"W-what?!"

"Shaah?!"

"The fu...?"

"Guildmaster, what..."

"Ya can't be serious!"

Such reactions sounded out from our group as Guildmaster Arcanine watched on. As our surprise wore off, a single question seemed to be in common between the five of us.

"W-why are you offering us... this?" Rye asked. Arcanine drew him close, inciting a small yelp from him.

"Young Treecko, I see potential in you and your friend. I have heard of your desire to officially work under my guild, and I think that if anything, it is worth trying. Besides, you wish to educate Beck here, do you not? I am an old Pokémon, and my best days of exploration are many years behind me, but even I can tell you that experience is the best teacher. So, will you take up my offer?"

"I... uh... y-yes, sir," Rye stammered, face pale.

With that, the Guildmaster turned to me, his intense eyes burning into mine.

"Sh-sha...?" I managed out as he approached me.

"What about you? If you were to accept, you would be dedicating your foreseeable future to exploration and helping others. Of course, this would mean most of your days on duty being spent in mystery dungeons. There is risk, but I have faith that you understand that, seeing as you likely grew up in one. Would you like to join Rye in this endeavor?" he questioned.

...did I really want to? I mean, here I am, in an unfamiliar body in an unfamiliar world with no memories to call my own, and before I know it, I'm being thrust into a life that, if past experience holds up, could very well mean my premature death. Images of having my chest torn open, the Zubat gazing through me with its eyeless face quickly began flashing through my head. Did I really want to go through that again, much less regularly?

As I winced at the painful memories, I caught a glimpse of Rye. Even through his fear, I swore I could see just the slightest bit of pleading as he looked back at me, as if begging me to say yes.

...did I really want to deny my friend his chance to follow his dream just because I was a bit scared I'd get hurt? Besides, if I came here for a reason, then if anyone's going to find it, it'd be an explorer...

'...alright then. Here goes nothing.'

I slowly nodded. Arcanine gave me another smile as Rye's eyes widened further.

"Very well, then. You two may go to Cinccino at the front desk in the coming days to register as a team. Tell her you have my blessing," he said.

"W-wait, what?!" Pike choked out. "I wasn't here to see Team Apex start, but I'm fairly sure it wasn't this easy! T-they need to prove themselves in the field, don't they?"

"As far as I'm concerned, they already have," Arcanine replied. Before Pike could respond, he turned to Arden, who promptly stood at attention. "I'd like to speak with you in private, Arden. The rest of you are dismissed."

I felt May pick me up by the scruff of my neck. Despite my protesting cries, she carried me towards the exit, a peeved Pike and a still shocked Rye following close behind.

The whining shape of Beck was pulled up up the ladder as the two fire-types in the room watched on. Now sure that no one was listening, Arden let out a small sigh.

"Really? You believe in the kid? That's the best excuse you could come up with?" he said. Arcanine looked over, a small amount of surprise on his face.

"It was really that obvious?" he asked.

"Well, if I remember correctly, believing didn't do jack back when we were just the little shits just in from Walrein's Guild, and to be entirely honest, you still aren't exactly the most generous Pokémon in the world. So tell me: why are you really doing this?" Arden inquired.

Arcanine paused for a moment before straightening up, the atmosphere in the room growing colder. "What I am about to tell you is of utmost importance and secrecy, and I am only telling you this because of your past service to this Guild. If I find you have told anyone of what I am about to tell you, there will be consequences. Understand?" he asked.

Arden swallowed hard before nodding. Arcanine continued.

"Rye says he found Beck without memories in the wild, did he not?"

"Y-yes, sir."

"Does that perhaps sound familiar to you?"

"No, sir, why should it?"

Arcanine sighed before gesturing to a stack of books along the wall. Unsure as to where he was going with this, Arden picked up the top book before reading the title.

"...The Journeys of Louie the Riolu? This is a kids' book, Guildmaster, what does that have to do with anything?"

Arcanine waited expectantly. After a minute, Arden paused.

"... w-wait. Wasn't Louie a..."

The Quilava threw the book aside to investigate the others, eyes getting progressively wider as he did so.

"Sai the Charmander... Lee the Shinx... Amber the Chikorita... G-Guildmaster, you're not actually saying the Oshawott's..."

"A human? It is only a theory, an unlikely one at that, but it is worth looking into," Arcanine said.

A moment of silence passed.

"W-why are you telling me this...?" Arden asked.

"If I am correct in my assumption, then we might have a problem. Humans are only known to awaken as Pokémon during times of great peril for this world, as you know," Arcanine replied. "I want you to tell me should anything come up. Keep an eye on the two and pray that I'm wrong. Understand?"

"...y-yes, sir, I will."

Arcanine's warm demeanor returned as he gave Arden a grateful grin.

"Thank you. You are dismissed. Forever forward."

The Quilava gave a shaky salute at the Guild's motto.

"Forever forward."

"Ms. May, can't we do this tomorrow?" Rye asked pleadingly.

"No. There's a new wave of orders coming in tomorrow, you'd be a pile of bones before you made it through the line," the Leafeon snapped back. "Besides, might as well just rip the barb out."

Cinccino's office stood a couple Pokémon ahead of us. Sitting at the entrance to the Guild, there had been quite a line waiting for us when we had gotten here. Despite this, May had volunteered to stay and help us through, even when Arden had finally caught up with us. A half hour of waiting and complaining from both of us later, I wasn't sure she was very happy with herself about this decision.

"Next!" a voice called from the counter.

"About time," May muttered as we stepped up to the small shack. As would be expected from the Minccino line, there didn't seem to be a thing out of place through the window. Makes sense they'd put a Cinccino in charge of bureaucracy, I guess. Said Cinccino looked down at us with a cheerful smile.

"Good afternoon, what can I do for you?" she inquired.

"H-hi, Ms. Cinccino, w-we... uh, my friend and I would like to start a team," Rye stammered. Cinccino's smile faltered a bit, prompting May to step forward.

"Guildmaster's orders. I know they're young, but talk to him about that, I guess," she said.

Cinccino nodded before slipping a blank form out of the orderly stacks that adorned her desk.

"Alright, then, all I need is a team name," she said.

"Team Horizon," Rye said without hesitation, excitement eclipsing his nervous demeanor.

"Sorry, that's been taken," Cinccino said.

"W-what? Have you checked?" Rye asked.

"Darling, you have no idea how many new teams ask for Horizon."

As Rye's enthusiasm melted away, Cinccino pulled out a piece of paper and handed it over.

"Here's a list of available names. Take as long as you need," she said assuredly. Rye put the paper on the desk so we could both look it over. Unfortunately, any discernible text was just Torchic scratch to me.

...wow. Just wow. Whatever had sent me here hadn't even bothered to let me be able to read?

'...FFFFF-'

Letting out a frustrated cry, I pounded my paw into the desk, startling Rye. However, his alarm quickly melted away as he examined where my paw had landed: an apparent name sandwiched between scratched-out entries.

"Team Reach? N-no one's picked this?" Rye stammered.

"Chances are they have, it just looks like the last Team Reach didn't leave their mark," Cinccino explained. "If they had, it'd have been decommissioned so no one else could use it."

Rye brightened up. "Huh... I like it! N-nice job, Beck! You think we should take it?"

"Sha!" I exclaimed. In response, Cinccino took the list and began filling out the form. A couple of minutes went by before she suddenly slammed it down on the desk, sending the both of us jumping back and stumbling over May, who gave us a light Vine Whip in response. Seemingly ignorant of what had just happened in front of her, Cinccino set a large bag onto the counter.

"You're all set! Here's your Explorer's Bag! Hope to hear from you soon, Team Reach!" she piped. Rye, still rubbing where May had hit him, took the bag, uttered a quiet thanks to Cinccino, and joined us as May once again picked up by the scruff of my neck. I don't know why, but something about this made me deeply uncomfortable. Maybe it was because she was a grass-type carrying a water-type? Who knows.

Bag and me in hand, our little posse began the walk back to the sick bay. On the way, I couldn't help but notice Rye digging through our new bag and pulling out a small badge. He stared at it, mesmerized, as a small group of Pokémon bumped into him on their way across the pathway.

"Shaah?" I questioned. Rye didn't raise his head as he responded.

"It's an explorer's badge. Officially says you're part of a team... I still can't believe I'm actually holding one..."

His concentration broke as he looked up at me, giving me an earnest look.

"T-thank you, Beck. I don't think I'd be holding this without you..." he managed out.

There, even with my internal voice screaming common sense at me, even with my chest still throbbing, and even with the lingering fear that I would die before learning anything about myself, I knew I had made the right choice.

'Here's hoping I can act on that choice.'