Pokémon Bench's Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Drabbles

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, coming back to this series from last year since there’s been some new drabbles added to it, and I liked the ones that I read last year, so figured that was as good a reason to just jump in and get caught up.

World Tree

There's only one true Tree of Life in the world. A tree whose roots reached deep into the planet, almost touching its core. A tree that stabilized the planet's orbit, keeping it from falling into the sun. A tree that imbued the planet with life, allowing plants and Pokemon to flourish all across the world.

… Wait, why is this all mentioned in past tense again? Since doesn’t that imply that the World Tree no longer exists relative to whenever it’s being narrated? ^^;

If that’s not the intent, you probably want to switch the verb tense over to present tense.

In some ways, the Tree of Life is the planet. It keeps the planet alive.

Voice of Life: “What, am I a joke to you?”

Narrator: “The implication is that you’re the Tree of Life’s avatar, now shut up.”

And during times of great crisis, when the very planet itself is in jeopardy...

The Tree of Life begins to wither, the planet bleeds, and mystery dungeons begin to multiply.

… Wait, so how long had the Tree of Life been dying in your PMD canonworld continuity given that “Mystery Dungeons are multiplying” has been a backdrop of every canon game in terms of fluff text.

Connection Orb

Skwovet glanced over at Yanma, clutching the Connection Orb in their paws. "Ready?" the squirrel Pokemon said, tail swishing in excitement.

Oh, this will be interesting to see how this works. I assume that Connection Orbs in your continuity aren’t just communicators like they are in Psychic Sheep.

"Yeppers!" Yanma said, gaze fixated on Kirlia. "Let's see if she really does want to be friends with me!"

Skwovet threw the orb onto the ground, and it shattered. He began to see a line connecting Yanma and Kirlia...a yellowish green, the color of a budding friendship!

… But how on earth does that even-?

Narrator: “Mysteriosity.”

"Yeah! She does!" Skowvet said. Yanma began doing loops in excitement, before the connection line turned orange. Annoyance.

"And just what are you two doing?" Kirlia asked as she approached the two.

But that doesn’t even-

Narrator:

Alright then. Though I have to wonder what on earth a Connection Orb even is such that it can literally track friendships in such a fashion.

Gone Pebble

"Huh? What's this?" Trumbeak asked their partner, as he picked up a small stone from the ground. It felt nostalgic, somehow.

"Looks like a Geo Pebble—hey, you ok?" Scyther asked, as Trumbeak suddenly dropped the pebble, putting their wings to their head.

… Oh, this is one of those ‘fake items’ from Sky, isn’t it? Since I was going to ask what on earth was a ‘Gone Pebble’.

Memories rushed through Trumbeak's mind, of a time gone by. When they were still just a Pikipek, and having fun with their best friend at the time, Rhyhorn.

… Or maybe it’s something completely different. Can’t tell, really.

Rhyhorn, who they hadn't seen in years.

Well that went into

territory fast.

Tears welled up in Trumbeak's eyes, and resolve welled up in their heart. They would get through this dungeon, no matter what.

I didn’t really get the feeling that these two were in trouble, but boy did things take an unexpectedly

turn there.

Once again, I thought that these were pretty cute drabbles, and even though there were only 3 new ones for me to cover this year, I thought that they covered a pretty respectable emotional spread. I don’t have too many criticisms to raise beyond a couple typos and verb tense errors since your drabbles inherently follow a very constrained wordcount by design. That said, for a couple scenarios, I kinda wondered if they might have worked a bit better as larger one-shots. Since I kinda wanted to know more about the characters and the topics being dealt with in some one-shots like the Connection Orb one.

But thanks again for writing these @IFBench , and hope you have fun with more of these PMD prompts in the future. ^^

 

[Torchic W. Pip]

Hey there! Am back.

Too Late
Oof. Oof. Oof. This hits different after reading the items guide.

Zinnia
Zinnia!!!!!!

I like how you personify worlds here. Every planet, like Xerneas, supports a bounty of life. And mmmmm yes different people interpreting things differently my beloved.

Temporal Tower
Oh shit has time in this world stopped? Oh shit. side note: Torchic knows next to zilch about Gates to Infinity

Emera
I'm big stupid and whenever I hear "Emera" I think it's like a category of medications.

And yesssss quiet, intimate moments of item creation. I... I vibe with this.

Lucario the Hero
I know it's not an unpopular opinion but Lucario is very cool and I really like it and think it's awesome and— /gen

I like the implication that Lucario the Hero inspired the team to form a rescue team to help other explorers. It's one of those moments where, like, you can say so much with just a few words. And that's my favourite part of drabble fiction.

Back and Forth
Something something grandfather clock analogy Question Mark.

Also yayyyy happiness. I like happiness. I like having your cake and eating it too. Bless the partner.

Tree of Life

There's only one true Tree of Life in the world. A tree whose roots reached deep into the planet, almost touching its core. A tree that stablizied the planet's orbit, keeping it from falling into the sun. A tree that imbued the planet with life, allowing plants and Pokemon to flourish all across the world.

*stabilized
Also, there's a biiiiiiit of a tense change with the sentences after the first one.

I like the funky Tree of Life. that is all.

Connection Orb
TSUNDERE FRIENDSHIP!!!!! Oh my gosh that's such a good trope. I need to somehow put Connection Orbs in the Torchic trainer world.

Gone Pebble
YOOOoOOOOOOOO MEMORY ANGST STUFF GRABBY GRABBY I LOVE THIS ITEM

...Uhhh yeah good stuff, Bench. Very, very good stuff. I enjoyed these a lot. Pls do more if you want.

 

[IFBench]

Wildflowers and Weeds​

Made for the Drabble Tag thread. The prompt for this was "common wildflowers, invasive wildflowers, weeds".​

Zacian trekked through Eternal Meadow, gazing upon her work. A vast meadow of flowers as far as the eye could see, the beauty of nature in floral form.

Looking at one of the Eternal Blooms, she saw a Petrify Bush choking it, the massive flower's petals wilting to feed the purple vines. Unfortunate, but fixable with a quick cut.

It was a simple matter of removing a weed. Zacian slashed her sword precisely, severing the parasitic vine without harming the Eternal Bloom.

She had put down her sword long ago, but even now, sometimes, she still found use for it.