Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Hearts

by WaveCore

In a massive metropolis almost completely alien to the world around it, four pokemon join together and form a rescue team in a local guild. But their jobs are nowhere near as easy as they expect it to be, and their situation soon reveals itself to be far more dire than anyone anticipated. [Story is fully written but as rough draft, further updates will arrive once editing is done.]

1. Chapter 1

One

West 29th Street

The Nidorina in the bright blue tee shirt and baggy gray pants couldn't tell if the sun was really going down; the pink and gold of sunset mixed with the neon lights lining the streets' shops and buildings, sunlight disappearing into the halogen. From her stool in the bar, the window offered a glimpse onto the rain-slicked city streets, people crowding the sidewalks, street vendors shouting advertisements to their food carts. The Nidorina wondered why those vendors would park right outside restaurants and diners like the one she was in. After all, she would prefer shelter and a meal rather than a simple snack that probably wasn't all that well-cooked.

She took a fold out pamphlet out of a side pocket of her backpack and held it to the light coming through the window. It's first page read:

GUILD OF THE STAR RESCUE SERVICE

NOW ACCEPTING NEW RECRUITS

Beneath the text was a picture of a Charmeleon, Meganium, and Sneasel, all dressed in the nylon fabric shirts and pants that she could usually afford only sometimes, all of them smiling winning smiles. They three of them were clearly models, and they certainly looked the part — the Charmeleon in particular had a broad, sculpted chest and thick upper arms. Unusual for a pokemon like him, but then she wasn't complaining.

The Nidorina sighed and opened the pamphlet:

The Guild of the Star is a facility designed to teach and nuture the lifestyle and skills of a rescue team. With cozy living quarters and state-of-the-art training facilities, the Guild of the Star is a healthy choice for an education in a rescuer worker's career.

For a limited time only (see back of pamphlet for expiration dates), the Guild will accept all passing graduates free of charge for the first year of enrollment.

She longingly read the last sentence again, then began to skim over the rest of the pamphlet, which was just about more trivial things — exercise facilities, health services, a list of awards. The usual selling points.

"Seems pretty bizarre, doesn't it?"

Armstrong rose her head, looking to a Deliberd behind the counter in a white, drink-stained shirt and long brown pants.

"The city, I mean," she clarified.

Armstrong cleared her throat. "What do you mean?" she asked.

The Deliberd shrugged. "Just that there's a place like this," she said. "A whole bunch of pokemon, all packed together in a gigantic maze of stone buildings. I mean, most people think that we're supposed to be in more organic, natural places — forests, mountains, caves. That kinda thing." She turned around, fiddling with a machine in the wall behind her consisting of a set of levers attached to a spigot beneath them. "The stone the buildings are made from isn't even natural," she said. "It's that moldable stuff, kinda like clay. Concrete, they call it."

"I was wondering why the buildings were shaped the way they were," Armstrong said. "Funny…I've never heard the word 'concrete' before."

"You see what I mean?" the Deliberd said, turning around to face Armstrong again. "This city, it's so damn out of place. This place is so huge that I'm not sure anyone's been able to measure it's size, but once you get outside the city limits…" She shook her head and laughed quickly. "My lord, there aren't greener forests anywhere." She turned around again, fiddling with the machine again. "I know this city's a century and a half old, but still…"

The Nidorina heard a plop next to her, and she turned her head to find that a Mareep had taken a wide, rectangular footstool and used it to elevate himself above the bar. She watched as the Deliberd bartender, in her white, drink-stained shirt and long brown pants, approached the newcomer, who was dressed in a small brown longcoat and short, wide, cream-colored pants, wool spilling over the edges of the clothing. Over his neck was a shoulder bag.

"Alright, mister," she said. "You're young, so don't expect any of the adult stuff. Anything I can getcha?"

"Just a ginger ale," the Mareep said, his voice high and feminine. "Nothing else."

"One ginger ale comin' right up," the bartender said. "That'll be one."

The Mareep slid a single bill across the counter as the bartender prepared the drink. The Nidorina started to read the pamphlet again.

"'Scuse me," the Nidorina heard the Mareep say, "but is that for the Guild of the Star?"
The Nidorina raised her gaze to meet the Mareep's, which she found was unexpectedly endearing — his beady eyes were shimmering with a sort of innocence and naivety that made her protective somehow. His smile didn't help, showing no teeth but not needing to, shining brightly in itself.

"Um…" the Nidorina began. "Yes, this is from Guild of the Star," she said clearly and with forcefully induced confidence. "I'm heading there, in fact. The application I sent got accepted, and this is my last stop before there."
"Really?!" the Mareep answered, holding his cheeks and smiling with an open mouth revealing near-perfect teeth. "That's where I'm going too! I sent this form in and I got a letter back and…ooh, this is so exciting! Hey, what's your name?!"
The Nidorina leaned back on her stool in both surprise and a desire to make sure she wasn't caught in this boy's burst of energy. "My-…my name?" she said. "It's Armstrong."

The excited stranger's smile grew, his eyes seemingly widening with his mouth. "Armstrong, ooh!" he said joyfully. "I like it!" He reached out one of his stubby forelegs. "Mine's Shinji," he said. "I'm so glad I met you!"
Armstrong gazed at the foreleg analytically, almost sizing it up. After a moment of hesitation she took Shinji's foreleg and shook it heartily. "Pleasure to be your acquaintance," she said.

"Fantastic!" he said. "I'm so glad you're coming along to the Guild with me! It's gonna be so much fun, I can't believe I get you meet you there — d'you think we'll be assigned to the same team?! That'd be awesome!"

Armstrong simply grinned and nodded. "That would be nice," she said, not really believing her own words.

"Here you ah," the bartender said to Shinji as she handed him a glass of the tan-colored ginger ale, plastic straw included. Shinji gave a courteous "Thank you!" to the Deliberd and took a long sip. from the straw.

Dressed in a white coat and white pants was a Mawile carrying a thick black briefcase. He sat down on the barstool next to Armstrong, and the bartender shuffled over to him. "Anything I can getcha?"

The Mawile rested his head on his hand, elbow on the counter, but then he suddenly raised his head and declared "I'll have a glass of honeydew soda."
"You want that with Juniper brand honey or Perfect Sweet brand honey," the Deliberd asked.

"I'll have it with Juniper brand honey," the Mawile replied, sliding some money across the counter. "Not too strong, though. I'm heading to the Guild of the Star, so I have to keep my wits about me for whatever extra exams they have at the entrance."

"You're heading to the Guild too?!" Shinji shouted from his barstool. "That makes three of us!"

The Mawile turned to look at the Nidorina and Mareep. "Huh? Who's heading to the Guild?"

"We are!" Shinji said, almost jumping off his footstool.

The Mawile paused, observing the Mareep and the Nidorina in front of him. Armstrong closed her eyes and grinned. "Um…" he began. "Alright? Glad I could meet you, I suppose."

"Don't you think it'll be so much fun?" Shinji continued. "I mean, we get to go on rescues and explorations and delve into mysterious ruins and deep caves…" Shinji couldn't help but hop a bit on his stool. "It's gonna be so awesome!" he concluded enthusiastically.

The Mawile nodded, similar to the same way Armstrong first nodded after hearing Shinji's joyous tangents. The Nidorina guessed that the Mawile was enjoying them just as much as she was.

"By the way," the Mawile said, "Which route are you using for your trip to the Guild?"

"I'm heading across the bridge a couple blocks from here," Armstrong replied. "It leads to a crossroads between another city and the Guild."

"You mean the cobblestone bridge?" Shinji interjected. "I was going to head that way too!"

"I would expect that," the Mawile said. "The bridge from here is most traveled path to the Guild. You two won't be the only ones crossing it."

"You're taking another way to the Guild?" Armstrong asked.

"I have a few backup routes on hand," the Mawile answered, "but to be honest I'll probably take the bridge as well. It's the quickest and safest route to the Guild, after all."

"You know, I never got your name," Armstrong said. "I hope you don't mind me asking…"

"Oh, of course not," the Mawile replied. "I'm Hans. Who are you two?"
"I'm Armstrong, and this is Shinji."

"Pleased to meet you," Hans said.

"Here's your drink," the bartender said, sliding a glass of golden-brown liquid towards Hans.

"Thank you," Hans replied, raising a glass to the bartender before downing half of hit in a single gulp, shaking his head afterwards. "Tastes like candy," he said, smiling.

The glass doors to the bar opened again, and a Pokemon entered the bar. She looked vaguely like a Cubone that wasn't wearing a skull helmet, or a baby Kangaskhan. This pokemon was dressed in camouflage clothing, a long shirt tucked into outdoorsman pants. On her back was a backpack, except rather than being a backpack much like Armstrong's it was a backpack more likely to be found on a hiker. She took a seat next to Shinji, immediately saying afterwards, "Bartender, I'll have a hard apple cider." She paused, then said, "You have that, right?"

"I got hard lemonade, but not apple cider," the bartender replied, shaking her head.

The pokemon sighed. "That'll do," she said. She took a handful of bills from her shirt pocket and placed them on the countertop. The bartender's hand wasn't far behind in collecting the payment.

"Are you here for the Guild of the Star too?" Shinji asked the newcomer. In surprise, she blinked, leaned back a bit, and said, "Damn, is it that obvious?"

Armstrong chuckled. "Don't worry, we're here for the same reason. After we're finished with our drinks we're gonna head across the cobblestone bridge nearby here to get to the Guild."
The pokemon blinked in surprise. "Um…you're gonna cross the bridge? The one made out of stone, just a few blocks away from here?"

"That's right!" Shinji exclaimed, smiling with his eyes closed, nodding from side to side.

The pokemon was silent for a moment, and then drew her breath back with a pained expression. "Oooooh," she said. "Yeah, about that…"

"What happened?" Armstrong asked. "Was there some sort of situation on the bridge?"
"The situation wasn't on the bridge, really," she said, scratching her head. "It was more like the situation was the bridge."

"Uh oh," Hans said, taking another sip from his soda.

"The situation was the bridge?" Shinji said with his head tilted and eyes squinted. "What do you mean by that?"

"You don't mean that…" Armstrong said.

The pokemon nodded. "I do. The bridge collapsed."

Armstrong sighed deeply, Hans put a hand to his mouth in shock, and Shinji threw up his forelegs in despair.

"Aw, man!" he said. "Now how are we gonna get to the Guild?!"
Armstrong turned towards Hans. "Hans," she began, "you said that you knew backup routes to the Guild, right?"

"I do," Hans replied, "three, in fact. But two of them will take a couple hours, and the one that doesn't goes through abandoned, feral-infested buildings."

The newcomer Pokemon in camo blinked. "Ferals? That's all that stands between us the Guild? A few minutes against some ferals?" She slammed her fist on the bar. "If that's it, then I don't see why the four of us can't just head on through and show those wild Pokemon who's boss."

"Hold on," Hans said. "I've had a drink, I'm not sure I can fight all that well."

"You've had A drink?" the Pokemon countered. "If it's only one drink, then you'll still be alright. I've been to this city before, the ferals aren't that threatening in this area most of the time. Hell, if you're a lightweight, then you can just hang back and let the three of us here fight for you, I've fought plenty of ferals before."

Hans paused, pursing his lips. Finally, he broke his silence buy asking "Armstrong, have you fought ferals before?"

Armstrong scratched her back and squinted. "Um…" she recalled. "I've fought them before, maybe once or twice…but they were pretty weak. Stragglers on my hometown's outskirts, y'know."

Hans turned to Shinji. "Shinji," Hans began, "have you fought ferals before?"

"Oh, yes!" Shinji replied, hopping on his barstool in excitement. "It was never more than two, though…but I've scrounged around the buildings in this city, and I've fought ferals plenty of times."

Hans turned to the pokemon in camo, who raised a hand to the trio in front of her. "You see?" she said. "We've had enough experience with fighting ferals, at least enough to handle whatever the next block over will throw at us. Come on, it's the four of us sapient, experienced Pokemon versus the dumb and brutish ferals in the wrecked apartment blocks. Hans, show us the way to the Guild."

"Yeah!" Shinji shouted in support. "This is really exciting — an adventurous trek through a ruined and dangerous landscape! Why wouldn't you like that?!"

Hans turned to Armstrong. "Armstrong," he said, "what do you think?"
"Me?" Armstrong replied. "These Pokemon seem experienced enough. If they're capable, then I'm perfectly fine with lending a helping hand."
Hans sighed, defeated. "Fine, fine," he said. "But remember, I've never fought a feral before, so don't be disappointed if I stand back most of the time."
"Then you can be in charge of equipment," the Pokemon dressed in camo replied. "Other than that, let's roll out!"

The Quartet got off their stools and headed to the doors of the bar. On the way to their exit, Shinji remarked to Armstrong, "I can't believe it! I'll finally be an adventurer, it's what I've always wanted…"

West 27th Street

By now the sun had fully fallen, and the sky had abandoned its golden-magenta hues in favor of deep, midnight blues and plum purples. If it wasn't nighttime yet, it would be within less than an hour.

"I kinda feel sorry," the helmetless Cubone said, facing what was once the bridge, now simply two half-arcs of cobblestone on opposite sides of a rubble-laiden creek. "I'm surprised that there aren't more would-be adventurers over here crying over their careers at the Guild."

She was partially right, however. Scattered around the street were disappointed Pokemon who had come to the bridge looking for a path to the Guild but instead were moping and drifting around the city, grieving over their lost futures — lost until the bridge was repaired, at least.

"You're right," Hans replied. "Where are all of the self-trained veteran feral fighters moping around?"

"They're not moping around," the camo Pokemon replied. "They've already fought their way to the Guild." She drew a lead pipe fragment from the inside of her pants, likely from straps on her leg. "Now come on," she said, "let's get going; I'm itching to show those ferals who's boss."

"One more thing," Hans said, making the Cubone stop in her tracks. "What's your name?"

Irina paused. "Damn," she said, "I just realized that I didn't know any of your names. I'm Irina. You guys?"

"I'm Armstong. The Mawile's Hans, and the Mareep's Shinji."

"Alright, got it. I'll probably forget your names once we're in the Guild, but screw it, let's get to feral-hunting."

The Quartet assembled at the door of the last building on the left, where the block ended.

"Hey, Shinji," Armstrong said. "You know how to cast a thunder wave, right?"

"Sure I can!" Shinji replied. "I haven't used it in a while though, so it might not fully paralyze the ferals…"

"That's alright," Armstrong replied. "It just needs to distract them. Irina and I can handle a few distracted ferals — right, Irina?"

"Damn right we can!" Irina said, smiling. "Gonna teach those psychos who's boss!"

Shinji kicked open the door and blasted an electrical pulse throughout the entrance room. A barely clothed Pidgey barely had any time to react before it was knocked to the ground, convulsing. The other three rushed into the building, Armstrong going straight to the Pidgey and delivering a quick karate chop to the base of the head, knocking the Pidgey unconscious. Irina entered another room to the left, and a WHACK! could be heard before Irina returned, saying "Looks like that's everyone!"

The Quartet bolted up a nearby stairwell to the second floor, where a pair of Hoothoots and a pair of Sentrets quickly focused their attention on the newcomers. Shinji sent out another electrical pulse which knocked down the Hoothoots and a Sentet, stumbling the remaining foes. The still-standing Sentret lumbered slowly towards Hans, who backpedaled but then tripped and fell, crawling on his back and away from the feral Pokemon. Armstrong crept behind the Sentret and swiftly pounded its skull with both hands clasped together, almost like a hammer.

"I hear one more coming," Hans said. He scooped a large rock from the floor. One of the ferals must've dropped this, he thought to himself. I'd better get ready.

As Hans predicted, a Wurmple wearing a brown jacket and brown cargo pants pushed open a door in the room the Quartet was in. The jacket's sleeves went unfilled, and the Wurmple's chest was bare. Likewise, the Wurmple's legs scurried behind the pants themselves, the legs dragging behind the feral Pokemon like some sort of tail.

The feral Wurmple had only a second to register the other presences in the room before Hans threw the rock at it, striking right above the eye, causing the Wurmple to fall on its side, incapacitated.

In the room the Wurmple came from, a feral Zigzagoon was staring at the Quartet, gathered around the doorway — except for Irina, who was throwing the Wurmple's body off to the side. The Zigzagoon crouched and primed itself to launch into the room, only for Shinji to launch a bolt of electricity at the Zigzagoon, making it yip in pain and fall on its back. The foursome advanced into the room, Armstrong and Shinji backpedaling in the rear. Hans crouched over the unconscious Zigzagoon as he ran and swiftly picked up a golden seed the size of his palm. The team stopped in the room, which contained a round table and another door in one of the walls. Hans turned the seed he picked up in his hands, examining it, and then he shouted "I got a blast seed!"

"I hear more ferals coming!" Shinji shouted, worried.

"Quick!" Armstrong shouted to the rest of the group. "Gather whatever materials they dropped! Search the floor!"

The Quartet got to work, scanning and the ground and searching through the ferals' clothes for anything useful or valuable.

"I found a few more rocks!" Irina shouted, holding two or three in her fist. "Here, Hans," she said, tossing one, and then another rock to the Mawile, "you can have 'em. You look like a good shot, and I prefer my pipe."

"Be careful with how you throw those things!" Hans said, barely managing to grab the rocks out of the air just in time to stop them from connecting with his head. "With enough force, these can crack skulls!"

"I found a seed," Shinji said, emerging from underneath a couch, "but I don't know what it does."

"Let me see," said Hans. "My mother taught me how to differentiate between different types of seeds, especially ones often used in combat."

"Amazing!" Shinji said, his eyes beaming. "Can you teach me how to identify seeds too? What kind of seed is this? Is it a blast seed? Ooooh, maybe it's a sleep seed-"

"Just throw me the seed!" Hans yelled in annoyance.

Shinji sheepishly tossed the seed, saying "sorry" quietly.

Hans, stumbling forward to catch the poorly thrown seed, examined it in his palms, and then quickly replied "It's a sleep seed. You can tell by the blunt tip."

There was a shuffling noise made behind one of the other doors in the room.

"The ferals are gonna be here soon!" Armstrong yelled to the team. "Shinji, get back! We'll need you to stun them with a thunderwave when they come through the door! Irina, stand by the door so that you can attack them with your pipe! Hans, get back too! We'll need those seeds you have!"

The shuffling became louder. "Here they come!" Armsrong shouted.

An assortment of Poochyena, Rattata, and Wurmple burst into the room through a nearby door. "Fantastic!" Irina said, dropping the Hoothoot she was searching. "More company to play with."

In one fluid motion, she lunged toward a Poochyena and slammed her pipe into the feral's neck, sending it sprawling across the floor. Without stopping, she slammed the club into a nearby Zigzagoon's head, creating a THWACK! that echoed throughout the room.

Shinji fired a bolt of electricity at another Poochyena, making it yelp and fall to the ground, revealing a Wurmple behind it. Hans wound up his right arm and threw the blast seed at the Wurmple like a rock, only for it to fall directly in front of the feral Pokemon. The Wumrple bent over to look at the seed…only for it to explode in its face, eliciting screaming and panicked running from the Wurmple, who quickly vanished behind behind the edges of the doorway.

"Oh my," Hans said. "I wasn't expecting it the explosion to be quite that powerful."

"That was awesome!" Irina shouted. "Did you see how it ran around and stuff? Man, that was hilarious! Oh, and don't forget the explosion! That was a sight to admire…"

The Quartet entered the room the ferals came from. Inside the dirty abandoned room were a Starly and a Krickitune, both dressed in shabby clothing, much like the other ferals. The stray charged toward Irnia and was met with her pipe. Irina proceeded to approach the Krickitune, and was met the pipe again — only the swing never connected, instead the Krickitune sidestepped the attack and charged toward Shinji. The feral was mere inches away from Shinji when he fired a bolt of electricity at the feral. Instead of being stunned, the Krickitune cried in pain and convulsed in a disturbing 'dance' before tripping over itself and falling on the floor, where it lay twitching. Shinji looked at it, eyes wide, and then walked to examine the rest of the room.

"There's an oran berry under this couch," Irina said, crouching in front of one the couches. "Anyone want it?"

"I think we'll pass, thanks," Hans replied.

Hans opened up a nearby shelf in a bedside cabinet to find several seeds. He quickly closed the shelf after briefly gazing at the seeds.

"All plains," he said to himself mournfully.

"Everyone!" Armstrong shouted. "I found our way out!"

Hans, Shinji, and Irina looked away from their respective searching grounds and turned to face Armstrong, who was standing next to an open door which lead to, as far as everyone else could see, a gray room.

"It's a stairwell!" she said. "This way, we can head to an exit! Come on!"

The group entered the stairwell, it's dark gray paint and harshly bright halogen lights giving a slightly oppressive atmosphere. A set of stairs led to an upper floor.

"Aww, man," Shinji said. "Does this mean that the adventure is over?"

"Not quite," Hans replied. "We'll just have to exit through the second floor."

Shinji's eyes beamed. "Yahoo!" he shouted. "More adventuring!" He ran upstairs before anyone could catch up to him.

Hans shook his head. "An Abra's teleportation would impress him," he muttered to himself.

"I'm with that kid," Irina said, walking upstairs. "This stuff is fun!"

Armstrong sighed as she and Hans walked upstairs behind the two others, finding, as they turned around the corner, Shinji, who was grunting as he tried to push open the door to the second floor.

He turned to the Nidorina and Mawile, a frown of defeat and pity on his face. "It's locked!" he said.

"This next door isn't!" Irina shouted from the third floor. The three Pokemon on the second floor climbed the stairs to the third floor, just in time to see the ferals in the room turn to face Irina.

"Whoops," Irina said, smiling as she held her pipe above her head, preparing to swing.

Two Bidoof ran towards Irina and had her pipe slam into their heads with the force of a brick. Armstrong charged at a Starly and karate chopped it in the side of the neck, and it crumpled onto the floor, whimpering in pain. Shinji entered the room and fired a pulse of electricity that spread out in a radius and hit nearly every feral in the room, turning them into petrified heaps.

Two more ferals emerged from around a corner, a Starly and Pidgey. Armstrong began to charge the Pidgey, and the Pidgey raised its wing, preparing to launch a retaliatory attack — only for Armstrong to suddenly step to the side. The Pidgey stood with its wing raised, wondering where its target was. It received its answer almost immediately when Armstrong kicked it in the legs, sending the feral onto its side. Armstrong ended the fight by rolling the Pidgey onto its back, clasping her hands together, and brining them down onto the underside of the feral's chin, brining about a pungent SNAP!. She stepped back from the Pidgey, uprighting herself. The feral laid on the ground, eyes closed. She continued staring at it when she suddenly remembered about the Starly that had accompanied the Pidgey. Armstrong whirled around to see where it was only to find the Starly lying on the ground, one of Hans' rocks laying nearby.

"We got more coming!" Irina shouted. She laughed maliciously and raised her pipe, grinning.

Sure enough, two Rattatas came in from the stairwell door. Irina charged towards them and threw the pipe, flinging them in random directions across the room. Another Bidoof entered, but it was no match; Irina grabbed her pipe and slammed it on the feral's head, and the fight was over instantly.

"Alright," Irina said, holding the pipe over her back, "who's ready to get to the roof?"

"The roof?" Armstrong asked. "Why would we want to head there?"

"To get to the fire escape," Irina replied. "How did you think we were going to the guild?"

Armstrong quickly groaned and shouted to the other two Pokemon, "Everyone follow Irina and I, we're going to the roof!"

Hans, Shinji, and Armstrong ran past the door Irina went through, arriving just soon enough to see Irina open a door leading to dark blues and violets beyond it. "C'mon, you guys!" she said, raising her pipe over her head. "It's time to wreck these psychopaths!"

The Quartet burst out onto the roof under a deep, midnight blue night sky littered with stars. Ferals of the same species encountered so far littered the tiny rooftop.

Irina led the charge, swinging and slamming her pipe into any feral that approached, punctuating the battle with thick WHACK!s and SPLAT!s.

Hans saw a bright blue berry he presumed one of the ferals had dropped and identified it as an oran berry, renowned for its medical capabilities. He ran over to the berry to grab it, but then heard the whoosh of wind and looked to the sky to find a Starly swooping down to strike him. He screamed in fear, covering his head to prepare for the strike, but Armstrong leapt to karate chop the Starly in the neck, eliciting shrills of pain from the Starly as it fell to the ground, it's eyes wide.

Shinji locked eyes with the Wumrple that was charging him, prepared a charge of electricity, and fired a bolt at it. The Wurmple convulsed on contact, ad then fell to the ground, laying still. Shinji turned around, and saw a Pidgey preparing to launch an aerial attack. Once again, Shinji built up a charge and fired again — only to miss the Pidgey, prompting it to fly directly at Shinji, forcing him to fire a pulse of electricity at the feral. The Pidgey fell to the ground, foam coming from its beak. Shinji looked to where the Wurmple was, and found a Bidoof staring at the downed Wurmple. Shinji built a quick charge and fired, hitting the Bidoof square in the eyes. It stood still for a minute, crossed its eyes, and then fell down, presumably unconscious. Shinji looked around the rooftop, but noticed no more feral Pokemon threatening anyone. Hans was gathering items the defeated ferals had dropped, and Armstrong was leaning over two fallen ferals, panting.

"Hey, Irina," Armstrong said, breathing heavily. "Anyone else we have to deal with?"

"Just these two," Irina replied loudly, swinging her pipe at two Rattatas. She swung at one Ratatta and the feral ducked — but Irina thought quickly and threw the club towards the ground, hitting the Ratta with a sickening WHACK!. She swung at the other Ratatta, sending it flying across the roof, landing against the railing.

"Never mind!" she said.

Armstrong righted herself and cleared her throat. "Hans," she said, "What did you pick up while we were fighting?"

"I got two oran berries while Shinji was dealing with those Wrumples,," Hans said, looking through his pockets. "I found some other berries, but they're either bruised, dirty, or rotten."

"Good," Armstrong replied. "Anyone hurt?"

"I might've gotten hit once or twice," Irina replied, "but it's nothing I can't handle."
"Make sure you get your wounds checked out once we head to the Guild," Armstrong said. "Anyone else hurt?"

Shinji shook his head, and Hans simply said "We're good."
"Alright," Armstrong said, "Let's head down the fire escape. Hans, you show us the way from there."

"Got it," Hans replied as the Quartet moved towards a metal cage extending off of one side of the roof.

The four descended down the rusty metal stairs, the clanging of their loud footsteps echoing throughout the dark streets. Irina was the first to reach the bottom, falling and ending upright more than landing. Armstrong was next, landing on all fours, hesitating, and then standing up straight.

Irina looked at her surroundings. They were in a dark alleyway, a short brick wall that connected the building they came from with another building. Up against the wall were two dumpsters, full to the brim.

"A little help up here?" Hans asked. "It's quite the drop from up here…"

"It's one of those big jumps!" Shinji said, smiling with an open mouth. "I wanna try this!"
Hans gripped the collar of Shinji's jacket. "Oh, no, you don't," he said.

Shinji pulled against Hans' grip before sighing in defeat. "Fine," he said.

"You alright up there, Hans?" Armstrong asked the Mawile on the fire escape some feet above them.

"I can't get down from here," he replied. "Normally there would be some sort of ladder here, but for some reason there isn't…."

He was right. On the shorter side of the fire escape platform Hans was standing near, there wasn't any fencing or a ladder.

"Maybe you can jump and Armstrong will catch you?" Irina asked.

Hans visibly cringed at the thought. "I have a different idea," he said. "Irina, would you mind moving that dumpster in front of me?" Hans pointed to a nearby

"Will do," she said. She walked over to a dumpster and began dragging it with her stubby hands, stopping in front the space just in front of the fire escape where Hans was standing, flipping over the lid afterwards, revealing the mounds of garbage bags inside.

"This a good enough spot?" Irina asked Hans.

"Yeah," Hans replied. "Thanks."

He leapt from the fire escape, almost levitating in air for a moment before crashing down onto the bags of garbage filling the dumpster.

"Are you alright?!" Armstrong said.

"Yeah," Shinji added, "are you okay?"

Hans raised his head, the only visible injury a scratch on his head.

"I'm alright…" Hans said, visibly hesitating before adding "I guess." He stod up and brushed the various pieces of trash off of his white jacket and pants. "Yuck," he said. "These are gonna need a wash."

"Everyone!" Irina shouted. The other three of the group turned to her. "Over here!" she said, pointing towards the alleyway's entrance. "We got some more company."

Indeed, in the alleyway were four more Pokemon, likely feral, judging by the state of their clothing — a Pikachu in a trenchcoat and trilby, a Spinarak in a clothlike garment of some sort, a completely naked Surskit, and a Shinx in a shabby dark green jacket and a beanie. All of their clothes were streaked with red, and their eyes were bloodshot.

"Just what we needed," Armstrong said.

"I ain't complainin'", Irina replied as she raised her pipe above her head.

The Spinarak began to sprint towards the duo, scuttling whilst staring at the would-be adventurers with unblinking bloodshot eyes. Irina charged toward the Spinarak in turn and the two were suddenly inches away from each other, lead pipe and arachnoid leg posed to strike against each other. Irina swung her pipe and the Spinarak swung its leg, and suddenly the two were opposite their original sides, with Irina facing the three other ferals and the feral Spinarak facing Armstrong and the other members of the Quartet.

Neither of them moved for five…six…seven…eight seconds when the Spinarak collapsed onto the ground and Irina began to swing at the final three ferals.

Hans drew a sleep seed from his pocket and threw it at the trio of ferals now advancing towards Irina, hitting the Shinx directly in the forehead. It stumbled backwards as the seed broke across its forehead, then fell down, where it remained.

Irina saw the opportunity and slammed the lead pipe into the jaw of the Pikachu, causing it to collapse, too agonized to get up. Irina threw her arms up into the arm in victory. "Woo hoo!" she shouted.

The feral Surskit saw its chance and began gliding toward Irina's vulnerable back.

"Irina!" Shinji shouted. "Look out!" Without even seeming to charge electricity, Shinji fired a bolt of white light and struck the Surskit in the head, flinging it into the air and brining it down across the street.

The alleyway had returned to its quiet, shadowed state. The only movement came from Irina as she shuffled around the bodies of the fallen Pokemon, the Shinx sporting a swelling forehead, the Spinarak with many legs bent the wrong way, the Pikachu drooling. The Surskit lay in the street, its body singed and charred.

"Now that we're out of the metaphorical woods," Armstrong said as she walked towards Hans, "would you mind showing us the way to the Guild from here?"

Hans rose from the Shinx's body. "Well," he began, "it looks like we're in an alley on West 26th Street, so if we come out and take the first left…"

West 25th Street

The Lucario sighed deeply, straightened his tie, and stared at the clock mounted on the wall. Ten-sixteen. Dammit. He softly growled to himself, kicking up his feet and leaning back, gazing around the wide room from spot behind the rectangular receptionist's desk. He longingly gazed at the front door of the Guild before picking up a mechanical pencil and returning to a sketch of a Scrafty he had been working on for the past hour and a half. The Scrafty in question was turned away from the viewer, the point of view showing his sculpted, muscled back and large, thick arms. The Lucario longingly licked his lips instinctively and leaned back in his chair, sightly pulling his white shirt out of the pants they were tucked in. He checked the clock again. Ten-seventeen. Arceus, couldn't time go any faster? It wasn't like any more recruits were about to show up.

Of course, that was when a quartet of Pokemon — a Nidorina, a Mareep, a Mawile and one more Pokemon, probably a helmetless Cubone — strolled into the room, covered in scrapes and cuts.

The Lucario spasmed in shock, then straightened himself, making sure to slide his sketch under a manilla envelope. "Hello, welcome to the Guild of the Star," he said from memory. "My name is Oliver, how may I help you tonight?"

"We're looking to enroll in the Guild's rescuer program," the Nidorina said. Oliver noticed that her hands and wrists were not only large and dirty, but also bruised, with the occasional cut showing up somewhere on the palms.

Oliver straightened himself as remembered hearing news about some sort of bridge collapse. That was right, he remembered, the Guildmaster had left to establish another route to the Guild. "Oh, w-well," he began, "you'd normally have to go up to the second floor to head to the training grounds, where the entrance examinations are held…but I'm not sure anyone's there, really; most of our staff is dealing with Pokemon caught in the rubble of the bridge collapse. Really, the Guild is sort of empty right now…"

"I take it we should wait for the staff to return," the Nidorina said.

"Oh, come on," the Cubone complained. "We fight our way through an entire damn feral house just to end up waiting for everyone else to show up?" She threw the pipe she was carrying against the floor. "This sucks!" she shouted.

"We'll be able to get in still," the Mareep asked the Cubone, staring at her with his beady black eyes. "Won't we?"

"Whuh?" the Cubone presumably named Irina said to the Mareep, blinking in surprise. "Oh, uh," she said, "I hope so." She took the pipe off of the floor and lifted her pants leg, revealing a loop wrapped around her leg. She stretched the loop to create an opening and slid the pipe into the resulting hole, putting her pants leg down once the pipe was snug against her leg.

The sentence Irina said before apologizing made Oliver's large ears perk up in surprise. "Pardon," he said, "did I just hear you say that you fought your way through a house infested with ferals?"

Irina looked at Oliver. "Huh?" she said. "Oh, yeah," she continued, beginning to smile. "Man, you shoulda been there. I was swinging my pipe around and everything, ferals were everywhere, we got up to the roof, I'm pretty sure some flying-types tried to dive-bomb us, right, Armstrong?" As Irina finished her sentence, she turned to the Nidorina, nodding giddily.

The Nidorina scratched her head and smiled meekly. "Well…" she began. "It wasn't that glorious. I mean, we did get into some pretty intense battles, and we did make it through the whole building, but I'm pretty sure we skipped some rooms, and I think one of us got a nasty wound…was it you, Hans?"

"Me?" the Hans said. "No, I don't think so. If anything, you were the one wounded from when you were busy with keeping me from getting hit!" Hans chuckled briefly before recovering and standing straight up. "Oliver," the Mawile said, "do you know when the staff will return here?"

"Well, the rule around here is that all missions that aren't high priority have to be over by eleven p.m.," Oliver said. "So, you have…" He quickly glanced at the clock. "Forty minutes at the most."

"Aww, maaaan," Shinji moaned. "This is gonna be a long wait…"

The front door suddenly opened again, this time bringing a Scizor in a candy red business suit. "The bridge collapse only trapped four people," she said, her voice deep yet still feminine. "Our crews were able to get the rubble out of the way and get them out safely. In the meantime, an alternate path down North Forty-Fifth has been established. Anything to report, Oliver?"

Oliver stood up and straightened his clothes. "Nothing, Guildmaster," he said with what could be interpreted as a tinge of anxiety, "except for these four. They say that they fought their way through a feral-infested building on their way here."

The Guildmaster unexpectedly snapped her head to face Oliver. "Well," she said, "I wasn't expecting anyone to arrive for another fifteen minutes, considering the blockage on the main road here…" She began to walk away from the Oliver and the Pokemon who had made their past the bridge collapse, when she stopped in her tracks and turned away and faced the other Pokemon again.

"Hold on," she began. "Oliver, did you just say that they crossed a building infested with ferals on their way here?"
"Yes, I did," Oliver said. "It was…" he turned to Armstrong. "What building was it again?"

"It was on West 27th Street, I think," she replied. "Wasn't it, Hans?"

"You're right, Armstrong," the Mawile replied. "It was on West 27th."

"Oliver, check the feral traffic map," the Guildmaster said. "If I recall correctly, West 27th is one of the areas with a high congestion rate."

Oliver reached underneath the reception desk and took out a plastic basket of manilla envelopes before removing one labeled MAPS - FERAL TRAFFIC. He opened the envelope and removed a scroll, which he placed on the desk and unrolled to reveal a map of the surrounding city dotted with lines of green, yellow, orange, and red. Oliver's finger hovered over several points on the map seemingly selected at random before he pointed to a thick orange line. "According to reports, West 27th Street is indeed an area high in feral traffic," Oliver said.

The Guildmaster turned around to face the newcomers, hands on her hips. "Let me make this very clear," she said. "Whether or not you managed to get through the ferals on West 27th, the Guild is obliged to hire you as apprentices for the allotted time should you have applied and been accepted."

"Awesome!" Irina shouted. "So, like, can we get our jobs now?"

"However!" The Guildmaster said loudly. "Because you have claimed to have fought your way through a dense thicket of ferals, I will make sure that you and your friends are not only given a pass from basic training, but I will personally assign you some of the more challenging missions." She rose her head to speak with all four of the newcomers. "Hopefully you will be able to prove your claims with your performance in the future."

Armstrong rose her palms in defense. "All right, that's fine," she said. "But please don't give us anything that'll hand our…uh, behinds to us."

Irina shrugged. "Like hell we'll get our behinds handed to us," she said. She turned to face the Guildmaster. "Guildmaster lady," she said, "if you're trying to punish us, it ain't working. Way I see it, if we get tougher missions, I'll get to beat up more ferals and get paid for it more than I normally would. Seems like a pretty sweet setup to me."

Shinji leapt into the air. "Yay!" he said. "More adventuring!"

"Hold on a moment," Hans said. "Are you saying that the four of us will be in the same group?"

"Of course," the Guildmaster replied. "After all, if you were a cohesive, well-rounded team this time, why wouldn't you be the same way on other missions?"

Armstrong's eyes widened, and she looked over the three pokemon she had battled ferals with. "With all due respect, Guildmaster," she began, turning back to the Scizor, "Are you sure that we're suitable to be grouped together? We've known each other for literally less than two hours."

"Then you've known each other longer than most of our new recruits will know their teammates," the Guildmaster replied. "Now, unless any of you have any disabilities of some sort or anything else I should know about, I'd like to get you into the guild." She turned to face Oliver. "Oliver," she said, "please get the enrollment forms for our new recruits ready."

"Right away, Guildmaster," Oliver replied. He rummaged through cabinets in the receptionist's desk, took out several sheafs of paper, and placed them on the desk. "Alright, cadets," he said. "If you could just take a few moments to fill these out, then we can get you into the Guild right away…"

Irina had practically jogged her way to Oliver's desk, and she was only a few feet away. Yet Shinji still bolted right in front of the desk before Irina, cutting her off.

"Alright," Oliver said to Shinji. "Now, since you're a Mareep, I'll give you this to sign with." Oliver handed Shinji a pen with a bitable bit on its end. Shinji took the pen in his mouth and began to fill out his forms.

Within less than a minute, all four of the newcomers were done with the papers.

"All right," the Guildmaster said, rubbing her claws together. "Now that that's over with, let me show you where you'll be living from now on. Follow me…"