Not too long after they formed their partnership, Rain and Pikachu found themselves atop the highest cliff, in front of the Wigglytuff-shaped tent.
"Here we are, Rain. Wigglytuff's Guild." Said Pikachu. "This is where we have to train to become a proper exploration team." He shuddered. "This place always makes me nervous."
"Why? It's just a building shaped like a pink rabbit with eyes that stare into your very soul for windows," said Rain. Letting what she said sink in, she added, "Crap, now I'm nervous too." The twosome exchanged glances.
"Anyway, we have to be Pokemon for this," explained Pikachu. "They can identify our footprints easier that way." With that, he shifted to his Pokemon form, Rain following suit. Pikachu then stepped onto the grate.
"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" shouted a voice, causing Pikachu to panic.
("Calm down, Pikachu! You've got Rain with you this time!") Pikachu thought to himself.
"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" another voice asked.
"The footprint is Pikachu's! The footprint is Pikachu's!" the first voice replied. "Hey, he didn't run away this time!"
"Yeah, so SUCK IT!" Pikachu yelled.
"Take it out!" The first voice challenged.
"Someone's with you!" the second voice called. "Get that STRANGER to stand on the GRATE!"
"Go on, Rain," Pikachu urged as he transformed. "It's not so scary."
"Oh?" said Rain incredulously. "Well, I may be a bird, but today, you were the big chicken."
"Just stand on the damn grate," said Pikachu, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance.
"Search your feelings, Pikachu," said Rain. "You know them to be true." As Rain stepped on the grate, Pikachu wondered why the hell he was forming a team with that girl.
"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" The first voice shouted again.
"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"
"The footprint is… um…" The first voice trailed off?
"WHAT? What's wrong? Sentry Diglett, please respond!" the second voice asked.
Gathering his courage, Diglett announced what he thought to be the Pokemon's identity. "Maybe Piplup's! Maybe Piplup's!"
"WHAT?! MAYBE?!" The unknown voice bellowed. "Isn't it your JOB to identify the footprints of Pokemon that come to this guild?!"
"Yes, but… It's a footprint you rarely see around here, Loudred…" said Diglett meekly, yet loud enough for his partner to hear. "Besides, I don't know what I don't know!"
"'I don't know what I don't know…'" repeated Rain. "That's deep… I mean, what do any of us really know?" Pikachu nodded in agreement.
"Sorry to make you WAIT!" said Loudred. "It's TRUE you don't see many Piplup outside of polar climates like Blizzard Island… But you don't SEEM like a bad Pokemon, and THAT'S good enough for me! Both of you may ENTER!" With that, the gate was raised to allow the twosome entry.
"Awesome! I can finally go in!" exclaimed Pikachu. "And it's all thanks to you, Rain!"
"Me?" asked Rain incredulously.
"Yeah!" said PIkachu. "I mean, when I'm with you, it feels like I have a backbone." Rain blushed at this and resumed her human form.
"Hey! Lovebirds! Stop FLIRTING and come IN already!" Loudred called.
"We're not lovebirds, and we're definitely not flirting!" Rain shouted.
"Could've fooled me," muttered Diglett. However, the two didn't hear him as they walked through the gate and down the hatch that leads underground.
When Rain and Pikachu walked down the steps onto the guild's main floor, they were amazed at what they saw. All around the floor were several different people, who Rain assumed to all be Pokemon in human form.
"Wow!" Pikachu exclaimed. "So many cool Pokemon! Are they all explorers?"
"One would think so," replied Rain dryly.
"Excuse me!" called a voice. Rain and Pikachu turned to face the speaker, a young man who appeared to be in his twenties. He had black hair in the shape of an eighth note, wore a strange set of clothes, including a yellow shirt with black sleeves, green pants, yellow shoes, and, most peculiarly, a white ascot.
"It was you two, that came in, yes?" asked the man. Rain and Pikachu nodded. "Well, you two should know we don't permit solicitors, especially at this late hour. Off you go, if you please!" he sang.
"No! That's not why we're here!" said Pikachu in a panicked voice. "We want to form an exploration team!"
"Squawk?!" the man exclaimed. "An exploration team?" His expression turned somber. "Well, I'll grant you two this, you're braver than most kids your age. Our exploration team training will put you through Hell and back, and one more time through for good measure. That's why almost everyone we've ever trained has deserted our guild."
"Th-th-that sounds really hard," stuttered Pikachu. Rain, however, was not impressed.
"I call shenanigans," she stated simply. The man hesitated to reply, but finally he spoke.
"Well, there's no fooling you, it seems!" he said jovially. "Your courage is truly admirable! Our exploration team training is as easy as can be!" His metronome tail ticked back and forth as he spoke.
"So, can we form an exploration team or not?" asked Pikachu.
"But of course!" replied the man. "You should've told me from the start you wanted to form an exploration team!" PIkachu and Rain sweatdropped at that.
"You didn't give us a chance," Pikachu muttered.
"So, now that you've expressed an interest in joining our guild, I should introduce myself properly. I'm Chatot, the guild's head of intelligence, and left-hand Pokemon to Guildmaster Wigglytuff!" said the man.
"Left-hand? Don't you mean right-hand?" Rain asked.
"The Guildmaster is left-handed," replied Chatot simply.
"Ah."
Chatot led the new team to the second underground level of the guild, where the apprentices lived and worked.
"Isn't this cool, Rain?" asked Pikachu. "We're two floors underground, but you can see outside!"
"Oh, hush now!" said Chatot irritably. "The guild is built into the side of a cliff! It's only natural that you can see outside!"
"Oh," said Pikachu lamely. Rain just rolled her eyes at this. Chatot led them to a big door with a red emblem shaped like a teardrop with a swirl at the top.
"Team registration is through here," said Chatot. "On no account – I repeat, on NO account! – should you be discourteous to our Guildmaster." He then rapped on the door a few times and called "Guildmaster! It's Chatot! I'm coming in!" He then led Rain and Pikachu through the doors into the Guildmaster's chamber.
"Guildmaster, I present to you two Pokemon who wish to join our guild," said Chatot to a pink-haired figure. It seemed to wear a pink shirt with matching pants and clogs, and wore a yellow haori with that same swirl-teardrop emblem printed on it. The figure was silent.
"Um, Guildmaster?" Chatot prompted. The figure was still silent. Suddenly, he turned around sharply.
"Hiya!" he said happily, his green eyes shining with childlike glee. "I'm Wigglytuff, the guild's Guildmaster!" he said in introduction. Rain sweatdropped.
"Okay, everything about you just screams 'pedophile," she said bluntly. Pikachu's mouth hung open, Chatot looked furious, and Wigglytuff's smile slackened just a little.
"What did I tell you about being discourteous to our Guildmaster?!" Chatot squawked. Wigglytuff, however, just waved him off.
"I get that a lot," he said. "Is it my childlike demeanor? I can't help it. I'm a free spirit, you know?" He rubbed the tuft of hair atop his forehead nervously. "But enough about me, let's get to why you two are here. You want to form an exploration team, right?"
"Yes, sir!" said Pikachu with a salute.
"Well then, what's your team name?" asked Wigglytuff. Pikachu's expression paled.
"Team… name?" he asked nervously.
"Of course! I can't just go around calling you this and that, can I?" asked Wigglytuff rhetorically. "Now what's your team called?" Pikachu turned to Rain, who looked at him nervously.
"Go on," prompted Rain. "What's our team called?" Pikachu muttered something under his breath. "What?" asked Rain?"
"I DIDN'T THINK OF ONE, OKAY?!" Pikachu yelled.
"WHY NOT?!" Rain yelled right back.
"BECAUSE I NEVER THOUGHT I'D GET THIS FAR!"
"Son of a Bidoof, do I have to do everything?!" Rain yelled to no one. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down and began to think. Meanwhile, Chatot began whistling a tune that sounded suspiciously like the Jeopardy theme, which greatly annoyed Rain.
"SHUT UP, I'M WORKING ON IT!" Rain yelled. Chatot flinched at the Piplup's rage.
"Can't a Pokemon whistle around here?" he muttered irritably.
"How about Team Penguin?" Rain suggested.
"That only works for you," said Pikachu. "What about Team Hydroelectric?"
"Too many characters," pointed out Chatot.
"Well, that's a load of bull," pouted Rain. "Why not Team Storm?"
"That name is currently being used by the trio of Staraptor, Poliwrath, and Electabuzz," said Chatot.
"Wait, so we can't have the same name as another team?!" asked Rain.
"Not as long as both of those teams are registered under this guild," Chatot explained.
"Well, is Team Torrent taken?" Rain asked.
"Let me see…" Chatot trailed off as he pulled a clipboard from nowhere. "Torrent… Torrent… No, the name Torrent is available.
"Then that's our team name!" Rain declared. "What do you think, Pikachu?"
"I like it," said Pikachu. "It suits us. A torrent of talent, that's what we are." There was a large grin of pride on his face.
"Well, that settles it," said Wigglytuff. He transformed and became a pink rabbit with a balloon-like body. "Registering… registering…" He took a deep breath and shouted, "YOOM-TAH!!!"
Sound waves passed over Rain and Pikachu, and for a second, it felt like they couldn't hear anything. When it was over, Wigglytuff had resumed his human form.
"Congratulations! You two are now an official exploration team!" Wigglytuff announced. Rain looked confused.
"So wait, all you had to do was yell at us?" she asked incredulously. "If that's the case, then why didn't Chatot do it?"
"The Guildmaster is the only one with the power to register teams," explained Chatot.
"Okay, but that doesn't explain the yelling," said Rain.
"That was my Hyper Voice attack," said Wigglytuff. "If you can withstand it at a certain power, you pass your first test as an exploration team." Rain shrugged, signifying that she accepted Wigglytuff's explanation.
"Good! Now, in commemoration of your becoming an exploration team, I present you with this!" said Wigglytuff, handing Rain a small treasure chest. Rain took it, set it down on the floor and opened it. She pulled out a white round badge with wings on it, a map, and a bag.
"In the order you pulled those items out, they are an Explorer's Badge, a Wonder Map, and a Treasure Bag," said Wigglytuff. "First, there's the Explorer's Badge, proof that you're an exploration team. It has the power to send Pokemon home from a dungeon. Next is your Wonder Map, a wonder of convenience!"
"Yeah, but what does it do?" Rain asked.
"Just what you'd expect a map to do!" Wigglytuff replied cryptically before continuing his explanation. "Finally, there's your Treasure Bag, which allows you to store items you find in a dungeon. Your successes as an exploration team will earn you a bigger Treasure Bag, but for now, open yours up." Rain did so, and found a red bow with white polka dots and a yellow ribbon.
"That's a Joy Ribbon and a Yellow Bow!" said Wigglytuff. "The former turns the damage you take into experience you need to level up, and the latter raises all your abilities!"
"Wow, we got so much cool stuff!" said Pikachu excitedly. "This is going to help us out a lot on our explorations!"
"Yup!" agreed Wigglytuff. "But you're only apprenticing right now, so do your best… to train!"
"YEAH!" Team Torrent cheered.
"This is your room!" announced Chatot as he led Team Torrent to a room in the east wing of the guild. The room had a window, two beds made of straw, and a large vine on the wall. "This is where you will live for as long as you are working for us."
"Wait, so I'm… sharing a room with Rain?" Pikachu asked, blood rushing to his cheeks.
"Of course!" replied Chatot. "Guild policy requires teammates to share quarters. We mostly have solo Pokemon here who don't belong to any one team, but explore with their fellow guild members. In fact, you're the first squad of two Pokemon or more to join the guild in a while!"
"Wait, I thought all the apprentices were on exploration teams," said Rain.
"Well, the guild is, in a way, one big exploration team as opposed to several smaller ones," explained Chatot. "Since you're a two-man cell, we will occasionally assign one of your fellow apprentices to explore with you. This way, you learn to work with other Pokemon besides your teammate."
"Oh, I get it," said Pikachu. "That kind of makes sense."
"'Kind of?'" repeated Chatot. "Do I need to explain it to you again?"
"Uh, no! The first time was enough!" said Pikachu hastily.
"Good!" Chatot chirped. "Now, don't stay up late! Get to bed early so you two can start living up to our code first thing in the morning! Good night!" With that, Chatot walked out of the room, leaving Rain and Pikachu together in an uncomfortable silence.
"So…" said Rain tensely.
"Yeah…" replied Pikachu. "You know, my heart has been racing all day over every little thing." He laid down on the bed closest to the door, while Rain did the same on the other bed.
"I know what you mean," said Rain in reply. "I mean, who am I? Why am I suddenly a Pokemon?" She sighed. "So many questions – questions I hope you never have to ask."
"Don't worry," said Pikachu. "If I ever lose my memory, I'll just look at you and instantly remember why I'm alive." This comment caused Rain to blush.
"Wow, you make it sound like I saved your life or something," said Rain with a giggle.
"You did," said Pikachu seriously. "If it weren't for you, I'd have let Koffing and Zubat get away with my Relic Fragment, and then… I don't know what I would've done!" Rain's blush deepened at the thought of having touched this complete stranger's life in such a significant way.
Rain yawned and stretched. "Well, I'm going to sleep," she announced. "Good night… partner." She then closed her eyes and fell asleep without another word.
Pikachu watched Rain sleep in silence for a while, then fell asleep himself, but not before whispering, "Good night… partner."
