Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Flowerbeds (also referred to as PMD: Flowerbeds) is a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Fanfiction written by TheSnapDragon.
It is the tale of Oswald, a human who awakens in the middle of a flower field to a world inhabited solely by talking Pokémon, with nothing but unconnected fragments of memories from his past to call his own. Upon awakening, Oswald immediately finds himself in a tough situation as none of the Pokémon surrounding him appears to be who they seem, most of them suspicious of him, others ready to make use of him for his own ends. With no one to turn towards bar the few Pokémon he forms a team with to keep him sane, Oswald finds himself dealing with an overbearing, mind reading guildmaster, an "evil" Malamar hell-bent on accumulating various artifacts including Oswald himself, and mystery dungeons that seem specially made to screw with him. All while he can't do anything besides wait for things to get better for him.
Flowerbeds is a story that makes full use of plenty traditional elements of Mystery Dungeon stories, but pulls them off in a way that stays fresh and engaging. A character-driven story first and foremost, the progression is deliberately slow and methodically paced through the days of Oswald's stay in the new world, heavily focusing on character interactions and the slow-burn romance between Oswald and his partner Fenn, a Quilava with plenty of secrets of his own.
The story can be found on Fanfiction.net
and Archive of Our Own.
Tropes featured in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Flowerbeds:
- A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Anemone has been unable to shut down her mind reading powers ever since they developed, forcing her to work alone in a secluded room of Kebia Castle just so she won't accidentally catch someone's thoughts along the way.
- Crash-Into Hello: Exaggerated, as Oswald and Fenn crash into each other several times before properly introducing each other, and even afterwards.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Fenn hates being called by his full name, Fenrir, and grows clearly uncomfortable when the topic is brought up.
- Extreme Doormat: Fenn's general attitude. He's easily pulled along things and has difficulty saying no to anyone, alongside quickly growing anxious when things get too complex for him to bear with. This is quickly revealed to be more complicated than it initially seems.
- First-Person Perspective: The point of view employed whenever Oswald is the focus character. Everyone else gets Third Person Narration instead.
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: Oswald is not happy with having to keep his human nature a secret to Fenn, especially as they start to grow closer during the Figy Woods mission.
- Schizo Tech: The setting initially appears to be somewhat medieval-esque in terms of technology level, yet Kebia Castle has functioning elevators and even paw print scanners among other things.
- Theme Naming: Each major location (with the exception of the Fairy Fields outside Kebia Castle, which have an unofficial name) in Flowerbeds's setting is named after one of the main series' Berries (i.e. Kebia Castle, Figy Woods).
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: During Oswald's first meeting with Anemone, her mind reading manifested into being aware of and reacting in real time to Oswald's First-Person Perspective.
