Chapter 3
Lush Prairie
A few days later, they were all summoned to the guild master's chambers.
"Guild master? The Team Icefire..." Roserade didn't turn around, "Guild master? Um, Guild master...?"
"HIYA!" The green Pokémon yelled in a happy-go-lucky tone, making everyone fall over from sheer shock.
"Guild master, I told you not to do that ever again!" Growlithe growled, clearly not amused.
Roserade turned and smiled at him, "Growlithe!"
"Y-yes, Guild master?" Growlithe said, moving back.
"Let's welcome Team Icefire's new recruit!" he said, turning to Yami and the others.
"You wanted to see us guild master?" Yami asked, carefully approaching the grass type.
"Yes, I did" Roserade said, giving him a box.
"Bakura, could you please open the box?" Yami asked, fearing what could be inside.
"Why can't you do it?" Bakura asked.
"Just open it" Growlithe barked, moving several more feet away.
"I don't see what all the fuss is about" Bakura said as he opened it.
"BOO!"
"AHHH!" Bakura screamed as a jack-in-the-box popped out, startling him.
"I got you, I got you" Roserade laughed, dancing around as the other three sighed.
"We knew that would happen" Yami said as Bakura recovered himself.
"How did you know that, and why didn't you warn me?" Bakura asked his voice dangerously low.
"-Because, he did the same thing to us and you opened it before we could" Ryou said as Roserade calmed down.
"Ha-ha, that was fun" he said, still giggling.
"Guild master, please get on with it" Ryou said.
"Ok-ok, first, do you two still have that blue clothe that I gave you?" he asked.
"Yeah" Yami said, bringing it out of the treasure bag slung over his shoulder.
"What is your name?" Roserade asked Bakura.
"Bakura" Bakura said as Roserade took the cloth from Yami and proceeded to tie it around his neck.
"There" he said a minute later, moving away so the others could see Bakura.
He looked the same except he now had a blue necktie around his neck.
"I feel weird" he complained.
"You'll get used to it" Yami said before Growlithe directed his attention back to Roserade.
"HIYA!" He twirled around once and then faced them, "You guys have been doing well! Transfer!"
"...What the guild master is saying is that we've got an invitation from Wigglytuff's guild asked for a couple of our apprentices to go and train with them for a while. Normally, we'd never even consider rookies like you for something like this, but you've impressed us, like with the capture of the outlaw and managing to reform him, err, no offence."
Bakura just growled to that.
"Really?" Ryou's eyes glowed with a renewed happiness, "We're going to Wigglytuff's guild?"
"Yes, you have one week to prepare, dismissed.
"Hey Bakura?" Yami asked that night.
"Yeah?"
"Why are you black? Because as far as I know, Vulpix are meant to be orange".
"I don't know but maybe it's because of the time abnormalities in this world that all the Pokémon are talking about."
"Yeah I guess that makes sense" Yami muttered as sleep claimed him
"Well? Are we ready?" Yami asked.
"I don't think it's possible to be any more ready if we tried. I know, because we did try." Ryou answered.
"Are you sure we didn't forget anything?" Yami asked.
"We went through the bag at least four times last night. We're fine!" Ryou said
"Plenty of food?"
"We got enough food to last us two days."
"I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't be worried… I'm just a bit nervous…"
"You'll be fine" the leader of team Green, a Treecko said. She was a small, green, bipedal reptilian Pokémon. Her hands and feet each had three digits and she also had two large dark-green tails. Her stomach and throat were red, while her eyes were yellow with long, skinny pupils. Finally, she had a line across on its stomach resembling a small pouch.
Roserade had insisted that only he, Growlithe, Leaf and a few members of the guild would be there to send them off.
Not two minutes after the wake-up had been sounded, Yami and Ryou stood at the Guild doorway. (Bakura, not used to so many Pokémon, was going to join them about ten minutes after they left the guild).
The hall was dead silent save for only a couple other early-bird teams who insisted on seizing the day the moment it became available. But, unlike Team Green or Team Poison, who were still blinking the flakes from their eyes and trying to walk straight, Team Icefire was as alert and energized as if they'd already been awake for two hours prior. Actually, they had; it was a bit difficult for any of them to get a good night's sleep with nervous anticipation tugging at their minds…
"Take care" Leaf said, stepping back into the small line of Pokémon.
"Come back safe" Treecko said as her partner, a Turtwig bowed her head. The Turtwig's appearance looked like a turtle or tortoise, and it was primarily light green in coloration. He had a prominent, yellow-colored jawbone and his green and yellow body was covered by a shell. A small seedling was growing on a brown-colored patch on his head.
The brown shell on his back had a thick black stripe and rim. Turtwig's eyes were, like his partners, a yellow colour as were his feet; and finally, he had a small tail behind him.
"Here you go" Roserade said, giving them several apples.
"We already have apples" Ryou said.
"These are Perfect apples and are Wigglytuff's favourite food" Roserade said.
"You're not pulling our leg AGAIN are you?" Yami asked as he stuffed the apples into the bag.
"No, I only do that sometimes" Roserade said.
"Time to go" Ryou reminded him.
"Ok" Yami said, as they walked away from the guild.
They were joined by Bakura just as they were leaving the forest edge.
"We're making good time" Yami said, as they jumped from tree to tree.
"So where's our first point to stop at?" Bakura asked. (He hadn't been participating as he had better things to be doing).
"We plan to be at the Lush Prairie dungeon by nightfall" Ryou said as they jumped out of the tree and started their journey across the plains.
The journey to the dungeon was uneventful and nightfall quickly came as they found the entrance to the dungeon.
The next morning...
Lush Prairie, Floor 1
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. No matter how many times he did this, it was still nerve racking; but with a friend on one side, and a powerful warrior on his other, 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 land that seemed unusual, almost alien to him. In places, colourless sticks covered in thorns shot up from the ground, and in others, grey rocks covered with rusty-red moss sat embedded in the ground, threatening to trip him up. The few trees that he could see 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 that" Bakura said, "I was poisoned for only a few hours but it hurt" he said as an Exeggcute crossed their path.
The Exeggcute resembled light pink eggs and its shells had some cracks on them and one was cracked and showing some yellow substance.
Bakura shot one ember in front of it and it fled.
Lush Prairie, Floor 3
"Look, a Burmy" Yami said, as the grass Pokémon growled at them.
The Burmy's body was covered by a coat of leaves and it had yellow eyes.
"I'll get it" Yami said, rushing forward with a quick attack.
"Burmy" the Burmy said as a green shield surrounded the Pokémon.
"That's a protect move" Ryou said, as Yami picked himself up. "Don't bother" he added to Bakura, who was about to unleash a ember move, "nothing can get through that shield, but the Pokemon using it can't attack until it wears off, so let's get out of here" he said, moving around the stationary Pokémon and heading to the steps.
Lush Prairie, Floor 6
"This is the end of the dungeon" Yami said as they exited the canyon and laid down for a rest.
"Thank you for stating the obvious," Bakura sneered as he munched into an apple.
"We were in there longer than we thought" Ryou said, staring up at the stars blinking back at him.
"Let's rest here for the night" Yami said, "It'll still take us at least half of tomorrow to get there.