When Dark landed, he immediately got up and started cursing left and right. He rubbed the back of his head and looked up. The drop wasn't nearly as deep as he thought it would be. Just a couple of feet. Or at least he thought it was. He was never very good at guessing distances. Not that it really mattered.
Dark looked ahead of him but saw nothing but black space. While squinting his eyes, he whispered apprehensively, "Alright, who the heck did that? I swear, I AM GOING TO FU-". Thwack! Dark lurched forward and fell flat on his face. Then, to both his relief and chagrin, the room suddenly lit up and Dark could finally see something other than the shadowy... well, nothing.
The light itself wasn't very bright, just dim, like from a candle. When the extremely confused and outright screwed Dark finally had found the common sense to actually survey his surroundings, he found that he was in a small round room with nothing but a torch holder and a wooden door. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE YOU FILTHY TRESPASSER?!" bellowed a furious yet high-pitched voice. Dark swiveled his head around but saw nothing but the tan caramel-colored stone wall. The voice repeated itself and this time it was much more aggravated. When he looked down, he noticed the problem. "Oh hey little guy!" The yelling voice was none more than a small, apparently pissed-off Diglett. "INTRUDER, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!' Dark shook his head with amusement and squatted down next to it. He chuckled, saying, "Now what makes you think I was doing something wrong, hmm?" Now the Diglett as starting to pop a couple nerves. "INTRUDER! INTRUDER! IIIIINNNNNNNNTTTTTTRRRRRRUUUUUUDDDDDEEEERRRRRR!" Dark laughed whole-heartidly at that exclamation. "Okay, well, you take care now little guy 'cause I have somewhere to be right now." He stood back up and looked around the floor a bit. He picked up his sack which was holding all of his belongings. It must've fallen off of him as he fell. Slumping the small bag over his shoulder, he waved goodbye to the little Diglett who seemed to be having a head spasm of sorts and opened the door. After only taking one step into the poorly lit hallway, Dark felt pressure on both sides of his face and the ground quickly rose up to meet his front.
"What the?"
Dark snapped his head up and swiveled it around to take in his surroundings. He was in a different room now, bigger than the previous one but still too small for his taste. There was a table with a couple parchments strewn across it and a quill pen in a bottle of black ink. There weren't any windows. He couldn't tell what was behind him and the room was just a tad bit brighter than the one from before. That was when he noticed he was bound to a chair by rope. Dark struggled to break free, but to no avail. "Well then, who do we have here?" Dark's eyes widened to another unfamiliar sound. "A new recruit perhaps?" Dark could hear soft footsteps, muffled by (he assumed) velvety fur accompanied by quiet ruffling feathers. They were behind him.
Dark tried to cry for help but his lips could not part the words, for they were taped shut. So instead of trying to break free again, Dark remained silent. After all, this was his new guild wasn't it? And shouldn't he trust his new guild? With what had just transpired, he'd have a pretty hard time doing that. The footsteps had ceased and the flapping wings also stopped and Dark cold now make out who was causing it. A pink bunny-like creature with large ears, a fluffy tuft of cotton-ish fur, and a white underbelly. A Wigglytuff. "Probably the Guildmaster," Dark pondered. Next to the Wigglytuff stood a parrot with a black head shaped like a musical note, blue wings, a yellow chest and green abdomen. The Chatot was perched on the desk behind the supposed Guildmaster. Wigglytuff smiled. "It's always such a pleasure to see new members." Dark was taken aback by this... thing's hospitality. In all honesty he was expecting the thing to butt-rape him or something of that manner. But at least he knew one thing for sure now: the Wigglytuff was the master of Diamond Gale Guild. Dark couldn't really tell if that was awesome, strange, or downright scary. A Wigglytuff. Guildmaster. Those two words couldn't belong in the same sentence.
"Chazzo," Guildmaster Wigglytuff said, gesturing to the Chatot who was now staring at Dark with extreme displeasure. "Release this poor Lucario now. I believe he's proven his worth to this guild." The Chatot apparently named Chazzo took a small hop off of the desk and fluttered over to Dark. He took a corner of the tape in his beak and stared ripping it off as Guildmaster Wigglytuff decided to spark an actual conversation out of the entangled Lucario. "What's your name?" Dark answered in a whisper and the pink, oversized bunny nodded in understandment. "I see," Wigglytuff said turning around. Then Dark started to be a smart aleck himself saying, "Don't you already know that? I mean..." Dark purposely trailed off his statement. "I am that new transfer that was due two damn days ago." The Guildmaster spun around and his eyes widened. "So you're the new transfer then!" Dark rolled his eyes. At least they were getting somewhere now. The Wigglytuff clasped his hands with Dark's and shook them vigorously. "We've been expecting you for some time now. Why were you late?"
Chazzo had finished biting through the tape and rope and when it fell to the ground, Dark immediately sprang up and headed for the door. The last thing he wanted was for this weird rabbit thing to "snuggle" with him.* "Wait just a few moments please." The Wigglytuff grabbed Dark's hand- the one that wasn't holding the door knob- and pulled him away from the door. "We still need to introduce ourselves." Dark jerked his hand away from this creepy supposed pervert and rubbed his wrist. That Wigglytuff had a pretty strong grip. "In case you forgot, my name is Dark." Wigglytuff shook his (or her, Dark couldn't really tell with it's voice) head and sighed', "That's not what I meant." He gently sat Dark back down into the chair as he went to sit at the seat behind the desk. "We should get to know other Pokemon a little more than that these days. Now tell me, what guild are you coming from?"
"Serpent's Edge," Dark said, shifting around slightly.
"Oh that guild!" Guildmaster Wigglytuff shot out of his chair with either glee or unwanted surprise. Again, Dark couldn't really tell. This nutjob was so... bipolar. "We haven't had any contact with Dragnell City in weeks! Tell me, how are things doing?
"Pretty good. There hasn't been any reports of criminal activity within the inner city and no signs of human movement on the border for at least four months now."
Guildmaster Wigglytuff nodded his head again. "Good, very good. Now is there any reason for the silence or is there just nothing to report?" Dark replied. "The second."
"Excellent." Guildmaster Wigglytuff sat back down and reclined backwards so that the chair leaned against the wall. Dark had never met any Guildmaster this laid-back before. His original Guildmaster, Guildmaster Charizard of Dragnell City, was a strategic war planner; Guildmaster Mienshao of Veil Forest was very strict about keeping peace between two forces and "Guild Honor"; Guildmaster Mightyena of Serenity River was more like a ticked off Ursaring whenever you got him mad. But this guy... he just had no words to describe him other than "fat" or "lazy" or "fat and lazy."
"Oh I almost forgot." Guildmaster Wigglytuff sounding kinda' tired. "I need to see your Explorer Resume." He even yawned covering his mouth with his hand. "Huh? Oh yeah, my resume." Dark took his sack and placed on the floor so he could dig through it easier. "No. No. Not that. Or that. Or that. Don't know how that got in there. That's not it either. Whoops, forgot to give this back to Shana." As Dark rummaged through his pack, he threw the things that weren't his resume or any other identifying information about him to the side. One of these things was a peculiar magazine. Guildmaster Wigglytuff ducked his head down to retrieve it because it had slipped underneath the desk and it was lying face down. When he turned t around, there was a cover of a big-breasted Lopunny and a female Magmar making out as they fingered each other. Guildmaster Wigglytuff shook his head with disappointment and secretly dropped it into the waste basket next to the desk. He didn't approve of such "rubbish".
"Ah hah!" Dark had finally found his resume and held it up in the air triumphantly for a couple seconds until Chazzo rudely pecked his hand, grabbed the paper with his beak, and handed it to Guildmaster Wigglytuff. "Now then, let's see here..." Wigglytuff focused on the tiny manuscript on Dark's Guild Resume while scratching his head. Dark, still wincing from the peck, rubbed his hand as many thoughts raced through his head. But he otherwise stayed silent as Wigglytuff examined the slip. "Oh mon, oh mon, oh mon, oh mon, what's he gonna say? What if he thinks I've screwed up too any times and kicks me out? Then what? I guess I could get a real job...but what if they see that I've been deported from a guild and not even hire me at all? Ah shit... I guess I could show them my dick...but they might not be all women...Fuck." As all of these extreme and unlikely scenarios wrapped around his mind, Guildmaster Wigglytuff set the insignificant piece of paper down and said, to Dark's relief, "Well everything seems to be in order." Dark mentally cheered. "But," Guildmaster Wigglytuff drawled. "What, what is it?" Dark tried to ask. The Guildmaster's assistant Chazzo snapped and fluttered in front of Dark's face. "Now listen up!" Chazzo's voice was much higher-pitched and whinier than the perplexed and worried Lucario had anticipated. "Not everyone can just go around and spew at the Guildmaster, `Oh what is it? Oh what's the matter? Oh` Why don't you just SHUT UP! You see, there is a level of discipline and restraint Guild Members have to show, even G-rank elites like you, so you can't just ask questions all willy-nilly like you did just now! Explain that to your superior now!"
Dark, at this point, was leaning back in his seat as Chazzo slowly fluttered towards him with each word he just spoke. He scratched the back of his head and opened his mouth, getting out the words, "Well, I-" but Chazzo interrupted him. "Actually no! You can't! You want to know why?" Dark nodded with unease. "It's because Pokemon like you don't have any respect for yourselves at all!"
Guildmaster Wigglytuff held up a paw. "Now, now Chazzo, don't act lie this to our new member. After all, he is a part of all of our hearts now isn't he? Aren't you?" Dark acted with surprise. Or was it disgust? "M-me? I've only been here all of three minutes and you already trust me?" Wigglytuff held his head back and guffawed loudly. Dark had to put his hands over his ears. "Of course we do!" The Guildmaster exclaimed. "I don't know about your guild, but we believe in treating our beloved members with love and respect because that is what truly shapes a hero, not their strength, but their heart. Of course, there are some due punishments. But nevertheless, we should always treat others with kindness and honor, no matter how heinous or bloodthirsty. Do you understand any of this?"
"And Chazzo, why must you be so quick-tempered? Can't you take Dark in and trust him?" Chazzo turned around and landed back down on the desk. "Of course I can't...master." Chazzo held up his head and cleared his throat. "He's just arrived. His resume says that he's failed more missions than succeeded in." The Chatot flipped around again to face Dark. "And I don't think I can stand his coloration." Unlike normal Lucarios, Dark's fur was white where blue would have been and black in the other places and his eyes were darker red than the normal shade in most Lucarios. "It doesn't suit him. He seems more like an autumn orange or a bit of teal." Wigglytuf shrugged. "That's all only opinion. We trust based on personality. So what if he let a Tauros have a miscarriage? Or bumped a sick Rhydon off of a cliff? That's all in the past now. A quite disturbing but one, but it's all over now. And besides, he looks more like a winter white. Which is exactly what he is!"
As the Guildmaster and GM Assistant squabbled, Dark had absolutely no idea of where he'd end up or where his other Pecha berries went (He had at least twenty and now there were only seven)."Anyways..." Guildmaster Wigglytuff broke in before the conversation got too out of hand. "Let's put aside all of Dark's...flaws and look towards the future." GMW looked at Dark and stated, "You have great potential within you. Don't let it go to waste." Dark nodded respectively. Well, fake respect. GM Wigglytuff settled back into his seat and let out a sound of contentment. "Now where were we?...Oh yeah!" The Guildmaster reached underneath his desk and pulled out a couple papers. "You still have to sign the paperwork ya' know." Once again, Dark nodded and grabbed the quill and read the questionaire. He answered all of the questions and handed it to Chazzo who flew off somewhere with it carefully rolled up and pinched in between his upper and lower beak. When Chazzo opened the door, Dark could hear very vague sounds. They were voices, and lot's of them.
"Um...Guildmaster W-Wigglytuff?" Dark nervously asked. Guildmaster Wigglytuff gestured to Dark to speak. "...What Team am I going to be on now? And where exactly is, um, Chazzo going?" Normally, Dark's voice was this quiet, but he usually always had something to say, decent or indecent, but considering how much his future was at stake here, he decided to shut up until this little "interview" was over with. Guildmaster Wigglytuff stroked his ears back and replied half asleep. "He's yawn going to store those papers in the vault and after that, he's going...toooooooooo bring your new team here. Two things by the way..." Dark's ears perked up and his heart started to beat faster than it already was. GMW yawned again and said, "There weren't any G-Rank teams that had any positions open except for one and, judging from your resume, I'm not necessarily 100% positively certainly sure that you'll like your new teammates," GMW said while shaking his head back and forth between the words and Dark's ears droopped down."Aaaaaaaaaand do you have any Chesto berries in there?" GMW pointed at Dark's sack.* "Oh, I think I have a couple."
As Dark awkwardly rummaged through the bag at the side of his chair, he heard the door open. "Sir," Chazzo's voice chimed. "They're here." Dark couldn't help but think how fast that was. He also couldn't refrain from thinking where his porn went. "Excellent. Have them wait outside." Wigglytuff told Chazzo a couple other things Dark deemed unimportant and Chazzo fluttered out. When he did, Dark caught a glimpse of light-orange fur and a red tail with a semi-transparent ball on the end of it. GMW rolled the Chesto berry Dark had fished out on the table while asking a couple more personal questions about him, like what he did before joining Serpent's Edge or what he's encountered on his adventures. Dumb stuff like that. "Well, let's introduce you to your new team shall we?" GMW tossed the Chesto berry up into the air and it landed perfectly in his mouth. Dark got up and realized how sore his ass felt after sitting so long o the small wooden chair and rubbed in a way that Guildmaster Wigglytuff couldn't see. GMW stepped out first, Dark shuffling behind. He looked around. To him, it seemed like now they were in the guild's meeting hall. The door they just stepped out was on the left side of the hall near the back. The other door connecting this place and the lobby was at the front. In the middle of the back area, there was a throne that Dark assumed to be for GMW over here. Adjoining the throne were cauldrons-one with a bright mist, the other gloomy-and they were on either side. A couple feet in front of the seat were not-very-steep steps. The whole floor of the room-except a foot or two away from the walls-was covered in green carpeting. Speaking of the walls, they were covered in intricate carvings of legendary and mythical Pokemon like Jirachi, the wishmaker and Groudon, Master of the Land and even Ho-oh, the Rainbow of Fate. From the ceiling hung chandeliers sculpted to look like Chandelures. (Well those were Dark's guesses anyway. He didn't think they were actual Chandelures...)As the bedazzled Lucario in the hallway admired his surroundings, Dark failed to notice the group in front of him. His new team. And when Dark finally laid eyes on them, his heart nearly stopped.
On his last team, he was with adult and matured Pokemon. The ones in front of him were complete jokes. In the center, there stood a Flaffy who had deep black wool and a fiery red fleece. It's stripes were equally dark and the orb at the end of it's tail was emerald green. Dark assumed this to be the leader of the team because of the other two "junior" Pokemon flanking it. On the left of the Flaffy was a Quilava, sitting on it's all fours with it's flame's inactive. The only difference in fur was that the color of a normal Quilava's fire and fur were swapped up. Besides the Flaffy on the right, parallel to the Quilava, stood a Grovyle. It's scales were much darker-like ivy green-and the red underbelly and chin was now a strong teal. They all didn't look any older than eleven. At first Dark felt as if these three were just passing by, that his actual team was somewhere else, but Dark's desperate theories were shattered when the group decided to introduce themselves to him. "Hey!" the Flaffy said cheerfully and enthusiastically. It had a male yet slightly high-pitched voice, but not enough to be considered feminine. Sheep-Boy here thrust his thumb towards his chest and kept speaking. "My name's Volt! And I'm leader of the legendary!-" Volt grinned devilishly and did an elaborate back-flip high into the air and the other two stammered for a second but the Quilava managed to rush underneath Volt just before he landed and caught him on it's back. Volt balanced himself on the Quilava in a hand-stand and the Grovyle leaped onto Volt's tail and clung to it. The Quilava, who appeared to not be under any stress at all, bounced and Volt and the Grovyle jumped upward simultaneously. Quilava curled into a Flame Wheel constructed of blue fire in midair and when he landed back on the ground, he rolled himself in a straight line towards Dark but stopped midway, grinding to a halt in a sort of bow with his head dipped down. The other two ended up landing in single-file with the Grovyle in the back and Volt in front of Quilava and facing Dark. "Teaaaaaaaaaam..." Volt beganand the other members finished off by jumping one last time in front of Volt side-by-side (The Quilava stood on it's hind legs and it's fire was burning.) and yelling: "Evolution!" Volt did a front-flip and ended up back in front of the other two.
"Soooooooooooo what d'you think?" Volt questioned. Dark stood speechless, but on the inside he was fuming. All he could manage to say was this: "What. The. Fuck." Team Evolution all broke into laughter and Dark could hear a couple snickers from GMW and Chazzo from behind, so Dark decided to join in by adding a couple dry chuckles. He didn't want to let "Team Evolution" think he was a jealous bitch. Of course, they probably didn't know those words. But Dark would realize just how much he underestimated this trio. Three G-Ranked ten-year olds?
The other two came forth and told Dark of their names. "I'm Pyren!" the Quilava yelled with about as much enthusiasm as Volt. Dark hoped they weren't all like this. "I can eat a whole human in one sitting! And I'm the second-best on the team!" Pyren sounded a lot like Volt but with a slightly deeper voice. Dark stared at Pyren for a while, then turned to face the Grovyle. The Grovyle folded his hands behind his head and began to talk until Volt came up and slapped his neck. "Nyaa!" The Grovyle ducked his head down and staggered back in shock and tripped backwards. Volt stayed in the same position he was in when he slapped the Grovyle with his eyes closed. Volt pointed at the Grovyle with his thumb. "He's Forze by the way. He's kind of a nerd. But he's no where near as smart as I am." Forze stood back up and had his arms at his sides and hands clenched tightly. "I am not!" Volt taunted Forze by pulling down his eyelid and stuck out his tongue. Forze yelled and rushed at Volt, but said Flaffy sidestepped and Forze collapsed to the ground and failed to take Volt with him. Volt put his paw over his mouth to stifle a short snigger and extended a courteous hand towards Dark, who accepted it. "I really am smarter than that idiot."
The "idiot" got up again in the same manner as before, this time with a red blush going over the bridge of his nose. "I'm not an idiot!" Volt cocked his head. "Maybe," he said. "But you know for a fact that I'm way more fun than you'll ever be." Volt held up his paws in a shrugging motion and Forze held up a finger and inhaled deeply to start some sort of rant, but had nothing to say. So he put his hand down and held his head in shame. Volt rolled his eyes and grabbed Dark's hand. "W-wait! Where we headed?" "Our place!" Volt exclaimed as he dragged Dark along in a run with Pyren and Forze blazing behind. Dark let the Flaffy pull him towards their Crew Room but he could hear Chazzo from behind before they even reached the door. He was yelling urgently.
Dark pulled out his hand and flipped around to Chazzo who was right in his face. Dark yelped and fell back, flat on his rump. Chazzo floated down to dark and landed on his chest. Chazzo tilted his head and said, "You do know that you have to take the Entrance Exam right?" Dark's widened pushed the Chatot off and got on his feet. "You've got to be kidding me. Why the hell should I have to take it again?" Chazzo coughed and jumped up. Hovering, he got back into Dark's face, closer this time, with narrowed eyes. "Don't question your master. Only he knows what is best," Chazzo said through a gritted beak. Dark returned Chazzo's expression. "Because I have a right to know as a member of Diamond Gale Guild." The words felt rough on Dark's tongue as he was no where near the ability to accept the fact that he was relocated. Chazzo backed out a decent distance. "The exam will be sometime in the next seven days. We will notify you six hours prior." Chazzo fluttered back towards Guildmaster Wigglytuff- who seemed unnaturally still with his eyes open like that- and perched on his shoulder. Dark decided to ask him as he felt he was the only one whom Dark could trust right now. "'Eh, GMW, what's with the exam again? I already aced it the first time at Dragnell." Acing the exam was a complete over-statement. He almost failed, badly, and got his head nearly cut off. Chazzo put his wing out in front of him and held a feather up towards his beak and shushed Dark. "I told you! You can't ask about everything and with such frankness! And don't you dare try to wake him up!" Dark raised an eyebrow at the last sentence and turned around to open the door.
Dark stepped out into the large lobby and tried to spot Volt or the other two, but couldn't find them or any traces of them. The lobby was pretty bare and dull compared to the Assembly Hall, but it had windows on each of the four walls. Dark could see that the storm from before was starting to clear up and light streamed in through the glass panes. Besides the Job Bulletin Board and the Criminal Bulletin Board, there were also a few stands. One had a Toxicroak standing by a vat of strange purple slime. Parallel to it and on the other side of the ladder which led back up to the entrance was a quaint little shop with a Chimecho at the front quietly humming while using psychic powers to levitate boxes and miniscule crates. The whole room was rectangular and on the shorter edges of it were hallways. The one on Dark's left led to the Messhall (as the sign above it states) and the one on the right probably branched out into multiple corridors, each for a specific rank, but Dark couldn't really tell from the angle he was in. The ladder to the surface was opposite of the edge of the room Dark was on.
Only after a couple of seconds did Dark notice the other team by the Jobs Board. Bent over the table leaning against the wall of the board was another Lucario. This one in particular had a light indigo coat with a bright red torso and abdomen with burgundy hands and mask. It was also with three others. An Alakazam, a Hypno, and...someone else. It had no legs so it floated off the ground with, Dark assumed, telekinesis and had a mushroom shaped head with depressions on either side. It's arms ended in ends that resembled the ends of tentacles and on each of them were three different colored obs: Green, yellow, and red. The whole body was brown and the bottom of it was draped almost like a skirt. (But Dark was a Pokemon and Pokemon didn't wear clothes, so he had no way to describe this.) If there were any other defining features, Dark didn't seem to notice them. Dark walked up to the group to ask them about Team Evolution. The Alakazam seemed to hear Dark's footsteps for he turned around right in Dark's direction. The Alakazam nudged the Lucario who was still scribbling something down on the Checkout Paper. The Lucario looked up at Alakazam and it pointed towards Dark. The Lucario put down the quill pen and straightened up. It turned around and now Dark could tell that "It" was a "She" from her curves, and, although Dark would probably never admit it, they looked pretty good on her.
"What do you want?" she said folding her arms. Dark scratched the back of his head and tried to form words but couldn't. "Uh...," The whole team was staring at him now waiting for an answer but Dark couldn't really think of what to say. He could blow his whole reputation at this very moment. He was decently popular at his old guild, but right now he was the new guy. Heck, he didn't even know where the bathrooms were. Dark was about to respond but this female Lucario cut him off. "Wait, I know." She stepped up to Dark until they were close enough to hear each other draw their breaths. The female Lucario glared at Dark for some unknown reason and stated, "You're new here and you're completely screwed over. You have no idea where to go and you're asking me for directions." Dark nodded hesitantly. The other Lucario put her arms back down to her sides and tip-toed up to Dark's height. He was almost six inches taller than her. "Well if you want answers, go ask some one else, rookie." The Lucario said that last word with such an unexpected hostility. She turned around and walked off towards the ladder up to the entrance. The Alakazam, Hypno, and that other creature all looked up at the She -Lucario, glanced at Dark who was debating with himself in his head, and scampered off without saying a word.
Dark held his head low and kept telling himself that he should've knocked that girl senseless when he felt a slight nudge on his elbow. He looked beside him and saw the Hypno who must have stayed behind to speak with Dark. "Yeah, what do ya want?" The Hypno gestured for Dark to bend down. When he did, the Hypno whispered into his ear. "Do not take what Vogue said to heart; She says that to all new members at this guild, transfer or rookie. And if you're wondering where Team Evolution went, go down the hallway on the left, go all the way to right by the second last corridor. Then go down to door G-53:2. That's their Crew Room. But, as of now, they went to the S-Rank corridor to door S-76:1. Tell whomever comes to assist you that you're looking for Team Evolution and that Ios sent you. Farewell..." Ios' dialogue was fairly quiet and Dark had to strain his ears just to listen to what he was saying. Ios closed both eyes and they started glowing an iridescent teal and, for a split second, his body started creating a static-like appearance and vanished into thin air. Dark was startled by Ios' unnecessary and sudden disappearing act but simply shrugged and heeded the guy's directions.
Dark headed towards the Crew Rooms and, sure enough, they were set into separate corridors, each for a specific ranking. Ios had said that Team Evolution probably went down the S hall, so that's where Dark went to check first. "S-76:1," He whispered mentally. As Dark went down the hall, he started to notice how much he was wrong about Diamond Gale. It was certainly much cleaner and smelled nicer than he made it out to be. Heck, it was in the edge of a cliff. The Guildmaster also seemed to be very trustworthy but Dark couldn't really say the same about his assistant. But Dark couldn't really say that he trusted GMW very much either, just a little more than Chazzo. The guild was also much more organized than Dark anticipated. He was expecting the rooms to be all over the place and without much planning, but the Assembly Hall and the lobby were pretty neat and kind of interesting and this corridor he was in went in straight line with the doors to the rooms on both sides. On either side of the doors, there were brightly lit candle sticks in metal grips on the walls. Above each door were the names of the teams that occupied the rooms. But of course, Dark couldn't make a final rating just yet...he didn't have dinner yet.
At the near end of the hall, Dark found himself between two wooden doors. One led to S-76:1 and the other S-76:2. But as usual, Dark had no idea which one to knock on. He wasn't very capable of holding onto information that didn't concern him directly. This seemed a bit more indirect to him. In fact, the only reason he knew to stop off here was because, as said earlier, this was the end of the road. So, he took his chances and rapped on 76:1. Dark awaited someone to come to the door but no one responded for awhile. "Tch! Lazy bastards," Dark fumed and knocked again, but with more force this time. Again, no answer. Dark clenched a hand into a fist and punched the door, trying as hard as he could not to break a hole in it. After a low scream from inside, Dark heard the doorknob turn and his ears perked up. When the door had, at last, opened, a Bisharp faced Dark with a sharp stare that could pierce an Agron's armor and spoke in a low growl. "The hell do ya' want?" He seemed pretty ticked off. "Um," Dark stammered for a sec' trying to put together words to use in a sentence. All that anger he had built up banging on this guy's door dissipated and now Dark felt scared that this guy might beat the crud out of him. "I'm looking for Team Evolution and a Hypno named Ios sent me here to come get them, and...I'm probably at the wrong place aren't I?" The Bisharp had a look of sympathy- which perplexed Dark after what he had just said- and he pointed to the other door opposite of his. "That's where they are. This is 76:1;You want 76:2. Well it's over there." A Gardevoir came by the Bisharp's side and held onto his arm. "Who's this?" The voice was high-pitched like a female's. The Bisharp said, "Just some recruit who lost his way. Nothing else." They both chuckled but Dark groaned. Why did everyone call him a recruit? "The Gardevoir looked at Dark and asked him why he was upset. "'Cause I'm a transfer," he replied.
"Oh you are? From where?"
"Dragnell City." Dark mumbled. At least this girl was normal. Both of their faces lit up with excitement. The Gardevoir reached forward and took Dark's hands into her own and smiled. "We haven't heard from there in weeks! How's it been going there?" Dark pulled his hands out of the girl's hold and drooped his eyelids with self-disappointment. Why'd he have to tell them he was from Serpent's Edge? The Gardevor tilted her head "Hm? Are you okay?" Dark stared at the two of them. Then he raised his hand up and pressed his palm hard into his face, making a loud slapping sound.
After a couple long, dreadful, excruciating minutes of explanation and question-and-answers, Dark tuned around-without saying good bye or something like that- and went to knock on the other door. The Bisharp and Gardevoir both shrugged and went back into their room, closing the door behind them. Before Dark actually knocked on the door, he started thinking of that smell they both had. It was pretty familiar. And that scream was weird too. After a couple moments of pondering, Dark's eyes widened and he shook his head to clear the thoughts from his head. But hey, at least he knew why they smelled like that and where that scream came from. Plus, he had often walked in on his best friend Nero, a Zoroark, and other teammate Shana, a Gengar, having sex, so it wasn't too hard to come to that conclusion. Although, taking into consideration that this was his first day here, Dark hoped this would be the worst or weirdest thing that would happen to him at this guild.
Without thinking about it more than he should, Dark sighed and knocked on the door. This time, Dark had a faster response and when someone came to answer, Dark braced himself for another escapade of the bizarre. But it was quite the opposite of bizarre. Or at least the bad or strange kind of bizarre. The responder was a Zoroark and was easily identifiable as a female from her curves. This Zorark had a near hourglass figure except her core and abdomen wasn't flat enough for that. Yet, for some reason, Dark had an ambiverted feeling that it was built of raw muscle, not fat. And when she came to the door, she was almost a foot taller than Dark. If anything, this female made Dark think that she was both sexy and deadly, a combination Dark rarely ever saw back at his guild. All the sexy ones were usually sluts and whores, and the deadly ones were mostly stuck-up virgins. And for a good reason. Dark gulped and proceeded to clear his throat. He wasn't about to get one-upped again by a female. Especially not this one. "Ahem... My name's Dark and I'm looking for my team...Team Evo-" The Zoroark cut in, "Oh yeah, they're in my room. Why don't you come in? Volt's telling me all about you, so you should give a more...proper introduction." Unlike Vogue, who was pretty rude, or that Gardevoir, who seemed pretty nosy, this girl seemed pretty nice and well-mannered. Or at least decent. And her voice was almost...angelic. But Dark's been in these types of situations before, so the number one thing he shouldn't do is underestimate her. Yet he also knew not to make a bad first impression (something he failed to do earlier with Guildmaster Wigglytuff and Chazzo), so he followed the Zoroark in.
The Zoroark's crew room was exceptionally extravagant and filled with luxury furniture, like velvet sofas and plush chairs, and soft carpeting that brushed against the soles of Dark's feet. They were in the main room, which held the food storage and looked and felt like a living room where conversations would be sparked. The living room branched off into six different rooms. Dark knew from experience back at his old guild that four of the rooms were for the members on the team and one of the spare room had a safe for other things. The last one was a bathroom. The whole rooms was arranged like a small cozy square, with two doors on each side except for the entrance into the crew room. That side had only one door, the one Dark and the Zoroark just came through.
"Well," the female Zoroark said, pointing to the farther door on the right side. "They're in there. And by the way, the name's -"
"Zero!" cried a male voice. The direction of the sound came from one of the doors in the farthest side away from the exit out into the hallway. The Zoroark turned her heads to the door and sighed, saying, "What do you want now Alpha?" So the Zoroark's name was Zero.
The door that Zero was facing flew open and out stepped a Gallade who seemed to be foaming at the mouth. The Gallade looked infuriated and whipped out a furled poster from behind his back. "You see this!" he yelled. Gallade unrolled the poster, holding it with one hand, and on it was a crudely drawn portrait of a house at sunrise or sunset. "This is why we need to get more money by next month!" He jabbed his free index finger towards the text underneath the picture. "It says right here that the Oracle Seeds are going to be recalled by Sietena 12. You want to know what that means? It means that-!"
Zero cut in, saying, "We won't be able to see if we'll win again this year. I know, I know; You've been screaming it in my ear for the past couple weeks now, I get it. But who cares about some dumb ole` seeds?" Gallade's face showed a glimpse of rage. Zero went on. "We'll win this year because we're the best team at the guild. We don't need to see the future to know that, Alpha." Alpha the Gallade appeared to something to retort that statement but didn't say anything else after that. Zero shook her head and sighed. "I put up with this crap a lot. Almost everyday actually," she said towards Dark. "I see." Zero started walking towards her room and grabbed Dark's tail. He yelped and Zero rolled her eyes. "You said you wanted to see Volt and the others right?"
Zero dragged Dark by the tail into her room. It seemed pretty normal compared to the main room. It had a bed with light-gray sheets which were made of exquisite cotton and at the foot of the bed was a chest of sorts. There was a single circular window and right now, the red drapes were pulled apart from each other. It was clear outside. Volt and Pyren were sitting on the bed while Forze was standing by the window. Zero sat down on the bed in-between Volt and Pyren and pulled Volt into her lap, who now wrapped his arms around Zero and rest his head against her belly. Zero smiled and turned her head back to Dark, who was standing in the doorway. "What?" she asked. Dark shook his head. "Nothing. It's just that what are they doing in here?" Zero shrugged. "Dunno. They usually visit us when they've got something interesting to say to me. I'm guessing you're important enough to talk about." Dark narrowed his eyes-He thought that she was mocking him-and Zero laughed at his anger. "You sure get pissed off really easily." Zero stood up and Volt got out of her lap, and then she put a hand on her hip. "So why are you here?" Dark glared. "I already told you. I'm here to get them." Once again, Zero rolled her eyes. Dark folded his arms and tilted his head. "Whatever," Zero said. She walked past Dark out of her room, but when she did something strange happened. Dark's pupils dilated to almost the edges of the iris in his eyes and blacked out while still standing up like a possessed puppet.
Beyond Space and Time
Dark was in a snow-covered meadow now. Surrounding him were many unconscious and blood covered and dead bodies of many Pokemon, some he knew and some that were foreign to him. He was laying face-down in a pool of blood that didn't belong to him. He struggled to get up, and it was no real challenge. But he realized he couldn't feel the ground. He couldn't feel the chill of the weather, nor the blood running down his face. All he could feel was fear and hate. His legs wobbled as he walked through the shin-high snow, only moving inch by inch to nowhere. Through nowhere.
His ears perked up as he heard a faint shuffling of snow. He turned and saw Nero trying to push himself up. Dark hobbled over to assist his friend. Dark gave him his hand but Nero rejected it. "Please," he whispered weakly. He locked eyes with Dark. "I'm not weak like you." Dark didn't quite grasp the meaning of that very well. Nero had more wounds than Dark and was buried deeper in the snow, giving an inadequate supply of oxygen to breathe while he was down. It was a wonder to how he survived at all. Nero took a bit more time than Dark expected, but he managed to recover and stood straight. "Where is she?" Dark forgot up until that point why he was here. Dark heard a familiar laugh. "I'm right here." Dark and Nero turned around to see another Zoroark, this one female, standing there, staying ominously still. She started waling in their direction. "Well we certainly made a mess here haven't we?" As she walked past Dark, she grabbed his hand and bent down to whisper into Dark's ear. "I'll be expecting a rematch," she said viciously. Dark knew she wouldn't hold back next time...
Dark...Dark...Dark!...POOMPH!
Reality
Dark came back and his eyes refocused, his pupils going back to normal size. It took around five seconds for him to realize that he had just got punched in the stomach. Hard. He doubled over in agony and yelled, "What the hell! Why'd you do that?" Forze still had his fist curled into Dark's belly, so he pulled it away and stated, "Th-They told me to!" He pointed at Volt and Pyren who were both holding in laughter with great effort. Dark glared at the two. "We tried to wake you up, but it didn't work. We told you, so happy?" Volt said. "No." Volt put his paws together behind his head and said "Meh" and walked off with Pyren. Forze joined the two and left Dark behind. "Hey, w-wait!" Dark started to run after them but ending up tripping and landed flat on his face. Dark mumbled a couple of curses and got up and chase Team Evolution. As he did, he ended up crashing into someone and they both toppled over onto the ground. "Gah! Dammit!" Dark yelled and stood up on the creature. "When I catch up to you, you're so dead!"
"Hey, get off of me!"
"Huh?"
Dark stepped off of the poor thing and saw that it was a Sandslash. It got off the ground and glared at Dark with it's teeth bared. "The heck was that for?" The male Sandslash took a step forward, prompting Dark to take a step back. Sandslash inched toward Dark slowly and Dark did the same towards the main door. And then Dark turned around and ran out the door for his life, with the Sandslash hot on his tail.
He burst out into to the S-Rank hallway and bumped into a Rhydon who fell down on it's rear, dropping a few groceries. "S-Sorry!" he gasped and kept running down the hall towards the lobby. He'd probably be safe there. A more accurate term: Hopefully. As he kept running back towards the lobby, crowds of Pokemon became apparent and they grew larger and larger until there was just one big one at the center of the lobby circled around something. Or someone. Dark knew that the Sandslash might've been tiring out by now, but to ensure that, he drove himself into the gathering and pushed aside the patrons within, uncaring of them, what was in the ring, or how far behind the Sandslash was. "I keep tellin' ya, they've invaded our lands. They want ouwa' money!"
At the center of the gathering stood two Electavires trying to console an infuriated and bitter Medicham yelling at them in garbled and insensitively, spewing nonsense repeatedly. The Electivires grabbed the Medicham's arms and pulled them apart so that he was in a T shape. "Sir, please! We'll get someone to help! Just calm down," the Electivires pleaded the Medicham, who was thrashing about in the two poor guards' hold and then turned to the one on his left and stared at the guard Electivire with angered eyes. The kind someone who was either insane or deathly ill would have. "Me? Calm d-down? Do you have any idea what kind of trouble we be in?! Ye' gonn' die!" The Medicham turned towards the group who all gasped and stepped back in fear of him assaulting the audience. Dark stayed where he was, planted into the ground by his feet. "You heaze that? Y'all goin' to die!" Out of nowhere, the Medicham suddenly croaked and his eyes rolled up into the back of his head. There was a flash, almost like the air started moving, and a sword made of telekinetic energy impaled his throat and lacerated the arteries and veins connected to his brain. He was dead before he hit the ground, before the Electivires let go of him.
At first it was all still and quiet. Dark was expecting the stiffened group members to all start screaming and run back to their rooms. But instead, they all slowly and awkwardly peeled off, layer by layer, and took small steps back towards the corridors, probably reflecting on the horror they just witnessed in a mere twenty seconds. Dark stayed behind, not even noticing that the Sandslash that was just hounding him stood next to him, staring sadly at the limp body of the Medicham. It looked up at Dark with those sadddened, black, and beady eyes. "Sorry for chasing you earlier...," it said discretely. Dark then looked down and yelped and took a couple steps back. It shook its head and laughed. "I'm not mad anymore. Of course, I don't see how I could be...Hmm?" Dark's ears twitched and he saw Chazzo and Guildmaster Wigglytuff running out of the Assembly Hall. GMW looked like he just woke up from a good nap, rubbing his eyes like that. GMW whispered something to Chazzo and he flew away towards the dorm rooms. "So...what yawwwn happened?" he asked Dark. He rubbed his ears and looked, piecing together an adequate answer. Dark wasn't focusing on the whole happening very much. "Um...well...there was this crazy Medicham who kept yelling that someone was after our money and was going to kill us, then a random sword popped up and stabbed him in the throat...and...that's pretty much all I know." GMW said nothing and pondered the incident thoughtfully.
Dark heard wings flapping rapidly so he turned to see his team rushing for him. Chazzo told GMW something and Wigglytuff nodded gratefully. Dark felt something his hand. He looked down and saw Volt gazing up at him. "What's going on?" he asked. Dark felt too tired to give a vocal response so he just shrugged. This was already such a lousy day for him. Chazzo fluttered towards Team Evolution, in Volt's direction. "It appears there's a group of bandits in the village. Find them and dispose of them. Kill them or turn them into the police, I don't care. Just get rid of them." Volt and the others bowed gracefully, the very contrast of what Dark had seen from them. "Right sir," they all (not including Dark) said in unison. They stayed like that a couple seconds until Pyren punched Dark's side. "What are doing? Bow down!" "Huh? Oh," Dark replied. Team Evolution straightened up and headed outside. Dark was about to follow until Chazzo stopped him. "Just so you know, we're counting this as your entrance exam. Don't mess this up or kiss your whole future goodbye." Dark winced at Chazzo's word choice but put them aside and proceeded to follow his team. Don't screw this up...
Sooooooooooo what d'you think? Yes I know, that chapter took a ridiculous amount of time to upload, but I had slacked off over spring break and I had to check this over a ton of times, making sure everything was perfect. I also didn't have much time on hand (Once again, I slacked off over Spring Break) so that's pretty much why I was so late. But I promise you, I'll hopefully not take that much time to write the next chapter. Leave a review if you'd like, giving me any suggestions at all. Zephyrwing963 throws down a smoke bomb and is seen standing only two feet away from the smoke cloud.