or even move the Time Gears. They would meet their fate as soon as they steal or even touch these divine pieces.

To this present day, wicked pokemon have been growing in numbers, as to test the bravery of explorers. The number of qualified explorers seems to be decreasing in this present day, and many more jobless people are running around in circles, thinking what to do with their own lives on that point. The bright side of this was that many of them seems to think a way out of this by creating their own business, like selling items, food, and other valuable things for explorers to use in their travels.

One day, a furious storm came cloaking a quarter of the world, and the first thing that came to the minds of pokemon was to stay indoors. Thunderous clouds bring about fright for most little ones. Waters of the vast seas wash away the rigid rocky hills as forms of powerful waves. Winds blow in the speed of a Hyper Beam, striking down even the sturdiest rocks. It was truly a moment of extreme anger, anger in which the thunder god had felt that day. Nature's wrath has unleashed this mighty beast for the first time in this world. And one can see how children are afraid of going out, out to feel the wrath of the thunder god.

Outside Treasure Town, downhill and near a beach, two voices can be heard, and they seem to be struggling. Unfortunately no one was there to hear the screams of help. They were all alone, struggling to stick together.

"Whoa! Wh-wh-whoa!"

"Are… Are you ok?

Loud thunder crashed down onto the beach below, striking down stones and sand. Tornadoes began swirling on the vast seas.

"No! Don't let go!"

"Just a little longer… Come on! Hang on!"

Another thunder crashed down onto the waves of the sea, seemingly creating another set of strong and bigger waves.

"N-n-no! I can't… hold on…"

The anger of the thunder god didn't stop there, as waves of lightning and thunder surround the entire beach, apparently covering the entire area with shocking electricity.

"Waaaahh!"

The pokemon was knocked out cold. Lying on the soft sands of the beach he maintains his consciousness, but from the limited energy he had left, energy spent from trying to resolve an unknown issue during the storm, he could only maintain that for a short amount of time until he loses consciousness.

"….."

"…."

"…."

"Urghhh…."

"Where… where am I?"

"I can't… drifting off…."

He had lost his energy completely, and now is in a deep slumber on the soft sands of the beach. Not even a single individual was in sight to help him. Not even nearby Pokemon were able to help.

Later on the time the sun sets, on a hill near Treasure Town was an Exploration Guild. This guild is the base of many explorers. News and jobs on bulletin boards are there for explorers to check and take. It is the birthplace of teamwork and unity between explorers. This is also the home of the guild's guild master.

This guild's entrance, however, is shaped like a Wigglytuff, with its tiny hands raised, and its belly was the door to the guild. Two totems and two torches stand on both sides of the entrance to give the guild a more fierce appearance. A few trees were there near the edge of the cliff. The view from behind the entrance was a sea of thick forest.

Outside this guild stands a Riolu named Belle. Trying as hard as she can she summons all of her power to come and stand in front of the gates to her dream. This was the moment where she would finally be able to enter those gates. It was her dream, dream of becoming an explorer. She wanted to explore different places, discover many new things and treasures. She wanted an adventure of a lifetime, yet the only thing that hinders her was her cowardice.

"No! I refused to be paralyzed by this any longer! This is it! Today I'm going to be brave!" She howls with her right hand balled into a fist thrown above in the air. She then stands on the grate in front of the gates. A loud voice was heard underground.

"Pokemon Detected! Pokemon Detected!"

"Whose shadow?! Whose shadow?" Another voice was heard. It's as if he was shouting.

"The shadow is riolu’s! The shadow riolu’s!"

After hearing these voices, Belle leaped out of the grate in fear and looking from side to side, wondering where those voices are coming from. A bead of sweat was dropped from her forehead.

"That shocked me!" She said as she expresses a surprised face.

"Whew…"

"… I can't… I can't bring myself to go in." She looked down with a sad frown. "I vowed that I would do it today, but…" She said before setting down a stone with an odd pattern engraved on it. She stared at her valuable stone with eyes that seems to be giving up hope.

"I thought that holding on to my personal treasure would inspire me…" She took back the stone into her pocket.

"*sigh* I just can't do it…" She brings forth both her hands to stop tears flowing down her cheeks.

"I'm such a coward… This is so discouraging…" She said as she wipes off tears. She turns around and walks down the hill.

After leaving the summit, two individuals showed up from the nearby trees, seemingly eyeing on her.

"Hey, Skitty. Did you get a load of that?" The Meowth said to the Skitty.

"You bet I did, Meowth." The Skitty said to the Meowth

"That little wimp that was pacing around… had something good, right?"

"That wimp had something, that's for sure. It looked like some kind of treasure."

"Do we go after it?"

"We do."

After their short conversation, they went and hunt down their prey on the foot of the hill and onto the beach.

The beach that time was blanketed with little bubbles created from nearby Krabby. As Belle walks by the beach and stared at the beauty the bubbles, as well as the waters of the sea and the sunset, was giving off. The sea's waters was twinkling like the stars above as if they were mirrors, reflecting the sun's beautiful rays of light. The sunset was as captivating as ever.

"Wow! What a beautiful sight!" Belle exclaimed with glassy eyes.

"All those bubbles, reflecting the setting sun off the waves… It's always beautiful."

"…. This is where I always come when I'm feeling down on myself. But it makes me feel good to be here, like always." Belle said.

"It always heals my spirit." Belle put her paw over her heart.

After a while, she looks from right to left to see the complete view of her surroundings. But as she looks onto her right, she sees Pokemon lying on the sands. Curiosity strikes her.

"Hey… What's that? What's going on over there?" She says and goes nearer towards the me. As she nears me, she realizes that a Pokemon is unconscious, and screams in shock.

"Waaahh! Someone has collapsed on the sand!" She exclaimed, and runs to his aid.

"What happened? Are you okay?" She asks him, but with no response. But after a little while,unconscious then he wakes up, he had his right knee on the sands to support his weight. he looks to his right to see Belle.

"You're awake! Thank goodness!" Belle was relieved that he was still alive. Otherwise, she would go crazy as it may be her first time seeing someone lying on the sand, dead.

"Where… Where am I?" he thought to himself. Looking at his surroundings, he really didn't know where he was.

"You wouldn't move at all! I was really scared for you!" Belle exclaimed.

"Do you have any idea how you ended up unconscious out here?" She asks.

"I… I was unconscious? What happened?" he asks back, as if he had amnesia.

"I asked first, silly!" Belle said jokingly.

"Anyway, my name's Belle. Happy to meet you!" She introduces herself

"And you are? I don't think I've seen you around before." She asks his name. he was foreign to her. She must be really curious as to who he is.

"I… I don't remember… I don't remember my name…" he answered. After hearing this, Belle was in shocked that he can't remember his own name, yet held suspicion as to his true nature.

"What? You don't remember your own name?!" Belle exclaimed. he nodded in the affirmation.

"But you, on the other hand, are a little odd. Are you pulling some kind of trick on me?" Bells stared at me with eyes like a detective. Piercing through his weak soul she wanted answers.

"N-no, I'm not! I'm telling the truth. I don't really remember my name. I don't even remember how I ended up out here." he swore.

"Well, if you put it that way…" Belle said with a slight frown. "At least tell me your name. Make a new one." She said.

"Make a new one?" I thought to myself. He thought for a moment, with his hand on his chin, thinking on a unique name for him to remember.

"What about… Darkness?" he asked.

"Hmmm. Darkness sounds like a pretty good name. Okay, your name's Darkness from here on out!" Belle said.

"And you don't seem to be a bad person, at least." Belle added.

"I'm sorry that I doubted you. More and more bad pokemon have been turning up lately, you see!" Belle said. Pokemon had gotten aggressive lately. It's just not safe anymore…" Belle said.

Little did she know that two cats were walking fast behind her, and bumps her hard on the back, knocking her down and knocking her treasured stone out of her pocket.

"Yowch!" Belle exclaimed.

"Belle! Are you okay?" he asked in concern, kneeling down.

"Well, I do beg your pardon." Meowth said. Belle stands up quickly and angrily she shouted, "Hey! Why'd you do that?!"

"Hehehe! Can't figure it out?" Meowth said with a smirk.

"We wanted to mess with you! Can't face up to us, can you?!" Skitty intimidated the two.

"Wh-what?!" Belle said, showing a face of embarrassment.

"That's yours, isn't it?" Skitty pointed on the stone that was lying on the sand. The stone was Belle's precious treasure.

"Oh! That's-" Belle said until she was cut off by skitty. "Sorry, kiddo. We'll take that!" Skitty said as she immediately picks up the stone, receiving a shocked expression from Belle.

"Aaaaahhh!" Belle exclaimed, frozen in place from shock.

"Whoa-ho-ho! Not gonna make a move to get it back? What's the matter? Too scared?" Meowth said dauntingly.

"I didn't expect that you'd be such a coward!" Meowth added. When he heard this remark, he couldn’t help but get angry at Meowth, but since he didn't know about Meowth, he didn't speak for the remaining time.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Meowth said to Skitty.

"See you around, chicken. Hehehe." Skitty said.

After this unusual encounter, the two passed by the other two towards an entrance to a cave near the beach.

"… Oh….. What should I do?" Belle said, looking down. Her tears are starting to come up her eyes.

"That's my personal treasure. It means everything to me." Belle added.

"What else? We go after them!" he exclaimed, surprising Belle.

"I don't know about them, but they sure are mean to you. They even called you a coward! Do you accept that?" he asked.

"I-I don't! But what can I do? I don't want to mess with them… I'm scared of bad people, you see. I chicken out at times like this… I don't even know what to do after that…" Belle said, looking down on her foot. Her spirit was down on a level no one can reach.

"Then be brave. They may be bad people, but that doesn't mean you can't do anything to stop their evil doings!" Darkness said, trying to encourage Belle.

"I may not know you that much, but I can tell that you're strong willed just by looking at you." he added with sincerity.

As Belle wipes off her tears, she looks onto my eyes as if looking for courage, and she finally sees it, and grabs it. She shakes her head, getting her mind ready to take back what was stolen from her.

"You're right! There's no time to waste!" Belle said with full determination.

"I have to get it back! Say, can you please help me?" Belle asked.

"How can I say no after witnessing that? Of course I'll help!" he said.

"Really? You'll really help?" Belle asked to confirm, to which he nodded in the affirmative.

"Th-thank you so much! Can we go take care of it right now?" Belle asked. She then walks towards the entrance with Darkness

Both Darkness and Belle went and head into the cave Skitty and Meowth went. Wanting bad taste righteousness, I was determined to help this girl I just met. I cannot forgive them after what they have done to her. Stealing her precious treasure was crossing the line.

Belle, for the first time in many years, had felt this much courage thanks to Darkness. Now that they have teamed up to take back her precious stone, she sets off with him to hunt down the bad guys.

There was one other thing Belle had felt. It was the fact that Darkness, whom she just met, had given her courage to fight.

It was Darkness, an unfamiliar darkrai being whom she just met minutes ago. She knew that I would greatly influence her in the upcoming days. This may be the great turning point of her life, her life directed onto uncertainty turns around and onto a bright light of hope