A/N: Welp, I didn't plan on uploading another Pokémon story right now, and certainly not one like this! Greetings, friends, and welcome to a collaboration. This entire story is actually a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon-style roleplay between my friend RustRedLion13 and I. I'm playing Melanite (Lannie) the Misdreavus, and he's playing Lewis the Salandit. He's also the narrator and the player of all the other guild members, random NPCs, etc, but I might take over for some other characters in the future. You may even be able to distinguish between who's writing what.

Please forgive any typos or awkward sentence wording. This whole story is a back-and-forth roleplay copied directly into a document with very few edits, so some of it might come off a bit strangely.

I hope you enjoy!

The story begins with a Salandit and a Misdreavus standing in front of the gates of the Serperior guild; the most famous, most intense, most awesome guild for heroes, mercenaries, and the like. The duo have been planning this out for quite some time now, but it was only recently that they could find the courage to apply. Now, face to face with the daunting steel bars, the Salandit is seriously reconsidering his life choices.

"This was a bad idea. This was a really, really bad idea and I don't know why I let you drag me into this."

"Yes, be more scared," Melanite the Misdreavus said agreeably. "Fear is good. I like fear."

Lannie bobbed up and down. "Okay, now, I don't have hands, could you open the door?"

"I can't open it. There's supposed to be a guard on the other side." He gazed at a golden inscription above the gate warily. He had no clue what it said-he was illiterate-but it was probably very honorable. "But I don't know how to start. Do I just, like, talk into it, or...?"

"Sure," Lannie said. In all honesty, she was about fifty seconds away from ghosting straight through the bars and crashing the place. "Try screaming at it!"

Lewis looked at Lannie with shock. "What? No, that's-that's a terrible idea!" He then sighed and looked down. "But, I mean...we aren't gonna get anything done just standing here..."

"Then! Scream at it!" Lannie repeated. "Or like, burn it down!"

"Okay, okay, fine!" He shook his head and slowly saundered up to the gate. "Um...h-hello? I-Is anybody there?"

"State your name."

Lewis stepped back suddenly. He wasn't expecting a response, not when it was practically sundown, but...

"Um..." He glanced back at Lannie nervously.

"Your name is Lewis," Lannie whispered.

"Uh..."

"Well?"

"L...Lewis. It's Lewis."

"And your friend?"

"lannie"

"...Okay, I guess."

There was a click as the gates rose, allowing Lewis and Lannie access. Lewis was shocked once more, but as he turned around, he gave Lannie a sly grin of happiness before slithering in.

Lannie's returning grin came out more as a diabolical smirk. She blinked, shut her mouth and slipped in after him.

It was dark.

Very dark.

Lewis felt like he'd been walking for forever, but he had been walking at an incredibly slow pace so he didn't run into anything, and he didn't want to use fire for fear of burning something down.

After what was probably a few minutes, Lewis spotted a light in the distance.

"Oh hey look, a light." Lannie went ahead and floated towards it. It was a lot harder to scare her than it was her friend.

"Yeah."

As they approached the light, they would emerge into a small room, dimly lit by a single torch in the far corner. in the center of the room, a Rhydon wearing a leather strap across his torso glared at the two of them, arms crossed.

"Tch. An acid-spewing shrimp and a ghost. Perfect."

Lewis shrank into the wall. "Uhh..."

Lannie looked irritated. She probably would have crossed her arms if she had any. "'Ghost,' huh?"

"I couldn't think of a good insult." The Rhydon spat. "My name's Ryder."

"Ryder?" Lewis tilted his head. "Like, Rhydon, but, not."

A glare from Ryder shut him up quickly. "So I guess you're here to recruit. Too bad. We're not accepting any new members at this time."

"Why not?" pressed Lannie.

Ryder turned to Lannie, arms still crossed, and shrugged. "We just aren't. Now go home, before I kick you out myself."

"But...but please!" Lewis pressed. "We've been planning this for years, we can't just-"

Ryder growled. "We don't got all night. If you don't get out now, I'm gonna-"

"That's enough, Ryder."

Every person in the room shivered as a result of the sudden draft that came into the room and the deep, powerful voice that bounced off the walls and shook everyone down to the bone. The Crobat hovered in forebodingly, and both Lewis and Ryder felt like they had done something very, very terrible.

Being a Misdreavus, Lannie was very, very aware of the sudden rush of fear in the room. Her eyes darted to the Crobat almost approvingly. She didn't like bullies, but she respected Pokémon who could command attention like that.

The Crobat flapped over to Ryder's side, and Lannie could probably feel the fear eminating from him, though his face showed no emotion. "Ryder, who are these?"

"New recruits, sir."

"So you recruited them yourself?"

"Well, no, sir, but-"

"Good. We could always use some more firepower," the Crobat quipped. A look of shock and regret washed over Ryder's face, before morphing into anger. "But-"

"I'm not in the mood to argue, Ryder." The Crobat turned to Lewis and Lannie. "My name is Hermes. And you are...?"

"Er..." If the Salandit had a collar, he would've tugged at it nervously. "I, uh..."

"Do you not have a name?" Hermes asked. "You can make one up if you want. I don't care."

Lewis blinked. "Um, my name is...Dioxid. Yeah."

Hermes raised an eyebrow, but didn't take it any further. "And you?" He pointed a wing at Lannie.

Lannie was giving Lewis an incredulous look, but her attention quickly snapped over to Hermes. "I'm Melanite! Lannie."

"Lannie..." Hermes muttered, as if deep in thought. "Okay. Nice to meet you both. Now, I'd love to get you acquainted, but it's very late, isn't it?"

"Sundown, sir."

"Right. So how about we get you to your rooms and we'll get this sorted out in the morning."

"If I may, sir, I'm not sure if I trust these two." Ryder shuffled his feet uncertainly. "After all, one of them is a ghost type."

"And?"

"..."

"We do not discriminate here at Serperior's Guild," Hermes explained. "We are warriors of justice, not warriors of everything but ghosts."

Lennie smiled, just a little. "Thank you. Sir."

Hermes glanced at Lannie, but didn't say anything. "So, are we done here?"

Slightly, only slightly, Ryder's voice quivered. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Now, let's get you two to your new rooms."

Hermes led the duo into a small, circular room, completely empty save for the two straw beds located on opposite ends of the room. "This is where you'll be staying tonight." Hermes said.

"Woah, we get our own beds?!" Lewis exclaimed.

"Don't get too comfortable; you'll be tested tomorrow," Hermes explained, "and your results will determine whether or not you stay."

"Test," Lannie said to herself. "Test. Test. All right, thank you. I'm going to talk to Di - Lewis now."

Hermes looked confused, and Lewis looked upset, but no one decided to push the topic any further. Instead, Hermes flew a bit higher and turned to leave. "Sleep tight, you two. You'll need it." And just as swiftly as he entered, he was gone.

Lewis let out a sigh of relief, as if he had been held hostage this entire time, then quickly turned to Lannie. "Hey, you know I changed my name for a reason."

"I met Lewis. Lewis was nice to me. I think I'll stick with him, not Dioxid." It was hard to tell if she was being encouraging or not.

It was Lewis's turn to be confused, but he shook his head as if shooing the topic away. "Whatever. Let's just try to get some sleep, yeah?"

"Yeah. Good night!"

"Good night."

And that's how the story started.

A/N: Hey, you made it to the end! But that's certainly not where the story stops. More chapters are to come. This RP was never even meant to become a real story, so I'm very excited that it's turned out so coherent. Thanks, RedLion!

If you like this story, please leave a review. Any thoughts on Lannie? Misdreavus are super cool...just putting that out there...

Have a great day!

~*Akirys*~