Prologue

Swampert March was extraordinarily tired.

Walking back to the base from Pelipper Post Office after such a long trek through the bottom of Silver Trench was painful, and each step he took felt like his hind legs could wobble to jelly and collapse. His forelegs weren't doing any better, though they felt more of a dull, aching sensation from attacking with Waterfall too much. Or perhaps they had finally numbed from one too many uses of Earthquake. It didn't matter, he was too tired to care.

For a Swampert, he was a little on the lean side. Like any member of his species, he of course had thick, barrel-shaped arms, with large fingers and an arched back. However, unlike other members of his species, he had longer hind legs, allowing him to walk more like a land-bound quadruped or stand upright on two legs for a short period of time. His arms were also uniquely more flexible. In a test conducted by his friends to satisfy their curiosity, he found he was the only member of his species that could touch his hands behind his back with one arm above his shoulder grasping backwards for the other arm, and the other reaching below from the waist. He wore a Power Band around his right arm with the team badge clipped on, both of which were also rather dirty from the adventure in Silver Trench. At least the band hadn't ripped.

Passing through Pokémon Square, he waved lazily to many of those who greeted him. He recognized that he had saved almost all the residents at least once. The Jumpluff twins had returned for a visit and Shiftry was brooding in the corner, all of whom he had to save in his famous rise to success as a rookie team. He had to rescue Weepinbell and Granbull from an accidental venture to Sinister Woods a while ago, and even Persian, who was staring at his collection of coins, had to be retrieved from Murky Cave and Mt. Faraway for his insatiable greed.

Abruptly, he remembered something he had to do. Suddenly veering off his path toward home base, he approached the Kecleon brothers, forcing himself to cheerfully say, "Hey guys! How's it going?"

"Ah, Swampert, it is good to see you!" they replied in unison. "May we interest you in some fine wares today?"

"Yup! I'm looking to sell this gold ribbon I found," he pushed it onto the counter from his bulging bag, "And also I'm looking to purchase one of your-"

"TM's?" the purple brother interrupted. "Perhaps Focus Punch, imported from Buried Relic? For your friend?"

"Yes, actually, how did you know?"

They both chuckled, and the green one answered, "We wouldn't be salesmen if we were oblivious to our customers' habits and needs."

"But we didn't tell anyone the date of Verdant's birthday, how did you know?" a confused March asked. "Even we didn't find out until last year!"

They chuckled once again. "Word gets around fast, Swampert," they answered together.

Still confused, March nevertheless swept the disk into his large bag, leaving behind a sizable amount of money and the gold ribbon. As he crossed the bridge and made his way through the forest to the main base, he wondered idly what his teammates were doing. Those thoughts vanished from his mind as he saw them talking in front of the base.

Charizard Pyrose seemed to be leading the conversation. His teeth were naturally less sharp than many members of his species, and this fact seemed to motivate him to sharpen his claws to make up for it. His wings were long, even for a Charizard, and his arms were a bit thicker than most, though not by much. From a glance, he seemed like any other Charizard, though a careful look revealed a small Special Band tied around his upper right arm, which he seemed to favor over any other wearable item. He acted as the scout for the team, being able to approach and retreat quickly with flight and having a good grasp of tactical knowledge so that he could instruct the others on what to do.

Breloom Verdant was the tallest member of the team, slightly inching above Pyrose in terms of height. With lean arms that display deceptive strength and long legs that could kick very hard, she was largely the powerhouse of the team, though it didn't seem to show in her personality, which was very sweet. Despite all of her power, she was usually assigned behind March, the team's defensive pivot, since her defensive capabilities were poor and her ability to focus on multiple targets was quite bad.

Finally, there was Magneton Polare, who seemed to be arguing with Pyrose while Verdant watched. Certainly, the strangest member of the team, considering they had three different entities that happened to think and act the same way. March theorized that they had electric signals communicating between the three, but none of the team, even Polare themselves, could really confirm that. Due to the almost identical behavior and appearance of all Magnemites and Magnetons, the team had decided to paint the magnet tips to be yellow and green, rather than the usual red and blue, to distinguish between Polare and other Magnetons. They were the ranged expert of the team, as well as the backup defensive option, with the greatest ranged power, except for perhaps Pyrose's Flamethrower.

As he drew near, Pyrose seemed to take notice and turned towards him, asking "Hey March, I got a question: If you decide to abstain from a vote, are you technically still voting? Those debates they held in the square last year totally got them mixed up."

March paused for a bit, a little way from the rest of the group as the other stared at him. "I suppose so, I mean, if you don't make a decision, that's still a decision. Right?"

Polare buzzed with triumph as Pyrose seemed beside himself, flaring his wings up with indignation. "But the whole point of not making a decision is, well, not making a decision! It makes no sense!"

Polare answered, "BZZT, ABSTAINING IS STILL A CHOICE DURING A VOTE, YOU CHOSE TO ABSTAIN, THEREFORE YOU STILL INSERTED AN OPINION, BEING THAT YOU DISAGREED WITH ALL THE OTHER OPINIONS, BZZT."

"Ugh, why do I even ask." Verdant and March both chuckled a little at that.

Verdant turned to March, her starry eyes relaxing him somewhat. "How was the rescue?" she asked.

"Exhausting, but I got the little Marill out. How he ended up in there, I have no idea. Apparently, the little guy and his little brother were taking their mom out for some air, for her health or something, and as they were returning, the boat they were using tipped a little and the kid fell out and got sucked into the dungeon."

"BZZT, TERRIBLE. HE COULD HAVE BEEN SIGNIFICANTLY DAMAGED. WERE THEY RETURNING FROM A TRIP OR EMBARKING OUT ON ONE, BZZT?"

"They were going back to the Grass Continent apparently," March replied. "I don't think the mom looked too well-rested, but she told me she was getting better, and I didn't ask any further."

Pyrose sighed and shook his wings a little. "Well, at least that's settled. So anyways," turning to face Verdant, "I forgot to say happy birthday! I think we all got presents, so why don't we give 'em now? I got some news too, but I'll say it after this."

Verdant blushed a bit, and whispered, "Y-you really didn't have to."

Polare spasmed in what appeared to be laughter, and said, "BZZT, WE WANTED TO GET SOMETHING NICE FOR YOU, IS THAT NOT PROPER FOR CELEBRATING YOUR DATE OF CREATION, BZZT?"

Verdant blushed more, and squealed a bit, to the amusement of the rest of the team. As she embarrassingly accepted each gift, (Pyrose gave her a small orange choker and Polare passed her a cookbook for advanced recipes), March dug out the TM disk from his bag and passed it to her.

"Oh March, is this Focus Punch? You really didn't have to, was it expensive?" she said, blushing harder than ever.

"I got a gold ribbon in the trench that Lugia let me keep, so it wasn't that costly," March said while scratching the back of his head. "I know you've been wanting it for quite some time, and today seemed like a good occasion."

"Thanks so much!"

March leaned back and stretched, yawning slightly. "These missions have been getting harder and harder. I would love a break."

Verdant sighed. "You tell me. I can't even solo any missions, cause I can't deal with monster houses."

Polare piped in, "BZZT, CONVERSLY, PYROSE GOES ON TOO MANY MISSIONS. I HAVE EXPRESSED SIGNIFICANT CONCERN OVER THIS, BZZT."

Pyrose gave him an indignant look, but March interjected before he could say anything. "I agree. Pyrose, you really should stop doing things without telling us. We're your partner! For, like, years now! Come on, you can't keep doings things without us."

"This stuff is hard guys," Pyrose said, "I don't think you could-"

"Handle it?" Verdant finished his sentence. "Between the four of us, we certainly could."

Pyrose sighed and rubbed his temples. "I keep telling you all it's fine. I've taken care of things before, nothing's changed now."

March sighed. As the leader of Team Go-Getters, Pyrose felt obligated to lead diligently and effectively. But he rarely relied on others when organizing missions or even completing them occasionally. March grew more worried about him every day.

"Why don't I get to that news, huh?" Pyrose said, noting the silence that had passed. They all nodded, and followed him inside.

As they walked into the main base of Team Go-Getters, shaped like a large Charmander head (Pyrose always complained of it being tacky, though everyone knew he really liked it), Verdant hastily thanked the other two members for the gifts, who continued to insist it was no big deal, and that she deserved something good for her birthday. March hummed to himself while following the others in. Even his sore muscles couldn't dampen the warm feeling in his chest, looking at the bright smile on Verdant's face.

Pyrose turned to sit on the straw bed while Verdant and March sat on stools (Polare floated, of course).

With a serious expression, he said, "I think we need a bit of a break from all this work."

After a short pause, he continued "As much as I enjoy helping others, I think all this work is wearing down on us. Walking through the square is starting to feel tedious, and I'm getting a bit stressed from all these missions every day."

The rest of the team felt exactly the same. March frowned at this admittance of exhaustion from Pyrose. Despite their constant nagging, he never really complained of the work. Ever. This was a first.

Pyrose nodded. "I've decided we all need a vacation. We've worked hard enough as it is, for several years too, so we all deserve this." He nodded his head at Verdant. "Consider this another birthday present, I guess. I've booked a trip for each of us, we'll split up between them."

"Why haven't you told us?" March asked.

Polare buzzed uncomfortably. "BZZT, WHY SEGREGATE AND DIVIDE, BZZT?"

Pyrose answered, "I know you and March always wanted to visit the Grass Continent, but since Verdant and I have already visited there once, I thought a change of scenery would be good for us. I planned this as a surprise, but also since it's a bit of a secret."

"BZZT, WHAT TYPE OF SCENERY, BZZT?"

He sighed. "Remember how I'm human?"

March couldn't ever forget the shock and terror that the Pyrose had on his face just a few years ago, when he found him unconscious in a glade near Tiny Woods. Or when they had to embark on a fugitive quest to seek answers, or even when they both nearly died trying to save the world. His being a human was the whole reason the team existed at all or was this prosperous and famous.

Pyrose nodded to himself, as though thinking of the same memories. "The other day, Alakazam and the Birds decided to try out an experiment. They used the teleport gem and infused it with the power of the three birds, probably trying to make a teleportation system that could cross the world or something." He paused, as though trying to remember what they told him. "When they tried it out, Alakazam found himself in front of a weird settlement of some kind." He stopped, and his expression grew more serious. "It was filled with humans."

The shock seemed to suck the very air out of the room. March couldn't believe it. "What? Humans? Where?" he exclaimed in his excitement.

"That's the thing," Pyrose said. "Alakazam thinks it isn't on this planet at all. He thinks he somehow went to a different dimension."

March's head spun, either from the news or fatigue from Silver Trench. Verdant was still silent, with a wide-eyed expression, and Polare fidgeted, still trying to process this revelation.

Pyrose looked at each of them slowly and said "I think that's my home-world. The place I came from. That's where I want to explore." Verdant grew more wide-eyed.

"I want to go home."