Chapter 2
The Black Bandit
It had been about a month since that day, and over time Yami and Ryou learned the ropes around the guild they had been brought to.
The guild master, a Roserade, had 'hair' made of white rose petals and a leafy, green cape with a yellow, collar-like bangle on its neck. The 'cape' pattern reached toward the back of Roserade's head, in spiky, sepal-like extensions on the 'hair'. She also had a dark-green 'mask' pattern over her eyes, which possessed red irises and had yellow eyelids. The lower portion of its face is light green, and she always had in her hand, bouquets of roses; red for her right hand and blue for her left. Her limbs were light green, and her upper chest, chin, and the upper portion of her face were dark green in colouration and her feet had yellow tips.
Yami and Ryou quickly learned that she loved to prank others, and to be careful around her. Her assistant was a different story.
Her assistant was a cranky pup. Yami and Ryou were introduced to him the day after they asked to be apprentices to the guild.
He had bright orange fur with black stripes. His belly, tail, and fluff on top of its head were a cream colour and he had two claws on his forefeet.
He was the official guard dog, and second in command to the guild master.
"So you two want to join?" he asked when they applied.
"Yes please" they answered, feeling that it was the least they could do, since the guild had helped them, it only felt right.
Growlithe was the head of intelligence for the guild, and Roserades's second-in-command, as well as his best friend. Growlithe assigned the exploration missions to the newer guild members, and was in charge when Roserade falls asleep. He was very old friends with Roserade and was the second most powerful member of the guild. Although he means well, they were told, he can be somewhat hotheaded. His personality was also somewhat erratic, but to a lesser extent than Roserade. Though he always has the Guild's best intentions at heart, he's known to be rather harsh, such as (as they were told) sending the guild members to bed without taking supper for failing a mission. He is somewhat paranoid, mostly about Roserade's jokes, and sleeps at the front of the guild to ensure no one runs away.
"Well then, follow me" he said, leading them further into the guild and up to a wooden door.
"Guildmaster? It's Growlithe, I'm coming in" he said pushing open the door.
"Where are we?" Ryou asked, looking around at the spacious quarters.
The room was circular and covered in grass while various flowers were planted in no peculiar order. A Pokémon sat in the middle of the room, with various boxes and bags behind it.
"Yes Growlithe?" the figure asked.
"Guildmaster Roserade, these two would like to join the guild as apprentices for us helping them" Growlithe said, bowing.
"You know you don't need to bow Growlithe" the figure said, now turning towards Yami and Ryou. "Who are you?"
"I'm Ryou and this is Yami" Ryou said.
"I'm guildmaster Roserade," Roserade digging in one of the bags behind her. "So, what's your team name?"
"Um" come to think of it they hadn't thought of a team name but were saved by Roserade talking again.
"I know, team Icefire" she said, pushing a box over to them.
"Why that name?" Yami asked, pulling the box towards them.
"Don't question the guild master!" Growlithe hissed.
"Ok" Yami said opening the box.
"BOO!"
"AHHH!" Yami and Ryou both screamed as a jack-in-the-box popped out, startling them both.
"I got you, I got you" Roserade laughed, as she went for another box.
They cautiously opened this box, and after nothing jumped out at them, looked inside.
Inside the box was a badge with wings of some sort, three pieces of cloth, one green, one black and one blue, and a bag of some sort.
"What are these?" Yami asked, looking at the strange badge. It was in the shape of an oval and had little 'wings' coming out of either side of it.
"That is the Explorer badge" Roserade said, indicating the badge that Yami was holding.
"What are these?" Ryou asked, indicating the coloured cloth pieces.
"These are rescue scarfs" Roserade said, picking up the black one and proceeding to tie it around his neck.
"What are they for?" Yami asked as Roserade picked up the green one and tied it around his neck.
"These show that you are a rescue team" Roserade said, stuffing the blue one back into the bag.
"What's the bag for?" Yami asked, picking up said item and slinging it over his shoulder.
"That's for when you find items when you go out on missions" Roserade said.
"Missions?" Ryou asked, sounding a little hesitant.
"Don't worry, I'm sure that Leaf or someone else can teach you" Roserade said, dismissing them.
"So, what's our mission today?" Ryou asked, a year later as they prepared to head out.
"You want me to read it out again!" Yami exclaimed, taking the mission scroll out of the bag.
"Yes please."
"Fine" Yami sighed as he began to read it outloud.
This Pokémon has made a career out of stealing
Help us apprehend this wrongdoer
Client: Officer Sizor
Objective: Arrest Vulpix
Description: Black, with a scar under its right eye. It is also a master thief, Goes by 'King of Thieves'. Only had three tails.
Difficultly: 'D'
Reward: 1500 poké and?
Destination: Apple woods
The 'king of thieves' part was what attracted their attention.
"You don't think that it could be Bakura?" Ryou asked for about the fifth time.
"I'm not sure, maybe, maybe not, we'll just have to wait and see" Yami said as they entered the dungeon.
Apple Woods, First Floor
The sunlight took on a green tint as it fell through the treetops of the Apple Woods, adding to the eerie scene of a forest in the very midst of decomposition. The air was thick and heavy with powerful smells.
The sound of chirping birds was scarce, but animalistic roars periodically sounded in the distance. They had entered the Mystery Dungeon now, and there was no going back.
Ryou did well to keep his wits about him as the venture began. With a friend, and a powerful warrior at the same time at his side, it was impossible to feel too scared.
Yami lead them forward, taking each step with care, and constantly analysing his perspective of the environment.
Ryou started to notice a lot of individual features of the forest that seemed unusual, almost alien to him. In places, colourless sticks covered in thorns shot up from the forest floor, and in others, grey rocks covered with rusty-red moss sat embedded in the ground, threatening to trip him up. Some trees were wrapped in soggy brown vines, sprouting bright green flowers which almost looked like eyes. Bright red apples hung from a lot of them.
"See those flowers?" Yami said, pointing to the green blossoms, "Poison. Stay away from them. Just one touch and you'll break out in enormous hives."
"I know Yami" Ryou said as they came across a Hoppip, a small pink Pokémon with two green leaves sticking out of its head.
Yami used quick attack and defeated it before it managed to get in another hit.
The second Pokémon they found was a Burmy, it looked like a small yellow cocoon.
Ryou defeated it with one tackle.
The next Pokémon they came across was an Oddish, a Pokémon with a blue plant bulb and round feet, beady red eyes, and five leaves sprouting from its head.
It was quickly defeated by Yami's Quick attack and they moved on.
They soon found a petcha berry and also a sleep seed before finding the stairs and moving on to the next floor.
Apple Woods, 2nd Floor
As soon as they got onto the floor they were ambushed by a Budew and it attacked them with it's absorb attack. The Budew had two "vines" that were on top of Budew's head as it opened up; a big spot could be seen on each vine, one blue and one red. The Budew also appeared to be wearing a green bib. The Budew also had a yellow face, with long, vertical streaks of eyes and triangular, stubby yellow feet.
It managed to dodge Yami's Quick attack, but was not as lucky as Ryou's tackle hit it straight in the stomach.
"You know, we're going to need a new member soon" Ryou said as another Budew fled from them.
"I know but I'm not sure if we're ready yet" Yami replied.
They moved on and they had found a special band and a Blast seed before they were confronted by a Caterpie. The Caterpie resembled a green caterpillar, with yellow ring-shaped markings down the sides of its body. Its most notable characteristic was the bright orange antennae on its head. It also had large eye-shaped markings.
It fired a gooey string-shot at Ryou, but was unable to take advantage of it as Yami knocked it out with a normal attack.
The Caterpie suddenly got to its feet again, but it didn't look angry.
"Hey! Wait! Come back!" it yelled as they started to walk away.
Yami knew the voice belonged to the Caterpie, but couldn't imagine what it wanted now. He turned around and saw it approaching fast, gasping for air as it caught up with them, as fast as its little legs could carry it.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?" Ryou asked.
"Listen, Riolu, Eevee… There really isn't anything for me here in this forest. Could I… come with you?"
Yami was absolutely floored. It wanted to… join them? He hadn't even said a few words to it, and now it was driven to change the direction of its life?
Incredulously, Yami glanced at Ryou. His face had lit up. He didn't even have to ask him; he knew that he approved of the idea.
But Yami had to think about it for a second. There were rules to the way recruitment worked in the Guild.
"I heard you talking earlier," the Caterpie admitted. "I thought I heard you said you needed to find a new member. Maybe… that could be me? Could I be part of your rescue team? I'll… I'll be a fast learner, I promise!"
Yami knew what he needed to do next: he needed to huddle with Ryou and discuss the matter. But, since he already knew precisely what his teammate would say, he figured he could skip that step this one time. Besides… he'd already made up his mind.
"No," Yami said simply. "Sorry, Caterpie, but I don't think it would be the right job for you. I don't want to get you into something you'd regret."
"Oh…" the Caterpie said, dashed."It's okay. I… understand."
Ryou was surprised at the suddenness and bluntness of Yami's response. The Caterpie cast longing glances at him, as if expecting him to respond.
"Don't look at me," Ryou told it. "He's the leader. He has the final say."
"Don't get me wrong, it's great that you're looking for something to do," Yami told it," But, our job is not the kind of job you can back out of once you commit. If you join us, you're stuck there for a very, very long time, and before you know it, you'll probably be yearning for your old boring life here in the forest."
Yami really couldn't tell if it was taking his suggestion to heart or just disregarding it, but it politely bowed to him one last time, said its final thanks and goodbyes, and scampered back off into the forest.
And then, just like any other wild Pokémon, it was gone, out of sight and mind.
A Paras suddenly jumped out at them a few minutes later. It was an orange insect with two mushrooms on its back. It leapt at Ryou but miss judged the distance and landed right in front of Ryou, who used a sand attack in its eyes. The Paras angrily attacked, but Ryou was quicker and managed to beat it with a strong tackle attack.
A few minutes later, a Hoppip that had been following him for some time suddenly attacked Ryou. Ryou, who was caught off-guard and knocked a few feet away before recovering and attacked the Hoppip with a tackle, which fainted the poor grass Pokémon.
"I thought the Pokémon here were stronger" Ryou said as another staircase came into view.
"It's still early in the morning, maybe they need a bit of time to get ready" Yami said as he picked up a Petrify orb.
Apple Woods, 4th Floor
"RYOU LOOK OUT" Yami yelled as a Butterfree sprayed poison powder all over Ryou, who accidentally breathed it in.
"Pet…cha…ber…ry" Ryou gasped as the flying bug Pokémon advanced on Yami.
The Butterfree resembled a butterfly with four legs, which were a pale blue colour. It had a nose-like structure which was a similar colour. The Butterfree's body coloration was a dark purple-blue. It had large veined wings which were white with black markings. It also had large compound eyes which were a reddish colour.
"Here Ryou" Yami said as he threw a Petcha berry into Ryou's mouth while launching a quick attack on the butterfly Pokémon, fainting it instantly.
Ryou relaxed as his body healed almost instantly. "I hope that doesn't happen again" he said as he got up and followed Yami towards the now exposed staircase, picking up a heal seed on the way.
6th Floor
"You hungry yet Ryou?" Yami asked as they searched for the staircase.
"A little, but let's find the staircase first" Ryou replied as an Exeggutor came up to them. It was a tall, brown Pokémon that resembled a coconut tree, with its lower body resembling a tree trunk. It had thick legs with two-toed feet. The Exeggutor had three to six round, light-yellow heads that resembled coconuts.
Before they could do anything, the Exeggutor had used Hypnosis on Yami and he was out like a light, leaving Ryou to deal with the Pokémon three times his size.
"Let's see now" Ryou muttered as the three headed Pokémon moved towards them. "It's too high for my tackle attack, at the most I'd just hurt myself, not very fast either...hmm... maybe, yeah that might work."
The Exeggutor was now towering above him and it looked a little surprised when the small Eevee didn't run away. Instead the Eevee started to run circles around him, making him quite dizzy as his three pairs of eyes tried to keep up with the white blur. Soon he fell over and then the Eevee jumped onto him and stuffed something into his mouth.
It didn't take long for him to figure out what it was, about five seconds later; he felt a fire burning in his mouth and realised that the thing that was stuffed in his mouth was a blast seed, a seed that was dangerous for him because of the flames that threatened to burn him. He lasted a few more seconds before finally subsiding to the horrible effects and fainted.
"…Wake up Yami…"
"..."
"..Hey, wake up..."
"Ok, you leave me with no choice" Ryou said, as he flung Yami into the air.
"I'm up, I'm up" Yami said as he landed painfully onto the ground.
"Good, come on, I found the stairs" Ryou said, stepping back so Yami could get up.
"What happened to the Exeggutor?" Yami asked as he followed Ryou.
"I beat it with the Blast seed" Ryou said as the stairs came into view.
"What happened to me?"
"The Exeggutor put you to sleep with its Hypnosis" Ryou said, ascending the stairs.
Apple Woods, 8th Floor
They ended up having to face another Butterfree and ended up using their heal seed as well.
They finally found an Apple, and were about to eat half each when a Combee suddenly attacked them.
The Combee was a small insect Pokémon that resembled three pieces of orange, hexagonal honeycomb stuck together. Each hexagon had a round yellow face. The top two hexagons had a single antenna and a wing connected to an orange-coloured joint.
It had managed to surprise them with a powerful gust attack which knocked Yami right into Ryou.
"Careful" Ryou said.
"Sorry" Yami said as he attacked the Combee with a powerful Reversal. The blue orbs spinning faster and faster against the honey Pokémon until it was knocked out.
The next Pokémon that came across them was a Gloom.
The Gloom had a flower on top of its head resembling a rainforest flower. The Gloom's eyes seemed perpetually closed in appearance, and its purple lips seemed to constantly drip drool. The Gloom also had a pair of arms, and legs that were a dark blue colour.
The Gloom managed to use an acid attack on them, covering them in purple goo, but that was all it could do to them as Yami and Ryou attacked it at the same times.
They managed to find the stair quickly and didn't have any more problems until the twelfth floor.
Apple Woods, 12th Floor
"I think the poster said that the outlaw was on this floor" Yami said as the searched for the black Pokémon.
"I hope you're right" Ryou said as they passed some foliage.
"I hope that it is Bakura that we find and not some other Pokémon" Yami said they found a huge tree, bigger than all the others surrounding it, in front of them.
"Wow" Ryou gasped, staring up at the big tree.
"Hey, who are you?" a voice asked.
Looking down, they saw a black Vulpix coming out from under the roots of the tree.
"Are you the 'King of Thieves?" Yami asked, taking a battle position.
"Yeah...what of it?" he asked, also taking a battle position.
"We're Team Icefire, and we've come to bring you to justice" Ryou yelled, as he also took a battle position.
Whose justice?" he asked.
"Just let us explain" Yami said.
"I'll listen if you can beat me" he said, pouncing on them.
"If it's a battle you want, then it's a battle you're going to get" Yami yelled, rushing at the fox with a quick attack.
"Yeah" Ryou yelled, tackling the fox.
"Hmpf, can't beat me" he said, doing a tail whip and then jumping into the tree.
"You're not escaping that easily" Yami yelled, following him.
Ryou lay down and decided to patiently wait for the Vulpix to fall back down. After all, Yami could unsettle almost any Pokémon when up in the trees.
"Ryou, heads up" Yami yelled, as a black blur fell from the tree.
Ryou leapt forward, and tackled him right into the tree behind them, fainting him at the same time.
"All right, I give, uncle, uncle" he yelled, as Yami dropped down beside him.
"Good, now can you tell us what your name is?" Yami asked.
"I'll tell you mine - if you tell me yours" he said.
Ryou and Yami looked at each other before replying.
"I'm Yami" Yami said.
"I'm Ryou" Ryou said, sitting down.
The Vulpix looked stunned before asking, "Two more questions, then I'll talk, did you ever know a place called 'Domino City'?"
"Yes" they answered at the same time.
"What is it?"
"It is a city in Japan, where we lived before we were transported here and turned into Pokémon" Yami said, as the Vulpix's face looked like it had won one million Poke.
"It IS you guy's" he said.
"Is it?" Yami asked, his eyes widening.
"Could it be?" Ryou asked, moving closer to the fox.
"Yep, it's me, Bakura" Bakura said, as Ryou rushed up and gave him the biggest hug possible.
A/N
1) The black Pokemon is a Vulpix, just a different colour for this story.
2) Sorry about the battles but I can't write battle scenes too well, so you'll just have to bear with me.
Reviewers are welcome