Author's Note: How does one mange to get single symbols like ~ and - into their own lines? I'm trying to do that so I can give a perspective change. So far, I've only been able to do that through horizontal lines. And on that note, how do you make extra space between lines? I've been uploading chapters in story format. Anyone who can help with this?

The path through Treasure Town was darkening as the sun became dimmer. Pokémon were starting to head home, and those who attended the shops had obviously closed down.

Nothing had changed much about the guild in the times that I've been on its grounds. The hut was structured to look identically like a Wigglytuff: pink, plump, and smiling. The only difference was there were windows in place of the eyes, and there was a ladder inside the hut, with a large metal gate obstructing it. What lay between us and the guild was a large, circular grate in the ground, for the sentry to detect intruders. I would know: I had stepped on it a couple times.

"This is Wigglytuff's Guild." I told Pablo. "This is where you have to register, first, in order to become an exploration team. Then you can train here until you can become a full-rate exploration team."

I looked back at the tent, and shuddered some.

"Urk! Doesn't something seem strange about this place to you?"

"What're you talking about? It doesn't look like much."

Pablo examined the building top to bottom, then looked at me. "What is it to you?"

"I-I don't know..." I continued to stutter. "It's just...something creeps me out about this place."

"BOO!"

I jumped up with an "EEEK!" and Pablo spun around and prepared to attack.

Something inside me told me to run again, but–hold on. I knew that voice!

I turned to see a sky blue lion cub, a Shinx, trotting up the steps towards us with a goofy grin on his face. Of course he'd be the one to do that.

"Roy!" I growled. "I thought I said NOT to scare me like that! Especially if I'm trying to join the guild!"

"I know!" He snickered, "But I couldn't help myself. It was just too perfect not to! So, you're taking another crack at this, huh?"

He then noticed the Charmander standing next to me. "And who's that kid?"

"This is Pablo, a very recent friend of mine."

"Um, hi." Pablo smiled, waving slightly.

Roy walked up to Pablo, and looked up at him.

"Hmm..."

He got closer, and started to sniff him.

"W-what? What are you doing?" Pablo asked, a bit surprised.

"You...you smell funny." Roy muttered, sniffing him from his stomach up to his neck.

"I smell? Well, that's kinda weird. I came back from...err, a 'swim' earlier. So I shouldn't smell at all."

"It's not that. You just smell—different, from other fire-type pokémon I've met."

Roy sniffed Pablo for a few more seconds, then backed down.

"It's all right, though. Most people I meet smell funny, anyway. And, besides, any buddy of Ty's is a buddy of mine! Nice to meet ya, Pablo!" Roy smiled, lending out his paw.

Pablo shook it slightly, but Roy quickly turned to me. "So, ready to form our exploration team today?"

"Well...um..."

I looked down and shuffled my feet anxiously.

"...Don't take this the wrong way, but Pablo and I decided to form an exploration team together."

"...What?"

"Yeah. We're forming an exploration team together." Pablo restated. I turned around quickly, shoulders hunched.

"B-but...I thought, you and I—weren't we...?"

Roy's expression started to look gloomy, and his head drooped.

"What's the matter?" Pablo asked.

"No, nothing's wrong, it's just—Ty and I were planning to form an exploration team. You know, before he met you..."

"Well, two thugs nearly got away with a "special treasure" of his, so, I did what I could, and—"

"WHAT?!" Roy barked in shock. "You lost our treasure?!"

"Yeah, but Pablo helped me get it back!" I quickly replied.

"...Oh. Whew...thank Arceus..."

I still didn't turn around to face Roy. I didn't want to see him with either a disappointed look, or, worse, an angry one.

I knew this would happen; after all, I originally had planned to form an exploration team with Roy instead. But meeting Pablo, getting his help—ugh! The idea flew right past me.

I was about to say "I'm sorry" but got cut off.

"Hey." Roy said, in a surprisingly calm voice. I turned my head slowly.

"...Yeah?"

"You mind if I join you guys anyway?"

"Huh?" I turned back to face him.

"First off, like I said, any buddy of yours is a buddy of mine. And second, you promised that we would form an exploration team earlier, weren't we? Having a third member's not gonna stop that!"

"Yeah, we were!" I felt the warmth come over me. Thank goodness, Roy wasn't mad at me. "Sure, you can join us!"

"Why not?" Pablo asked. "We could use some more members!"

Roy gave a confident nod to the both of us, as a way of saying "Thank you."

"Okay then—I'll go first." And I slowly stepped onto the grate.

The first thing I heard out of that hole was "Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"

I didn't move. I wasn't going to run away THIS time. I had Pablo and Roy with me now, so there was nothing to fear.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

I was now shaking all over, but I didn't move. I WOULDN'T move.

"The footprint is riolu's! The footprint is riolu's!"

The screechy voice slowly died down. Well, that was easy. I thought.

"You may ENTER!"

Okay, forget what I thought. I almost did a back flip seven feet high.

"Wait a minute! You've got two other strangers with you! Get them up HERE!"

I recovered from shock, and moved aside just as Roy came towards the grate.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is shinx's! The footprint is shinx's!"

"You may ENTER!" The voice boomed again. "Alright, just one more! Get him UP here!"

"Okay, Pablo." I said. "Your turn."

I think Pablo already got the message. Just as the voice beckoned him onto the grid, he walked onto it automatically.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is...uh...the footprint is...uhhh...the footprint..."

"Diglet? Sentry! ANSWER!"

Everything went quiet for a few seconds. What had happened? Could they not identify Pablo's foot?

"...Um...I don't know. Maybe it's charmander's!"

Apparently not.

"WHAT?! MAYBE!? What the hell does THAT mean?!"

"Well, I can't recognize this one! It's one that you don't normally see around these parts."

"HUMPH! That's pretty crappy! Your job's to identify the pokémon that come here, RIGHT!? How HARD is THAT?!"

"Well, I don't know what I don't know..."

"Ugh...What a waste of life..."

The three of us—or the two of us, at least—were left confused, listening to the conversation.

"Are they...arguing?"

Pablo gave a small chuckle.

"Sure sounds like it!"

He sat down, stretched out his arms and legs, and finally lay down on his back, one leg crossed over the other.

"This could take a while..."

I sighed out of boredom, and sat down alongside him, waiting for something to happen. Roy yawned lazily, then lay down with us. I figured that the two pokémon arguing wasn't going to make time go any faster. Had I known it would take this long just for us to get in, Roy and I would've left right away. I mean, there are a lot more places to go to become an explorer. But this was as close as to where we lived, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to start here.

After a few minutes, Pablo, and I looked at each other, and nodded. We knew what we were both thinking: we had enough waiting.

"HEY!" Pablo shouted down the hole. "All done down there?"

There was no response. Then—

"RIGHT. Sorry to keep you WAITING. It's true we can't identify YOU, and there aren't many Charmanders like you around. But you don't SEEM that bad...Fine, good enough! You may ENTER."

And, with a loud creak, the gates leading inside cranked open.

"Finally!" Pablo said impatiently, getting up and walking toward the ladder inside. "Let's go, guys!"

Yes! This was it! They were letting me—I mean, us in! I quickly dashed ahead of Roy after Pablo, making sure not to trip over myself by accident.

We were finally entering the guild—now all we had to do was join it.

0-0-0

"Hey, check it out! There's a ladder leading underground!"

"Well, DUH! Of course it does!" I threw my arms in the air dramatically. "Why do you think we heard voices underground? It means most of the complex has to be underground."

"Oh, right. Sorry..."

"Well, that's fine. But just keep a more open mind to these things, all right? Now, c'mon!"

Ty gave a confident nod, and went down first.

I slid down the ladder after him, making sure he was out of the way beforehand. Roy quickly followed afterwards. I admit, I figured the ladder was going to go somewhere. Then again, I wasn't expecting the entire guild to be this big.

So—this is Wigglytuff's guild.

I observed the room we came into—you know, out of curiosity.

There were pokémon all around us, going on with their daily business for the evening. Not that they really noticed us come in, though: they all seemed too busy. Ty certainly seemed excited about it, nonetheless, looking all over the place with a smile full of wonder.

"Excuse me! ~ "

We turned back around to see a parrot hopping toward us. He had a green chest, a blue crest under his white feathery collar, and blue wings straight down at his sides. His head was shaped like a black B-note, and his tail looked like that hand you see in a metronome that moves to a certain rhythm.

"You are the ones who came in?"

"Uh, yes." Ty said anxiously. The bird lightly bowed his head to us.

"I am Chatot, and I'm the pokémon in the know of this place I'm also the guildmaster's right-hand pokémon! ~ Now—get out!"

Chatot suddenly flapped his wings at us rapidly, which an angry glare on his eyes.

"We have no time for silly surveys, insurance, or whatever gibberish you're blundering us with! Out, out, OUT!"

"W-wait, hang on! We're not selling anything! We're here to form an exploration team! We want to apprentice here at Wigglytuff's guild."

"W-WHAT?! An Exploration Team?!" the bird squawked with a completely shocked tone.

He suddenly turned around, and muttered something to himself, so that we could barely hear him:

"It's hard to see kids like these to be apprentices here. Especially given how hard the training is! Surely, the steady stream of pokémon who flee due to vigorous training proves the point!"

"I'm sorry. Is it really that hard? If it is, we can just try some place else."

"WHA—"

The bird suddenly twisted around back to us. "—No, no. no! It's not hard at all! Not even the slightest! Training here is as easy as reading your ABC's! If you wanted to form an exploration team, why didn't you tell me upfront? Tee-heeeee! ~ "

"...Uh...we did." I muttered flatly.

"Well, it's quite alright, anyway. Many of the exploration teams that do join us most often vanish without a trace. It's become difficult to find those who wish to apprentice, so it's not very often that we get a volunteer, or two. If you follow me, I'm sure the guildmaster can get you enrolled right away. Follow me, please! ~ "

0~0~0

Just to be clear, Roy was probably the first friend I had in my life. While neither of us were that close to each other, we did have one thing in common: exploring was both our favorite thing. How far it would take us, that's another story.

As soon as we passed a window, I instantly dashed over to look outside.

"Wow! We're two floors underground, and yet we can see the entire ocean from here!"

"Ty, think about it." Pablo said, walking over to me. "If you can see the ocean from below here, what does that tell you?"

"Oh! It means this place is part of a cliff—oh. Right." I lowered my head sheepishly.

"Just goes to show." He chuckled. "You gotta take more perspective in these things."

"If you're all finished over there?" Chatot flew toward a rather big door with an orange and pink curl painted on it.

"Now, THIS is the Guildmaster's room. Even though you are new here, there are two things you should know: One. You shall address him only as Guildmaster, or sir, if you will. And two: under any circumstance, never—I repeat, NEVER—be discourteous to him. You do NOT want to see what he's like with a bad temper. Got that?"

We all nodded, and Chatot turned back to the door.

"Gulidmaster? It's Chatot! I'm coming in!

Chatot opened the door and flew to the back of the room, and perched himself next to a rather big, pink figure, a Wigglytuff, it's back turned to us. It was just standing there, motionless.

"Guildmaster Wigglytuff? These are the new apprentices."

He, she—it said nothing.

"Guildmaster. Guildmaster...?"

I slowly walked toward the thing, with a feeling of unease in my stomach.

"...Excuse me, Guildmaster, sir...sir?"

Pablo became the next to speak. "Uh...hi...?"

"HIYA!" The Wigglytuff suddenly spun up and shrieked in a very joyful, yet extremely loud tone. Chatot and I almost hit the ceiling, jumping up so high, both Roy and Pablo were blown back into the wall behind us.

"I thought I said never to do that again!" Chatot growled, recovering from the sudden yelp in his ear (if he had any).

I looked at Wigglytuff like it was insane. Pablo was just blinking in surprise. I think it came in so much of a rush; he didn't have the time to comprehend it.

"How d'ya do? I'm Wigglytuff, and I'm the guild's guildmaster! So, you wanna be an exploration team huh? Well, let's hop to it!"

Wigglytuff did some sort of march as he came towards us. "First, we're gonna need your name! Now, what might it be, I wonder?"

Name? Uh-oh. We didn't think about our team name yet. I looked to Pablo for support, but he looked just as stumped as me.

"Uh—we don't know."

"What? You've gone all this way through the guild and you didn't even think of a name?" Chatot said, surprised.

"Hang on. How about Team Poképals?" I spoke up.

"That's what I was thinking!" Wigglytuff suddenly cheered.

"Suits you more." Roy said, looking at me bluntly. "How about Team Lightning?"

"Sorry, the name's already been taken." Chatot stated.

"Look, if we're going to think of a name, we need to think of something that suits the three of us."

Pablo started rubbing his chin for a minute.

"Something like—"

He suddenly snapped his fingers, and proudly declared:

"Team Sunstars! How about that?"

I looked up at him. "Why that name?"

"Put it this way. The sun brings light by day, right?"

"Right."

"And the stars generate light in the evening, don't they?"

"Yeah...I still don't understand."

"So our types match perfectly! My type—fire—is the sun's light, and aura like yours shines bright: like a shining star! And Roy, your electricity kinda sparkles the same way! It fits us perfectly!"

Pablo suddenly added, "There's a pun along the lines of 'It doesn't get any brighter than that', but I'd rather not. So, how about it?"

"Yeah! It's perfect!" Roy said happily.

I thought the name over, and made a confirming nod.

"Yeah, I like that name, too! Okay, we're Team Sunstars!"

Wigglytuff suddenly jumped up.

"All righty, then! I'll register you as Team Sunstars. Registering—" And he took a large, deep breath, inflating to the size of a Lickilicki.

"Wait, what're you—"

"Get down!" Chatot squawked.

"W-what?!"

"Registering—"

"Don't argue! DUCK!"

"All registered—"

The next fifteen seconds of our time in that room have been burned into my memory ever since we first came here. In fact, whenever we have new apprentices arrive, it always brings me back to this with a smile. And it went a little something a-like-a this:

"YOOM—TAAAAAAHHHH!"

With a white flash, Wigglytuff suddenly screamed so loud that his voice rang through the entire complex. Roy was flat on the ground, covering his ears as tight as he could. Chatot—Well, I completely lost sight of him, whether he was blown away by the scream or clinging for dear life to the ceiling. Pablo was just standing there, letting himself be blown back. I couldn't tell what anyone was saying: my eardrums were on the verge of exploding!
And, all at once, the screaming stopped.

"—Done! You're now an exploration team! Now, all you need is your equipment!"

Wigglytuff turned to face Chatot.

"Chatot!"

"Y-yes, guildmaster?"

"Let's get our new apprentices rallied up!"

I sighed in a mix of unease and relief. "Are all the guildmasters like this?" I asked Chatot, as Wigglytuff began to rummage for something in the back of the room.

"Well...No. Just this one in particular."

Pablo said nothing. He just stood there, looking absolutely oblivious by the screaming, his tail sticking straight out behind him, the flame nearly extinguished. But there was a silly grin on his face.

"Pablo?" He didn't say anything. "Hey, Pablo!" Roy tapped him on the shoulder. Still nothing.

"Best...registration...EVER..."

Wigglytuff came back with a rather large bag and put it in front of us.

"There you go! Your exploration kit! It's got everything you need to become an exploration team! Well, go on! Pull something out!"

Looking inside, Pablo quickly yanked out two metal badges that looked like pokémon capsules with wings.

"Those are your explorer badges. They're your team's official identification."

"And this thing—" I pulled out a scrolled up paper that looked a bit worn.

"Oh, that one's my favorite!" Wigglytuff joyously interrupted. "That's the wonder map! It's a wonderful map of convenience! Perfectly useful for anywhere, anytime!"

"And this?" I asked, pulling out a brown duffel bag.

"That's the treasure bag! You can use it to store any items you find in mystery dungeons. Its capacity grows bigger with your success! It's a very handy bag!"

The bag looked like it had a yellow-gold circle imprinted on the cover, with small flares shining off it. It seemed to match our team's name nicely. How'd they know to do that?

That wasn't important. I could feel something in the bag already. There was a purple cloth, and a bow that turned a deep cobalt blue when Pablo touched it.

"What's that?" Pablo asked, pointing to the blue cloth.

"Oh this? It's a Guts Scarf. It bumps up your attack whenever you inflicted with a status condition." I noted.

"And that's an aura bow." Chatot continued. "It raises all of your stats by one. It also can change color, depending on who wears it. It may not seem like much, but at least you won't lose it."

"Wow...So my aura color's blue? Heh, sweet." Pablo chuckled, fiddling with the bow.

"Well, don't be selfish! Let me see what mine is!" Roy pleaded. Pablo smiled, and let him hold the cloth for a minute. In a small flash, the bow turned a light purple.

"Violet!" He declared.

"So, wanna know what your aura is, Ty?"

"It's orange." I said quickly.

"Wait, how did you—" Pablo started.

"He's related to the aura pokémon. He can read anyone's aura, even his own. Duh!" Roy chuckled.

"Oh, well this is surprising!" I added. "Chatot, your aura color is—pink?"

"Ha! Please. In case you never realized, pink is a manly color!" Chatot boasted, flexing his wings to set in the feeling.

"I see..." Pablo said, smiling slyly. "But your aura color still says that you're also cute and pretty!"

"Oooooooh! How wonderful! Chatot! You and I are the exact same color! Isn't that an amazingly wonderful thing? ~ "

Even through those black feathers, I could see a deep blush form in his face.

"Oh, hush! Just...HUSH!" He squawked sheepishly.

I didn't mind. I knew that we had more than enough of what we needed.

"Thank you so much, guildmaster!" I bowed my head respectfully.

"Yup! And best of luck with your exploration team!" Wigglytuff joyously announced. "Of course, right now, you're only apprenticing, so do you best—to train!"

"We will!" I decided, beginning to sound excited.

"Let's do the best we can, Pablo!"

"You know it, partner!"

0-0-0

I was still a little dizzy, shaking a little as we followed Chatot through another hallway and to one of the doors on the side. But I felt happy, ridiculously happy. Being in the guild was so much fun, already!

I suddenly bumped into Ty. And Chatot spun around to face us.

"Now, the left corridor leads to the girls' dorms, and the corridor to your right leads to the boys' dorms, which is where you will sometimes stay during housekeeping..."

He then led us to a room at the end.

"...And here is your room!"

Ty and I walked inside for a look. The inside was small, but looked comfortable enough for at least three people. The only presence of light in the room came only from the low-hanging moon in the night sky. The beds looked like three small piles of grass, but I didn't care. I was getting too tired to complain.

"...Bed..."

I trudged to one of the piles and collapsed on it. Almost instantly, I felt relaxed. Pretty comfortable for a lump of grass. I watched as Roy did a belly flop onto another, then rolled around in it to get comfortable. Ty slumped onto the third grass bed, and settled himself there.

"All right, get a good night's sleep, you three. You begin first thing tomorrow, so go to sleep early! Don't stay up late! That is all." And with that, he flew out.

"Hey, Pablo?" I heard Ty mumble sleepily, after a few minutes—or, what felt like it, anyway. "You still awake?"

"I was...then you woke me up." I sat up with a grunt.

It was pitch black in our room now. The only way I could see anything was the lone moonbeam shining through the small window.

Roy was dead asleep, slumped on his stomach, drool slowly oozing out of his mouth. Ty was sitting up on his bed, looking towards me. Man, he didn't even look tired yet.

"Sorry. It's just...my heart's been racing today over every little thing—but I'm glad I finally forced myself to come here. I was expecting the Guildmaster to be real scary, but he seems pretty nice, once you get to know him. We're probably going to be doing a lot of stuff tomorrow, but I'm not scared. In fact—I'm really looking forward to what we'll face tomorrow!" He whispered excitedly. "And I wouldn't have been able to without you, Pablo!"

"Yeah, yeah. Just remember, we've got our day on the job, first thing in the morning. And, while you're at it, try to get some sleep."

"You're right. We've just became an exploration team, so—*yawn* let's do our best, okay...?"

Ty lazily turned on his side, closed his eyes, and fell asleep. He looked a little cute, sleeping curled up like that. So did Roy: he was still drooling some on his bed.

But that wasn't on my mind at the moment; there were still many unanswered questions.

One: who was I? Two: How did I become a pokémon? Three: How did I end up on that beach in the first place? And four, above all that: why did all this seem so familiar?

And five: Why was I asking myself all these questions? It's not like anyone else knew the answers any better. Not that all this was really crucial. I'd kinda gotten used to being a pokémon already, being here for the first time, so I had all day tomorrow to answer those questions. Besides, thinking about it wasn't going to get me anywhere.

"Okay, Ty..." I said, laying on my back and closing my eyes.

"...We'll give it our all, tomorrow."