Chapter 4

New Friends

It was the morning after Ruby arrived in Serene village when Jed came into her room and said, "I'm gonna get ya enrolled in the school until then, stay here in this house, ok?"

Ruby nodded but asked, "when you get back, can we go see the rest of the village?"

Jed's home was a small two-room house; his bed and a table, along with a few cabinets, was in the first room, with the smaller spare room having nothing but Ruby's small bed. It was a pile of hay at the moment, but Jed had already planned on getting her a proper one like his. Oddly the young fire type didn't seem to mind it, though.

Jed smiled and replied, "sure, but until then, stay here," before leaving out the front door.

A few minutes later, Ruby heard a small shuffling outside her window. Then there was a sound of hurried footsteps.

Ruby looked around nervously and said, "what was that!"

The Fennekin ran outside without a second thought, and when she turned to her left, she saw the source of the noise. The new arrival was a small, amphibious, quadrupedal Pokémon. It had a blue body with a light-blue underside. The Mudkip has a large head with a blue fin on top and a light-blue tail fin. In addition, it had black, beady eyes and orange, star-shaped gills on its cheeks.

Ruby gave a cautious look as she sized up the pokemon in front of her.

The Mudkip kept running his mouth with, "I'm Tide, I live over there with my old pops, that blue house next door; so what's your name? Where are you from?"

"I...Ummm" Ruby had no chance to respond as the water type shoved her down the road towards the town square.

Things were happening so fast; before she knew it, Ruby was in the plaza of Serene Village, with Tide pointing everything out.

"That's the Kecleon Market, that's Halwatcha's slam school, and that's Cafe Connection. You can even make calls all over the world there!" Tide continued on and on.

"Oh, that's right, I never got your name! You probably think I'm super annoying now; give me a break, you big Milktank! Do you see what I did there? With the Milktank?" Tide joked.

Honestly, Ruby didn't get what he was implying but responded with, "Um, my name's Ruby..."

"Nice to meet you, you see I want…." Tide was cut off by a voice calling to him.

"THERE YOU ARE!" a pokemon resembling a cross between a frog and a duck with a lilypad on its head said.

Tide turned and said, "oh hey Leaf?"

"Don't act like nothing's wrong; you trampled up my lotus ponds!" Leaf accused.

"It was an accident!" Tide assured him

Just then, a pokemon resembling a tan hippo arrived and said, "you snuck in my cave and took one of those quartz crystals!:

Tide shook his head and answered, "it wasn't like that, Rick! I just wanted to go on a little adventure, and ya know... I wanted something to finish it!

Finally, a large pokemon resembling a sea turtle on two legs showed up and said, "you didn't finish your chores!"

Tide gasped and said, "pops, I can explain!..."

Tide took one glance at the three angry pokemon and ran out of the plaza, with all three in pursuit, leaving Ruby alone and even more confused than before.

Then off to the side of the plaza, near the gate, Ruby saw two pokemon near the gate, both seemed to be around her age, or at least how she looked now, and they were clearly arguing about something.

"You sent Max in there!" the one resembling a small pink deer demanded, `"How dare you, Darwin!"

The other pokemon, resembling a pink blob in metal armor, said, "jeez, Bela, it's just a little fun!"

"We need to help him; come on!" Bela scolded, earning an annoyed look as the two left via the village gate.

Something clicked in Ruby, a subconscious desire to help that she couldn't explain; without a second thought, she raced after the two…

Blake was woken up by a booming voice; when she rolled over, she saw the source of the horrid noise. It was a blue, bipedal Pokémon with a huge mouth. It had red eyes, a stubby nose, and two peg-like teeth in each jaw. It had protruding tubes with holes along its body: seven forming a crest on top of its head, one on each elbow and knee, two along its back, and one at the end of each of its two tails. The tubes along its head-crest and tails were tipped with yellow, while the ones along its back have yellow semicircular patterns on either side. There were two yellow semi-circle markings on its belly, but they are rarely seen due to its giant mouth. Its arms had three thin stripes below its elbow and three fingers. Each foot had four claws, three in the front, one in the back, and a yellow paw pad.

As her ears stopped ringing, the Exploud left, she turned to see her roommate getting up with no issue. Viel was a dragonfly-like Pokémon. He had a small head with two yellow antennae and eyes with black oval-shaped pupils. Green, dome-shaped membranes covered his eyes. Viel's mouth had two large white teeth protruding from each side. He had a skinny yellow body, four skinny black legs with slender feet, and four green, rhombus-shaped wings with black edges. There were similarly colored rhombus shapes at the end of his tail.

"Sorry about that; Chuck gives the wake-up to every room. After the morning briefing, there will be breakfast, so you can lay down a little while longer if you'd like," Viel offered.

Blake rubbed her eyes and said, "I'm awake for good after that; I'll just attend."

The duo left the room and arrived at the briefing, Belle was in charge during the Guildmaster's and Cleft's absence, and now that everyone was gathered, she began her briefing.

"Everyone, this is Blake; she is suffering from amnesia and will be staying in Team Outriders room. Please treat her with respect. Now onto assignments," Belle began.

Everyone had given Blake a passing look and a smile before turning their attention back to Belle. Despite how intimidating some of them looked, the guild Pokémon was very pleasant.

"Serena, you, Chuck, and Larry have a rescue in the Northern Desert to attend to. Geo, Ned, and Carver, there is a B ranked outlaw hiding out in applewood; that is your assignment," Belle continued.

While Ned and Geo had jobs at the guild, they didn't need 24/7 attention. That meant they usually did a few missions alongside their duties.

As everyone left to the mess hall, leaving Viel and Blake alone. Belle smiled and said, "Viel, check the Kecleon market for heal seeds and Kelsey berries, then Sentry Duty."

The Vibrava nodded, then turned to Blake, asking, "wanna come to see treasure town after breakfast?"

Blake gave a smile and said, "sure; maybe it'll jog some memories."

Author's note- there's chapter three, a bit slower...

1. Yes, Mudkip is the other starter, I had a hard time deciding, but I always was gonna have a water type.

2. The Wigglytuff guild has been through quite a few changes, as you can see, though every member from the games is still here, with the exception of Dugtrio. There are a few more new members who we'll meet later on.

3. leave a review; if you have any questions about the story, feel free to PM me.

4. Starting a new tradition below...

Next Time: Ruby is off to help someone in the Foreboding Forest, while Blake's visit to Treasure Town leads to her meeting someone important to guiding her in this world! It's not Alex, Blaze, or Team Go-Getters though, I'm saving them for later...hehe.