I feel morally obligated to throw on something of a disclaimer. It's painfully obvious that I don't own no Pokémon Companies or anything like that, so what can I say? Perhaps that this story contains references to the plot of Time/Darkness/Sky, so spoilers/confusion ahoy! That said, there's a story to tell.

The world needs explorers!

Time is going out of whack! The world really needs explorers!

Team Ultimate may have saved the world, time may be all but back to normal, but by golly, the world still needs explorers!

That's what I'd been telling myself my whole life up until I was ready to leave for training. Well, I'd been ready since before I'd evolved into Nidorina, so I guess it was until my parents were ready to let me leave. This was the day. I was going to leave home. Have an adventure every day. Become famous. Help those in need. I was joining Wigglytuff's guild.

I'll admit Nidorina don't typically make the best fighters. I'll admit that I'm not any different. Well, not in that respect. For example, I guess my ears are larger than most. But more importantly, I don't know any other Nidos who went for a combat-heavy job. And, as I would soon find out, for good reason.

My trip to Treasure Town went without mishap. Well, without dangerous mishap. You'd think a giant, Wigglytuff-shaped building would stick out a little. My directions were just that far off. I did realize at some point I should have arrived, so I stopped and looked all around.

KRAKOW, is, I think, the universal sound effect for thunder.

Had I mentioned my oversized ears? Let me just say the lightning sounded very close. Instead of the fear I probably should have felt, I felt annoyed that someone would be so inconsiderate as to assault my eardrums so. I found the source quite easily. A shape on the beach blasted lightning in all directions, another shape cowering close by.

Whoopee! My first job! Even if it wasn't really.

Even if it turned out a lot lamer than I'd hoped.

I'd been readying a Double Kick, but something definitely seemed weird, I realized as I approached. The Bulbasaur who had been cowering seemed to have some kind of upper hand. An odd upper hand. Clearly the one who had been attacking earlier, the Pikachu now simply rolled around in the sand laughing, the Bulbasaur yelling, "Not so close to the beach, you idiot!"

"Er..." I said.

"Hm?" The Bulbasaur looked up at me. "Oh no."

I nervously took a step back. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he muttered, squinting. "My name's Mort. Do you-"

"Mort?"

"Yeah, okay, it's a funny name," he snapped. "At least it's not Patsy." He pointed at the Pikachu.

Having calmed his laughter to the point that he could, the Pikachu (Patsy, apparently) sat up. He looked a little confused when he saw me. "What are you?"

"What my tactless friend means," said Mort, smacking Patsy on the back of the head, "is what's your name? She's a Nidorina." He whispered the last part, but I heard it anyway.

"Nidorina."

Mort and Patsy exchanged glances. I couldn't decipher the looks on their faces.

"Well, I thought there was a problem here," I said. "I... I'll just go."

"Hold on," Mort said quickly. "You wouldn't happen to be going to Wigglytuff's Guild, would you?"

"I... am." Where was he going with this?

He bit his lip. "Can you tell me the name of the coolest exploration team you know of and what they've done recently?"

"Well..." Something about him made me really anxious. "Team Ultimate, of course. They stopped Darkrai, but you already knew that."

"Oh. Darn." He drew in the sand with his foot. "Have you joined Wigglytuff's Guild, by the way?"

So that was what it was about! In my excitement, I rushed up and grabbed him. "You wanna form a team?"

Startled, he squeaked, "Yes?"

Before I could scream with joy, Patsy interrupted. "What? No we don't."

"Yes, we do." Mort laughed nervously.

Patsy pulled him aside, and they argued in a loud whisper. They both talked at once, but I picked up a bit at the end: "Where else do you think we'll sleep tonight?" and something about Palkia. Patsy threw up his arms and turned around. "Fine. Yes, we do."

Then came my scream of joy. I hugged the two, and after Mort's chuckles ("A girl hugged me!") he, apparently knowing the way, led the way to the guild. Of course, he might have just seen it, because it wasn't that far away, but nobody else had.

I thought the day couldn't get any better. And, unfortunately, I was right.