Chapter 2 The New Guild Recruits
This is Wigglytuff's Guild." Pika told Char. "To form an Exploration Team, you need to register and train here until you become a first-rate Exploration Team." They looked over at the Guild. "Yikes! Isn't this place a bit strange?" wondered Pika. "No, I have Char with me now, I have to be brave."
Pika walked up to the entrance and stepped onto the grate. A voice shouted from below, "Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" "Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" shouted another voice. "The footprint is Pikachu's! The footprint is Pikachu's!" shouted back the first voice. "Waahhh!" shouted Pika. He kept standing on the grate though. "N-no, I have to be strong..." he told himself.
There was a pause, then the second voice shouted "You may ENTER!" "Someone's with you! So get that stranger to stand up THERE!" "They probably meant you, Char" Pika said. "The grate looks strange..." thought Char. "It looks like it might tickle my feet or..." "Hey you! Stranger! Get on the GRATE!" yelled the second voice. Char hurried onto the grate.
"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" "Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" "The footprint is... The footprint is... Um..." "What's the matter? Sentry? Sentry? What's wrong, Sentry Diglett?" Diglett could only reply with "Umm... Er..." "The footprint is... Um... Maybe Charmander's! Maybe Charmander's!" "What?! MAYBE?!" "B-but... It's not a footprint you normally see around here..." "UGH! That's pretty crummy! Checking the footprint of visiting Pokémon... That's your job, ISN'T it Diglett?" He replied "Yes, but... I don't know what I don't know."
Meanwhile, Pika and Char stood in front of the Guild waiting. "Are they arguing?" asked Pika. "Hey Diglett" Char yelled down the hole. "I am a Charmander!" Suddenly, the second voice spoke. "...Sorry to make you WAIT. Well, it's TRUE that you don't see many Charmander in these parts... But you don't SEEM to be bad... OK, good enough! You may ENTER!" The huge gates at the entrance of the Guild suddenly opened. "Yikes! I'm so nervous! But I'm glad we're allowed in! Let's go!" said Pika excitedly.
They entered and saw a hatch with a ladder that went underground. They went down and saw heaps of Pokémon chatting to each other about Exploration. "Wow, this is Wigglytuff's Guild! I wonder if these Pokémon are on Exploration Teams!" thought Char.
"Excuse me! It was you two that just came in, right?" asked a Chatot. "Yes" "I'm Chatot! I'm the Pokémon in the know around here and also Guildmaster Wigglytuff's right-hand Pokémon. Now shoo! Leave the premises! We don't have time for salespeople or silly surveys!"
Pika quickly said "N-no, that's not why we're here! We want to form an Exploration Team... That's why we came." "What! Exploration Team?" Chatot turned around and muttered to himself "It's rare to see a kid like this want to apprentice here. Especially given how hard our training program is!" Excuse me, is the training that severe?" asked Pika, who had heard every word Chatot had said. "What? No, no, no! It's not true in the slightest! Our training program is as easy as can be!" Pika turned to Char "His attitude suddenly changed, didn't it...?" "Ok, let's sign your team up right away. Follow me!" said Chatot as he climbed down another ladder.
"This is the Guilds second underground floor. This is mainly where apprentices work. Over here is Team registration. Follow me, please!" Suddenly, Pika looked out of a window and couldn't believe his eyes. "Wow! We're underground, but you can see outside!" "Oh, please! Hush now!" Chatot snapped. Char thought that this was no way to treat Pika, but he kept quiet. "The Guild is built into the side 0f a cliff. It's only natural that you could see outside." "Oh."
"Here we are at Guildmaster Wigglytuff's chamber. On no account should you be discourteous to our Guildmaster. Guildmaster! It's Chatot! I'm coming in!" Inside, there was a big symbol on the back wall, treasure chests full of colourful balls at the sides of the room with torches next to them. In the middle of the room, on a mat, stood Wigglytuff.
"Guildmaster! I present to you two new apprentices!" There was a long pause. "Guildmaster...um...Guildmaster?" Suddenly, Wigglytuff span around to face everyone and said "Hiya!" He span so quickly, he made Pika and Char jump. "I'm Wigglytuff! I'm the Guildmaster! You want to form an Exploration Team? Then, let's go for it! First, we must register your team name! So, your team name is?"
"Oh, our team name? I didn't think of that. Char, what do you think a good team name for us would be?" "What about... FlameTail?" "FlameTail? That's perfect!" "All settled then, I'll register you as Team FlameTail! Registering! Registering! All Registered... YOOM....TAH! Congratulations! You are now an official Exploration Team! I present you this in commemoration! An Exploration Team Kit! Quick, open it up."
Inside, there was an Explorer Badge, (Proof of being part of an Exploration Team, can also be used to escape from dungeons) a Wonder Map (a map of the world) and a Treasure Bag (Used to store items). "Look in your Treasure Bag!" said Wigglytuff. Pika looked inside and found a Special Band (used to power up non-physical attacks) and a Red Bow (used to power up the Team Leader (Char)).
"Thank you Wigglytuff! We'll do our best!" They then left Wigglytuff in his chamber and followed Chatot to a room at the end of a hall."This is your room!" It had a window with two hay beds. "You will live here while you work for us. Things will start getting busy for you tomorrow, so don't stay up too late and wake up early! That is all."
Late that night...
"Oh, are you still awake Char? I've been getting excited today over every little thing... But I'm glad I finally decided to come here. I thought Wigglytuff might be scary, but he seems friendly. We're going to experience all sorts of things tomorrow but I'm not scared. In fact, I'm excited about the adventures we'll have! I'm feeling sleepy... Let's give it all of our effort tomorrow. OK, Char. Good night."
After Pika fell asleep, Char began to think "It's pretty exciting being in an Exploration Team, and it's fun to be friends with Pika... But first things first... Who am I? How did I turn into a Pokémon? How did I end up unconscious on that beach? And how do I know who Pika is? I'm feeling sleepy too... I'm going to get to the bottom of this in time..."
The Next Morning...
HEY! HEY THERE! RISE AND SHINE!!!!" shouted a very, very loud voice. "Owwww! My head! My ears! You nearly blasted my eardrums!" Char yelled back at the voice.
"WHY ARE YOU STILL ASLEEP?! WAKE UP!! SNAP OUT OF IT! MY NAME'S LOUDRED AND IF YOU'RE LATE FOR OUR MORNING BRIEFING, YOU'LL BE SORRY, SO MOVE IT! WIGGLYTUFF HAS A BIG TEMPER, AND IF YOU MAKE HIM LOSE IT, YIKES! THAT WOULD BE A SCARY SCENE! SO, I'M NOT GETTING INTO TROUBLE JUST BECAUSE YOU ROOKIES GOT UP LATE, SO GET IN GEAR!!!!!" Loudred walked off, leaving Team FlameTail to deal with their massive headaches.
"Ohhhhhh! My ears are still ringing! What did he say Char? Something about getting ready?" moaned Pika. "Oh yeah, we signed up as apprentices at Wigglytuff's Guild yesterday... But that means..."
Suddenly, the two Pokémon realized why Loudred was yelling at them "Oh no! We overslept! Quick Char! Run!" They ran down the crew room hall to see an assembly of Guild Pokémon waiting for them.
"YOU'RE LATE ROOKIES!" yelled Loudred. "Hush! You're voice is ridiculously loud!" snapped Chatot. "Well" he began "it looks like the Guild is in full attendance, Guildmaster!" Chatot called. Then, the doors to the Guildmaster's room flew open and out walked Wigglytuff. "Guildmaster, please address the crew."
"Zzzz...Snorfle...Zzzz...Snore..." The crew of Pokémon started chatting amongst themselves.
"The Guildmaster never ceases to amaze me!" "Yup, it looks like he's wide awake..." "Eeek! He's eyes are open, but he's snoring!" Chatot, sensing that the Guild knew that Wigglytuff was asleep, started to talk again. "Errr... Guild, take the Guildmaster's... words of wisdom to heart! Now, time for the Guild Morning Cheer!" Pika and Char watched and listened as the Guild sang out the Cheer.
"One: Don't shirk work! Two: Run away and pay! Three: Smiles go for miles!" Chatot yelled out "Okay Pokémon, let's get to work!" "Hooray!!!" shouted everyone as they went to complete their daily jobs. Chatot saw that Char and Pika looked a bit lost, so he called them over. "Follow me FlameTail" he said as he climbed the ladder that led to the first floor.
Pika and Char followed him to a Bulletin Board on the left side of the room. It had jobs from all different kinds of Pokémon asking for help. "This is the Job Bulletin Board, where Guild members can come to receive jobs which Pokémon, in need of help, put up on the board. The guild members then go to the dungeon described in the job and help the Pokémon out. Since the flow of time became messed up around the world, there has been an outbreak of aggressive Pokémon, Jobs and, of course, Mystery Dungeons" Chatot explained.
"What's a Mystery Dungeon?" asked Char. Pika answered "a Mystery Dungeon is a place that changes every time you go into it. Although, they are full of wild Pokémon, and if you are defeated, you lose all of your money and half your items or more, and you get kicked right out. But, they are still amazing places to explore!" "Ah, good! You are quite informed! This will make things much easier to explain. Jobs all take place in Mystery Dungeons. Now, let's see... Ah, here we are! The perfect mission for you! Read it."
Pika read the letter. "Hello, my name is Spoink. I need help! An outlaw has taken my precious pearl! It is life itself to me! Although someone told me that my pearl was seen at the Drenched Bluff, which has been reported extremely dangerous, I could never go anywhere so frightening! Please retrieve my pearl dear readers! I beg your help! From, Spoink."
"What? We're only suppost to get an item someone dropped?! I'd rather have an adventure, like going to an unexplored place or look for treasure, or..." Pika started. "Hush!" Chatot snapped. "You will serve the Guild's rules and pay your dues! Now I'll repeat the consequences to make sure they stick! Be careful and don't get knocked out or else you will lose your money, at least half of your items and get kicked out of the dungeon and end up here! If that is understood, then go complete your job!"
Chatot walked off down to the second level of the Guild while Pika stood there, crushed and Char stood there, thinking that Chatot can get a bit too angry sometimes and that he shouldn't have spoken to Pika like that. Despite this though, Team FlameTail went to Drenched Bluff to get the pearl for Spoink.
As soon as they entered the dungeon, they were surrounded by 2 Lileeps and a Shellos. Fortunately, all 3 were weak, so Pika and Char were able to continue. Actually, the wild Pokémon were so weak, that Char's Ember could deal 35 damage to a Shellos. The only real danger was when a huge wind storm almost blew them right out of the dungeon. They had to battle many Anoriths, Chinglings, Lileeps and Shellos, during which time Char learnt Ember but it was worth it.
When Team FlameTail got back to the guild, they found Spoink waiting for them. "Thank you! Thank you ever so much for getting my pearl back! I couldn't settle down without it being up on top of my head. So I was boinging and sproinging everywhere! That's why I'm covered in bruises. But, thanks to you, that incident is over! Thank you!" Spoink gave Char stat boosting items, like Iron and Calcium, and a small bag full of money!
"Wow! 2000Pokè?! All of it is for us?!" asked Pika, amazed. "Of course! That's nothing compared to my pearl's value! Bye!" Spoink bounced up the ladder and out of the guild. "Wow! Char, we got rich, just like that!" "Well done Team FlameTail!" said Chatot "now hand that money over if you please."
"Huh? What?" "Most of the money from jobs goes to the Guildmaster, and your Team's share comes to this much!" "What?! We only keep 200Pokè? That's awful!" exclaimed Pika. "Well, that's the guild's rule. You'll just have to accept it!" "Hmph..." Pika said sadly.
Later that evening...
"Everyone!" Chimecho called. "Thanks for waiting! I've finished making dinner! Come and get it!" "YEAH! HOORAY!!" everyone cheered.
Late at Night...
"Wasn't today hectic? So many things happened! But, I'm relieved that our first job was a success. It was upsetting how the Guild took most of the money, but it's a rule, so we'll have to accept it. Anyway, helping Spoink out and being thanked by him was a very good reward anyway. Anyway, I'm getting sleepy... I'm going to sleep, let's try our best again tomorrow. Good night Char..."
