Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness: Difference between revisions

As with previous games, there is a post-credits story. Several months after the player was brought back, Wigglytuff decides that the player's team is ready for an exam to qualify for graduation from the Guild (apparently only accepting one team per year). They are told to go find the treasure found in [[Luminous Spring]], a place where Pokémon used to go to evolve, but are also warned to avoid the "grand master of all things bad" who lives there with his minions. Although Loudred is not allowed to speak of the test, having taken it the year before, {{p|Ursaring}} and {{p|Teddiursa}}, two Treasure Town locals, claim of going to the springs before and meeting no such "Grand Master". Upon reaching the spring, the team run into Ursaring and Teddiursa and conclude that the "Grand Master" does not exist before falling into the lair of the "Grand Master", who turns out to be none other than Wigglytuff and the guild members (revealed by a slip up by Bidoof), though they continue to (poorly) deny it till the end. After defeating the whole guild, the team continues their journey with Ursaring and Teddiursa. They find that the treasure is actually a {{DL|Food (Mystery Dungeon)|Perfect Apple}} left in a chest by Wigglytuff himself (through the help of the player's [[Dimensional Scream]]). They also find the Luminous Spring to be able to evolve Pokémon again, as Teddiursa evolves into an Ursaring after she steps into the spring and made her choice to evolve. The team, however, is told by the voice of the spring that they couldn't evolve yet, due to space being distorted. Later, they return the treasure to the guild and graduate, finding that the only benefit is that they can explore on their own and change the group leader, but they still have to give most of their reward money to the guild. Having graduated, the team moves their headquarters to Sharpedo Bluff.

Then, {{p|Mr. Mime}} appears in Treasure Town stating the famous explorer {{p|Scizor}} has been missing in a place called the [[Blizzard Island]]. The team pays a visit and finds Scizor frozen solid by {{p|Froslass}}. After they rescue Scizor, Scizor gives the team the "[[Rank (Mystery Dungeon)|Secret Rank]]" which the team and everyone else knows nothing about. This rank is used for the 7 dungeons home to the great [[Seven Treasures]].

One day, the player finds Corphish at the Guild's intersection, saying to go talk to mdcSunflora2 about something. When Sunflora is found on the lower level, she says that there is a land that has recently become possible to enter. This dungeon is called the [[Surrounded Sea]], supposedly home to hundreds of rare treasures brought by the currents that run through it. At the end of Surrounded Sea, there are three Deluxe Boxes and a {{pkmn|Egg|Wonder Egg}}, along with a warp tile that will get the player out of the dungeon. The next morning, the Egg hatches into a {{p|Manaphy}}. The team goes to see Chatot, who says that Manaphy are extremely rare. This makes the team take extra good care of it. A day later, the team takes Manaphy for a walk by the beach, which makes baby Manaphy incredibly happy. That night, however, when the team is asleep, Manaphy stays up and longingly stares out at the sea, eventually resorting to go to the shore. When the team wakes and finds Manaphy missing in the morning, they run around in a panic, trying to find it. They finally find it at the beach, where it suddenly keels over in the sand. Once the team reports to Chatot, the bird says that Manaphy are really supposed to grow up in the ocean. However, Manaphy's current ailment could only be cured by the Phione Dew, located in [[Miracle Sea]]. At the end of the dungeon, there are six {{p|Phione}}, who are driven away suddenly by an enraged, treasure-seeking {{p|Gyarados}}. After defeating Gyarados, he runs away, and in their thanks, the Phione gives the player the Phione Dew. After Manaphy is cured and with a few days of rest, a Pokémon named {{p|Walrein}} is told by Chatot to take care of Manaphy under the sea. With a tearful farewell, Manaphy is taken to its home.  

After the player saves Manaphy and after a couple of days of plain jobs, [[Team Charm]] pays a visit to the Guild. Team Charm consists of {{p|Lopunny}}, {{p|Medicham}}, and {{p|Gardevoir}}. This trio is legendary for their rank, which is the Master Rank, and for their style of treasure hunting. A former member, surprisingly, is Wigglytuff. Team Charm came because they're stuck on a hunt for treasure because they don't have a key. They ask Wigglytuff and Wigglytuff "claims" that he doesn't have it. But just before everyone thinks Team Charm will leave, Lopunny gives Wigglytuff a Perfect Apple and Wigglytuff finds the key with a big bang from his room. When Team Charm is leaving, everyone asks if they can go to the [[Aegis Cave]], including the player's team. Lopunny, the leader of Team Charm, agrees and says everyone can go after they open Aegis Cave with the key. The treasure of Aegis Cave is guarded by three legendary beings, {{p|Regice}}, {{p|Regirock}}, and {{p|Registeel}}. After defeating them, Team Charm, who were defeat by Registeel, assists the player in fighting {{p|Regigigas}} and several {{p|Bronzong}} and {{p|Hitmonlee}}. upon their defeat, a tremor suddenly hits the cave, forcing everyone to flee. Though initially disheartened at the prospect of failing the treasure hunt, they notice that a separate cave has opened nearby and realize that Aegis Cave was nothing more than a distraction to keep others away from where the treasure really was, though Team Charm concedes the credit to the player's team before departing.

Later, a Pokemon named '{{p|Cresselia}}' appears in the player's dreams and tells the player that their existence is causing a distortion in space due to being from a future that no longer exists. At the same time, he also appears in the partner's dreams and makes the same claim based on the partner having traveled to the altered future. Though they initially dismiss this, the player and partner later discover that Azurill is trapped within a nightmare and is unable to wake up. As they and the Guild struggle to come up with a solution, a stray comment Bidoof makes about entering the dream causes the player and partner to seek out Drowzee, the first criminal they ever caught. Finding him on a spiritual quest to try and atone for his criminal past, is initially hesitant to help, but the partner convinces him when they reveal Azurill's condition. Upon entering Azurill's nightmare (in itself [[The Nightmare|another Mystery Dungeon]]), the encounter 'Cresselia' again, who tells them that the only way the distortion can be ended is if they disappeared. This devastates the partner emotionally to the point that they consider going through with it, but the player points out several inconsistencies with this: there is no proof that what 'she' said is guaranteed to actually work and that even though the space distortion is similar to what happened with Temporal Tower, the player's earlier was nothing more than a byproduct necessary to ensure their dark future didn't come to pass.

Determined to find an answer that doesn't involve them disappearing, the team visits Lapras, who reveals that Palkia, the master of space, might hold some clue as to how to fix it. On the night before going to Palkia for an explanation, Palkia itself attacks the team, spiriting them away to its domain, the [[Spacial Rift]]. They battle Palkia for answers, but it gets trapped in a nightmare. After being sent inside Palkia's nightmare, 'Cresselia' tries to finish off the team, but when Palkia, who had been told in its own dreams that the player and partner were a threat, begins to question whether 'her' claims on the matter were accurate, it is stopped by another Cresselia, who reveals that the first was an impostor by the name of {{mdc|Darkrai|2}}, who reveals itself to be the one distorting space. Cresselia attempts to subdue Darkria, he escapes, though he invites the team to confront him at a volcanic dungeon called the [[Dark Crater]].

As Palkia attempts to regain control of the space distortion from Spacial Rift, Cresselia and the team head back to Treasure Town, where Cresselia uses her power to pull Azurill out of his nightmare as well. Although Darkrai invites the team to stop him, Cresselia, who reveals that their 'space distortion' was too small for anyone (even Palkia) to consider it a serious threat, that Darkrai was also behind Temporal Tower's sabotage, and that he was harassing the team out of fear that they might once again interfere with his plans, thinks it is a trap because normally Darkrai would run away when found, doing his work in the shadows and only coming out to finish the job. The team decides to heed Darkrai's call, and Darkrai reveals his plans: by stopping time or space, the world would stop and be covered in darkness, and all Pokémon would share an everlasting nightmare, in which Darkrai would rule. In addition to this, Darkrai also reveals that he had been responsible for the player's very own transformation and memory loss: having discovered the player and Grovyle's imminent arrival from the future, Darkrai attackers the two while they were going through time, but the player protected Grovyle from the attack, which led them to becoming a Pokémon; because Darkrai assumed what he did to the player was sufficient, he disregarded the idea that they might find out what was happening and interfere again, resulting in his initial plan failing. Darkrai lets the team decide if they want to join him ruling the world in darkness. The partner apparently decides that it's useless to resist, so they decide to join Darkrai, but this event is not real. The player realizes this is just another illusion, and breaks free of it. With the partner back on the player's side, the team battles Darkrai and his minions and wins. Darkrai attempts to flee through a Dimensional Hole, but Palkia arrives and attempts to stop Darkrai from leaving by unleashing an attack on him. Instead of destroying him, he attacks the Dimensional Hole, thus erasing Darkrai's memories, much like what happened to the player. Certain that Darkrai has no more memory of his evil ambitions for good, Palkia, foreseeing no other reason to return, heads back to Spatial Rift while the player and partner return to Treasure Town to get back to their usual exploration team duties.