Chapter 2: The New Recruits.
Two small, controlled fires surround a building. It seems to be a tent, but with the shape of a wigglytuff of top. In front of me, blocking my entrance to the tent, there's a grate. Is this the guild of which Avia spoke?
"This is Wigglytuff's guild," Avia says. Well, that answers that question. "To form an exploration team, we need to register our team here. Then we have to train until we become a first-rate exploration team. Gosh! Isn't this place just a little bit odd? It just is. No! I've got Jiro with me this time, I have to be brave!" She seems exited, which is good, I guess, but I can also see her shaking. She's obviously scared out of her mind. She walks on top of the grate.
"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" A shout from below the grate yells.
"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" Another shout from below the grate asks.
"The footprint is vulpix's! The footprint is vulpix's!" The first voice shouts back. Why must they shout everything twice? Avia trembles, but she stays on the grate, mumbling something to herself.
"It's okay, Avia, this is what you've been dreaming of, remember?" I say.
"Right! I can't give in now!" She says. She flashes a smile at me.
"You may enter!" The second voice shouts. Finally, the voice didn't repeat itself. "Someone's with you! So get that stranger to stand up there!" Get me to stand up there? I think I can find my own way across the whole five feet I need to traverse to get to the grate on my own. Avia steps off of the grate and looks at me; I step onto the grate.
"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" The first voice says. Arg. Twice again? These two need to stop repeating themselves.
"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" The second voice sounds back.
"The footprint is... The footprint is... Um..."
"What's the matter?! Sentry! Sentry?! What's wrong, sentry Diglett?" Okay, so the sentry's name is Diglett. That'll probably come in handy later.
"Um... Er... The footprint is... Well... Maybe eevee's! Maybe eevee's!" I hope these two don't repeat themselves in normal conversations too, that would make them quite bothersome to talk to.
"What?! Maybe?!"
"B-but... It's not a footprint that you normally see around here."
"Ugh! Well that's pretty crummy! Checking the footprints of visiting pokemon is your job, isn't it Diglett?"
"Yes, but... I don't know what I don't know."
"Are they arguing down there?" Avia asks. I nod.
"Sorry to make you wait. Well it's true that you don't see any eevee in these parts, but you don't seem to be bad. Okay, good enough! Enter!" The second voice says. All it takes to earn this guy's trust is what? I don't even know. Having a kind looking footprint? I have no idea. So far, all of the pokemon I've met here have either tried to rob Avia, or are like Avia and trust me for no good reason. Well, I guess I shouldn't complain about all of that trust, it's hardly a bad thing. The gate rises while I'm thinking.
"I-I'm so nervous... Could you go in first?" Avia says. I shrug and walk into the tent first, but Avia stays put.
"Avia, are you coming?" I ask. She rushes into the tent, stopping next to me.
"Sorry, this is just all so nerve wracking," she says. Inside the tent there's a board with some papers on it and a hatch with a ladder that leads underground. We quickly climb down the hatch, and into what appears to be the lobby of the guild. There are many pokemon talking, all split off in what seem to be teams, and there's two message boards, one on each side of the room, one with papers containing words on it, and one with papers containing drawings. Avia and I step into the middle of the lobby, as to not disturb pokemon who may need to leave. "So this Wigglytuff's guild! There's quite a few pokemon here, do you think that they're all members of exploration teams?"
"Excuse me," a voice says before I can even think of how to respond. A chatot walks up to us, or flutters up to us? I don't know, but whatever he does, he moves towards us. "It was you two that just came in, right?"
"Yep, that was us," I say, trying to sound as calm as I can. I can't let this pokemon know how nervous I am, that may cause problems... Somehow.
"I'm Chatot; the pokemon in the know around these parts. I am Guildmaster Wigglytuff's right-hand pokemon!" Well then. This guy obviously likes to toot his own horn. "Now, shoo! Leave the premises! We have no time for salespokemon or silly surveys. Off you go, if you please," the chatot says.
"N-no! That's not why we are here at all. We want to form an exploration team. So we came here, we need the proper training if we wish to be a good exploration team, after all," Avia says.
"Wh-what?! Exploration team?" Chatot turns away from us. "It's rare to see a kid like this want to apprentice at the guild. Especially given how rigorous our training is. Surely the steady stream of pokemon who run away from our training proves how tough training is." He obviously didn't mean for Avia and me to hear him, but he doesn't seem to know how to talk quietly enough to himself.
"Excuse me, Chatot was it? Is the training really that hard?" I ask. What did I get myself into? I can't handle that kind of conditions, can I?
"Huh? No! Not at all! Our training program is as easy as can be!" Chatot says. Well then, it looks like this guy wants us to join, lying about training like that. I guess I'll try to do it though, as long as Avia's up for it. She is, after all, my only friend. "Well, well, well. I wish you had told me up from that you wished to create an exploration team."
"What a shift in attitude," Avia whispers to me. It seems like she has the whole, 'talking quietly' thing down, unlike Chatot.
"Okay then, let's get your team signed up right away. Follow me," Chatot says, before leading us down the another hatch's ladder.
We arrive on a floor that looks somewhat similar to the first. There's a hallway and a room with a closed door to my left, and a odd looking sculpture as well a room with no door to my right.
"This is the guild's second underground floor; where the apprentices mainly work. Team registration is this way. Come along, please," Chatot says. He leads us to my left, towards the closed door. A window comes into view, and Avia immediately rushes over to it.
"Wow! We're two floors under the ground, but you can still see outside!" Avia exclaims. She smiles at the window, fascinated by the wonders that lie behind it.
"Oh please! Hush now! The guild is built into the side of a cliff. It's only natural that you would be able to see outside," Chatot says.
"Oh," Avia says. She looks at the ground, obviously hurt by Chatot's scolding.
"Now this is the Guildmaster's chamber. You are not, I repeat, you are not be discourteous to our Guildmaster," Chatot says. He turns to the door. "Guildmaster! It's Chatot! I'm coming in!" Chatot says before going inside the room.
"Ladies first," I say to Avia, moving so that she can enter the door. She tries to refrain from laughing. She succeeds, for the most part, but she does laugh a little while entering the door. I follow soon after her.
We enter a room with various treasures and flowers scattered around. Directly in front of us, there is a wiggilytuff standing on a red carpet, facing away from us.
"Guildmaster! I present to you two pokemon who wish to join our guild as apprentices!" Chatot says. He sounds like he's seem very official, I'm surprised that he doesn't have a more casual relationship with the Guildmaster, seeing as how they are supposedly pretty close. The wigglytuff turns around and smiles at us.
"Hiya! My name's Wigglytuff! I'm the guild's Guildmaster! You want to form an exploration team? Then, let's go for it! First we must register your exploration team's name! So tell me, what is your team's name?" the wigglytuff says. Wait, we need a team name? I'm sure Avia has already come up with one, this being her dream and all. I hope it's something cool.
"Oh? Our team's name? I didn't think about a team name," Avia says. She turns to me. "So what do you think would be a good name for us, Jiro?" Well then, there go my hopes of her having a cool name at the ready for us. Come on, Jiro, think, you can't keep everybody waiting! Mysteries? No. Awesomeness? No.
"Team Beyond," I blurt. Hey, that actually doesn't sound half bad. Avia smiles.
"That's perfect!" She exclaims.
"All settled, then! I'll register your team and Beyond. Registering, registering! All registered. Yoom... Tah!" Wigglytuff yells that last part, causing Avia and me to jump. "Congratulations! From now on, you're an official exploration team! I present you with this in commemoration." Wigglytuff sets a gold colored box in front of Avia and me. Avia opens it without another word, and I look to see what's inside. There's a badge, a map of sorts, and a bag.
"The badge is for team identification, and I assume that you know what the rest of these things are," Chatot says. Avia nods.
"Thank you for this. We'll do our best," Avia says.
"Yup. But you're only apprenticing right now, so do your best to train," Wigglytuff says.
"We will. Jiro and I will always do our best, right Jiro?" Avia asks.
"Yeah!" I confirm.
Chatot leads us down the hallway, and to the room and the end of it. There's two beds made out of hay there, and a window.
"So this is our room?" Avia asks.
"Yes. You will live here while you work for us. Things will start getting busy for you tomorrow! So rise early and start living up to our code! Don't stay up late, get to bed early. Trust me, you'll thank me for telling you this later. That is all," Chatot says. He walks out of the room.
Once it's late, Avia and I lie in our beds, from what I can tell, neither of us is able to fall asleep.
"Jiro? Are you still awake?" Avia asks.
"Yeah, what's up?" I respond.
"My heart's been racing all day, but I'm glad I finally forced myself to come here. I thought Wigglytuff would be scary, but he's actually pretty nice. We'll experience all sorts of new things starting tomorrow, but I'm not very frightened. Actually, I can't wait to find out what new adventures are in store for us. Anyways, I'm getting a little tired, thanks for listening to me. Let's give it our all tomorrow," Avia says.
"Sleep tight, sweet dreams," I say.
"Same to you, Jiro," Avia says. She yawns and begins to fall into a rhythmic pattern of breathing, making me believe that she has fallen asleep.
So now I'm suddenly apprenticing at the guild. I have to admit, it seems like it's pretty fun to be on an exploration team. And Avia seems pretty nice. But first thing's first, who am I? How did I turn into a pokemon? How did I end up unconscious on that beach? I'm feeling pretty tired. Maybe the answers will find me after a good night's sleep. If not, then I'm sure it'll come to me eventually if I just wait. All I need to do is become a hero, right? How hard can that be?