Day One - Chance or Destiny

(Cue song Revelation by Junichi Nakatsuru from SoulCalibur IV OST)

I was confident. Confident in our mission. Confident that we would prevent this disaster from ever occurring.

'We should never have to live like that ever again,' I thought as I watched the many coloured lights streak past me at blinding speeds. Every now and then I would catch glimpses of things that I had read about or things I remembered from my teachings.

BOOM!

"Whoa! Wh-wh-woah...!" I exclaimed as a shockwave passed through me; my hand tightening around my partner's own. The lights had changed from multi-coloured, to a stormy grey. Flashes of white and loud booming noises sounded in my ears.

"Should this be happening?" I shouted to my partner. From the look in his eyes, he was about as lost as I was.

BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!

A bright bolt of lightning sliced past us, barely inches from striking my partner. Another loud rumble sounded around me.

"Are..." I yelled at my partner who was a little freaked out at how close it had been. "Are you OK?"

He nodded back. A little shaken up but we had been through tougher situations than this.

Another flash of lightning zipped past, this one even closer than the last, and exploded to the side of us. The shockwave sent us out of the middle of the tunnel, where we were safe, to the edge. We slammed right into the side and began to spin very fast. I felt my partner's grip slip slightly and desperately tried to hold on.

"No! Don't let go!" I yelled at him, looking straight into his eyes. I could see the fear in his eyes. But it wasn't fear of dying, or fear that we wouldn't get to our destination. It was fear that we would be separated.

"Just a little longer!" I yelled. "Come on! Hang on!"

Another crash and bolt of lightning struck near us, creating even more spin. My partner was quickly slipping. He looked into my eyes.

"N-n-no! I can't... hold on...!" came a voice that I was unfamiliar with, but it sounded like it just came from my partner. But this wasn't the time to be surprised.

"You have to!" I yelled back.

BOOOOOMMMMMM!

A lightning bolt blew up right where we were and our hands were torn apart from each other. I grouped for my partner as he spiralled away from me.

"Nooooooooooooooo!"

Then nothing.


(Cue music silence)

I awoke slightly to realise that I was in a raging sea. I coughed as I turned over in the water to see a cliff. It looked to be in the shape of a... Sharpedo. Bright bolts of lightning rained down almost as much as the rain that was pounding on the stormy sea. The wind, howling in my ears. I began to get dizzy and slipped into unconsciousness.


I awoke again to a different scene. I was staring at a bright blue sky lined with fluffy white clouds. I tilted my head slightly and saw a bay of clear blue water with green foliage on the other side.

'Where... am I?' I thought to myself before the dizziness returned and I found myself slipping again.


...ey...

'Huh?'

...Hey y...

'What's going on?'

...y wake u...

'Who's that calling?'

"What happened? Are you OK?"

I slowly opened my eyes and squinted at the light which seemed to be afternoon light. "Ugh..." I grunted as I got up on to my feet.

"You're awake! Thank goodness!"

I looked around to try to see anything I recognized but nothing popped into my mind. 'Where... where am I...?' I thought to myself.

(Cue song Sit Beside Me by Yuki Kajiura from .hack/SIGN Original Soundtrack 1)

I then looked to the side of me and saw a cute and beautiful Vulpix. She had smooth red-brown fur and her paws were covered in dark brown fur. Her six orange tails were curled up and her brown, pupil-less eyes gazed in worry back at me.

"You wouldn't move at all. I was really scared for you! Do you have any idea how you ended up unconscious out here?"

'I... I was unconscious? What happened...?'

"Anyway, I'm Kyuubi. Happy to meet you! And who are you? I don't think I've seen you around before."

My mind finally realised that there was a Pokémon who could talk. Quite fluently as well.

"You can talk?" I asked, talking for the very first time. She looked slightly confused. "Of course I can. Did you hit your head on something by accident?"

I shook my head. "No... at least I don't think so. I'm human so it's a little weird that a Pokémon talks to me."

"What? You're saying that you're a human?" she said totally confused now. She looked me up and down. "You look like a totally normal Riolu to me!"

"Huh? Riolu?" I asked intelligently before bolting over to a rock pool I spotted. I looked into the water and saw my reflection. A blue and black face with big red eyes stared back at me.

"Ah!" I yelled out as I fell back. "It's... it's true!" I then looked at myself to see powerful arms and legs. I looked behind me to see a black tail.

"How did this happen?" I asked myself. "I've turned into a Riolu!" I then brought my hand... I mean paw to my face in a thoughtful stance. 'But how did this happen? I don't remember anything...' I thought to myself.

"You're... a little odd..." said Kyuubi. She looked a little wary of me. "Are you trying to pull a trick on me?"

"No way! I'd never do something like that. I'm telling the truth! I was human," I tried to get her to accept this fact.

"You are?" she asked but still looked a little dubious. "Ok then, how about your name? What's your name?"

'My name? That's right, my name is...'

"Kitsune," is what I answered.

"So you're name is Kitsune?" she asked. I nodded. She then relaxed. "Ok, well, you don't seem to be a bad Pokémon, at least." She then bowed her head in embarrassment. "Sorry that I doubted you. More and more bad Pokémon have been turning up lately, you see! A lot of Pokémon have gotten aggressive lately. It's just not safe anymore..."

'It seems she still doesn't believe me. Well it is a wild thought. A human turning into a Pokémon,' I thought to myself as she was talking.

As we were both busy I didn't notice two shapes moving quickly up behind Kyuubi. The only warning I had was when Kyuubi cried out in pain and I looked to see her flying right into me. We collided and skidded on the sand for a few meters. I looked up to see a Zubat and a Koffing.

(Cue song Dragon paw by Scudelia Electro from King of Bandits Jing: OST)

"Owchie," said Kyuubi as she laid there on the sand in front of me.

"Well, I do beg your pardon," said Koffing sarcastically.

Kyuubi lifted herself off the ground and looked back at the duo, pissed. "Hey! Why'd you do that?" she yelled.

Zubat laughed creepily. "Can't figure it out?" he said. "We wanted to mess with you! Can't face up to us, can you?"

"Wh-what?" exclaimed Kyuubi as she spotted something lying on the sand a few meters away. I looked along her sight and saw a rock with a strange design inscribed onto the flat, smooth side.

"That's yours, isn't it?" asked Zubat, even though it was obvious he knew the answer already.

"That's my...!" she never got to finish what she was going to say as Zubat swooped in and grabbed the rock. "Sorry kiddo, but this is ours now!" he said.

"Ahhh! No!" cried out Kyuubi in horror.

Koffing laughed a deep in-your-face laugh. "Not going to make a move to get that back? What's the matter? Too scared? I didn't expect you to be such a big coward!"

Kyuubi made no move to retrieve the rock.

"Come on. Let's get out of there," Koffing said to his partner and the two Pokémon flew past us.

"See you around, chicken!" said Zubat as they headed up the beach.

(Cue music silence)

"No..." said Kyuubi as she watched helplessly. "Wh-what should I do?" she asked to herself.

"Why don't you go after those two and beat the snot out of them?" I asked.

"But it's two against one and I'm not strong enough on my own." She sighed. "That's my personal treasure. It means everything to me. If I lose that..." She started to get teary eyed.

(Cue song Negative by WATABE Chierul from Prince of Tennis Original Soundtrack 2)

I grinned. "Actually it's two on two." Kyuubi looked up at me. "C'mon. I wouldn't walk away from someone in need. That's how I feel. So I'll help you get back your treasure, OK?" I said. I patted her on the head. "So don't cry, OK?"

She sniffed before she rubbed her tears away with her paw. "You would really do that for me?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah. I'm not heartless," I replied. "But you have to find the courage to get it back as well."

She nodded. "You're right. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I have to get it back!"

"Well then let's go!" I said.

"Yeah!" she replied.

"So where did they go?" I asked, looking down the beach. At the end I saw a cliff with a large cave in the side. "Maybe they went in there?" I asked.

"Yeah. That's the Beach cave. It's got a few territorial Pokémon inside it so we'll have to fight them to get further inside," Kyuubi replied.

"Ok then," I said and we took off for the cave.

(Cue song Rebel Forces by Steve Jablonsky, Trevor Morris from Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars OST)

Inside was typical for a cave at the sea. It smelled of fish and salt. We walked for a few minutes before we crossed paths with a Shellos. It attacked without warning. I swiftly moved to the side and struck out with my paw. The blow connected and the Shellos was sent tumbling away. It got up but quickly retreated.

"Wow," I said. "I didn't know I was that powerful."

"You're strong!" said Kyuubi.

"Yeah? You think so?" I asked. She nodded. "Yeah!"

We continued on, every so often another Shellos would attack and sometimes we would have to knock it out. Kyuubi was quite strong herself. Even though she disagreed when I mentioned it I really thought she was strong.

As we were roughly half way she asked something.

"So can you tell me anything about yourself?" she asked.

"Actually..." I said before I realised that I couldn't remember anything of my past. Nothing at all.

"I have no idea of who I was before this. I don't recall anything." I looked at her. "It's strange." She looked back at me, worry written all over her face.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure I'll remember something later," I said to get her to focus on the task at hand.

After another few encounters we arrived at the end of the cave. There were red corral pillars around the edge of the walls and a small lagoon was situated at the far end. The two Pokémon we were chasing were at the water edge.

(Cue song Just Like You Imagined by Nine Inch Nails)

"Um..." said Kyuubi uncertainly. I nodded at her and her resolve hardened.

"Hey!" she said loudly. This caught the attention to Zubat and Koffing and they turned around.

"Well, well..." smirked Koffing. "If it isn't our old friend, the big chicken."

Kyuubi flinched before she continued. "Give me..." she said softly before it all came out.

"Give me back what you stole from me! That's my personal treasure! It means everything to me!" she yelled.

"Treasure, you say?" asked Zubat curiously. "So this thing really is valuable, huh?"

"It could be worth more than what we hoped for, I'd say," said Koffing. "We ought to try selling it. Who knows? It might get a good price." Koffing then smirked. "All the more reason not to give it back!"

By this time I'd had enough. I charged in and swiftly punched Koffing square in the face. He shot off and slammed into a large rock. He bounced off and rolled on the ground, knocked out.

"Why you little punk!" said Zubat but it was too late. One second later he was KO'd on the sand. I walked past the two and picked up the rock.

"Got it Kyuubi!" I yelled over to her.

"Yay!" she said, very happy with this turn around. I walked over and we both left the cave together.


(Cue song Kaiso by WATABE Chierul from Prince of Tennis Original Soundtrack 2)

We stood out on the sand, looking out across the bay. Kyuubi turned to me and smiled. "It's thanks to you that I got this back." She then walked up next to me and pressed her head against me. "Thank you so much!" she cried out.

"Hey there!" I exclaimed and placed my paws on her shoulders, pushing her back so I could look into her eyes. "You deserve some credit too. I wouldn't have gone in without you so you showed guts to stand up to those two. You would have gotten some of the action but I had just had enough of them. I was merciful by knocking them out in one punch."

She nodded and blinked the tears out of her eyes. I smiled. 'It's so nice to be appreciated,' I thought to myself. She then placed the rock on the ground in front of us.

"This is what they stole. It's a Relic Fragment," she explained. Here she looked a little sheepish. "Well..., at least, that's what I started calling it..."

"The markings on it are quite strange, aren't they?" I asked. Before I didn't get a good look at the pattern but now that I looked at it, it had a certain mystical look to it. At first glimpse it looked like the sun. There was a circle in the middle and wavy lines made its way from the edge of the circle to the edge of the rock.

"That's right. You see, I've always liked legends and lore..." she said. "I always get so excited when I hear tales from the past!" Here she began to get passionate in her talking as she turned to the ocean. "Hidden troves full of treasure and strange relics, uncharted territories veiled in darkness, and new lands just waiting to be discovered! Such places must be full of gold and treasure! And history! Wouldn't it be dramatic to make historic discoveries?" Here she calmed down but still had that passionate fire inside her eyes. "That's what I always dream of. It's all so exciting to me." Here she turned from the ocean to look at the stone. "And it just so happened... that I found this Relic Fragment."

Kyuubi studied the markings on the stone. "There must be some meaning to this pattern. This Relic Fragment must be the key to legendary places! To areas where precious treasure lies!" She looked up to me. "At least, that's the feeling I get."

"Sounds to me you really like all this stuff. Treasure hunting and all the rest," I said. She nodded fiercely. "That's why I want to join an exploration team. This fragment must fit into something... somewhere! I want to discover where that is. I want to solve the mystery of this Relic Fragment."

"Then why don't you do all this?" I asked.

"Well I tried joining up with an exploration team but," here she looked quite sad. "But I was too cowardly..."

"Oh..." was all I said. In our little adventure it did seem that she was a little scared but that slowly disappeared the further we went in. "The first steps are always the hardest," I said.

She nodded and then looked at me. "What about you Kitsune? What are you going to do now?" she asked.

"Well to be honest... I have no idea. At first I thought I would just ask around about anything that might of happened that I could link myself to but..." I trailed off. It didn't need to be said that many other people would think I was completely nuts. 'That is if there are any humans here at all... wherever here is.'

"What about a place to stay?"

I shook my head.

"Well then can I ask a big favour?" Kyuubi asked.

"Uh... sure," I said, unsure of what she was going to ask for.

"Would you form an exploration team with me? I think we could make a good exploration team together, Kitsune."

I was shocked. She just came right out and asked. "Uhhh... well..." I mumbled slightly before really thinking about this.

'Well I do have nowhere to go from here, and I would need a place to stay at least until I get my memory back. And who knows, maybe I'll be able to find a way to change myself back to normal,' I thought.

"So will you do that with me?" asked Kyuubi, almost dreading that I would say no.

'I guess it wouldn't hurt to team up with Kyuubi for now. Hopefully I'll discover who or what I am by hanging out with this Vulpix. Ok, it's settled!'

"Sure thing, Kyuubi. I'll help you," I said, smiling at her.

"Oh? Really?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with happiness. "You'll really form an exploration team with me?"

"Yeah! It could be fun," I said.

"Yay! Thank you!" she said as she hugged me.

"Yeah yeah," I replied as I patted her back. She then withdrew from me and smiled. "We're going to be a great combination! Let's make this work!" She then turned to the other end of the beach and I looked to see a path lead away from the beach into the forest.

"First, we need to go to Wigglytyuff's place and sign up as apprentices. That's where we can get the training to become a proper exploration team," she explained.

"Ok," I said, looking up to where the trail eventually led to. There was a large building of some sort on the top of the hill the trail led to.

"I think the training will be very tough..." said Kyuubi, looking pensive at the thought. But she instantly brightened up. "So let's give it our best, Kitsune!"

"You got it!" I replied and we slapped each other a high five.


(Cue music silence)

The entrance to Wigglytuff's place was daunting. A large steal gate barred the entrance. The building looked like a giant Wigglytuff's head. A totem pole and torch flanked each side of the entrance. In front of the gate was a wooden grate.

"This is Wigglytuff's Guild," said Kyuubi. "To form an exploration team, you need to register your team here. Then you have to train until you become a first-rate exploration team." Here she shivered slightly. "Geez, this place is just a little bit odd."

"I'll say," I replied.

Here Kyuubi shook her head. "No...! I've got Kitsune with me this time," she said, more to herself than anything. "I have to be brave!" She then walked forward until she was standing on the grate.

(Cue song Dragon paw by Scudelia Electro from King of Bandits Jing: OST)

"Pokémon detected!" said a voice. It seemed that there was a fair sized hole underneath the grate as there was a strong echo.

"Who's footprint?" said another voice quite different to the first.

"The footprint is Vulpix's!" said the first.

Meanwhile Kyuubi was freaking out. The voices coming up from the grate were making her nervous. "N-no. I can't lose it now..." she said to herself, even though I could hear.

There was a pause before the second voice shouted, "...You may ENTER! Someone's with you! So get that stranger to stand on the GRATE!"

Kyuubi bounded off, glad that her part was over and looked at me. "Your turn now," she said. I looked dubiously at the grate. "If anyone pranks me by sticking something through that grate I will kick their ass!" I said quietly so only Kyuubi could hear before I walked onto the grate.

"Pokémon detected!"

"Who's footprint?"

"The footprint is..." The first voice broke off suddenly. "The footprint is... um..."

"What's the matter? Sentry! Sentry? What's wrong, sentry Diglett?" said the second voice, identifying the first.

"Umm... Er...," Diglett struggled, unsure of something. 'I guess these guys don't get many Riolu's around here. That doesn't surprise me as a Riolu is quite rare,' I thought to myself.

"Umm... The footprint is...," continued Diglett before I got fed up and bent down. "Psst! I'm a Riolu!" I whispered loudly.

"Thanks!" whispered Diglett back before continuing to shout to the second voice. "Maybe Riolu's!"

"What? MAYBE?" yelled the second voice.

"W-well... It's not a footprint that you normally see around here..." explained Diglett.

"UGH! That's pretty crummy!" yelled the second voice, sounding a little disgusted. "Checking the footprints of visiting Pokémon... That's your job, ISN'T it Diglett?"

"Yes but... I don't know what I don't know," explained Diglett.

Back with us, we were both sweatdropping. "What the hell?" I said.

"Are they arguing?" asked Kyuubi.

"Sounds like it," I replied. The second voice then erupted out of the grate, scaring the hell out of me as it was much louder than before. "Sorry to make you WAIT. Well, it's TRUE that you don't see any Riolu in these parts... But you don't SEEM to be bad... That's good enough for US! ENTER!"

A soft rumbling was felt before the gate lifted out of sight, showing a hole with a ladder leading into it.

"Woah!" said Kyuubi. "I'm so nervous! So jittery!" she said.

"Don't worry Kyuubi. I'm here with you," I said comfortingly.

She then stopped shaking and calmed down. "Yeah. That's right," she said. She then turned to the cleared opening. "I'm glad we're finally allowed in. My heart's pounding though," she said. "Anyway, let's go," she finished up and the two of us walked inside the tent like room. We both grasped the ladder and climbed down. When we got to the bottom, we got one hell of a surprise.

(Cue song Gekko-Go by Naoki Sato from Eureka seveN OST 1 Disc 1)

The ladder lead to an underground cavern. Grass and flowers carpeted the floor. In the middle was a stone paced area. As we walked to this area, I looked around at all the Pokémon around us. There was a Pidgey, a Seedot, a Swellow, a Wurmple, a Ledian, a Bidoof and a Sunflora. And that was just on this level. As far as I could tell there was a second level underneath us. The whole atmosphere was comforting and friendly. On the wall from where we came from were two large bulletin boards.

"So this is Wigglytuff's Guild!" said Kyuubi in barely contained excitement. "There are sure a lot of Pokémon here. Do they all belong to exploration teams?"

"Probably," I replied before a new voice broke through our conversation. I looked to the right and saw a Chatot. It seemed to have come up from the lower level. The Pokémon walked up to us. "It was you two that just came in, right?" he asked. I judged that it was a 'he' from the tone of voice.

"That's right," I said.

"I'm Chatot!" the Pokémon introduced. "I'm the Pokémon in the know around these parts! I am Guildmaster Wigglytuff's right-hand Pokémon!" He seemed to be quite proud of these positions. His voice then took a slightly annoyed tone. "Now, shoo! Leave the premises! We have no time for salespeople or silly surveys. Off you go, if you please!"

'Man oh man! It's like talking to a human with human problems!' I thought to myself before I spoke. "Hey! You shouldn't jump to conclusions like that! And we came here to sign up as an exploration team..." I left the end hanging with Kyuubi nodding.

"Wh-what? Exploration team?" exclaimed Chatot. He then turned around and mumbled to himself, even though I could hear him just fine. Looking at Kyuubi I saw that she could as well.

"It's rare to see kids like these want to apprentice at the guild. Especially given how hard our training is! Surely the steady stream of Pokémon that run away from our rigorous training proves how true this is!"

"It's that tough?" asked Kyuubi.

"Wha!" It seemed we caught Chatot off guard. He quickly recovered though. "Well... no! No, no, no! It's not true in the slightest! Our training program for exploration teams is as easy as can be!" Chatot flustered.

"I think I believe your mumblings over this," I said.

"Well, well, well!" Chatot almost sang, ignoring my words. "I wish you had told me up front that you wanted to be an exploration team!" he finished, laughing nervously.

"We would of if you hadn't cut us off," I mumbled, this time only loud enough for Kyuubi to hear.

"What a shift in attitude," she replied back.

"OK! Let's get your team signed up right away. Follow me!" said Chatot and he walked over to the second ladder. He turned back to see that we weren't following him. "Oh? Anything wrong? Come on! Over here!"

I shook my head before the two of us followed him.

The second level was the same on the basic level. It was still grass covered however this room had a door with a large red symbol painted on the front; surrounded with pink painted bricks. Aside from that there were two large archways leading to two other rooms. On my right was a stone hut carved into the shape of a Croagunk hunched over. Underneath was a real Croagunk stirring a large cauldron.

"This is the second underground floor of the guild," explained Chatot. "This is mainly where the apprentices work." He then unfolded his right wing and pointed it in the direction of the painted door. "Team registration is this way. Come along, please."

We turned with him toward the door, but Kyuubi caught sight of something and ran past us, to a window. She looked out and her eyes glossed up. "Wow!" she awed. "We're two floors underground but you can see outside!"

Chatot huffed impatiently. "Oh, please! Hush now! The guild is built into the side of a cliff. It's only natural that you would be able to see the outside."

"Oh..." said Kyuubi, slightly deflated. She then ran over to where we were gathered.

"Now, here we are at Guildmaster Wigglytuff's chamber," explained Chatot. "On no account... I repeat, on no account should you be discourteous to our Guildmaster," he stressed. He then turned to the door and called out, "Guildmaster! It's Chatot! I'm coming in!" He then pressed his wind against the door and pushed it in.

(Cue music silence)

The room on the other side was quite different in terms of what was inside it. There were two large chests of brightly coloured trinkets and objects, even some gems. Next to each chest was a large torch which was out at this time. Two windows looked out to the sea. The ground, like the last two rooms we had been through, was covered in grass with flowers dotted here and there. At the opposite side of where we were standing was a red rug and on top of it, facing away from us, was a large Wigglytuff. 'He must be the Guildmaster,' I though.

"Guildmaster!" called Chatot. "I present to you two Pokémon who wish to join our guild as apprentices."

There wasn't any evidence that the pink Pokémon had heard him. He didn't even move.

"Guildmaster..." said Chatot uncertainly. "...um...Guildmaster?"

There was a pause before very suddenly the Pokémon turned around quickly to face us. The suddenness of this action made us both jump.

(Cue song Promised Grace by Kumi Tanioka from "FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES" Original Soundtrack)

"Hiya!" said Wigglytuff in a slightly childish voice. "I'm Wigglytuff! I'm the guild's Guildmaster! You want to form an exploration team? Then, let's go for it! First we must register your exploration team's name!"

"Team... name?" said Kyuubi who was caught off guard. She wasn't the only one. I was surprised as well.

"I didn't think about a team name," admitted the fox Pokémon. She turned to me. "Can you think of a good name for us?" she asked.

I brought my hand, I mean paw, to my chin and thought hard. 'What to call it? What to call it? What to call it? ...uhhhhh... hmmm... I got it!'

I turned to Kyuubi. "How bout Team Oathkeeper, cause we always keep our promises. What do you think?" I asked.

She thought for a few moments, muttering the name to herself, testing it out. "Team Oathkeeper... I like it! It's a good name!"

"Awesome!" I grinned.

"Yeah! It's perfect for us!" replied Kyuubi.

"All settled then!" said Wigglytuff with enthusiasm. "I'll register your team as Team Oathkeeper." He then began to act a little weird. He rocked slightly from side to side singing "Registering! Registering!" for several seconds. He then stopped and said "All registered..." Then he yelled out "YOOM...TAH!" and jumped into the air. As he did this a wave of incredible energy blasted out of him and flowed through us, filling us with purpose. It was an exhilarating feeling. Then, just as it had come, the energy vanished from us, leaving the feeling behind inside us.

"Damn!" I breathed, completely blown away.

"Woah!" said Kyuubi herself.

"Congratulations! From now on, you're an official exploration team!" He then pushed a small chest toward us which was definitely not there before. "I present you with this in commemoration."

Kyuubi seemed to know the significance of this chest. "A Pokémon Exploration Team Kit?" she asked.

"Yup! It's what every exploration team needs. Open it up," he suggested.

I shrugged before walking over to the chest and flipping open the lid. Inside there were two badges that looked like pokeballs with small wings attached to each side. One had a red polished gem in the middle while the other had an electric purple one. There was also a map and a bag.

"Yes! There are all sorts of great items in here!" exclaimed Kyuubi who seemed to know exactly how important they were.

"The badges are your official team identification!" explained the Guildmaster. "And there's the Wonder Map, which is a wonder of convenience!"

'Is he serious?' I asked in my mind as he seemed just a bit too childish.

"Finally there's a Treasure Bag. It lets you carry items you find in dungeons. It's a very wonderful bag. Have a look inside!"

I did so and found two items inside. There was a purple and an orange scarf inside. I took out the two scarfs and we admired them.

"Cool..." I said before wrapping the purple one around me, tying it so that a long length of it flowed behind me almost all the way to my feet. I posed in front of Kyuubi. "How do I look?" I asked.

"So cool..." she breathed in awe. I blushed before offering the orange scarf to her. She carefully weaved her scarf around until it was in a position muck like my own, the long end draped over her back.

"Very nice!" I approved, giving her the thumbs up. She blushed slightly but smiled widely all the same.

"Those two scarfs are special. I'm sure they will help you on your adventures!" said the Guildmaster.

"Thank you very much," I said, bowing slightly before him. Kyuubi bowed her head as well. "Yes, thank you so very much! We'll do our best!"

"Yup! But you're only apprenticing right now. So do your best... to train!" reminded Wigglytuff.

"We will!" we both said at the same time. Kyuubi turned to me, smiling happily. "Let's always do our best, Kitsune!"

"Yeah!" I agreed. "And remember, Team Oathkeeper always keep their promises!" We then slapped each other a high five.


(Cue music silence)

After that we were shown to our room. It consisted of two straw beds in a small room. There was a small window looking out to a glittering sea that was reflecting the setting sun.

Kyuubi rushed over to one of the beds and jumped up and down happily. "Yay! We get beds!" she squealed.

"You will live here while you work for us. Things will start getting busy for you tomorrow! So rise early and start living up to our code!" said Chatot. "Don't stay up late. Get to sleep early tonight! That is all." He then exited our new room.

We then settled down into our new beds and quickly dozed off to sleep, excused by this day's events.


(Cue song Strength in Sadness by Kumi Tanioka from "FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES" Original Soundtrack)

"Say, are you still awake, Kitsune?" asked Kyuubi.

I rolled over in my bed to look at Kyuubi who had also shifted to look at me. "Yeah, Kyuubi?" I asked.

"My heart's been racing all day..." she said as she laid her head down on the straw, though she still watched me. "But I'm glad I finally forced myself to come here."

"Hmmm," I replied, prodding her to continue.

"I thought Wigglytuff would be kinda scary, but he was pretty nice."

"If a little immature and childish," I added, causing Kyuubi to giggle softly. "Yeah, he was that, wasn't he?" She giggled again before she sighed. "We'll experience all sorts of new stuff starting tomorrow, but I'm not very frightened."

"You shouldn't be. I'm with you now," I said softly.

"Yeah, that's right." She laughed softly. "Actually I can't wait to find out what new adventures are in store for us!"

"Well we better get to sleep then or we'll be no good for tomorrow," I suggested.

"Yeah, your right. I am getting a little sleepy..." she replied. Sleep dug into her speech, making it slurry. "Let's give it our all tomorrow. Ok, Kitsune. Sleep tight."

"Goodnight Kyuubi," I replied but my mind was still thinking over the day.

'Ok, you've suddenly apprenticed at a guild for exploration. Not bad for a day's work.' I rolled over to look through the window. The stars were glittering back at me. 'I gotta admit, it's pretty exciting to be in an exploration team. And it's fun to be friends with Kyuubi... But first things first...

(Cue song Riku by Yoko Shimomura from Kingdom Hearts 2 OST)

...Who am I?

How did I turn into a Pokémon?

How did I end up unconscious on that beach?'

I then felt sleep creep into my mind. 'I'm feeling sleepy too... Well, thinking about it won't help right now. I'd better focus on the guild's work for now... If I do that, well, everything should become clear eventually... I'll surely get to the bottom of this in time.'

I closed my eyes and the last though that drifted through my head was 'At least, I hope so.'

(UPDATE: 19/11/2011: All listed songs in this and future chapters are available online. See the link in my profile for details.)