I exhale slowly as I finish hastily shading in the last building and smile, comparing the finished piece to the real thing.
A rivetingly radical rendition of Treasure Town, I decide smugly. Or is it Allure Town? Are they even worth differentiating? I think I might’ve gotten both of them in there, either way… I shrug and close the book, tucking both it and my pencil in my bag. Looking down from the rock that served as my impromptu vantage point, I carefully walk to it’s edge and sit down, pushing myself just far enough to let me slide down the side. I manage to mess up the landing bad enough to fall on my chest, and even then I can’t manage to recover by doing one of those cool rolls when I hit the ground.
Hoping that no one saw that little fiasco, I get up and fix my scarf before I go into... umm... into town. It feels kind of weird seeing all the stalls and merchants lined up when I don’t have any money on me for once, but that shouldn’t be a problem for too long when the main attractions are guilds pretty much dedicated to adventures.

The journey to Allure Town was rather uneventful and plain for the grey-clouded Drifloon; too many Pokemon attempted to attack her with Scratch, or Tackle, or Quick Attack...as a result, Levita had moved right past without any damage at all, save from one of them who surprised her a bit with Vine Whip and Razor Leaf. She felt a bit saddened for retaliating with these poor, cute Pokemon, but they were wild Pokemon, and she rather they not follow and annoy her.

I heard that there were guilds here...maybe I can do a bit of team-dungeon exploring around here, Levita thought to herself while adjusting the tiny satchel that was belted on her side, which required a bit of twisting, shaking, and some frustration. Carrying items were a pain for the balloon Pokemon, who barely weighed a kilogram or two. She had to strap some awkward strap on the bottom of her spherical body to prevent the satchel from falling. She almost wished she was like her younger (half) brother Cobust. He weighed at least ten times her weight after he evolved and could carry a standard adventuring knapsack without a sweat.

But she kept her mind out of Cobust. He was a much better adventurer than she was, and it messed up her feelings to think about his achievements. Floating through the loping hills not far from the rustic town, Levita immediately spotted a Ralts sitting against a rock and sketching. She quietly lowered herself until her *ahem* triangular arms barely grazed the grass, adjusting to an angle to see the Ralts' finished artwork, staring at the details and surprising accuracy of the buildings.

Then suddenly the Ralts scooted a few inches too behind and fell, and Levita widened her eyes and heightened herself up. She was about to burst out an "Are you alright?" and dash towards the Pokemon, but the Ralts had recovered from his or her fall before she could make a decision, and started to walk away.

And of course, Levita followed him/her. Immediately she felt like a stalker, but at the time the Drifloon figured that all Ghost-type Pokemon stalk others anyway, so it was fine. The hills sloped down, and the two of then entered into the town. The town seemed a lot more crowded and active than looking from the skyline, and Levita stared at the market stalls with curious eyes, switching focus from one to another, and nearly overwhelmed by the activity going around the balloon.

It was then that Levita's loss of focus had caused me to bump into the Ralts right in front of me, sending the both of us onto the ground, and certainly drawing attention to the two; they obviously didn't fit in with the town very well, and some chatter from the townsfolk already revealed that they knew the two Pokemon were newcomers. Levita hastily stood back up, which appeared as if she simply levitated away, and placed her hand...strand, on the Ralts. "Hey, are you alright? I'm sorry there."

A Shortcut Gone Awry - Silver

Precisely why did she think that going through the swamp was a shortcut?

Was the exact mindset that Silver possessed as she uneasily made her way cautiously through the muck and mire towards the next city. Having partaken in ill-formed judgment and then accepting the poor advice from an elder, she found herself a bit lost in all the haze and mess.

Gingerly making her way from rock to rock to avoid plunging into the mud that seemed inescapable, the white-furred Eevee heard something that struck her as peculiar. Long, slender ears slanted themselves in the direction it came from to garner further information, only to hear the sounds of a hastened conflict. Such a conflict ended quickly with an explosion, and then a string of curses damning Arceus himself!

Blinking worriedly, she instinctively stepped in the direction to head towards the cacophony that had occurred, yet at the last moment she hesitated. Would it be safe? It sounded like it would be, only those who were remotely civilized spoke in such a way, well...as civilized as cursing the Gods themselves could be.

Swallowing hard and stomaching her own courage, she quickly found a somewhat stable dirt path and bound her way in direction towards the conflict that had arisen. The wind rushed past her, slanting her ears back flat against her head so that they wouldn't hamper her haste in the least. Quickly she came upon a scene where there was an injured Magnemite, and a Grimer that was sinking back into the mud completely unconscious among a few others standing around. Blinking for a moment as burnt methane still lingered on the air past her nostrils, Silver's nose wrinkled ever slightly.

Well...I guess now is a good a time as any to help... She thought, glancing between the group.

Quietly before even announcing the arrival of her presence, Silver closed her eyes and focused. Her will drawing to a singular point within her mind as stones raised into the air around her briefly; once her eyes opened however, her will rippled outward in a wave of magenta energy akin to a droplet upon a still pond. Silently, it washed over the Magnemite that had been injured, with obvious burn marks and damages to its surface, and in just a few moments the burns ceased to be. The scratches and cuts no longer existed.

By her actions, he had been returned to full health.

Meekly, the little Eevee finally spoke as the stones fell back to the earth. She had used a Psychic-type ability after all. "S-Sorry if I startled you. I was just trying to help."

While I’m off daydreaming about the future, the present seems to be far more demanding of my attention, as I’m knocked to the ground by an unknown assailant! Well, maybe not an assailant, I suppose, but I’m still rendered flustered and discombobulated as a result of falling not only twice in a row, but this time in plain view of the whole town. Some of my stuff had fallen out of my admittedly worn bag, and I scramble to pick the miscellaneous utensils up and stow them back away with both my hands and telekinetic power.

“Sorry, my bad,” I stutter quickly as I get up off the ground and dust off my scarf, glancing back and forth between the Drifloon and the rest of the town as I feel the pressure of their words and emotions. “Really I should be watching where I’m going because I’m too used to everyone being all ‘oh it’s her’ and making sure they’re not in the way but I obviously can’t expect that of everyone and that’d just be plain rude-” I stop to take a deep breath, trying to calm down. It’s a really bad habit of mine to go full motormouth when I feel particularly embarrassed, which I’ve learned tends to just end up compounding the problem.

“I… er, sorry about that, too,” I say at a much more normal speed as I smile sheepishly, running a hand through my hair and flipping it weakly as I look up at the Balloon Pokemon. “I’m fine, though, thank you for asking. Are you new here, too?” Realizing I'd forgotten one of the core rules of social etiquette, I hold out my hand and offer it to the Drifloon.

"My name's Rebecca, by the way." I introduce, figuring if we'd shared a mutual folly like that we might as well learn each other's names.

[Spruce]

I was just about to say something to John when Kamina, his normal energy recovered, ran, er, no, slithered towards my fake at full speed shouting 'FLAME CHARGE!', knocking the ditto several feet away from me, and apparently somehow knocking it out in one hit. I was going to attack the grimer again, but apparently M had that covered as he caused an explosion, one that I wasn't fast enough to escape from, which seemed to finish off the grimer. "Well..." I finally manage to say, coughing afterwards. I then continue with "That was... different. When did you learn explosion, M?" Of course, given M's relative lack of damage, I had a hard time believing that he actually used explosion... but... that was kind of the only way to do something like that, right? M said something about Celes apparently attacking our client, who was now hiding behind a nearby rock, but I didn't see her do that. I then walk over to where John was hiding, and the first thing he did was scream at me, followed by a question "Is... is it safe out there?" I nod, and he shouts "You guys are CRAZY! What do you think would have happened if I didn't hide behind that rock, huh? HUH?" I only say "Well... um..." and he continues with his spiel about how we shouldn't let enemies near our clients, and how we should keep him safe while still following behind me as I continued through the swamp, the smell killing me now more than the enemies were, (un)fortunately. This jolteon either lost his ability to smell, or was too excited to care, as he was, for some reason, after his lecture (which I only paid half-attention to), whistling, as if nothing was wrong here. Of course, there were a few enemies, more specifically, a gastly, a solosis, and a shuppet nearby, and I honestly hoped they couldn't hear him.
---
[Anthony]

The purrloin's eyes darted between me and my teammates, as if looking for some way out, but, upon apparently not finding anything, he eventually says "He said we'd be on the top, you know... the best in the thieving business, and I was, and still am ready to believe him. He says he's never lost a victim, or a fight, so I know that if I was gonna team up with any thief, it'd be him, with his spotless record and free gummis," obviously Martin was lying again, after all, I was there when he lost that fight against myself, and my new team. "Spotless record, huh?" I mumble after I hear that, and the purrloin, with his big ears nods, and says "Yeah, spotless. You wouldn't know anything about that, right? I mean, you lost that fight against him, remember?" I had to assume that Martin told this purrloin about that fight against me, but, obviously left out some key details... such as the name of who actually won that fight. I was about to say something, but the purrloin went on "Man... Martin's my hero! He stood up to not one, but TWO rescue teams after his only teammate betrayed him. Yeah, that's right, Martin took on those punks ALONE! I just... any thief who can do that... it brings a tear to my eye," I didn't feel like saying anything, with this purrloin seemingly convinced that Martin beat me back in Beach Cave, let alone without help from the local wild populace. Strange how he always seems to get help from pokemon that are native to wherever he is at the moment... I wonder why they leave. I think as I remember that time when I was a member of his ever-changing gang. It was true even then, with me being the only member who stuck around for more than one 'mission' for whatever reason...
---
[Bonnie]

"Oh, welcome to the t-" I start to say to this 'Eralion' character as I hand him a badge, with my sentence getting cut off mid-teleport. Thankfully, I managed to hand the badge to Eralion before William forced us all to teleport, so, he most likely ended up back at the guild with the rest of us. A helioptile was eagerly awaiting our arrival, and she gave us our reward of a hefty 4,000 pokedollars, which I split with the rest of my team, Eralion included. I then recall that horrible dream I had, and first try to say something, but only managing an "Um..." I then finally ask what I was going to, with "Do you... think of me as a... um... friend? Would you actually help... erm... if my father suddenly appeared in front of us, and attacked me?" I sounded somewhat timid, but a dream like that has a way of sticking around with you, especially if it brings up a good point or two. I have, at one point or another, either insulted, betrayed, or otherwise harmed everyone on my team, well, everyone but Eralion, but he's a little too new for that. I honestly didn't expect Eralion to come up with an answer to my question, given that I just met him about five minutes ago, but the rest... I just hoped they could forgive me for all the harm I've caused as a supposed 'teammate' of theirs. Heck, before me, the team just consisted of Samuel and William... and I'm sure they had a better team dynamic compared to all four, er, five of us. They certainly didn't need me on that mansion mission, let alone the one involving Sunswept Plains, and in the desert? I was passed out more than half of the time.

Celes sighed as the fight was already over. She shook herself a bit as she looks at the jolteon who had been hiding and had after the fight yelled at Spruce and the team from now protecting him. Sure... M did tell her to be careful with the client, but with how he insulted her... Well.... she didn't hurt him that much, maybe a couple of goose bumps from the attack, but that was all. She sighed as she was going to continue forwards, before her ears heard some noise from behind. As she turned around, she saw a eevee which had a rather pur white coat with brown paws near M who had just used explosion.... or something like that. As she looked at the eevee, she was a bit confused now.
"Uhm... who are you? What are you doing here?" she says before seeing Spruce going and moving forwards, not looking behind and probably not having heard the eevee. She turns to look at him.
"Ugh... sorry.... we are kinda in a mission to protect a client right now... a over eccentric client. Feel free to fallow if you want safety." she then says before going and fallowing Spruce quickly, seeing the ghost types around. She could feel them... feel them like they were very close to her... So many ghost type in this swamp. It was slightly overwhelming, but she knew she had to stand on guard. Suddenly a shuppet went and tried to use night shade on her, only to have her dodge the attack quickly, having sensed the ghost. She then striked it with draining kiss, actualy hitting the thing hard. It then shook at the attack, and used night shade again, hitting Celes, only for her to take the hit. She finish it off with hidden power. She breath deeply.
"Ghost types... so... many.... ghost types." she says.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Eralion was about to say something when Bonnie said something about welcoming to the team when they were all teleported, him inclused, into the guild. He stood there surprised, before looking all around, surprised. He never saw anything like this before. The roof, the building, the different pokemons all around. He was use to being in the forest, in a cave when it rain, but not something like this. This was different to say the least. His parents were more attuned to the forest, so they wanted him to be too, but he wanted something different. So from a dessert village to the guild like this. He looked at the badge and smiles a bit before that bunnery came and gave him a bit of money for a supposely job that they were doing. He smiles a bit.
"Thanks..." he says before that bunnery went and asked her group about something he didn't quite understand. Her father attacking her and such. He waited a bit, thinking and breath deeply.
"A father attacking her own daughter... what kind of sick person would do such a thing. Look, I might just met you guys, but friend or no friend, a father attacking her own daughter is just plain wrong." he says calmly. He breath deeply, waiting for the others response. After that he opens his mouth.
"Might need to introduce myself. Name is Eralion Strongwill. It would be nice to know you guys name also." he then says.

Josh sighed. It seemed like Martin recruited all of these wild Pokemon the same way he recruited Anthony - by lying through his teeth. He doubted that any of them would believe him if he told them the truth, but it was worth a shot.
"That's not how it happened." Josh said. "We actually won the fight against him, believe it or not. He's been lying to you this entire time."
It would probably take a lot more convincing than that. If the Purrloin saw them defeat Martin, then he might be convinced, but that wasn't happening unless they could talk him into bringing them to him.
"Think about it this way." Matt said. "If Martin could defeat us so easily, then why is he sending you after us? If you bring us to him, you'll see the truth."

Kamina

After having dispatched his foe, Kamina was feeling pretty good "Ah, nothing like a good battle to get the blood flowing again. I feel as good as new." It was then that he noticed the strange new Eevee around. It didn't look like a native, nor did it seem hostile. "Well, well. What do we have here?" he slithered over the the Eevee, his head hanging above her "it isn't safe in these parts. You never now when some unsavory person will jump out and attack you" Kamina being Kamina, he hadn't yet fully grasped the idea that he could scare others just by saying the wrong thing or looking at them funny.

---
Tini

Tini was interrupted mid assaul-I mean 'healing session' when William warped them back to the guild "Huh? Are we done? Did I fix them?" Before he could get an answer though, Bonnnie asked a really stupid question. Slithering up to her he put his forehead to her's "hummm...no fever. Odd, asking a question like that makes it sound like you caught the stupids. Why wouldn't we be friends willing to put our live on the line for each other. Guess you're just silly. Silly Bonnie" he patted her on the head with his tail. Then he noticed the Pancham "gasp!" he said, not did "a new friend!" Tini quickly made his way over to the Fighting Type "Hi new friend! My name is Tini! I like warm hugs and cookies. Do you like warm hugs and cookies?"

Levita blinked as the Ralts started going into incessant chatter, which confused her. Wasn't she the one who bumped into the Ralts? Levita was pretty sure of that...then why was the Ralts feeling embarrassed? "Hey, hey, hey, just calm down there," the Drifloon replied, lowering her arm-strands and glancing around. "It was just me. I wasn't paying attention what was ahead of me, and I was a bit hasty to pick up some exploration contracts...maybe join the guild that's around here."

As Levita finished her statement, the townsfolk were already turning back to their own business. "And yeah, I'm new here. My name's Levita," she introduced, rubbing her grey cloud-puff on her head. I'm from the Hazy Bluffs, though I have to say it's a few days trek from here. I'm not sure you would like it, anyway...lots of Ghost Pokemon."

She levitates along with Rebecca, going into idle talk herself. "Not a lot of Pokemon like Ghost-types like us. There's the stereotype that we're scary, intimidating, and murderous...which is a lot of rubbish," Levita mutters. "I don't think I would be able to suck life energy or steal Pokemon souls like this, anyway. We're a friendly bunch, as long as you don't act aggressive towards us."

It was then that Levita suddenly realized that she didn't know where the guild is, ending up on the dead end of a road. "Um...I think we're a bit lost."

The conversation dragging on in Xeno's eyes, the sableye began to get a little fidgety after having lowered his guard. He'd stopped readying a zen headbutt shortly after the conversation had started, and was now just looking back and forth as each pokemon took it's turn speaking. He couldn't say he knew what past events his team was speaking of but was beginning to put together what was going on and now had a better understanding of why he was here.

"That is a good idea," Xeno chimed in after Matt, nodding vigorously, "Just get the two of them smashing heads instead of puffing their chests." The slang was something he'd heard rock pokemon use before, and though such a phrase had never been directed at Xeno he felt it was appropriate here. Anything to stop the confusion of chatter.

I eventually let my hand fall back down when I realize that Levita isn’t going to shake. Maybe they just don’t do that where she comes from? I guess it makes sense, considering a lot of Ghost-Types don’t really have hands to shake in the first place. Ergo had shown me a few other different hand gestures on his computer, but the vast majority of them didn’t seem very nice and were kind of gross. The ones that weren’t looked pretty cool, though.

“Oh, I was thinking about joining the guild, too,” I say cheerily, having lightened up by now. “But yeah, I don’t really have too much of a problem with Ghost-Type Pokemon. I used to think they were kinda scary, but then I got to know one and he was pretty cool, even if he was kind of shy and didn’t make too much sense to me some of the time.”

When we eventually come to a dead end in the road, Levita makes the very rational assumption that we do indeed not have any idea where we’re supposed to be going. I dig around in my bag before pulling out my sketchbook, having come up with an idea.

“Wait, I’ve got this,” I say confidently as I flip back to the drawing I’d just finished. “The leader of the guild here is an Audino, right? So if I can find it and another landmark here…” I manage to find a both the guild and a building I can recognize near us in the background of my recently finished drawing. Kind of easy, thanks to the strangely personified architecture.

“Ok, found it,” I say, beckoning Levita to follow me as I make my way through the town, and stop once we’re in front of the guild, starting to feel more than a little nervous. “Mind if you go first? I think you’re a bit better at this than I am…”

The Drifloon floated behind Rebecca. Huh. She's met a Ghost-type before? Apparently, the Pokemon she mentioned is a male as well. Maybe I should meet this stranger sometime, Levita thought. "Oh, you met one before? That's surprising," she responded, pulling up on her satchel as it annoyingly fell loose again. "I didn't expect a Psychic to get close to one, honestly. What I heard, they don't like the negative aura we emit."

Levita moved behind Rebecca to observe her drawing again. "Wow. You sketch in really close detail," she complimented, taking a short glimpse toward the sky for that familiar building the Ralts mentioned before, following her with a few turns here and there. "Where did you learn how to sketch that well? I'm curious."

Whether Rebecca answered or not, they had already arrived at their destination, stopping meters in front of the strange guild building. A grate stood in front of the entrance, and Levita couldn't help but feel a bit nervous, too. "I'm not better at anything, Reb," she returned with a weak chuckle, slowly inching toward the grate, until she floated right above it.

"Poké-" There was an abrupt pause of the mysterious sound the bottom of the grate, and Levita stared down. This is awkward... "Umm...psst, hey, are these even legs?"

"I don't have the foggiest idea. I don't think Drifloons have legs..."

"They probably don't. You ever see a Drifloon walk?"

"Ugh, alright, never mind, never mind! Just get the other Pokémon on here!" Levita glanced confusedly at Ralts and floated away, letting Rebecca get on the grate herself. "I think that means you, Reb."

“Our evolutionary line especially tends to be more sensitive to emotions and all that stuff than auras,” I say with a shrug. “But I was told that I shouldn’t judge people on first impressions either way, so…” I decide to cut myself off instead of risking another tangent.

“Thank you,” I say gratefully, adjusting my scarf as I walk towards the guild. “It was actually my mother who taught me some techniques and encouraged me to really practice and pursue it…” I stop talking once we reach the guild, preferring not to discuss the topic as long as there was a good excuse to change the subject.

“I, uh... Ok." I stammer, walking over to the edge of the grate and trying to look down the hole it’s covering up. I'm having a hard time seeing whatever's at the bottom. It kind of reminds me of a storm drain, actually, which raises a few questions about the working conditions of the guild...
“Hi,” I say with a little wave. “Ralts here, can I go in now?”
“Just step on the grate first…” one of the voices below responds, somewhat impatiently at that.
“O-Okay,” I say. “Do I have to? That’s made out of, umm, bamboo I think, so it couldn’t hold too much weight, maybe-”
“You don’t get much lighter than a Ralts without being a… a Drifloon or something,” the other voice asserts. “Just do it and get it over with, please.” I step onto the grate and they almost immediately confirm that I am indeed a Ralts, letting me pass to the main building.

“That wasn’t too bad, actually,” I admit to Levita once we’re inside. "Still, though, what if, say, a Metagross wanted to come into the guild? I'd think they'd be pretty screwed, to say the least, and it had to have happened at least once before. It must be really bad for your neck, too, looking up all the time like that. Back home, we just put some guards outside the front door and that worked just fine..." I stop myself. Leon probably would've just written them off as fools and went on to do what he needed to, which seems to be a partially better way of handling the situation.

Levita snickered to herself at Rebecca's comment. That was something she hadn't thought of for a while, though her best guess was that they didn't allow anyone too heavy to enter the guild. That still left Pokemon who could potentially evolve into a heavier Pokemon...huh. She had, like many others, expected some sort of test to see if they were "worthy" or not, but surprisingly the process had flown rather easily. Already they had passed through what seemed to be the checkpoint and entered the guild, just like that.

Deflating down into the main hall — she couldn't really climb or walk down — Levita finally burst into laughter with that small mouth of hers upon being reminded of the image of a Metagross crashing into the building. "I...I don't think you should suspect too much of them if they've been running this guild for years," she managed to respond with what little air she had before taking a deep breath and re-inflating herself again. "And by the looks of it, the guild likely isn't getting a recruit every single day, so they're not looking on top of the grate every single hour. Hearing them walk or fly through would be loud enough for them to hear at the bottom."

——————————
???

A figure peeked out from the shadow, hidden behind a tree as...it intently observed the Ralts and Drifloon enter the guild. Rebecca and Levita, the figure thought. I will need need to measure their strength some time later. Yes...but not now.
----------

"HOO-HAH! CHARGE!"

"Gah!" Only half a minute in, and Levita was already being attacked by a crazy Audino. After that, the Drifloon was acting completely by reflex, and immediately used her Tailwind to levitate away...though, now that she thought of it, she was a Ghost-type, and the attack would have done nothing to her. But it didn't matter afterward, since the Audino missed by several meters and smacked against the wall instead. Surprisingly, the Audino recovered with minimal damage. His face was partially painted blue, and was holding a frail stick which promptly broke in half.

"Guildmaster Arnold! You're scaring members again!" An Archen scolded. Wait...this crazy Audino's our guildmaster!?

"No! With the power of Arceus invested in me, we shall wipe out what remaining evil lurks around us!" Arnold retorted, throwing a tree branch that landed right on the Arhcen's chest.

Yet, the Archen kept his temper and turned to Levita and Rebecca. "I'm sorry about our Guildmaster here. I am Archie, and our Guildmaster here is called Arnold," Archie introduced, suddenly realizing the two were not members, but in fact "applicants". "You two look new."

Levita nodded and rubbed the cloud puff on her head again. "Oh...yes. My name is Levita. It's very nice to meet you, Archie and...Guildmaster Arnold," she replied, feeling a bit awkward that the Guildmaster had attempted to charge them. At least she didn't try to hurt him back.

-William-
I stared at Bonnie when she asked the question. "What kind of a question is that? Of course we'd help you. Why would you think that we wouldn't?" I say, and I look at the pancham. "Oh! Hello Eralion. My name's William. I'm the 'leader' of this team, and it'll be a pleasure working with you," I say, holding out a hand to shake. "Although, Samuel's in charge if I'm... gone, so to speak, and if he's away, then Bonnie gets to lead and so on and so forth. I actually used to be a kecleon, believe it or not, until I pulled on some ninetails' tail, and then... you can guess what happened from there."

"More like anything I do will probably kill us all." I responded, trying to point out how this place couldn't exactly tolerate electricity, let alone fire. I couldn't tell which patches of the swamp were full of gas, and honestly, I wasn't going to find out. Our client was safe alright, but he seemed rather inclined to start ranting about our abilities. He did have a right considering he hired us, but regardless it was still quite ungrateful. "Hire somemon else then. You can wait, we'll just leave." I warned in a casual tone, hovering still and facing our client before continuing with our supposed quest.

This place was full of noises and buzzing. Flies often got zapped near me (and thankfully didn't ignite gas) while our client continued talking to us/himself. Something about the odd ability to be able to clear an entire area of enemies before actually traveling. Whatever the hell that was. My thought was interrupted by Celes, and her new companion. "Eh?" I raised my eyelid while stopping again and swatting a few flies away from me. "Please don't tell me this is your second adopted son. You're not gonna pay attention to both of them in this rolepl-"

And then, silence. Dead silence. Danger. "Fuckin' ghosts!" They weren't all ghosts, but they were still mighty dangerous. I didn't want to know how a Solosis got along with the two. "John, you may want to get down for this!" I didn't even try to fight them. Another explosion would probably kill us, and I was quite exhausted from the last one.

[Spruce]

M said something about how he shouldn't do anything, and that got me thinking... So, is that just how this place reacts to electricity? If that's the case, and that's what M's thundershock did, I can only imagine what would happen if our client decided to use thunder... hm, maybe that's part of the reason why he needs us right now. My thought process was cut short by the gastly using lick on me, dealing a bit of damage, and leaving some sort of nasty, ghost spit on my cheek. The solosis decided to put up a reflect, as if taunting us with the fact that physical hits won't do as much, now. Weighing my options, I end up using leaf tornado on the solosis, given that reflect would make void whip pretty much useless, at this point. Apparently, while I wasn't looking, Celes finished off the shuppet, and John hid behind another rock... being as useless as he usually was. I look over to where John was hiding, and he shouts back "D...don't mind me! Just, um, fight those things, yeah! Get rid of 'em for me! You're doing great!" Annoyed, I turn back to face my enemies, and just in time, as the gastly tried to use lick on me again, though, thankfully, I was able to dodge it, this time, however, the solosis decided to mess with us even more by putting up a light screen, officially making every possible attack we could use almost useless. If only I had leech seed at this point, I'd just use that, and wait as I drain their health, reflect or no reflect. I thought as I recalled Vine using that move against an enemy with pretty much the exact same strategy as these punks... but... you know... they were stronger.
---
[Anthony]

At first our """"friend"""" disagreed with Josh's idea, saying "Ha! You're just trying to trick me!" But, after having some time to think, he changed his opinion, saying "Hm... you know what? You're right! It's your funeral, anyways, so, what am I worried about?" He then starts heading towards Josh's left, and, of course, as he does so, I manage to take my money back from him. He noticed, sure, I'm not the fastest thing here, but he didn't seem to care, probably thinking that he'd get it back off of my corpse after Martin finishes me off. I start following the purrloin, who was moving slowly enough so that I wouldn't lose him, which was weird, I honestly expected him to go back on his word, given that he's a criminal, and all. Of course, he eventually led all of us through the fog, and into an area where a single mudkip, and a scared-looking carbink stood. The mudkip, who was obviously Martin, stepped forwards, and started shouting at the purrloin "What the HECK do you think you're doing bringing an ENTIRE RESCUE TEAM into MY HIDEOUT!? Have you lost your mind, Troy!?" The purrloin, whose name was apparently Troy, responded with "Well... boss... you said you beat 'em, and not only that, you beat these guys so badly that they cried all the way back to their mothers. I figured you could do it again, right?" Martin, in an oddly calm voice, says "Troy... can't you tell when I'm exaggeratin'? Anyways, I guess I gotta beat these kiddies down again," he then takes out that conch shell from beach cave, and blows on it, which somehow caused a trumpeting sound, which summoned several pokemon to this exact area. The carbink and Troy, of course, were playing it smart and fled somewhere at this point. I headed straight for Martin, using absorb, just like last time, and just like last time, it seemed to leave a mark. Martin retaliated with a water pulse, but that didn't seem to actually do that much to me, other than make me chuckle.
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[Bonnie]

Everyone, even the new guy, seems to answer my question with something along the lines of 'of course we'll help you!' which honestly brought a smile to my face. Then William ends up asking why I thought they might not, and I answer with "Well... I kinda put your life in danger with my stupid fear of cats, remember, William? And Tini... I constantly use one of the 'three unforgivable attacks' or whatever, and don't plan to stop using it, so... I mean, there's that," I then sort of waited for their response, all while looking at the outlaw board, only to see it flip around to some apparently hidden room, and flip back with new missions, and some old missions missing. I checked the updated version of the outlaw board for anything interesting, but nothing seemed to catch my interest. None of the criminals looked like they might have some sort of link to my father, and none of the criminals were based around Sunswept Plains, or the mansion near it... both of which acted as my home for a short time. I hope what I've done doesn't change their opinion of me... or change the apparent fact that they'd help against my father, putting their lives on the line to save me, should the time come. I might need that in the future. I think while I pretend to be interested in one of the outlaws, a scyther doing something stupid around Mt. Pinnacle involving desecration of ancient ruins, and destruction of similarly ancient mechanisms... as well as bullying any pokemon who tries to stand up against him. of course, him being a bug type, he'd have an advantage against the resident basic-evolution fighting-types that populated the area, so, it must have been pretty easy for him.

Celes looked at the rest of the pokemons, seeing the reflect up as well as the light screen. She looked at the group. This will be hard to beat... they just set up a good defense there, both in physical and special attacks. How would she be able to go and damage those guys now. She looked at the group, before targetting the solosis, using swift on it, hoping to do some damage to it at least. If they were to bring down that guy, then the defense would soon be null and then they could finish that group off. The problem here though was to actually beat the thing down with how much defense was up right now. John, their client, was being useless, hiding behind a rock right now, scared. Seriously, that would explain why he needed people, but it would not explain why he was acting as a jerk like that. No wonder that job was not taken before. When M commented about that other eevee, she shook her head. The last thing she wanted was to get someone else in her familly in so little time.

---------------------------

Eralion listened to what everyone was saying, smiling slightly as he looked at the group.
"Well, it is nice to meet you all... oh and cursed by a ninetales? Ouch... My mother always warned me about those. You are lucky not to have ended up dead or as a ghost from that." he says, before turning to Tini, who was a very energetic dratini. Pink also, as well as it seemed to feel... different. Not shiny, but just different. As he said something about warm hugs and cookies, he stares at him a bit.
"I... guess I do... even though never had too many cookies before... I come from rather far away, after a large mountain in a forest. I wanted to join the guild after seeing some adventures come by, liking the idea of helping out others." he then says. He then turns to Bonnie, who still seemed down about her father and such and what she said. He breath deeply.
"First off, fear is what can make you stronger when you conquer it. It is hard but rewarding by one of those senses of great accomplishment when you are able to get pass it... So tell yourself that even if you are scared, it's by overcoming it that you become stronger as a person." he then says, listening and then looking at the mission board, looking at all the jobs. So many people wanting help...

Glad that something was happening, Xeno grinned and followed after the rest of his team. He'd begun to feel a bit more confident about what he was doing now, and after being taken to where they were lead he stood a bit taller than normal to try and look sure of himself to who he understood was the enemy.

His visage shattered though at the sound of the conch horn, and he crouched down defensively as his head swiveled around in both caution and panic. Several pokemon had seemingly come from nowhere, and after a quick glance towards Anthony, Xeno took it as a cue for his next course of action. From the panic still left in him the sableye let out it's best war cry, born of equal parts panic and confusion as he charged towards the nearest foe he could find. A fair number of the pokemon it seemed were capable of flight though, and all Xeno could think to do was start chasing one of the swablu that had appeared. Sableye could jump high, sure, but that didn't change how easy it was for the swablu to avoid his attacks.

I smile as I realize that I made Levita laugh. No one really laughed all that much back home, so it feels strangely refreshing…

“Charge?!” I repeat, teleporting a few feet away almost on instinct. “Not again!” Once I stop hyperventilating and my heart slows back down, it becomes quite clear that what seemed to be another war breaking out is actually just the guildmaster, and I teleport back next to Levita, feeling a bit sheepish about my own outburst. I’m not sure how the Audino manages to run an entire guild with such a strange demeanor, or why he’s painted up like he’s from that one movie that was apparently really inaccurate in a bunch of ways that I can't remember, but I guess it’s kind of cool that he manages to pull all that off either way. Maybe he’s like some sort of puppet ruler? Or maybe he’s just trying to get people to let their guard down when they challenge him to a real fight…

“Oh! My name is Rebecca,” I say, realizing that I should probably introduce myself before I start theorizing. “I’ve, um… I’ve heard rumors. Good ones, that is...” Archie furrows his brow.

“So, I trust you two are looking to form an exploration team,” he asks, to which I nod. I get the feeling that he does this sort of thing often. “What would you like to name it?” My composure quickly fades; I’m drawing a total blank…

“Well, I think it should probably be...,” I say as slowly as possible, trying to stall for an idea. “Umm... hrmm... no, that one's already taken... that one's just silly... um, Levita, what should we name our team?”