PMD: Origins of Shadows

**SPOILERS FOR PMD BELOW. ALSO, HUGE ESSAY OF A STORYLINE.**

>...they want it to pay homage to all the previous titles and include at least references to all of them, while also being a standalone title and not a remake of the previous ones.

I would have this "ultimate" game be a prequel to all the Mystery Dungeon games, answering questions of how things came to be. How did the humans first appear in PMD2 and PSMD? Where did the Bittercold/Dark Matter first originate? **Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Origins of Shadows**.

# Storyline

>How do you tackle the challenge? What storyline(s) would you create? What characters from previous games do you bring back or reference?

Alongside being a prequel to the PMD titles, I would have it take place in the Orre region and be a sequel to Pokémon Colosseum/XD: Gale of Darkness. Team Cipher's Ardos would be experimenting and trying to create a darkness that could not be easily removed and would be able to spread and possess other Pokémon (>!Dark Matter!<). However, it grows sentient and starts spiraling out of control, so they contain >!Dark Matter!< by freezing it in ice (>!Bittercold!<). However, we see a bit of the darkness running off Ardos.

You start out by taking on the usual main-line gym quest and villainous team plot. However, something starts being off in the Orre region. New Pokémon are starting to appear randomly while missing reports start rising. You find Team Cipher along the way selling Pokémon not native to the land with incredibly human-like personalities, and you do what you can to free them. You also encounter a few Pokémon using shadow moves.

On the road, you spot a Mew (PSMD) for a second. You go after it, only to discover a strange wormhole a la Pokémon Sun/Moon, where you are ambushed by a Nihilego and have to fight it off. However, the portal doesn't close all the way and, with a strange flash of light, you see a maze-like formation from the location of the puzzle resembling the scenery before you find yourself back on the road.

Later on, you enter a laboratory specializing in research of human-Pokémon communication. You have ways to read the emotions or allow Pokémon to speak. What's the next logical step? Communicate with Pokémon by being one! However, the lab was taken over by Cipher and have been used to change people into rare Pokémon. You are ambushed and are taken to one of these pods where they have a choice of DNA (where you can choose a PSMD starter for the PMD section).

However, a child running around with an egg manages to stop your full transformation by causing a distraction with a Hydreigon (GtI) and blasting everything inside. You are still human, though others say you're unstable, and you clear Cipher from the research lab. You are thanked, given an bracelet temporarily that allows you to stabilize your genetic code to stay human until a cure is found (spoilers: >!a cure's not found!<). Also, the kid is lectured by their mother.

You learn about human-turned Pokémon and about Shadow Pokémon, and the lab becomes your hub for shadow Pokémon. You are assigned to go around and start gathering human-turned Pokémon and freeing Shadow Pokémon with an improved machine that lets you detect Shadow and human Pokémon (though with a couple of bugs where you may accidentally bring in normal Pokémon that are humanoid like Machoke and Gardevoir). You also continue with the gym badge hunt, but it becomes less of a priority.

After a while of travelling and rescuing, you find yourself encountering yet another UB portal. Mew appears and pushes you in, breaking you away from the bracelet you wear. You turn into the Pokémon you chose and the Mystery Dungeon part of the game kicks in. Mew finds interest in your transformation, gives you the bracelet which turns you back into a human. Mew giggles, takes the bracelet, and escapes into the dungeon, leaving you to race after them. You enter the maze and fight a boss Pokémon who seem to be possessed by something. Knocking them out causes them to question what happened and they manage to escape.

When you go through the dungeon maze and end up in the end room, Mew congratulates you and gives you back your item, then ask for your help investigating the random portals that popped up all over. Mew then transports you out of the dungeon back into Orre as a human, leaving you with a sparkling stone. You take it back to the lab, explaining what happens, and they create the first rescue badge that will help you escape the dungeon in stable parts (mid and end rooms in particular). You're also given a machine that will scan the UB portals for any abnormalities, such as Pokémon that do not belong (first instance of the rescue mechanic and how rescue mail is made) along with potential Shadow/human Pokémon that might be located inside. You can also choose one to three Pokémon from your team to be your partner(s).

As the game progresses, you come to a point where you encounter a major boss who has a new type of Shadow Pokémon that cannot be captured through usual means. When you defeat it, it comes back up and starts shooting a strange dark aura against its trainer, turning them to stone, and start charging one at you. Mew appears and blocks the attack, teleporting you out of the building.

You switch back to a Pokémon for a moment, and Mew starts explaining something mysterious about the new breeds of shadow Pokémon, stating that numerous people and Pokémon have started turning into stone. Mew joins your party at this point, and you go to the lab hub, which is under attack once again.

You run in and start fighting off possessed Cipher Peons and Shadow Pokémon, mumbling random things about "bringing in a new age". When entering a section of the lab, you find the kid with the egg along with the Hydreigon, who are fighting off grunts. An attack hits a machine, which starts sparking. You help fend off the grunts, and the machine starts rumbling. The Hydreigon blows you and the kid away and takes the brunt of the machine, disappearing into light and sparkles (>!and becoming the Voice of Life!<). Another portal appears, but unlike the UB portals, it's covered in darkness. The kid, believing Hydreigon disappears into the portal, runs into it and disappears with the egg. Extra dialogue will have the parent of the child grieving over their child, while hoping the egg will hatch into a strong Treecko that will protect their kid. (>!In other words, the kid is implied to be the PMD2 hero and with their Grovyle.!<)

After you drive out the possessed grunts and things settle, the surviving scientists not turned into stone will mention what they found out about the portals. A portal was opened to an unknown world and a powerful being was pulled out of it. However, the portal has been open this entire time, slowly causing things to distort, with more of the "mystery dungeons" appearing. After learning everything you can, more footsteps are heard, with multiple grunts and Shadow Pokémon appearing. However, this time, the shadows on the Shadow Pokémon are being seen clearly without special cameras or the like.

You escape through a secret exit and hear on the news that Orre is now on lockdown and cities have started fortifying themselves, and a new location for rescue bases is located in another place: the ONBS building, with Secc and Nett in the lead for rescue operations. At this point, the league is no longer an option, leaving you with eight badges and no league to fight.

At this point, you track down and locate the location of the source of the shadows. Secc and Nett give you a board that allows you to create a portal by arranging Entracards and create a Magnagate, with the downside being only Pokémon can use it. There's also a possibility of trouble, so you leave all your Pokémon behind (except for Mew, who comes with you despite the risk). Once you take the Magnagate, it becomes the point of no return.

Once you travel the Magnagate, you appear in one of those cross-dungeons, which act as the finale dungeon(s) of the game. Once you clear them, you appear in the front of one of Team Cipher's bases, where you start facing off against multiple possessed Cipher Grunts and Admins, even facing against the Cipher Bosses you might have fought.

After getting to the end of the base, you come face to face with Cipher Boss Ardos, who is only semi-possessed in the way that he's crazed by guilt but also extremely excited for a new world under his hand. He will have a Nihilego and Darkrai (>!PMD2!<) on his team. Once you defeat him, he will break from possession and tell you about how Dark Matter fed on his negative emotions (anger) and how to stop it.

You're given a weapon designed to freeze it and Ardos opens a portal, but not before Darkrai appears and breaks your bracelet, forcing you back into Pokémon form and knocking away your PokéBalls, leaving you alone. Darkrai rambles about how he enjoys the darkness being created and then forces you into a nightmare. A cutscene plays where you drown in darkness as Dark Matter appears before you and taunts you, but Cresselia appears to wakes you up. Cresselia holds off Darkrai and chases him off, leaving you and Mew to go through the portal to stop >!Dark Matter!<.

>!You come in and find yourself in the Voidlands, where the final battle against Dark Matter begins. Dark Matter screams in anger over seeing Mew and goes on a rampage, starting the first phase of avoiding its attacks. Once you deal enough damage, it chants "You have not stopped me. You never stopped me." and does an unavoidable attack that will lead into another cutscene, where Dark Matter mocks Mew for their persistence and gives the implication this is not the first time they fought. !<

>!Mew transports your team over, leading into the second phase where you fight in a trainer battle... as a Pokémon. After lowering Dark Matter's HP to 1, it roars and blasts another aura attack that ends the fight. In a last resort, you pull out the weapon and fire it at Dark Matter, slowly freezing it. It taunts you by saying it has already rained its negative emotions on the world when it was first defeated, and that you were only delaying the inevitable. Once completely frozen, it shrinks down and turns into a small crystal with darkness imbued.!<

>!Once you return to the region, you get a fanfare for rescuing the Orre region. You're also given a fixed bracelet allowing you to be human again. However, with people and Pokémon still in stone, portals all over the place, and Dark Matter's last words, you and Mew decide to go on a search to bring these people back and prevent a situation like this happening again. And then the ending credits appear.!<

Postgame, things are rebuilding, and Team Cipher has been dismantled. You go around finding the remaining human-turned Pokémon and Shadow Pokémon lost in the portals. >!In the last quest, you also go through the Voidlands for answers, finding out about the Luminous Water and travelling to the Tree of Life. There, Xerneas questions how you revived so early, along with the PSMD's past ancestors of Pokémon stopping Dark Matter when the stars aligned. Both you and Mew are able to get the water to bring the humans/Pokémon back from stone, but Mew ponders they have to go back in time to help those ancestors, but also says you and Mew could have some fun before they have to go on their quest in the past and prepare for the future.!<

Once you complete the final questline, you can finally battle against Orre's Pokémon League and take on optional difficult Mystery Dungeons!

# Mechanics

>What mechanics do you bring back from previous games unchanged? Which ones do you tweak before adding and how? Which ones do you discard completely?

You, as the player (with customization features allowing you to change your skin color, body type, etc), go out to explore the Orre region as a new trainer. Since last seen, Orre has developed even further, no longer requiring any motor bikes or other modes of transportation to go from place to place (but still being around for later quick drop-offs).

For the trainer part, it would function like Orre usually does with double battles. I would add in the same mechanics of purifying Shadow Pokémon like XD did.

Later on, you would morph into a Pokémon with the PSMD starter choices. It would function with the regular PMD stuff, but I would have No Hunger except for the post-game optional dungeons. However, I would also have it with the difficulty of PSMD where dungeon mons have more HP.

Portals would be the gateway to dungeons. Rescues are replaced with Pokémon or human-turned Pokémon who fell in these dungeons. Shadow Pokémon that appear in these dungeons would function similarly to outlaws.

Wild Pokémon would also appear in the overworld as well as grass. There also would be quests where you have to find human-turned Pokémon in certain routes and areas, but act more like NPCs you talk to.

&#x200B;

Anyway, this is a... large post. I'll be amazed if anyone actually reads through it all. I'll admit though that there might be contradictions with my storyline and the game's lore since I was just typing without thought. Also, there may be more ways to put in references since I don't think I have a Rescue Team reference anywhere. Could be a sidequest where a human touches a Ninetales tail and you have to look for their Gardevoir that disappear (or find any trace of them). I wasted three hours writing this out, so... yeah.