As Hiro and Amber followed Ragnus, Pete close behind them with a frustrated expression, they finally got a look at the interior of the guildhall. They soon entered the mess hall which had a bunch of pokémon that were no doubt guildmates. The group of four walked until a Farfetched jumped in front of them, left wing on their head in a salute, their right carrying its iconic leek.
"Pete sir! I have cleaned the kitchen down to perfection as per your orders sir!" the bird before them shouted at the Chatot in exclaimed excitement.
"Err… yes, very good," Pete responded in kind. "Now off with you. We have some new guildmates and…"
"New guildmates sir?!" the Farfetched excitedly parroted. "Shall I set up a new room for them sir?!"
Before Pete could answer, Ragnus beat him to it. "No, that won't be necessary. I'm assigning them to a fellow guildmate."
"As you wish sir!" And with that, the Farfetched flew off to another part of the guildhall.
"Who was that?" Amber asked.
"That would be my cousin, Flick," Pete answered for them. "He joined a while after I did. He's looked up to me ever since, and basically became my own personal assistant. Although technically I don't need one." the Chatot finished with an annoyed growl. The shiny Goodra then decided to move on with their trek through the guild until they reached their destination. They found themselves at a bar-like area. The barista was a female Lilligant, and in the seats before the bar, which were barrels, there was a Petilil and a Buizel.
"Another request accomplished, huh?" the Petilil said.
"Wasn't too hard," the Buizel responded with a gruff. "It was a simple delivery request. Nothing I couldn't handle."
"Right…" the Petilil said with a sad smile. "But I wish you didn't push yourself so hard. Especially since you work alone so much."
"Hmm…"
"Ahem!" Ragnus coughed, grabbing their attention. "Hello there Rose, Axel."
"Hello guildmaster," they both responded.
"Are you here for your usual?" the Lilligant behind the bar counter asked.
"No, not now Orchid," the Goodra responded. "Actually, I was hoping to borrow Axel for a few minutes, if that's okay with you Rose?"
"Oh… not at all!" she responded with a light blush on her cheeks. The Buizel raised an eyebrow in confusion before finishing his drink and followed Ragnus to the group. Axel gave Hiro and Amber a once over before asking the obvious question.
"So why am I here exactly?"
"Axel, meet your new teammates," Ragnus answered, gesturing to the Fennekin and Riolu who gave an awkward wave. The said Buizel certainly did not look thrilled in the least.
"What?! How many times do I have to say it, Ragnus?! I… WORK… ALONE…"
"Do not speak to your guildmaster in that tone, young man!" Pete defended Ragnus, before the said Goodra quelled the Chatots' anger.
"Now, now Pete. You know as well as I do about the fate of Axel's last team, but Axel, these two here just joined the guild, and they'll need an experienced explorer to help teach them to better themselves."
"Then why not get someone else?" Axel asked with his arms crossed. "Perhaps one of the members of Team CSG? They have quite the experience, I'm sure they could teach them a thing or two."
"Because they are already a well organized team," Ragnus answered. "Meanwhile you don't have a team of your own since you like to play lone Lycanroc."
"Then how about Rose?" the Buizel countered. "She doesn't have a team, and she's as experienced as I am."
Growing tired of this back and forth banter, Ragnus decided to put the final nail in the coffin. "Because this isn't a request for you, it's an order."
"What?!" Axel responds shocked.
"Axel, no matter how hard you may try to prevent it, we all have our shortcomings, even me. That's why teams are important. So you have fellow pokémon to support you when you fall. I know that they'll never replace… them… but it's better than fighting alone."
The Buizel wanted to decline, but he couldn't deny an order given by the guildmaster. "Fine…"
"Splendid!" Ragnus said with glee. "You'll be responsible for them from now on since you'll be team leader! Understand?"
"Crystal," Axel responds with a growl.
"Alright! Sleep well you three, I expect great things from you!" Once Ragnus and Pete left, Hiro and Amber were left alone with a glaring Axel.
The three walked in silence as Axel led them (reluctantly) to his house. It was made of wood, had two floors, the second having an open hallway/porch that led to the bedrooms. Once they entered, the bottom floor had a classic japanese style dining area, a basic kitchen that had an oven and a large ice box, a large couch and a pair of stairs that led up to the second floor.
"Welcome to your new home away from home, kids," Axel said with annoyance in his tone. "Now follow me to where you'll be sleeping." Hiro and Amber shared a glance before following him up the stairs to the second floor. There were 4 bedrooms in total, each one separated from the hallway by a door.
"Alright! Looks like we get separate rooms!" Amber said, excitedly making her way over to one of the doors.
"DON'T GO IN THERE!" Axel angrily yelled at her, causing her to shrink back.
"Hey!" Hiro exclaimed, getting between them. "Look, I get you're not excited about having a team after going lone wolf for so long, but that doesn't excuse you for shouting at my friend like that!"
After a few deep breaths, the Buizel calmed down and apologized. "Sorry… but don't go into these rooms. They once belonged to old friends of mine."
"Ragnus said something about that right?" the Riolu replied. "Do you mind telling us what happened?"
"Actually, I do mind," Axel replies with a glare. "So do us both a favor, and never ask about it again." He then turned toward a ladder at the end of the hall that led up to the attic. Axel entered first, the two pokémon followed behind him after a few seconds to find him setting up two beds for them. "If you're not comfortable sleeping in the same room, one of you can take the couch downstairs. I don't care which, just know that none of you are allowed in those rooms."
"Yes sir!" they both replied.
"Good," Axel said before walking to the ladder and began to climb down. "I won't be waking you up, just so we're clear. If you're not up by the time I'm ready to go, I'm leaving without you." He ended his sentence by closing the latch without even so much as a goodnight.
"Well, so much for a warm welcome," Amber sarcastically replies. Hiro just stared at the latch that closed. "Hey, is something wrong?" Hiro looked at his new friend and replied.
"There was something about him… I'm not sure what it was but, for some reason, he looked like he was hurting." Down below, Axel was in his own room, holding a photo of a beautiful Servine, a tear just escaping his eye.
Before the early morning sun arose, Axel was out of bed and making his own breakfast as quietly and quickly as he could. "If I can leave before they wake up and get a request, then I won't have to bother with them." The Buizel made a quick slice of toast and was about to leave, only to see upon opening the door Flick was standing in front of him.
"Good morning Axel!" the Farfetched exclaimed. Panicking, Axel put one of his paws over Flick's beak and proceeded to shush him quiet. Once he was sure that Hiro and Amber weren't awake, he turned to the bird in front of him.
"What are you doing here?" he asked with a whisper, Flick unfortunately wasn't willing to return the quietness.
"The guildmaster wanted me to remind you that you have teammates now, and he expects all three of you to show up at the guildhall! Failure to do so will result in punishment on your behalf!" Flick then turned around and began to take off. "The guildmaster sent me to let you know!" he added as he took to the skies.
"Grr…"
Seeing as he had no choice but to wake up the two newbies, Axel returned into his house and headed up to the attic. Speaking of whom, despite the shouting from Flick, neither of them awoke, until the Buizel's impatient banging on the latch did them in. "Get up you two! It's time to head to the hall!"
"Ugh… what?" Hiro groggily asked, trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes. He didn't even have time to register all that happened yesterday before Axel busted the latch open, surprising both him and Amber awake.
"Get up, I said! Now get ready!" the Buizel demanded before climbing back down.
Seeing the talking Buizel freaked Hiro out a bit, before remembering the events of the day prior. He then helped his partner with loading supplies into her bag while Amber put it on. The two then climbed down to see Axel tapping his foot.
"About time," he said with annoyance. Hiro, not liking the attitude, decided to throw some of his own at the Buizel.
"I thought you said you weren't gonna wake us up?" he replies. Axel then looks off to the side with a light blush from embarrassment.
"The guildmaster said all three of us had to show up at the guildhall or else I would be punished for it. If I had my way, I wouldn't be waking you up, and I'd have already gotten a request for myself."
"Well, nice to hear our leader would abandon two inexperienced pokémon because he didn't want some help," Amber said sarcastically.
"I don't need any help!" Axel countered. "I'm fine on my own! I don't need anyone!" Before they could say anything else, he already walked down the stairs, the two then tailing after him.
"Wait! What about breakfast?!" Amber asked as the Buizel was about to walk out the door.
"Should've woken up earlier," he countered.
"B-But it's not even sunrise!" she added. "Even if we have to wake up early, this is too much!"
"Well too bad! I'm your team leader, which means you have to follow my lead! That includes adjusting your inner clocks to match mine, got it?!" And with that, Axel left. Trying not to get left behind, Hiro and Amber grabbed two Berries from the ice box and had them as their breakfast.
As the trio arrived at the guildhall, Ragnus stood with a passive look on his face, smiling once he saw that Axel had arrived with the rest of his team.
"Glad to see you got my message," the Goodra remarks.
"Yeah, yeah," Axel responds, walking into the guildhall. Both Hiro and Amber followed soon after, but not before giving a quick greeting to their guildmaster.
Once they entered, they found their leader by a billboard hanging off a wall. It contained a load of papers that had requests on them. Being curious, Hiro asked their leader about what was in front of them.
"So… what is this, Axel?" The Buizel just grunted and ignored the question. Feeling frustrated, the Riolu tried to talk some sense into his leader, Amber feeling the same. "Come on, we're supposed to be a team here! If you won't tell us what we're getting into, we won't know what to expect!"
"That's right!" the Fennekin exclaims in agreement.
"Did I hear that right? Axel's got a team now?" came a voice from behind them. Turning around, Amber and Hiro saw a Greninja standing there, along with a Charizard and a Sceptile behind him. After a few seconds, the Greninja then gave a huge grin. "That's awesome! Nice to see you're finally opening up again!" Axel just ignored him and continued to look at the board. Seeing as their leader didn't want to talk, Hiro decided to do it himself.
"Actually, it was on the guildmaster's orders," he explained, which the Greninja gave a look of understanding to.
"Ahh… Of course, and here I thought he'd finally snapped out of his funk." Axel's face grimaced slightly.
"So, who are you?" Amber asked the group in front of them.
"Huh? Oh! You must be newbies!" the Greninja replies. "Sorry, we're such a well known group here that we tend to assume everyone knows us. Anyways, I'm Go, the Sceptile behind me is Lan."
"Sup," the grass lizard replies in a laid back tone.
"And the Charizard here is Alen!" The said pokémon grunted in greeting as the Greninja continued. "And together, we're Team CSG!" After their introduction, Hiro and Amber looked at them in admiration.
"Wow… so cool!" the Fennekin said.
"Yeah," the Riolu agreed, before he remembered something. "Hey, aren't these the guys that Axel mentioned yesterday?" he asked Amber, to which she agreed.
"Oh yeah! He did mention them!" she replied, then she turned to Go. "Hey, you mind telling us about this board here? Our leader isn't being very cooperative."
After a hearty chuckle, the Greninja replies, "Sure. Figures he wouldn't. This is the request board. It's where you'll find jobs and such for explorers like us, of which is split into 3 categories; Retrieval, Rescue and Detain. Retrieval missions ask for a pokémon to find a lost item, Rescue missions are to help find a lost pokémon, and Detain missions…" Axel then took a wanted poster that had a menacing looking Thwackey on it. "...are basically bounty hunting jobs. Find a criminal and detain them." The group then followed Axel to a giant map of the continent. On it were a bunch of red dots, each one having a letter above it. "And this here is the Dungeon Tracker. It's a specially designed map that tracks the energy a mystery dungeon emits and puts it on the map." As if by magic, another dot appears with the letter B above it.
"What's with all the letters?" Hiro asks.
"That's the difficulty ranking," Go explains. "The easiest dungeons are D tier, meaning they're easy to beat and don't have that many floors, and the difficulty increases alphabetically until the S tiers. Those are the most difficult and largest. SS tiers are well known for having around 100 floors."
"100?!" both Hiro and Amber exclaim. Curiosity getting the better of him, Hiro located the dungeon both him and Amber fought the Delibird in. When he did he saw it was ranked A tier. "Good thing we left that one early," he thought to himself.
"Yep. We took on a SS tier once. We only managed to get halfway before we couldn't take anymore and decided to leave at the next break room," Go added. "When we took on an S tier, the Boss Shadow was a Legendary. I can only imagine what the boss of a SS tier is!"
"Boss Shadow?" Hiro asks Amber quietly.
"The big bad that guards the treasure," she answers, to which the Riolu nods in understanding.
"Anyways, you should probably go. Axel's already left without 'cha," Go says casually, bringing up the now missing leader of their team. Panicking, the duo ran out the front doors, only to stop and see Ragnus holding the Buizel in one of his tendrils, the Goodra smiling upon seeing the two arrive.
"Ah! Glad to see you two!" he greets.
"Yeah, yeah, they're here, now will you let me go?" Axel asked, to which Ragnus released him from his grasp, allowing the Buizel to walk away. Before Hiro and Amber could follow, the Goodra wanted to talk first.
"I know he isn't the most cooperative leader," he says, catching their attention. "But I'm hoping that by being with you, he'll finally be able to move on."
"Move on from what?" Hiro asks.
"It's not really my place to say, but a fair warning. The job he picked, I highly wouldn't recommend for begging explorers, so if you run into trouble, use these to escape." He then gave them 3 blue crystal orbs. "They're escape orbs. Use them only if you need to."
"But, won't they only work in mystery dungeons?" Amber questions, putting the orbs in her bag.
"The request that Axel picked is a Detain mission. It's for a troublesome criminal named Basher, a Thwackey, who has been hiding out in the Leavern Caverns mystery dungeon," Ragnus explained. "Luckily it's only a D tier, but a Detain mission is the hardest of the three types of requests. Never forget, criminals aren't Shadows. Now off with you." With those words of advice, Hiro and Amber ran after their leader off in the distance, Ragnus watching. "What will become of you, Hiro, Amber?"
"That is the question, isn't it?" Go added upon joining his guildmaster's side. "Y'know, just by looking at them, I could tell that they were destined for great things. They'll become legends one day, I just know it."
Author's Note: So… It's been awhile. Just felt like updating this story since it just felt more appealing to me. Hope I hit my return to this story with a bang, especially with the introduction of our third hero, Axel. Next chapter, our gang's gonna take on their first request. Hope you'll be around for it! Until next time.