Author's Note:
asdq: Hey, Crest? How much would you hate deserts?
Crest: They're way too hot and the sand gets in my feathers.
asdq: You have feathers?
Crest: You do know that penguins are birds, right?
asdq: …
Crest: …
asdq: …Are you fluffy?
Crest: Hey, look, it's the next chapter! Looks like I've got to go, bye!

"Up and at 'em, it's MORNING!" Loudred's ridiculously loud voice boomed, quickly and quite roughly waking me up.

"Argh, Brandon why didn't you wake me?" I complained, my head pounding from the wake-up call. It had been so long since Loudred last woke me up that I had forgotten how much it hurts. Apparently I was too distracted to see Brandon was also shaking off sleep.

"We moved my bed," he answered tiredly, rubbing his head with a vine. "Remind me to move it back tonight, I'm too tired to fix it right now."

That was it, huh? I guess Grass types really do need sunlight. "Well, it seems you're not the only one," I said, gesturing toward Jolt. "I can't imagine how tired you'd have to be to sleep through Loudred's voice."

"He really slept through it?" Brandon asked. "I guess I'll just shake him awake then. That usually gets you up."

"Shake" turned out to be an overstatement; Brandon hardly reached Jolt before he jumped up, alert. "What are- oh, right. Did I oversleep?"

"That was some reaction to getting woken up," I noted. "But you haven't overslept yet. Somehow you missed Loudred's wake-up call though."

"Why did you jump like that? I barely touched you," Brandon asked.

"Do you have any idea how many times I've been attacked by a hostile in my sleep?" Jolt replied defensively. "I've been living in a mystery dungeon for years, though Luxray wasn't much better…" he trailed off.

Suddenly I felt bad for him. Sure, there were mystery dungeons on Blizzard Island, and I'll admit I've gotten myself lost in them before, but the hostiles there knew better than to attack me. It was hard to imagine feeling unsafe in my own home. "Well, it's safe here. If you don't want us to shake you awake, then you better suggest something else because shouting doesn't seem to work."

"Yeah, I'm used to sleeping through thunderstorms. I don't think anyone is loud enough to top that," Jolt answered.

"You've clearly never been on the receiving end of Wigglytuff's Hyper Voice," Brandon answered. "We can figure this out later, let's get to assembly before we're late."

"What happens at assembly?" Jolt asked.

"Not much," I answered. "Just rollcall and a morning cheer, plus any announcements the Guildmaster wants to make. Today we'll also be given our missions during the meeting."

We went to the meeting room and took our usual spots, and Jolt stood next to Brandon. We were among the last pokemon to get there, so it didn't take long for the meeting to start. "Okay everyone, we have a lot of announcements today, so please pay attention," Chatot said to focus the guild.

"First, some good news! We have a new friend joining us," Wigglytuff said cheerfully before introducing our new team member. "This is Jolt the Shinx. He's a new guild member and part of Team Strength, so everyone remember to be friendly to our new friendly-friend!"

With Jolt's introduction out of the way Chatot took over the meeting. "Now, for more serious matters. Today, we will begin our search for the time gears. The Guildmaster, Dusknoir, and I spent much of yesterday brainstorming our approach, and thanks to Dusknoir's wealth of knowledge have come up with several potential time gear locations."

"Our goal is to discover and defend the time gears before the thieves can steal them," Dusknoir continued. "To that end, any exploration team that manages to discover a time gear should send one member back here to inform the guild. All other members should remain with the gear to protect it."

"I will now read off our list of locations to investigate, as well as who will be sent to each location, so listen closely for your names," Chatot explained. "Loudred, Corphish, and Croagunk, you will be investigating the Eastern Forest. Bidoof, Dugtrio, Sunflora, and Chimecho will search Crystal Cave. Crest, Brandon, and Jolt, you three will go to the Northern Desert. Lastly, the Guildmaster and Dusknoir will conduct their own investigations while Diglett and I remain here at the guild."

"All of you should be able to find your assigned locations on your wonder maps. If I recall correctly, the Guildmaster has already marked them for you," Dusknoir simplified for Chatot. "Though I hate to ask so much of you, if your team does manage to find a time gear and encounters one of the thieves trying to steal it, you must try to fight them off. This may be dangerous work, but we have no choice in the matter; we cannot allow the destruction of time to continue."

"Hey hey, who are the thieves anyway?" Corphish asked.

Dusknoir answered, "Unfortunately, I cannot say for certain. However, I have sources that say one of the thieves is a Grovyle. As most of your teams are ill-equipped to fight a powerful Grass type, you must be cautious if you engage him. Hopefully there won't be any skirmishes today, but be careful nonetheless."

Wigglytuff concluded the meeting with our usual cheers, which I noticed Jolt struggling to memorize afterward, and the guild members dispersed into their assigned teams. Brandon grabbed our map out of our bag so we could begin making preparations.

"To the surprise of no one, the Northern Desert is to the north," he said, looking at the glowing dot on our map. "And it's pretty far away too. Right at the edge of the map."

"Aren't deserts usually filled with Ground types?" Jolt complained.

"Yes, they are," I answered. "Wigglytuff probably chose our team to explore it for that reason, since you weren't on the team yet when the preparations were being made. Still, I'm not happy with it either. The last thing I wanted to do was go even farther north; it's hot enough here as is. Deserts are about as far from glaciers as you can get."

"That reminds me," Brandon said, "what's north of this map anyway? Surely a desert doesn't mark the northernmost part of the world."

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he didn't know. "That's where the Air Continent is. It's too far away to show up on the Grass Continent map," I explained. "We need to stop by the Kecleon market to get oran berries before we go to the desert. I doubt we can afford much else though."

"Why not?" Jolt asked.

"Because we're a rookie team that hasn't had time to earn much Poke," Brandon explained, "and because the guild takes most of it anyway."

Three oran berries and one very long walk later, we reached the entrance to the Northern Desert. Already I could tell we wouldn't like this mystery dungeon, despite Crest and I having a type advantage here. While most dungeon entrances seemed to resemble caves or forests, the only thing marking this one was a raging sandstorm. I found the sand irritating, and I didn't have fur or feathers to protect me. Judging from my teammates though, that may have been a blessing.

"How am I supposed to use Electric attacks when my fur is full of sand?" Jolt complained.

"Consider yourself lucky that you can shake it out," Crest answered, equally frustrated. "I'll need to go for a swim just to clean my feathers. Why couldn't we be assigned to search someplace colder, anyway?"

"At least you two have some defense against the sandstorm. Even with the sun out like it is, I won't be able to use Synthesis," I pointed out. "Still, I guess I have Magical Leaf. I'll take the lead for now, though depending on how things go we might need Crest to take over."

Progress through the dungeon was slow, especially considering I had two teammates who would really rather be anywhere else. Jolt barely battled anything, but he wouldn't have been much help anyway. Most of the hostiles here had too much defense for his physical attacks to be useful, and half of them were immune to his Charge-Spark combo.

Unfortunately, Crest wasn't faring any better. He found it difficult to aim his Bubble Beam or keep his footing on the sand, and the hostile Cacturne and Sandshrew were unusually evasive. Actually, Grass types proved to be a constant annoyance that resisted all of our best moves; my Magical Leaf was the only attack any of us could land consistently.

By the tenth floor our collective patience was reaching its end. "How much farther do we need to go?" Jolt asked.

"The dungeon should end after the fifteenth floor," Crest answered without checking his badge. I can only assume he'd been counting down the floors since we entered this place.

"I just hope these last few floors go more smoothly than the first," I responded, struggling to use Synthesis. "Fighting every hostile we see is starting to get exhausting."

"Hey, it's not my fault I can't fight well here!" Jolt shot back.

"I didn't say it was," I defended bluntly while picking up a petrify orb. "I'm just used to relying on Synthesis to win battles. Fighting without it is hard for me." I took a moment to calm down before adding, "Look, it's obvious none of us want to be here right now, so let's just focus on finishing this dungeon so we can go back to the guild."

Crest seemed to be distracted with something else. "Did you guys see that?" he asked.

"See what?" We asked him back.

"I think a hostile was watching us. It ran off when you stopped talking," he explained.

"Big deal," Jolt replied. "It probably just heard us making noise, saw a Water type, and ran away. Hostiles might not be smart, but a few know dangerous foes when they see them."

Our team managed to get through the rest of the dungeon without much trouble. At its exit, we were met with several large pits of fast-moving quicksand. It was almost hypnotic to watch; if the sand was an ocean, these pits were whirlpools. The soft rattle of the sand swirling in front of us was a welcome change compared to the raging sandstorms that preceded it.

I was snapped away from the calming sight by the stinging sensation of a flurry of tiny needles. "Ah! Poison Sting?" I shouted in response.

While I recovered from my initial surprise, Jolt retaliated against my assailant. He leapt at the attacker, which I had now identified as a Gligar, and clung onto it with Bite. At least, that was his intention; it turns out the worst time to learn Thunder Fang is while fighting a Ground type.

Apparently it was enough to scare the Gligar though. "Get off of me! Sand Attack!" she retaliated.

'Wait, she's not a hostile?' I thought, mildly amused, 'That makes two days in a row we've been ambushed by other explorers.' Shaking the thought aside, I saw Crest preparing an attack of his own. "Crest, wait," I called out, "don't use Bubble Beam. She's not very strong." I was barely phased by Gligar's Poison Sting; it was clear she wasn't any real threat to us.

As if to prove me right, Crest knocked our foe out of the sky with a single Peck. Jolt attempted to follow up with Tackle, but I stopped him with a vine. "What are you doing? She attacked you!" Jolt complained.

"And I'm fine," I answered. "Anyone who can barely damage me is not a threat to you."

Gligar seemed to notice that our attacks stopped. "Wait, you guys are a rescue team? I thought you were just noisy hostiles."

"Oh, yes, I'm just your everyday hostile Shinx, wandering the desert which is so obviously my home," Jolt replied sarcastically. "Of course we're explorers!"

"Technically, we're an exploration team," Crest answered, helping Gligar up. "What about you? Normally the hostiles in dungeons match the pokemon that live nearby, but I didn't see any Gligar in Northern Desert."

"You're right, I don't live here. I'm from the Desert Region of the Air Continent. I only barely managed to escape in time," Gligar answered.

Well, that was an ominous response. "Escape? What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I don't actually know what happened. There was some weird energy that swept across the continent. Everything it touched turned grey and stopped moving. Even the pokemon…" she shuddered at the memory. "Whatever it was chased me to the Oasis Sea. I would have been stranded above the water if a Lapras hadn't come by and offered to let me land."

"That sounds like what Dusknoir described yesterday," Jolt commented.

"And what we saw at Luminous Spring," Crest confirmed. "Time has stopped on the Air Continent."

"So, our guild's explorations are a day late then; someone already stole another time gear," I summarized. As disappointing as this news was, at least our exploration here wasn't a complete failure. We didn't find a time gear, but we did find information. Still, something about this place felt… off? No, familiar. Whenever my gaze fell on the swirling quicksand, I got that same feeling I had back at Foggy Forest. I shook the thought aside for now.

Gligar was confused by our responses. "A time gear was… stolen? What does that mean?"

"The time gears regulate the flow of time around the world," Crest explained. "I thought everyone knew about them."

"No, this is the first I've heard of them," Gligar said. "News travels pretty slowly across continents. If you're having some sort of local catastrophe, word of it won't spread far before it's already over."

"We need to report this to the guild," I cut in. "Gligar, would you mind coming with us? I suspect our allies will want to hear your account firsthand."

She didn't hesitate to agree. "Sure! I'm not really doing anything here anyway. It gets kind of lonely having a whole desert to yourself."

"Hey, I have a suggestion?" Crest interrupted. "Before we report to the guild, I want to go to the beach and get all this sand out of my feathers."

"Why the beach and not Treasure Springs? Surely that would be more relaxing," I suggested.

"Because water should NEVER be hot!" he argued back, lifting his badge. "You guys can go to the springs if you want, but I'm going to the beach."

Well, this was a rough first day of guild work; just my luck that my team would be assigned to explore a desert. At least our expedition ended earlier than the other teams. Despite our detour to Treasure Springs (or in Crest's case Treasure Beach) we still managed to return to the guild before Wigglytuff. Right now, everyone was waiting in the meeting room to give their reports. Chatot said the Guildmaster should be back soon and that we needed to wait for him before sharing our findings.

"Is this really your guild?" Gligar asked. "Just some cave underground?"

"Is there a problem with it?" Brandon asked in response.

Gligar was taken aback by that. "No, of course not! I actually like caves, it's just that this seems a bit primitive for a supposedly famous guild."

"I wouldn't know," I cut in, "I've spent most of my life living in a mystery dungeon. This is a huge step up for me."

"Architecture is more advanced on other continents," Crest explained. "Tents and dugout caves are really only common around Treasure Town. Even the Sea of Wonders is more advanced, and we barely have any space to build."

"The Desert Region was actually pretty baren, too, but there were nearby towns with actual buildings," Gligar clarified.

"So, the guild is the most advanced shelter any of us have ever been in?" I asked.

"Based on my limited memory, I guess so?" Brandon answered.

"Yeah, nothing beats natural caves," Gligar agreed.

Crest almost seemed offended by my question though. "Speak for yourselves. Blizzard Island was filled with large buildings made of ice."

"You mean like an ice palace?" Gligar excitedly asked.

"There… is a palace, though it's certainly not the norm," Crest answered hesitantly, perhaps realizing he's lived an easier life than the rest of us.

'If you think this place sucks so much, then why are you even here?' I thought, frustrated at Crest's response. Fortunately for him, the Guildmaster appeared before I could ask him anything else.

Upon seeing Wigglytuff's arrival, Chatot called everyone to order. "Ah, Guildmaster, good to see you're back. Alright everyone, listen up! Now that everybody has returned from their explorations, you will take turns giving your reports. First up, the Eastern Forest team. What did you find?"

Unfortunately for all of us, Loudred spoke up for his team. "We didn't find ANYTHING!" his voice bellowed.

"Hey hey hey, we searched the whole forest, but there was nothing there," Corphish added.

"Disappointing, though I suppose it isn't bad news," Chatot contemplated. "What about Crystal Cave?"

"Nothing of note," Dugtrio reported.

"Mighty pretty crystals there though," Bidoof said. "I just couldn't help but take one for myself, yup yup."

"The fact that you brought home a souvenir after such a crucial mission is disgraceful," Dugtrio argued. "We have more important work to do than collecting gems."

"Oh my gosh, don't be so hard on him," Sunflora defended.

"That's right, it's not like taking a crystal distracted us from our mission," Chimecho added. "Besides, these things aren't useless; they have some sort of Psychic energy coming from them. I even took one for myself."

Chatot was still disappointed though. "Regardless, you found nothing relating to time gears. Team Strength, your report? I see you at least found something, or should I say someone, at the Northern Desert."

"That's right," Crest answered. "We didn't discover a time gear, but we did find a refugee from the Air Continent. If what Gligar has told us is true, then time recently stopped there."

"Is that so?" Dusknoir asked. "Gligar, can you tell us where exactly you are from, and what has happened to your home?"

"Of course!" Gligar answered cheerily, but her expression fell as she recalled her experience. "I'm from the Desert Region on the Air Continent. I don't understand what happened, but yesterday I saw some weird energy flowing across the desert. Everything it touched turned grey and stopped moving, so I flew away from it as fast as I could. Whatever it was chased me to the Oasis Sea, where I was stranded in the air until a Lapras came by and offered to let me land."

"Did the energy stop when it reached the sea?" Dusknoir asked.

"It followed me for a little while but didn't go far," she explained.

"That confirms it then," Dusknoir replied, "Time really has stopped on the Air Continent."

"It's great that you managed to escape," Wigglytuff cut in. "And you're not the only one either. I have a friendly-friend from the Mist Continent who managed to reach the Water Continent. He's working with our allies in the Expedition Society now."

In response to the Guildmaster's excitement Dusknoir brought us back to reality. "Unfortunately, we can't expect much help from them. With the loss of the Air Continent, the only remaining path between our bases is through the Sea of Wonders. Communication with the Society has been made exponentially more difficult. Moreover, this means that another time gear must have been stolen. I wish I knew where it was taken from, but my own exploration proved fruitless."

With that explanation over, Chatot turned to Wigglytuff wearing a worried expression. "Guildmaster, what about your expedition to Fogbound Lake? What was the status there?"

Wigglytuff paused for a moment before completely dropping what was left of his cheerful expression. "I never reached the lake. Instead, I found Uxie injured near our old campsite. He's with officer Magnezone now… as a witness to the theft of Fogbound Lake's time gear..."

"Now hold on," Dusknoir interrupted, "I was under the impression that your guild's previous expedition to Foggy Forest was a failure, yet it sounds to me now like you knew there was a time gear there."

"I'm sorry Dusknoir," Wigglytuff apologized. "We made a promise to Uxie to never tell anyone about Fogbound Lake. I intended to visit him today to discuss sharing that information to fortify defenses for the time gear, but it appears I was too late. If it's any consolation, we can confirm that the thief was Grovyle. He claimed to have known about the location of the gear for a long time before stealing it."

"That means he probably knows where the remaining ones are too," Dusknoir said thoughtfully. As despair began to spread across the room, he added, "I do have some good news though. An ally of mine has managed to contain the other thief. He didn't have any of the gears with him, and we've thus far been unable to get any information out of him, but from this point forward we know that Grovyle is working alone."

"In that case, I suggest we widen our search," Chatot said. "Tomorrow, all guild members are to conduct their own explorations in search of the last two time gears while the Guildmaster, Dusknoir, and I plan a new strategy. For now, everyone should get some rest. Chimecho will begin preparing dinner, the rest of you are free to do whatever you please until sundown; visit the café, the hot springs, anything that will rejuvenate you. We need you at your best tomorrow."