A/N: My sister is the artist of the front cover. It can be seen on her DeviantART page (Dracocrochet). Check it out for a better view. Also check out the alternate cover by coolgaltw (also of DeviantART). They both did excellent jobs, and I thank them both. With that said, here's the beginning of my fanfic magnum opus: the "Hope and Faith" saga. Enjoy!

Chapter 1 – Peaceful World of Pokémon

Time flowed down its natural path. Ever since Temporal Tower had been repaired starting with the heroic efforts of Team Space-Time's leaders Pugno and Pelame, time went completely back to normal. Dialga's domain and responsibilities remained intact.

The spatial rift remained its harmless size. No harm came of it, and even Palkia had deemed it unworthy of any attention. As far as he was concerned, it was just as significant as a Plain Seed on the ground. Palkia's domain and responsibilities remained intact as well.

Treasure Town, home to the famous Wigglytuff Guild and many famous Explorers, experienced a perfectly ordinary day. Nothing calamitous had happened lately, and it had been that way for the past three years. In that time, the world-famous and heroic Team Space-Time, founded by a Riolu named Pugno and an Eevee named Pelame, had finally achieved the Guildmaster Rank. It was their well-deserved prize for conquering the fabled Destiny Tower. Their new Space Globe was proof of the accomplishment that earned them their new prestigious rank. It was as if Arceus himself was bestowing the Space Globe to them. The statue of Arceus was quite a sight to behold, but hearing him speak to them was even more surreal. What he spoke of was the true treat.

Their long-lost friends Grovyle and Celebi were spared from disappearing from history, as was Dusknoir and the Sableye soldiers. They couldn't help their skepticism of when Arceus mentioned Dusknoir and the Sableye turning good, but they decided not to dwell on it too much.

And now, it was time to rest. After a grueling climb through just about every danger a Mystery Dungeon could muster to such an extent that their quests for the Seven Legendary Treasures seemed like their task to retrieve Spoink's pearl, they deserved it.

The next day, while on a rescue mission at the Drenched Bluff, Pugno tried out the new Space Globe. It raised all of his stats to their maximum, and he could tell, especially after it caused his Aura Sphere attack to take out a chunk of a ceiling of Drenched Bluff courtesy of a Lileep that moved quickly. That in turn flooded the floor they were on, but they were luckily able to rescue the Sneasel sisters who sent the distress call out, and also escape the dungeon before being washed out. With the job done, the four set out for Treasure Town.

"So, about that Aura Sphere," the taller, older Sneasel started. "Pretty powerful."

"What's your secret?" asked the shorter, younger Sneasel. "What, did you eat a cereal bowl of Violent Seeds for every meal of your life or something?"

"Actually, it's because of this Space Globe Pelame and I got from the peak of Destiny Tower," Pugno answered.

"Destiny Tower?" the younger Sneasel asked.

"Wait, does that mean you two are the ones who were said to have scaled it yesterday?" the older Sneasel asked in an excited tone.

"How did you know?" Pelame asked.

"Well, actually, we've known about you two for quite a while," the older Sneasel said. "Exploration Teams who saved the world twice generally are well-known. You can't really think we didn't know you'd scaled that tower."

Pelame blushed slightly. "Thanks…" Pelame said, giggling.

"May I join Team Space-Time?" the older Sneasel suddenly blurted out.

This announcement caught Pugno and Pelame completely by surprise. No rescued Pokémon had made such an offer before, especially in such an unexpected fashion as this.

"You r…really want to join us?" Pelame asked.

"You sure about that, sis?" the younger Sneasel asked. "You'll have basically no free time anymore if you're with these two and their Exploration brethren."

"Does your sister have some sort of problem with Exploration Teams?" Pugno asked, surprised at the younger Sneasel's statement.

"Not really," the older Sneasel said. "She just thinks it's a waste of time to do what Exploration Teams do. She'd rather spend her free time taking candy from babies."

"Very funny, sis," the younger Sneasel retorted. "You know babies are the only ones I don't steal food from."

"If you really want to, then yes," Pelame said. "Your sister is welcome, too, if she changes her mind."

The older Sneasel hugged Pelame very tightly in her excitement of being admitted.

"Thank you so much!" she said. "You're the sweetest Pokémon ever!"

Once they reached the Wigglytuff Guild's first subfloor, Pugno and Pelame got a new Team Badge ready for the older Sneasel sister.

"Welcome to the team, Sneasel," Pugno said as he gave the older Sneasel an Exploration Team badge.

"I promise to serve the Team well," the older Sneasel said. "May you make my badge say 'Loyal,' please?"

"How about 'Exhausted?'?" the younger Sneasel said. "Since that's what she's going to be after every single mission you'll be dragging her by the tail to every day."

"I think 'Loyal' is a nice name for her," Pelame said, ignoring the younger Sneasel's snarky comment. "Chimecho, her nickname is 'Loyal.'"

"Here you go, Loyal," Chimecho said, handing the badge to the older Sneasel.

"After all these years, it still amazes me how fast you engrave badges, Chimecho," Pugno said.

"Sis, you are going to regret this," the younger Sneasel said.

"Lighten up, sis, I'll be fine," the older Sneasel said, putting her badge on. "And my name is now Loyal."

It had been quite an eventful day for Pugno and Pelame. Not only did Pugno discover how dangerous the Space Globe could be, but they also gained a new teammate. The two were now getting settled back home at Sharpedo Bluff.

"You think Loyal can take the Guild's training, Pelame?" Pugno asked, referring to Loyal's decision to stay at the Guild for the time being. "You know how hard it was for us."

"I think she'll be fine," Pelame said, getting settled into her bed. "The other Guild members can help her out if she needs it. Plus, we can check in on her every now and then."

"Sounds good to me," Pugno responded, settling into his bed. "Now, what should we do about this Space Globe? You saw how dangerous it made me today."

"As we agreed, we shouldn't use it too much. Suppose it falls into an enemy's hands during one of our jobs for the day."

"In that case, I don't think we should ever use it again, at all. It's too much of a chance to take."

"Whatever you want to do is fine with me. If you feel it's too dangerous, then we'll store it away."

"Good idea. Let's find a hiding spot tomorrow. Kangaskhan Storage unfortunately won't be a good spot."

"Then that's what we'll do." Pelame yawned and shivered a bit. "Good n-night, Pugno."

"Are you all right? It's not cold at all tonight."

"I'm fine. I just felt cold all of a sudden. I'll be fine."

"Okay then. Good night, Pelame."