A Torchic found himself cowering in fear against a large, cold boulder. A Pinsir and a Heracross were towering over him, giving him no room to escape. A Pawniard and a Cranidos were standing a few yards behind the three.
"What'chu doin', ese? We just wanna talk, mang," the Pinsir said with a thick accent, hovering a hand dangerously close to the Torchic's beak.
"Yeah, bro, we just wanna see that cool necklace of yours. Dude, I've never noticed that you wore that thing before. You should have told us, dude. Share the load, right, man?" the Heracross asked, pointing to a string hung around the Torchic's neck with a gray rock attached to it. "Bro!"
"B-b-but," the Torchic stuttered. He gulped and kept looking left and right for any room to squeeze past the two bug-types in front of him. I should have never left home today, he thought. "Y-you know that I w-wear this. You guys-s see me every day, ha ha."
"Really? And what does that mean, homes?" the Pinsir asked, his face barely six inches away from the Torchic's. His teeth were even more menacing up close, and his curling smirk did him no favor. "That means we're friends, then, ese."
"Yeah, yeah!" cheered on the Cranidos in the background. "What he said!"
"Chewie, DJ, are you done making idiots of yourselves?" the Pawniard asked coolly with his arms crossed.
"Yeah, what he said! Ha ha!" the Cranidos exclaimed, laughing at the top of his lungs at nothing.
"You, too, Liam. Shut up. You're giving me a migraine."
"Yes, sir, Blake, sir!" Liam shouted, saluting with a stubby arm.
Great, they're unintentionally distracted by Blake again! I'll thank him… one of these days, the Torchic thought. He pressed himself against the boulder and inched ever so slowly to the right, where there was a gap since the Heracross threw his arms up into the air.
"But, bro! Blake, come on, man! You're never on my side, brah," the Heracross exclaimed. "You buggin'."
"Because you're a bone-headed idiot that keeps following me around, DJ," Blake said. "That, and it's nice to see you make a fool out of yourself every day."
"Yeah, what he said!" Liam shouted; it was unclear as to who he was supporting. He started cackling like no tomorrow with this, again for no exact reason.
Home free, the Torchic thought as he managed to distance himself from the quartet. He started dashing off with his eyes closed, chirping in glee. But, a stop was put to this quickly in the form of an unseen pebble, hidden in the grass. The Torchic ran his foot straight into it, talon almost bending by the force he collided with it at, which was surprisingly little. "Ahh! Owie!" he shouted, then started to hop on one foot.
"Where joo goin, mang? We still here!" Chewie shouted, walking over to the hopping orange bird.
"Please, stop. It hurts," the Torchic cried, tears threatening to spill from his dark purple eyes.
"Nah, man, where's the fun in that?" DJ came over and flicked the Torchic on the forehead, prompting the chicken to cry out in pain even more. "Jeez, Chuckie, you're such a baby, dude. Yo, you be overreacting."
"My name's not Ch-Chuckie!" the Torchic said through sobs.
"Whatever, Charley, stop crying, mang. People gonna hear, joo know?" Chewie asked, tapping the Torchic on his head with each word.
"Owie, please leave me alone today, guys!" the Torchic pleaded. Blake and Liam were just watching from afar.
"Just hold still, little man, this won't hurt any more than it has too, bro," DJ said. He proceeded to palm the Torchic's head, lifting him a couple feet off the ground, scrawny legs dangling, tears splatting on the ground.
"Okay, Chet, we just gonna look at the pretty rock joo got there, homes," Chewie said. He put both his arms around the Torchic, then pinched the string around his neck. He tried lifting it above his head, but had trouble doing so. "Oy, Chelsea, your head so big, mang. Joo should be smarter, eh?"
The Torchic only whimpered and kicked his feet in the air. Chewie then pulled the necklace down, over the chicken's wings and around his talons. "Please, stop."
"Bruh, you serious? All this for a stupid rock? You wastin' my time?" DJ barked, bringing the Torchic closer to his face with each word.
"I told you, you're idiots," Blake said, but didn't leave.
"Yeah, wh-" Liam started to shout, but was cut off by Blake whacking him on the head.
"Just hold on, ese. DJ, come on, let's have some fun," Chewie said, punching a palm to get his point across.
"Hell yeah!" DJ shouted, shaking the Torchic as he cheered.
"Come on, Pollo, stop crying, mang!" Chewie said. "What are you, a baby?"
"Hah, Pollo? More like, like… Polio, am I right?!" DJ shouted. "'Cause, like…" He didn't stop talking, but the Torchic started zoning him out.
"I'm amazed you know what that means," Blake shouted to DJ.
"No," the Torchic whispered, eyes shut tightly. Please, stop. You let me go all the other times. It hurts. My talon, my head, my face, owie! Mommy, Dad, I'm not strong like you. Someone, anyone, please save me! he thought, screaming on the inside.
And, like an angel descending from a beam of light aimed at Earth, a savior answered his call. Or something to that effect. Perhaps it was more like a Snorlax defending its food supply in terms of grace.
Without warning, DJ got a clump of mud slung at the back of his head. "Bro, who did that?" he shouted. Then, he received a hard bonk on the head, an empty, hollow noise resulting from the contact. "Hey!"
Then, he got another hit, this time on the hand, causing him to let go of the avian in his grip. Swiftly, the hand of the unknown assailant took its turn palming the Torchic by the head; in contrast to DJ's grip, this one was far more gentle. The Pokemon holding him jumped backwards, away from the two bug bullies. They shook him and whispered harshly, "Hey, you alright?"
He slowly opened his right eye, only to find a pair of large black eyes staring back at him. His captor had a red nose and a red patch of hair on top, and was sweating profusely. "Well?"
The Torchic slowly processed what was happening. He recognized the Pokemon to be a Vigoroth, and the voice to be female, albeit gruff and deep. He stuttered before finally spitting out an answer. "F-fine."
"Good," she said, slowly lowering him until his feet touched the ground. She then turned around to face the two bullies, who were visibly seething at her. She started cracking her knuckles and rolling her shoulders, preparing for a fight. "So, what do you jerks gotta say for yourselves?"
She walked towards them and away from the chicken. "Thank you," he breathed after her, sliding down to sit on his bum, foot still aching from the pebble.
"Who are you, homes?!" Chewie shouted.
"You're gonna pay for getting mud on me, and hitting me, dude!" DJ yelled. He looked like he was about to say something else, but another mass of mud was flung at him; this time, his face was the target. She hit him dead-center, but didn't stop there. She shared the love and tossed another clump at Chewie, whose mouth was open. He fell to his knees, spitting and coughing to get it out, overreacting if you asked the Vigoroth. He dropped the necklace in his hands, which rolled over to Blake's feet.
"Whoa! I wish I could do that," the Torchic whispered to himself.
Then, she lunged forwards and kicked Chewie at the side of the head, carefully avoiding his spiney horns. He went face down, and she proceeded to stomp on him repeatedly, a rather unorthodox way of approaching things given her gamut of moves. "Stop it, mang," he shouted into the ground, voice cracking. She then stopped, and still standing on him, proceeded to use Fury Swipes.
"Yeah, do it!" the Torchic cheered on in the background.
DJ was not to be forgotten. He came up behind the Vigoroth and charged up an attack, his horn glowing white. "Hang in there, Chewie, bro. I got'chu."
In an instant, the sloth snapped backwards and bared her teeth. She jumped at DJ before he could launch his attack, pinning him to the ground, then proceeded to scream in his face like a savage, using Uproar. "You lose!" she screamed with confidence and gusto, following up with an Ice Punch to his face.
Scary, the Torchic thought. I wish I was that strong.
"Yo, like, not fair!" DJ shouted, trying to protect his head. "And cold!"
"Then try this!" she shouted, landing a clean hit with Fire Punch. He stopped talking, his eyes closed, mumbling incoherent words. She started pounding on her chest, standing on DJ. "I hate bullies!" she loudly proclaimed.
Her eyes locked onto Chewie, who started sweating. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, chica, we can talk this out, yeah?" he said smoothly.
The Vigoroth was not amused, and jumped off of DJ at Chewie, charging up a hand. Once she was close enough, she unleashed a Slash. It hit him square on the empty noggin, a critical hit, and Chewie fell down in one swing. What pussies; how weak are they?! I'm not even that strong, she thought. "Who's next?!"
Her eyes shot to Blake, who stood there holding the necklace that was the ultimate cause of the rumble. She took large, long strides towards him, arms posing as a second set of legs. Liam snuck past her to DJ and Chewie, trying to shake them awake.
"Take it," Blake said coolly, holding the necklace out. The Vigoroth nabbed it and glared him down. "Sorry," he said sarcastically. He shut up once the sloth gave him another look, and turned to take his leave.
Liam was successful in waking the two bugs awake. In an instant, they shot up, and despite the pain they were feeling, started celebrating.
"Yo, bro, you see this?!" DJ shouted, pointing to to a couple large, swollen bumps on his face with one hand and a char mark with the other with a large smile.
"Joo see me?!" Chewie yelled, touching his entire upper body, which was covered in dark bruises that would probably take over a week to disappear. He had a stupid smile on as well.
"Yo, we'll get mad girls lookin' like this! Chicks dig bros with injuries," DJ said like it was a fact.
"What kind of guys are you?!" the Torchic yelled from afar. Are they okay? Did she hit them too hard? he wondered, then stopped his train of thought. Oh, wait, they're always like this.
"Yo!" they both shouted, jumping up and down like giddy schoolgirls, holding hands. Then, they started headbutting each other despite their wounds. "Ow, ow," they said each time they collided, but didn't stop.
"Hey, watch it mang! You're horn is pokin' my eyes again!" Chewie yelled, but continued to headbutt his pal.
"So? Your horns be pokin' me!" DJ shouted back. And, with his friend, they kept at their dumb display of apparent "masculinity".
"Let's go," Blake said, walking past them, grabbing each one with an arm, dragging them away from the scene.
Liam scuttled after them, but not before turning around and shouting at the top of his lungs, "Don't you dare forget us! Once you mess with us, you'll regret it! Remember our name: Team Lame Sauce!"
Blake let go of DJ and Chewie, who were still headbutting, by the way, to stand over Liam. Despite being well shorter than him, Blake towered over Liam, who was hunched over in order to scream out, wearing a menacing glare. The Cranidos stared up at his senior with confusion. "What's up, boss?"
Blake delivered a harsh Night Slash to the top of Liam's head. The latter male reached up to hold his cranium in pain. "For the last time, dumbass, it's Team Chaos! I picked it 'cause it sounds cool, and you're just making it a joke!"
"Okay, sorry, boss!" Liam shouted. Blake dragged the Cranidos behind him, then grabbed the two bugs, still clashing, and started walking off into the distance. "Don't forget the name: Team We Lost!" Blake delivered another Night Slash to Liam.
The Vigoroth took a deep breath, then fell onto the grass on her back. "There's no way that they're an actual team. Whew, I'm tired. They were not worth it. No, wait!"
She shot up and looked to the Torchic who had yet to move from his spot during the whole scuffle. He shyly kicked his feet up into the air while looking at the grass. She walked over to him and presented the necklace with both hands. "This is what you wanted, right?" she asked softly, starkly contrasting with her battle form.
He nodded vigorously and stood up slowly. "Yes, I, uh, thank you!" He took a bow, but looked back up when he felt a string around his neck. His pendant was right where it belonged. "Thank you, really!"
"Not at all! I like helping people," she said, taking a seat on the ground to the right of him. The Torchic sat back down and started kicking his feet again.
"Umm," he said, trying to come up with small talk. She just saved me from them. I have the rest of the day to myself, without worrying about them coming and bullying me! he thought.
"I'm Vita," she said out of nowhere.
"What?" He didn't quite catch it.
"Name's Vita. You?" She stared up at the sky, which happened to be bright blue and cloudless.
"O-oh," he said, blushing slightly. I should have guessed that much. "I-I'm Chance."
"Chance? Pretty cool name," Vita said.
"More like ironic," Chance said under his breath. "So's Vita," he said more loudly.
"Really? Nah, I mean, it's just a name." She looked at him and smiled widely. He couldn't help but smile back.
"That thing must be really important to you for jerks like them to be like that."
"Yeah, it's really important to me. It was a gift from my dad."
"Nice." She didn't pry any further.
"Um, are you… from around here?" Chance asked. I don't want this to become uncomfortable silence. He knew the Pokemon around town well enough, and he had never seen a Vigoroth around before.
"Nope. I'm from somewhere else, that's not well-known or populated enough to be on the map." She stretched her arms and closed her eyes for a second. "That's why I came to Treasure Town."
"What do you mean?" Chance asked, tilting his head to the side.
"My home's boring. I came here to join an exploration team and Wigglytuff's Guild."
"Wait, isn't that that funny-looking tent over that way?" Chance recalled passing by that weird building several times when he went out to Spinda's Cafe for a nice cup of apple juice. "What are those?"
"You don't know?!" She stood up and started at Chance. "You don't know what an exploration team is?!"
He shook his head no and suddenly felt his heart racing. Please tell me she's not going to hurt me, he thought, cringing at the image of him being in DJ's and Chewie's shoes. I can't handle it! "Asking me it again isn't going to make me know any more!"
"An exploration team is the best thing ever!" she exclaimed, jumping with her arms thrown up into the air.
"Th-that's not telling me much, you know?" he whispered.
"Huh? You gotta speak up if you wanna hold a conversation with me, man!" she shouted, still hopping.
"I still don't know what it is!" Chance shouted this time, taking all the breath out of him. He fell back and lied down, breathing heavily.
"You don't have that much endurance, huh?" Vita asked.
"No," he whispered reluctantly and with attitude, bitter. He shot back into an upright position.
"Well, an exploration team is… well… it's what it sounds like! It's a group of Pokemon that, like, work together, go on adventures, and strive for a common goal!" Vita was really hyped right now, thrashing the ground below and swinging her arms all about. "They go to dungeons, do quests, catch outlaws, and more! It's awesome!"
"You really like that," he said, feeling slightly uncomfortable by how lively she was. "I guess it is."
She stopped in her tracks and pointed straight at Chance. "Yeah? Well, I know it is!" She started fidgeting again, unable to contain her inherent unbridled energy.
"So, you want to be one? An explorer?" Chance asked, smiling at the little dance that Vita was doing.
"Oh, yeah, you bet I do!"
I wish I knew what I wanted to do. She's everything I'm not, huh? Well, she'll leave me alone in a while and be an explorer or whatever, while I'll stay stuck here like this, he thought, lamenting his position in life.
"You're a mopey little guy, aren't you?" Vita asked, pointing at his face.
"What? N-no," he said shakily. Change the subject, fast! "Um… Oh! Wait, you called it an exploration team!"
"Yeah? That's what it is!" she shouted.
"Um…" Chance wasn't sure if he should break it to her, fearing her strength and rage. Please don't take this the wrong way! "A team is more than one person."
"What?!" she shouted and stopped moving. Chance's system locked up, too shocked by her volume. "Oh, you're right."
"Ow, my back!" Chance was about to stand up, but fell back down immediately when he heard her say this. Way to wave it off! How can you be so easygoing? he thought. "Ouchie. Well, that's one way of looking at it," he said, planting his bum straight on the ground.
"Now aren't you a fragile little fellow? What wouldn't hurt you?" she asked, plucking him up by the head and placing him on his feet.
"Thanks," he said, looking at his feet. He glanced back up at the Vigoroth and saw a glimmer in her eye. "Why do you want to be an explorer?"
"What? You serious?" Vita gave him a pet on the head. He started laughing uncomfortably.
"Y'know, you don't have to treat me like this. I'm pretty sure we're the same age, or around it," he said, trying to wiggle out of her grasp.
"Yeah, but you're small and cute and fluffy!" she exclaimed, starting to jump again.
"Heh, heh, riiight," he said. What have I gotten myself into? Who exactly is she?
Vita calmed down and looked him straight in the eye. And with all seriousness and certainty, she said, "To have fun."
Chance visible recoiled at this. "Fun?" he repeated. What is that supposed to mean?
"Yeah, fun," she said. Looking at the Torchic in front of her, she noticed that he was deep in thought, eyes narrowed and steam almost being emitted from his noggin. She smiled and put a hand on his head again. "I mean, what's the point in living if you don't have fun?"
Chance just froze. He had never given that a thought in his entire lifetime. Living… fun… What about me? he thought. "I… I don't know."
"Then you just have to keep going to find out," she said, winking. "I don't know about you, but that's the reason I exist. I just wanna have some plain, good ol' fun, y'know? And that's the explorer's life for me. I've been planning this out since I was a kid. Bein' an explorer is my dream!"
"That's really cool!" Chance said. He really meant it, but couldn't help but grimace at the same time. "I… I still don't know what in want from life."
"You can be such a downer, Chance," she said. She started drumming her knees. "Be a little more optimistic. I just saved you. I could be charging you up the wazoo, y'know? You're lucky I like you."
"O-oh! Right! I'm sorry, but how can I really thank you?" Chance asked.
"Think nothin' of it. Like I said, I like helping anyone who deserves it. And back to talking about teams…" she said, calming down and looking rather depressed for a moment. "Well, I just… I never met anyone who wanted to be on a team with me. Either they didn't want to be an explorer, or they just ran away when I went up to them. I don't know why the second thing happened."
Chance looked away her and shuddered discreetly. I can only imagine. Her neutral face can be kinda, really intimidating. And when she was fired up back there? But, still… she's really nice. "Well, I guess it's not for everyone, right?"
"I'd like to think that, but even when I went up to an pair of newbie explorers on a team that was visiting my hometown, they just told me to not talk to them. I don't know why. I thought that they were pretty cool. Oh, an exploration team can have up to four Pokemon at a time, by the way."
"That's kinda mean. They should have let you join them. You're really kind, and strong, too!" Chance said. Vita blushed at this.
"Ha, well, it doesn't really bother me, anyway. I'm fine with it just bein' me; I'm a party of one!" She stood up and started punching the air. "But, it wouldn't hurt to have a partner, y'know?"
"Yeah, I know the feeling. I can say the same thing about me and friends around here," Chance said. "But, my parents are plenty!" he quickly added, giving a small smile.
"I can imagine," she said. If only, she thought.
"I wish I could be brave like you," he mumbled under his breath. But, Vita heard him clearly.
She then shot a look around the Torchic beside her, smiling. "But, I don't think I have to worry about that junk anymore. And neither do you!"
"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked, a little worried about the tone in her voice. Is she planning something? "Why are to looking at me like that?"
"Hold tight, Gobbles."
"'Gob-bles'?"
Then, before he even realized it, Vita had grabbed him by the head and started running towards town at mach speed. He screamed in shock and terror, his feet dangling in the wind as he shut his eyes tightly. He pecked blindly downwards until the rock of his necklace was in his beak, biting it with all his might.
"Which way's the guild?!" she shouted over her shoulder, not bothering to stop running.
"Are you kidding me?!" Chance shouted back, still biting onto his rock.
"No," she simply stated.
She's not going to stop, is she? "It's straight along the main path!" he shouted, letting the rock fall out of his mouth. "And can you please grab me by my head instead of my hair?! You're gonna pull it off!"
"Whoops, my bad," she said. Chance could barely hear her over the sound of his own whimpering and heartbeat. Her grasp had slid from his very round head to his narrow, more grip-able hair when she was running. She moved to hold him in front of her and readjusted her grip on him.
"Thank you," he said calmly once the tugging of his hair stopped. "Wahh!" Vita had let her arm fall down and backwards again, once more having Chance trail her.
"Where now?" she asked.
"Left at the hole with the stairs in it!"
And on cue, said hole came into view. A sign reading "Spinda's Cafe" in print too small for Vita to catch was standing by it. She took a sharp left, almost smacking Chance into the sign as she passed by it, and didn't even slow down.
"Can you please put me down?!" Chance shouted.
"Don't be a buzzkill!" she shouted back. She came to a full stop before a large wooden grate on the ground. On either side of it were two huge torches. Beyond the grate was a big, pink tent in the shape of a pink bunny. "We're here," she said, then started panting in exhaustion. She softly placed Chance down beside her.
"How can you run like that?" Chance asked, hunched over and almost kissing the ground in gratitude for existing. "Please don't pick me up like that again."
"Wigglytuff's Guild."
"Yeah, I gave you directions here."
"We're goin' in!"
"Wait, what?!" Chance asked. He slowly backed up until he ended up against a large rock.
"We're joining the Expedition Society! It's a win-win," she said, walking towards him.
"Wait, don't I get a say?! This is your dream, not mine!"
"Why can't it be both of ours'?" she asked.
"You're not making a good argument for yourself, you know?"
"Okay, okay, just listen here," she said. She placed a hand on his head and offered a thumbs up with the other. "This is the answer that we've both been looking for."
"I don't want this!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah, it is. I heard you. You said that you wanted to be brave. Like me. This is it."
"I didn't mean it like that. I just… I don't know," Chance said, avoiding eye contact with Vita, which was hard given that she kept trying to shove her face into his, waiting for an answer.
"Then that's all the more reason to join."
"But… I'm no hero," he said, drawing circles in the sand with a claw. "Besides, I just met you! Even if I really appreciate what you did for me, that doesn't mean that I'll follow you around like this. Or the other way around."
"I get it. I guess I do come off too strongly, huh?" she asked, backing up and giving Chance some room to breathe. He stayed quiet, didn't look up, and drew a fancy rose with his talon on the soft ground. Vita pointed at it and said, "That's really good. But, you know, you never know if you don't try."
Chance listened carefully to every word she said, hanging onto them and not letting go. "Try…" he trailed off, deep in thought.
But… I'm scared to get hurt.
"But, I won't force you, okay? I'm sorry I dragged you here, since you didn't want me to," she said, scratching the back of her head. "I hope we can at least be friends, Gobbles."
He looked up and stared her in the eyes. "Friends," he said dreamily before realizing what she just said. "M-my name is Chance, you know?"
"Mmm, sure it is; I heard you the first time, but I'll call you Gobbles. I like giving people nicknames. Do you like it?" she asked, oblivious to Chance's initial confusion and discomfort to it. "I think it fits you."
"Does it, now?" he asked. I've never had a nickname before. But "Gobbles"? Of all things? I can tell, she's really proud of herself for this name, though, he thought, taking note of Vita's large and toothy smile. Well, I don't really mind it that much.
"You got it!" she shouted. "Let's hang out sometime, yeah? I'm gonna go meet with the guild master right now, so wish me luck!"
She turned around and started to walk towards the tent. Chance perked up and his mind started racing. He tried to shout to her, but his throat felt so dry. She's gonna go. My first friend, and I can't even tell her "bye"?! What if she forgets me, or makes a whatever team and doesn't want to hang out with me after today?! He couldn't stop overthinking things.
"Hey, Gobbles," Vita yelled, standing several yards away from Chance, having yet to cross the large grate. He snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at her. She gave another smile and shouted, "You know, life starts when you stop being scared and decide to have fun."
She about-faced and started walking again, but was stopped shortly after. "Wait, stop!" Chance shouted.
It kept echoing in his head. "What's the point in living if you don't have fun?" I don't know. But, I do know that I haven't had fun in a long time. No one ever wants to hang out with me, he thought. "You never know if you don't try." But… Well, she's not wrong. I want something new to happen. But how? "Life starts when you stop being scared and decide to have fun." Hmm… Then… I don't want to be scared anymore! I want to live, even if it hurts! And, if I can have fun with a friend, then that's even better! I know what I want!
Chance had never felt so spontaneous in his life before that moment. I don't care. No regrets! She makes a good case! "Take me with you!" He started running, then hopped towards Vita. She was caught off guard, and just barely made it in time to catch him. He kept lunging forwards, crying and repeating, "Take me with you!"
Vita held him in an awkward hug, letting him stand on one of her hands and lean into her shoulder. Okaaaay… didn't expect this to happen, she thought. She pat his head and looked over to the guild, smiling. "You sure, Chance?"
He shot up, shaking his head up and down so hard he started to feel dizzy. "Let's become an exploration team!" he shouted, puffing his chest up. "Let's have fun!"
Vita couldn't help but laugh. "That's the spirit! Be more confident like that!"
"Ooh, yeah, I feel good!" he shouted, doing a small hop. "Never mind. I actually feel a little light-headed."
"Alright, let's go, Gobbles," she said, staring down into the depths of the hole beneath the grate. The pit seemed infinite; no matter what angle Vita approached it from, darkness was all that she could see.
"Hey, Vita?" he said slowly. "Can you… only call me that when it's the two of us? And, not in public? It's kinda embarrassing."
"Really? Oh, alright, fine, have it your way, Chance," she said, winking.
"Th-thank you," he said. "I won't regret this, right?"
"Nah, you won't. I can promise you that. And if you do, well, I won't hold it against you."
"We'll still be friends?"
"That's kinda a weird question, but yeah, of course. I'll save your butt any day, man."
Chance started chirping and hopping in glee. "Yay!" he kept saying. He then felt daring; he decided to jump from Vita's hand back onto the ground. He kicked himself into the air, fluttered his wings several times, then let gravity take its course.
The moment his feet touched the ground, Chance immediately tensed his body in pain. Why did I do that?! he screamed internally. In a second, Chance was lying on the ground, quivering in pain, feet twitching over and over again. "Owww! Ow, ow, ow! Damn it!"
"Whoa, calm down, Chance! It wasn't that tall a drop! It was, like, two and a half feet!" She kneeled beside the Torchic and held her hands right above him, scared of hurting him accidently with just a touch.
"I knooow!" he cried, voice wavering, tears falling down and quickly evaporating due to his intense body heat. "It huuurts!"
"Are you overreacting, or does it really hurt that badly?!"
"Th-the second ooone!" he whined.
What? This makes no sense! How could it hurt that much? He landed on his feet, too, and he doesn't even weight that much! she thought. She slowly placed her hands around him and started cradling him. "Shh, it's okay… I hope."
"What was that last part?" he asked, starting to collect himself.
"Nothin', ya big crybaby," she teased, giving him the absolutely lightest playful punch she could. She ended up just brushing a knuckle against the side of his head, too scared of hurting him further. "You feel better?"
"K-kinda." He puffed his cheeks out and pouted. "Please don't talk about this again."
"Uh… Well, I would agree, but only if you told me why that hurt you so much!"
"Please don't make me tell," he whispered. "I don't wanna talk about it."
Vita really couldn't fight that. How could she? She wasn't going to threaten him, especially since he still seemed to be in pain from the fall. I just don't have the heart to force him. He's too nice, she thought.
"I'm sorry," he said. Vita was at a loss as to what he's was talking about. "I'm not strong. I don't think I can battle, especially not like you."
"Don't worry about it, Chance. It won't matter that much. Here, how about you be the brains and I be the brawn?" she asked, flexing her muscles. She seemed more bulky than DJ and Chewie put together.
"But, but don't explorers need to battle?" he asked.
"Yeah, most of the time. But, you can hold the map and cower behind me as I beat everybody up!"
"That, that doesn't make me feel better. I'm not even that smart. And, I don't even have hands!"
"It's fiiiine!" she said, winking and offering an a-okay sign with her hand. "It'll work out. Let's just focus on having fun, 'kay?"
Chance couldn't help but feel better. The pain temporarily subsided as it was replaced with hope. "Yeah!"
"You good to keep going?" She held Chance by the head again to steady him.
"Mm-hm!" he chirped. He did a little dance, kicking his feet into the air to reinforce his point. "Raring to go!"
They walked over the grate and paused when they heard someone yelling. A rather high-pitched and squeaky voice called out, "Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!"
"Ahh! What's happening?!" Chance exclaimed.
"Relax. I've heard about this. Just wait; we'll be let in in a minute. Unless you have a rap sheet that you've been hiding from me, Chance," Vita said wryly.
"I don't!"
A new voice rang out, this one deep and booming. "Whose footprint?! Whose footprint?!"
"The footprints are Vigoroth and Torchic's! The footprints are Vigoroth and Torchic's!" the squeaky voice shouted.
"I hear ya! Come on in, visitors!" the loud voice called. "You got it again, Terra!"
A gate that was blocking the opening of the tent suddenly shot down, disappearing into the ground. Vita put a hand on Chance's back and pushed him forwards. They took one step before they had to stop. Chance made a bad move, stepping on an iffy looking bar. It creaked, then snapped in an instant. "Whoa!"
"What the?" Vita asked, noticing how unsafe the grate looked. The wood was borderline sewage-green, black specks all over that she hoped was rot and not something else. Large cracks ran along several bars like fissures spreading down earth from a quake.
Chance quickly took another step, saving himself from falling down the pit. But, the next bar he landed on did not have enough friction to stop him from slipping on it. His legs fell on either side of the beam, doing the splits in a supremely painful position. "Owie!" He tensed his legs and hugged the beam with all his might.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Vita asked, feeling the wooden frame shaking under her.
"Uh oh, Puff was right! You two, get off of there, now!" shouted the booming voice. "Terra, might wanna move!"
The next thing they knew, the grate gave way. After a large crack, it detached itself from its stone bearings and fell. Then followed Chance and Vita. "Whoa!" they both shouted out.
"Man, Tenor's gonna freak!" the squeaky voice said. He popped out of the ground at the surface, a little brown mole with with a pink nose: a Diglett.
"It's his fault for being so cheap, anyway," said the booming voice. He emerged from the tent, an apple in hand. He was purple, with two round antennae-like ears, and a large mouth, a Loudred.
"Yeah, he convinced Puff to not replace it two weeks ago! He's gonna get it," the Diglett said. "Think they're okay, Rory?"
"You go check, Terra," Rory said, biting into the apple.
"Why don't you go?"
"Let's rock-papers-scissors it, then."
"No fair! I don't have hands!"
"Exactly."
"Fine," Terra groaned, disappearing into the ground.
At the bottom of the pit, Vita landed first, a few scratches and bruises on her body, face flushed to the ground. She was holding Chance up in the air by the head, who looked relatively unharmed. "You okay?" she asked into the earth, slowly lowering him to the space beside her.
"I think. My legs and butt still hurt from up there, though," he answered. "I'm gonna have back problems if you keep holding me by my head, though. Might even change the shape of my skull."
"Really are delicate, aren't you?" She asked, getting up slowly. "Damn, my back hurts."
"Thanks for catching me," he said.
"No problem, partner," she said, shaking it off.
Terra popped up next to them, looking rather nonchalant. "So, uh, you guys alright?"
"No! We're not!" Chance shouted. He hopped over to Terra and gave the best menacing glare he could, which ended up looking pretty cute. "What was that?! Vita got really hurt!"
"Nah, I'm fine, Chance. Don't worry about me." She stretched her back and moaned in both pain and pleasure. "But, yeah, ouch. What was that just now?"
"Uh, s-s-sorry, ma'am. We were gonna have the grate replaced… tomorrow! But I'm so sorry that you two fell through it!" he shouted, intimidated by Vita's annoyed face.
She switched to a smile in an instant. "It's fine. We can forget this ever happened if you bring us to Guildmaster Wigglytuff."
"U-uh, w-well," Terra stuttered.
"Right this way!" Rory boomed, having just entered the pit. "Just don't blame this on us, okay?"
"You got it!" Vita said with a huge smile, pearly white teeth shining even brighter in the limited light from above in contrast to the rather dark pit.
The Loudred started marching out, followed by the Vigoroth, Torchic, and Diglett. "Name's Rory. Guy over there's Terra," he said.
"I'm Vita, and he's Chance," she said, getting introductions over with quickly.
They arrived at rather bustling hub inside the guild after climbing up a sturdy green vine. To their immediate left, Vita stated in wonder at a stall with a stone Croagunk overhead, and a noxious cauldron with bubbling purple liquid in it. A Croagunk stood before the pot, cheeks expanding and deflating at a slow, constant rate. Behind them was a mess hall, where a spilling pile of apples was peeking out from around the corner. Straight ahead was a long hallway; peering at it from an angle, Vita could make out small hay piles that seemed to pose as mattresses. And to the left a few steps ahead was where Rory was leading them.
"Here we are: Puff's office," Rory said, putting a hand on the divide of the dual doors. He was about to push it in when he was interrupted by a shrill, piercing voice.
"For the last time, Rory, you are to address him as Guildmaster Wigglytuff," said a Chatot that walked up beside them.
'Hey, Tenor," Rory groaned. He rolled his eyes and stepped away from the door. "He lets everyone to call him that, man."
"Let's mind our manners. Any-hoo, who are these two newcomers? The request boards are upstairs." Tenor pecked under his wings.
"Two new recruits," Terra said.
"Are we, now? I haven't been informed about this," Tenor said.
"Well, they kinda came… crashing in here," Rory said, scratching the back of his head. He quickly added, "Oh, and the sentry grate broke."
"What?!" Tenor shrieked, flapping his wings wildly. "That was what that crash was?! What have you done?!"
"C-calm down, Tenor! It was really unstable, anyway," Terra said.
Vita and Chance had no idea what to do besides sit back and watch the parrot in front of them freak out like a spaz. He was pretty funny, but neither dared to laugh. This Chatot, Tenor, seemed ready to pop a blood vessel at any moment.
"Umm… Can we go in?" Vita asked, becoming more impatient by the second. "This is really important to us."
"Nooo! No one is going anywhere until we sort this out! Who is to blame here?! Who?!" Tenor shouted, becoming red in the face.
"You kinda are, actually," Rory mumbled. This caused Tenor to freak out even harder.
"Whaaaat?!"
"Let's just calm down," Chance said, but was drowned out by the sound of the beating of Tenor's wings. Then, a loud clunk came, followed by ominous creaking. Everybody was too focused on the agitated Chatot that they did not notice it. A large stream of light filed in and lit up everybody's faces and backs, with the exception of Tenor. A silhouette blocked the light for him, which was large and round. Vita and Chance, who were facing Tenor and could see behind him, dropped their jaws at the menacing shadow on the bird. Then, all was silent as a new voice called out.
"YOOM… TAH!"
Author's note: And that's the end of Chapter One! I really must ask: can anyone recommend a really good PMD fic to me? I haven't read a long fanfiction in a long time, and I'm not sure how to look for one. I'm kinda iffy about how I should write dungeons, so I would like to know what people expect out of it.
Next! Question! Did Chewie seem familiar to anyone? I based him off of a video game character (or three) and felt like he was an entertaining enough guy. If you can guess who I based him off of, respect goes out to you.
On another note, I think this turned out pretty good. I had something like this on my mind for a few days, and I just started writing this up since I kept getting dry spells when I tried writing the next chapter for my other story. This is kind of an experiment.
This will not be a novelization of any PMD game. I'm trying to be completely original with this (which I pretty much failed at already since I'm using Explorers of Sky assets, and since Chewie was based off some other character, huh?). But, I just adored Wigglytuff, Wigglytuff's Guild, and Treasure Town too much to leave alone. I mean, if I did build up my own version of a guild, it'll probably just end up as a reskin of Wigglytuff's anyway. Also, I do not remember too much about the events of it. I know the gist of it, but I spent over 150 hours on it, and I can't bring myself to delete it all just to play it through once, rushing, just to write a novelization and forget my original play file, as much as I love it.
Well, that's it for now. I don't know when this will update next, but it will probably be after I next update my other story. I've yet to decide a schedule.
