(Disclaimer: This is a fan-fiction. I don't own PMD, Pokémon belongs to Game Freak. Insert more legal stuff here.)

Chapter 3 New Apprentices

The next evening…

Fang and I stood in front of a large tent that had a pink Wigglytuff head and ears that seemed to touch the sky. I was creeped out at how that tent was kind of leering at us.

"This is Wigglytuff's Explorer Guild. To make an exploration team we gotta register here and train to be number one." Fang explained. We both looked at the grate. The Fighting-type Pokémon looked uneasy.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Well, is this place a little… odd to you?" Fang asked nervously.

Yes, the tent is creepy. "No why?" I fibbed. We were quiet for a while. Then Fang hesitantly walked over to the grate. As soon as he placed his feet on the grate, a loud, shrill, squeaky voice emitted from below.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" the voice squeaked.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" a much louder, deeper voice boomed.

"The footprint is Riolu's! The footprint is Riolu's!" the squeaky voice replied. I've noticed Fang had been shivering this whole time.

"ENTER!" the louder voice boomed. "And get your little friend to stand on the grate, TOO!"

Fang gingerly stepped off the grate and looked at me nervously. "I think that's your cue, Slash…" he whispered. I looked at the grate. It seemed to be made of reeds and had stones surrounding it. They want me to step on that?

"HEY! You deaf or something? Get on the freaking' GRATE!" the louder voice yelled. It sounded angry too. Okay, okay, geez… I thought to myself, annoyed. The two voices say the same things that they said to Fang when I stepped on. But this time, the squeaky voice stutters.

"The footprint… it's… uhh…."

"Sentry! Sentry Wart the Digglet, what's up!" the louder voice called. I peered into the grate and saw this little brown Pokémon which looked like a thumb sticking out of the ground. I guessed that's Wart.

"Uh…i-it's… perhaps a Totodile?"

"Watcha mean PREHAPS?"

"B-but, it's a footprint I've never seen before…."

"Yeah, GREAT work Wart…."

"S-sorry!"

Fang and I looked at each other a bit confused about this whole incident. I really had no idea what was going on. Finally, the louder voice spoke up.

"SORRY 'bout that! You may ENTER!" the loud voice boomed. A large black gate made of iron yawned open. "Whoa…" Fang and I said in awe.

"Yeah, we're allowed in! My heart's beating like crazy though…." Fang said joyously. So, both of us enter the tent and emerge into some kind of room with a reed ladder going down. Both of us climbed down the ladder and into another room.

xxxxx

This room had a bunch of Pokémon of all shapes, sizes, and types. Two big boards with pictures of Pokémon and numbers pinned on them were on opposite sides of the room. Fang and I walked forward a little bit, stinging with curiosity. Suddenly a shrill, parrot-like voice filled the room.

"Helloooooo!" the voice called, drawing out the word. I turned around and this Flying-type, parrot-like Pokémon with a music note shaped head was walking towards us.

"You two have just come in, yes?" the Pokémon asked. Fang and I nod. "Well then, I am Chatter the Chatot. I'm pretty plugged in and I'm Guildmaster Velvet's right-hand-man. Now go home. This isn't some kind of tourist attraction, ya know." said Chatter and gestured at us with a glossy blue wing to leave.

"W-wait! We're not tourists. We want to become an exploration team." Fang explained quickly.

An expression of shock ruffled the Chatot's feathers. "WHAAAAT!" Chatter screeched. He suddenly turned away from us and began murmuring to himself. "… rare… kid… training… very difficult… run away…." I was starting to wonder if Chatter was a bit… crazy.

"Uh… is really that bad?" I asked anxiously. The Flying-type Pokémon suddenly whipped around to face us and looked unexpectedly cheerful. "Oh no! Our training's easy as pie! I wish you would've told me you wanted to join sooner! Tweet-hee-hee!" Fang and I exchanged awkward looks. This Flying-type Pokémon was really starting to scare me now.

"Alright youngsters, follow me!" called Chatter cheerfully. The Fighting-type and I hesitate, but then follow the Music Note Pokémon down another hatch.

xxxxx

We all enter another room. There was still some Pokémon here but it was more spaced out. Suddenly, Fang looked delighted and ran towards a window. "Wow! We're underground yet you could see outside." he said. Chatter just rolled his eyes.

"Of course you can, the guild's built on the outside of a cliff, ya know." said the Flying-type firmly. The Emanation Pokémon looked down at his feet, embarrassed.

"Ahem…." Chatter continued. "Since we will be entering Guildmaster Velvet's chamber you must be ETREMELY polite to him. Please…." He turned to the door. "Guildmaster…" Chatter called sweetly and entered into a chamber with Fang and me not far behind.

xxxxx

We enter a room with two torches at the back, a couple of chests filled with (I think) toys, and a lone pink Wigglytuff sat with his back turned to us on a blue plush mat. "Ahem, Guildmaster, these two Pokémon would like to be made apprentices." said Chatter in a business-like voice.

Nothing happened. Okay, this place just gets weirder and weirder…

"Guildma-." Chatter began, but he was interrupted when the Wigglytuff suddenly turned around. Yup, this place just got weirder.

"Howdy! I'm Guildmaster Velvet the Wigglytuff, but call me Velvet. If you wanna make an exploration team you gotta give me your exploration team name!" said Velvet joyously.

"Uh, our name?" I asked. "Um, yes, our name is… uh…." The memory of Fang and I defeating Scraps and Gassy came flooding back. "Our name is… Team Victory." I said. Finally, that was a lot tougher than I thought, I said to myself.

"Alrighty, then! I'll register your name as Team Victory! Registering, registering… YOOM- TAH!" Velvet suddenly screeched. Shessh, what's up with people these days, I thought. Then, Velvet gave us a huge smile. "Congrats, ya'll now Team Victory! Present time!" he sang. The Wigglytuff reached into his chest and took out a purple bag with blue tissue paper inside. He set it on the floor in front of us. "Open it!" Velvet said excitedly.

Fang and I (some-what reluctantly) reached into the bag and took out two white Pokeballs with wings, a map, and a leather bag.

"Cool…." Fang and I said almost the same time. "That white thing's your Explorer badge, your team's identity, the ever so handy Wonder Map and the lovely Treasure Bag. Take a look inside the Treasure Bag." the Normal-type explained.

I peeked inside and found a Joy Ribbon and a Purple Ribbon. Okay, seriously, did these people think I'm a girl? They could've at least put a bandana or something cool in there. I really wanted to throw the stupid ribbons away, but I couldn't do it now with Chatter and Velvet watching. Maybe later….

"Those two items are special, keep 'em forever!" said Velvet cheerfully. Yeah, like that's gonna happen…. "Now do your best to train!"

"We will!" said Fang. The Fighting-type and I rammed our fists. And at that point, I forgot about dumping the ribbons.

xxxxx

That night…

The full moon was high in the sky that night. Fang was fast asleep- snoring peacefully. We were just talking. After Chatter gave us a speech about being a good and responsible exploration team, he sent us to our room. It wasn't much, just a space with a dirt floor, a small window, and two straw beds (at least they were clean). I decided not to throw the ribbons away, but instead I hung them up in our room. Wasn't much but, hey, what can you do.

Anyway, Fang was just talking to me about how was so excited and scared today and how he couldn't wait for tomorrow. Then as soon he was done chatting, he fell asleep. I still lay awake and watched the moon.

Fang was right, today was fun, I thought to myself. With this I could out who I really am. A new adventure awaits…. And I fell asleep.

(End of Ch.3. PLEASE REVIEW! Thank you for reading!)