I Have a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon System in a World with Pokemon

On the peak of Mt. Thunder, Zapdos watched the white Zorua, golden Azumarill, and weird Pikachu walking away at the foot of the mountain. 

"Good riddance. Never seeing them again will be too soon."

With a flap of his wings, Zapdos flew on top of the burnt tree, curling his wings and closing his eyes to focus on recovery. 

But even after an hour, sleep eluded him. He opened his eyes tiredly, his gaze shifting to something far above the clouds in the north.

"The God of Time and the God of Space have begun to act strange, and now even mortals have gained the power to challenge the divine…Is this a sign of the third catastrophe?"

His eyes grew blurry as he recalled the stories told by his predecessor; about the two catastrophes that happened long before he was born. 

The first catastrophe happened tens of thousands of years ago- when the world was suddenly plunged into darkness. With the lack of light, plants began to wither and no more fruits and berries were produced. 

Without access to food, everyone in that period slowly resorted to their basic instincts. The humans and Pokemon fought for their survival, and death was a common occurrence.

Because of their weak strength, humans became the prime target for hunting. Their numbers quickly dwindled and they were forced to go into hiding.

That chaotic period lasted for more than a year. 

Just as it seemed that everyone would have to adapt to living in darkness for the rest of their life, the world ushered in light once more. 

Zapdos' predecessor wasn't clear about what caused the light to return, nor what even caused the darkness in the first place. However, after that catastrophe, strange dungeons suddenly sprung up in various parts of the world, with food and items being produced inside.

Those still traumatized by the event decided to live inside those dungeons, to prevent the same thing from happening if a similar event ever came to pass.

And the second catastrophe that came three thousand years ago proved their decision correct.

Thinking about how even gods like himself died during the second catastrophe, he trembled.

Zapdos thought he had already trained to become strong enough; that he wouldn't suffer the same fate. However, the battle today gave him a big wake-up call. 

"It seems my predecessor was correct, just power alone is not enough to survive. Whether the next catastrophe is an undying legion of Pokemon, or the space-time of this world becoming distorted, I need to provide more energy and make my dungeon more durable."

After making this decision, Zapdos waved his wings. Dozens of Sleep Seeds flew out of the treasure room and into his open beak.

—

Dante, Azumarill, and Pikachu had smiles on their faces as they walked away from Mt. Thunder. 

"Hey Dan-"

"HAHAHAHAHA!!"

When Dante no longer felt the pressure from Zapdos, he began to roll around the ground while laughing hysterically.

"Uhh, are you okay, Dan?"

"Okay? I'm more than okay! I'm feeling great! HAHAHAHA!"

Pikachu and Azumarill looked worriedly at their friend. In the four months since Pikachu met Dante, this was the first time he saw him acting like this.

After laughing for a couple more minutes, Dante finally stopped and got off the ground. However, his face still sported a broad grin.

"Haa, sorry, I tried very hard to suppress myself on the way back. It all just came out at once."

Dusting himself off, Dante looked at the Item Menu and at the Earth Plate. He took it out and finally had a good look at this Legendary item. 

From the outside, it looks like an unassuming, brown stone that was perfectly cut into a rectangular prism. But holding it in his hand, Dante could feel the immense Earth Elemental energy hidden within.

'If people back in the human world got ahold of this, it would probably be enough to provide energy for a whole country. And to think this is just the 'Fake' version.'

According to the lore in his previous world, Arceus created the Pokemon Universe and then split himself into thousands of weaker variants to act as an observer. The true Elemental plates, which were huge and the size of a coffin, were also split into thousands for each of his clones.

Dante mused as he put his paws over the Earth Plate and felt the glassy texture. Beside him, Pikachu and Azumarill curiously walked over and touched this stone that Dante was so obsessed about.

"Hmm, it's...very solid? Hey Dan, what's so special about this thing? Why did you become so agitated after taking it earlier?"

"Hahaha, I'll tell you guys on the way. Come on, let's go to Treasure Town and have someone appraise the treasure boxes."

Putting the Earth Plate back in the Item Menu, Dante began telling Pikachu and Azumarill about the story of Arceus, the creator of the Pokemon Universe.

"S-so, this t-thing, it came from our creator!?"

Azumarill and Pikachu's eyes turned into saucers as they stared at Dante. 

"W-wait! Then how come Zapdos had it?"

"Who knows, probably because Arceus lost all of them, again."

Dante thought amusedly how in every Pokemon game and animation, Arceus loses their elemental plates and is then collected by the villains/protagonist. Clearly, the same thing happened in this world.

As they arrived near Treasure Town, they stopped talking about the Earth Plate in tacit understanding. Their team returned the townspeople's greetings as they walked through the crowd and into the Exploration Teams' area.

There, they began to head towards Xatu's hut, the most renowned expert when it comes to appraisals.

The sun has just begun to set, the time when most exploration teams returned from the dungeon. Therefore, when the Explorers around saw Team Omnipotent Travelers entering Xatu's place, they were flabbergasted.

"Hey, did my eyes deceive me? Or was that really Pikachu and his team going inside Xatu's hut?"

"Yeah, I definitely saw the same."

"Hey hey! Have they started exploring a 1-star dungeon already!?"

"I remember it was just last year when Pikachu was still pestering me to tell him stories about our exploration. I didn't expect…"

The crowd looked at the entrance of the store with admiration and envy. Among exploration teams, there is a saying that being able to enter Xatu's hut is a symbol of entering the elite level.

After all, treasure boxes can only be obtained from 1-star dungeons and above.

After coming in, Dante and his team curiously looked around the inside of this famous shop. Unlike what they expected, there wasn't any decoration or any fancy gadgets in this hut. 

Instead, in the middle of the room, there was only a human-like figure, with a green circular head and a beak, as well as a body that looked like a robe. In front of the figure, there was an empty wooden table.

That figure was Xatu. Xatu raised his head, his eyes like a calm pool of water, taking in the features of the three newcomers.

"So, you've finally arrived."

"OHH! Did you use your powers to predict our arrival!?"

"...no. I just heard of your team's rising reputation and made a speculation."

Pikachu was tongue-tied. He didn't expect someone with such a reputation to be so…unimpressive.

"Hahaha! We came to appraise our treasure box, Xatu. How much does it cost?"

"My service costs 150 Poke for each box. What do you wish?"

"Well, these."

Dante placed all the twenty treasure boxes that dropped from Raichu, as well as the treasure boxes that they obtained from earlier floors, on the empty wooden table. All in all, it amounted to 29 boxes.

"By the way, do you teach others your appraisal technique?"

"The ability to appraise cannot be learned nor taught. One only can, or cannot."

Dante frowned. If they don't learn how to appraise, how can they know whether or not they have the ability? 

Seeing Xatu preparing to start appraising, Dante withheld his question and stepped back. He opened his Copycat vision to see how Xatu would 'appraise' the treasure and maybe learn it for himself.

"Let the appraisal begin! Kwee…Kwee…KWAH!"

Dante's brows furrowed in confusion as he saw Xatu raising his arms before inserting tendrils of psychic-type energy into each box and then...not doing anything else. Even so, the treasure boxes began to slowly melt. Their forms shifting from their initial structure to various shapes.

"And so it is revealed, within these boxes, are these items."

Dante was bewildered as he stared at the random objects scattered on the table. 

"...it seems I may not have the talent for appraisal you spoke about."

Shaking his head, Dante took the items from the table and paid Xatu 4,350 Poke. 

"There's no need to be discouraged, young one. When you get another box, I'll have the eyes to probe its mysteries."

"Yeah, thanks Xatu."

As they stepped out of the hut, Pikachu looked at Dante with an eager expression.

Alright, calm down. Let's get back in the guild before we check and organize what we got."

"Aww, alright. Still, I feel like I have become stronger already."

"Yeah, that's because I saw the treasure box from the Raichu's dropping some of your exclusive items."

"OHH! Come on! I wanna see what they look like!"

Under Pikachu's urging, their team decided to forego going to Spinda's Cafe as usual and decided to just check in on Teddiursa's egg before heading back to the guild.

However, as they stepped into the entrance of Chansey's nursery, a small brown figure ran towards them while shouting.

"DAD!!!"

A/N: Dum dum dum! Who could the father of the brown figure be!? 

A/N2: Sorry for no update yesterday. I got rushed to the hospital due to a high stomach acid attack. I'm fine now though, (hopefully), so let's continue with the story!