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PMD: The Twilight Brigade Chronicles Ch. 2 The Brigade

"...Thanks for rescuing me again, Zaphiel... Who knows what would have happened if you didn't show up." Artomis said, staring at the shiny red apple on the table in front of him. His memory was foggy about the previous day, but at least he could remember everything. He felt much better compared to the day before. He had already been up a couple hours and he hadn't been affected by anything yet.

"Well, that's part of our job as a rescue team. If we would have let you go off all alone like that, we would have broke our code to help others in need, and that's just not right." With a smile, Zaphiel picked a berry off of the plate in front of him and popped it in his mouth. After a second, he patted Artomis' shoulder. "Eat as much as you need, man. You're going to need the energy for today."

Art smiled, "I appreciate it, thank you." He felt starved, but felt like he was quite the burden to Zaphiel now. He was an outsider coming in and they offer him everything.

Zaphiel give him a questioning gaze, "You feeling alright? Not another blue dizzy spell, right?"

Breaking out of his zone, Artomis just smiled and took a huge bite of his apple. After he swallowed, he broke a piece off the fruit and held it for a second. "I'm fine, just thinking. You guys have a nice place here." It was true, the dining room looked nice. It had two rows of tables set up for plenty of Pokémon to sit, but it wasn't tight together. Plenty of room to move in the brightly lit room would provide well enough for at least a hundred Pokémon, Art estimated. It made him a little surprised that still, there were no other Pokémon to be seen. Two seats of a hundred... It was a little sad.

"Thank you for the kind words. It has not been finished long, but are base is now quite the steady foundation. I am glad you approve." Turning around, Artomis saw Cyrus walking out of the kitchen area with a few different colored seeds and berries floating just above his head.

Zaphiel cocked his head slightly and let out a light sigh, "...You like to show off a lot, don't ya?"

"Just a little bit." Cyrus smiled, grabbing a berry from the air and popping it in his mouth. "Anyway, Artomis, I would like to speak with you alone for a moment. Once you have finished eating, Zaphiel will show you to my quarters. Don't hesitate to fill yourself, we have plenty of food to go around."

The Pikachu got an annoyed look on his face. "Will you make up your mind on when to speak or use telepathy? I don't know when to think or listen to you anymore..."

Art let out a small laugh. He really didn't mind of the switch, hell, he thought it was kind of cool. "Yeah, I'll come down. It won't take me much longer to eat." He was about to take another bite of his apple, but noticed that it was all gone. He shrugged at his own lack of attention and popped one of the blue berries off his plate into his mouth.

"Good. I shall see you soon then." Cyrus then gave a thumbs up as he, and the food around him, vanished in thin air.

"...I'll never fully understand that guy. He's great and does his job well, but he's something else..." Zaphiel said with a sigh, only to pop a seed into his mouth and work up another smile. "I'll just give you the grand tour once we're done. He's going to wanna clean up his office a bit before you go into it."

"That's fine, I've got plenty of time on my hands now." Art said after he swallowed his berry. He kept trying every now and again to think about anything in his past, but only that one voice and those two words echoed whenever he tried. He began to think that maybe he shouldn't have done what he did, whatever that was...

"Ah, yes. Please come in."

Opening the large wooden door, Artomis stepped inside of a dark room, seeing Cyrus standing beside a rack on the far right side. "What is it you needed to speak with me about?" He now stood in the center of the room, where two chairs sat and beside that, a long table with neatly kept documents.

Cyrus turned toward Artomis and took a few steps his way. "This building that you are in currently isn't just a normal base. This is a base for a Pokémon Exploration Guild. We are known as the Twilight Brigade." He moved his arm up and waved his hand, causing a chair to move up to him and he sat down in it. "As such, we do Pokémon rescues, we explore unseen territory, and much more to help the common Pokémon."

With a nod, the Riolu also sat down in a close black chair. Every time he sat, he would begin to feel a little uncomfortable, mainly because of the new tail, but he got used to it after a few moments. He knew that the conversation was going somewhere, but he didn't want to seem hasty and decided to let Cyrus continue on.

"I know that you are currently struggling and have no past, which is why I am going to offer you this: we of the Twilight Brigade will help you with your search for your past, as well as give you shelter and food. The only thing that I ask you is to make your keep and be a active member as our team. There might be times where you have to fight, and others where you must figure out puzzles or riddles, but all the same, I think you would do well working with us."

Cyrus' eyes were dead-locked on Art as he sat there, taking in all the info. He understood perfectly what he meant, but he just wasn't sure if he was the material they were looking for. I don't know how to fight... I've hardly even been awake for a full day yet... But I don't have anywhere else to go and he said they would help me... Plus I do owe them twice now for saving me... He inhaled deep and showed a smile. "...I'll Do it. Sign me up for a member of this Twilight Brigade."

"You did?! You're a part of the team now! Oh that's so cool!" Zaphiel said, almost jumping for joy as the were walking down the long hall to the Base's exit. "Oh! Before we go, I gotta go grab something! I'll be right back!" He dashed back down the opposite way and turned the corner that lead to the Sleeping Quarters. It was only a moment when the Pikachu returned, this time carrying what looked to be a backpack. "Here! This is for you! There's a few things inside, so don't drop it."

Grabbing the bag, Artomis could feel it had a little weight to it, but overall, it was quite light. He opened the front flap to see a red scarf, a pair of square-lens goggles, and a bunch of different colored fruit, berries, and seeds. As he was digging through, Art looked back up to ask Zaphiel what this was for, but Zaphiel had now been wearing the same red scarf he had and had a belt around his waist with a pouch on it. "Those are for you from Cyrus. Whenever we go out, wear the scarf. It will tell people you are apart of this guild. The goggles there have an added effect just like my belt here. Yours give you resistance to any accuracy lowering attacks, like sand-attack or smoke screen, where mine allows me to move a little faster. They come in handy while exploring Mystery Dungeons."

"Mystery Dungeon...? I've never heard of one of those..."

"You know the forest you went into yesterday? That just happens to be one of them. A Mystery Dungeon is special compared to normal places because every time you go into it, it's different. It's our job to explore these and do different missions inside. The forest is called Shimmering Forest, and since you are now one of us, I guess I should show you the adds I found on the bulletin. We've got two missions right off the gate!"

Artomis looked at the two pieces of paper Zaphiel held out. One request was by a Pidgey asking to find his big brother, and the other was to find the reason for the name of the forest. "Why the forest was named Shimmering Forest? That sounds like it should be in a history book or something."

"There are still questions in the world that no one knows the answer to, this happens to be one of them. There is no record on how the forest ever even got its name. This mission has been up there since we started our guild, even Cyrus couldn't figure it out... I figured we might as well give it a shot, though!" He put the papers back into the pouch at his side and smiled. "Put on your stuff, I wanna see how you look!"

With a nod, Artomis reached into the bag and pulled out the accessories. He quickly fastened the goggles on his forehead and wrapped his scarf around his neck. There was a ton of slack on it, making it seem more like a cape to Art. He looked up at Zaphiel, who's eyes were shinning bright. Giving a questionable glance, Art shrugged and turned around. He showed a quick smirk and began dashing ahead. "Last one to the gate misses out on dinner!"

Zaphiel stood shocked, he almost didn't realize what was happening, but Artomis could hear the far cry from the Pikachu using it's agility. I've got to beat him... Riolu... What do you know...?

"I'm catching up! You can't beat me!"

" ...Look out! Use Quick Attack!"

In an instant, Artomis' vision cut out and all he saw was the blue fog. This was a different voice from before... He fell forward on the ground, grabbing his head as the pain began to worsen.

" ...Get away from here! It's not safe! I'll hold them off!"

"Art! Art! Are you alright?!" He could feel Zaphiel at his side, turning him over onto his back. The pain slowly started to subdue and his vision clearing, the entire time, his Pikachu friend talking to him, making sure he was alright.

After a few minutes, Art was able to sit up. "...This time it was different."

"What do you mean? The Vision?"

"Yeah... The voice was different. It was deeper, like a guys voice. It told me to use quick attack..."

"Well, that would explain how you beat me so fast."

"Huh?" Gathering his wits, Art looked around and realized they were right in front of the gate. "...Wow... I did that?" He was shocked for a moment, but didn't want to forget to tell the rest. "There was another thing too... He said it wasn't safe... To get away or something..."

Zaphiel gave him a worried look. "Wow... That's something else..." He turned away for a second, closing his eyes. "Well, I'm sure everything will turn out alright. Who knows, maybe these Visions might come in handy. I mean, I know it hurts... But right now it's something none of us know about. Cyrus has been looking night and day into it, in fact."

Standing up, Artomis looked toward the gate. Zaphiel let out a surprised gasp. "I'm fine. It will get better once I get moving again. There's a couple missions we gotta do for the Boss Man."