Kyle, Harmony and Blair stared as Koffing and Zubat emerged from behind one of the many rocks in the cave.
"I'll ask you one more time," Blair growled, "Give me back my Relic Fragment!"
"Whoa-ho-ho!" Koffing laughed, "Get a load of the weakling!"
"If you're so strong," Kyle found himself saying, "Why did you run away from us at the beach?"
Harmony blinked at the others. They're so brave! She thought.
|I'll admit it, in the first mission we went on, I was nervous and unsure about being on an Exploration Team, but over time, I found the courage to complete all of our missions, whatever it rook. I think that being with my friends and facing dangers together made us all stronger.|
"Prove it, then!" Blair taunted. "Show us how strong you really are!"
"We'll destroy you! He he he!" Zubat cackled.
"Poison Gas!" Koffing yelled. Purple mist poured out of his body, hiding the two Pokémon from view.
"Don't breathe in!" Harmony cried. "it'll poison you!"
"Ember!" a jet of flame parted the purple cloud and a startled yelp told Blair that she had hit her target. "He he!" she yelled triumphantly, "No water types here!"
The poisonous gas faded as Koffing flew out, crying, "Tackle!" Zubat zoomed out after him, aiming straight at Kyle.
Harmony, noticing what was happening, shouted, "Helping Hand!"
Once again, Kyle felt a surge of strength; he leapt at Zubat, yelling "Pound!" he hit Zubat's sing, sending the other Pokémon spinning out of control.
Nearby, Blair was throwing get after get of flames at Koffing. As they hit their target, Blair laughed triumphantly. "Not so strong now, are you?"
"You haven't seen anything yet! Whoa-ha-ha!" Koffing retorted. "Poison Gas!"
The purple mist engulfed Blair, obscuring her vision. Thinking quickly, and being careful to hold her breath, she wagged her tail furiously, scatting the mist and causing it to dissolve, clearing the way for another Ember attack.
|I've always admired the way Blair battles, she's good at coming up with on-the-spot solutions and has many powerful attacks. I'm certainly glad that glad that she's not my enemy!|
Nearby, Kyle was still battling Zubat.. Blair jumped to the side and raced over to help him.
Seeing an opportunity, Harmony ran at Koffing, and leaped. "Tackle!"
Spotting her, Koffing rushed at his attacker. "Two can play at that game!" he slammed into the Eevee, knocking her headfirst into a rock.
Harmony slid onto the sandy ground with a groan, trying not to slip into unconsciousness. She saw Blair and Kyle racing towards her. "Harmony! Harmony, are you okay?"
"Whoa-ho-ho!" Koffing cackled. "What a weakling!"
Blair whirled around to face them, snarling. She opened her mouth to say something; instead, a tremendous roar came out. The force was so strong, it blew Koffing and Zubat into a rock. They slid ungracefully onto the ground, groaning.
Kyle, still in shock, loomed over them. "Still think we're weak now?"
"He.. he.. maybe." Zubat managed.
A muffled thud stopped Blair from hissing a retort. A chunk of stone, completely flat and intricately carved with a mysterious design on one side. She looked up at Koffing. "You're giving it back?"
"I didn't say that," Koffing chuckled weakly." Now go, before I decide to take it back."
Blair scooped up the stone and ran to Harmony with Kyle on her heels. "Come on," she told her fallen friend. "Let's get out of here."
Harmony nodded her head slightly, and then let her world go black.
The next thing she knew, she was on the beach, being offered a plump Oran berry. She sat up and took a bite, then passed it to Kyle. "Here, you were hurt too."
Surprised by her kindness, he took the berry and bit into it. A delicious flavor seeped out onto his tongue, filling him with new energy. He passed the last bit to Blair, who accepted it and popped it into her mouth with a paw.
Suddenly, Harmony had a thought. This could be the rescue team she was looking for! She turned to Kyle, inspired by the thought. "Do you have a place to stay?"
The Treecko, taken aback by the question, shook his head.
"Well, I was thinking…" she paused. Oh, I'll just get to the point. "I was thinking that.. that we should form an Exploration Team!" When the others looked at her blankly, she continued hurriedly. "I mean, we all have something to gain from it, right? Blair, maybe you could find out what the Relic Fragment means and… and Kyle, maybe it could help you find the solution to your.. um.. problem."
Blair blinked at her. "Yeah, you're right. I would like to find out what it means." She turned to Kyle with a puzzled look on her face. "might I ask what the 'problem' is?"
Kyle hesitated. "Well… I wasn't always a Pokémon . I used to be a human."
"Whaaaat?" Blair gasped. Looking at Harmony, she said. "Is that even possible?"
Harmony shrugged. "I don't know, but I believe him. And what better way to find out than being on an Exploration Team?"
Blair nodded. "That's a great idea! Count me in!"
"I don't really know what you mean by 'Wigglytuff's Guild,' but I think it sounds like a good idea. I'm in too." He stuck his hand out and Harmony and Blair each put a paw on top.
"Yeah!" they cheered as they broke apart.
|From that moment onwards, we were friends, a team, even. A team that would stay together for a long time to come.|
At least they didn't ask why I wanted to be on an Exploration Team. Harmony thought gratefully as they trudged up the path to Treasure Town.
"So what exactly is Wigglytuff's Guild?" Kyle asked.
"Wigglytuff's Guild is a place where Pokémon apply to be apprentices and train to become part of an Exploration Team." Harmony responded promptly. "Exploration Teams do rescue missions, catch outlaws and.. well, explore. Sometimes the guild goes on an expedition somewhere, and they bring back a lot of treasure!"
"Huh," Kyle said, "sounds like fun."
"Here we are." Blair chirped. They had arrived at a crossroads, the route to their right looked like it led to a little town; to the left, more wilderness.
"Which way do we go? Kyle asked, looking around.
"Straight ahead." Blair pointed with her paw.
For the first time, Kyle noticed that there was a path that continued in the same direction that they were going in. It led to a large stone staircase that ascended up a tall cliff.
"It's getting dark," Harmony noted, "we should go ahead and go up." She tried to hide the fact that she was becoming more nervous by the second. The prospect of joining Wigglytuff's Guild absolutely terrified her. As the trio began climbing the stairs, all of the confidence that Harmony had mustered when she proposed the idea drained out of her. It's going to be okay, she thought, desperately trying to calm herself. Kyle and Blair are here with me. We can do it.
A few minutes later, the young Pokémon had ascended the stairs. In front of them was a large pink and white tent that was shaped like a Wigglytuff's head. On either side of the tent was a large, blazing torch. On the ground in front of the tent, there was a hole that was covered by a grate.
"That's strange," Kyle said, eyeing the grate. "What's that for?"
"It's for identifying visitors." Blair replied. "We each have to step onto it so that the sentries can see who we are." She hopped fearlessly onto the grate and stood perfectly still, as if waiting for something to happen.
"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" A voice came out of nowhere, startling Harmony and Kyle so badly, they almost fell back down the stairs. Blair, however, stayed where she was.
"Who's footprint? Who's footprint?" Came another voice.
"The footprint is Vulpix's! The footprint is Vulpix's!" The other voice yelled.
Blair stepped off of the grate and motioned for Kyle to come forwards. Kyle stepped carefully onto the crisscrossed sticks that held him in the air. Then, the voice came again.
"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"
"Who's footprint? Who's footprint?"
"The footprint is Treecko's! The footprint is Treecko's!"
"Hm, that's funny," the second voice mused. "We don't see many Treeckos around here."
"We don't have TIME for that, Diglett!" the first voice yelled. "There's still one more Pokémon !"
Kyle leapt off of the grate, thankful that the voices hadn't continued their discussion.
"Come on, Harmony." Blair said. "It's your turn."
|I remember the day that I first stepped onto that grate. As of then, it was one of the scariest moments of my life. Little did I know that we would be seeing plenty of scary things while we were at the Guild.|
Harmony whimpered, and cautiously set a shaking paw onto the grate.
"Come ON!" The loud voice yelled. "Let's get ALL of those feet up there! We don't have all night, you know!"
Taking a deep, long breath, Harmony leaped onto the grate. She stood there, trembling as she waited for the voices to identify her. This is for Storm, she told herself fiercely. I'm doing this for Storm.
"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"
"Who's footprint, Who's footprint?"
"The footprint is Eevee's! The footprint is Eevee's!"
"All right, visitors!" The quieter voice spoke. "Come on in!"
As soon as the words were spoken, Harmony leaped off of the grate as if her life depended on it. "You did great, Harmony." Kyle said. His words filled her with confidence, and she was almost able to let go of all of her fear and step into the tent. Almost.
The inside of the tent was rather small. "Well this certainly doesn't look like a guild." Kyle remarked, looking around.
"That's because the rest of the Guild is built into the cliff." Harmony said. "There's a ladder right here."
"Oh," Kyle said, turning the tiniest bit red. "I knew that."
Blair laughed and led the way down the ladder. After descending two floors, the trio found themselves in a large room. "Whoa…" Blair said. "This is even cooler than I thought it would be!"
Harmony nodded vigorously, her fear replaced by a sense of wonder. I can't believe it! She thought joyously. I'm actually inside Wigglytuff's Guild! She could barely stop herself from leaping up and down with excitement.
Moments after they had entered the room, a rather brightly colored Pokémon with a strangely shaped, black head flew up to them. "Hello!" it squawked. "I'm Chatot! What can I do for you?"
Kyle stepped forwards. "We'd like to apprentice at the Guild, sir." He said boldly.
|I think that even before we became a team, Kyle was our leader. He seemed like a perfect mix of Blair and I. Blair was the fearless one, and I was the coward. Of course, I'm not like that anymore, (thank goodness!) but you know what I mean.|
"Apprentice at the Guild, eh?" Chatot said. "I'll take you over to Guild master Wigglytuff."
As Chatot ushered them into a small room that branched off from the larger one that they had been standing in, Harmony felt all of her fear come rushing back to her. This was it, she realized. The moment in which they would either join the Guild, or have their request turned down.
Inside the Guild master's room, there were more lit torches and several boxes of berries. At the far end of the room, a large pink and white rabbit-shaped creature was sitting on a red mat.
"Guild master?" Chatot asked, approaching the Pokémon . "We have visitors."
"Zzz.." it responded.
"Is he.. sleeping?" Blair asked incredulously.
"His eyes are wide open!" Harmony gasped. "That's kind of… scary."
"Guild master!" Chatot yelled, flapping his wings furiously. "Wake up!"
"Huh?" The Guild master blinked, then seemed to notice them. "Oh! Chatot!"
"Guild master," Chatot repeated. "We have visitors." He turned to the trio of waiting Pokémon . "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Guild master Wigglytuff."
Wigglytuff beamed. "Friendly friends!" He stood and rushed up to the young Pokémon and embraced them tightly.
"Gack!" Kyle almost choked. "Can't… breathe.."
Wigglytuff quickly let them go and returned to his place on the mat. "What brings such friends to the Guild?"
"Sir," Kyle stepped forwards, "we'd like to apprentice at your Guild. I'm Kyle, and this is Harmony and Blair," he gestured to the others.
"Apprentice?" Wigglytuff's eyes widened. "That's a great idea!"
Harmony let out a huge sigh of relief. "So does that mean that we get to apprentice at the Guild?"
"Yep!" Wigglytuff said cheerfully. "Now… what will you name your team?"
"Ooh," Blair said. "We've got to think of something good. Team… Pokémon ?"
Kyle shook his head. "How about… well…" He frowned. "I can't think of anything."
"I've got it!" Blair blurted. "We want to have lots of triumphs as a team, right? So our team can be called Team Triumph!"
"That's a great idea!" Harmony cried.
Kyle grinned. "Team Triumph it is, then."
"I like that name!" Wigglytuff chirped. "What about you, Chatot? Don't you like it?"
"Of course, Guild master." Chatot replied.
"I hereby declare you… Team Triumph!" Wigglytuff leaped to his feet. "YOOM-TAH!" He turned to the newly named team. "Now, you'll need your supplies! You can't be a rescue team without supplies!"
On cue, Chatot flew forwards with several items in his claws. He set them down in front of Kyle. "Firstly," he said. "You'll need your badge." He held out a small, round badge with little wings on the sides and a light pink sphere in the middle. "This shows that you are an Exploration Team, and you'll need it to transport clients and yourselves out of the dungeons that you visit. To transport clients, simply hold out the badge and say 'Mission complete!' the client Pokémon should then return to the Guild. When you are ready to leave the dungeon, hold out the badge once more and say 'All missions complete!' then, you should be transported right back to the Guild to collect your reward."
Next, he held out a brown, cloth bag. Chatot fastened the badge onto it and then opened up the bag. "This is your Treasure bag. It stores items that you gather on your journeys. As you rise in rank, you'll be able to hold more items in your Treasure bag." He held the bag out to Kyle, who accepted it and slung it onto his shoulder. "To start, we've supplied you with a Blue Bow and an Orange Bow."
"Thank you very much, Chatot." Kyle said.
"And finally," Chatot said, "you'll all need somewhere to sleep. We have a room ready for you." He led the trio out of the Guild master's room and down a hallway that had lots of smaller rooms that branched out from it. He stopped in front of one of the rooms and gestured for them to go inside. "Loudred will wake up in the morning for training. Everyone gets up quite early, so I suggest you get a good night's rest!" With that, he fluttered out of the room and was gone.
The members of Team Triumph looked at each other, hardly believing what had just occurred. Finally, Blair broke the silence. "We made it!"
The three Pokémon cheered, then set about examining their room. The walls were made of solid earth, just like the rest of the Guild. Here and there, tree roots grew out of the walls. They didn't have time to do much exploring, however, because they were all quite tired from the events of the day.
Three large beds had been set up for them, one for each member of the team. Kyle, Harmony and Blair all settled into one of the beds, said their goodnights, and soon fell asleep.