Finally got around to updating. At least cross country is over, so now I can do more writing over the week rather than sit down and spit out ideas all at once. Thanks to all those who reviewed and submitted so far! This chapter will introduce the first of the submitted teams from SakuraFurude, Team Lightwater. Please enjoy!

Chapter 7: Lightwater

The rest of the night went by uneventfully. At least, what would be the norm for me was uneventful. I unsurprised to see that Team Hades was sneering as Phloe and I had walked into the mess hall that night. They got up immediately and left, with Styx pausing momentarily to let me know that he "was surprised that I was alive at all." Omen and Demi only snickered at the comment as they walked off.

We sat with Team Sting once again, not that it mattered. Pin congratulated us both on doing a job well done, but then Scorp went and bluntly pointed out that Phloe and I were covered in scratches and dried blood. Then again, it wasn't if we hadn't noticed already anyways. "You two should probably head down and get looked at by Madame Chansey in town," Pin suggested. "She'll fix you guys right up!"

The both of us agreed, and left into town after we finished. Pin had already given us directions as to where to go, but it wasn't as if it was really difficult to find it anyways. A large tent in the center of town with a red plus sign on it, obviously showing that it was the hospital.

"Oh my goodness!" Madame Chansey exclaimed upon seeing the two of us. I must admit, we weren't the most pleasant sight to see. Probably why everyone gave us weird looks on the way here. Either that or word spread that I was a human once. Great, even more possible issues.

She called in a Smoochum and Happiny, both presumably her assistants, to help clean us up. It seemed quite similar to the experience in the hospital in the forest, only this time there wasn't a life or death emergency. A few minutes passed, and we were okay to go. A few makeshift bandages were placed upon Phloe and I, as well as the sling being replaced on her arm. And that wasn't all. Madame Chansey had told us that within a week Phloe would be able to use her arm normally again, which my Treecko partner was absolutely elated to hear that.

Thanking the Chansey for her help, the two of us left and began to head back to the guild. However, as soon as we left the tent another team of two walked in, equally as bad a sight as we had been. I took note that it was a Piplup and a Pikachu, both of whom I had never seen before in my short time in the guild. However, something about the Piplup struck me as odd…I couldn't place it, but there was definitely something off…

"Tide? Hello, are we still alive in there?" Phloe asked. I shook my head, allowing myself to come back to reality. "Yeah…yeah, I think so…" I replied, my mind still off in the distance.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"TIME TO GET UP!" Loudred screamed. He slammed the door to our room shut and continued his route down the hall, repeating with every team in the guild. I woke up groggily once again, and thankfully didn't have to wake up Phloe this time. She was already getting up, so I rocked from side to side until I could flip onto my stomach. 'I should probably try to sleep on my stomach next time,' I thought.

"Good morning Tide," Phloe said as she began stretching, careful not to disturb her arm. I could see that she was still happy after learning that it'd be usable within a week. Now if Styx didn't go and crush it again, we'd be set. "Good morning to you too," I replied, smiling. "Glad I didn't have to wake you up today, I was afraid I'd be busted in the jaw again."

"Sorry about that," she giggled. "You know I didn't mean that. The question now is if I have to drag you out of here again because you're stubborn about the fact that everyone now knows that you are a pokemon?"

My grin washed away as soon as she mentioned that. "Thanks for reminding me," I said glumly. "Not exactly something I wish to be reminded of. Especially since the threat of death is constantly there with Styx around. How do I know that one night he won't come in and bite my neck off? Or some other pokemon here that hates me for my past?"

"You better be kidding me," she glowered. "You should not be worrying about anything that probably won't happen. Remember, the rest of the guild has your back. For once, maybe you should find something else to focus your mind upon."

As Phloe said this, my mind immediately flashed to last night, when we had been leaving the hospital tent. I had completely forgotten about the Piplup and Pikachu. And when I thought about it, I still couldn't figure out what it was about the Piplup that seemed odd. "Hey, you remember the two pokemon that came into the hospital after us last night?" I asked Phloe. She seemed taken aback at the randomness of the question, but went with it anyways. "Yeah, it was a Piplup and a Pikachu, right? What's so special about that?"

I put my hand to my forehead in thought. "I…I'm not really sure. There's just something odd about the Piplup. I can't place it, but something is weird about it."

"I didn't find anything wrong with them," she replied. "They seemed to be a normal exploration team to me. Nothing at all seemed off to me about the Piplup." She walked over and grabbed the treasure bag with her good arm and tossed it at me. "Maybe Pin or one of those guys can tell you more about them if you want. But let's go get some food first."

I let out an "oof" as the bag hit me in the stomach, but quickly picked it back up and ran out the door with Phloe. We seemed to be a little more on time this morning, as most of the other teams were just beginning to pool out from their rooms as well. One of those teams happened to be the Piplup and Pikachu. They were walking in front of us, and once again I had that strange feeling when I looked at the Piplup. There was just something off about it. I couldn't place it, but there was something about it that I couldn't place.

We got in to the mess hall, and they went to the far end of the middle table, while Phloe and I found Team Sting nearby and took seats by them. Unsurprisingly, they were already gorging themselves upon the assortment of berries that were around. We joined them, and were given only grunts as greetings from them. "Ungh…good morning you two," Pin said as he finished his current berry. "Ready for another day of exploration?"

"I suppose so," I answered, shrugging. I was about to eat a berry until I remembered my question for them. "Hey Pin," I said as I set the berry back down on the table. "Do you know anything about that team over there?" I pointed down to the two pokemon. Pin set his berry down as well and turned to the direction I pointed to. "The Piplup and Pikachu, I presume? Yeah I know them. They're Team Lightwater."

"Team Lightwater…"

"Yep. They're one of the more experienced teams here that actually managed to graduate, although they only recently came back to the guild."

Phloe, clearly interested, joined in the conversation at this point. "They did? Where did they go off to?" Pin shrugged. "No one really knows. Heh, really, not even the Guildmaster knows where they went off to. They just disappeared for a few months. They won't tell anyone where."

"Some people think they found a huge stash of treasure, and they keep it in their team's main base," added Scorp. "Although, I'm beginning to think that it's bogus. Haven't found any proof of it in there."

"You broke into their base and scrounged around for some treasure that only has a rumor to back it up? Why does that not surprise me?" Pin asked in as calm a voice he could muster, but he was clearly about to lose it. I wouldn't have been surprised if he tried to stab his Gligar partner with his drills. Scorp grinned in response. "Because you know me too well! Besides, if I did find that treasure, imagine how rich our team would be! We could buy as many TMs as we wanted!"

"Just promise me you'll never break into their base again. Or I'll gouge your eyes out. One drill per eye." Scorp grinned sheepishly, waving his hands defensively. "Hey man, you know me. Give me the word, and I stop. So now I stop. After about forty-three visits…" he mumbled the last part, but I could still hear it. I figured Pin did too, but he sure didn't act like he did. "Whatever. Back to the original discussion, I wanted to tell you two that they are an interesting team," he said. "The Pikachu is Pika, and the Piplup is Spade. On their last mission before they disappeared, Spade allegedly found some entrance to a hidden land far away from where any team has been before. Her partner Pika was originally against going, but something changed his mind and they set off. They came back maybe a week later with nothing, so most don't believe their story. All they would say was stuff about a 'Rainbow Stoneship' or something. Go figure."

"Is that all?" Phloe asked, and Pin nodded in reply. "Yeah, that's about it. They are a great team, and quite caring to the others here. Although, I do know something quite interesting..." Pin said, leaning in to whisper. "No one knows why, but Spade seemed to have originally come from nowhere. She won't say where she is from, but it's clear that she isn't telling us stuff. A lot of pokemon here think that she had been a trainer's pokemon once, and something bad happened. Of course, a lot of nastier rumors have spread as well, but no one really knows."

"Okay, thanks." I said, finally beginning to eat my berry at this point. I turned back to look at Team Lightwater. I saw the Piplup, Spade, happily eating next to her partner. "So she came from nowhere, huh?" I mumbled to myself. There was definitely more than anyone knew, but I couldn't tell what.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Team Impact, there you are," Chatot greeted us as we walked up to the job board. "After the success of your mission yesterday, feel free to go ahead and choose any job of your liking for today. Tomorrow we may see if you're ready to move up a bit…" He said as he flew back to the lower level. Just as the two of us walked up to the board, Team Styx slid in front of us, pushing us back a bit.

"Oh, terribly sorry," Styx said with a mocking grin. "Didn't see you two there. Did either of you?" Omen and Demi just shook their heads, both with equally sadistic looks on their faces as their leader. "Anyways, I'm surprised. The fake and the cripple managed to survive their first mission. Impressive. Oh wait, never mind," he laughed. "Now if you'll excuse us, we're going to be taking a rescue mission to the Northern Desert. Quite dangerous, and if the rumors hold true, the mystery pokemon has been sighted near there. Definitely too rough for the likes of you. And that's our job, keeping the people like you two below, while we stay above and well respected. I doubt you'll have as good of luck today as you did yesterday." He finished, walking off and up the ladder. Omen followed silently, and Demi right behind him, chuckling to herself.

As much as I didn't want Styx's words to get to me, they did. Not only was he insulting me, but he also was insulting Phloe. And for no reason! I was about to go after them but Phloe held me back with her good arm. "Don't, it's not even worth it," she cautioned. "Let's just grab a job and get it done. I'm sure we'll do fine."

We then turned our attention to the job board, and its multiple listings of missions from so many pokemon all over the land. "Let's do this one." Phloe pointed to a small piece of scrap paper that had a request scrawled across it. She grabbed it off and held it down for both of us to read. 'Help me! I'm stuck here in the Drenched Bluff! I was traveling through on my way home and got lost! Please hurry! ~Signed, Makuhita'

"Sounds good enough to me," I said while nodding. Phloe took the paper and stowed it away into the treasure bag. "Okay then. Should we go ahead and get going? We don't really know how long this might take…"

"Why not? This could be quick and we could get back sooner than expected." She nodded in agreement to what I said, and we set off and out to the Drenched Bluff.

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"We're here," Phloe announced upon our arrival to a mossy opening to a cave. Obviously, this was Drenched Bluff. "Let's get moving, we have no idea what floor our client is on, nor do we know if this will be a one-day trip. Better to cover as much ground as possible."

Walking inside, I realized that the place didn't seem much different than Beach Cave from yesterday. From where we stood currently, it seemed about the same, just a dull cave with plenty of pools of water all over the place. Unfortunately, it didn't look to start off easier for us. Several Lileep and Anorith were currently crawling about the room we were in. "Oh crud, this won't be easy to get through," I whined. This happened to grab the unwanted attention of two passing Anorith, both of which began to hiss and crawl towards us. "Even better," I added.

We managed to take them both out fairly easily, though. Phloe used a Pound attack on one while I took on the other with a Tackle. They both still stood, but thankfully didn't attack. Instead, they tried to defend themselves with Harden, not like it would help them much. Phloe and I just did the same thing again, this time knocking both shrimp pokemon out. "Let's go." Phloe ordered, running to a corridor in the cave to escape the other rogue pokemon. I ran as quickly as I could to catch up.

The next room was thankfully empty, spare for a random apple lying on the floor. "Better to not let it go to waste," was Phloe's excuse to pick it up and put it into the bag. I was never going to touch that apple, unless I knew it was clean. Then again, thinking about everything since I'd been a pokemon, I didn't think much had been very sanitary anyways. Oh well. We went straight ahead to another room that we found, and were relieved to find the stairs to the next floor.

Going on, I was once more pleased to see that no pokemon were there to greet us as we came from the stairway. Phloe led me to the next hall that we found, but we were stopped by a Lileep that was in the way. I went ahead and got up to the strange fossil, using a Tackle attack against it. It responded with an Astonish, catching me off guard and throwing me back behind Phloe. She moved on and used Absorb on it, taking out the sea lily. Embarrassingly enough, I couldn't manage to get back up on my feet. Not surprising though, since I was both on my back and with the somewhat heavy treasure back on the back of my shell. Definitely not an easy task to get back up. Phloe giggled at my misfortune, causing me to glare in return. I do not take being laughed at well.

"Sorry Tide, I can't help it. You...look…ridiculous!" she laughed as I continued to struggle in my vain attempts at righting myself. I must have looked like a fool, trying to rock back and forth while flailing about like a madman. After she pulled herself together, Phloe actually got to helping me back up and we were once again on our way, but I still had to put up with some intermittent giggles from the Treecko.

"Please drop it."

"…Why? Can't I laugh for once?"

"No. Actually yes," I said after a moment. "You can laugh. Just not at my expense."

"Come on. You know that I couldn't help it."

"Yes you could."

"No, I couldn't. The way you looked…it was just…too much!" And she burst out laughing again at the memory. I groaned in annoyance at my partner, trying to forget about the whole incident. The corridor we were in soon ended, opening into a small cave area. A Shellos was all there was to greet us, but Phloe decided to make short work of it with an Absorb. Afterwards, she began to laugh again at what had happened to me.

"It wasn't that funny!"

"I can't help it!"

"Yes you can!" I yelled back. I pulled the apple out from earlier, and threw it at the Treecko. Being the poor shot I was, it missed, instead going clear across the small cave and to the entrance into the next rocky hallway. I was going over to pick it back up when a small black hand appeared from the darkness and snatched the apple away. A voice clearly exclaimed "Mine!" as it did so. I turned back to Phloe completely confused, but the look on her face told me that she was thinking the same thing. What on earth had just happened? She came up behind me and we went on down the hall, following what sounded to be light footsteps only a short ways ahead of us.

When we got into the next open cave, we didn't immediately see anything out of the ordinary. It was mostly empty, devoid of any pokemon from what we could see. That is, until we heard a munching noise to the left of us. Sure enough, there was a short, fat pokemon with its back turned towards us. "This can't be our client, can it?" I asked, taken aback by the hunched over pokemon. Phloe sighed as if she couldn't believe it either. "Yes, that's definitely Makuhita. Hey! We're here to rescue you!" she yelled. Her voiced echoed throughout the cave, making me wonder why a bunch of rogue pokemon didn't just come swarming in right then. Makuhita heard her and turned around with his eyes squinted at us. "Heh? You guys came to save me?" he asked with a few bits of apple spraying from his mouth. Definitely not the cleanest pokemon around from what I could guess.

"Yes," I said. The both of us began to walk over the little fighting pokemon, who had now turned all the way around and was beginning to finish the apple. "We got your little message for rescue and came right away this morning."

"This morning? It's felt like I've been here for several days! I'm starved and I…by the way, you wouldn't happen to have anything else to eat, would you?"

"Er…no, we don't."

"Oh," he said, clearly crestfallen. "Well that's okay. I can just get something when I get home."

"That's good…" I sighed, pressing the guild badge and transporting the three of us back to Treasure Town.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Ah, thanks so much you two! I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come any sooner!" Makuhita was absolutely overjoyed that Phloe and I had rescued him. Truthfully, I didn't think he was in much danger to begin with, but whatever. "Please accept this reward! It's definitely worth it for my rescue!" he said, hefting a little bag of money from nowhere and handing it to the two of us. "Thanks again!" he shouted before speeding up the ladder and back to his home. I would bet anything he was going to eat whatever food he had left, if any. Which made me feel more than a little guilty.

The Guild had money to afford enough food and stuff, but a lot of pokemon in town didn't. I couldn't help but begin to wonder when the shortages would end. "It looks like our second mission went well," Phloe cheered. I nodded, but was distracted by the amount of money we earned again. It was unreal. Now if only we could just go before…

"Team Impact, you're back!"

I winced. Chatot was the last pokemon I wanted to see right then. "So I see your second mission went well! Excellent! Now if you please…" He swiped the bag from the both of us, taking the money and giving us only a minimal amount in return. "Thank you, I believe I shall see you both again at dinner." And then he proceeded to fly off with the bag once again, leaving us depressed once again.

"I'm never going to get excited about a lot of money again." I moped. Phloe laughed a little at my whining and shoved me slightly with her good arm. "Come on, it's just money. We'll earn more as time goes on. Besides, with what we have right now we could probably go into town and stock up on some items. I heard about a little shop that sells just about everything here in Treasure Town. It's supposed to be owned by two Kecleon brothers. Want to check it out right now?"

"Eh…not really. I'll go around town, but I don't think I'll go there right now. You can go on ahead if you want."

Phloe looked at me as if to tell me I was going to be missing out. "Suit yourself. I'll meet you back here in time for the dinner bell, I presume?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see you then." I waved her off, and she hopped out the entrance of the guild. I didn't really know what I was going to do in town, but I think much about it before I began to walk up the ladder. Exiting from the tent, three teams walked by to go in. One of them I noticed to be Lightwater, with Pika and Spade walking by with hardened looks upon their faces. I could only guess that they were returning from a mission of their own.

I would have not paid any more mind to them unless I hadn't seen Spade slightly stare at me as they walked past, as if the Piplup was looking for something different about me. I guess some pokemon still thought of me as a freak since I was a former human. Sighing at the remembrance of the fact, I set off into town to try to take my mind off of everything and see if there was anything worth my time. Being the afternoon, the town was not too busy, but it wasn't quite empty either. "I suppose that's fine," I mumbled, and began to look around. I had never really paid too much mind the few times I had been through before, but now that I looked I realized how big the town really was. Shops were dotting the length of the main road, and it looked as if several more branching roads were interspersed around the place with more shops and even some homes.

In my time out there, I hadn't really found much exciting to do until one structure caught my eye. Perhaps it was because it wasn't a tent shop like everything else. Or that it had a huge sign with a Marowak skull on the front of it and massive bones covering the roof sides. Definitely not something that seemed very welcoming, but I went on ahead to check it out.

"Uh…hello?" I called out as I peeked my head along the side of the entrance to the place. Light only went so far inside, with the rest of the inside lit up by lanterns and torches, further adding to the fright and intimidation factor. "Huh, oh hello!" a Marowak replied to me, waving his bone. I decided to not hold out any longer and decided to walk on in. "So, are you here to train?" he asked me. "Er, what? Train?" He nodded.

"Yes, that's exactly what my little place is for. This is the one and only Marowak Dojo, owned and operated by myself. I open the Dojo for extensive training opportunities for all exploration teams that wish to stop by. Not only that, but I offer a training under each type to improve upon strengths and weaknesses. It is also a great way for teams to work on possible strategies to make exploring much easier."

"Cool," I said as I let my eyes wander around. The entry area was dirty but quite lit up, with a dark entry to what I assumed to be the training halls. Marowak stared at me expectantly waiting for me to say something else. "Well? Would you like to train?"

"While it's a great idea…"

"Hmm?" he seemed like he was expecting me to insult him or something.

"…I really was just stopping by for the moment. Your place has a more eye-catching exterior than most other places here in town. But I promise I will come back, just when I have my partner with me. She's wandering around town at the moment; I decided to go off on my own. We are a new team by the way, Team Impact. Name's Tide." I said, extending a hand.

"Well then, pleased to meet you Tide," Marowak smiled. All evidence of any suspicions disappeared as he shook my hand. "I will wait for your team to come by. I definitely would suggest so, especially since my training programs can easily help out new teams to get set for intense missions. Until then, goodbye!" He waved his bone again and I began to walk out.

"Thanks Marowak. We'll probably be by in a few days if we have the chance!" I yelled, waving back.

Walking back out, I noticed the sun had dropped just a little bit more. I guessed I had spent a good amount of time talking to Marowak back there. I decided to go ahead and make my way back to the guild. Dinner probably wouldn't be much longer, and if Phloe wasn't back already, I would probably meet up with her sooner or later. The roads of town were a bit less populated with other pokemon, although some teams were still walking around and chatting or shopping. I was just about to the outskirts of town when something caught my eye. Turning my head slightly, I saw Spade sneakily making her way behind some of the shop tents. "What is she doing?" I asked myself, deciding against better judgment and followed after her.

Spade was walking through the back parts of town obviously up to something she shouldn't be. She turned off toward the forest, to where, I could only guess. I scuttled after, trying to remain stealthy, but with my turtle body that wasn't working all that well. "Stinking stubby legs. Why couldn't I have been something else? Out of everything to be wrong as a pokemon, I had to have stubby legs." I looked around the surrounding forest to try to find the Piplup, but unfortunately saw that I lost track of her. "Great. Just great," I moaned. "And now let's see if I can actually make it back to the guild…" I mumbled as I turned around and began to try and retrace my steps.

Turns out, the forest looks the same no matter where you go. I knew that I didn't go that far into the forest, but not being a natural pokemon brought some problems, namely having major directional issues. "Why me? Why is it that I have to have this problem? Gah, where is Treasure Town? I'm starving!" I whined, even though I knew that it wasn't going to do anything. I stopped for a moment to try to think clearly and figure out how to get back quick enough. I was about to go off to what I assumed to be south when I saw a blur of blue to my left. Sure enough, it was Spade again, this time heading back to Treasure Town. "H-hey, w-w-wait up, Spade!" I cried, running in her direction.

She had stopped shortly ahead and was looking back, clearly surprised to see me running up. "Who are you and how do you know my name?" she asked coldly. I stopped, only slightly afraid. "Er…my name is Tide. I'm new to Wigglytuff's Guild, and I kind of got lost around here. And I know your name because Team Sting was helping me and my partner out so that we know who a lot of the more prominent teams are. Is that all you wanted to know?"

She continued to stare at me somewhat unconvinced until a flicker of recognition played in her eyes. "Ah," she said with realization. "You're the human. That's right."

"Well, uh…yeah, I'm the 'former' human," I explained. "Oh yes, just laugh and point at the weirdo, go ahead."

She smirked, and turned around waving a fin. "Follow me, I know where the guild is." She said. I thanked her profusely and followed closely behind until I could see town clearly forming up ahead. "So why were you out there in the first place?" she asked.

"I was…looking around the area. For…berry trees." I lied. Spade nodded, but I couldn't tell if she bought what I said or not. "Right. Of course." She said. She stopped once we were right on the outskirts of town. "I suppose I will see you around then," she said finally. "Actually, I believe I will see you very soon. We need to talk about something. Something important."

"O-okay," I stuttered as she walked off. "I'll just...see you around." Shrugging, I ran on back to the guild hoping that I hadn't missed dinner. Luckily it seemed I was right about on time as many other pokemon were making their way back to the guild at the moment, and Phloe was among them.

"There you are!" she exclaimed, obviously relieved that I was there. "I hadn't seen you at all in town. What where you doing?"

"A lot of things. Although I did find something interesting that I think we should check out at some point. It's called Marowak Dojo…"

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The soft desert sand shifted as the large black dog pokemon walked along it. His two partners were on either side of him, both silently trudging along to find their missing client in the endless desert. The heat was dying as the daylight began to extinguish, but this did not bother any of them at all. The leader, being a fire type, could handle heat and generate it. The other was a ghost, so nothing mattered to him. The other was part ice, thus she could handle cold or cool herself if she needed to. Each of them was perfectly suited to the mission in the desert. Each was confident they would succeed. The only flaw was that there was a horrid entrenching fear slowly gripping each of their hearts.

"Styx, you know we could just grab the guy and get out of here, right?" asked the Weavile, Demi. Her leader nodded solemnly. "Yes," said Styx. "We could just grab him and go. In fact, we should just grab him and go. But the mystery pokemon…I can feel it. Its energy is unlike anything I've ever felt, we must find it!"

"We can all feel it. But who knows where it is hiding? We could look until we die, and still never find it." Countered Demi.

"But we have to try! We have to at least have the proof, right Omen?"

The Dusclops remained silent, his hands behind his back as he walked behind the both of them. Styx looked back to him for an answer, and the ghost narrowed his eye before coming to a sudden halt. "There." He pointed off in a two o'clock direction from where they were at the moment. Demi and Styx squinted in the quickly darkening landscape to see what their friend could see.

"What is that? A mountain?" asked Demi. Omen remained silent.

"Well? What about it?" barked Styx. "Don't be wasting our time now, Omen!"

The Dusclops closed his eye for a moment, but shot it open in an instant. "We must move. Quickly. This way, it is safer, and our client is over here. I can detect him." He began to walk faster than usual, almost at a jog.

"Omen, wait up!" Demi shouted, running after her partner. Styx frowned in the direction of the mountain, but ran to catch up with the both of them. Not even thirty seconds later, a Hyper Beam blasted where each of them had been standing moments before.

"What was that?" yelled Styx. "What on earth was that?"

None of them stopped, but instead quickened their pace. "It was our little mystery pokemon," wheezed Omen. "As it turns out, he's not as benevolent as was hoped.

"A little more on the malevolent side, don't you think?" Styx asked. Omen nodded grimly. "Yes, and I fear that wasn't the last time he'll blast us. Now we must hurry, and hope he does not openly come after us. Our client is three miles ahead. He has fallen asleep in the desert sands, but he is well alive right now. The only hope is that we can get him and get out before anyone is hurt…or worse.

I hope I did Spade and Pika justice in their introduction. They'll become more prominent and regular as time goes on, I just needed to work them in. And thanks for the suggestion on the mystery dungeons SakuraFurude (I'll institute it in the next chapter, as well as the team submitted by i'm none.
One last thing: I'm accepting one final OC team for now. That doesn't rule them out in the future, but I'll only accept one more for now. Of course, the form is as follows:
Team Name
Members w/Gender, Names, Species
Background/Experience
Moves
Thanks again everyone!