Chapter One

I woke in a daze, noticing two Pokemon beside me, Kat and Eden. Around us was a heap of broken-down old shacks, some looked as if they had been on fire at some point.

"Where are we?" asked Kat.

"Treasure Town," said a voice.

Out of a nearby shack crawled a purple Kecleon.

"Treasure Town?" I said to myself. "Where have I heard that name before?"

"I once ran a shop with my brother here," Kecleon said. "Until he was killed."

"Killed?" gasped Eden. "By whom?"

Kecleon shuddered. "By Chatot."

"Why?" I frowned.

"That's the thing," said Kecleon. "We don't know. Just one day, he emerged from the guild and brought the rest of the guild trainees with him. We didn't stand a chance."

"Weren't there any others to help?" asked Kat.

"Yes," said Kecleon. "There were some Pokemon from around town defending, but they had to retreat. The Wigglytuff Guild isn't called the 'greatest in all the land' for nothing."

Kecleon swallowed, tears in his eyes. He started walking away, then motioned for us to follow. We walked a while, before reaching a cliff.

"Look up," said Kecleon.

We did so, and we saw a huge tent-like structure shaped like a Wigglytuff. But something was weird about it. The building was all warped and twisted in places, it even looked as though pieces were missing. A huge shadow loomed over the building.

"Wow," said Kat. "Morbid."

"What are you doing here?"

We looked around. The voice seemed to have come from nowhere. Out of the building came Chatot.

"I repeat," he snapped. "What is your purpose?"

Before we could answer, two more Pokemon emerged from the Guild. Darkrai and Umbreon.

"Ah!" said Darkrai, smiling. "There you are! Mister Chatot, sir, these are those people who are requesting to join the guild. After you set that "no teams with less than four members" rule, we had to call in... reinforcements, if you will."

Chatot sighed. "Fine, get in! And make it snappy!"

We followed him in, making it to Wigglytuff's room.

"Hiya!" he beamed. "Friends, Friends, you can never have too many. What's up?"

Chatot stepped forward, instantly changing personality. The callous, uncaring bird that we had met outside, to the suck up we saw then.

"We have a team that I think are destined for greatness," he squawked.

Darkrai stepped forward. "We," he said, "are Team... Uh.... Team..." He looked at Umbreon. "What's our name?"

Umbreon shrugged. Wigglytuff burst into dance, twirling around the room before coming back to its spot.

"Every team must have a name!" he said. "I know! Why not let the new members decide?"

Eden, Kat and I turned with our back to the Guildmaster.

"What should the name be?" I asked.

"Team NewMoon?" suggested Eden.

I gagged. "Too... Twilight..."

"Why don't you give an idea?" snapped Eden, her breath heating up so much I had to move a step further away from her.

"Um..." I thought about it, what would be a good name? "Team Aura?"

Kat frowned. "No..." she said. "For some weird reason that name just means something bad to me, and the word 'Masters' along with it. What about Excalibur?"

Wigglytuff jumped for joy.

"That's a great name!" he smiled. "Don't you think so, Chatot? Darkrai? Umbreon?"

They all nodded.

"Great!" beamed Wigglytuff. "I'll register you as 'Team Excalibur'! Registering... registering... Yoom-Tah! Henceforth you shall be known as 'Team Excalibur'! Here's your Explorer Kit!"

He handed us a large box. Inside it held a large bounty of bright red Perfect Apples.

"Apples?" asked Darkrai.

Chatot scowled at Wigglytuff.

Wigglytuff blushed. "Hahaha! Friends, friends! I seem to have mixed up my stash... Er... I mean, collection of Perfect Apples with the Explorer Kits!"

After sorting out the mix-up, we were shown to our quarters by a hillbilly Bibarel, I was bunking with the guys, Eden and Kat with the girls. After exploring the Guild a bit more, we walked through Treasure Town, eventually coming to a cliff that overlooked the ocean. To the left was a long beach and a cave.

"What a sight!" I exclaimed.

"Yes," yawned Kat. "Indeed."

"Spoil sport," I mumbled to myself.

"All Guild apprentices report to the Guild immediately," Chatot's voice echoed through the area. "I repeat, all traineees report to the Guild."

Kat, Eden and I looked at each other, then went back to the Guild. Darkrai and Umbreon were waiting for us. They led us into the Guildmaster's quarters.

"Thank you for coming," said Chatot. "Now, the reason you are here. Guildmaster Wigglytuff will be off on official business with Team Charm for the next month, and his replacement will be none other than myself."

"WHAT!?!?!" Exploud's voice boomed, knocking me off my feet.

General annoyance.

"Silence!" hollered Chatot. "One at a time!"

"Hey, hey!" Crawdaunt stepped forward. "Why do you get to be Guildmaster?"

"Oh my gosh!" Sunflora chimed in. "We are just as capable as you, if not more."

"Yeah!" snapped Chimecho. "You're just an old fusspot!"

It was then I had noticed something. Wigglytuff was tearing up.

"Sniffle..."

Everyone looked around to find the source of the noise.

"Sniffle... Sniff..."

Then we all noticed it. Wigglytuff was crying.

"WWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

The earth started quaking and small explosions started blooming all over the place.

"Quick!" shouted Chimecho. "Everyone be happy!"

Everyone stood up straight and smiled enormously. I was smiling so hard that my jaw hurt. And just like that, Wigglytuff went back to his normal happy self.

"Okay!" said Chatot. "Off to bed!"

We did as we were told. And thus, our first day at a new place came to an end. But a few questions still rolled around in my head, which reminded me vaguely of my first day back at the Great Forest, which brought up even more questions. What happened to Gloom and Absol? How are they? Did they get caught up in the portal too? And with these thoughts still buzzing around in my head, I fell asleep.