Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Legacy of Hatred

"...Wait, Blanchey didn't trust us?" Evan sighed.

"Relax, Ev, this was a tough mission, as the Bisharp said." Shiva said. "You look familiar...Reversa, right?"

"...Yeah, it's Reversa." Evan said. "Hopefully now we can beat 'em to the punch and grab that Mystic Power."

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"Wow, Miss Sonia, you're gonna join their exploration team?" Vesa asked, eyes shining.

"You were a Master Rank." Vidar said, dumbfoundedly. "I thought that was only a rank Pokemon dreamt of achieving. Astounding."

"You guys will do great!" Vesa cheered.

"No no no," Rhapsody said as the two meandered through the castle. "I'm sure there's a way we can live here. Sure the layout changes every time someone comes through the dungeon, but we have technology you know?"

"Not gonna work hun," Hallows shook his head. "But hey Rhapsody, what if we stop looking for the Mystic Power and nab everything else in this place instead?"

"What!?"

"Hear me out. No one knows this place is here, so no one will know if we take it. No target on our back. Not to mention, we can easily sell this stuff and get far more than our raid on that jewelry store yesterday."

Rhapsody smiled slyly. "Hm, you drive a hard bargain. Well, what are we waiting for?"

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Eser, Sorin, and Barek all collapsed on the floor to catch their breath.

"Can't believe we made it..." Barek said.

"Are all the Pokemon we meet going to be that strong and intimidating?" Sorin asked.

"Maybe we shouldn't have split up from those bandits..." Eser got up and started walking. "Come on, we have to keep moving. At this rate, we won't..."

Eser rounded a corner, but then instantly backtracked and hid.

"What's...?"

"Sh!"

Eser picked up an ear to see if he could listen in on the Golbat, Absol, and Bisharp.

"Oh, stop. That was such a long time ago." - Sonia says with a blush at Vidar's remark.

"Now then. What mission will we choose for our first day on the job?" - Hall asks as he pulls up the mission list.

He scrolls down the list and stops at one with the most 'team points'. It was a mission titled "Get my item back", with the client being a Zigzagoon.

"Huh. We picked a good one. It reads: 'Can someone please get my mom's heirloom ribbon back? It's very dear to her and I'm too scared to leave and get it. We lost it in a cave near the Insect Kingdom when we were moving to Rose Meadow. If anybody takes this mission, thank you." - Hall says as he reads off the screen.

"Oh, they lost their mom's ribbon! That's sad." - Menti states.

"The Insect Kingdom, huh? What do you know about it, Miss Sonia?" - Hall asks.

"Hmm... it's August's domain. She's a nice lady if a bit fickle. It's full of caves and marshlands, but we should be fine. I don't remember anything particularly dangerous from there." - Sonia remarks.

"Alright then. We're taking it." - Ambes nods.

He presses on the screen and checks off the mission.

"The location is... the Stardust Cave. Fancy name, but yowza look how far it is from where we are." - Hall states.

"It's an hour and a half of walking. We could catch a Magnet Car, but we may as well get some exercise in. Lord knows I need some for today." - Sonia stretches.

"Oh boy, here we go..." - Hall says with a sweat.

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Thalassa and Nina notice Rhapsody and Hallows walk in and hide into the dining room.

"I'm not quite ready for another fight, so let's just scout around for now." - Nina remarks.

"Good idea." - The Primarina nods.

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"Hopefully. Now, we should probably get moving before that Primarina finds you. She didn't seem like the type to mess around." - The Bisharp states.

She glances around the room. It's an armory lined with spears, swords and shields. The end of the room has a rusted anvil and a burnt-out forge.

"The Mystic Power has to be the most fiercely-guarded item in this entire castle. In fact, it may be likely that it's buried even deeper than where we are now. On the other hand, we could be wrong and lead ourselves deeper into magma." - Reversa ponders.

"I'd prefer to not burn to a crisp." Evan shuddered.

"What if it's in plain sight?" Shiva mumbled, deep in thought, "Like maybe it's disguised as a lesser object."

"Do you really think that?" Evan asked. 

Shiva gave a shrug with her wings.

"Least we could do is take these weapons." Shiva responded.

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"Uh, good luck." Vidar muttered, waving. "Uh, we'll meet you over there by Magnet Car."

Jeez, hope they don't keel over.


"Have fun!" Vesa cheered. "If you run into any problems, please let us know!"

"Help yourself because I sure know I'm not using them. Now..." - Reversa ponders.

She glances over to see a torn banner. The flapping of Shiva's wings brush the banner away, revealing a crack in the wall.

Reversa pushes aside a large cabinet to reach it but it topples over due to her strength. The blades fall to the ground and cause an ear-piercing cacophony that echoes throughout the castle.

The Bisharp stares at her mess with a disturbed glare before turning it into an annoyed eyeroll.

"Oh, brilliant. They're gonna know we're here now. May as well speed things up." - The Bisharp remarks as she punches the wall.

The brick crumbles at the force of the punch and reveals a pair of stairs that lead into a basement illuminated by an orange glow.

The Bisharp makes a hand motion to the Absol and Golbat as she walks down the stairs.

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Thalassa and Nina perk up when they hear the weapons collapse in a separate room.

"What was that?!"

"Trouble, of course." - Thalassa growls.

"Woah," Barek whispered. The three were watching the shady group as they revealed a secret passageway underneath the current room. "Is that where the Mystic Power is?"

"Would seem like it..." Eser frowned and stared at the hole. Where are those bandits? he thought. Whoever those three were, Eser could tell they weren't just some explorer group looking for fame and fortune. No doubt they'd use the Mystic Power for nefarious purposes. But he could easily tell that they were much more powerful than him and other two. Well, maybe not himself, but Eser couldn't take on all three, especially with two Dark types.

Ugh, what to do...

"Essy, I think I heard another exploration group down the hall," Sorin said. "Maybe they'll help us."

Eser wasn't so sure. As far as he was concerned, all explorer groups were competition. But, Sorin was much better than him at reading people. Maybe he was right.

The two followed Reversa rapidly.

"If we make it out of her alive, I better get most of the credit." Shiva laughed nervously.

"Can't believe we found it outta sheer dumb luck." Evan sighed. "Gonna be quite the challenge to actually get it now, though."

Evan definitely thought about lashing out at Reversa for her gaffe, but reconsidered. He didn't want his head shish-kabobed to a wall.

Thalassa and Nina collide into Eser's group as they run into the armory.

"Oh snap, I'm sorry." - Nina remarks as she bumps into the Espeon.

"We heard a noise here... were you the ones that made it?" - Thalassa asks.

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Reversa, Evan and Shiva descend the stairs into a large cavern surrounded by lava. Stone spires and torches tower over the Pokemon as they walk by. At the center of the cave is the statue of a dragon Pokemon with scale-like armor covering its cracked body. It looms over the group with a grimace.

In the statue's hands is a small diamond-shaped crystal surrounded by blue fire.

"... There it is. We just have to get it now. But first we have to check if there's any traps." - Reversa says.

Eser shook his head. "It was another group," he said. "Seemed sketchy. We'd follow but..." he looked at Sorin and Barek, "we don't really have the strength to take them on. But..."

"They're gonna take the Mystic Power! I just know it!" Barek interrupted. "We have to stop them!"

"We have to stay alive first," Eser snapped. He took a look at Thalassa and Nina. They looked like they had a rough time getting here. He would've asked them to help, but given their state, it might not have been a good idea.

"There probably is. I mean, obviously" Shiva muttered. "Hold on...lemme try something."

Shiva flapped her wings vigorously to attempt to dislodge any traps.

"Shhh, not so loud." Evan whispered sharply, with panic in his voice. "They're gonna hear us."

"I'm trying." Shiva whispered back.

"... There doesn't seem to be any traps. Could it be that there's something else?" - Reversa mutters under her breath as she looks around.

She takes a step towards the statue only for the room to violently shake with dust debris flying through the air. The scaled dragon statue moves its arm up in a stiff motion while grasping the flame in its other hand.

It slams down on the ground, releasing a shockwave towards the group. Reversa jumps out of the way and rubs both of her blades together.

"So it's a fight against a statue, huh? Shouldn't be too hard." - She says with a low chuckle.

The statue raises its arm back into the same position it was before. The ground shakes again, followed by the lava around the area bursting into bubbles. The shaking intensifies until a large four-legged Pokemon with metal parts breaks through the cracked floor and roars at the criminals.

"A fire guardian?! Maybe this could be a problem after all..." - The Bisharp sighs.

Thalassa and Nina run into the room and gasp upon seeing the Heatran's entrance and the statue.

"No way! It actually was here after all!" - The Meloetta says with an astonished face.

"They also woke the guardian up to go along with it..." - Thalassa growls.

The three explorers ran down the stairs with Nina and Thalassa. They stopped when they saw the Heatran.

"Well... I honestly wasn't expecting this," Eser deadpanned.

"No way!" Barek gasped. "It's... it's a legendary...!"

"And a statue!" Sorin added.

"Wait what?"

"Please tell me you two aren't going to join in a fight against a statue of all things, in addition to the ultra powerful legendary..." Eser complained.

"Look!" Sorin pointed to the diamond in the statue's hands. "I bet that's the Mystic Power!"

Sorin and Barek looked at one another, then nodded and ran towards the fight.

"You've got to be kidding me," Eser said, running after them. "We're straight up going to die."

"It appears that we are boned." Shiva muttered, as she and Evan look up at the Heatran.

"Crud, do we even have any moves to counter it?" Evan questioned nervously.

After a few moments, Shiva responded.

"Uh, I guess we could try and put a damper on any fire attacks with Rain Dance." Shiva said shakily. "It probably won't work, though..."

"Superpower, maybe?" Evan suggested.

"Please, you'd just get weaker after every use of it. It's not worth the risk."  Shiva sighed.

"WAIT, I GOT IT!" Evan said, unleashing a Water Pulse towards the Heatran.

"You just ran in..." Shiva sighed. "...How can you even use this move?"

"I wish I knew."

The Heatran's body glows orange as it breathes a stream of fire. The flames char through stone and leave behind melted rock, with Reversa and the other Pokemon slipping out of the way.

"The amount of heat coming off this is insane... How are we supposed to even touch it?!" - Nina shouts.

She looks to Thalassa while profusely sweating. The Primarina glances at the Bisharp's team as they evade the flamethrower.

"Simple. We combine our forces." - Thalassa remarks.

She summons more bubbles to explode on the Heatran. It flinches and stumbles back with a roar. Thalassa approaches Reversa while dashing on a jet of water.

"You! Stop!" - Thalassa yells.

"... Kind of a bad time to turn me in, don't you think?" - Reversa says with a snide grin.

"That's not what I'm interested in. How about we... make a momentary truce just so we don't get roasted by this thing? Everything after that is fair game." - Thalassa says with a sharp grimace.

The Bisharp makes a low chuckle.

"... Deal."

After waiting for the Heatran's stream of fire to dissipate, Barek and Sorin ran in, electricity fully charged. Sorin let out his Shock Wave first, while Barek followed it up with a Sparked up tackle. After bouncing off the Heatran's metal body, Sorin grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him away before the Heatran could retaliate.

"Kind of dangerous to be attacking with physical moves," Sorin said.

Barek just smiled sheepishly. "I uh... don't really know anything else."

Sorin just sighed. "We need to get you a TM..."