(A/N) This is my first ever fanfiction. I've been writing this for a long time, a few months, actually, so I'm thrilled to finally be publishing it! This story has already been pre-written, so it'll take a little shorter than usual to update it. Also, this is a series that will be my main focus. The protagonist is Leaf, a female bulbasaur.

This is also a mystery dungeon fanfiction, but not the normal type of mystery dungeon fanfic you'd imagine.

The story starts out kind of slow, and you might sometimes be like "When is the main plotline gonna happen?" But I plan for there to be more than 20 chapters, and again, I won't suffer writer's block much because everything is planned and written.

Without further ado, here is my first ever Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanfic, Pokemon-The Crystal explorations-(Book 1) The Orbs of Life!

Leaf felt a surge of energy. She was being sent out of her Poke-Ball by her trainer. There was another surge of energy, stronger and brighter this time, as Leaf felt herself transported out of the Poke-Ball. After a brief swirl of light, Leaf was standing in front of the human she knew and obeyed as her Pokemon trainer.

Leaf looked around. She was standing on tan, dry dirt, a little bit away from a field of dark green tall grass. There was a Pokemon Center in her other direction.

It was a hot, bright afternoon, and the sun felt warm and pleasant against her bulb.

"Leaf," said her trainer, somewhat impatiently. Leaf turned around to look at him. She didn't see him as often as she would have thought ;she only saw harsh, difficult battles when she was outside of her Poke-Ball.

"You know how you're my Grass-Type starter Pokemon?" he asked.

She did. A starter Pokemon like her was an irreplaceable partner, a-

"Well, I got a new one."

. . . A new starter Pokemon, or . . . a new partner? Was her trainer joking? He sounded quite serious, but still, it just couldn't be true . . .

"Meet your replacement, Reed." Her trainer said, holding out an unfamiliar Poke-Ball and pressing the button on it.

Replacement? Was her trainer really going to replace her?

A servine flashed out of the Poke-Ball. The servine, who Leaf assumed was Reed, looked down at her with a smug look on his face.

He's not joking, Leaf realized He's really going to replace me . . .

"Reed is a strong, fast, evolved Pokemon," Her trainer said. "While you aren't any of those three. All that time I've kept you, all those battles you've been in, I was just waiting for you to evolve, or at least get stronger. And now I finally have a strong, evolved Grass-Type who won't just take up space on my Poke-Belt or lose to every battle he's in. I have Reed now. And do you know what that means, Leaf?"

Leaf shook her head slowly, dreading the answer.

"It's simple. I don't need you anymore. So I'm going to release you."

Fear immediately consumed Leaf. She leaped onto her trainer's leg and wrapped her forearms around it, prepared to hang on. She swore to herself that she would not be released. She would do everything she could, even evolve into an Ivysaur.

"ACK!" Her trainer yelled angrily, shaking his leg in attempt to shake her off. "Get off my leg, you useless weak waste of space!"

Leaf fell to the ground at his words.

"You really don't want to get released?" He asked her.

Leaf nodded her head vigorously, relief spreading through her

"Well then, you have until sundown to prove to me that you aren't worthless and convince me to let you back on the team. And don't expect me to change my mind if you shed a few tears. You'd better be here by dusk, Leaf."

And with those last words, he spun around on his heel and walked away, followed by a smugly smirking Reed.

Leaf immediately knew evolving was her best shot. But how could she evolve in one day? The only way she could think of was to train and toughen up, but that could take days, and she only had a few hours.

Leaf decided she would try anyways. There was a field of green, cool tall grass nearby, and it was a hot day. At least some wild Pokemon had to be resting or scuttling around in the shady grass.

As if on cue, Leaf spotted the tip of a purple tail sticking out of the grass. The rattata stayed near the middle of the field, unaware Leaf was so close by. It wouldn't hurt to at least try; maybe she could manage to evolve.

I have to do it. Leaf reminded herself. And I will.

She quickly ran at the grass and pounced on the wild rattata, knowing it was only the first of many she would have to defeat.

Leaf battled without break until her strength was almost fully sapped. Still, at only a few minutes to sundown, she was still a bulbasaur. Most of her hope extinguished at the sight of the sinking sun. The battles had only weakened her. Reluctantly, Leaf trudged back to the Pokemon Center.

Leaf's trainer was waiting for her, looking bored and staring critically at his watch. He frowned at Leaf with a disapproving look in his eyes that seemes familiar. It was the look he got whenever she lost a battle, or even got hit by an attack.

"Well, well. You're so slow that I got here late and you got here two minutes after me." Her trainer said, sounding bored. "So that means that you're as pathetically slow as ever. Hmm . . . and you haven't evolved, of course. But then again, you're to weak to even learn a new move, so what chance would you ever have at evolving, anyways? Oh, and an increase in strength? Haha, you look weaker than a magikarp! We both knew it was impossible. I've been with you since day one of my journey and you almost seem to grow weaker every day, much less stronger."

An anger Leaf had never felt against her trainer began sploshing around inside of her. She glared and arched herself into a fighting stance, pulling out her vines and smacking them at the ground, creating a thudding sound.

"Ooh, this is something new that doesn't make me sick," her trainer said. "I like a strong, competitive temperament like that. Think your overpowered, do you? Let's see in a battle!" her trainer pulled out Reed's Poke-Ball from his Poke-Belt. "And who better than your replacement to take you on?"

Reed appeared at his side in a flash of light. The annoying, grinding smug look on his face was still etched upon his mouth, making Leaf a little more enthusiastic about battling him. Still, she knew the odds of winning were probably very close to zero. Not only did Reed look way stronger, Leaf was weakened from her training before. Cuts, peckmarks, scratches, bites, and bruises already tattoed her turquoise skin. Still, she had to try . . . and she had to win.

"Go, Reed!" Her trainer said, pointing at Leaf. "Use Vine Whip!"

Reed quickly sent two vines out of his banana yellow collar and began to lash them at Leaf. Leaf scrambled left and right, trying to dodge the vines. Then Reed sent both vines at her. The vines grabbed Leaf by the waist and raised her in midair. Leaf struggled and bit at the vines, but she was just squeezed tighter.

Leaf bit at one of the vines again, and she must've hit a good spot. Reed dropped her and withdrew his vines, but he didn't look to hurt or fazed by her bite. Leaf leaped to her feet and charged at Reed, but the speedy servine easily dodged her attack.

"CUT!" her trainer yelled. One of Reed's leafy hands became long and blade-sharp. He jumped in the air, landed in front of Leaf, and slashed at her bulb. It wasn't a very deep cut or seriously bleeding, but Leaf wailed and collapsed to the floor, her cut stinging painfully.

"Vine Whip, again!" Reed's hand returned to normal as his vines shot out once more. They became a hazy blur of green as they whipped and slapped at Leaf. Black spots began to tear through Leaf's vision, getting bigger and darker with every strike.

It's over . . . Leaf thought dully. She could already feel herself loosing consciousness. There was no point in continuing; Reed had clearly proven himself stronger . . .

"Finish this, Reed!" Leaf heard her trainer shout. "TAKE DOWN!"

A blur of color was speeding at Leaf . . .she was doomed . . . she was going to be released . . . all that training and work for nothing, because now she would be a wild and lonely Pokemon forever . . .

And then Reed tackled her, and she finally blanked out.

(A/N) This chapter is the most different out of any chapters in this story. I actually kind of think of it as more of a prologue chapter, but everyone would be confused (even me!) if there wasn't this chapter, or even a flashback of a scene like this in the story.

This was a fun chapter to write. The next main characters will be introduced in the next chapter, which was one of my favorites to write in general. If you have any questions, write them in a review for this chapter and I can probably answer them (Please no inappropriate questions)!

I hope you liked my first chapter!

-Static Eevee 198