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Authors note: FIRST OF ALL I'M SO SORRY THAT I'M LIKE, FOUR DAYS LATE GETTING THIS CHAPTER OUT, second of all I had a friend proofread this chapter and I spent a lot more time considering things while writing and tried to be more neat. My friend helped this chapter become even neater. Sorry if I make a lot of these authors notes but I gotta communicate a little. For now, I'm gonna be taking a two week break from writing this fic so I can focus on life stuff more and also just to relax a little, but after that I'm going back to writing again, but by that time around I'll be setting a deadline to get a chapter within 2/3 weeks instead of 1 week- getting out a chapter in 1 week felt kinda rushed and I wanna be careful as to not burn out on this so that the fic doesn't end up half finished with no updates.
Oh also I'll go back and fix some minor inconsistencies in earlier chapters at some point since this chapter changes a little things, I also gotta fix the fact that some formatting in previous chapters got nuked when I copied over from google docs.
Enjoy this chapter!
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"Walker."
...
"Waaaaalkerr." The same voice speaks again.
…
Inches from my sleeping face, staring down at me, is Marble. My eyes struggle to open. I roll over to lie on my side.
"Five more minutes, dude…" I say in a tired voice.
"Walker!"
"Myeaahhh…" I tighten the hood over my head to block out more sun.
"WALKER! Get up already!" Marble shouts.
"WAH!" I spring up and wobble onto my feet. My sudden jolt of movement causes my hood to fall off, revealing my scruffy head fur. "I'm up! I'm up I'm up!"
"Jeez, usually I'm the one sleeping in - holy - what happened to your head fur?"
"What?"
Marble rolls his eyes. "Nevermind." He turns his head towards Azumarill's tent and points a paw towards it. "Azumarill's about to tell us whether or not we succeeded in getting in!"
!
"Hwuh- wait, really?" I rub my eyes with my paws. It feels like I didn't get any sleep last night. Looking up at the sky, I can see the sun is barely even up right now. How early is it?
"WELL, not really, but he wanted to meet us in her tent again. SURELY it's important, right? I mean, what else would she want to tell us? C'mon c'mon c'mon!"
We both rush into the tent where Azumarill waits to tell us the results. As we run, Marble brushes past Smeargle, pushing her to the side a little, and her tail brush smears the painting on the right side of the canvas with a sickly green.
"HEY!" Smeargle yells. She lets go of her tail and lets it fall to the ground, splatting the ground with the same green paint that ruined the painting.
"Sorry!" Marble quickens his pace. I look back at Smeargle with guilt while slowing my running pace. She simply looks down, sighs, and lifts her tail again to continue painting.
"Walker! Come on!"
I enter the tent with Marble.
"We're here! He's awake!"
"Ah! Good! Uh…"
Azumarill sits in her hay bed, leaning off it towards the small, squat table just to her right. She lets out a big yawn.
"Not sure how to start this… Please give me a moment, I need to organize my things." Azumarill stirs something in a cup with a spoon. A little bit of steam comes out from what I assume to be tea. The drink is tinted blue. Oran berry tea? Probably. Azumarill sips on it and clears her throat. "They never taught me how to, ah, how to get new recruits…"
She looks under her little wooden table, shuffling some stuff around. I lean over to get a look and see a few shiny glints of metal.
"I have some badges here… Hm."
"WE DID IT WALKER! WE DID IT!" Marble turns towards me, as excited as ever. I flinch.
"Don't be so hasty! I'll be getting to your status as recruits in a moment. Jeez… Have some patience."
"Oh… Uh, sorry! Just excited, is all."
Azumarill brings out some little bronze winged badges from under the table and sets them on top of it. Then, she goes back to rummaging under the table.
"Hmmm…" She pulls out an unremarkable stick wand with an empty slot on its tip where it looks like you could fit an orb. She turns it around in her hands and taps it against the wooden table gently.
"For no reason in particular, what are you two's favorite colors?"
"I like green!" Marble says without delay.
"Purple's my favorite, or blue. I like yellow, uh..." I can't decide on a favorite color. What the heck is my favorite color? I don't think I even have a favorite color.
"C'mon, pick one," Azumarill says.
"Pur- pink! I like pink," I blurted out.
Azumarill pulls out a pink and a green orb, slots the green orb into a wand, and shoves it into my hands. She pulls out another empty wand, slots the pink orb in, and shoves that into my hands too. The wands are both heavy, and I struggle to keep hold of both. The orbs light up and shower the tent in colored light. Then, their glow weakens to just a faint glimmer.
"Good, they actually work. I hope they do, anyway. The color shine usually means they work... These are your guild-given connection wands and your badges." Azumarill stretches out a paw and sticks a guild badge onto the left side of my cloak, just beside my wooden lock. She puts Marble's badge right in the middle of his teal bandana.
I stick Marble's wand into his bag. It hangs out loosely, so I try to push it in snugly. Even after a good push, it still looks like it's gonna fall out. I think Marble's bag is just too stuffed with... stuff. I give up. I hold mine close to my chest, and the pink orb shines just under my face.
"As you are now in the guild, you'll be travelling with us to explored and unexplored places alike, tirelessly helping Pokémon with their daily chores and problems no matter the cost! You'll be heroes with your contributions! Though the guild hasn't had to do that in a long time, it feels like. I can't recall the last time I went on one of those kinds of missions… Oh, what I'd do to go back to just being a beginner member of the guild~"
Azumarill spaces out, looking towards the top of the tent with an expression of awe.
"Uh… Azumarill? You were saying?" Marble says. Azumarill shakes her head and snaps out of it.
"Sorry! I do that sometimes, um- anyways. Those are your beginner badges. Welcome to the world-renowned explorer's guild!"
"HECK YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Me and Azumarill jump from Marble's sudden outburst.
"Yes! YES! You have no idea how much this means to me! WOOO!" Marble runs out of the tent, jumping around excitedly. I get off the small carpet and look outside to see where he's going. I see him chuck his fake badge far, far into the forest. Smeargle shuffles around and moves her canvas back, probably fearing that Marble's going to bump into her again - or even worse, bump into the canvas. I see Lere peek her head out of her tent, looking extremely tired.
"What the heck is with all that noise..?" Lere says, voice low and groggy. She totally hasn't had her chesto berry juice today. She rubs her eyes with her paws and looks at Marble bouncing around, cheering, and making a ton of noise. "Ugh…"
"We did it WE DID IT! TEAM STARSTRUCK IS OFFICIAL!" Marble runs around the extinguished campfire, still cheering.
"I'm glad you got in, but it's like… six AM or something. Judging by the sun, anyways…" Lere groans.
"...Uh, so anyways, Walker?"
I turn around and sit back down on the carpet. "Yes?"
"The reason you are getting beginner badges instead of intermediate badges, like new recruits, is because you two are just kids. And while you two are good fighters, you both show too much recklessness in battle. Especially Marble. Marble's even worse than Lere!" Azumarill exclaims. "So, because of that, I trust you and Smeargle to keep those other two in check when you go down there."
"Wait, all four of us are going? I thought it was just Marble and I that was going down."
"What? Heck no, of course you're going with those other two- Lere and Smeargle. There's no way I can trust you two to return in one piece if you went into the abyss without anyone looking over you. No team goes alone without another team beside them!" Azumarill gets up from her hay bed. "Now, you two should go say bye to anyone you might want to. Arceus knows how long this next mission's gonna be, go along now! We'll find you in town later!"
I take a deep breath. Holy Arceus, we're actually in. I thought it'd be harder than it was - maybe Marble did, too. I'm glad that we both got in. Marble seems so happy. I get up from the rug and bow politely to Azumarill. "Thank you," I say.
"Wow, no need for the formalities. Now go on, get out of here! I gotta make some more tea and some chesto juice."
I push the leaves away and leaf the tent.
"YEAH! YEAH! WE DID IT!"
"Please stop jumping and yelling so much! My poor painting is gonna get ruined completely if I can't focus…" Smeargle says. She lets out an exasperated sigh when Marble continues his rampant, obnoxious cheering.
Smeargle's painting is a grey Froslass with a striped background of white and black, like prison bars. There's a giant green smear on the right side of the painting. Marble's responsible for that. However, it looks like Smeargle is trying to incorporate that smear into the painting by making it look like a bush of leaves growing towards the Froslass. She adds thin lines draping over the greyed Froslass - vines overtaking the statue. She's also drawing some green splotches in other spots, mainly the corners. Maybe she'll turn those into bushes too.
"Walker! Walker! Team Starstruck, me and you! This is the start of our adventure, we're gonna take on the WORLD!" Marble stops in front of me. His eyes, kinda like our team name, are filled with stars. No, not literally. But he's elated with how everything went - I can tell.
"Heck yeah, we did!"
"Walker, gimme a high paw!"
I guess there's no such thing as a high five here in the Pokémon world, but I understood what he meant just fine. Marble stands up on his hind legs and we high five each other. Or high paw.
"Now, we gotta get going. Azumarill wanted us to go back to Aurial town for a bit, just to say goodbye to anyone we need to, 'kay?"
"Oh heck yeah! I can't forget that, Corviknight would be worried sick... But he's gonna be so proud when I tell him that I finally got it! I think…" Marble looks down and I catch a little bit of uncertainty dart across his face, but he follows it up by looking up at me with a star crossed expression and a smile. "N-nevermind! Let's get going!"
He and I finally start off. Marble starts running towards Aurial Town. I barely keep pace just behind him. He slows down for the bridge and marches triumphantly along it. I find myself marching just like him, like a proud footsoldier, until I realize the bridge is wobbling due to our marching. I freak out a little and try to steady myself, and eventually the bridge steadies too. Marble still marches proudly, probably blissfully unaware the bridge was even wobbling at all.
When we open the door to Corviknight's gatehouse, he isn't behind the desk to greet us like he normally would. Marble looks at me and I shrug.
"Where the heck is he? Usually he's here all day. Heck, he even sleeps here sometimes."
"Dunno… Uh, I guess we can say bye to him on the way back through this gate?" I say.
"Yeah, I guess we can do that."
I open the door to the town plaza. It's weird to think that we're probably not going to be seeing this town for a while.
"I think I'm gonna stop at your house if that's ok, maybe collect some things we need? Maybe get a parting gift or two for some Pokémon. Like Bisharp and Gourgeist or Bewear… Wonder what they'd like?"
"Sure! I don't mind. Make use of anything you find. I'm gonna run off and find Xatu, see what he thinks about me finally being a part of the guild! Meet you back here at the statue!"
"Alright. Seeya here in like, two hours, then," I say, giving Marble the closest thing I can manage to a thumbs up. Marble runs off, bounding along the wooden path while zigzagging between Pokémon taking their morning stroll. Some stagger in their stride as Marble suddenly appears in front of them before darting out of the way. Marble is like a reckless walking disaster to anyone around him when he's hyped up for something.
But he's also my friend on top of being a walking disaster. He's fearless, and he'd probably take on anyone even if they'd far outmatch him in strength. Maybe it's because of his extremely versatile power? It's a secret weapon he can pull out when his opponent least expects it.
It works well, too. Everyone assumes it's just an illusion, as Zoruas and Zoroarks are natural tricksters. It's just that Marble is even more of a trickster than others. I think. You think it's an illusion, but it's not, which sort of wraps around to it being an illusion again, right? Since you see a Seedot but you- in your mind- think it's a Zorua, even though, yeah, it really is just a Seedot.
I need to stop getting distracted by going off on some random tangent. I have a job to do. I have to head to Marble's shack to get stuff as parting gifts for Bisharp, Gourgeist, Bewear - maybe Audino? No, I can't give Audino anything. I don't know her well enough to know what to give, and I almost never see her, so it'd be weird to get her anything.
What strikes me as odd about Marble is that everyone - or most everyone that I've seen in this town - views him as a trouble maker, despite his friendliness and good intentions. He has a really good soul, yet everyone, including Corviknight, sees him as trouble. Actually, maybe that's not entirely true about Corviknight. I think Corviknight just cares about Marble. He did get worried and came all the way over to Gemdown City to find us when we took quite a while with our "job." It's just a weird dynamic to me. He cares, and he'll go out of his way to dissuade Marble from doing something dangerous, but ultimately won't stop him from doing it.
Gah, still on a brain tangent. I'm glad no one's listening in on my thoughts, at least. I keep distracting myself while walking to Marble's dilapidated house. It's just as we left it when we went to the campsite last night. There are still holes in the walls covered up by cloth and windows without frames - basically just large holes in the wall that let wind run rampant. Bushes sit just around the house, rustling in the wind, while some vines creep up the wooden walls.
The ground is scarce, though, as every house here sits on pillars that rise all the way from the abyss. The wooden walkways just serve to add more things to walk around on - to connect everything back together. I wonder what caused the sinkhole to appear and reveal this abyss, and why the Pokémon here don't move elsewhere, considering the giant hole below them. I stop to look into the abyss just before entering Marble's house.
It's pitch black. The land pillaring up to support Marble's rundown shack disappears when I look down far enough, eaten up by the darkness.
…
Why the heck does this have to be our first mission? Couldn't we have gotten something simpler? This is ridiculous! I mean, an abyss no one else has explored before? I'm just glad we have senior guild members coming with us, or else I think we'd get lost down there.
There's also the fact that some legendaries knew the sinkhole was going to appear and swallow stuff up. I remember Marble talking about it - they showed up to evacuate everyone and reassure them that their stuff wasn't all lost as Regirock brought the land back up, if only for the houses. Maybe Regirock was just so caught up in other business that day that they couldn't bother to bring ALL the land up instead. So everyone had to build wooden bridges between it all, and have it be supported by precarious beams of rock and slate.
It's probably not good for me to keep staring into this hole. I push myself away from the wooden guard rail that was preventing me from falling that entire time. Then I push the door curtain aside to enter Marble's house.
Dusty. Just as dusty and messy as before, with all the maps everywhere and all the seemingly random tools. A hammer, a mining pickaxe, some climbing rope that looks extremely worn and close to snapping. He still hasn't cleaned this place out and organized it much, and I don't think he will for a while.
I might find some things in the drawer. I tiptoe around the various objects lying on the ground and pull open the first drawer of the dresser to find it surprisingly empty, except for a thin veil of dust. I open the next drawer. It's a bunch of books and educational papers.
I scan through some of the things. Some of them are really old children's stories. One of them is The Hungry Hungry Caterpie, and another one is "The Scorbunny and the Turtwig". I read through them - the Caterpie one weirds me out, and the "Scorbunny and Turtwig" one confuses me because it's just unrealistic. Turtwigs aren't that slow, and Scorbunny- or any other Pokémon - wouldn't just take a break! Whatever. I'm looking too much into that book.
Heart of The Underground. That one strikes me as interesting, but not interesting enough to actually pick it up. But I end up picking it up anyway to see what's under it. I set it on top of the dresser. Under it is a blue hardcover book with a paper stuck on it with crude writing that reads "Marble's Diary of Cool Adventures!" There's a little smiley face below the title. The name is absolutely cheesy, but charming. What kind of stuff would he write in here? Judging by the name, I bet he started this when he was really young.
…
I lift the cover to reveal...
I slam the diary shut. No. I can't just read someone's diary like that! The dust from the book slamming shut blows into my face and I sneeze.
"Blegh… When was the last time he used this?" I mutter.
I should probably stuff it in my bag, though. So I do. Mostly because I'm sure Marble would want to keep it with him. I scavenge around the ground for a pen so he can actually write in it if he wants to.
Now, what the heck would Bisharp and Bewear want…? Bisharp tends to glasses and berries while Gourgeist squeezes them all into juice to be mixed and served. Maybe cloth to clean the glasses? I guess cloth could work for Bewear as well.
I go to a faded green cloth covering up one of the holes in the wall. It's held up by four nails, each in one corner. Carefully, I reach a paw to try to pull off the upper-left corner's nail. It loosens a little bit from the old, weak wood, but after that, I can't get it off any further. I look around to see if I can find any scissors, but I find none in immediate view. So I press on. I tug at the cloth just a little. Nothing. I grab the cloth with both hands and tug. Still nothing. I pull with all my might and the cloth tears off, slamming me onto my back onto the hardwood floor.
"FRICK! AUGH!"
I get up, a little stiff, while trying not to move more than I have to. The faded color of the green cloth is depressing, especially considering that the whole thing is torn. It's just trash cloth now.
Maybe it's… Maybe it's the thought that counts? Arceus, I hope so. These gifts suck, but I can't think of anything else. Even though I've known Bewear and Bisharp for quite a bit now - since me and Marble did odd jobs for them for a while - I still feel like I don't know them enough to get them anything memorable.
I end up doing the same to another cloth on the wall. This time it's a red cloth, and considerably larger than the green cloth. I try being more careful this time to avoid falling onto my back again like an idiot. Ultimately, I still end up with some old and fragile torn cloth. The cold air from the large, uncovered hole in the wall hits me suddenly, sending a shiver up my spine. Then I head out. First stop is Bewears shop.
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I walk into Bewear's shop with the cloth in hand. Bewear raises a brow at me when I walk up and put the two tattered pieces of fabric onto the counter.
Bewear stares down at me, and then at the cloth. Then back at me and then back at the cloth again.
"...What do with this? These are torn," Bewear says.
"I, uh… wanted to get you a parting gift. Me and Marble joined the guild! I know it's like, not much at all, but, uh, yeah. I just thought I'd- like- y'know, give a parting gift."
Bewear grabs them both and compares their size. The red cloth is obviously bigger. I look down in shame.
"Mhm. Joining guild explains new attire you two got. Parting gift isn't given from leaving guy. Parting gift is given to leaving guy. But I make this cloth into something great. Give me a moment."
Bewear takes the cloth into the back of the store, disappearing into a doorway. Suddenly a realization hits me. I gave him both pieces of cloth! I was supposed to give one to Bisharp. I think about vaulting over the desk to make sure Bewear doesn't use both in whatever he's making, but I decide not to embarrass myself and be rude by taking back a gift I just gave.
Shoot. Think. If I can't go in there to ask Bewear for some of that cloth back, what else am I going to do for Bisharp's gift?
…
I GOT IT! I'll just buy something here for Bisharp! But what?
I look at the door Bewear went into. I'm guessing he'll be in there a while, so I actually have time to pick something out. Like… uh… a scarf? Maybe? Would that even work for Bisharp? It feels like he might accidentally cut it while taking it on and off.
I look to see what scarves are in a nearby pile. There are other things here too. All small-scale things that aren't big enough to warrant their own rack are just lumped together in this wooden bin. I sift through it all, finding some good color combinations. Pink and purple scarves, yellow and blue scarves, green and white scarves - if there's a color combo you have in mind, it's probably there. I find a striped red and black one and my decision is made pretty quickly. This would fit Bisharp perfectly! Maybe. I pick out another from the pile, an orange and yellow scarf for Gourgeist.
"Good. This is good!" Bewear says from the back. Did I really take that long picking out two scarves? I rush up to the counter and put the scarves on it, along with some Poké from my bag.
Eventually, Bewear comes out. In his hands is the fabric stitched together to envelope a small, silver pocket watch. The fabric looks cleaned of any dust, but the colors still look faded. He sets it on the counter.
"Thank you for fabric. Colors look festive together."
"No problem!" One of those was meant for Bisharp, darn it! "I'm glad you were able to use them. That watch looks… uh."
I look at it and notice imperfections in the stitchwork where the metal is visible underneath. The fabric isn't stitched tightly enough around it. The watch seems to work perfectly, though. By all accounts, it's just a normal silver pocket watch, just with the actual clock bit surrounded by shoddy patchwork. The watch's clock hands aren't covered though. Gah, what am I saying? It doesn't matter if there are imperfections that I only noticing when I look too closely. I hate that I do that a lot.
"It's good!"
"Thanks. I'm happy with. These scarves on the counter. Do you want them?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna give them to Bisharp and Gourgeist."
"Mhm…"
Bewear pushes the money and the scarves towards me.
"I give. Free. You earned it."
…
"Wait, for real?"
Bewear nods. "Real."
I take the money and put it in my bag with everything else. Then I grab the scarves and hold them in my paws. "Thanks, I appreciate that. I'm- I'm sure Bisharp and Gourgeist will too. See ya later, you big guy!"
I turn around to leave. As I get close to the door, Bewear speaks up.
"Good luck on guild stuff. Big adventures, I hear. Knock bad guys out of park for me!"
"I will!" I laugh a little and finally leave the store.
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"Hey! Walker! How's it been?" Bisharp greets me as I enter the juice bar. Gourgeist whistles as she cleans some glasses, and some Pokémon chat idly at their tables.
"It's been, uh, good! It's been good."
"Well, spill it! What have you and Marble been up to?" Bisharp asks.
"Well, for starters, we joined the guild. Like, y'know, the explorer's guild!"
"Arceus, you two actually got in? Yeesh," Gourgeist says, facing towards a shelf with various glasses. "I thought the guild didn't let kids in?"
"That's the thing. I guess we did well enough to get in regardless of that rule?" I shrug.
"Wait, so that means… You're gonna go on adventures right? And that means you won't really be here anymore?" Bisharp asks.
"Yes!" I hold up the two scarves in my hand, presenting them. "I thought i'd give y-"
"Well let's get you a celebratory drink before you go!" Bisharp interrupts, completely ignoring the scarves while he turns around to grab a glass off of the shelf. "Gourgeist, go get some enigma and persim berries please! Pomeg too!"
"You got it, man." Gourgeist turns around to a wooden bucket full of berries and plucks out the three berries Bisharp requested. One enigma, one persim, one pomeg. Swiftly, she picks off their leaves and puts them into a stone mortar and pestle to mash them into a paste. I guess I'll just let this happen and then give them the scarves afterward. I hold the scarves close and climb onto a stool to watch this whole thing unfold.
Bisharp dispenses water from a barrel that's built into the shelf, filling up a glass of water. He hands it to Gourgeist, who shovels the berry paste into it. She grabs a small round wooden disc from the shelf and puts it over the glass. She puts one hair hand over the wooden disc and the other on the underside of the glass and shakes it violently. Eventually, it's all mixed, and just like that it's done. She puts the drink onto the bar counter.
"Here. Best, like, smoothie mix we have here. It's mysterious and enigmatic, how delicious it is. Or whatever Bisharp says - I've never tried it." She shrugs. "Can't, anyways, it'd extinguish my pumpkin fire."
"It's on the house, dude! Enjoy it," Bisharp says. I look at the mixture. It looks like a sickly grey goop with a tinge of pink, and it smells like a disgusting swamp. All of my senses feel assaulted. As I pick it up, I try to hide my disgusted expression the best I can.
"Try it!" Bisharp says. "I know it smells horrible, but it's actually pretty good, trust me."
Hesitantly, I bring it closer to my face. To my surprise, when I take a sip, it actually tastes really good. It's sweet, salty, and even a little sour. Those are the only words I can think of to describe it. I guess that's the enigma berry?
"It smelled… so bad, but now it smells good? And tastes good? And that's only from three berries and some water?"
"Yeah! Gourgeist is a master at this stuff," Bisharp says.
I drink some more. Eventually, I just decide "heck it, why not?" and start to chug it. After I'm finished, I gently put the glass down.
"H-holy- Did you just chug that whole thing?" Bisharp says, a bit surprised.
"Uh. Yeah. It was good," I say flatly.
"Like, I've never seen someone chug a drink that fast. You gonna be okay, dude?"
"Should I be worried?"
"No! No, the drink's probably fine to chug. You'll be fine." Bisharp nods.
"...Right, so about what I wanted to do…" I put the two scarves onto the counter. "Got you two a parting gift since I might not be back here for a while. Guild stuff, I guess. Hope you like 'em!"
"Woah! These are so cool, dude!" Bisharp goes to grab the red and black scarf, but pulls back his hand before actually touching it.
"Uh, hey, Gourgeist?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I get some help trying this on? I don't wanna accidentally cut it with my arm blades."
"Yeah sure."
Bisharp gets down on one knee while Gourgeist swipes the striped red and black scarf off the counter and ties it around Bisharp's neck. Bisharp stands up, and Gourgeist grabs the orange and yellow scarf to put around her own neck.
"Hmm… This is comfy! Thanks, Walker!" Bisharp says gleefully with a smile. Gourgeist smiles and gives me a thumbs up, too.
"You know parting gifts are for the person leaving though, right?" Gourgeist asks.
"Ha, yeah. Bewear said the same thing," I say.
"Walker, you know you gotta spill it, what are you two's first mission? And your team name?" Bisharp asks.
"Team Starstruck. We're going into the abyss below us to explore it - uncharted territory. We're not gonna be alone, though. Team Temper is coming with us!"
"Ooh! Never heard of that team before. You're going into the abyss as your first mission? Isn't that a bit extreme?"
"Yeah, it totally is, but… Marble seems psyched for it, so if I objected I'd feel bad. He'd totally stop wanting to go if he knew how scared I was of that pit."
"So, he must be the friend that was a loner and is scared of losing their only friend?" Gourgeist butts in.
"Gourgeist! Jeez… Don't just assume stuff like that! You don't know him." Bisharp turns to me. "Marble must care about you a lot if he'd wanna throw away his, like, dream job, just because he knows it'd have that kinda effect on you. And you're a good friend too, since you're sticking by his side. Speaking of that..."
"How come he isn't by your side right now?" Bisharp asks.
"Oh, uh, he wanted to split off and go say bye to Xatu."
"Oh! Xatu! That's Marble's old teacher. What an old fart, heh. But Xatu's really smart - he has great insight on a lot of things… Boy, lemme tell you about the time he predicted my whole shelf was gonna shatter."
Me, Bisharp and Gourgeist talked for what felt like hours. I counted the time in my head while they told stories about themselves and the Pokémon around here. Half are names I've never heard before.
The history of this town and the abyss was brought up again, too - how a handful of legendary Pokémon came around to escort everyone out and how Regirock brought some of the land back up. Apparently Regirock, Regice, Registeel, and Regigigas were all there but Regieleki and Regidrago weren't.
Oh - shoot! How long have I been here? I should get going.
"...Okay, I really think I should be going now. Marble's probably gotten sick of waiting." I slide off of the stool.
"Aw, so soon?"
"It's been over an hour, Bisharp. Thanks for all the stories and stuff," I say while walking toward the door.
"I should also say before you go-!" Bisharp says.
"Hm?" I turn around.
"I like your new look! It fits your mysterious vibe!"
"Oh, uh. Thanks."
"Do good in the guild! I should say that too!"
"I will!"
Then I finally open the door and leave.
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I walk up to the statue and there I find Marble sitting and spacing out, staring into the sky. He doesn't even notice me walking towards him even though my paws walking on the wood boards are audible enough.
"Hey Marble!"
He doesn't respond. Marble continues to stare out into the sky.
"Uh… Dude are you ok?"
Marble still doesn't respond. His teal eyes stare into the teal sky. I wave a paw in his face and he blinks.
"Marble are you th-"
"WAH!" Marble gasps and springs up suddenly. His delayed reaction to me waving my paw in his face catches me completely off guard. We end up bumping our heads together and I stagger back and Marble staggers to my left.
"OW! What the- Walker?"
"Agh… Arceus, that hurt..."
I hold a paw to my head. Marble holds a paw to his head too but puts it down when seeing my slightly pained face.
"SHOOT! Are you ok Walker? I'm so sorry I'm so sorry!" Marble panics a little.
"Marble I'm fine that head bump wasn't… Wasn't too bad." That's a lie. It hurts a lot. Noggin to noggin. Head to head. I close my eyes and rub my forehead a bit.
"Gah… Huh?" Suddenly the pain is nullified a little bit when I feel something cold on my face. I open my eyes and I see a brief glimpse of a Cubchoo before it flashes and turns back into Marble. Marble's bandana is now gone and place on my head and my hood is no longer over my head. I grasp at my head to find the bandana is now on my head and it's tight over my head, too. Just under the bandana is a large cold chunk held in place.
Quickly I look around. I breathe a sigh of relief when I find that there's no other Pokémon nearby.
"You are SO lucky no one saw that, dude. Did you even look around first to make sure no one was here!?"
Marble seems a little taken aback. "S-should I have? Oh gosh, you're right I should've… But uh, we're fine! No one was here!"
…
"... Thank you for the improvised ice pack by the way, that was sweet of you."
"Leave it to the master of improvisation to always sort out your woes without fail and on seconds notice! Marble's just that good!"
"Pff okok, don't feed your ego too much."
I pick up my hood and put it snugly back over my head again.
"You were really spaced out there you know."
"I got bored waiting for you to come back! What the heck took you so long!?"
I shrug.
"Bisharp and Gourgeist roped me into what felt like forever telling me stories… I knew I had to go eventually even though I'm pretty sure they weren't even halfway done with all they wanted to say, like, jeez… Anyways, do you think Azumarill and those other two are ready by now?"
"Yeah probably! Let's go!"
Marble walks ahead of me to the door at a leisurely pace and I follow behind. For once he's not rushing ahead excitedly. He stops at the door with his paw resting on the nob. He turns it just a little but stays still for a moment. He turns to me and asks, "Do you think Corviknight is in there?"
"Uh, I dunno."
Marble puts his fluffy ear up to the door to try and listen in for anything. "Ehm… Nothing. Eugh… I'm worried that if he's there he'll get upset with me for joining the guild. Since… It has a reputation for guild members doing risky business."
…
"Want me to open the door for you and go in first? I can tell Corviknight that we joined the guild too so you don't have to, I can take the brunt of anything he deals, or uh… Yeah, something like that." I offer.
"Huh? I-I mean, yeah! Yeah. That'd be nice. Thank you."
Usually Marble is quick to brush these things off and keep cheery… I walk up and Marble moves out of the way and I grab the door knob and turn it to walk into Corviknight's entrance gate. Marble trails behind me as we walk in and see Corviknight staring down at us from behind his little receptionist desk.
"Hello you two. Always together as per usual, hm?" Corviknight says.
"Y-yeah!" Marble says hiding behind me a little.
"Hmph. Take care of yourself if you're leaving town."
One piece of advice I remember being told while I was still in the human world was to take a bandage off as soon as you can before it gets sticky and gross. It'll hurt a little bit but that's better than the pain being drawn out a bunch. So let's get it off right away.
"Me and Marble joined the guild! Our team name is Team Starstruck and-"
"Excuse me!?" Corviknight says in a loud scathing tone. His voice sounds metallic. He coughs and clears his throat. "Ahem. Sorry. Marble, what the heck are you thinking!? Don't you realize the danger guild society members get themselves into!? The same goes for you, Walker!"
"But being a guild member is my- It's my dream!" Marble says with a trembling voice.
"Your DREAM is a dangerous one, stories of guild members disappearing, stories of guild members coming back from an exploration terribly cursed! You can't possibly think that you'd go into the guild society and have me be ok with it!"
"HEY!" I shout. Corviknight turns his attention to me.
"What." Corviknight says sharply and irritated.
"Me and my friend joined the guild because we WANT to! Because HE wants to! It's a dangerous job, sure, but we're fully aware of the risks. Stop being so overbearing! You can't stop someone from doing what they want to do if their hearts set on it! So don't be such a thorn in his side!"
Corviknight gives pause. He looks at Marble who has a fearful expression for a moment from Corviknights piercing stare but Marble gives an angry look back. "Hmph!"
Corviknight looks down and sighs. He lifts his head and I get ready to say another rebuttal if he tries to coerce Marble out of this again. He opens his beak.
"Fine. I shouldn't get in the way of your dream, Marble. But I wish you had told me somewhere along the line that this is what you wanted to do, so please excuse my outburst just then. I apologize, I was just shocked."
"Your apology is a half one. Try again." Corviknight glares at me angrily upon me saying that.
"... I should have gotten to know you better so I could better see this coming. But I'm proud of you anyhow. If I remember right, forgive my old mind, but aren't kids disallowed from entering the guild?"
Marble nods. "They let us in after we demonstrated our skill."
"Then you two will be phenomenal guild members, I'm sure. Go on now. Get out of my sight before I change my mind about you joining the guild." Marble looks at me with a slightly worried expression that turns into a smile and I smile back at him. We leave through the door and as we're leaving Marble stops at the door frame to look back at Corviknight before shutting the door.
-o-O-0-O-o-O-0-O-o-
"Hey! Watch your foot!" Lere says.
"Sorry! It's hard to- Hard to climb down a rope when all of you are weighing me down!" Smeargle says. "The harness only helps so much!"
We descend with harnesses on us all attached to Smeargle down the rope and into the abyss. It gets darker and darker the farther we go. Each of us have our own distinct wands though. Marble has his green wand out with the orb at it's tip shining brilliantly while mine does the same with it's pink light. Smeargle has a yellow light tucked away in her bag where it shines through and Lere has a red light. They function almost as flashlights.
"Marble, hold onto your connection wand tighter! And tighten your harness!" I say. Marble fumbles to tighten and ends up dropping his wand.
"AH! MY WAND!"
A little bit recklessly I reach out and catch it. "I got it! I'll put it in my bag since it sure as heck doesn't fit in yours." I say reaching behind me to stuff his orb on a stick into my bag.
"Did you idiots already drop your wands!?" Lere says from above us.
Slowly Smeargle inches us down the rope. More and more we get to see essentially nothing as the darkness keeps consuming our view.
"Holy- Look! There's ice and steel down here!" Marble says. Giant steel beams and icicles protrude from the walls into the pillars that hold up the houses of Aurial Town.
"That must be the work of Registeel and Regice! Oh my gosh! I can't believe I'm finally seeing it!" Marble says in awe.
As we descend further the rock pillars end and the metal and ice supports become more and more plentiful, we end up having to weave ourselves between them. The ice is cold to the touch and it's completely dry. For it to have been here this long it must never melt. We keep going down further. Everytime we get too tired we decide to just rest on a steel beam for a short break before continuing our descent. One time when we rested I shined my light wand on the steel beam we rested on and there was an engraving that said, in all caps; 'HOOPA IS AN IDIOT. -Mew,' the signature is in neat cursive while the insult to Hoopa above it is crude. Wonder what that's all about.
"What's all that white mist?" I say during our descent.
"White mist?" Smeargle says from above.
"There's a bunch of white mist just ahead- Wait. Clouds?" I reply
"Excuse you, clouds? All the way down here?" Lere asks, confused.
We continue our descent and go into the clouds and suddenly I find it a bit harder to breathe. Soon we get past those clouds though and below us is a snow covered city with Pokémon roaming about while bright neon lights shine from within the city. All the darkness from before is completely gone. Smeargle lowers the rope all the way down to the snowy ground below us and snow pelts us from the clouds.
"A CITY!? In an ABYSS?" Marble says in pure disbelief.
The buildings tower up high, twisting and curling, leaning on other buildings for support. They're carved out of dark and grim slate. Ice spikes jut out from some of the buildings and the surrounding area. Some of the ice spikes are black which matches the deep gray of the slate.
"Uh, I don't think we're in the abyss anymore, I think we're just really high up in the air… Somewhere? Here, let's get down to where we can finally stand." Smeargle says.
WELCOME TO THE CITY OF HAIL AND ICE, VERIAL METROPOLIS!
-o-O-0-O-o-O-0-O-o-
-niv wuz here
-o-O-0-O-o-O-0-O-o-