Chapter Four: Team!
There are many types of Pokémon snacks. Pokepuffs, the newest innovation in the Pokémon sweets universe, can be a large expanse of flavors and toppings. The flavors include sweet, mint, citrus, and mocha, and those toppings could include cherries, oranges, garnishes, and chocolates; as well as a variety of frostings. They are considered the best among Pokémon desert Connoisseurs.
-Excerpt from Pokémon Snacks and Deserts, a Cookbook
"Who might you be?" Asked Zelda, as the Vulpix moved closer to our little grouping. "My name is Erica," she said, "I heard about your little dilemma, and I was wondering if I could help?" Erica slowly moved towards us, smiling as she looked around. "Who said we'd add you in our team?" Complained Steve. "I can help you." She said , "I'm a type advantage over most Pokémon in the White Bark Woods. Are you?" Steve still fumed. "That's great!" Said Harold, "Hurry, get to the explorer's association and register!" Steve groaned as we walked out with Erica. "So what were you doing in the human section?" I asked her. "I wasn't planning to come there," she said, "But I heard a commotion about the White Bark Woods, and figured I could help." Then she tilted her head and asked, "Why were you in the human section?" Steve took over the discussion for me, "Umm… That's none of your business." I hit Steve in the face, "Don't say that!" I spat, "She's gonna be on our team!" Erica chuckled, "It's gonna be pretty hard to shake me." She said, "When I want something, I get it." I laughed again, and Steve groaned for the second time.
We opened the tent to, another staircase underground. "What did I tell you?" Scoffed Steve. We climbed down the stairs into what seemed to be a large guild room. Shockingly enough, there was another staircase down to another floor, but on our current one, there were multiple groups of Pokémon, almost all of those groups were talking, accept for one. One group of mostly Dark and Ghost type Pokémon were staring at us. One of them a Pancham, snickered and whispered to a Sneasel standing next to him. Erica rolled her eyes, "Allan," she whispered to me, "Ignore him." Before we could go down the second set of stairs, Steve lead us over to two bulletin boards loaded with papers. "Look here," he said, then he motioned to the board on the left. "This one's the job board," he said, "Right?" He looked a Erica, who nodded. "Yeah, and the one on the left is the outlaw notice board." She said. "Outlaws?" I asked, "You mean like criminal outlaws?" Steve looked at me like I was the stupidest thing on the planet. "No," said Erica, "The nice kind of outlaws, the ones that give you cookies if you arrest them." Steve laughed, and I just shrugged. I mean I guess Pokémon could have criminals too… Erica sighed-it felt hot, even from a distance- and said, "Can we get going now?" Steve nodded, "Yeah, we need to hurry and get those books!"
We stood at a large door. "This is the place." Said Erica, "Are we ready?" Steve looked at me, intently. I nodded, and looked back to Erica. "Yes," I said, "Let's go." Erica smiled and pushed open the large door, to an even longer hallway. The walls were covered with vines that bore flowers. There was a beautiful reflection coming from the end of the hallway, maybe a water reflection? "Whoa," said Steve, closing the door, "This is amazing!" Erica practically dashed down the hallway, "Come on!" She yelled, "This way!" Steve and I ran after her, slower of course, but still following her. "Wait up Erica!" I yelled after her. Erica was already knocking on the door. It slowly moved open, to the cause of the refection, a large pool of crystal blue water with the sunlight reflecting off of it. In the middle of the pool was a little island, with a chair on it. Sitting there must've been the leader of the exploration guild, a Lopunny. The Lopunny stared at us as we walked in. We walked on the small bridge to the island she was sitting at. "Hello." She said, "What can I do for you my darlings?" I stared up at her, not knowing how to address her. "Hello, Mrs." I said, "We'd like to form an exploration team." The Lopunny smiled, "You don't have to call me Mrs." She said, "My name is Celeste. And you'd like to form and exploration team?" Erica looked up at Celeste. "We need to," she said, "We need to get something someone stole back from them, but it's deep in the White Bark Woods." Celeste thought about it for a second, then she stood up. "So what's your plan for after that?" She said, "You could just ask for my permission to quickly run in and out of the woods. Did you know that?" We all looked at each other, me in confusion, Erica and Steve in shock. "We could do that?" Erica asked. Celeste nodded, "Yes you can. Is that what you want?" We all looked around at each other, was that what we wanted? "Could you give us a few seconds?" I asked. Celeste nodded, "Take your time, I can wait." We walked away from the little island and near the threshold of the door. "What do we do?" Asked Steve, "Will we be exploring enough to need a full exploration team?" "I'd love it!" I said, "I wanna see some more of this world, we should do it!" Steve and I both looked at Erica. "Well?" Steve asked. "I'd love it!" She said, "Let's form an exploration team!" "All right," said Steve, "Let's do it!" We all ran over to Celeste, giddily. "Mrs. Celeste!" We exclaimed, "We'd like to form an exploration team!" Celeste smiled again, "That's wonderful! What will your team name be then?" Then of course, we stopped. "Yeah," said Steve, "Could we have another moment?" Celeste nodded again, and we scurried to the door. "Well now what?" I asked, "Any ideas?" "TEAM SCALCHOP!" Steve Yelled, "WE NEED TO BE NAMED TEAM SCALCHOP!" Erica gave him a questioning look. "But you're the only one with a Scalchop," I said, "Why would we even do that?" Steve looked at me in shock, "Aren't I the leader?" He asked. "No!" Said Erica, "If anyone should be leader, it should be Jack!" Steve sighed, "Well I suppose that makes sense." "How about Team Elements?" Asked Erica, "Grass, Water and Fire after all." Steve shook his head, "No that's too much like Team Base." "Jack?" Asked Steve, "What about you?" "I don't really know." I said. Steve sighed again, "How about team Pokepuff? How does that sound?" Erica smiled, "I love it!" She said, "What about you?" "No," I said, "That's stupid." Steve laughed, "Well, two out of three! Majority rules!" I rolled my eyes, "Fine, let's go." We walked back to the island. "Did you all think of a name?" Asked Celeste. "Yup!" Said Erica, "Team Pokepuff!" Celeste giggled, "Is that your final answer?" She asked. "Yes!" Steve and Erica said in unison. "Sure." I said. "Okay!" She exclaimed, "I hereby deem you, team Pokepuff, an official Treasure town exploration team! Congratulations!" We all cheered happily. Celeste looked over her chair and opened a crate behind her. "Here," she said, "Your official team badges, scarves, and of course, item case! They should all be in there." She handed the box to Steve, and smiled. "Good luck to you!" She said. We all walked out the door, calmly. Once it closed, we all hopped around with glee. "Yay!" Erica exclaimed, "We're an exploration team!" Then I stopped. "Wait," I said, "We need to go find those books!" Erica and Steve stopped hopping. "Yeah!" Said Steve, "But we should at least pick some stuff first. C'mon"
Please welcome our newest exploration team, Team Pokepuff! Let's all try hard to make them feel welcome!"
-Celeste, Traveler's Town Guild Master
Yay! Finally chapter four is done! Oh, I'm planning on doing some drawings that go along with each chapter of the fic. Maybe. I have to think about it for a little bit, please let me know.
Until next time
-SwirlixDreamer