~ GCIB HQ - Gullveria ~
"Hmm… The Charmander appears to be growing at a rate much faster than we expected."
The Nidoking and the Nidoqueen look over Neltharios, noting his innate abilities. The markings on the Charmander glows a dim red color as he glares about the room, being surrounded by ferals. Neltharios appears to be lengthier and more lean than he ever was before.
"Do you think he's close to evolving?" The Nidoqueen asked.
The Nidoking tapped his clipboard, "There's no doubt. But what happens when he evolves?"
"Only one way to find out! Ferals! Attack him!"
As a buzzing sound rings out from above the encampment, ferals of all kinds rush Neltharios. The Charmander rolls from side to side, effortlessly dodging the attacks, and retaliating with fire punch after fire punch.
"What fearsome power! What speed!" The Nidoqueen cheered, "We need more! More ferals!"
"Wait." The Nidoking cut her off, "Something's happening in there!"
Neltharios's punches were getting faster and faster. Feral after feral were being thrown about the room. As the dust settled and the last feral was felled, Neltharios lurched over and began heaving. However, instead of passing out, he roared upward, releasing a deafening sound and a gleam of red light stemming out of him.
"It's happening! He's evolving! We have evidence of an evolving alpha! YES!" The Nidoqueen cheered.
As the lights got brighter, the ambient temperature got hotter and hotter. The Nidoking immediately began sweating, and the plants on the inside of the encampment begin withering.
"The power! The walls can't take much more punishment!" The Nidoking screamed.
"Wait, the light is dying down!" The Nidoqueen called out, "Look!"
As the lights dimmed down, what remained behind was a golden Charmeleon with one eye burning with crimson red flames and a blue eye gazing about the room. Neltharios's new form sported a slimmer, taller feel with bulkier arms and legs with a bright blue tail flame and red markings all down his body.
"Wow… It looks incredible!"
"Is… Is that thing still sentient?" The Nidoking leered at the newly evolved Charmeleon.
"More…" The Charmeleon growled.
"Huh? What?" The Nidoqueen's eyes widened.
"I need more fights…! Give me more!" The Charmeleon exclaimed, bearing his massive fangs at the Nidoqueen.
"Uh-Um we have more ferals in captivity that you can fight…?"
"No… I need something more… I need fighters! I need…
…Traximus…"
"T-Traximus? Who's that?"
"We're going to be a team… And we'll defeat all the outlaws! Yes… All of them…!"
"He's going insane! Quick! Release the sleep seeds!" The Nidoking demanded.
A hatch opened above the enclosure, releasing a ton of seeds into it. The seeds cracked open on the ground, releasing a gas that spread about the enclosure. Inhaling some of the gas, Neltharios lost his composure, and eventually fell asleep.
"I guess this one will be a problem in the future. Let's-"
"No!" The Nidoqueen shouted, "We can use him! If he can command the ferals, this may be our chance to take control of the situation with Talgeria!"
"I suppose. I hope you know what you're doing…" The Nidoking groaned.
~ Wayne Explorer's Guild ~
"This is your lodging, where you'll be staying for the duration of your tenure here." Wayne explained, "Here's your keys. You'll need them to access this place."
"Wow," Palla cheered, "This lodging is better than what we had before!"
"Hm? Where have you lodged before?"
"Oh! Um… we came from Kira University, before it… you know…" Palla tapped her fingers.
The Armarouge lifted his head back, "My gods, you're survivors of the University?!"
"Yeah, unfortunately our time was cut short by some weirdos that wanted to play god." Kroto explained.
"These weirdos… Did they use an eternarift?"
"Yup," Kruler answered, "The University went up in smoke after that."
"I see… That is very unfortunate. Nonetheless, you are likely very strong or very lucky to have survived the attack. We pride ourselves on the former and pray that we have the latter."
"Right, where do we go next?" Traximus interjected.
"Ahem. Follow me."
The Armarouge took Team Nova down to the lower levels, where there were numerous boards that lined the walls. The boards had numerous assignments on them, the wall on the left side held various menial jobs whereas the jobs on the right side held various outlaws on them.
"I'm sure since you're from the University, you have heard of Wigglytuff's Guild, right?" Wayne asked.
"Wigglytuff's Guild? What's that?" Rico responded, drawing looks from the rest of Team Nova.
Kruler leered at the Froakie, "It's only the most popular guild in Talgeria and possibly the world! How did you not-"
Kroto nudged Kruler, prompting her to cut herself off, "Right, right… sorry. Wigglytuff's guild is just massively popular, I didn't realize there were 'mons that didn't know of its existence."
"Right. We borrowed a page out of Wigglytuff's Guild and made two bulletin boards, each of which contain various requests from citizens or the government itself. To your left, you will see the request board, and to your right, the outlaw board."
"I assume the outlaw board has us capture notorious bad guys, like that Excadrill guy and his cronies?" Rico asked.
"You've spoken the obvious, but yes. Your task is to apprehend outlaws unless otherwise noted on the request."
"'Unless otherwise noted?'" Traximus repeated, "You don't mean…"
"If the outlaw is not compliant and is believed to be extremely dangerous," The Armarouge paused, "Then the logical course of action is to take the necessary force to get them down. In some cases, this might be knocking them out. In other cases, it might involve more force than even that."
Wayne then turned to Team Nova, "But rarely ever does it come to that, so you have little reason to worry. Let's get to some other areas…"
Following the Armarouge to the outdoor area, they found themselves witnessing a battle between a Rillaboom and a Sceptile happening in a small arena surrounded by other pokemon. Team Nova couldn't help but look on in awe.
"This is the training area. Usually the battles don't garner this much attention, but today's battle is something special. Two pokemon with long standing grudges against each other are duking it out right now."
"Wait, you mean like they fight to the death?" Rico asked, shuddering, "That's not the kind of entertainment I'm into."
Wayne chuckled at that, "You think us savages? No, we only fight until one of us faints. That's the way of the Gullverians."
The Armarouge then took Team Nova towards a structure off to the side of the compound. "This is the mess hall. You eat here at designated meal times. Miss it, and you're on your own for food. Moving on…"
Wayne then took them to their last stop, the watchtowers. Climbing stairs was never Team Nova's speciality, but they managed to climb several stories up and into the tower.
"Should you be assigned to sentry duty, you will be assigned to be in one of these watchtowers. Your goal is to spot the incoming travelers and alert the guards to their presence. Any suspicious individuals and you ring the bell situated up top, understood?"
"Got it, sir!" Kroto responded.
"Good. Since I hit the main things, this tour is over. Feel free to mingle with other pokemon or whatever you wish for the rest of the day. Your official duties will begin tomorrow afternoon. See you then."
After the Armarouge left, Team Nova was left to their own devices. For a bit, the team looked between each other in silence. Then, Traximus cleared his throat.
"So," Traximus started, "We're about to become official explorers! How do you guys feel?!"
"I'm hyped." Kroto stated, "I can't wait to get started."
"It'd be nice to bash some outlaws around!" Kruler cracked her knuckles, "I'm raring to go!"
"I want to help everybody I can!" Palla smiled.
Traximus then looked to his Froakie companion, "And what about you, Rico? You've been relatively zoned out this whole time."
"Huh? Oh right! I want to figure out where I am and how I can make a living here. This seems like a good place to start." Rico responded, "What about you, Traximus?"
The green Bagon looked up at the sky, "You know, mom told me one day, when I get enough battles in, I'd evolve and be able to take to the skies. I dreamed of being able to fly higher than anybody else could, and doing so, I could be able to help and rescue more pokemon that way." He then turned back to his teammates, "So this is just one step in the direction of my dream!"
"Looks we all got our reasons for doing this," Kruler added, "Let's give it our all tomorrow!"
As the members of Team Nova filed out of the tower, Kroto stood behind watching everybody else leave. However, as Kruler was leaving, she noticed Kroto leaning against the wall. "Hey, what's up?" She asked, "Aren't you gonna leave like the rest of us?"
"Hmm. I was just wondering about something…" Kroto mulled.
Kruler made her way back to where Kroto was standing and leaned against the wall near him, "What's on your mind? I promise not to tell anybody else."
"Promise? You sure?"
"Yeah," Kruler nodded, "If you really don't want anybody else to know."
"Okay… Well…"
Kroto looked out to the daytime sky, his gaze fixated on the activities below, "Back at the university, you know when we fought off that Magcargo, right?"
"Yeah… That thing was a hassle… Tore up my arms good." Kruler chuckled.
"I-I was worried that I might have gotten you killed back there. I'm glad you're doing better now, but it's been weighing on my mind for a while now."
Kruler approached the Passimian and placed a hand on his shoulder, "If anything, I'm worried about you. You got a damn… thing in your chest and it was all because I had to go and bite off more than I could chew. You paid the price for my mistake… Once again, I'm sorry."
"I accept your apology, but I need you to hear me out, okay?" Kroto sat down with his back to the wall.
Kruler followed suit, "Okay, go ahead."
"My dad… he was my biggest inspiration in my life. Ever since I was young, he always told me how great it was to become a bounty hunter and how good it felt to put the bad pokemon behind bars." Kroto looked up to the ceiling, "But those good times couldn't really last all that long…"
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Kruler asked.
Tears began to form in the Passimian's eyes, "Dad… One day, mom did something that made dad truly saddened and they split apart. He then… got really depressed, and soon started to drift away from me. I felt that it was my fault and did everything I could to try to please him. But it wasn't enough…"
The tears began streaming from his face, "My efforts weren't enough…"
Kruler was at a loss for what to say. This was largely the first time that she had experienced another pokemon cry in front of her. What was she to do? How was she to comfort him?
"And then one day… I found him on the floor, next to some grimy food. Unmoving… Not breathing…"
Kruler found herself gasping and holding her hands to her mouth to keep herself from being too loud. She couldn't have heard that right. She fought to stave off her emotions, but just barely lost herself. She couldn't help but shed a slight tear.
"Rescue teams were called, but by then it was too late. He was gone. And it was my fault…"
Kroto looked at Kruler with tears continuously streaming down his face, "So now, you know why this means so much to me… I thought I ought to tell somebody. He wouldn't want me to mope around and keep it to myself all the time."
"I-I see…" Kruler was still at a loss for words. This level of vulnerability from him is one that she wasn't able to stomach all that well. Still, she managed to find something she could do. Turning to Kroto, she approached and wrapped her arms around him.
"Kruler you-"
"Hey. I know you've been through a lot, and you blame yourself for quite a bit… But I'm glad you shared this with me."
It was Kroto's turn to be at a loss for words. A moment of silence passed before he returned the embrace, "Thanks…"
As both pokemon let go, Kruler stretched her body, "How about we go to the training grounds and lighten the load on our mental states?"
Wiping the tears from his eyes, Kroto responded, "Sounds like a plan."