"Uhg..." Alex groaned, his body felt heavy and sluggish. He assumed that this was what it felt like to swim in syrup. He tried moving his arm, it took several long seconds before it responded, it fell off of the edge of what he was lying on. It felt soft, there was something covering his torso, so he assumed that he was on a bed. In an attempt to figure out his surroundings, he slowly opened his eyes only to shut them much more quickly. What he'd seen was a completely white room, the sun coming through a window made it almost blinding.
'Sight's out of the question...' He thought, beginning to sit up. Without his sight, he had to rely on his other senses. He sniffed the air, it smelled clean. Not like the clean with tons of chemicals, if anything it was the lack of chemicals that made it clean. 'I've always hated that smell anyways~' There wasn't much to hear, there was nothing that tasting stuff could do for this, so he had to go back to sight.
He cracked his eyes open a bit, letting his eyes adjust to that amount of light before he opened them more. Over the course of a few minutes passing, he was finally able to see properly without being blinded. He looked around, he was surrounded by four white walls, along one of them was a cabinet of medicine. "I must be in a hospital..." He muttered. "I hate hospitals..."
Without another thought, he looked down, taking into account that he was still a Pokemon, getting a sigh out of him. "So it wasn't some freaky dream. I actually got chased by a giant snake..." He didn't seem too pleased by this fact, but at least he wasn't dead. Then he remembered. "Who was that Skarmory... Didn't he say something before I woke up here?" He pondered, trying to remember his last moments in the forest.
("Her wounds aren't that bad, if I'm honest. You on the other paw, you're head is bleeding.")
"Oh yeah." He said, not seeming to care as his paw went instinctively to his head. "I was bleeding..." As his paw touched his head though, it didn't meet the bony feeling he had felt the first time, there was a thin layer of fur covering his head. Actually, the layer of fur covered his whole body, it was just matted down to look like skin. But he didn't care about that, he got a sudden feeling of desperation and adrenaline.
"Where is it, where is it?!" He asked, throwing off his covers, searching under his pillows. He jumped out of the bed, wobbly on his legs for a bit, he took a hurried glance under the hospital bed. Nothing. He couldn't describe how he was feeling... The best that he could think of was that he felt like a child who just got his comfort item stolen from him. "It has to be here somewhere!" He cried as the door to his room, a familiar Eevee making her way inside with an Espeon.
"Mom! He's awake!" She cheered, her tail wagging.
"I see that, Cloe." The Espeon smiled, turning her attention to Alex. "How are you feeling? Any pain, nausea, any symptoms?" She asked walking over to him and looking him over.
He stayed silent, examining the Espeon. 'Cloe said that she's her mom... Guess I can trust her...' He concluded. "I'm fine, miss." he stated bluntly as he got back to searching. "Have either of you seen my helmet?"
Cloe walked over, putting a paw on his head. "Your helmet is being washed," she said, nudging Alex towards the door. "Come on, it's just down the hall~" At this, the Cubone felt a twinge of anxiety, causing a physical flinch which confused her. "You okay, Alex?" He could only shake his head as sat down. The Espeon seemed to understand what was going on.
"Okay, I'll go and get your helmet." She beamed as she walked out the door. "Cloe, stay and talk to him~" The Eevee didn't seem to have a problem with this as she slowly sat down, like her muscles were tense. This prompted him to look her over, just now noticing the bandage wrapped around her torso.
"Well," she said, looking at him. "I haven't told her that you're human since I'm skeptical about it myself."
'What a conversation starter...' He thought sarcastically.
"So, you're an amnesiac that I found in the forest." They sat in silence, not being able to find anything to talk about, but it looked like Cloe was trying to put together a sentence when she was pulled from her thoughts when a knock at the door, prompted them to turn to the noise. At the door was a Skarmory, a messenger bag hanging around his neck.
"Knock knock~" He chirped.
"G-guild master!" Cloe exclaimed, getting a grin out of the bird.
"Please, call me Skylar~" He said, looking flattered. Alex looked at him, remembering him from the dungeon. Cloe and Skylar seemed to be having a conversation. "So! I see you found a friend to make a team with~"
This confused Alex. "Team?" Cloe looked at Skylar, sighing.
"Actually..." She muttered, "I found him in the dungeon." Skylar just stood there, trying to comprehend what he was hearing.
"But... We should have gotten a notice about a missing Pokemon..." He mumbled, trying to remember the missing Pokemon reports that he'd went through. Alex was looking between the two.
"Well, unless this Cubone agrees to make a team with you, you'll be turned down..." The metal bird thought out loud as he looked to Alex.
"It's not like I haven't thought about making a team with him..." Cloe thought, her ears drooping. "But I'm not sure if he's willing to... I can't just force him..."
There was a silence for several minutes as Skylar and Cloe contemplated on what they were going to do and Alex was thinking about what he was hearing. "Well..." Skylar sighed, going back towards the door. "I guess that you will have wait two months, since you both haven't discussed this..."
Cloe's eyes widened, she opened her mouth but nothing came out, yet her thoughts seemed to be running one thousand miles an hour.
"Skylar, wait!" Alex yelled, flinching.
"Yes?" Skylar asked, not expecting him to say anything, and honestly, Alex wasn't expecting to say anything but it was like his body was acting on it's own.
"If it's like that..." He sighed, looking at Cloe, "then I'll make a team with her..." As he said those last words he heavily exhaled, now in control of his body. Unknown to those in the room, a certain shiny Mew was floating outside the window, her paw glowing from psychic energy.
"You'll thank me for this in the long run~" She whispered, teleporting away.
"W-well..." Skylar stammered, not expecting this. Two Pokemon that didn't even know each other, he'd only heard this happening in children's books. "I guess I'll see you down at the guild?..." He quickly left the room, sorting through what he'd just heard.
'Why'd I say that?!' Alex scolded himself, 'sure, I felt bad for her. But I have bigger fish to fry!' While he was caught up in his thoughts the Espeon made her way back into the room.
"Ahem." She cleared her throat, catching Alex's attention. Using Psychic, she placed the skull helmet on his head, a wave of relief instantly washing over the Cubone. "So, I overheard that you're making a team with my daughter..." He didn't know how to react, he wasn't sure hat he was doing when he said that. "Now, I want you to get this through your skull. I want you to protect her, no matter the cost, if I get a notice that my daughter was killed I will personally hunt you down." This sent a chill down Alex's spine, he could tell that she wasn't kidding. Then best confirmation that he could give was a nod which seemed to be enough because the tension in the room instantly lifted.
"Mom..." Cloe whined, making her way over. "Do you have to do this every time I make a friend? This is the reason most of them stopped being my friend..." SHe pouted, earning a chuckle out of the Espeon.
"I just want to make sure that you are going to be safe~" She chimed as she walked to exit. "You two are free to leave~" Before they knew what was happening they were surrounded by light and were teleported outside. Cloe landed perfectly on her paws, being used to this, Alex on the other hand was still not used to teleporting, he'd managed to land on his stomach.
Cloe turned to him, a grin on her face. "Come on, we've gotta go and get signed up!" She cheered, Alex didn't respond, he just lied there. "Aaaaalllleeeexxxx! Come on!" He sat up and looked at her, his face as stoic as a stone.
"Why are you so eager to make this team with me?' He asked, portraying no emotion. The Eevee stopped for a second to think. Why was she so excited, she came to an answer pretty quickly.
"Because what happened back in the forest reminds me of the Rescue Trilogy." She said with a smile. "The books were written by three different Pokemon, each published a few years after the last. The adventures in those books inspired me since I was little, plus, my dad's on a rescue team. It's just the adventures that I hear about from all of these book and Pokemon make me want to have an adventure above all of them." Alex looked at her, there was a fire in her eyes when she talked about adventure that he was sure he hadn't seen in her a few minutes ago.
Alex slowly stood up, popping his back. "Well," he moaned, getting a few good cracks. "I was never one for adventure. Putting your life on the line for almost no reason besides wanting to prove something. Prove that it can be done, like climbing to the summit of the tallest mountain, or seeing how deep the ocean is." He stopped popping his back and started stretching his arms.
Cloe's ears drooped. "What are you saying...? She asked, confused.
"What I'm saying is, show me why I should risk my life to adventure with you." He stated bluntly. The Eevee was stunned, he'd said that he'd make a team with her, now he was asking for her to convince him. He just looked at her questioningly. "Well, you gonna show me?" Cloe nodded her head vigorously, getting her thoughts in order again, she got another grin on her face.
"Yeah!" She said, her voice making a weird sound, identifying that she was making this up as they went. She agilely hopped to her feet, running off in a direction. "Come on, let me show you!" Alex sprinted after her, easily keeping pace in his new were running through town, Alex was awed by how much the town looked like it was made by humans. The buildings looked like modern day houses made of wood and brick, the road was paved with cobblestone. It was amazing what Pokemon could do. After running through town for some time, passing by many shops, eventually they made it to the outskirts of the own. Without a second thought the two plunged into a nearby forest, they wandered for several more minutes, Cloe walking up to every tree, looking up into their branches. Alex was beginning to doubt her the farther into the forest they got.
"Here it is!" She yelled, catching his attention. Walking over, he looked up into the branches; at first he didn't notice anything special about this tree. Taking a closer look at it, taking in the details he finally noticed a thin rope hanging from an unknown place that was concealed to the naked eye. Cloe jumped up and grabbed the rope in between her teeth, her weight bringing down a hatch that unfolded into a set of access stairs, the kind that you'd use to get into a attic, there was a click, probably signaling that it was locked in place so she let go. "This was a tree house my dad helped me build before he left, I haven't used it in years... But it should still have what I'm looking for." She quickly made her way up the stairs, leaving Alex by himself to think about his actions, but that didn't last long.
"Got it!" Cloe yelled, running back down. "Wasn't too hard to find~" Leaving the stairs down, she put a rolled up piece of paper in front of him and unrolled it. On it was a map, some areas on it were colored in with-what looked like-crayon, other areas were left blank, but still had a border.
"What's this?" He asked, crouching down to get a better look at the item.
"A map of the places I want to discover~" This caught him off guard, "Ya see, the colored in places are places in which have been discovered, which is only about a half of the continent. Anyone who's tried to adventure in to these parts..." She paused to gesture at the other three half of the map. "Have never made it back. Even my dad, and he was the leader of a Platinum ranked team." Not knowing what his meant, it was Alex's turn to talk.
"By the way, what's all this talk about teams" He asked.
"Oh, right..." She said, mentally face palming. "You have amnesia!" She swayed a bit, thinking of what to say. "Well, first off, there are different types of teams. Rescue teams are groups of Pokemon who Rescue others from dungeons. Exploration teams journey into uncharted territory. Adventure teams do a bit of both exploring and rescuing. Then, we have the Mystery teams. These teams are more like detectives, solving cases ranging from murder to petty theft."
"And what kind of team did you plan to make?" He asked, finding an interest in these Mystery teams.
"Well, I was thinking of making an Adventure team." She said, looking to her companion. "That way I can help other Pokemon and still explore the world~" At this, Alex was kinda disappointed, he found an interest in the Mystery teams, but it was probably better to make an Adventure team, maybe a bit safer.
"So," he muttered, standing up again. "You want me to make a team with you so that you can do something no one has been able to accomplish before?" He only got a hopeful nod from Cloe. He stood there for a while, looking her in the eyes, silence fell over the two as he was making his decision.
"So?" She asked, he'd been standing there for at least ten minutes, he hadn't moved an inch since then. After another two minutes he turned and walked back the way they came. Cloe just sat there, not sure what to do. When he realized that she wasn't following he stopped, turning his head.
"Well?" He asked, "Ya coming? I'm going to need you there to make the team." She instantly lit up and ran after him and the two made their way back to town, unknown to them, they were being watched.
"So the coward has a teammate now..." A familiar voice hissed, obviously displeased by this fact.
"Blair... I don't think it's a good idea fighting them..." A Deino mumbled, stepping out of a bush, followed by a Gothorita.
"I never said I was going to fight them." She scoffed, but then got an idea. "But the Guild master will probably want a team to escort them..." She put a hand on her chin, smiling, forming a plot. "Maybe we could feign a 'practice battle' in the arena..." Having completely thought out the plan, walking back to the guild, an evil smile on her face. Drake lagged behind a few yards, being around her while she was like this was never good.
"Okay, Alex." Cloe stated, obviously only half of her mind was paying attention. "We're going to need a team name... Something that we will be known as..."
Now Alex was thinking, if he was right then all of the simple names were taken. So they'd have to make a completely original name. "Um... I don't know." He shrugged.
"Come on!" Cloe groaned, "we need a name!" She turned to the Cubone. "You sure you don't have anything?" He just shook his head.
"I'm not exactly the most creative pers- Pokemon." He corrected himself. "I've gotta update my vocabulary."
Cloe shrugged. "I guess so, you don't want anyone else to know, right?" He nodded. The two stayed silent, pondering what the team name should be. A few minutes later they arrived back in town, still unsure of what they were going to do.
"Uhg!" Alex exclaimed. "Why is it so hard to think of a team name!" Shouting this out loud caught the attention of the passerby's, yet, he was too caught up in thinking to notice.
Cloe looked up from the cobblestone, seeing how fast they were moving towards the guild. "We'd better hurry up with the name, that's the Skarmory guild!"
Alex looked up as well, alarmed that they were already there. "Hey, you two!" A voice called from behind them, belonging to Skylar. "About time you showed up!" He swiftly took to the air a bit, and just as quickly, he landed next to them. "Where have you been?"
Alex looked up, learning that he was good at excuses. "Cloe was showing me the town~" He stated, his voice unwavering which caught Cloe off guard. It was eerie how well he lied.
"Showing you the town?" He asked.
"Y-yeah!" Cloe smiled, her tail wagging. "You see, Alex here has amnesia."
Skylar frowned. "Oh, that must be a setback for you." He said, sympathetically. "Well, I could have a psychic type here see if he can unlock some of your memories." This caught the Cubone by surprise.
"They can do that?!" He said, his own tail wagging.
"Sure, let's do that first." Skylar said, opening the double doors to the guild. "You see, we're going to need you to fill out some forms that have your personal information on it."
"Okay!" Alex cheered, seeming legitimately happy for the first time since he'd come to this world. Cloe on the other hand, didn't seem to be paying attention to what they were saying, she was busy looking around at the teams, catching Alex's attention.
"Alex, look!" She nodded her head at two Pokemon, a Seviper and a Zangoose. "That's team Toxic Claw! One of the coolest teams here!" Cloe was hopping around like a giddy little... Actually, she was a giddy little girl! "And that's team Gridlock!" She gestured to an Aggron and Flygon.
Too busy looking at all the teams around them, Alex didn't realize 'till it happened. But he walked right into another Pokemon, falling over. "Oh, sorry..." He mumbled, getting to his feet and looking up, now seeing that he'd walked right into a Marowak who helped him up.
"No need for apologies~" He chimed, looking Alex over. "You're strange, young one. You do not carry a bone with you..." This confused and annoyed him slightly, not liking being called strange.
"I am n-" He stopped mid-sentence, realizing that his paw was positioned like he was pointing something at the Marowak. He opened and closed his paw, feeling like he was supposed to be holding something. Cloe and Skylar were looking at him, before they could ask what was going on, he walked over to them. "W... We were going to see a psychic type...?" He asked, not looking them in the eye and walking ahead.
At the other end of the guild hall was a staircase that Skylar led them down. He didn't bother asking Alex what happened, as the small Cubone was just staring at his paw, deep in thought.
"Maybelle?" The bird called, prompting many thumping noises, like books falling.
Alex quickly snapped out of his thoughts, walking over to the source of the noise. "Hello?" He turned a corner, seeing a Ralts levitating some books back to their shelves. As she put the last books back she looked over to the three Pokemon.
"Skylar!" She cheered, teleporting over and hugging his. "I wasn't expecting you!" She teleported back a bit. "Who are these two?"
"Maybelle," he smiled. "These are Alex and Cloe. Two of our soon to be members~" He turned to Alex and Cloe. "Guys, this is Maybelle, the second in command here at the guild!"
Their mouths hung open, not expecting a Ralts to be second in command.
"Just let it sink in for a second~" Maybelle chimed, the reaction she got from her being second on the chain never failed to bring a smile to her face. She looked back to Skylar. "You came here for a reason, what is it?"
He nodded to Alex, who was slowly getting back to his senses. "We were wondering if you could crack open his memories, seems like he has amnesia."
She smiled. "My pleasure, can't wait to see what's in there~" She walked over to Alex who was the same height as her. "This may be uncomfortable." Before he could question just how uncomfortable, she touched his forehead, causing an instant burst of pain in his head and he collapsed.
"Happy birthday, Alex!" Jewel cheered along with his parents. Not having any other friends to come to his birthdays.
Alex immediately blew out the candles, getting a hug from his parents and some claps from Jewel.
"You're fourteen now, Alex!" His mom cheered, hugging his WAY more than what was necessary.
"Mom!" He squealed, trying to wiggle away from her. "Come on! It's nothing special! It's just one more year!" She pulled away, putting her hands on her hips, her husband standing next to her, grinning.
"I know!" She said, not taking what he was saying seriously. "But it's special! This birthday won't be like your next birthday, each birthday is special, and you have to cherish it!" She grinned. "But I guess, if it's not a special day, then I guess that you don't need this brand new intel computer that we bought~" His mom looked to her husband stepped out for a second before coming back, computer in his hands. Alex jumped to his feet.
"No way!" He had a genuine smile on his face.
"Nuh uh!" His mom said as his dad pulled it out of his reach. "This day isn't special~" She mocked, prompting Alex to hug her.
"No, no!" He cried, really wanting the computer. "This day is special! Please please please don't take the computer away!" His mom got a fake thinking face on.
"Ah, fine, you can have it~" She ruffled his hair, grinning. "Go enjoy your gift~" On that note, he walked back over to his dad, taking the computer.
"Come on, Jewel!" He beamed. "Let's hook this baby up!" He ran down the hall with his friend in tow, passing by a calendar, it was on it's April page and the twenty-fourth was circled.
"What did you do?!" Cloe yelled, obviously panicking.
"I don't know!" Maybelle shouted back, equally panicked. "I didn't even get in his head! I just used a minimal amount of my ability and he just collapsed!"
"Girls!" Skylar screeched. "Calm down!"
Slowly, Alex opened his eyes, finding himself leaning against a wall. The sight that greeted him was Cloe and Maybelle head to head, glaring daggers at each other, Skylar was the only thing keeping them for ripping each other apart. Sluggishly, Alex got to his feet, a bit wobbly; the movement from him caught everyone's attention.
"Alex!" Cloe blurted, instantly running over and pouncing on him, nearly knocking him over again.
"See!" Maybelle said in an 'I-told-you-so' tone. "He's perfectly fine!"
"Y-yeah." He muttered, rubbing his helmet. "But let's not do that again..."
Skylar walked over. "Did you remember anything?" He asked, curiously.
He responded with a shrug. "I can't really remember, it's all a bit fuzzy."
"Ah... I see..." He muttered.
Maybelle steadily made her way over, blushing, embarrassed. "U-um..." She murmured, almost inaudible. "S-sorry about that... I didn't know that was going to happen..."
The Cubone gave as reassuring of a smile as he could manage since his brain felt like someone had just played soccer with it. "It's fine." He said, looking to Skylar. "You think that we should go and get signed up?" He asked.
The bird looked at him, amazed that he wanted to get moving so soon after... whatever just happened. "If you're feeling up to it." Was all he could manage before Alex too off, going up the stairs. "Thank you, Maybelle~" He chimed, waving and walking out of sight with Cloe following suit.
"I wouldn't think about how everywhere he is." She said, smiling back to them. "He's like that~" With that, she went to go and find Alex who was already standing outside the door to Skylar's office. "How'd you know this was his office?"
Alex turned to his companion. "I asked them." He pointed to the Seviper and Zangoose from before. "You said that their name was team toxic Claw, right?" She nodded furiously.
"You seriously just walked up to them and talked to them?!" She exclaimed.
"Yeah." He stated blandly. "The Seviper seemed cool, all relaxed and stuff. The Zangoose was a bit... what's the word... I dunno, she just seemed more strict than her partner." After he'd said that, Skylar had finally showed up, unlocking the door and leading the two inside. Alex just took in his surroundings as the guild master went behind his desk, pulling two sheets of paper out and placing them in front of the two... There was just one problem.
"What's this shit?" Alex asked, looking over the paper that looked like an application, but the writing on it was complete gibberish. It was written with what looked like footprints.
"Oi!" Skylar glared. "Watch your language!"
"But I can't read..." He picked up the paper, putting it in his face. "Whatever this is!"
"You can't read footprint runes?" He asked, surprised. Skylar put a wing on his head. "This is getting more complicated by the minute..."
"I'm not sure what this is, but I know that you don't spell with footprints!" He flipped the paper over to it's blank side and picked up a stick of charcoal. "This is how you spell!" He spelled 'Alex' across the paper and showing it to his, surprising the bird.
"You read and spell in Unknown Script?" He went back to a drawer on his desk, digging down deeper into the drawer. "I think I've had this problem before... Another guy who joined could only understand Unknown Script, so I made some copies of this application in that text. But it's not very common to find Pokemon that know the written word of the unknown anymore... So I'm probably going to need someone translate it if I need to look over it." He finally pulled out another application, this one written in 'Unknown Script.'
"Much better~" Alex smiled.
"You are a very strange Cubone..." The bird sighed, getting a confused smile on his face. "Amnesia and Unknown Script..." But Alex didn't seem to be paying attention, neither was Cloe, the were both filling in their applications.
"Name; Alex..." He muttered. "Age... I think I'm fourteen... Birthday..." He looked over at Cloe. "What are the months?"
"January, February, March, April-" She was cut off.
"Okay, thanks!" He smiled, turning back to his application. "April twenty-fourth... Gender; male, species; Cubone... Team name..." He and Cloe looked at each other, realizing that they still didn't have a name.
"Something wrong?" Skylar asked, seeing that they'd stopped. "Let me guess, you don't have a name." They were surprised that he knew. "Don't worry, most groups come in here without a name, take your time..." The two were relieved that this was a common problem.
"What do you think?" Cloe asked, looking to Alex.
"Um..." He said, thinking, but not getting anything. Both of them sighing.
Cloe was still going through the name that she could think of. Alex was thinking also.
"How about team Full-moon...?" He asked. "Sorry, but it's the best I've got right now..." Skylar thought for a second before replying.
"Yes, I think that's acceptable." He said as the two cheered and wrote it down on their applications. "
"Team type... Adventure... Right?" Cloe nodded. "Okay... And, finally, signature..." To finish, the two rubbed charcoal on their paws, stamping the area next to the signature line and signed their names in their respective scripts.
"You're done!" Skylar grinned, taking the papers and putting them into another drawer. He then went to a chest at the back of the room, taking out a medium sized box, it was definitely metal, the torchlight reflecting off of it have it a warm glow. "This is your Adventure team starter kit."He said, handing it to Alex.
"Come on, open it!" Cloe giggled, turning back into a giddy little girl. He looked at the box, what was sealing it shut was a badge with crossing wings and a Skarmory head in the center. He grabbed the badge, swiftly pulling it from it's wedge, causing the box to spring open.
On the inside was a bag, a map, and two special items one was a ribbon, the other was a nearly pitch black cloth.
"The ribbon is a Joy ribbon." He said as Alex took the ribbon out and tired it around Cloe's ear. "The black cloth is a Reaper cloth. I honestly didn't know we had one. It's usually an evolutionary item..."
Alex took the Reaper cloth and wrapped it around himself, making it more of a cloak. "I like it~" He smiled, now taking the bag out. "Is that all?"
Skylar thought for a second. "Pretty much, I'm going to have another team show you the ropes tomorrow. Your bedroom will be done being renovated after dinner..."
"So, well be staying here while working for you?" Alex asked, Skylar just nodded.
"You will also have dinner with us." He said. "Dinner will start in a few minutes, eat, chat, get to know everyone. They love newbies~" After a few thanks, the two newest members of the guild left the office with their new gear. It seemed like everyone in the guild's main hall stopped talking as soon as they exited the office.
A few silent seconds passed, those second feeling like eternity. The, that heard it.
"NEWBIES!"
Was what someone shouted before the were swarmed.
"Ohmygosh, their so young!" One shouted.
"And their so cute!" Yelled another.
"I bet I could take the Cubone in a fight!"
They were backed into a corner, being bombarded by questions and such. Then, a sweet sound filled the room, shutting everyone up again.
"Dinner's ready~" Chimed a Floatzel. As soon as this was said, the mob that had surrounded them made a mad dash for the dining room and the Floatzel walked over, a ship in her step.
"Hello, you must be the new kids~" She said, her voice sounding sweet and polite. "I'm Joe, who are you?"
"Alex." The Cubone said, still trying to get over what just happened.
"Cloe." The Eevee said, trying to do the same.
"Well, Alex and Cloe." She sighed. "Sorry about that, they just love newcomers, especially young ones like yourselves."
"I can tell!" Alex exclaimed, stepping away from the wall.
"How about us three talk over some dinner?" Joe asked, leading the two towards the dining room.
The dining room was big enough to fit all of the guild members. It was easily the size of a gymnasium. There were several big buffet tables of berries, gummies, even meat.
"Um... The meat..." Alex said, looking at it uncomfortably.
"Yeah, weird, isn't it." Joe said, grabbing a plateful of gummies and berries. "The meat is from the dungeon Pokemon. Some of the Pokemon in this room are meat eaters, so we do it for them." Alex and Cloe shuddered, grabbing their own plates, avoiding the meat.
Before sitting down, Joe went over to what appeared to be a cooler and grabbed a glass bottle full of a blueish-purple liquid. Alex walked over, seeing many different colored juices, yet, all of the labels were written in footprint runes. Cloe stumbled in, balancing her plate on her head.
"What's the-" she stopped mid-sentence. "Oh, footprint runes... I'll translate. The red juice is Cheri berry juice, the blue is Oran berry juice, the light purple is Chesto berry. Then the clear liquid is Elixir."
Without a second thought, he grabbed the Cheri berry juice. "Which do you want?"
She was busy keeping her plate balanced on her head. "Elixir please." He grabbed her drink and made their way to where Joe was sitting, on her left was a Typlosion and on her right was the Marowak from before.
Reluctantly, Alex sat down across from him.
"So," Joe said, looking around the table. "Let's get the introductions out of the way~"
Before that moment, the Marowak and Typlosion hadn't even realized that the two had sat down. Looking up, the Marowak realized who was sitting across from him. "If it isn't the strange Cubone, hello~"
Alex stayed silent, becoming socially inept again.
"Hello?" The Marowak asked, confused about his silence.
"Don't mind him~" Cloe chimed with a bright smile on her face. "He slips in and out of being socially awkward. He was talking all day up until now, I wonder why."
There was silence for a minute. "Anyways," Joe stated, starting to eat her food. "Back to introductions. As I've said, I'm Joe, the Marowak is Michael, and the Typhlosion is Darwin."
"Oh! I've seen you guys around town!" Cloe said, thinking. "Aren't you guys a transfer team from Pokemon Square? Team Red?"
"Bingo~" Darwin cheered.
"Good to see that we're known~" Michael said. "Who are you two?"
"I'm Cloe," she said, a smile on her face. "My anti-social friend over there is Alex~" The Cubone showed no response to his name being said. Cloe scooted closer to Alex, nudging him in the side. "Come on, Alex, they're trying to make friends with you."
He turned to her, raising a brow. "I don't want friends..." He muttered under his breath.
Cloe sighed, putting a paw on his shoulder. "Please..." She begged.
He looked at his companion, his face as stoic as stone. At this point, Cloe started using Charm, when it usually would have lowered his attack, it just made it harder to say no.
"Pleeeaaasssee!" Alex was holding his breath, hoping she would stop. "PLEEAAASSSEEE!"
"Fine!" He snapped, causing her to flinch back. "I'll try to make friends tomorrow, when I'm not tired." He ate a few berries and left in search of their room. As he passed by all of the rooms, he noticed that they had name plaques and that they were all written in footprint runes. "Great, I can't read these. How am I supposed to find the room..."
"You can't read the runes either?" Said a voice, turning to find Michael following him.
"Why are you following me?" He asked.
"Because, you are interesting." He stated. "You don't seem anxious without a bone club." He crossed his arms, "you are quite a spectacle."
"O...kay?" He replied, not sure what he meant. "Look, I've gotta go find my team's room."
"Shouldn't be too hard, it's written in 'Unknown Script.'" He said, pointing at a door to their left, next to another door with Unknown Script. "So, you two are team Full-moon?"
"And your team name is Red." Alex said. He quickly looked up at the other door. "And... You guys are our neighbors..."
Michael smiled. "Welcome to the neighborhood~" On that note, Michael disappeared into his team's room.
Going into his own team's room, it was pretty decently sized. Two beds of straw were on the ground, a single window let moonlight into the room on that night, a bookshelf was stuffed into the corner of the room with a wooden desk next to it. It was a pretty basic room.
"Cozy..." He mumbled, taking off his reaper cloth and laying it on the rightmost cot. He then walked over to the bookshelf, scrolling over the the spines of the books. "Of course they're written in footprints..." He growled, turning to the desk. Simple. It was wood, it had a drawer and an assortment of charcoal and pencils.
"This is a quaint room." Cloe said, trotting over to the bookcase. "And... They have no reading material for you..."
"Yeah," he said, opening the drawer to find nothing. "I wish they had stuff that I could actually read. I need to get to know this world..."
Cloe sighed, rolling her eyes. "You're still sticking to the story that you are a human turned Pokemon?"
"It's true!" He half-chuckled.
"Sure~" She teased.
Without anything else to do that night, Alex and Cloe found themselves curling up on their respective cots.
"This is so exciting!" Cloe whispered. "This has been my dream for so long, now it's here!"
"It's definitely interesting..." He wrapped himself in his cloak. "But I don't think I've ever been good around others."
"It just takes practice..." She yawned. "Good night, Alex..."
"Night..." He managed to reply before he fell asleep himself.
AAAAANNNNDDDD! Another chapter to the story!
Random Person: Took ya long enough!
Actually, I think this is going to be my writing time. Take about a month per chapter... With school just around the corner and other websites and such, I think about a month to publish a chapter is good...?
ANYWAYS! Before I go to bed, I'm planning to keep character submissions open until the 5th chapter.
And for those of you who submitted teams or are thinking of submitting a team; go ahead! I'm fine with it~
If you are submitting a single character, I'll probably put together teams of single characters.
This chapter, team Toxic Claw was introduced shortly and I will have them play a part in next chapter as well, I will also be introducing more characters in the next chapter, so look forward to that!
Pokemon belongs to Nintendo/Game Freak
Team Toxic Claw belongs to FinalPower
The story belongs to yours truly~
