Author's note:
sorry for such a delay in posting this, but as i kept on writing i realized that my original plans for the chapter would have made it almost twice as long as it is now, so i decided to split it into two chapters instead. So without further delay i give you A year without rain, chapter two:
As the morning sun rose high into the sky, some of its penetrated through the many leaves and branches, hitting the sleeping Anter under a tree. With some moaning and groaning as he rubbed his eyes, Anter awoke from his peaceful slumber. He yawned as he began to stretch out, letting his bones and joints pop back into place. If there was one thing he wasn't going to miss about being homeless, it was sleeping in the woods, on the ground. After he finished stretching he began to groom himself, getting his fur coat as clean as he could for today's introduction ceremony at the guild. He preferred to look a bit ruffed up rather than a homeless savage to his new guildmates. After he finished he smiled before he bid his final farewells to the woods that served as his home the past couple of years. After one last look around he couldn't help but smile as he began to make his way towards the guild, his new home.
As the large assortments of tents and small buildings made from either stone or wood came into view on the horizon, Anter couldn't help but turn his walk into a jog, and then a run, into a full on sprint. He couldn't wait to be an actual explorer in a guild. As he came to the edge of the town he was panting heavily and his small legs were shaking a little. The town was bustling with activity; shops were open and as busy as ever. The streets were crowded with locals and traveling foreigners alike. He could hardly believe how many people were in one place at one time, it was almost stunning. As he walked through the crowded streets he looked for a sign post or something that could point him in the right direction of the guild. He battled his way through the mass crowds of shoppers at the stores till he was finally able to reach the town square, a fairly large open spot in the center of all the madness that seemed vacant, like the eye of a bad storm. Looking around he soon saw what he was looking for, a town map. Dashing toward the billboard he looked it over carefully till he found the guild on the map. It was just to the south of where he was at now. He couldn't help but smile as he turned and found the small road that lead straight to the guild and began a mad dash, as if he was racing someone there. As he traveled down the small back road he could soon see a tent at the top of a rather large hill. It was in the shape of an Alakasam head with totem poles on either side, showing different Pokemon for each face. As he climbed the hill up to the tent he gazed in amazement how big the totem poles really were, there must have been at least ten or more Pokemon on each pole. As he got to the front of the tent he saw the entrance was blocked off by what looked like a jail cell door. As he tried to get closer he stopped dead in his tracks as a deep voice echoed through his head.
"State your business." The voice echoed through Anter's small mind as clear as day, yet he didn't see anyone around.
"Wh-Who's there?" The small cat Pokemon asked as he panicked a little as he searched for the source of the voice.
"Hey kid calm down!" The voice shouted in Anter's mind. "I'm the gate keeper of the guild, I just want to know what business you have with us." The voice said, trying to calm the small Pokemon down.
"I-I'm the guilds new trainee I was supposes to start today." Anter said as he calmed down a bit, but still searching for the source of the voice.
"Oh so you're one of the new guys huh?" The voice asked, almost chuckling a bit. "Sorry for startling you kid, give me a second and I'll open the gate for you." The voice said as the sound of a lever clicked reached Anter's ears and the gate open up. "There we go, you may enter now." The voice said to the small Pokemon who was still searching for the source of the voice.
"Um, thanks…" Anter said a bit nervous as he walked through the gate. Upon entering the tent, Anter found himself facing towards some downward stairs that seemed to go down into the hill it's self. The steps were made of stone and curved down into a spiral, light by torches hung on the walls. Taking a deep breath Anter started down the stairs treading carefully as he made his way down. After reaching halfway down the stair case he came to what looked like a door out of a castle. It was a large door of solid wood with a pattern of an Alakazam on it. Anter gulped as he pushed the door open and found an empty room. It wasn't considerably large but it was enough for a single person to stay in. There was a box in the middle of the room with a cover on it, along with some assorted papers and a feather ink pen sitting in the bottle of ink. Anter walked into the room slowly and looked around taking a closer look around. There where windows that had been made in the sides of the room and the view was quiet impressive, it overlooked the whole town and beyond to where he used to live. As Anter got lost in his own amusement he hadn't noticed someone else had joined him.
"Quite the view isn't it?" A voice called from the door way, not the same one that entered his head through at the gate. Turning quickly Anter found himself in the presents of an Alakasam, his mustaches reaching down to his feet. "Its quiet rare for me to have visitors at this time of day." He said as he walked over to Anter who backed away a bit to let him get by. "So, how can I help you kid?" He said as he got behind the box desk and began to levitate, as if he was in a seat. Anter stepped up to the desk, watching the physic type carefully.
"Uh, I'm the new trainee. I was told to start living here today in the dorms." He said calmly as he watched for any change in the wiser Pokémon's expression he should be worried about.
"Really? You seem kind of small to be able to pass the entrance exams." The older Pokemon said as he watched Anter's try to hold back his anger about the comment.
"Is that so?" Anter as he clutched his paws on the ground. "Either way it doesn't matter, I passed and that's that." He said trying not to anger the one who overly decided whether or not he stayed or go in the guild. The Alakazam laughed lightly a bit at him as the feather pen floated out of the ink bottle and began writing on a sheet of paper.
"That is true. Well anyways, head back down the stairs to the very bottom, there should be a door. Go inside and you should be in the main lounge with the other new Trainees." He said as he looked over sum papers on the desk. Anter nodded before swiftly turning and heading back down the stairs as fast as his small legs could take him. As he reached the bottom of he found another door, just like the Alakazam said he would. Pushing the doors open quickly he found a small amass of other trainees the guild had recruited. They were mostly making small talk about why they wanted to join the guild and other stuff like that. As he looked around the room to see a lone Eevee off to the side by herself. Her fur was shining silver and her eyes fire red, yet she wasn't the center of attention like most shinys he's seen before. She was almost the exact opposite, she was isolated, not wanting to talk to anyone or vis versa, but Anter walked over to her anyways, hoping he could make her his new friend.
"Hey." Anter said as he walked over to Shiny Pokemon slowly. Her head turned quickly to face him. Her face neither happy nor angry.
"What do you want?" She said as Anter got a few feet from her and stopped.
"I just want to talk. Is that so bad?" He said as he sat on his back legs as he watched the smaller Pokemon turn to face him.
"Well it is if you don't know who you're talking to is." She said her facial expression still blank.
"You could have just asked me my name." Anter said a bit annoyed by her comment. "My name's Anter, you?" He asked as he shifted to a more comfortable sitting position.
"It's Noa." The Eevee said as she sat down with Anter and they began to make small talk until Alakazam came into the room, the doors making a slow creaking sound as they opened. Behind him was a small group of Pokemon, maybe about ten or less total. As he walked into the room the Pokemon got in a straight line behind him.
"Evening." He said plainly as he started to pace in front of them. "My name is Kazam, but from this point on you should address me a guildmaster. You are all here for the same reason, you all want to join my guild and have met or succeeded the requirements for being a member." He said as he stopped pacing and turned to face everyone. "But before you can become an official member of the guild you all need to get in groups of two." He said watching as most of trainees start to scatter to get in lines of two.
"Hey, would you like to be in a team with me?" Anter asked Noa in a rather excited voice. The shiny eevee merely nodded her head as she got in line with Anter. As all the trainees settled down in their groups of two Kazam chuckled a bit.
"Now, when I point to your line I want the person in front to call out a number one through ten. The Pokemon behind me have all been given a number one through ten as well. They will serve as both a teammate and a team manager, they record your team's progress and report back to me directly. Now pick a number." He said as he pointed to the first group, Anter looked back to Noa and began to debate over which number they should pick.
"Number eight, or five." Noa told Anter as the third group picked, which only left two before it was their turn.
"Number five already got picked." He whispered back as the third group called out eight. "I say we go with three." Anter whispered back to Noa, who nodded her head to him in agreement. As the groups before them all picked Anter had goosebumps when it was their turn. "N-number three." He said softly, Kazam chuckled a bit at his choice as he went down the rest of the row. After everyone had chosen their number Kazam walked back to the middle of the rows, right in front of Anter and Noa's line.
"Well now that that's out of the way," He said, turning to the row of Pokémon behind him. "Alright, find your new teammates and get in line with them." He said as he watched the line of ten dissipate to get in line with their new teams. Anter looked back at Noa as they discussed who they might get.
"It has to be that Absol on the far right, she snickered a bit when I said the number three." Anter whispered back to his partner.
"No way, it's got to be that Beedrill that was fifth from the left." Noa argued back as they kept debating.
"Good guesses but both of you are wrong." A voice called out to them. Anter turned quickly to find himself in front of a Charmander that was nearly three times his size. "The names Zip, remember it."
End chapter two