Working Title: Crystal Chronicles
Kaijianon's Currently Unnamed Story: DRAFT OF CHAPTER ONE ONLY
(Wording, exact dialogue, and formatting not final. Minor grammatical mistakes will be rectified during the editing pass-through once the entire draft is finished.)
The sun had just begun to rise, and a party of six Pokémon had begun drowsily filing out of a pair of tents set up on the mountainside. Stretching and yawning and rubbing the sun out of their eyes, they start pulling out supplies to make breakfast in preparation of the big day they have ahead of them.
"Ronnie, none of us can eat if you don't cooperate and let us cook," Kaiji sighed, "and that includes you. It's too early for this crap..." the Meowth shook his head dismissively at the Numel who refused to get his fire going.
"NO WAY!" Ronnie shouted, his head held up high. "I'M NOT YOUR FRY COOOOOK! This is supposed to be vacation!" the Numel huffed in protest as a frying pan was placed upon the hump on his back, refusing to produce any flame.
"Vacation?" Kaiji leered at Ronnie with incredulity. "Look, I'll give you one more-"
"Relax, I've got this." Sneasel cut Kaiji off before he could finish. She walked up to Ronnie with a smirk, cracking her knuckles as she approached him. "Listen, Ronnie..." She spoke condescendingly, as she took a moment to recall the words one of her human guildmates had taught her. "I bought a Whopper from your establishment the other day and it was covered in mold. I won't leave until I get a refund," she sneered, as the Numel's face started to contort with rage.
"WE DON'T EVEN SELL WHOPPERS! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Ronnie screamed in frustration, flame spewing from his hump and starting to heat up the pan as Kaiji got started cooking breakfast. "OUR BURGERS WOULDN'T MOLD! THERE'S TOO MANY CHEMICAAAAAAAALS!"
"Alright, that should do it." Sneasel yawned, stretching her arms. "While you guys listen to that moron screaming about whatever, I'm gonna go do... literally anything else. C'mon, Booker!" she scooped up her sleepy Ribombee partner in her claws, carrying him off along the mountain trail so they could finish waking up in peace and quiet.
With the fire under the pan now lit, Kaiji threw in a mix of vegetables and a few savory varieties of berries as it began to heat up, pouring in a jar of homemade sauce generously provided to him by Beast in exchange for taking Ronnie off of his hands. The Numel in question continued ranting about various subjects, each only tangentially related to the last, in his excruciatingly grating squeaky teenage voice. As KFC exited his tent, the riled-up camel turned his attention to the groggy Combusken instead.
"And don't get me STARTED on KFC! It's got to be the ONLY place worse to work at than McDonalds! I saw the location across the street get robbed multiple times, and I never saw the same guy at the register twice! And they ALWAYS short me a drumstick, and the sides taste like they're made with gutter oil, I should know because we had to use that once, and-"
The feathered fighting-type squinted, unable to understand a single word of Ronnie's already-incomprehensible humanbabble in his groggy half-asleep delirium. "...What?"
"N-no, not you, the OTHER KFC. Once, a guy in their uniform came over on his lunch break, and he ordered the Chicken McNuggets, but I told him, Maaaaan, trust me, you don't WANT the Chicken McNuggets, not with the stuff I've seen back in the kitchen, but he told me, Trust me, it's nothing compared to the horrors I've seen with the drumsticks back in my kitchen, and then..."
The look of sheer bafflement on KFC's face only grew as Ronnie continued his rant, his giant run-on sentence punctuated only by his constant voice cracks. "What does any of that even-"
"Shhh...." Kris nudged him from behind. The Absol leaned close, talking in a low voice so Ronnie wouldn't hear. "J-just nod along and let him finish... if you ask what it means, he'll just take longer to explain, and it still won't make any sense."
KFC decided to take Kris on his word, though there was certainly a novelty in the Absol accusing someone else of making no sense, considering he was the one constantly trying to convince the others that his invariably insane predictions would come true. After a few nods, a couple "uh-huh"s, and a vague statement of agreement, Ronnie finally seemed satisfied, ending his spiel and giving the rest of the party some peace and quiet. It hardly mattered now, though; his voice wasn't unlike a digital alarm clock's shrill beeping, and everyone within earshot was already wide awake.
"BREAKFAST IS READY!" Kaiji called out, pulling a few wooden bowls from their supplies and starting to serve everyone. Sneasel and Booker returned from their walk after hearing Kaiji's voice, and they all sat down to eat. Everyone got a bowl except Booker, whose meal instead consisted of a vial of honey on account of his species' nonstandard dietary needs. As they all started eating, Ronnie paused to say something, much to everyone else's dismay.
"Hey, do you have any fries to go with this?"
Kaiji had dealt with enough of Ronnie's idiocy by now that he was beyond the point of getting annoyed at the bumbling teenager's nonsense. He didn't say anything, simply giving the Numel a disappointed look - the kind a parent might give to their child at the dinner table after hearing them say "I've decided I'm not going to college, I'm going to be an influencer when I grow up!"
"G-geez man, I was just joking..." The fire-type stammered, while everyone finished up their food and started stacking up their dirty bowls. Kaiji started putting everything away, while KFC and Sneasel collapsed the tents so they could be packed up.
"Alright, let's go over the plan. As you all know, this is a very high-level dungeon, and I couldn't find any accounts of it being cleared within living memory..." Kaiji seperated the sack of supplies they'd be using for the dungeon before closing up the bag, digging through it for something as he continued. "What I was able to find consistently were stories of an experienced adventurer getting to the end many generations ago, and coming back with an item that let him undergo a powerful transformation during battle. Almost certainly a megastone..." Kaiji looked around, noticing the native Pokémon among their group looking confused at the term. "An Empowerment Seed for a specific Pokémon, except it never runs out," he explained, which seemed to grab their attention. "Between Kris, KFC, Charm, Sableye, Kina, and even-" he winced "-Ronnie, we have a good selection of members who could eventually make use of one. Even if we don't find a stone that's compatible, it'd still sell for more than enough to make the trip up here worth it."
"Sounds cool and all, but... are we really chasing after rumors of a treasure that could've been here years ago? You said it yourself, they told you the guy already got the mega rock or whatever." Sneasel crossed her arms, still not quite sold on the mission at hand beyond it just being an excuse to train in a strong dungeon with enough allies to offset the danger. "What happens when we get to the end and it's empty?"
Kaiji finally pulled out what he'd been looking for: a gray reflective disc. "The stories were light on details, but all implied he already knew he'd find it there - he probably wasn't the first to find the treasure, and if he only came back with one it's unlikely he took the last of it. And if it isn't, this comes out of the guild's budget, not yours, so the only one on the hook for it is me."
Kaiji held the disc up in the light, as if checking to make sure it was the right one, even though he'd already looked over everything multiple times before they left and once again when they set up camp the night prior. "The dungeon's said to be full of Rock- and Fairy-type Pokémon. The first few floors are deceptively easy, but I've heard reports of adventurers getting knocked out so suddenly they don't even know what hit them. We'll split up to find the stairs faster at the beginning, then at the first sign of trouble we'll stick together as a group from then on. I got us enough Stun Seeds that we can avoid fighting dungeon enemies entirely, a good supply of Blast Seeds in case there's a boss at the end, and enough Oran Berries to take care of any damage we might take along the way. I also bought a Reviver Seed for each of us, but we're one short after someone-" the Meowth leered at Ronnie. "-used theirs up when fighting a Pidgey on the way here."
"It sounds like you spared no expense... but using all those items to get an edge in battle doesn't sit right with me," KFC spoke up, raising an eyebrow. "It feels cheap."
"Can't be any cheaper than taking someone out in one hit with a surprise attack once their guard is down," Kaiji shrugged. "If you want to beat the dungeon the "fair" way, you can do it once we acquire the megastone. Until then, we're here on business." Kaiji flipped the disc back and forth in his hand, looking like he was considering something. "Now, I've got to figure out which move I'm replacing with this TM, so the rest of you do whatever you need to get ready - we enter the dungeon in a few minutes."
Everyone got up and started making their final preparations. Sneasel was doing stretches while KFC and Booker discussed something - they weren't close enough for Kaiji to hear what they were saying, but he assumed it was probably related to Booker's aura training. Kaiji held up the TM in his hand, turning to his partner.
"Hey Kris, should I replace Assurance or Feint Attack with Metal Claw?"
"Whaaaaaat?" Kris gasped. "You can't get rid of Assurance! It's really useful when we team up against the same enemy... You should be forgetting Pay Day instead! It's your worst attack."
"Not happening." Kaiji shook his head. "I'm a Meowth, I'm not getting rid of Pay Day. It's too iconic." He shrugged. "Besides, between the two of us, it's our only ranged move. So, unless you start firing off Psycho Cuts like I've seen other Pokémon do-"
"No fair! It's already hard enough using it as-is with my horn b- w-well, you know..." Kris looked down, his broken horn a bit of a sensitive subject. "Fine, how about you get rid of Fury Swipes?"
"Nope. It can do pretty good damage if I get lucky with how many hits I can get in, and splitting damage across multiple hits can be useful for interacting with certain abilities or items."
Kris groaned. "Fiiiine... Umm... I guess between your two Dark-type moves, Feint Attack does less damage, so..."
Kaiji paused, thinking for a moment. "Actually, I'll probably stick with Feint Attack, having a guaranteed hit can be really important when things get crazy. The best way to turn the odds in your favor is by getting rid of chance altogether and being able to plan around certainties. I'll get rid of Assurance after all, its extra power is situational."
"Wh- Y-you didn't listen to a single thing I said!" Kris whined. "Don't ask me for advice if you're just going to ignore it!"
Kaiji just shrugged, chuckling. "I guess I expected better advice."
The feline stood up, grasping the TM in his hand and focusing his energy as he began to glow softly for a brief moment, the silver disc losing its luster as the energy of the move inside it was transferred to Kaiji. Kris merely stuck out his tongue before turning his head away in a pout, having grown rather attached to Kaiji's Assurance after all the times he'd used it when they ganged up on tougher foes together.
"Oh, one more thing... make sure you tell us the second you get a prediction about the dungeon, alright? This is a very important mission, so any information is helpful," Kaiji added.
"Oh, now you want to listen!" Kris stuck his tongue out at his partner. "But of course I will! ...uh, whenever I get it." The Absol chuckled sheepishly. "Until then, my only prediction is that today's going to be a great day!" He smiled warmly, though Kaiji didn't seem enthused by the fox's optimism.
"With your track record, that's not really a good sign..." The Meowth muttered under his breath, as he got up to start loading all their stuff onto Ronnie.
"H-hey man, what're you doing?" the Numel stammered, as he felt more weight on his back than he'd had on the journey up the mountain.
"We can't leave all of this out here. We don't know where on the mountain the dungeon exits, and by the time we get out and the sun is setting we don't have time to possibly trek around the whole mountain just to get to our tents to sleep. Everyone else has a role to play in the dungeon, so yours is to keep the weight off their back while they fight."
"N-no way! I'm not a damn mule, man!"
"You're absolutely right. Personally, I'd say you're closer to a jackass..." Kaiji sneered. "Now sit still while I get the tents loaded onto you." The cat attached each of the two bundled-up tents onto the bag on either side of Ronnie.
"Uhh, you forgot the Blast Seeds!" Ronnie looked expectantly towards the pouches of items Kaiji had left out, hoping he'd get to carry something of actual importance.
"Not a chance. You can't be trusted not to accidentally set them all off with a bit of misplaced flame, so Kris will be carrying the dungeon supplies instead." Kaiji grabbed the small bags of Blast- and Stun Seeds, putting them into the pouch fastened on the left side of his Absol partner's belt, before sticking their supply of Oran Berries and Reviver Seeds into the pouch on the other side. With everything packed away, Kaiji stood up, taking a brief moment to stretch his arms before grabbing his bag and calling everyone over.
"Alright, if everyone's ready, let's not delay any longer. We don't know when we'll be getting out of the dungeon, so we need to get an early start." Kaiji explained, taking a look around him to make sure everyone was here.
Kris, his Absol partner, stood next to him, smiling enthusiastically in anticipation of the adventure right in front of them. Ronnie, the Numel he often found himself stuck with (on account of having brought him to the guild), hung his head low, grumbling in annoyance about having to carry everything. KFC, the Combusken training to master Aura, closed his eyes and seemed to be focusing intently on something, though the subject of his concentration was as of yet unclear to everyone else. Sneasel, the battle-hungry tomboy of the group, stretched her arms idly in front of her, and her Ribombee partner (Booker) rested on her head due to his small size and current lack of function in his wings limiting his mobility.
With everyone accounted for, Kaiji led them forward, and the group travelled a short distance along the side of the mountain, arriving at the mouth of the cave housing the Mystery Dungeon. They'd already scoped it out the night prior, but made the decision to make their camp a little ways away from it for safety reasons. Peering inside, they could see the walls of the cave adorned with sections of reflective, pale blue crystal, blending in flat against the shape of the cave as opposed to jutting out.
Wordlessly, the team of six Pokémon exchanged glances with each other, before nodding as they all took the first step forward into the dungeon together.
[Music: https://youtu.be/YW8-kPTAH8s ]