An ordinary day at the Wigglytuff Guild. Exploration teams bustling around, chatting with one another, taking jobs from the boards. Talking about their recent successes and failures, comparing notes on developments in the dungeons and the surrounding lands. Just another ordinary day for the local guild-affiliated teams.
And then they showed up. First, a sporty and elegant young lady with a graceful and purposeful stride accompanied by a dwarfish man with a scheming smirk and a tall collar. Following them, a practical giant man, or perhaps a woman, with the countenance of a shark and a gait that threatened to punch holes in the floor. With him was a man who might be considered tall if not for his companion. There was a serenity to him not unlike the calm before a storm, his guard clearly up for some reason or another. Strolling in casually after them was a woman who was considerably shorter than most of the other members of her retinue though she had about her an air that seemed to cause her to tower over everyone else in the room. She wore a purple kimono with her shoulders and breasts exposed and walked with a sureness that she was the most important person in the room. Trailing after her was a younger fellow, a bit chubby. They seemed a little out of place among the veritable titans they were with and yet seemed to belong with them all the more.
"King. Freak. You take the rescue missions. Champ and Zoro are in charge of the bounties. Get to it."
"Got it, boss."
"Yes ma'am!"
"On it, Bones."
A simple nod.
After a round of concise orders and quick affirmations, the strange crew got to work, taking jobs down from the boards. The teams crowding around them weren't shoved aside so much as they felt compelled to move lest they incur the wrath of these mysterious strangers. An uneasy silence broken only by the slight rustling of forms and papers filled the room until it was interrupted by a shrieking voice.
"Now hold on just one minute!" a flustered individual clambered up the stairs from a lower level. He was wearing a colorful coat with a frilly collar with the apparent goal of making him look older. "Just who do you think you are?! What do you think you're doing?!" he squawked furiously.
The titans all turned to face him, though only their leader spoke. "Now now, let's all calm down here, shall we?" she said, her voice dripping with contempt. From her sleeve she produced a long pipe, lighting it by holding it to one of the spots around her neck. "Everything we're doing here is absolutely above the board, I promise you. After all, we're an exploration team too. We'll even show you our badges."
With that, every member of the strange, self-proclaimed explorers produced a badge. An even harsher silence fell over the room. They were only normal rank. "Is this some kind of a joke?!" shrieked the colorful man. "I've never in my life heard of you before, and here you are taking dangerous jobs while at normal rank! Something must be going on here! Out, all of you ou-"
Before he could finish his decree, the woman took a long drag on her pipe and blew smoke into the flustered man's feathered face. "I can understand your concern Chatterbox, but just because we're a little new to the game doesn't mean we aren't capable. I assure you we can all hold our own." The little bird man seemed to shrink in her presence, not helped by the fact that she was leaning over him quite threateningly.
Just then the air in the room shifted again, becoming calmer. A high-pitch yet authoritative voice squeaked out "What's going on in here?~" in a tone that seemed to have no regard for the imminent murder taking place. Practically bouncing in was a chubby man approaching his middle-age, though clearly with a while to get there. His dazzling clothing may have served to make someone else look younger, but it seemed to fit him perfectly. Furthermore, his presence seemed to match that of the leader of the mysterious "explorers." They all moved on from the little bird to focus on him.
"Oh, nothing much at all," replied the purple leader, letting out another puff of smoke. "Just a little friendly banter, that's all." Her tone was completely different from the one she took with the bird who had retreated behind his longtime companion, now filled with respect for an equal. "Ah, but where are my manners? You must be Wigglytuff, the esteemed leader of this guild. Allow me to introduce myself. You make call me Bone-Haunter, and my associates here are part of my own rescue guild." The woman now known as Bone-Haunter motioned for her teammates to introduce themselves.
"I'm Truck Freak," the sporty girl started. "Please don't ask about it, I don't understand it either." Waiting for her partner to start, she caught him gazing longingly at Team Charm and smacked him. "Quit ogling. We're here on business so be polite."
"Yes, milady, right away," the short one said, clearly henpecked but unbothered by it. "I am known as Short King because my services shall always be available to a lovely lady." The extra details prompted another smack from Truck Freak, to whom he apologized profusely.
The giant shark-beast spoke next. "Champy. If you're strong, I'll try to go around. But I won't hold back." Curt and to the point, he went back to browsing the outlaw board. Her partner spoke next.
"I'm named Zoroark. Yes, I know, it's a weird story. Please just call me Zoro. I would likewise like to spar if you would be so inclined," he said awkwardly before resuming his work.
"And there you have it. These are just some of the folks I'm- wait a second. Where'd you go, Boneless?" Bone-Haunter snorted, annoyed, probably referring to the last member of her group whom she had lost track of.
"Hehe, sorry cuz!" they spoke up, having apparently been engaged in a rousing conversation with some of the younger rescue teams. "I'm Boneless, and if you mess with Cousing Bones, you're messing with me, so better watch out!" They then let out a giggle though they did not appear to be joking.
"Wooooow~ you guys are only normal rank? I would never have guessed!~" marveled Wigglytuff, totally unconcerned about offending his new guests. "Well gosh, ordinarily we wouldn't let a normal rank team take such dangerous missions, but I think we can make an exception today~"
Sensing that what little authority he thought he had was about to be trampled on by his boss, the colorful bird-man spoke up. "W-wait just a moment! You're just going to let them get away with this? They're walking all over the good name our guild!"
This only earned him a concerned expression from the larger man. "Ummm, but aren't we really big? And she said that they're a guild, but I've never heard of them so they must be really small! So shouldn't we be helping them instead of just sending them away, Chatot?" The earnestness of his argument shone through his giant, now-watering eyes. The little bird could hardly find room to argue.
"Exactly, exactly," agreed Bone-Haunter in a cool voice. "We're just a little upstart guild, a ways away from Treasure Town. It's a nice little place you got here, but we didn't want to set up shop too close. Gotta respect the old guard, you know? Even if we are going to be in direct competition." She let out a dry laugh. "Of course, if you have any complaints, Chatterbox, you can always take them up with us directly at our base. We'd be happy to accommodate you." Though she seemed to respect Wigglytuff as an equal the smile she flashed Chatot had only malice and mockery. Champy grunted behind her to back up her veiled threat.
Wigglytuff, seemingly unaware of the imminent danger his partner was in, let out a big belly laugh. "Yeah, we're all friends here!~ Hehe, you should go visit them Chatterbox!~ What a cute nickname!~ Oh, but um, if you guys are taking our jobs, we probably need to split the reward, right?~"
Unfazed, Bone-Haunter let out a cool laugh of her own. "Oh yes, I understand. Perhaps a 50/50 split should be fair? If not though, we can discuss things at another time." Before Chatot could protest or argue further, she put her pipe away and motioned to her companions. "I fear we've taken up a lot of your time today, and I'm sure all your lovely rescue teams are anxious to get back to their work. We shall bid you good day for now. Let's move, team." With the strange Typhlosion's order, the mysterious team left without much fuss. Some exploration team members exhaled after seemingly an age and the room slowly went back to the way things were before the strangers showed up.
"A-are you sure it's okay to leave them be, Guildmaster?" stammered a rattled Chatot, clearly unnerved and unbalanced by the morning's events. "Who knows what they could be up to? What if they're not really a licensed exploration team? They could even-" his torrent of conspiracies was silenced by a pudgy finger pressed against his lips and a serene smile from his eternal partner.
"I'm sure it'll be fine, Chatty. After all, what's wrong with a little friendly competition?~" And with that, Wigglytuff bounded back to his office to take care of important Guildmaster business. Chatot could only hope that things would work out, but he could feel the winds of change at his back.
