Chapter 3: Wigglytuff's Guild
Over the peaceful Pokémon community of Treasure Town, a swirling blue portal opened up in the sky and through it, came Arceus.
She gracefully floated down to the town square, where the inhabitants were going about their daily business. As soon as they saw her approaching, they immediately either began bowing to her or fleeing in terror.
"M…My….My Lord, what b…b…b…brings you…here?" an Ursaring said.
"Punishment," Arceus said simply.
At this point, all the townsfolk began panicking. The air was perforated with the sounds of screaming and crying.
"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" A Loudred screamed at the top of his lungs.
Two Pokémon, a Garchomp and a Dragonite prostrated themselves before her.
Arceus sighed at the display of mass panic. "Not punishment for you! Punishment for Kyogre and Groudon!" she said.
At this moment all the pokémon ceased panicking.
"Now, in any case, when Groudon and Kyogre arrive in town, I want you to treat them like any other Pokémon. Don't worship them, don't beg them for mercy, none of that. I want them to be treated like any normal pokémon. Now I need to get going to the Wigglytuff Guild," Arceus said.
With that said, she walked down the road to the Wigglytuff Guild. The road itself was a four way fork with helpful road signs. She took the northern path and ended up at the doorstep of the guild.
"Well, here goes…" Arceus said as she stepped on the grate in front of the barred entrance to the guild.
"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" a voice blared from beneath the grate.
"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" another voice demanded.
"It's…It's no way!"
"Spit it out!"
"The footprint is Arceus's! The footprint is Arceus's!"
"What?!"
At this moment, the bars in front of the entrance retracted and the guildmaster, a portly Wigglytuff came out.
"Hey friend," the Wigglytuff said.
"Are you the guildmaster?" Arceus asked.
"Yep!"
"Okay, I need to speak to everyone in the guild,"
"Right this way!"
Wigglytuff led Arceus into the main entrance which bore a few signs, including a "No trespassing" one and a ladder which led into the depths of the guild. Arceus looked around and noticed that even Groudon would be able to fit in the guild without problems.
Wigglytuff climbed down the ladder and Arceus, not bothering with ladder, hovered after him.
They had now arrived at the second floor, where all the trainees of the guild were gathered. Arceus looked around for a moment. Three bulletin boards were next to the ladder she descended and a desk with a Chimecho behind it was on the right wall. Another desk rested against the left wall. This one was crewed by a dour looking Smeargle. All the pokémon in the room stared at her. Some even bowed.
"Hey, hey, hey! It's Arceus!" Corphish said.
"That's the coolest, yep, yep!" Bidoof said.
"Oh my gosh! Arceus is really here!" Sunflora said.
"Could it be?" a Blastoise who went by the name "Breaker" said.
"Everyone, Arceus has an important announcement to make," Wigglytuff said.
Arceus then cleared her throat. "In a few hours, Groudon and Kyogre will be coming to this guild,"
A collective gasp ran through the group.
"Wow! Three gods visiting us in one day! We must be blessed!" a Treecko by the name of "Querc" added.
"They are not here to bless you. They are here to be punished," Arceus said. "And while they are here, I want you to treat them like ordinary pokémon. No worshipping them or anything of that nature. This meeting's over."
She then hovered out through the ladder passageway.
"So, I guess it's back to work now?" Breaker asked.
"Yeah." Querc replied. He went up to Breaker.
"So what mission are we taking today?"
Querc looked over the missions list. "Oh, here's a good one. 'Go on a salvage expedition with Murkrow to find the lost loot. Location: City Ruins. Difficulty level: 1 star. Reward: ???'. Damn it! We won't get reimbursed for this one. Oh well." he said. He then pulled the piece of paper off the bulletin board and went over to the desk with the Smeargle behind it.
"We are taking this mission. I am Querc of Team Water Blade." Querc said. He then handed the piece of paper over to the Smeargle.
The Smeargle took the piece of paper and placed it in a bin by his feet. He then handed them a small sheet of paper. "You are all ready to head out," he said.
Querc and Breaker headed out of the guild.
***
Arceus was inside the Spinda Café enjoying some apple soda. Some paintings were on the walls and some rather nice iron statues of a Lucario and a Spinda flanked the entrance. Several other patrons were in the café, drinking, eating or recycling goods and trying to win at the lottery.
***
Back in the Hall of Origins, Regigagas was desperately trying to maintain order in the living room where Lugia had decided to throw a rave and all the Legendaries, even the normally reserved Mewtwo decided to join in. A large speaker system built by Mewtwo was placed atop Arceus's throne and it was blasting out Running Man.
"JIRACHI! CELEBI! GIRATINA'S GRISEOUS ORB IS NOT A TOY!" Regigigas shouted as he tried to catch the aforementioned orb as Jirachi and Celebi tossed it back and forth with their psychic powers. All while giggling happily.
Giratina was unconscious on his couch with a half finished bottle of Shaymin's Oran Berry wine on the ground next to him.
Registeel, Regice and Regirock were beeping in tune to the music. Mewtwo had telekinetically levitated a strobe light of his own creation above the dancing Legendaries.
The Lati siblings and Deoxys – in her Speed Forme - darted around the room at breakneck speeds an in complex patterns.
Shaymin, in her much smaller Land Forme, had a gracidea flower joint in her mouth but it was not yet lit. She went up to Heatran, who was serving as the pyrotechnician for the party. "Heatran, light my joint for me!" she demanded.
"Shaymin, I'm busy right now," Heatran responded. He then signaled to Ho-Oh, who was across the room from him.
"Fire Blast!" Ho-Oh shouted as she shot a cruciform fireball towards the ceiling of the living room.
"Flash Cannon!" Heatran shouted. He opened his mouth and a white beam issued forth and struck the cruciform fireball. Both projectiles collided and exploded in a shower of burning sparks.
"Heatran! Now will you light my joint?" Shaymin demanded.
Heatran sighed. "You should have Mewtwo make you a lighter or something. Just press the joint against my leg," he said.
Shaymin did so and the joint started smoking. She then took a deep draw and a white flash surrounded her. When the light cleared Shaymin was now in her Sky Forme.
"Thank you so much!" Skymin said. She then joined in the complex flight of the Lati siblings and Speed Forme Deoxys.
She really is nicer when she's had her dose of gracidea. Heatran thought.
Regigigas had finally retrieved the Griseous Orb that Celebi and Jirachi were playing with. He placed it back onto its proper place on the mantle. He then turned around to see Jirachi trying to lock Mew, who was apparently asleep, into the display case next to Arceus's Jewel of Life. "JIRACHI! MEW IS NOT A DISPLAY ITEM! PUT HIM DOWN!" he ordered. He then slowly made his way to the display case but it was too late; Mew was already in the display case and to add insult to injury, a placard reading "Please Do Not Eat" was placed in front of him.
Regigigas sighed and removed Mew from the display case and placed the "Please Do Not Eat" placard back in its proper place.
A blue glow emanating from the foyer signaled Arceus's return.
"Guys! She's back!" Lugia said.
Mewtwo hastily teleported the speaker system and strobe light back to his room. Palkia took the bottle of wine, opened a portal to his room, reached into the portal and placed the bottle of wine on his dresser. There was nothing they could do about the unconscious Giratina.
Arceus then strode into the living room, where all the Legendaries were gathered. She looked at Regigigas. "Anything to report?" she asked.
"NOTHING THAT I COULD NOT HANDLE," Regigigas replied.
"Good. Now in any case, Kyogre and Groudon please step forward," she said.
Kyogre and Groudon did so and Arceus opened a swirling blue portal.
"Now this portal leads to Treasure Town. I want you two to head straight for Wigglytuff's Guild. It's the building with a Wigglytuff head on it. You can't miss it," Arceus said.
Kyogre and Groudon gulped as they stepped through the portal and vanished. She then closed the portal.
Arceus then went back to her throne and drank some of her tea, now cold.
The other legendaries went to their rooms to rest.
***
Celebi was happily bouncing on her bed. Her roommate Mew was cuddling a plushie of himself, which was on his bed. The room itself was a strange combination of a green leaf motif for Celebi and a light pink coloration for Mew.
"Aren't you a little old to be bouncing on the bed like that?" Mew asked.
Celebi did a flip at the apex of her bounce. "And aren't you too old to be sleeping with a plushie?"
Mew giggled. "You got me!" he said. He then joined Celebi.
***
Dialga was back in Lugia's room and he was busy snooping through his closet. All he found were boxes upon boxes of paper and assorted art supplies but one box buried in the back stood out. It was plain box that looked exactly like the others except for the words "For night use only" printed in heavy black lettering.
Dialga carefully nudged the lid open with his head and as soon as he saw what was inside, his eyes widened in shock. Inside was a stack of diapers that were printed with the stylized symbols for fire, ice and lightning along with other "cute" graphics. And what was worse is that were apparently in Lugia's size.
"CURSE MY CURIOSITY!" Dialga said out loud.
"Dialga! I'm back!" Lugia's voice called from outside the door.
The door opened and Lugia returned with a box of paint. He looked around and noticed that his closet door was ajar and some of the boxes had been moved. "Dialga! Were you digging through my closet?" he demanded.
"NO," Dialga replied.
"Don't lie," Lugia replied. He then sighed. "I swear you're worse than Darkrai."
"OKAY, I'M SORRY."
"Fine, just stay out of my closet."
Lugia then took out a sheet of blank wallpaper and some paint and got to work painting new wallpaper. Dialga was watching him paint.
"LUGIA, WHY DO YOU HAVE…" Dialga asked before Lugia silenced him with a glare.
"You will not talk of what you found! Or for that matter, because you can't seem to talk normally, at all when I am painting!" Lugia replied.
***
Mewtwo was sitting at his table and working on his latest project, a lighter for Shaymin. His bed was levitating several feet off the ground. One wall was filled with science books from every discipline. The back of his door had a promotional poster for the company he and Deoxys occasionally work for, Gallade Chemical. The poster was rather bland, simply the company logo, which was a stylized rendition of a Gallade's head, and the name of the company – all in green and white.
Mewtwo took a sip of some strong black coffee out of a mug sitting at his right elbow. He then got to work adjusting the airflow valve for the lighter.
"Shaymin better appreciate this," he muttered.
***
Groudon and Kyogre arrived at the Wigglytuff Guild's front gate. Like when Arceus first arrived, the gates were barred.
"Well here we are." Groudon said with a sigh. He then stepped onto the grate.
"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" a voice blared from beneath the grate.
"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" another voice demanded.
"The footprint is Groudon's! The foot print is Groudon's!"
The bars retracted. "Come in!" a voice said. Groudon did so and he carefully climbed down the ladder.
Kyogre floated onto the grate.
"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" a voice blared from beneath the grate.
"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" another voice demanded.
"The footprint is Kyogre's! The foot print is Kyogre's!"
"Come in!" a voice said. Kyogre floated down the ladder.
Soon they arrived at the main floor of the guild. There Wigglytuff and Chatot were there to greet them. Several other pokémon were milling about preparing for missions but they paid the two Legendaries little notice. Several large windows let a surprising amount of light even though the base was underground. Several torches, unlit, dotted the tan, rocky walls as well.
"Hey friends! It's always nice to have new friends!" he said.
Chatot looked over the two. "I suppose you two are the ones Arceus told us about. I am Chatot. In any case, you should not expect special treatment because you are Legendaries. You will be subject to the same rules as an ordinary pokémon," he said. "In any case, because you are assigned to rescue team work as a punishment, you cannot pick your own team name. Instead, you are currently registered as Team KyGrou," he said.
"That name sucks!" Kyogre spat.
"Too bad."
Wigglytuff then handed out two circular badges with a pair wings on it to both Kyogre and Groudon. The badges were made of some white metal with a clear green gemstone in the middle. "These are your exploration team badges."
Groudon and Kyogre took them and almost immediately, the badges produced a silver ribbon and they dangled from the two pokémons' necks.
"Cool," Groudon said, examining the badge.
Wigglytuff handed a large satchel to Groudon. "And this is your item bag. It allows you to hold items that you may come across in your explorations. And whatever you do, don't put an item bag inside another item bag. The results aren't pretty," he said.
Groudon opened the bag and inside were a pecha scarf and a blue silk. "Nice, we got some stuff to start off with," he said.
"And finally, you'll need this: the wonder map" Wigglytuff said, handing a map over to Groudon who placed it inside a conveniently located pouch inside the item bag. "Chatot will now show you around the guild," he added.
Wigglytuff then headed down the stairs.
Chatot pointed to the three bulletin boards near the ladder. "That's our message center. The left bulletin board has missions. The central one is for announcements and serves as a general chat center. You're welcome to place anything you want there but keep it tasteful. The right one is for outlaws with bounties on their heads."
"Got it," Groudon replied.
Chatot then pointed to the desk with the Smeargle behind it. "That's the registration desk. Once you choose a mission, you rip it off the bulletin board and bring it over there. That way, we avoid sending out multiple rescue teams for one mission and disputes over rewards." he said.
"One question, how are missions chosen?" Kyogre asked.
"First come, first serve. Occasionally, a team will decide not to do a mission. When that happens, Smeargle simply posts the mission request back up on the board and anyone else can take it."
Chatot then pointed to the desk with Chimecho behind it. "That's Chimecho Assembly. She manages the recruits of the other teams. The recruits technically aren't members of the guild so they can't live here. Most of them live in Treasure Town so they are ready to go as soon as she calls. As for you, I may allow you to start recruiting if you do well in your duties but for now, you're not allowed to recruit," he said.
Chatot then went down the ladder down to the first subfloor of the guild.
The floor looked exactly the same as the main floor, right down to the massive windows and torches on the walls.
Chatot then pointed to a Croagunk shaped rock with a cauldron in it. Not surprisingly the pokémon who operated the stand was a Croagunk. "That is the Croagunk Swap Shop. If you get any rare items he'll be happy to swap them for you. For a small fee of course," he said.
He then pointed over to an elaborate green, white and pink door. "That's the guildmaster's quarters. Stay out of there unless you have a good reason," he said.
Chatot then led the two into the west passageway. The short passageway opened to an enormous dining room with several wooden tables. A small manual elevator sat in the back corner. Several windows let in an ample amount of sunlight. Several torches, unlit, dotted the walls of the dining room. Groudon and Kyogre stared in amazement.
"This is the mess hall. Food is free as long as you are trainees of the guild," Chatot said.
Chatot then led the two Legends out of the mess hall. He then pointed to a ladder sticking out of a hole in the southwestern corner of the room. "That's the sentry post. It's normally manned by Diglett and Loudred," he said.
He then led the two down another ladder. This room was completely devoid of sunlight but the cool blue flames of torches provided an ample amount of light. The rock walls had changed too; they were no longer the tan rock of the upper levels but they were a black color. "This and the floor below hold the living quarters for the trainees. The kitchen is also located here but I can't see any reason why you'd be in there," he said
Chatot then led back up to the first subfloor and led the two Legends into the eastern passageway. There, the road split into a three way fork.
"Your room is at the end. The others lead to male and female staff bedrooms," he said.
Groudon and Kyogre entered their bedroom. In it were piles of straw on the ground that served as beds and a large window that had a stunning vista of the sea.
"Oh, I like it!" Kyogre said.
"Chatot, could we switch rooms? I don't like the sea," Groudon said.
"No!" Chatot snapped. He then calmed himself. "In any case, Bidoof will show you around Treasure Town. Once that's done, you can prepare for your first mission."
The two legends exited their room and entered the first subfloor's main room. There, Bidoof was waiting for them.
"Wow, I can't believe I'm working with the Legends! This is the coolest ever, yup, yup!" Bidoof said, jumping up and down excitedly.
"Bidoof! By orders of the Guildmaster, you're supposed to act like they're ordinary pokémon!" Chatot scolded.
"But golly, I can't act if they're ordinary pokémon if they're extraordinary pokémon."
"Bidoof! The tour!"
"On it!" Bidoof said. He then led the two Legends out of the guild and down the western road to Treasure Town. The townsfolk, even though they were told of the Legends' arrival, they still stopped their daily routine out of shock.
The first building they encountered was a Duskull shaped building. A single Duskull hovered at the main desk. "This is the Duskull Bank," Bidoof said. "If you store your money here it will be safe no matter what."
"What's the point?" Kyogre asked, "We're gods! No sane pokémon is going to try and steal from us,"
"Ah, but if you are defeated in a mystery dungeon, you will lose some of your money and items as the badge teleports you to safety." Bidoof then noticed Kyogre's strange expression. "Oh, don't think you can't be defeated. These mystery dungeons do real strange things. I think it's got to do with distortions in space but I'm no expert," he added.
"Remind me to slap Palkia when we get back," Kyogre muttered.
Bidoof then led them to a shop shaped like an Electivire. "That's the Electivire TM Shop. He sells TMs and if you need to know which TM is compatible before you buy, he's also there to help you," Bidoof said.
Bidoof then led the two to the western part of town. There they stopped by a tent that was crewed by two Kecleon, one of which was purple.
"This is the Kecleon Shop. The green one sells items and the purple one sells wonder orbs," Bidoof said.
"Oh, Bidoof, I see you are showing some new trainees around! Good work, I say!" the green Kecleon said.
"Golly, thanks!" Bidoof replied with a blush.
He then showed the Legends a warehouse shaped like a Kangaskhan.
"This is Kangaskhan Storage. Here, you can store all your items so they don't get lost or anything," Bidoof said. "And that concludes our tour."
Bidoof led the two Legends back to the Guild.
***
When the two Legends arrived back at the guild, Chatot was waiting for them on the main floor.
"Okay, Groudon and Kyogre, you are to head to the boards and choose an appropriate job. Get to it!" he ordered.
Groudon and Kyogre looked over the mission board. The board was, as usual, plastered with job requests. "Hmm. Here's an easy one: 'Find a lost Pidgey. Location: Basalt Crevice. Difficulty level: E. Reward: 2,000 Poké.' Nice reward and shouldn't be too hard." Groudon said. He then tore off the piece of paper. "Kyogre! I've got a job for us," he said. He then noticed that Kyogre was ignoring him.
Kyogre was looking at another job request. "I'd rather do this one. Let's see: 'Prospect for the secret slab. Location: Zero Isle Center. Difficulty level: 9 stars. Reward: 10,000 Poké and ???' Sounds like a challenge but we're gods so it'll be a breeze," she said. Before anyone could stop her she ripped off the piece of paper and carried it over to the Smeargle's desk for processing. However, some pokémon in front of her were also registering their missions.
When it was her turn, she hovered in front of the Smeargle and handed him the piece of paper. "We are taking this mission. I am Kyogre of Team KyGrou," she said.
The Smeargle took the piece of paper and read it, as he was doing so, his eyes widened in shock. "I am sorry but as a beginning team, I must deny this application." he said. He then placed the sheet in a basket labeled "denied".
"But we're gods!" Kyogre protested.
"So? We were under orders to treat you like ordinary pokémon. Now if you don't mind, you're holding up the line."
Behind Kyogre were several pokémon, some who looked rather upset at the Legend.
Kyogre grumbled hovered in front of the mission board where Groudon was located. She pushed him aside and looked for missions that the Smeargle would accept.
"What was that for?" Groudon asked testily.
"My mission choice got rejected," she replied.
Groudon sighed and stood in line with his piece of paper. In a few minutes, he stood in front of the Smeargle and he handed over the sheet of paper. "I am Groudon of Team KyGrou and I intend to take this mission," he said.
The Smeargle took the piece of paper and read it over. "Your mission is accepted." He said. He took the piece of paper and placed it in the bin by his feet and handed a small slip of paper to Groudon, who stuck it in the item bag.
Groudon returned to Kyogre, who was still looking over the mission board. "We've got our mission! Now let's go!" he said. Kyogre floated away from the mission board and next to Groudon.
"So where's Basalt Crevice?" Kyogre asked.
Groudon opened up the wonder map and looked for Basalt Crevice.
Soon he had pinpointed Basalt Crevice. "It's right here." he said. He was pointing to a cave at the base of the mountains only a few miles away from the town. He then put the map away. "Well, it's time to get ready and head out," he said.
The Legends then exited the guild and made their way to Treasure Town.
***
When they arrived at the town, it was midafternoon and the townsfolk were still going about their daily routine. And they paid no attention to Groudon or Kyogre.
"So I guess it's over to Kangaskhan Storage to see what we've got," Groudon said.
"Yeah. Why not?" Kyogre replied.
The two then headed west until they reached Kangaskhan Storage. There were no lines as the other exploration teams were already out on their missions. The clerk at the front desk was a matronly Kangaskhan.
"Hello sweetie! How may I help you?" she asked.
Groudon blushed. It was not very often someone called him "sweetie".
"We are members of Team KyGrou and we need to retrieve some items," Kyogre said.
The Kangaskhan examined a piece of paper on the desk. "Well," she said, "all you have are four apples, two bags of dried fruit and an Oran Berry."
"We'll the two apples, the dried fruit and the Oran Berry."
"Coming right up!" the Kangaskhan said. Almost immediately, the baby in her pouch got out and entered the warehouse. A few minutes later and it returned carrying a tray with the aforementioned supplies.
Groudon packed the supplies into the bag. "Thank you," he said.
"No problem honey!"
Groudon blushed again. "What about the blue silk and pecha scarf?" he asked.
"Well, I guess we should use them," Kyogre replied. "I call the blue silk."
Groudon reached into the bag and tied the pecha scarf around his neck. Surprisingly, it fit him with no problems. He then helped Kyogre tie the blue silk around her neck.
"You look good," Groudon said, looking at Kyogre.
"Shut up and get moving!" Kyogre replied.
The two then headed for the east and the entrance to the wilderness.
***
At the four way crossroad, the two Legends encountered several other pokémon.
Groudon took a deep breath. "All right, I guess this is the start of our adventure!"
The two Legends then headed down the eastern path. The path itself was long and seemed to stretch forever.