When Cherry and I reached the Guild, I marveled at how beautiful it was. It was a large, tree-like structure, with dark brown wood and glowing, bluish-green bushels of leaves plastered along the giant branches. Around the tree were several small buildings made of the same wood as the tree. The base of the tree held an entrance, which we went through.

I was stricken by awe at the sheer beauty of the circular room we were in. The mottled walls were seemingly glowing with an ambient light, taking on the color of the leaves of the tree. To the immediate right of us was a semi-circle desk of an auburn color, and it connected with the wall. To the left of us was a and in front of us was an entrance to a multiple stairway. Cherry smiled at my amazement, and pointed above. The roof was also circular, and a hole in the top that allowed us to see the trunk of the tree. It was beautiful to see the shining roof of blues and greens.

"Miss Cherry! Where have you been?!" a gruff voice sounds out of nowhere.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blows, and a Pokemon appears. He had a white mane around his neck, two black wings lined with purple and with light blue insides, maroon claws, a membrane attaching his wings to his waist, angry yellow eyes, and large, circular blue and black-ringed ears. His wings were crossed, and he definitely was not happy.

"S-sorry, Sir Viverio... but I found a friend who wants to join Team Sirius 152!" Cherry sheepishly replies.

"At this hour... it's UNEXCUSABLE! You, come with me to Sir Renizotto's office. IMMEDIATELY! And bring along your friend, too." Viverio snaps, and disappears just like he arrived.

"Oh, this is bad..." Cherry mutters under her breath, "Luna, follow me."

I follow a quiet Cherry into the area in front of us. It was a stony gray area, with two lower staircases in the middle that were flanked by two upper staircases. The staircases were made from some golden material, and they also possessed a faint glow.

"No time to waste, Luna!" Cherry beckons me towards the lower staircase.

Since I didn't need to walk, I floated alongside Cherry as she raced down the steps. Suddenly...

"Wahh!" she cries out as she loses her balance. Luckily, I catch her before she falls.

"Thanks, Luna." Cherry flashes her signature smile, and I smile back.

Something in me was changing with this girl, and I didn't know what. She was just so friendly, she makes me forget about my sorrows. She makes me happy. But who was I kidding? Happiness is just a fantasy. Her happiness was just her fooling herself, and I probably just pitied her for that.

We descended to a large, dark-blue clearing. The walls were earthy-brown, and there were two closed doors. One of them had a golden plaque entitled "Guildmaster", and the other one had a silver plaque with the word, "Second-in-command" etched into it. Cherry points to the door with the gold plaque, which was at the right. I slowly inched my way towards the room, and Cherry crept cautiously alongside me.

A gust of wind blows, revealing Viverio. He was pacing in front of the door, muttering, "The guildmaster will be so angry... what should I do?"

He turns his head to us, and scowls. He taps the door with his claw gently, and his expression was that of fear.

"Come in." a deep, alluring voice resonated from behind the door.

Viverio gives us an unhappy look, and warns us to be as courteous as possible with the Guildmaster. This made me nervous; Viverio was such a tough guy before, and I wouldn't imagine him afraid of something else. Was this Guildmaster really such a terrifying Pokemon? Flashes of a giant, menacing creature flew past my eyes as Viverio opened the door slowly.

"Uh, um... Guildmaster Renizotto, I apologize sincerely for interrupting you in your honorable work, but I have Cherry of Team Sirius 152 here with a friend that she would like to add to her team. I wholly apologize for her misdemeanor at this hour and of this inconvenience to your labor." he bows his head to the Pokemon looking out the window, and quietly retreats from the room.

Silence echoed off the dark blue walls of the room as Cherry and I sat in the two stumps that served as seats in front of the oak desk. A window to the right of the room reflected the pale shimmer of moonlight, bathing the room in a silvery luminescence. The shadows of the light lit the face of the stern, bipedal Pokemon looking outside the window with a dramatic glow. He had a dark, pointy snout and pointy ears with red insides. His long, bushy red mane was highlighted with black and separated at the bottom with a blue bangle. He had a black ruff, and a lighter body. His claws were clasped behind his back, and his glasses completed his formal atmosphere.

"So, what is your name?" he asks me, gaze still intent outside.

"Lunalicia, sir." I formally responded.

"Wonderful name. And I assume you are referred to casually as Luna?" he glances at me from the corner of his eyes.

"Yes, sir." I answer.

"So, where are you from? Where do you live?" he asks.

"I live in a mountain cave, sir." my voice drops in volume.

"Do your parents know that you would like to sign up for the Guild? I'm going to need their permission before I allow you into the Guild."

"I live alone, sir." I reply. Why was everybody so curious about my parents?

"Alone, you say?" he turns his face so that I can see it from the side, "And why is that?"

"My... uh... my parents... well..."

"Yes?"

"Dead. They're dead, sir." I blurt it out.

Cherry looks at me, eyes wide with a why-didn't-you-tell-me expression.

"I'm very sorry for your loss, Luna." the Pokemon starts.

"Guildmaster Renizotto, Luna wants to join our team. Please, please accept her!"

"It would be of the utmost pleasure to receive this honor." my improvisation skills were definitely rusty.

"There's no need to be formal with me, Luna." the Pokemon chuckles, and takes a seat behind the desk. Easier said then done.

"I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Renizotto, and I am a Zoroark and Guildmaster of the Evanescence Guild. My subordinate, who you met earlier, is Viverio the Noivern." Guildmaster Renizotto gives me a small smile.

"Nice to meet you, sir." I nod my head.

"Now, Luna," he pierces my gaze with his icy blue eyes, "Being an explorer at my guild is not easy. We go through rigorous training to form the best explorers both mentally and physically. I hope you understand what you are signing up for."

"Yes, sir." I respond.

"Good, very good. I will now present you with your Explorer Badge." the Guildmaster rises from his seat and goes inside the door and comes back out with a circular badge with a line separating it into two semi-circles, and it had a purple gem in the center, a smaller circle at the top, and cream wings.

"Luna, you are now an official explorer of the Evanescence Guild." Guildmaster Renizotto hands me the badge.

"Now, Cherry." the Zoroark swerves his gaze to her, "You do know that I am required to punish you for being out too late."

"Yes, sir." Cherry dips her head down.

"Your punishment for leaving the quarters past curfew is to go without breakfast tomorrow. After sundown is only when you will be permitted to eat." the Guildmaster folds his claws.

"What? No food for that long? That's so unfair!" I cry.

"Luna, being a part of this Guild means that, while you enjoy and build relationships, you must also face the consequences of your actions. Remember, everything action you take comes back at you. I could easily worsen this punishment, but I will not. This is because, as well as being your Guildmaster, I am also your friend." he smiles.

"B-bu-" he cuts me off.

"Now, off you two go." he shoos us off.

Cherry and I exit the room and climb the stairs. We go up another flight of stairs after that, and we come upon the circular clearing that we had seen from the lobby earlier. A fence surrounded the circular hole, and it lit up with the same color as the stairs. There were many twisty staircases that brought on a mysterious feeling. In front of us were five holes in the wall. There was a ladder next to each of the holes, bringing one to a second five holes. The stairs were pulsing with the color of the sunset, making the room shine with vivacious color.

"So, this is the main corridor. Depending on your rank, you live in different places in the Guild. Our team and four others are still normal rank, so we live on the second floor. There are other teams scattered around the other floors, but there's not many teams to begin with. Of course, there are other high-rank explorer teams that occasionally come here, but that's really rare." Cherry explains as we go.

"How are the walls glowing?" I asked.

"It's the power of this tree. Our Guild was made long ago in this tree, the Evanescence Tree. There's a long legend about something to do with crystals and dreams but it's pretty much just a legend." she states as we go around the circle.

"What's the legend?"

"Well, it's like this: Every Pokemon has this thing called a Dream Crystal, and they're supposed to be the purest forms of energy in the universe. It's supposed to represent a Pokemon's dreams and ultimate hope, and losing it is basically your death, both inside and outside. Apparently, this tree nurtures these crystals, because its soul is entwined with a Pokemon from long ago. The lighting is just the natural structure of the tree, but the myth tells that the soul of the Pokemon keeps it glowing. There's supposed to be more to the legend, but I'm not really curious and barely anybody except the Guildmaster and Zeno know."

"I hate to keep asking questions, but who's Zeno again?"

"He lives on the top of our guild in a separate section of the tree, but only few have met him. Apparently, he's supposed to know everything."

She leads me onto the third ladder to the right of the third door. I step on the small protrusion from the trunk of the inner tree, and float inside the space. It was a medium-sized, squarish-like room with a rounded glass window at the far end of the room. The walls was dark blue, and the floor was earthy-brown. There were four beds, and two were occupied.

"W-who are they?" I whisper to Cherry, alarmed by the others. She didn't tell me there were other Pokemon on her team, did she?

"Those are my two teammates that I talked about earlier," Cherry first points to the red Pokemon, "That's Rocco the Tepig, and that blue Pokemon is Lance the Oshawott."

Rocco was an orange, quadruped Pokemon. He had a pink nose, large oval eyes, and a large yellow stripe on his snout. Lance was a bipedal, light blue Pokemon with a spherical white head that had a round, brown nose and beady black eyes. He had small, triangular dark-blue ears near the top of his head, a dark-blue tail and feet, and a shell attached to his stomach.

"Where the hell have you been, Cherry?! And who's this dweeb?!" Rocco whispers angrily.

"I was out, and this is our new teammate!" Cherry replies.

"What the hell? Whattaya mean, new teammate?!" Rocco practically screams under his breath, shooting daggers at me with his black eyes.

"I'm your new teammate. I hope it's not too hard for you to understand that I have to spell it out for you." I retort. This Pokemon was really beginning to irritate me.

"Hmph." he turns away from me and turns to Cherry, "We've been staying up past curfew worried because you weren't here, and now you're telling me we have a new teammate?"

"Rocco, just relax! I need a friend, just like you and Lance are best friends." Cherry fires back, obviously angered by Rocco.

I turn my head towards Lance, who was staring at me with an intent passion. He quickly drops his gaze, embarrassed.

"OK, ya know what? I'm just going to go to sleep, and we'll figure this out what the hell to do with this... whatever the hell you are, in the morning." the Tepig promptly swerves around and kicks a mass of white material to the far corner of the room, plopping down on it after.

I look at Lance, who gives me a small smile before scurrying back to his bed, which was still in its original spot near the middle of the room.

There was only one other bed for Cherry, "I'll sleep on the floor for now, Cherry."

"No way! I'll sleep on the floor, no worries." Cherry smiles and lies down on the floor.

"No, you won't." I look at the bedding in front of me and split it in two.

"Here, this is yours." I hand her the larger piece I tore.

"T-thanks, Luna." she smiles, and takes the bedding.

We both make ourselves comfortable, and lie down on the bedding. I take the time to reflect on what had happened. For some reason, I decided to join Cherry's rescue team, Team Sirius 152. If being here made her get to the point of her crying, I would want to help her in any way I could. That was just me, naturally. Even if I hated the entire Pokemon world, it would never stop me from helping one in need. I guess you could call me an anti-hero, according to a book in my father's collection. If I was even a hero.

"Hey, Luna?" Cherry whispers.

"Yeah?"

"What did ya think of this whole rescue team thing?"

"I think that it's the stupidest idea ever, and that you all are complete idiots. But nothing is written in stone."

Silence follows for a few moments.

"Luna?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks. For today."

"No problem."

"So, are we friends?"

"What?"

"I asked, are we friends?"

"S-sure..."

"OK, that's good." her tone became a bit more relaxed at hearing my response, "We should probably sleep now."

"Great idea, good night."

"G'nite."

I don't think I could sleep, however. My mind was still mulling over what had happened today. It was so, eventful. Yet, something was telling me that this was only a taste of what was to come. I felt like this was the beginning of something portent, one of my favorite words in my father's dictionary. I loved it for its double meaning; one meant of something truly exceptional, but the other meant the foreshadowing and anticipation of something terrible. It really represented what I felt about this entire thing at the moment.

But, to be completely honest, it was kind of exciting.


(A/N): This chapter took at least 80 years to write. Good news is that I'm 94 now, so I just have 6 more years before the lucky 100! Alright, let's do some real talk. So, as you know from my profile update, I deleted Chapters 3-4 of this fanfiction. This is because I wanted to change around the Guild and stuff to make it more related to the premise of the novel. You should fasten your seatbelts, because this plot is going to turn so much you'll be dazed xD or atleast I hope I can make that kind of impact LOL. I have major ideas for this book, and hopefully I can put them in action. Just stay tuned, and leave a review or favorite if you'd like! Shout out to LEAFTORNADO123 (who also added it to his community, thanks a bunch!) and KECLEON352 for the awesome reviews and for following my story, as well as WISH COUNSELOR for the favorite! I appreciate it to the MAX =)

Stay Classy :)