If you were hanging around your local Woolworths back in the summer of 2008 you might have picked up a Ltd Ed DVD of Mystery Dungeon Explorers Of Time & Darkness in a goodie bag at the Pokémon Live event. If not, this is what you missed…

The DVD is a special episode of the Pokémon anime based on the new DS games of the same name. Nintendo and Pokémon Company have certainly been getting their money’s worth from it – it was first broadcast in Japan on 9 September 2007 as part of a special Pokémon Sunday, and then streamed online. It was also part of a special Limited Edition Onyx DS pack in the States released on 17 August 2008, given away at the Woolworths events and then aired on Cartoon Network on 1 September 2008 as part of a Diamond & Pearl: Battle Dimension marathon!

The story begins with Grovyle stealing the Time Gear, which makes time completely freeze! We then see Chimchar trying to put together an Exploration Team at the Wigglytuff Guild until he is scared away by a booming Hyper Voice from the guild. On arriving at the beach, Chimchar bumps in to a Piplup who claims to be a human who has turned into a Pokémon! Chimchar persuades Piplup to join his Exploration Team so that they can find out what has happened to him together. They set off for the Wigglytuff Guild again.

On entering the guild, the duo cause a bit of a stir as they are mistaken for intruders, but things soon settle down and Chatot, Wigglytuff’s trusty assistant, explains a series of strange goings on around the world – it appears it’s all down to the Time Gear being stolen! Our exploring duo then receive an Exploration Team Start Kit and some Rescue Team badges as their new team, Team Poképals, is officially accepted into the guild.

After spending a restless night at the Wigglytuff Guild, Chimchar and Piplup receive their first rescue mission. They have to travel to the Labyrinth Cave and find a Gabite Scale so that the sister of Shinx can be cured of her sickness. They need a third member for their team, though, and they are joined by a veteran member of the Guild – Sunflora. Before setting off, they know they must stock up on items that they’ll need, so they visit Kecleon’s shop and buy a Joy Ribbon, Defense Scarf and Power Band.

It’s not long before these brave Pokémon are entering Labyrinth Cave and things starts to go wrong, big time! They are being followed by Team Razor Wind who thinks that Team Poképals is far too inexperienced for such an important mission and decide to go after the Gabite Scale themselves. Chimchar is scared to pieces when it is attacked by a Golbat swarm not far into the cave. Sunflora attacks the Golbats with her Razor Leaf move and explains how useful the items are to Chimchar and Piplup, who obviously don’t know what they’re doing. The Defense Scarf saved Chimchar from being injured and the Power Band made the Razor Leaf attack stronger than usual.

Continuing on into the cave, it’s not long before Piplup teeters on the edge of a pit, but is saved by Chimchar grabbing his hand. It appears that Piplup has visions of the future, and one of these shows a bridge collapsing, so when Chimchar comes to a bridge and wants to immediately cross, Piplup stops him in his tracks. Good thing too, because sure enough, the bridge collapses right in front of their eyes!

It’s not long before the exploring trio stumble upon a bruised and battered Team Razor Wind. They explain that when they tried to take the Gabite Scale from Gabite, he challenged them to a battle and they lost. This could be Team Poképal’s chance to shine, so they find Gabite and Piplup decides to take him on in battle for the Scale. Kicking off with a Sand Tomb move, Gabite is a formidable opponent for the team. Chimchar retaliates with Ember, but this fails to make an impression on Gabite. Piplup uses his Bubble move, but Gabite’s Dragon Claw knocks both Pokémon to the floor and leaves them stunned. Sunflora doesn’t stand for this and uses Razor Leaf again, which is strengthened by the Power Band. She then tries to follow up with a Petal Dance, but Gabite retaliates with an Attract move and leaves her unable to fight at all! Piplup is furious and uses Peck on Gabite, but Gabite only laughs at the pathetic power of the Pokémon! With both friends down, Chimchar goes crazy with Fury Swipes. While the massive Gabite is dealing with this, Piplup comes back into the fight with what it thinks is Bubble, but it’s not, it’s BubbleBeam, as Piplup has increased experience by using the Joy Ribbon. Another BubbleBeam move later and Gabite has been knocked out by the Pokémon that he was laughing at only moments ago! As Team Poképals recovers from its ordeal, Gabite starts to come around – oh no! The three Pokémon are weak and can’t possibly manage another battle with the giant Pokémon again so soon!

Just as they were preparing to attack once more, Gabite stops them and tells them not to worry. He has had an enjoyable battle with them and presents them with one of his scales as a reward. Hooray! Team Poképals first mission has been completed! They head back to the Wigglytuff Guild and hand over the booty. Shinx is over the moon that his sister can now get better and gives the team a Luxray Fang as a reward for their bravery. Before they can enjoy their winnings, though, Chatot whips the prize away and informs them that it’s Wigglytuff Guild rules that all rewards go to the Guild. As you can imagine, the two Poképals are not very happy with this, but they don’t have much time to argue about it before Loudred, another member of the Wigglytuff Guild, charges into the room and informs everyone that another Time Gear has been stolen by Grovyle.

With a successful mission under their belt, Chimchar and Piplup start talking and Piplup says that he would like to stay on Team Poképals if that’s okay with Chimchar. The Pokémon hopes to find out more about what has happened to him, and calls Chimchar his partner. The two Pokémon shake hands and Chimchar is excited about the adventures the two of them will have together.
Will Piplup ever find out how he turned from a human into a Pokémon? Will Team PokéPals complete all their given missions and become heroes of the Wigglytuff Guild? Well, you will just have to watch more Pokémon to find out!

SPECIAL DVD FACTS!
• The animation team behind this is called Team Ota. The last feature the team worked on was an episode of the Pokémon anime called ‘All That Glitters Is Not Golden’.
• The music in this DVD is mostly taken from the videogame score, giving both Pokémon products a kind of synergy! It was composed by Arata Iiyoshi.
• Continuing the mystery theme, this special episode of the anime ends with ‘To be continued…’ but we don’t yet know whether further Mystery Dungeon specials will be released on DVD.

CHARACTERS IN THIS DVD…
There are a whole host of Pokémon starring in this Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time & Darkness DVD. Just check this lot out… Team Poképals – Piplup, Chimchar • Wigglytuff Guild – Wigglytuff, Chatot, Corphish, Diglett, Loudred, Bidoof, Chimecho, Croagunk, Dugtrio, Sunflora • Team Razor Wind – Zangoose, Scyther, Sandslash • Treasure Town – Shinx, Kecleon, Duskull, Gabite • Thieves – Grovyle, Drowzee, Sharpedo, Weavile, Gyarados • Others – Golbat. Gabite actually makes its movie and DVD debut in this action-packed adventure!