Ruby

Chapter 1: The Guild

I woke up with a yawn, baring my small fangs and stretching my blue furry arms. I scratched my pair of aura sensors at the side of my head and walked out of my makeshift house, made out of branches and leaves that I shared with Diamond. Diamond was a ralts that I had known ever since birth. Our parents had been friends and both of our mothers had gotten pregnant at relatively the same time, resulting in our lifelong friendship. I walked out of our hut and gazed upon the beautiful forest we lived in. We lived just off the edge of Poketown. We lived alone, mainly because we were both orphaned at a young age and we managed to find out how to live in the wild by ourselves.

"Morning Crimson." Diamond said, walking out of the hut. "We are going to do it today, right?"

"Yea." I said with a smile. She was referring to us going to the guild and finally becoming a rescue team. We had been talking about it for weeks because it had been our dream after our parents were killed in a fire by some outraging monferno and infernape. They weren't the only deaths, but they were the only ones that mattered to us.

"I can't wait to help people!" She said, grabbing her cheeks. It didn't surprise me that she was this hyper. She always had an energetic and hyperactive personality. It was kind of funny because she was slightly the opposite of me, a shy and cautious riolu. I was happy and kind to the people I knew, but I had a hard time taking people at their word, causing me to not make too many friends.

"Yea."

"Oh jeez. Is that ALL you are gonna say?" She asked, playfully pushing me.

"Yea." I said, smirking.

"Oh brother." She giggled, facepalming. "Who is the name of the guild leader? It always manages to slip my mind."

"There whisper it is Mentro, but nobody but himself knows for sure. He is one of the most powerful Alakazam there is, but he always stays inside his office in the guild."

"Oh.. Thanks." She smiled. "When are we leaving?" She asked excitedly.

"After breakfast sounds good?" I asked, turning towards our favorite Oran Berry bush we had planted a while ago. No matter what, it seemed like it always had berries.

"Yea!" She said, running over to the bush. I laughed as she let out an "EEP!" As she tripped over her oversized dress. It wouldn't be the first time she has done it and I knew for a fact it wouldn't be the last. She was rather clumsy.

"You ok?" I asked, helping her up.

"Yea." She said with a sigh. "I got used to it a while ago. Anyway, lets eat." She always was one to get right back up.

We ate a breakfast of oran berries and then we got ready to leave for the rescue team guild. "Got everything?" I asked as I saw her with a small bag filled with various trinkets she had found while exploring the woods.

"Yep." She beamed and began walking her way into town.

We walked for about a half hour before we came upon a path that lead into Poketown. We stopped here and there to talk to a few pokemon that we knew. "Hello Diamond, Crimson." A friendly blue face approached us.

"Hey Bubble." I said to the Azumarill we had met when we found the small town.

"You two are FINALLY going join the guild?" He laughed.

"Yep." I said with a smile. "We have been planning this day for a while now."

"Yea, you have only talked about it since you saw the building over a year ago."

"We are going to help everyone on the island." Diamond said with a large grin. We were on an island that was big enough to be considered a country, if pokemon had a form of government.

"Well don't let me stop you." He said, stepping out of our way. We walked past him with a goodbye and we passed various shops in the colorful town. A kecleon shop here, Pachirisu and her friend booth, and at the end of the road we saw an arbok sitting in his bank.

"Come on, let's hurry." Diamond said, eager to be in the guild already.

We did and we came upon an intimidating rock formation carved to look like a castle. "Woah." I said as I gazed upon the magnificent structure. It was made out of Red rock and overlooked the ocean. It had a few watch towers carved into the side of the castle, but other than that it was just a big rock with a holes for a window here and there. We approached the rock door and waited there, thinking whether it would be best to knock or not.

"Squawk! Incoming! Squawk!" Came a loud voice from above us.

"What the?" I gasped, looking at the closest watch tower. In it sat a colorful bird with it's head in the shape of a music note.

"Suspicious?" We heard another voice from behind the door.

"No! It's a Riolu and Ralts, squack!"

"Let 'em in!" We heard from behind the door. Pretty soon there was rumbling as the door slid across the rough ground to reveal the interior of the castle to us. It was crowded with all sorts of pokemon. I saw jigglypuff to aggron to noivern, to butterfree. I had honestly never seen a bigger variety in my short three years of life.

"Wow! Look at all the Pokemon!" Diamond said with a gasp.

We were approached by a rather intimidating Absol who carried an air of command. "Greetings." He said with a surprisingly deep voice. "Welcome to the guild. I can tell by your packs that you are either travelling sales-pokemon, or you want to register as a rescue team. Hopefully it is the latter, because we have no intention on doing business."

"We are here to become a rescue team." Diamond said with her usual eagerness.

"Well then follow me. As you can see, we have many pokemon from many regions. You will most likely not have very many missions to start off simply because you have no name whatsoever and not too many people like new faces in the loop." He guided us past a few rooms. One was filled with fire pits and scorched logs while another was an empty room except some training dummies that were quite worn. "These are our training rooms. As new recruits, you are not required to use them, but if you ask some of the more veteran teams, they will heavily recommend you train before getting too serious into your missions."

"Wait. What do you mean 'Should we accept?' I asked. "We are volunteering, why would we want to back out?"

"Because there are rules everyone must follow and not many agree with them." He said indifferently.

"Oh… You never told us who you were." I said rather boldly.

"I don't have a name." He said, shocking us both. "Many people just call me by my species, not that I care. My name meant something to me, but it died a long time ago. As for rank, I am second in command only to Mentro himself."

"What was your name?" Diamond asked.

"Didn't I just say that it meant means nothing now?" He said rather hotly.

"Sorry." She said in a small voice.

He just grunted and opened a door to a room filled with various books. "This is the guild archives. Unless you are given specific orders, this will be the ONLY time you are allowed in here." He said sternly.

"Yes sir." I said, shirking at the edge in his voice.

"This is where we keep records of all the guild's information. Debts, rescue teams, if it deals with paper, it is stored here." He jumped up and placed his forelegs on a bookshelf and picked out a book. He set it down on the table and flipped it open with his horn. He turned to a blank page and called us over. "You two will now be documented as a team should you agree to the rules. First among them is to not abandon your work. If you have a job, do it. Second…" We listened rather bored, as he ranted for twenty minutes about rule after rule and how they were important. "And lastly. All information here is confidential. Should your client speak about it to others, then that's their business. Do you understand all of that? Because I will NOT be saying it again." He said.

"Yes sir." I answered.

"Good." He nodded. "Then sign here." He said, pawing a pen our way. I signed my name and passed the pen to Diamond, who signed her name as well. "Now what is your team name?"

"Team name?" I said, looking at Diamond.

"Ruby." She smiled.

"Ruby? Where did you get Ruby?" I asked her.

"Yea, Team Ruby. My name is Diamond, your name is Crimson, a red diamond is called a Ruby." She explained.

"Are you agreed?" Absol asked with a grunt.

"Yes." I said with a smile.

"Sign it above your names."

Diamond was eager to do so and scribbled "Team Ruby" above our names.

"Congratulations. You two are now officially a rescue team." He closed the book and put it back where it belonged. He went into the back of the room and came back dragging a small chest. "this contains all of your equipment you will need. Pick it up and follow me to your quarters." We did as he said and we followed him back upstairs to the slightly less populated commons area and down another flight of steps.

"This goes underground?" I said astonished.

"Yes. There are very few living quarters on the main floor. Those are reserved for only the highest level rescue teams." We came to a rather unpopulated floor and he took a left along the straight red halls. He pointed to a room that was empty except for two piles of straw and leaves, a few shelves along the wall, and a curtain that allowed some privacy. "Here is your room. Supper begins when you hear the exploud. You are not restricted to your rooms, so feel free to look around. Just remember your room number incase you get lost." With that he turned around and walked back up the stairs.

"What an angry pokemon." Diamond said. "We are a rescue team, we are a rescue team." She chanted as she skipped into our room, completely forgetting her previous comment.

I had to agree with her though. Something about absol had made me slightly uneasy because of his attitude. "Is it his job… or something else?" I whispered to myself.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing." I smiled.

"Liar." She smiled, but decided not to pursue the topic. "Kind cramped isn't it?" She said, looking over the room.

"Bigger than the hut." I laughed.

"Thats for sure." She began setting her stuff on the shelves on the left side of the room, so I figured I would take the right side. I set my stuff on the shelf on the right side. A pretty stone I found that had a small leaf in it. I knew it was a leaf stone and it helped some pokemon evolve, so I had kept it in hopes that I might run into a friendly pokemon that would need it. I also had a small root that was really tangled and it was always fun to look at. I also had a few other pretty and less valuable rocks, but not much else. I looked over to Diamond, who was packing all sorts of flowers on her side and she had a doll her mother had made for her.

"So thats it. We are all moved in." She said with a triumphant grin.

"Yea… Hey Diamond. Are you nervous at all?" I asked.

"Well of course I am. The realization that people could die if we don't do things right is a pretty weighty idea." She said, making me even more nervous than I already was.

"Well THAT helps." I said sarcastically.

"Well we can't lie to ourselves and say its ok if we mess up. This isn't a game." She said, becoming serious.

"I know." I sighed. "We should probably go get to know the guild better."

"Yea." We left our room and walked down the large corridors, leading to more rooms.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I remembered Absol's last words. "Remember your room number in case you get lost."

"Diamond?" I said, interrupting her humming.

"Yes?"

"Did you by any chance get a look at our room number?" I said with worry tinting my voice.

"Of course." She smiled, causing me to let out a sigh of relief. "Our room number is 176." She chimed.

"Good." I said as she returned to her humming. We wandered our way upstairs to the main level and I was again astounded by the variety of pokemon.

We were approached by a menacing looking Noivern, but when she spoke we found out she was the exact opposite. "Howdy darlins. Y'all must be a new rescue team huh?" She said with a smile.

"Yes ma'am." Diamond said, doing a little twirl. This had made me smile a little.

She always did have contagious happiness. I thought to myself.

"What about you hun? Lookin' all serious and such." She smiled, tapping me with her wing.

"Oh… Sorry." I apologized. "I was thinking."

"Yea, thats his way of saying 'Look at me, I am a sourpuss.'" Diamond said trying to mimic my voice, but failing because she was giggling.

"Is not." I said with a laugh, pushing her a little.

"Well lighten up." She smiled. Just then an incredibly loud voice resounded through the hall.

"FOOD!" Was all it said. I covered my sensitive ears, but the noivern covered hers with a look of pain.

"Oh dear, that was Soundwave, the exploud. Follow me if you young'ns are hungry." She said walking down a hall, still rubbing her ears. We followed her to a cafeteria that was rather small compared to the amount of pokemon we saw outside. I was shocked to see only about 20 pokemon in the cafeteria.

"Noivern, why are there so little pokemon here?"

"Because we only have a handful of teams here as of right now. Most of them are out on missions."

"But all the pokemon…" I said pointing to the lobby.

"Those are extras. Pokemon rescue teams often find hostile pokemon in dungeons they travel in, and when they defeat them, the hostile pokemon like the stronger pokemon and befriend them. Thus resulting in a new addition to their pokemon rescue team, but not under the original documented members so therefore they are extras and they must find their own food." She explained.

"Ohh."

We went up to the cafeteria line and saw some chinglings and chimecho. There was a chimecho behind the counter and it greeted is in it's ringing voice. "Hello Nova, what would you like?" It said with a smile. It had a high pitched voice, but so did all chimecho and I couldn't decipher it's gender.

"The usual." The noivern said.

"Well then, we got it made already." Chimecho said, floating over to a few plates of food that were set aside. It handed Nova her plate and it finally noticed us. "Oh, I see you have a pair of rookies here. I remember when you were that little, coming into the guild. You were a clueless little noibat and could barely find your way to your room."

"Yea, I remember." Nova said with a slight blush.

"Don't worry you two. Eventually you will be in Nova's spot and I will embarrass you. Now what will you have?"

I looked at Nova's plate and saw a few juicy berries and a small salad. "I'll have what Nova's having." I smiled.

"Good choice, and you miss?"

"I'll have the same." Diamond chimed.

"Well that makes my job easier." The pokemon said and grabbed two more plates. "Hey, Nova. What ever happened to Thunder? Where's he at?"

"Oh… Well umm." Nova said, her face becoming even redder.

"Ohh." Chimecho said, giggling. "You don't have to be embarrassed, all females go into heat, you can't help it."

"BELL!" Nova said, her face now redder than my eyes. I couldn't help but giggle a bit at the display in front of me.

"Ok, ok. I will stop embarrassing you in front of the new rookies." Bell laughed.

We all went to a table and sat down. "I am terribly sorry y'all had to hear that." Nova said, still blushing a little.

"It's fine." Diamond said.

"Yea, you say that now, but wait till you evolve darlin. You ain't gonna be too excited about it. It is nothing but hot in your-" She cut off when she noticed me awkwardly staring off in another direction. "I am sorry hun, I completely forgot you were here." She laughed as she poked me with her wing again.

"That's fine." I said with a smile as a bit down into one of the berries I had gotten with my salad. "So who is Thunder?" I asked.

"Thunder's my partner. He's a rather tall eelektross I have shared a lot of adventures with."

"Oh. Well we look forward to meeting him!" Diamond smiled.

"He is gonna be gone for another week hun. you will probably be on a rescue when he gets back." She laughed.

"We are going to get a rescue soon?" Diamond said with a broad grin.

"Yea, sometimes clientele send in requests for specific teams, but some don't care, they just want help."

"Oh. So that means we might get one tonight?" I asked.

"No hun." She laughed. "They are given out in the mornin. They take up most of the day."

"Oh… So tomorrow?"

"Wow, you are an eager little thing aren't ya?" Nova said, digging in to her salad. "Maybe. Absol will probably give you small tasks, like fetching an item."

"Mmh. What's hi-" I cut off as I saw a gold and brown pokemon with a long mustache walk into the cafeteria and grab a plate from chimecho. "Is that Mentro?!" I whispered to Nova. I didn't even hear her response because he looked dead at me. He gave a look of shock and then of wonder and I heard a gasp from behind me.

'You are destined for greatness.' I heard a calm voice in my head. 'It has been prophesized.'

I sat there dumbfounded at the voice in my head as I looked at Mentro for confirmation. He nodded and I knew it was him that spoke in my head. He then walked out as silently as he came in.

"Mentro just spoke to me!" I whispered frantically.

"Don't tell me, I don't wanna know." Nova said quickly. "If he told you it is only for you to hear, otherwise he would have came up and said it himself. I am worried that he looked shocked to see you. Are y'all acquainted?"

"No, thats the first time I saw him." I said, trying to calm my pulse. "I wonder if I can go see him."

"I doubt it. He almost never accepts visitors darlin."

"Aww." I said, discouraged.

"Come on, cheer up!" Diamond said, patting my back. "You aren't dead."

"Yet." I laughed.

"Yep, thats the spirit." She smiled. We had finished our meal, talking about nothing in general and we left the cafeteria. "Thank you Nova for being a big help." Diamond said.

We left for our room again, seeing how dark it was outside. I laid down on my nest-like bed and sighed. "What is in store for us tomorrow?" I asked, thinking of the possibilities that the future could hold. What Mentro said also weighed heavy on my mind. "It has been prophesied" It has been prophesized? By who? For what? When? Why? I thought to myself, not hearing Diamond ask me a question.

"Hey!" She said, throwing a small rock at me, making me flinch.

"Hmm?"

"I asked you if you think we will do good." She said, laying down in her own bed.

"Oh… Why wouldn't we?" I smiled as I began drifting off to sleep.


Well, this is the pokemon mystery dungeon story i said i was writing about X). This will be a side project for now until i get to a pause in Family Life and Life as God, so dont expect frequent updates. So far, the Kabutops is winning in the poll for this story's villain. Now... Back to writing, see you guys later XD