Chapter 3:

Mission, Floor B7F

The sleep seemed short, and morning came fast. However, the wake up call could have been a bit nicer. Loudred burst into the room shouting as loud as he could, which of course was incredibly loud. It was loud enough in fact, that everyone else in the guild could hear it.

"Hey! Wake up! Rise and shine! Come on! Why are you still asleep?! Wake up! Come on! Snap out of it! I'm Larry and I'm a fellow apprentice! If you're late for the morning briefing, you'll be sorry! I mean it! So move it."

If it had been any louder, it's assumable that Kouhei and Miu's eardrums would burst. In fact, the speech had already induced an incredibly painful ringing in Kouhei's sensitive ears. Miu was no better off.

"Guild master Wigglytuff has got a big temper! If you make him lose it, that would be one scary scene! I've got Goosebumps just thinking about it! So, I'm not about to get in trouble because you rookies got up late. So get in Gear!"

Miu was trembling in pain and fear. Larry Loudred had shown to her one of the first reasons why said training regimen was so hard. Larry, who has been here for years and attempted on several occasions to graduate from the guild, was a total jerk at the best of times. Sure, he meant well, but is methods of course could use a little work.

Kouhei helped Miu up, holding her quivering body tightly. For him, the painful ringing had mostly subsided. At this point he wasn't sure if she was still hearing it, or was just afraid.

"It's alright, don't worry. Just calm down, okay Miu? Everything will be okay. Don't worry, because you've got me to protect you from anything bad that happens, okay?"

He led Miu down the hallway to where the others were together, she slowly calmed down on the way there.

"You're late rookies!" Larry screamed.

He would have continued if it weren't for Chatot pointing out how ridiculously loud Larry's voice actually was. This scolding of course, was enough to promptly seal his lips for a while.

"Now that everyone is officially present, we will conduct or morning address!"

On saying that, the guild master entered the room. The words Chatot said would be immediately followed by the other guild members repeating it back in unison. Chatot was obviously running the show, because of this, Guild master Wigglytuff's presence seemed slightly pointless. This coupled with the fact that the guild master still being asleep, while wandering around, and following orders, made him seem very puppet like. Actually, this was a feat of prowess in and of itself. How many people can actually carry on doing their activities without a hitch while they're asleep? None of this whole creepy affair was helped at all by the fact that the guild master's eyes were as open as plates. Sleeping like that, with your eyes open, is a ridiculous thing to do indeed. Aside from all of this, the morning cheers were simple and to the point. In fact, most of them were good to live by for most anybody: Don't shirk work, run away and pay, smiles go for miles.

As soon as the morning address was over, Chatot called for Team Asayake to come forth, as he had a job for them. He led them upstairs to a large bulletin board on the left wall. It was absolutely covered in Bulletins. As he explained, this was the job bulletin board. Pokémon from various regions posted their job requests here. Chatot looked it over then stopped immediately, turning to the team.

"I'm sure you're aware of the fact that bad Pokémon are cropping up in great numbers. You know this right?"

"Yes, because the flow of time is getting messed up, it's wreaking havoc on the world. That's why Pokémon are turning bad." Miu softly replied.

"The flow of time is getting messed up? Time? As in, hours and minutes? Do you mean that something is wrong with the time here? And that is what is making Pokémon bad?" Kouhei asked Miu. She quickly explained that time itself, everywhere, was changing.

"Precisely, time's corruption has caused an outbreak of crime, and bad Pokémon. Perhaps, because of that, we have noticed an increase in the number of jobs that need to be done. In addition, it is currently unknown if this is because of time's influence, but there also has been a mass outbreak of mystery dungeons. Far more have been popping up now, than ever before in the past…"

He seemed worried on that last note, but quickly moved on. The team was just beginning; Chatot saw fit to give them an easy mission. He handed them one of the bulletins off the board, and Miu read it aloud.

"Hello! My name is Sputnik, I'm a Spoink. An outlaw has run off with my most prized possession. My precious pearl! That pearl is the source of my psychic powers, and I can't do much anything without it. It means very much to me, and I just can't seem to settle down if that pearl isn't in its proper place atop my head. I've heard that my pearl has been sighted though. It's said to be on a rocky bluff; however the mystery dungeon in question is reported to be extremely unsafe. I could never go somewhere so frightening! Friendly readers, would you be so kind as to go to the bluff and pick it up for me?"

Kouhei was rather happy with the prospect of this mission, and urged for Miu to take it. It didn't take much for Kouhei to convince her of course, and she quickly took the mission.

* * *

Miu and Kouhei stood outside the Dungeon, called the Drenched Bluff. According to the mission details, the pearl should be on basement floor 7. As it sounded quite dangerous from the bulletin, Miu advised to take caution while pushing forward through the Dungeon. It was now that Miu began wearing the Joy Ribbon, and in turn, Kouhei took this time to start wearing the treasure bag.

The cave-like dungeon was true to its name. Filled with water and sharp craggy rocks, the entire place is wet. Indeed, it was literally drenched. Visibly much larger than the previous mystery dungeon that was entered; Team Asayake had their work cut out for them. Populated largely by Anorith and Shellos, it was favourable for the Pikachu led team.

As type matchups go, water is weak to electric. Those two Pokémon being mainly water types would of course quickly fall to an electric type such as Pikachu. Unfortunately, in this case, Kouhei had no electric moves to speak of. He did however have a mean right hook, and could probably go toe to toe with a Machamp; of course it would be difficult to deal with the height differential. In this case, his inability to shock his watery opponents served to be no real setback.

Miu and Kouhei fought their way down several floors picking up as much treasure as they could carry. Unlike usual Miu, who would be too overtly paranoid to enjoy herself, was having the time of her life. With the treasure bag full, Miu questioned how to return the pearl with no way to carry it. Of course, this was overshadowed by the low humming sound that could be heard coming from just below.

Continuing down past the fifth floor, the humming sound grew louder and louder. At first what sounded like it may have actually been running water, had turned into something far more confusing. A sound not that dissimilar to crying now pervaded the area filling Miu with an awkward feeling. Kouhei, surprised to hear such a thing in this place rushed ahead in the direction of the noise.

It led them to a large stairway, which was the way down to the seventh, and final, floor of the dungeon. Both Miu and Kouhei stood for a while before deciding what to actually do. The crying however was becoming increasingly loud, and Miu was too curious not to go on.

Following the stairs down into the seventh floor basement, Kouhei and Miu noticed a Zangoose huddled up in a corner, weeping. It was holding tightly to the pearl.

"Hey, buddy! Sorry, but we need that pearl back." Kouhei shouted out to the Zangoose.

Suddenly the cavern fell deathly silent. As the Zangoose whirled around to face Team Asayake, it became easy to see that the Zangoose in question was suffering from some sort of emotional trauma. With tears streaming from its eyes, and bloodstains all over its fur, it shrieked at Kouhei and rushed in his direction. Its razor sharp claws just barely missing Kouhei's throat, the Zangoose moved in for another attack. This one connected, and Kouhei was sent spiralling into a wall.

It laughed maniacally as Miu called out to Kouhei. He had been hurt badly, as the jagged rock wall cut his left arm. With Kouhei incapacitated, the Zangoose moved in on Miu who was trembling at the intimidating figure.

"You cannot grasp the true form of my power!" It shrieked. It was easily noticeable that this Zangoose had lost any semblance of sanity long ago. This fact, coupled with Kouhei's quick defeat, frightened Miu more than anything ever had before. However, she stood her ground; as the guild's common phrase stated, run away and pay. She tackled the Zangoose, but the effort wasn't good enough. She was simply too frightened to fight back properly, and the Zangoose threw her into the wall, next to Kouhei. She slumped over, unable to go on

Kouhei managed to get up to his feet, and took the Amber Ribbon out of the treasure bag that had now fallen open on the ground. He tied it tight to his wound and was suddenly overcome with a feeling unlike which he had never felt before. He looked to Miu, and then to the Zangoose, now emboldened and enraged.

"Nobody hurts my friends! Miu's taught me much in very little time, and put a great amount of faith in me up till now. I'm not gonna repay her by failing!" Kouhei shouted at the Zangoose, as sparks flitted across the red spots on his cheeks

Turning to Miu, he spoke softly.

"Like I said; I'll protect you. No matter what, you had no real doubts about me. You trusted me, almost right from the beginning. If you hadn't woken me up on that beach, I might have just been carried out to sea. This is thank you."

He looked at the Zangoose who looked at him with a sort of moronic stupor. Immediately Kouhei rushed towards Zangoose and landed a strong right punch into its stomach. He followed up with several jabs to the head from his left hand, each time having the static electricity flowing into Zangoose more and more. He pulled back and punched the Zangoose as hard as he could, bright bolts of electricity flying around his tightened fist. The attack was a solid thunder punch; a new technique that Kouhei had learned. As it turned out, all Kouhei needed to use his natural electrical power, was focus on his target and it seemed that his cheeks did the rest. The raw power of the punch that collided with Zangoose sent it reeling far back into the water, where the electricity continued to shock it for a short while.

Miu was fine now, and was very happy to have Kouhei by her side. She knew that he would stand by her no matter what, and this is what truly made her happy. She had a companion.

* * *

With that over, the pearl retrieved, and the dungeon successfully escaped, Team Asayake headed back to the guild, where Sputnik was waiting. Kouhei placed the pearl atop Sputnik's head and stood back.

"That pearl is perfect where it is propped up on my head. I missed it so much! I just couldn't settle down without it! I was just boinging and springing everywhere, aimlessly bouncing from place to place! Now that you've returned my pearl to me, that nightmare is over! You have my sincere thanks!"

He walked over to Kouhei and dropped a back full of items in it, then dropped 2000 Poké for the team's reward. Miu was flabbergasted at the ridiculous sum of money, as compared to the miniscule amounts of Poké that the team had found so far, 2000 was a dream amount. With that, Sputnik hobbled off, or more appropriately bounced off leaving the team alone with Chatot.

Chatot then hopped over to Kouhei and took 1800 of the Poké that Sputnik had dropped. He quickly explained that most of the money from jobs goes to the guild master, and that the team only gains ten percent of the monetary value obtained from the client. It was the guild's rule, but of course this was simply the cash needed to pay for living costs and the training. Reasonable in retrospect.

The evening meal came soon after, and quickly everyone poured into the dining room to eat. Though they didn't say anything about their fight with the Zangoose, it was easy to see that team courage had worked up quite an appetite, as they had devoured everything on their plates within minutes. As soon as the meal was finished everyone said goodnight, and went off to bed.