I had some free time on this school night so I decided to take a little extra time to make another chapter. Appreciate it; free time is rare at this time of year in college.
Chapter 3: Baby Steps…
-The next morning (Meowth's POV)-
Zzzzz… No, please… I know what I did, but I'm not that Pokémon anymore…
"HEY! HEY THERE! RISE AND SHINE!"
Ah! That's not my dream…
"Why are you still ASLEEP?! WAKE UP!"
I opened my eyes to find a fairly large purple Pokémon yelling at us. Rio responded first with a groan and I followed with an "Oh, my head…" This just made him shout more.
"C'mon! Snap OUT of it! I'm Loudred! And I'm a fellow apprentice! If you're late for our morning briefing, you'll be SORRY! So MOVE it! Guildmaster Wigglytuff has got a BIG temper. If you make him lose it… YOWEEE! That would be one very scary scene!" Loudred seemed to shudder as he recalled some kind of memory.
"I've got goose bumps just thinking about it! YEESH! So ANYWAY… I'm not about to get in trouble because you rookies got up LATE! SO GET IT IN GEAR!" With that last shout, he left, leaving us to cradle our new headaches.
"Oy vey, my ears feel like broken glass… Wait. He said sumpin' 'bout getting ready?" We both perked up and Rio said, "Oh yeah, we signed up as apprentices to Wigglytuff's Guild. But that means…" We both shouted, "WE OVERSLEPT!" Then we rushed down the hall to the main room.
Loudred was the first to react, "You're LATE rookies!" But Chatot hushed him, saying his voice was too loud. He followed up saying, "Everyone seems to be present. Very well. Let us conduct our morning address. Guildmaster! The guild is in full attendance!" Wigglytuff walked out of his room with his usual smile. "Thank you, Guildmaster! Please address the crew." When he said this, we gave Wigglytuff our attention, but he seemed to be snoring. There were murmurs from the other apprentices.
"Psst…! Guildmaster Wigglytuff never ceases to amaze me!"
"Yeah, you got that right!"
"Yup, looks like he's wide awake."
"Eek! His eyes are wide open! But he's fast asleep!"
But Chatot continued to act natural, saying "Thank you, sir! We all value your… words of wisdom!" He then turned back to us and said, "OK, Pokémon! Take our Guildmaster's words of wisdom to heart! Finally let's not forget our morning cheers! All together now!" Morning cheers?
Then everyone spoke up, "A ONE, A TWO… A ONE-TWO-THREE! ONE! DON'T SHIRK WORK! TWO! RUN AWAY AND PAY! THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!" Chatot replied, "OK Pokémon! Get to work!" Everybody raised their badges and cheered, "HOORAY!"
They all left to what I could guess were their posts, but… "Hey Rio, he said 'get to work', but what are we supposed ta do?" Rio shrugged his shoulders, "Beats me…" Chatot noticed that we hadn't moved and said, "Hey! You shouldn't just stand or wander around. You two follow me." He went up the ladder and we followed him 'til we reached one of the boards with the papers posted.
He turned towards us and said, "You're just beginners. We'll have you start off with this assignment. This is the Job Bulletin Board. Pokémon from various regions post job requests here. You're aware that bad Pokémon are cropping up in greater numbers, right?"
I had heard this before, "Yeah, since the flow of time is getting messed up, there are problems all over. That's why so many bad Pokémon are popping up." I understood the reason, but Rio seemed confused. Not surprising since he arrived yesterday. I'll be sure to explain later.
"Precisely. Time getting out of whack has caused an outbreak of bad Pokémon. Perhaps because of all that… We have noticed an increase in the number of jobs. In addition… and it's unknown if this is because of time's influence… There has also been a mass outbreak of mystery dungeons."
This time Rio just voiced his question, "Mystery dungeons?"
I explained everything that I knew about mystery dungeons, explaining that the Beach Cave is one of them. I also told him the two warnings that Duskull had told me.
"Well! You're quite informed aren't you! That makes things much easier for me to explain! Jobs all take place in mystery dungeons. So… let's look for a job that you should perform!" He looked at the jobs briefly before taking one down. "Ah, yes. Maybe this one will do?" He handed it to me and I read it.
"Hello! My name is Spoink!"
"An outlaw has run off with my most prized possession. My precious pearl! That pearl is life itself… to me! I just can't seem to settle down if that pearl isn't in its proper place atop my head! But I've heard my pearl has been sighted! It's said to be on a rocky bluff. But this bluff is reported to be extremely unsafe. I could never go somewhere so frightening! Oh, friendly readers! Would you be so kind as to go to the bluff and get my pearl? I beg your help, exploration team members!"
"From Spoink"
After reading it, I said, "Hang on… This is just a fetch quest?" When they said "beginner" they meant BEGINNER beginner. "I mean, I know that we're the newbies, but do we really hafta…"
"Hush!" I was cut off before I could finish, "It's important that you rookies pay your dues! Now pay attention! I'll repeat the warnings to make sure they stick! You'll be forced out of a dungeon and sent back here if either of you faints! You'll lose half your money! And you could lose half your items or more. You'd best be careful! If you've understood all that, I suggest you get on with the job!"
Using the Wonder Map, we found our way to Drenched Bluff. Along the way we put on the items in the Treasure Bag. It was decided that Rio would get the Viridian Bow (I just didn't have the face to pull off a bowtie), while I got the Defense Scarf. Also, I volunteered to carry the Treasure Bag, since Rio was the faster of the two of us anyway. When we arrived, I held up the job note and said, "Spoink's description says the pearl is down on the seventh level. We'd better step carefully, Rio. Let's do our best!"
We quickly found out how useful the Treasure Bag was. We found two blast seeds and an oran berry, so we put them in the bag to use later. Rio was always the first one to act in a fight, using Quick attack to get the drop on enemies before one of us finished them off. The enemies were a little tougher than in Beach Cave, but we were getting stronger really fast fighting them off.
One thing that I found interesting is that we found two new types of seeds. One was green and had yellow zigzags, a stun seed. The other was gray with blue wavy lines, a sleep seed. We also found a big apple. Thank goodness, since we got hungry about halfway through. Soon, we had a full Treasure Bag and we had reached the bottom of the dungeon where Spoink's pearl was. We picked it up and the dungeon warped us out.
When we got back to the guild, Spoink was waiting for us and he accepted his pearl back and put it back on his head.
"Th-Thank you! That pearl must be propped on my head, you see. I missed it so much! I just couldn't settle down without it up there! So I was just boinging and sproinging everywhere! But thanks to you, that long nightmare is over! You have my sincere thanks!"
He gave us a protein, a calcium and an iron and… "Holy moley! 2,000 Poké?!" I just couldn't help shouting that. "All this money's for us?"
Spoink nodded, "Of course! Of course! That's nothing compared to my pearl's value! Farewell!" Then he sprung up the ladder to leave.
Chatot walked up to us, "Well done, team! Now hand that money over, if you please."
We were shocked, "Huh?!"
Chatot sorted through the money saying, "Most of the money from jobs goes to the Guildmaster, you see. And your team's share of the money comes out to this much." He handed us a small pile of coins.
"Wha-?! Only 200 Poké? That's terrible!" Only a 10% share of rewards… Shoulda guessed…
"Well that's the guild's rule. You simply have to accept it."
After Chatot left, Rio put a hand on my shoulder, "Look on the bright side, Meowth. We get to keep the item rewards. They could be useful."
"Yeah… I guess." 10 percent…
A couple of hours later, my spirits were lifted when Chimeco called everyone for dinner.
After dinner everyone went to bed. Rio and I were lying on our beds and I couldn't sleep.
"Hey, Rio… Today was pretty major, wasn't it? Our first job; nothing I would write home about, but I'm glad we pulled it off. I was pretty ticked how Wigglytuff's Guild took most of the money… That's the cost of training, I guess. Nothing we can really do about it. Hearing Spoink's thanks is what really made my day, though. Well… I guess it's time to hit the hay. Let's do a good job again tomorrow. Night, Rio."
I am posting this at midnight. Just an extra treat for you, my loyal readers. Thank you for being patient with me for this story!
