Chapter 3: Lightbringers Join the Fold

Back near Treasure town, Wigglytuff and the new recruits were making their way back to the guild, going through a forest path that connected from the beach to the crossroads. But there was a Black & yellow figure standing among the trees.

Upon Seeing the figure Rachel started to remember something. 'Hey Tristian, remember when you asked me who Volt was?'

He blinked a few times before it all came back to him. 'Uhm, yeah I do. Something about knowing my level, right?'

Rachel nodded to her feline friend. 'Yup, and I guess that we are in luck today.' She then proceeded to walk towards the figure.

It didn't take the Electivire long to notice her approach. 'Ah, Rachel. What are you doing here?'

'Hello Volt. We are heading towards the Wigglytuff guild.' She said in response.

He blinked a few times in disbelief. 'Wait, you finally did it?'

Then Wigglytuff proceeded to jump into the conversation. 'Yup! She is a part of the guild now!'

Volt quickly got rid of his surprised face and swapped it out for a glad one. 'Now that's just great to hear! I'm certain you'll do well. But I assume this isn't the only reason you approached me, correct?'

She gave a small nod. 'Well, you see. My partner here seems to have lost his memory, so much so that he doesn't know his own level or moves.'

Tristian gave an awkward smile as Volt inspected the Shinx. 'That is not good. I actually had somewhere to be, but I guess I can postpone it until this is done. I do expect compensation however.'

The Guildmaster jumped around a bit before turning back to Volt. 'Of course friend! Your services to the guild are utmost appreciated!'

The Electivire nodded at that. 'Very well, then I will accompany you to the guild.'

And the four of them continued walking through the forest to their destination.

The four Pokémon arrived at the guild entrance. The sun hung high in the sky, completely lightening up the guild entrance area, making it look slightly less imposing then before.

Rachel was physically shaking, remembering what happened this morning. It would be terrible to be dissuaded now that she was a member of the guild. She looked behind her to see Volt, the Guildmaster, and her new partner waiting for her to make her move. After some silence, she finally swallowed her fear and proceeded to step onto the grate.

And not even a second had passed and the voice beneath the grate started again. 'Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!'

Rachel was getting nervous again, and the sudden alarm from beneath the grate startled Tristian, but the voice continued on. 'Whose footprint? Whose footprint?'

She was starting to tense up again. Could she even do this? 'The footprint is Vulpix's! The footprint is Vulpix's!'

She steered herself. She wouldn't give up now, not while she got this far.

And soon enough the worst of it was over. '…You may ENTER!' A loud voice inside the guild confirmed.

Rachel let out a sigh of relief, but the voice inside the guild wasn't done yet. 'Someone's with you! So get those strangers to stand up THERE!'

The three Pokémon looked at each other, wondering which of them should go first. In the silence, the Guildmaster insinuated that he shall go now, to which Tristian and Volt agreed.

Wigglytuff proceeded to step on the grate without a care in the world. 'Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!'

He was bouncing back and forth. 'Whose footprint? Whose footprint?'

And it didn't take long before he flipped and flopped and flew all about. 'It's the Guildmaster! It's the Guildmaster!'

The loud voice inside the guild started again, putting a stop to Wigglytuff's exercise. 'Alright, NEXT!'

The Electivire raised his hand. 'Then I shall go next.'

He proceeded to stand on the grate. 'Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!'

Volt stood there patiently, waiting for the identification process to be done. 'Whose footprint? Whose footprint?'

He knew it would only be a matter of time until… 'The footprint is Electivire's! The footprint is Electivire's!'

And that was that. 'You may also enter. Okay, LAST ONE!'

Tristian was a bit nervous. This process was certainly odd, and somewhat frightening, but everyone else had now done it, so there was little reason to actually be scared.

He calmed himself and proceeded to stand on the grate. 'Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!'

He stayed rooted to the grate, although that could just be his claws getting stuck in the wood because of the pressure. 'Whose footprint? Whose footprint?'

At least it was almost over. 'The footprint is... The footprint is... Um...'

And then it started to get a bit strange. The voice within the guild was seemingly equally as confused. 'What's the matter? Sentry? Sentry?! What's wrong, Sentry Diglett?'

Beneath the grate, Diglett started to sweat. This was his job, he can't be failing now. 'Umm... Er... Umm... The footprint is... Maybe Shinx's! Maybe Shinx's!'

And then a loud noise came from within the guild. 'What?! MAYBE?!'

Diglett started to sweat even harder, the anger of his colleague starting to scare him. 'B-but... it's not a footprint that you normally see around here...'

The voice inside the guild took a deep breath. 'UGH! That's pretty crummy! Checking the footprints of visiting Pokémon... That's your job, ISN'T it, Diglett? BESIDES! You saw a Shinx LITERALLY back near Beach Cave! HOW HAVE YOU ALREADY FORGOTTEN THAT?!'

'Yes, but... I don't know what I don't know.' Diglett said, starting to get nervous.

Then Wigglytuff took a deep breath, and then…

'YOOM-TAH!'

There was a small quake and the arguing immediately stopped. After a few seconds, the voice inside the guild started to talk again. 'Well, it's TRUE that you don't see any Shinx in these parts... But you literally just joined the guild, and the Guildmaster is with you...'

'Alright, that's all. ALL OF YOU MAY ENTER!'

The gate that blocked access to the guild got lifted up, allowing them to enter. Wigglytuff went first, signalling to the rest to follow him.

The inside of the tent was pretty big. To their left stood a wooden board with something written on it, to their right was an arrow sign pointing towards a hatch right in front of them.

'Follow me!' Wigglytuff gleefully said, as they all proceeded down the hatch to the second floor.

Tristian and Rachel were amazed by the amount of Pokémon present on this floor, all of them talking or looking on the bulletin boards for missions.

Rachel turned to the Guildmaster. 'That's a lot of people… Are they all explorers?'

He shook his head. 'Not everyone. Some of the Pokémon here are part of the guild.'

Then someone came up from the third floor, and he quickly walked over to the group. 'Ah, so it was you four who were just let in. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Chatot! I'm the Pokemon in the know around these parts! I am Guildmaster Wigglytuff's right-hand Pokemon!'

Then his expression became a bit uncertain. 'Now, before we get started, I want to know if you two are completely sure that you want to join the guild. The training will not be easy and we will ask a lot from you. Just look at the pretty big stream of Pokémon who run away, for instance. Are you completely certain with your choice?'

Tristian somehow shrugged. 'I don't have anything else to go back to, at least, as far as I know. So I'm certain!' He turned to his partner. 'What about you Rachel?'

Rachel stopped for a moment and started to think about it. 'Okay, this is something I wanted to do for my entire life, and now I'm given this opportunity on a silver platter. I know the risks, costs, and the literal costs, and have long accepted them. And this might make them finally remember me…' Her inner debate came to an end as she nodded. 'Yes, I'm certain of it.'

Chatot nodded. 'Alright then, just wanted to be sure. It's not every day that the Guildmaster chooses people to join. Normally those who want to join come to us.' He then flapped his wings. 'Now then! We will now go to the Guildmaster's chamber. If you would please follow me.'

The group followed Chatot down to the third floor of the guild, and they followed him immediately into the door on the right of the ladder.

The group entered the room, and Wigglytuff immediately went to stand on the carpet at the end of the room. He then proceeded to stare at the wall for multiple seconds.

Tristian tried to rub his hand on his face, which didn't work as well when you have paws for hands. 'Why is he doing that?'

Then, as if on cue, Wigglytuff turned around, like he was just done with staring into the night sky. 'Heya! I'm Wigglytuff! I'm the guild's Guildmaster! You want to form an exploration team? Then, let's go for it! First we must register your exploration team's name! So tell me your team's name?'

After recovering from that sudden introduction, Rachel started to worry. 'Oh? Our team's name? We…' She slowed down for a moment before realising that she was being stupid. '…DID think of that, right Tristian?'

He was seemingly also staring off into space, as he came back into reality in almost a panic. 'Huh? Yeah! Yeah, we did! We want to go with the name Team Lightbringers.'

She nodded in agreement. 'Yup! We thought it suited us quite well.'

The Guildmaster gave a small nod. 'All settled, then! I'll register your team as Lightbringers.' He then started to shuffle around a bit while almost singing. 'Registering! Registering! All registered...' Before then jumping into the air, causing a little quake on impact. 'YOOM…TAH! Congratulations! From now on, you're an official exploration team! I present you with this in commemoration.'

He then walked towards the new recruits and put down a small golden chest.

Tristian tilted his head and inspected the box. 'Rachel, do you know what this is?'

She took a small look at it. 'I believe that's a Pokémon Exploration Team Kit.'

'What's a Pokémon Exploration Team Kit?' Tristian then asked.

Chatot then stepped forward again, looking forward to the chance to explain these things. 'A Pokémon Exploration Team Kit contains everything any well respected Exploration Team needs. If you would please open it up.'

The two proceeded to take the lid of the box, and inside it were two badges, a map, a treasure bag, and two apples.

Tristian lightened up. 'Wow! That's a lot of cool stuff in there! But… what do they do?'

Chatot took this as his sign to resume his explanation. 'Those badges you are holding are Explorer Badges, which are the identification for your team. The map there is a Wonder Map, which is called that because they also show where you are on the continent. And then there is also the Treasure Bag, which allows you to store items for use in Mystery Dungeons, or to take the loot from said Mystery Dungeon. The size of the bag will increase in size as you get more successful in your dungeon diving experience.'

Rachel nodded, but still looked somewhat confused. 'And what are the two apples for?'

'…What?' Chatot said.

Wigglytuff bounced a bit. 'You two were pretty exhausted and hungry after all you've been through, so I decided to put two Big Apples in there so that you have something to eat right now!'

'Wow, really? Thanks!' Rachel said. '…Are we allowed to eat them right now?'

Wigglytuff nodded. 'Sure! Go right ahead.'

Without another word she started to chow down on the apple, and with just a few bites there was nothing left, not even a core. Tristian took a bit longer to start, finding it a bit abnormal how quickly Rachel ate her apple, but he started eating soon enough, and just like with Rachel, there was nothing left.

Rachel turned to the Guildmaster. 'Thank you!'

Wigglytuff, still with his permanent smile plastered on his face, nodded. 'No problem. OH!' The Guildmaster jumped a bit as he remembered something, causing him to turn around and grab something 'I almost forgot to give you these!' He said as he handed Rachel a Special Band and Tristian a Yellow Bow, who immediately put them on after getting them.

He had a bit of a hard time putting the bow on, but was ecstatic when he got it on his head. 'Wow, that's cool! What does it-'

Chatot put one of his wings before the Shinx, signalling for him to stop with the constant barrage of questions. 'Before you get too excited, they're mostly cosmetic.' Chatot then turned to the third guest in the chamber. 'And why were you here again?'

Volt, who had been ever patiently waiting for the introductions to be over, nodded to Chatot's question. 'I was asked to come along by the Guildmaster. They told me that the young Shinx here has lost his memory and doesn't know his level or moves. So, shall we get started?'

Chatot looked to Wigglytuff, who gave him a nod of approval. 'Yes, you may start.'

Volt nodded, after which he said 'Ok. You two, please sit down for a moment.' before locating himself behind the duo.

Tristian was all well and good with finding out his level, but he didn't stop to consider how it would be done. However, before he could share this concern, Volt had already started generating electricity.

There came little sparks of energy out of his hands, which he started to morph into a flat surface. 'I will warn you it might shock a little, but it's of no consequence.'

Tristian tried to move, but he was too late, as the Electivire went with his electricity current through him like a scanner. It didn't hurt as much as he expected however, only feeling a bit of a tingly sensation. It didn't take long before Volt was done with the procedure.

He turned to Chatot. 'Can you perhaps give me some paper?'

Chatot nodded and got a piece of paper and a pen from one of the drawers in the room. He gave it to Volt who then proceeded to quickly write down what he found out. After a few minutes he was done and gave the paper to Tristian.

From what Volt had seen from the Shinx, he knew questions would soon follow, so he decided to get it over with beforehand. 'You are currently Level 4 out of 100. Your current moves that you can use are Leer, Tackle, Quick Attack, and finally Thunder Shock.' After saying this Volt moved over to Rachel to repeat the same process he did with Tristian.

'Wow, those are quite a few abilities! What do they do?' Tristian said.

Chatot decided to step in. 'I think there have been enough tutorials for one day. How about we discuss these other matters tomorrow when I give you your first assignment.'

At this time Volt was done and had given Rachel back her current stats. 'So I'm level 6? So I did get stronger in Beach Cave. Cool!'

Volt nodded. 'You did get stronger, but your move pool hasn't increased I'm afraid. I will be out of town the coming few days, so I won't be here to explain your abilities, but I'm certain you can find info on it in the library.'

As volt grabbed his bag and walked to the exit, he was stopped by Tristian calling to him. 'Wait! What about my memory? Can you do anything about that?'

He looked somberly to the floor as he shook his head. 'No, I'm afraid that's out of my expertise. You'll have to find someone else who can help you with that, and that won't be easy.'

Tristian disappointedly nodded. 'Ok. Thanks for the help, and good travels!'

He let out a smirk and waved to the Mons in the room. 'Likewise!' And with that, Volt left the Guild.

After everyone waved Volt goodbye and he left, Chatot turned to the recruits. 'Ok, for now I want you two to meet the rest of the guild, I'm certain they will help you get acclimated to the guild building. Don't worry too much about your tasks for today, since you will get started tomorrow.'

The two of them nodded and before they walked out of the Guildmaster's chamber, Wigglytuff shouted something after them. 'Good luck!'

Once outside of the Guildmaster's Chamber, they found themselves surrounded by a group of Pokémon. The Loudred in the group was the first to speak. 'Well, it was about TIME that you finally joined the guild. Are Diglett and I really that terrifying?'

Rachel, finding herself in a sudden confrontation, started to become nervous. 'W-wha? No that's not true! I've never heard you two before today!'

Loudred was moving his hand over his chin in a distrusting manner. 'Hmmhm, then WHY did you run away when Diglett was doing his thing? It would be another story if I gave you a heart attack with my decibel count, but Diglett's voice is the one to break your nerve!?'

'Because it sounded like some emergency alarm, as if I were some criminal that stepped onto the grate!' Rachel started to feel a bit insulted, and started to get a bit more offensive.

Chimicho had enough of this and started to ring, making everyone fall quiet. 'Alright, I think that's enough of that. How about we all introduce ourselves to the recruits instead of antagonizing them.' She turned towards the duo. 'I'm Chimicho. I'm the one who readies the Guilds diner, and the Guild's medic in case of emergencies. I also run Chimecho Assembly, with which you can choose who comes with you on guild missions, but I'll tell you more about that when you are allowed to use it.'

Loudred, rubbing the back of his head, stepped up next. 'My name is Loudred. Me and Diglett do Sentry Duty to make sure that no criminals get access to the guild.' He then looked towards Rachel specifically. 'Also… sorry for that just now. I just wanted to test how you would respond to that and didn't mean anything with it.'

Then Bidoof was next. 'Hi, my name is Bidoof, and I am, or well, was the newest recruit of the guild. Also, don't worry about the whole… Grate situation. It's never easy when you do it for the first time. Yup yup!'

'He's right! It took Bidoof here like, 5 tries before he stood on the grate long enough to be let in.' Loudred interjected, causing Bidoof to blush a bit.

After a bit of laughter from the guild members, Diglett was next. 'So, I am Diglett, and as Loudred already explained, I help with Sentry Duty.'

'Wait, does that mean that you two don't do any exploration tasks?' Tristian asked.

Diglett shook his head. 'No no no, it just means that we do it less often than usual. Someone needs to make sure that no bad guys sneak their way in while everyone is off doing tasks.'

Then there was a small quake as the next guild member came up to say hello. 'Greetings, we are Dugtrio. We make sure that the Bulletin Boards are up to date and accurate'

Then the crablike Pokemon was next in the introductions. 'Hey, hey! My name's Corphish! I'm an apprentice. Hey, hey! If you don't know what's going on or whatever... you come ask me! You got that, hey, hey?'

The sunflower turned to Corphish. 'As if you know everything.' Before turning her attention back to the new recruits. 'I am Sunflora, and I'm also an apprentice'

'Wait, what's the difference between a recruit and an apprentice?' Rachel then asked.

'Oh! Well, a recruit is a new member, and an apprentice means that you do the usual Dungeon diving and also have stayed long enough to know how things work. It would be rude to refer to regular members as recruits, like, oh my gosh.' Sunflora answered.

Then the frog like Pokémon was left last to introduce himself. 'Meh-heh-heh. I'm Croagunk, and I am working on something over there.' He proceeded to point towards a cauldron to the left of the ladder, which resided in a stone version of a Croagunk mouth. 'But I haven't fully fixed it yet, so when I have it up and running again, you will be the first ones to hear okay?'

Rachel nodded. 'Sure thing. I guess it's now our turn to do the introductions. My name is… well, you've heard my personal name already, so I guess it doesn't really matter. My name is Rachel.'

'And my name is Tristian.' Tristian said, but then he noticed an odd trend that was happening while everyone was doing their introductions. 'Wait… what do you mean "personal name" Rachel? Aren't those there actual names?'

This question caused Diglett to roll his eyes. 'Are you trying to tell me that you don't know how names work? Such things are common knowledge.'

This caused Tristian to go into a defensive position. 'Well, you have no point to argue from. You saw me on the beach, yet it took you quite a bit to figure out that it was me on top of the grate.'

This snide comment made Diglett go a bit into the ground.

Then Tristian sighed. 'Besides, if I DID know it before, I certainly don't anymore. My name is the only thing I can recall. When I said on the beach that I don't remember anything, I meant it.'

This caused Diglett to almost disappear into the ground in shame.

Then Chimicho decided to calm the situation. 'It's fine, don't worry. It is not every day that someone with such memory loss joins the Guild.' She then cleared her non-existent throat for the upcoming explanation. 'Basically, Pokémon have two names, their personal name and their species name. Your species name for instance is Shinx, while your personal name is Tristian. Pokemon only share their personal name to others if there are multiple of the same species in one area, otherwise it's a sign of trust. but truth be told, there aren't really any rules when it comes to when or to who you tell your personal name. Just keep in mind whether or not your friend would mind if you told others their name.'

Tristian nodded. 'I guess I'll find out about your names soon enough. I would love to tell more about myself, I really do, but I think you all get the idea. So Rachel. Do you have anything left to say?'

Rachel thought about it, before giving a shrugging motion. 'Not much to say, really. I have lived in Treasure Town for a month now. I wanted to join the Guild because I like the idea of exploring unexplored locations.' She grabbed a stone and showed it to the group. 'And this is the biggest reason I wanted to join. I know this Relic Fragment has to go somewhere, and I want to discover it.' She then put the rock away.

After her story everything had fallen quiet. 'So…' Tristian began. 'What happens now?'

Everyone looked around a bit awkwardly for a moment. But then Bidoof had an idea. 'Why don't we talk about how our day went?'

After a bit of soft murmuring everyone agreed.

And with that the day was getting to a close. Soon enough Chimicho returned to the group. 'Everyone! Thanks for waiting!' After everyone there was giving her their undivided attention she announced the good news. 'I finished making dinner! Come on! Dinner's on!'

And with that, the entire Guild cheered and sprinted into the dinning room. It was a pretty big room, with a table big enough for 14 normal sized Pokémon. The last Pokémon to enter were Chatot and Wigglytuff, the latter of them not sitting at the table, and instead standing next to Chatot with an apple.

Chatot cleared his throat. 'So, everyone is here?'

After a resounding yes he nodded. 'Very well then. Without further ado… On your marks… AND EAT!'

And with that, the entire guild started to chow down on their food, with the only one not joining in being Wigglytuff, who started to dance with the apple on his head. Tristian felt a bit hesitant about this manner, and he had no idea why he felt this way. But his hunger won the fight, and he joined the rest of the guild in gulping down dinner.

'Aaaah! I'm done eating! Excellent meal!'

'I'm stuffed, and now I'm getting sleepy...'

'Yep, I'm off to bed! Good night, gang!'

'Good night!'

It was the end of the day, and the new recruits were guided to their sleeping quarters by Chatot.

Tristian immediately lightened up as he jumped on top of the bed made of hay. 'Wow! A bed! Just what I need right now after such an intense day.'

Chatot simply stood there as Rachel went to the other bed. 'Yes, this is the place where you will be sleeping from now on. You did get your belongings from where you originally stayed, right?'

Tristian wanted to answer, before realising that this question most likely wasn't directed at him. Rachel spoke instead. 'I didn't have much stuff where I stayed to begin with, but I trust that Robert can take care of it.'

Chatot was satisfied with the answer and nodded. 'Very well. Things will start getting busy for you tomorrow! So rise early and start living up to our code! And please don't stay up late! That is all.'

The two nodded as Chatot left the room. 'It is getting dark, so we should go to sleep.' Tristian said.

Rachel gave a small nod. 'Agreed. Goodnight Tristian.'

And the two laid on top of their beds for a few minutes without falling asleep. Rachel turned to Tristian and whispered. 'Hey, are you still awake Tristian?'

'Mm-hm' Tristian softly murmured.

Rachel let out a soft sigh. 'My heart's been racing all day over every little thing... But I'm glad I finally made myself come here. I thought Wigglytuff would be scary, but he seems pretty friendly. It's almost hard to believe that he even has that stigma around him to begin with!'

Tristian grinned a bit. 'Don't start jumping to conclusions too quickly Rachel. You know that it's always the very nice people that become terrifying when provoked.'

Rachel let out some laughter. 'We're going to experience all sorts of things starting tomorrow, but I'm not very scared. In fact, it's the other way around. I'm super excited about the adventures we'll face!'

'I gotta agree, it's pretty exciting to be in an exploration team. But I still wonder how I ended up in Beach Cave from the sky, or why I've lost my memories…'

'I'm certain we'll find the answers to that, they have to be out there somewhere. I know it!' She then let out a yawn. 'I'm feeling a little sleepy... Let's give it our all tomorrow. OK, Tristian. Good night.'

'Goodnight Rachel.'

And with that, the members of team Lightbringers went to sleep.

At this time in the north eastern portion of the Grass continent, a portal had opened up. A Grovyle got launched out of it, and the portal disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Grovyle took a minute to get up, the journey he had seemingly not been a pleasant one.

He then started to put everything that had just happened in a cohesive order. 'Alright, so I've arrived… somewhere, it is already dark, and I'm all alo-'

There was the sound of scattering leaves, causing Grovyle to jump into the bushes for cover, at least, that was his plan. Instead he planted his face straight into the ground. No getting away from this now, the being approaching him now knew that he was there. All he could do was prepare for inevitable combat.

His opponent however, didn't seem like a fighter. It was actually a Mimikyu. The ghost fairy started to look at him with peaked interest. Then it spoke. 'Uhmm, is everything alright sir?'

Grovyle lowered his guard, it was just a child after all, he shouldn't be this worried. 'I'm fine, for the most part…'

This seemingly cheered up the child, but then he started to look a bit nervous. 'Sir, do you happen to know the move Dig?'

This took him by surprise, why did this child need someone with that ability. There are more important things to attend to, but Grovyle was too invested in this to stop now. 'Yes, I do have that ability. Why do you ask?'

'I'm trying to find something, but it's buried underground, and it would take too long to find it myself.' The child told him.

Grovyle looked weary, but Mimikyu was desperate at this point. 'Are you perhaps an explorer? You seem to be missing your gear. If you help me I'll give you some supplies to get exploring again, please?'

This was too fast for him, but the words "missing gear" came to his interests. He could be much more efficient with those tools. So he decided to humor the child. 'Alright kid, I'll help if you can answer me my next question.'

Mimikyu nodded 'Sure! What do you want?'

'Why do you want to get this item?'

Grovyle expected Mimikyu to step down after this last demand, but it seemingly got him more excited. 'I want to get this as a gift for my dad. He's been quite stressed recently, my uncle has been getting on his nerves it seems. Just don't spoil the surprise for him, please!'

He still found it difficult to trust this child, but he was just that, a child, one that's trying to help his dad. This and the bonuses of having explorer equipment were enough for him to be convinced. 'Alright kid, just point the way and I'll dig.'

Mimikyu brightened up and jumped. 'YAY! Thank you sir!' He then took out a map and looked at it. 'Alright, the item should be… right there!' He then pointed towards a small mount beneath one of the bigger trees.

'Now that is some luck…' Grovyle said. 'Alright, let's do this.'

He proceeded to walk over to the mound and used the move dig. It was never easy to see beneath a whole heap of dirt, but the feeling of metal gave away the treasure's location. With one powerful jank, Grovyle took the box back to the surface.

After regaining his breath he turned to the already unlocked container. 'So… this is it?'

The small ghost looked towards his gecko friend. 'I hope so…' He then walked to the box and opened it. He then grabbed the contents of the box, revealing it to be a black and red veil, with a golden outline.

It looked like some weird cosmetic, but upon closer inspection Grovyle managed to recognise it. 'Wait a minute. Is that a Nether Veil? Why do you want something that's only useful on a Giratina?'

The ghost was a bit confused, before realising the silly mistake he made. 'Oh! Yeah my dad is Giratina. I forgot to mention that. Sorry...'

Grovyle was perplexed, but he cast those doubts and questions aside. He helped the kid, now it was Mimikyu's turn to help him. 'Alright then. How about your end of the deal.'

The Mimikyu nodded intensely. 'Of course! Of course! Here you go.'

And with that, he took out and gave Grovyle a Wonder Map, Treasure Bag, and an unsigned Exploration Badge. 'This is one of better maps of the Green continent. It's been completely mapped out. I hope this helps you sir.'

Grovyle nodded. 'I'm certain it will, thanks kid.'

Mimikyu gave one last smile, before grabbing the Nether Veil and opening a portal to what Grovyle assumes is the Distortion Realm. Now he was all alone once again. He decided to look on his map to see where he was. 'I'm not that far away from Treeshroud forest, I could probably make it there tomorrow…'

And with that, Grovyle set out to complete his mission. He would look for his friend, but he made him a promise…

And chapter 3 is now done. Hooray!

I want to thank Team Ion for their help in proofreading my story. Second opinions help make my story much better.

Till the next chapter then.