"So, what's this place called?" the Sneasel asked as he looked up at the building that was going to be his new residence, apparently. It looked underwhelming, in a way. It was only a big tent with a few totem poles up front of various different Pokemon. Dice could make out a Hoothoot, a Yungoose, and what was maybe a Sigilyph. He couldn't tell for sure. It was poorly made.

"The Dungeon Crawlers guild," the Hawlucha officer said. Machon had insisted that he went with the fugitive to his new home, just to make sure he didn't try anything. The police officer was always so persistent, so nobody dared disagree with him. Besides, he knew fighting type moves, so he could take down Dice easily if he tried to escape.

Dice chuckled and shook his head, looking back at the officer. "Dungeon Crawlers?" he asked as he crossed his arms and looked back at the building. "Kind of a stupid name, and a bit childish, don't you think?"

"I'm sure it's better than what most people could come up with," the bird pokemon stated as he walked towards the entrance, gesturing for Dice to follow. They approached the door and Machon gave it a hard knock, making a surprising amount of noise.

The doors slowly creeped open and two heads popped out. One belonged to a Simipour, and the other belonged to a Simisear.

"Someone here?" the water type asked with a tilt of her head.

"Visitors?" the fire type had also asked.

"Oh, goodie!" They suddenly both leaped out of the doorway and hopped in front of the two, clapping hands together simultaneously.

"Welcome to the Dungeon Crawlers guild!" they both said in unison, both unable to hold back wide smiles that almost made Dice sick just looking at.

The Simipour curtseyed and put a hand on her chest. "My name is Cumuli, and I'm one of the greeters of the guild! Pleasure to meet you! Hope you have a wonderful time here!"

"And I am Alaze!" The Simisear gave the two pokemon a thumbs up before putting his hands on his hips, looking up at the sky in some sort of victorious pose. "I am also a greeter, and Cumui's brother! I hope you enjoy your stay here."

Cumuli giggled and looked at Alaze. "Oh! Wait, I think we're forgetting someone, aren't we?"

"Oh, yes we are, sister dear." Alaze chuckled and looked back at the two visitors in front of them. Neither of them looked amused, but the fire-type hoped that this next introduction would be the real show stopper. "We're missing the final member of our group!"

Alaze and Cumuli both looked at the door and, in perfect unison, brought their hands up to their mouths and called out, "Come on out now!"

A few seconds passed and it was obvious that Cumuli and Alaze weren't expecting the silence.

"Excuse me for a moment," the water-type said and walked over to the door. "Ginseng! You need to get out here!"

While Cumuli proceeded to get into a quiet argument with whoever was behind the door, Dice looked back at Machon. "You've seen something like this before?"

Machon shook his head. "Never been to the guild before, if I'm going to be honest. Heard stories of these guys, though. They try to put on a good introduction; give your visit a good beginning. I'm guessing they haven't worked it out yet."

Dice chuckled. "Well, their failure's more amusing than their actual show."

"Oh, here they come!" Cumuli bounced back to the side of Alaze and the two siblings clapped their hands. "Introducing the last of the greeter siblings! The one, the only-"

"Ginseng!" Suddenly, a Simisage bounced out of the door and, almost reluctantly, put her hand to her head in a mock salute, giving the visitors a stare with narrowed eyes. "Greeter Ginseng reporting for duty! You enjoy your stay! We will do our best to suit your needs!"

Cumuli clapped her hands together and looked at Ginseng. "Yay, we finally did it!" She ran to the grass type and gave her a hug. "Thank you so much! We've been working on this forever!"

"Yeah, I know," the Simisage muttered with a nod of her head. "You've been dragging me to your little performances for months now. Honestly, you should be more focused on your job. We actually have visitors here. Now, excuse me."

Ginseng gently pushed Cumuli away from her and looked at Machon. She nodded to the officer and gave him another salute. "Oh, officer Machon. You're a...very high ranked officer. Is something wrong?"

"Oh, so you know my work." The officer chuckled, a grin on his face due to the recognition. The officer pushed the Sneasel to Ginseng and nodded. "This is a prisoner who decided to work in the Pokemon guild instead of facing a sentence in jail."

"Oh, really?" Ginseng glanced at Dice and nodded before looking back at Machon. "So you want me to take him to the guild leaders, then?"

Machon nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that," he said. "Makes my job easier if you take over from here."

"Right. We'll take care of him." Ginseng then grabbed Dice by the arm and walked towards the entrance of the guild. She gestured towards her siblings that they needed to get going.

"Oh, a real criminal?" Cumuli asked as she tilted her head, moving it towards Dice just slightly. "That's really dramatic right there! Imagine all the stories this person could tell! All about infiltrating high security areas and running from the law."

"I agree, sister. Those stories could be full of drama, full of adventure, and, possibly, even romance!" Alaze brought a hand to his chest and looked at Dice. "We must learn your stories later on, dear criminal! I'm sure you'll have much to tell us."

"Oh, yes, I'm sure he does," Ginseng muttered as she walked into the building. "But he has to talk to the guild leaders, so excuse him for a moment."

Ginseng then walked further into the building. She rested her paw against her face and sighed. "My siblings are all about stories. All of the action and adventure. They want to be able to reenact those scenes. Put on a play, I guess. I suggest you don't tell them anything. They'll never let you leave."

Dice chuckled. "Yeah, and I don't want that. No offense, but your siblings are a bit odd."

"I get that a lot. Now let's keep moving."

Now, Dice had to say, while the guild didn't look that impressive on the outside, looking like nothing more than a giant circus tent, it looked amazing on the inside. On the inside, there were many different ways to go, and those hallways only branched off into many other hallways. Dice could only wonder how complex looking a map of this building would be. Actually, he'd rather not see that. Sounds like a headache waiting to happen.

Many pokemon walked past Dice as they continued moving through the building. There were all different types. There were strong pokemon such as Lucarios and Rhydons, decently strong pokemon such as Bastiodons and Raichus, and even weaker pokemon like Cottonees and Rattatas. A huge amount of pokemon, all different shapes and sizes, resided under this building. It was actually kind of impressive that they could all fit under one roof.

One of the most impressive rooms they had gotten to was basically a giant garden, filled with all types of giant flowers and some young trees that were slowly growing up towards the ceiling. The entire room had a nice aroma of flowers and there were many colors splashing the room.

"Here we are," Ginseng soon said as they approached a huge door made out of some type of wood. Maybe Oak? Birch? Dice didn't know about trees. He wasn't going to guess. Ginseng then put her paw up and gave the door a few good knocks.

A few moments later, the door opened just enough to reveal an Elekid wearing a black bowtie. He looked at the two, eyes lingering on Dice for just a bit longer, before looking at Ginseng. "You wish to speak to the guild leaders?"

"Yeah, Edison," the grass type said, and when the Elekid crossed his arms, she shook her head. "Sorry. Edison Sault."

The Elekid nodded, a small smile on his face. "Yes, that's right," he said before opening the door. "Right, well, you can talk to them. Come on in."

Ginseng nodded and walked into the room, pulling Dice in with her as she did.

The room looked...rather pretty, honestly. There were many flowers everywhere, just like the garden in the room they were just in, all ranging from different colors like purple, red and yellow. Decorating the walls were different types of awards. Ribbons, trophies or otherwise, all with little plaques next to them to describe the award, and in the middle were the guild leaders themselves.

One was a Butterfree who had somewhat smaller eyes than the average Butterfree, but her wings were huge and had a very elegant design to them. The other one was a Beedrill who had a scar next to his right eye and a small chip on his left stinger, but he was one of the biggest bug pokemon that Dice has ever seen. While most Beedrill were at least three feet (which is still taller than Dice, unfortunately for him), this bug was easily four feet tall, probably taller.

"Oh, hello Ginseng," the Butterfree said with a nod as her wings fluttered in greeting. Her eyes then went towards the Sneasel. "Oh? Who is this? You brought someone with you?"

The Simisage nodded. "Oh, yes. Officer Machon had brought this criminal to me. He chose to join the guild instead of facing a punishment in jail."

"Oh, really?" The Butterfree looked at the Beedrill, who stared at the dark type intently, for a few moments before flying over to the Sneasel, the Beedrill following close behind.

"So, what is your name? I'm Soara, and this is my partner Magnus," she gestured to the Beedrill next to her.

"The name's Dice," the Sneasel said with a nod. "So, I guess I'm joining the guild, huh? Where do I start?"

Soara chuckled. "I have a feeling you're thinking this is going to be easy, huh?" She turned towards her partner and shook her head. "Well, the thing here is…"

"It's not going to be easy, criminal," the Beedrill said. His voice was so loud and sudden that it almost caused Dice to jump. "This isn't a cakewalk. We don't go easy on our members. Rigorous training and making sure you're the best you can be. And for a criminal like you? We're especially not going easy on you."

Dice chuckled. "I think I can handle it," he said, keeping his calm demeanor as he crossed his arms and gave the Beedrill a cocky grin. "So, where do I start?"

Beedrill stared at the pokemon for a few moments before chuckling. "Alright, you little worm, before you start doing anything involving adventure teams, you need a partner."

"Oh, man. I don't have one of those." Dice's voice was filled with mock disappointment. "Guess I can't do anything then, huh?'

"No, no, you're doing something," Soara said before looking at the Elekid, Edison Sault. "Could you get Sashy for us, please?"

"Yes ma'am," the pokemon said with a nod before rushing out of the room, Ginseng chuckling as she watched the smaller pokemon rush out.

"Man, you're getting Sashy?" the pokemon asked. "You're in for a wild ride, Dice. Sashy isn't going to be slowing down for you."

"Oh, really?" Dice asked. "And who is this Sashy, huh? Some Ralts? A Honedge? Hitmonchan? Something to keep me in line, right?"

Soara shook her head. "Oh, not by far."

Dice was about to ask who his partner was going to be, but then he heard a loud, energetic cry come from outside of the room.

"Soara!" shouted a very excited Maractus as he rushed into the room. The Maractus looked like your normal Maractus, except he had two small roses on the top of each ear, probably a genetic feature, and a light blue sash around his neck. Maybe that's why he got that name, if it was just a nickname. "You wanted to see me?"

Soara chuckled and nodded. "Yes, we did," she said before looking at Magnus. "You want to explain it to him?"

The Beedril nodded and cleared his throat. "Sashy! The moment you've been waiting for has arrived! You now have a partner of your very own! Enjoy your time with him. I'm sure you'll be spending a lot of time with him."

"My partner!?" Sashy's eyes practically shone with excitement from that as he looked over at Dice, and that's when Dice noticed that, even without the ears, the kid was a couple inches taller than him. Jeez, Ether everyone is just tall here or he's just really short…

The Maractus then clapped his thorny hands together. "You're going to be my partner?! Oh my goodness! I've been waiting for so long for a partner!"

Dice blinked and stared at Sashy. This kid was...young. He was barely even a grown up. Only around the age of sixteen at the least, or eighteen at the most. He then looked back at the two guild leaders. "You want me to be his partner?"

"Of course," Soara confirmed with a nod. "You need a partner before you do all this. Sashy has been needing a partner for a while, so we'll put two and two together, and we get two birds in one stone."

"I don't think that's how you say it," the Beedrill said.

"Pretty sure it is. Anyways, you two better get to know each other, and…" Soara looked to Edison Sault once more and smiled at him. "Edison Sault, dear sir, could you please lead these pokemon through the guild?"

"It'd be my pleasure, guild leader Soara," said the electric-type before walking towards the door, gesturing for the other two to follow. "Come now, we have a lot to show you."

Dice frowned and looked at Sashy, whose eyes were still glowing with excitement. Well, this was what he asked for, and it was better than jail, so, he took a deep breath and followed the Elekid, Sashy followed close behind.

Woah, I actually decided to update before the summer ended. Quite a shocker, really. But seriously, I do hope that I can start updating regularly at some point, hopefully once summer ends. I'm going to be busy during these last few weeks, though, so I may not update much still. You'll just have to wait. Sorry, guys.