Ch.3: The Guild Meeting

Scamper waddled down the stairs while Pyras stepped nervously behind him. If he really did call a guild meeting then the secret was out and it was no secret that no one hated the creator of nightmares more than Scamper. He reached the bottom, a huge cavern with a ceiling so high, one had to squint to see it. The two guild masters reached the meeting hall, the very same room in which they once reported to everyday when the place was Wigglytuff's Guild. When the old guild left to explore new lands, they made several new tunnels with one branching from Sharpedo Cove to the old guild. Dugtrio did this as a favor to them before they left.

Scamper nodded to Pyras who groaned and put a claw to the ribbon tied around his tail, focusing hard. A high pitched whine emitted as the ribbon started to glow a fiery crimson and his aura was sent into the ground following the many tunnels until it disappeared into the distance. After waiting a couple of seconds, a vast sleek form scrambled in. He had a slim form and two flames shot out from his back and the top of his head, slightly resembling a mohawk. The quick quilava slipped in and sat in front of the two. But even though he was sitting, there was no stopping his fidgeting. First he'd shift one paw, then the other, then lift it a front paw to lick it, then he'd stand up and pace from left to right.

Scamper's eyebrow twitched, it was obvious just watching the restless pokemon irritated him to no end so he finally spoke up.

"Spike, where's your teammate?" he asked with an edge in his voice to which the pokemon responded as quickly as he could, repeating his constant movements.

"Oh him?" he asked, swiping a paw over the top of his head, feeling his flames. "He was going too slow so I just went ahead. I swear, why you paired me with a Slowpoke is beyond me."

He snorted before he started to spin in circles. Pyras snickered at the energetic little pokemon while Scamp shook his head warily. It wasn't long before two figures appeared in a distant tunnel, swinging from stalactite to stalactite. Surprisingly, one pokemon didn't even use its arms but rather its two tails.

Each one sported a giant hand, tipped with red on the fingers. These hands grabbed one stalactite and flung the pokemon through the air, somersaulting before catching another with its other tail. Right next to it was a pokemon that was a huge mess of tangled vines. It followed the ape with the two tails and stretched out the tangled mass that formed one arm to catch a stalactite before they approached the room where the tangrowth let go and landed with a thud next to the quilava, or at least that's what it intended before the fiery pokemon, with its flames still out, decided to move at the last second, right under the tangrowth. The heavy pokemon squashed the volcano pokemon before leaping in the air, smoke trailing from its bum and landed painfully on the floor.

His partner the ambipom sniggered, still hanging from the stalactites with one tail. Lowering herself upside down in front of the empoleon she saluted with a wide grin on her face.

"Team Jungle Swingers reporting for duty! Ooh ooh!" She chattered before she yanked herself up hard with the tail she was hanging on with, flying into the air before doing a double backflip, twisting around into a barrel roll, landing on all fours in a show of wild acrobatics.

Tangrowth clumsily recovered from the unexpected landing and sat up with a salute, the pokemon underneath the vines slightly blushing. In a gruff voice he added,

"Oh, uh... Barrel might not make it."

Scamp gave him a steely glance, "And why not?"

"The usual."

Scamper nodded, it was common for Slakings to sleep through most anything. He knew since there was no stopping instinct and that his team would brief him when they returned from the meeting, it would go excused. There was a series of loud thumps and a look of dread was evident on the pokemons' faces, but relief filled them all when the sound was none other than the large silent pokemon they'd all grown to love. His round cream-colored belly showing up before the rest of him. An owl-like pokemon appeared behind her, her weightless wings making no sound as she flew past her large partner. The small pokemon on her back squealed with joy.

Its whole body looked as though it had hatched from an egg but never entirely got out of the shell. The shell was patterned with red and blue triangles and its small hands instinctively grabbed onto the noctowl's feathers. When she entered the hall, she hovered in the air for a moment until the snorlax caught up and came into the room and dropped with a thud onto its back, causing everyone on the ground to hop a few inches in the air. The noctowl nodded and spun, causing the small pokemon to fall onto the snorlax's stomach. Bouncing a little, much to the togepi's amusement.

"Team Togepi's present and accounted for." Scamper recited.

At the mention of its name the baby pokemon cooed and bounced on the rubbery stomach. Pyras was starting to sweat, with every arrival of another team, there were three more teams and a slowpoke before the meeting would start, and as it was with every meeting, they would begin with new recruits. A thumping sounded under the ground next to where the Snorlax lay. A long shiny white claw poked through, the tip gleaming in the light before the head poked through, looking around before diving back into the ground. Soon after, a sphere with red and white coloring was pushed through, followed by another one but rather than the eyes being located on the red half, they were located on the white. After they were pushed through, a small timid looking pokemon appeared. His skin was covered with small cracks and patterns as though it was made of dried earth. When the Sandshrew appeared, his head slightly bowed, the Electrode sat next to his preevolution and his voice boomed out,

"Team Landmine Tenhut!" At the loud voice, the Sandshrew winced, looking as though it was about to cover his head with his claws, but then fell in next to the voltorb who was fully attentive to his team leader. Scamper however was unfazed.

"Yes, thank you for that Major. About face." he said, rather dully as if this was nothing more than a joke. He looked at the other two. "And Lieutenant, Private, you may stand down."

At the command from their superior, they relaxed and Private the Sandshrew went back into his hole where only his head was poking out so he could see. Major scowled a little, he was clearly not used to taking orders but he grudgingly turned around and waited for the two guild masters. Private came out of his hole and tapped Snorlax on his side. He turned his head to the side to look at the Sandshrew, careful not to tilt his rubbery belly and cause the baby pokemon to fall.

"Who are we waiting on this time?" he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Snorlax chuckled and pointed at the fidgeting Quilava, he'd passed Barrel on the way to the meeting and he knew he wasn't coming. Private nodded and burrowed back into his hole. Suddenly, the lights started to flicker, a brownout and though Pyras couldn't help but grin, Scamper still had a face of stone. To most it was difficult to figure out what he was thinking, but being partners for so long, Py could tell he was trying to figure out what the charizard was trying to hide. The lights finally flickered, then went out, the only thing that kept the room lit was the flame on Py's tail and the fiery spikes on Spike's back. The baby Togepi started to whimper and Private burrowed completely into his hole. Other than this, there was no initial reaction. It was obvious this was expected.

A ghastly laughter filled the room, sounding as though it was coming from all over in the very walls themselves. Two dark figures floated from opposite walls before a corridor leading to the more secluded friend areas. From the tunnel, a large quadroped appeared, nine tails waving behind the confident pokemon. Her red eyes shined in the darkness as her two partners floated to her sides to meet her. One, a tall figure that looked as though it wore a witche's hat and cloak. A red gem shone on her chest. The other was a small pokemon compared to the other two, a large horn protruded from its forehead and its body looked like a dark puppet.

The Ninetails spoke as she passed Pyras to join the crowd, one tail intently caressing the Charizard under the chin, a reaction that made him grimace yet blush at the same time. In a soft suave voice, she spoke.

"Team Velvet." She stated simply before she used a hind leg to push Spike out of the way, taking her place in the front row and sitting on her haunches. Shuppet floated behind her and spotted Togepi, grinning at it with a devious look until it noticed a certain noctowl staring daggers at him. Mismagius drifted over the Sandshrew who poked his head up to make sure she had gone when she'd passed. He suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder and he swiveled around to find himself face-to-face with her.

"Boo."

He leaped out of the hole for a moment before diving back in, digging furiously into the ground. Scamper stared at Velvet's team, frowning at the trio before he cleared his throat.

"Yes, Velvet, always a pleasure." He said, his tone clearly stating otherwise. "Well, I believe we have been waiting long enough. Pyras, if you'd please."

Pyras nodded, thumping his tail on the ground, his Aura Ribbon sending a wave of red aura into the ground which ran towards the ground and into the ceiling, turning the lights back on. Scamper nodded, and cleared his throat once more, the meeting would now officially begin.

"Now, as always, we'll start with-"

"Team Legend!"

A blue hand gripped Pyras's claws and forced him to spin around to dance with the joyful Manaphy. Her long antennae flowed behind her, the tips glowing red from happiness. He laughed heartily before she moved on to Scamper, spinning him around as well, and for the first time that day, Scamper couldn't help but smile. She released the penguin then floated behind the two where he Pyras noticed two other pokemon were there with her.

"Ah, Time and Space, glad you could make it."

Two immense pokemon towered over all the rest, one stood on two legs and had a pink gem implanted in both shoulders. The other stood on four legs with a large blue gem located in its chest. Behind them, a large rip, or that was the best way to describe it, was in the air. On the inside was a seafloor which was where they'd obviously just came from to pick up Manaphy. Py instinctively shielded his tail behind a wing, even though the water was prevented from rushing into the room by a space/time barrier, it still made him nervous. The feeling was obviously mutual with Spike and Velvet who both shifted uncomfortably where they lay. Space, the palkia, leaned over and let down a dopey looking pink pokemon who tried its best to give Spike an angry look but only succeeded in looking a little more dopey than usual.

"Spiiiiike...you, did it again..." He said slowly before the quilava ran over and sat up on its hind legs, giving the slowpoke a hard slap on the back, looking as though he was about to say something but hesistated. No one said something for five seconds until the Slowpoke spoke again.

"Owwww...thaaaat, huuuuurt..." he groaned.

"Relax Pokey, I won't do it again." he said with a grin before running around in circles. This name was new to Manaphy who raised a brow at Spike.

"Why is his name Pokey?"

Spike grinned, "Watch this."

He rushed around in various places poking the slowpoke all over his body before sitting down on his haunches again. After another five seconds, the slowpoke started to twitch in all the places the quilava had touched, the result making him look as though he was having a seizure. Spike held a paw in front of his face, stifling laughter and Manaphy mimicked the movement. Pyras actually burst out laughing while Scamper gave a little smirk before waving his flippers at the trio.

"Alright, alright, take your places you three." Manaphy floated into the crowd as well as Spike while the slowpoke slowly made his way after them, they all knew from experience it'd probably be a while before Pokey actually made it to them so Scamper spoke again,

"Continuing from where I left off," he began, "Our first order of business is to bring in any new recruits. Have any of you recruited any new pokemon?"

After he asked this, he snuck a glance towards Pyras who was suddenly interested in his talons, but to both of their surprise no one spoke up immediately before Ambipom leaped up shouting,

"Ooh! Ooh! We saw someone! We saw someone! On the way here didn't we Tangrowth?"

He nodded instinctively.

"Uh... Yeah, in the uh... Meadow."

Scamper grinned and looked at Pyras who was sweating buckets he turned to Space who already knew what to do. His gems glowing, he used a claw to rip another hole in the space/time continuum. Scamper's eyes suddenly widened while Pyras turned away to avoid the inevitable.