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*Okay, so I'll admit. I completely forgot I had an SF Account. Yeah yeah, I know, delays and such. Sorry I've been away for so long. I got a new series for you all, though. I meant to upload the first chapter to this when I finished the second one. Did that a few days ago. Just remembering I have fans on this site as well. :3 What're ya gonna do, right? Anyhow, I present to you Explorers of Truth. Enjoy~ *

Chapter 1: Old Beginnings

"Yes, Mom, I'm sure I won't need any more stuff than I already have."

"Are you sure you're sure? Because you can never have too much Oran Berries."

"Mom," I said with a tinge of amusement in my voice. "I already have 20. I think that's enough."

"But can't you stay a little while longer to collect more? It's better to be safe than sorry."

I stopped walking, realizing what she was trying to do. "Mom, you're stalling me."

She stopped right in front of me. I could literally see the tears in the Leafeon's eyes. "Please, Can't you just stay here? I don't want my little boy to leave me. You don't have to go. Those stories your father fills your head with are all just made up, there was no brave explorer who single-handedly defeated Arceus. It's just not possible."

Dad, who was trailing behind us, walked over with a smile, amused by Mom's antics. "Of course there wasn't one explorer who took down Arceus by himself. There were two. Seriously, Linda, I swear it's like you don't even pay attention to the stories I tell anymore. Stories that were handed down to me by my father, and to him from my grandfather, and to him from my great-grandfather. on and on and on, the list goes; trailing all the way back to the days of the Greatest Explorers of Time."

Mom turned on him, shouting at the Flareon, I could practically hear her tears through the rage. "There were never any Great Explorers of Time! Your stories have my only son traveling all the way to some guild so he can go out and get himself killed in those damned dungeons! You of all people should know how dangerous it can get in there!" She then turned to me, her voice changing so it was nice and soothing. "Matthew, please listen to me. Come back to the den where it's safe. I only want what's best for you."

I tried to avoid looking into her eyes. Because I knew that if I did, then I would just be signing away my freedom. This was my chance to get away. This was my chance to explore. Anywhere but those deep brown eyes, shimmering with tears. Oh, look, dirt! "Aww, gee Mom, you see- safe is too predictable. It's... boring. I want adventure... I want freedom... danger... fun!"

She seemed to explode. "Fun! Putting your life in peril every day is FUN!"

I scratched the back of my head. "Umm, from what I hear... Yes?"

She turned on Dad again, baring her fangs."Do you see what your stories are doing to him! I don't even recognize my baby boy anymore!"

Dad backed away in fear of her. "Hey, hey I just told the stories. It's a tradition," He defended. "He's the one who got inspired by them, just like me when I was his age..." He trailed off and smiled at the recollection of old memories.

Dad was snapped out of his daze by Mom's fit of tears. Her crying didn't exactly make my leaving any easier. "I don't want to lose my only s-son. P-please don't let him go. Make him stay, Robert, please. He's young and f-foolish and he do-doesn't know w-what he's doing." She burst into tears onto Dad's shoulder. He tried his best to console her, but she only cried harder. He threw a desperate look my way and I shrugged.

Luckily for us two males, my sister, Claire, stepped up to Mom and coaxed her off of Dad's shoulder. "Come on Ma, I'll take you back home." The Vaporeon led Mom away, telling her that Dad would handle everything, to which the Leafeon cried harder, not trusting her mate to keep me here in this gloomy forest.

"She seemed pretty upset..."

Dad sighed. "She'll get over it. Your mother isn't one to be mad for long." He turned and smiled at me. "So, you sure you want to go through with this? I was ordered by the missus to try and keep you here, and heck if I won't try. She scares me sometimes..."

I laughed at Dad. "Yes, I'm sure; for about the hundredth time. I want to do this, Dad. You tell me all these stories about treasure and adventure and how could I resist?"

He smiled at me warmly. "You're going to do big things Matthew. I can feel it. Your ancestors were some of the greatest explorers in existence. Especially-" He stopped, like I knew he would. Like he always did. When he went on rambling about my ancestors and being a descendent of great people, he would always stop himself short. "You remind me so much of-" "You may even grow to be as good as-" "-and his grandfather was the son of-"

"Dad? Why do you always do that?"

He blinked. "Do what?"

I looked him in the eyes. "When you talk about our family, and those that existed before us, you always stop yourself short of saying something- Like a name, or person... why?"

He looked as if he might consider telling me what he's been holding back all these years. But, of course, Dad always was the stubborn one. He looked at me and shook his head slowly. "It's better that you not know. You should probably get going, that is, if this is really what you want."

I smiled at him. I could understand if there were things that he couldn't tell me. Everyone has those kinds of secrets about them. "Yes, Dad. This is really what I want. You talk a lot about going into dungeons an how much fun it was. And nothing really ever happens around here. I want some excitement in my life."

He laughed. "You got guts Matthew, that will keep you alive in there for the most part. Just don't forget to keep safe. If your mother receives a letter of your death, then I'm sure to follow soon after."

We shared a laugh and I turned around to walk away. Looking over my shoulder, I said, "Hey Dad, tell Mom I love her. Also, tell the girls I said goodbye."

He looked hurt. "What about me?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Sure, Dad, I love you too."

"Oh, thank goodness. I'm so relieved."

"Bye dad."

"Goodbye Son... if only he could see you now."

He was talking about grandpa. The elderly Jolteon had passed away the year before. I felt bad just thinking about him, and I knew that Dad felt worse. There wasn't really much I could say. This was one of those silent moments. I stared at my paws and then slowly looked up at Dad over my shoulder and smiled. "Yeah, he would be proud, wouldn't he?"

He nodded, trying to keep away the tears. "You can bet he would be. I am too. My son is following in the family legacy. You don't know how happy I am right now."

I smiled weakly and continued walking down the dirt path that led away from this life without adventure or action or excitement. "Goodbye, Dad," I called over my shoulder. "I'll be sure to write."

"Goodbye, Matthew. Make us proud." I could hear his whispers, but I couldn't see his tears that I knew were there. Ones that I'm sure fell silently to the floor as my steps faded into the distance. "Make us all proud..."

...

As I walked, I replayed the events in my head. Everything had seemed to work out for me in the end. But, something inside of me almost wanted to stay behind. Something almost wanted Mom to drag me into the den and hold me in her paws and never let me go because that's where it was safe. There was that little voice in the back of my head, trying to reason with me, and it gave a lot of good points. 'You're mom is going to be upset for the rest of her life.' 'You could die in there.' 'What if they were only stories.' 'You're never going to amount to anything'.

But there were also the voices of encouragement, and adventure, and want. 'She'll forgive you.' 'Dungeons with treasure, it's worth the risk, right?' 'So what if they were only stories, exploring is a family legacy.' 'New challenges, a life of excitement, you could become one of the greats!'.

In the end, the positive outweighed the negative, and here I am three days later. On a path that led to a crossroads that was the central point for a place called Treasure Town. Man, even the names of the towns sounded exciting.

I stopped just before the crossroads and checked whatever supplies I had left. I flung the homemade satchel over my shoulder and onto the floor. "Two Oran Berries, an Apple,_50_p, and...huh?" I pulled out what looked like a small envelope. I tried to be careful opening it so as not to damage whatever was inside. My claws have destroyed more slips of paper than you know.

"Mom..." I whispered, staring down at a small painting of my entire family, but it was an old picture because Claire was an Eevee instead of a Vaporeon. There was me, lying down in the front center. Two of my sisters, Claire and Samantha, flanked my sides. They were sitting up. My youngest sister, Joy, was laying atop my back, tugging on my ear playfully. A Leafeon and Flareon stood behind us, smiling lovingly at me and my sisters. My throat nearly tightened when I saw the Jolteon that stood off just to the right, his facial expression one of amusement and love.

I remember when this was painted a couple of years ago. a Smeargle by the name of Pierré came by and asked if he could practice his skills on us by painting a portrait. He said he needed a start on life, and a happy family would do perfectly for him. He didn't really have much with him, just some easels that were on a smaller scale, big enough to come down to at least half his size, with white boards that were about the same. They were different sizes though, the biggest one was about his size, and the smallest one was as big as my paw.

Mom didn't trust him, but Dad was cool enough to allow him to paint us. He painted several times, the one I had in my paws right now was big enough for me to carry around in the satchel without taking up too much space. After he finished, he gave it to us and said that it was the worst he had ever done in his life and that he apologized. But looking at this painting now, I can see that the attention to detail was amazing. You could practically see the memories of past adventures in both Dad's and Grandpa's eyes. The background seemed to shine with an afternoon glow, and cast light shadows over the bodies of the subjects in the painting. I saw a smiling me in the picture, but I could also see how much I really hated that my sister was on my back and that her teeth were especially sharp. Mom was happy, but the concern in her eyes was plain as day. Claire and Samantha, although smiling calmly, looked as if they wanted to laugh at me and my temporary pain. It looked so real, and if this was "horrible", then what did "Good enough" look like?

There was a note attached to the painting, it was written by Mom herself. It read, "_Don't forget us and be careful, Please." _I swallowed hard and prevented the tears from surfacing. Placing the picture back into the homemade bag, I flung it around my shoulder and continued on.

I came upon a sign that read "Crossroads" and had arrows and words on it. There was an arrow pointing down that read "Beach". There was an arrow pointing up that read "Explorer's guild". The arrow pointing to the left read "Treasure Town". And the arrow pointing the way I came read "Warp point".

Confused, I looked back down the path I just came from, not seeing anything that looked like it could warp me anywhere. But then I noticed a kind of glint that bounced off something metallic in the ground. Looking closer, I saw that the object turned out to be a smooth, round, platform made of what looked to be Iron. A yellow circle in its center indicated where one had to stand in order to be teleported. The reason I didn't notice it before was because some joker decided to paint it the same dusty color as the ground.

I scoffed and turned my attention back to the sign. The beach sounded nice, maybe I could get a chance to rest my aching paws. Some nice, smooth sand on my sore pads would feel nice right about now... I shook my head. No, rest can come later. Treasure Town would be something worth looking into, I could probably stock up on supplies before I head to the Guild, But I'm not really sure that _50_p would get me much anyways.

To the Guild it is then. I look towards a flight of steps that seems to climb on until forever, but you could at least see the peak where they stop... somewhere up there. There is another Eevee sitting by the base of the steps, looking up in awe and what seems to be fear. I can tell that she's a female because of her build, lithe and small. I have three sisters so I would know what a female of my species looks like. The moment my eyes landed on her, I felt like I should know her from somewhere, but aside from my family members and Pierré, I haven't really seen any other pokémon in my life. I discarded the feeling of familiarity without a second thought.

I walk up to the base of the steps and look up like the Eevee right next to me. Instead, I'm not intimidated. I'm anxious. Well, there really isn't any way I'm going to get to the Guild just standing here, is there? I start walking up the stairs, the satchel around my shoulder thumping into my side. But at around the tenth or so step, I stop and turn around. "Is something the matter?"

The Eevee looked almost as surprised as I felt. Not even knowing why I stopped to turn and talk to her, I figured that it happened and I might as well roll with it. "It's just a flight of stairs," I said. "There isn't really much to be worried about."

She shook her head. And I swear she looked a little more confident than before. "No, I'm not worried, it's just so... high."

I smiled at her, she seemed nice and it would be rude of me not to help her out. "You going to join the guild?"

She swallowed hard and nodded uncertainly. "A-are you?"

"Yeah, I am. You want me to accompany you?" I gestured up the steps towards the peak, not really meaning anything much by what I said, but she seemed to think otherwise.

"No thanks, really. I'm... not looking for a relationship right now."

... Did she really just say what I think she said? "Excuse me?"

She blinked, suddenly looking flustered. "I-isn't that what you meant by 'accompany'?"

I eyed her uneasily and then looked back up at the peak of the stairs. "No, I meant that I would walk you up to the guild. You didn't seem to be very confident in yourself and I figured I might as well extend a helping hand."

I wasn't looking at her, but I do think I see a blush that went along with her voice. "O-oh, heh, umm, s-sure that sounds nice. T-thanks." She was at my side in a matter of seconds, looking away from me and trying to conceal the blush I thought she had. "I-I'm sorry if I made a bad first impression. You're the only one who's ever shown me any kindness as far as I know, and I was kind of taken by surprise. Not really knowing how to deal with kindness, I kinda assumed the worst case scenario."

I tried not to pay attention to the fact that she used the word "kind" multiple times and smiled at her cute little display. "Don't worry, it never happened." I started walking up the steps and she followed close behind. I figured that the meeting was out of the way. Time for introductions. "My name's Matthew," I stated, throwing a look over my shoulder at the Eevee girl.

She avoided my gaze, still embarrassed by earlier. She mumbled something and I picked up the word "Amber." Whether it was her name or the kind of stone, I didn't know.

"Your name's Amber?" I asked her. She looked up to me and nodded slowly, her eyes a little scared, but mostly shy and curious. I turned my head back and focused on the climb up the stairs. The name seemed to suit her.

Having been traveling for three days just to get here, I was accustomed to fatigue and could hold out just a bit more longer than I used to. Amber, however, seemed to be falling behind and started to slow down, obviously a little tired. We weren't even halfway up the stairs, but she had a good reason to be tired. As I slowed to match Amber's speed, I began to wonder what idiot decided to build an Explorer's Guild on top of a mountain/cliff.

After what seemed like a minute or so, we finally reached the top of the stairs and Amber practically collapsed with exhaustion. I chuckled to myself and looked back from where we came. The ground was far below us, and I could see the entirety of Treasure Town. It looked small at this height, and I was almost scared that I'd die one day by falling off this very cliff. Raising my eyes to look at the horizon, I saw that the sun was starting to set, which meant the day was almost over.

I look back at Amber, who seemed to be recomposing herself. My gaze then moves to what looks like a hut that was shaped to resemble a Wigglytuff, there were several scratches here and there on the structure, the fading colors of paint resembling the age of the building, and a wooden gate that was barred over the entrance. There were huge torches- and I mean HUGE- that lined the edges along the cliff. I can only imagine how it must look at night when the torches were lit and those bad boys were set aflame.

From the stories that Dad tells me, I can decipher that this was the very guild the Greatest Explorers of All Time went to. "The Wigglytuff _guild" _I felt that weird sense of familiarity wash over me again, but cast it off to the side. I have never been here before, so why would it seem familiar to me? It was probably the blood of many explorers before me. My family legacy.

I walked over to the building, marveling at its age, surprised that it was still standing after all these years. I didn't even notice the wooden grate that I stepped on in my state of awe.

"POKÉMON DETECTED! POKÉMON DETECTED!"

"Holy shit!" I jumped off of the wooden grate and faced it with shock and fear on my face. To be honest, I don't cuss often, but hell if that didn't scare me. I saw Amber trying hard not to laugh at me, obviously not having been startled by the shouting voice like I was.

"WHO IS IT?"

"..."

"SENTRY! WHO IS IT?"

"I DON'T KNOW, I DIDN'T GET A CHANCE TO SEE! HEY, YOU! STEP BACK ONTO THE GRATE!" It took me a while to realize that the voice in the hole was talking to me. I slowly walked forward and peered down into the small platform. I could see nothing but pure, pitch-blackness.

"Who, me?" I called down into the hole.

"YES, PLEASE STEP ONTO THE GRATE!"

I looked over to Amber, who shrugged at me. Slowly stepping back onto the platform, I tried to see what pokémon was down there, to no avail.

"IT'S AN EEVEE!"

"OKAY SENTRY, NEXT!"

I was amazed and surprised that the pokémon down there could tell what species I was just by having me stand on this small platform. The only answer to what kind of pokémon resided down there was Psychic. It had to be the only reasonable explanation.

"HEY, YOU! STEP ONTO THE GRATE!"

I raised a brow. For a psychic, this guy sure wasn't smart. "But I am on the grate," I called into the darkness.

"NO, NOT YOU! THE OTHER ONE!"

I looked over to Amber and moved off so she could get on. Had to be a psychic. How else did he know Amber was with me?

"IT'S ANOTHER EEVEE!"

"WHAT? YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"

"BUT I AM!"

"ODD, IT'S RARE TO FIND TWO EEVEE AROUND THESE PARTS! THAT'S LIKE SOMETHING YOU FIND IN A STORY!"

"I KNOW, RIGHT!"

Amber seemed, if anything, a little mad at the voices for talking as if we weren't there. She shouted down into the grate, "Excuse me, but are you implying that my life is a story!"

"YEAH, POSSIBLY!"

I almost laughed at the look of incredibility on the young Eevee's face. "Don't worry, your life isn't a story." I consoled her. "It would be awkward though, wouldn't it? In fact, just thinking about it makes me wonder..."

"WHAT'S YOUR BUSINESS HERE?"

I snapped out of my thoughts, walked over next to Amber, and peered into the hole. Yup, it was pitch-black down there. "We're here to enlist in the Guild as members," I called out.

"ALRIGHTY THEN, OPEN THE GATE!"

"OPENING THE GATE!"

I looked up to see that the wooden bars on the Wigglytuff Guild started to ascend, making a kind of creaking noise along with the action. As soon as the gates had finally finished opening, I felt an incredible urge to rush into the building. Restricting myself, I shouted down into the hole, "Thanks!" and jumped off the grate.

Amber walked by my side, her tail swishing back and forth like I knew mine was. I always hated doing that, it is an automatic reaction to happiness, I know, but I really don't want to be apologizing every time my tail brushed against hers.

We reached the opening and, looking in, saw that there was a ladder of sorts leading into a hole in the ground. I was going to compromise the logic that said all quadruped pokémon could use ladders when Amber walked forward and slowly turned around, Awkwardly trying to position her hind paws onto the rungs and trying to get a grip on those closest to her forepaws. Nevertheless, she managed and clambered on downwards.

I walked forward and stared into the hole, seeing nothing but Amber's head bobbing up and down with her climbing motions. I waited for her to reach the bottom before I started my climb down.

Aside from me never having used a ladder before, I found it surprisingly easy to reach the bottom. And by that, I mean that I slipped on the fourth or so rung and fell down.

I hit the ground with a dull thud and a sound of pain emanating from my throat. Amber rushed over only seconds after. "Are you okay?" The amount of worry in her voice soothed me to no ends. It almost made me feel bad for having slipped.

Despite my throbbing head and aching behind, which had both made contact with the rough floor, I smiled and tried to protect my masculinity by not showing any pain. "Yeah, I'm fine." I stood up and shook my head to clear the dull pounding, which only made it worse. The room seemed to spin and I felt myself rocking to the sides just a bit.

I sat down and brought a paw up to rub at my eyes, wincing in pain as a short, blue dog pokémon wearing what looked like a mask and a red colored scarf came up to us. Crossing it's arms it said, "You will not believe how many times that has happened in the past week. You know, you could have just taken the stairs." Judging from the voice, it was male. Also judging from the voice, he seemed to have been amused by my little display of ladder technique.

Amber gave him a quizzical look. "Stairs?"

He pointed to the ladder and we looked. I realized not moments after that he wasn't pointing to the ladder, but right next to it. An opening in the wall was made that allowed pokémon no bigger than a Nidoking to pass through comfortably. There was a flight of stairs leading up.

"Seriously?" I walked over to the opening and stared up. The stairs led upwards for a short amount of time in a spiral kind of shape. I started to walk up them, not even caring if anyone followed me or not. When I reached the top, I looked around and saw that damned ladder right in front of me. I stepped out of the passageway and looked back from where I came, which was just to the right of the entrance to the Guild. I didn't notice it earlier, because it's just one of those things that you don't see. Mainly because it blended in with the dull colored rock. But also because it was practically hidden from plain sight.

I walked back down the spiraling staircase and, upon reaching the bottom, sulked over to Amber's side and muttered, "Unbelievable."

Amber and the dog were talking when I had gotten back. But I was appearantly a little late because Amber had just finished saying "Thank you." As the little blue dog walked off.

I didn't even get a chance to study my new environment before Amber tugged on my ear like I hated and motioned me to follow her.

"Don't do that, please. It's really uncomfortable," I complained while trying to pry her maw from around my ear.

"Come on, Clumsy. Let's go," she said, finally relenting her assault on my poor ear. Surprised by her straightforwardness, I followed. What happened to the shy little Eevee I found outside? I guess she was just warming up to me.

"Oh, what, so my nickname is officially 'Clumsy' now?"

She giggled as she reached another, ugh... ladder. At the position this one was placed, she had to turn her back to me in order to access it. We had just met and, trying not to impose, I looked away and allowed her the privacy that came with showing me her behind, blushing heavily.

Okay, it's been a few seconds. I should be able to look back now. Turning to the ladder, I saw that Amber had disappeared. I looked down into the hole. She was already at the bottom, waiting for me expectantly. "Come on Matthew, just climb on down. It's not so bad."

I gulped and looked around for that little blue dog pokémon that helped point out the stairs. I found him getting ready to leave and rushed over immediately. "Hey, I'm just curious, is there a set of stairs that leads to the floor below this one?"

He looked almost startled and smiled before shaking his head. "No, the stairs are actually new renovations to the place. They haven't started working on the second set. You're going to have to take the ladder." I shuddered at the word, but thanked the pokémon anyways.

I returned to the ladder with a sense of dread. Looking at the wooden carved rungs I steeled my gaze. "So... we meet again." I positioned myself to climb down and extended my claws to get a good grip before starting. Closing my eyes, I repeated a small chant in my head over and over again. Left hindpaw, left forepaw, right hindpaw, right forepaw, left hindpaw, left forepaw, right hindpaw, right forepaw... I was actually climbing down a ladder! I started to go a little faster, confident in my abilities now. Before I could celebrate though, a little piece in the rung chipped away when my claw contacted the rough wood. I slipped and fell to the ground as before, but I wasn't as high this time, so the fall wasn't too bad.

I sat up and brushed myself off, throwing a look of hatred at the thing known as a ladder. I swear I could hear it laughing at me, mocking me with it's ladderness, taunting me for not being able to master the secrets of wooden rungs.

The laughs turned out to belong to Amber. "You need to work on that."

I sighed heavily before replying. "I do, don't I ?"

Looking around, I saw that we were in a kind of sub-level. The walls around us curved upward and met in a kind of dome like shape. There was a pokémon with what looked like speakers for ears shouting into a hole. It seemed to me that he had some kind of problem if he was to make friends with a hole. Just to my right was a HUGE chamber pot. Standing in front of said pot was a weird looking frog that seemed to be smiling at a chunk of rock in the wall ahead of him. I resisted the urge to shudder at his blank gaze.

Extending my view, I saw that there were tunnels branching off to different rooms. One of them had a sign on the side of it that read "Galley" and the other had one that read "Crew Quarters". There was also a window in the side of the rock that let in the warm colors of the sunset's dying rays.

Looking around, I didn't even see the bird that approached us. "Excuse me, do you need anything?" I was taken by surprise by the sudden voice and gawked at the shape of his head. It resembled a musical note and, if anything, he looked like a cute little version of a symbol you would find on a music sheet. For a fleeting second, I imagined his head flying out of a piano as the keys were played.

I almost laughed at him, but realizing that he had a sense of authority in this place, I responded with a minimal amount of amusement in my voice. "Yes, actually, we're here to enlist in the guild as members."

He bobbed his head in what looked like a nodding motion. "Very well then, follow me." He hopped off and chirped up his part of conversation. "My name is Chatot, I'm the organizer, assistant, and advisor of this here Guild..."

Amber moved to follow him, and I did as well. But not before I turned to face the ladder and growled menacingly while backing away slowly. "Until next time..."

I caught up with the two as the music bird finished his small speech. "... here to ensure the security and peace of the nation, but there have been less and less dark pokémon appearing in dungeons, so there aren't many guild members left. There's enough, but it is always good to have more just In case."

We stopped in front of a wooden door that had a darker shape on it that also strangely, but not surprisingly, resembled a Wigglytuff. "Excuse me, but did you say your name was Chatot?" Amber asked.

He ruffled his feathers. "Yes, why do you ask?"

"I just though that I pokémon didn't go by their species name anymore. What's your _real _name?"

Chatot, now classified as a Chatot- I didn't know that earlier- gulped and tried to look away, but having eyes on the side of his head didn't help much. He mumbled something under his breath.

"Excuse me, come again?"

He did the same thing.

"Still can't hear you."

He spoke up, just a fraction of a decibel louder.

"One more time," Amber urged.

"CHAROLETTE! OKAY, IT'S CHAROLETTE!"

I burst out laughing and Amber followed suit. "B-buh, but, you're a guy! Oh, geez that is priceless," I cried, already feeling dizzy.

Amber was just the same as me, the humor in her voice increasing every second. "Heh, and I, ha, and I thought 'Clumsy' was a horrible name."

The bird waved his wing at us weakly, "Yeah, yeah, get it all out of your system. Charolette, ha ha, girl's name, I'm a guy, I get it. Real funny."

Feeling sorry for the poor girl- I MEAN GUY! Guy, guy was what I meant to say. I stopped laughing and resorted to a few chuckles. I nudged Amber and she quieted down to little giggles escaping her every few seconds.

Charolette knocked his taloned foot on the door and announced, "Guildmaster Wigglytuff, we have new recruits."

A young voice answered him, seeming very cheery while doing so. "Oh really? That's good, come on in."

He opened the door by pulling on the latch and ushered us into the room. Looking around, I saw that we were inclosed in another dome like room. I started to get the feeling that these guys liked dome-shaped roofs over their heads. There were two huge torches that were set up like the ones outside, in-between these torches sat a big fuzzy pink and white bunny that smiled warmly as we entered. I figured that this was the Guildmaster.

"Good afternoon, Guildmaster Wigglytuff."

The Wigglytuff nodded his head at the Chatot. "Good afternoon, Charolette." Amber and I burst into another fit of giggles.

Charolette squawked. "D-don't call me that,sir! Please!"

The pink bunny noticed his fault and tried to recover. "Oh, I'm sorry Charolette." The two of us on the floor laughed even harder. "CHATOT! I'm sorry, Chatot. It kinda slipped." The Guildmaster scratched the back of his head with a smile playing on his lips.

Charolette- Oh, that just never gets old- sighed and introduced us. "These two Eevee would like to join the guild, Guildmaster."

I sat up and helped Amber up off the ground, still laughing a little bit to myself. I faced the Wigglytuff and bowed my head. "Good afternoon Guildmas-"

"Oh, no, no, no, no. Please don't call me that." The Wigglytuff said, shaking his paws out in front of him in an attempt to stop me. "My name is Miles. I'll go by that instead. I'd try to get Chatot over there to do the same, but he is a little strict on those kinds of things."

Charolette squawked, "But, Sir, honorifics are important. They help distinguish those of a higher rank from the others. It would be unruly for me to call you by your true name, and I will not allow myself to do so." He turned his head down and muttered under his breath so that Miles couldn't hear. "And I would appreciate if you did the same."

I held back a laugh, but a small snicker escaped me and Charolette turned his head sharply to give me a steel hard gaze. I made my face look normal and tried to conceal my laughter, as if I hadn't heard what he said to himself.

"So, you two want to join the guild?" Miles looked at us skeptically. "Are you sure you can handle it? We do have very rigorous training here. It would be something that you will have to get used to though. Exercise is important after all."

I nearly gagged at the word exercise, but smiled nonetheless. "I can handle it for sure. I've already built up my stamina just coming to this place."

"What do you mean by 'Coming'?" Miles inquired. Tilting his head and crossing his arms.

"I mean that I traveled here."

"From where?"

"Everett Forest. I live there with my family. It took me about three days to get here."

He smiled and nodded his head. "Very well, then. And what about you?" He asked Amber.

She scuffled the ground with her paw nervously. "I, uh... I always wanted to be an explorer, but... I don't think that I could keep up with the others." She looked into the Wigglytuff's eyes. "But if you were to give me a chance, then I promise not to disappoint you. I'll try my best."

He nodded his head again. "Determination is always a good trait. Okay, you two have the makings of an exploration team. Now, here's the question. What will the name of your team be? Well, that is, if you two want to make a team with each other."

I looked at Amber and she looked at me. Originally, I came here to be a one man team, but something about the Eevee I had just met... pulled at me. Maybe it was her eyes... You never know this, but it is always the eyes. They can say everything they want and still hide what needs to be hidden. They can change an opinion on a major deal. They can give and take when needed. And right now, Amber's eyes told me all I needed to know.

She was scared. I could see how much she hated to be left alone. I could see the small bond that formed between us earlier today. If I was to say no, then anything between us would break. She would break.

"Sure, that sounds alright," I voiced my thoughts, noticing how Amber's eyes filled with relief and joy.

"Team name?"

I pulled up a blank. I had completely forgotten that all exploration teams had a name. Of course, it makes sense I would forget a small detail like that in a life like this. Amber walked over to me and sat down by my side. "How about 'Team V'?" She offered, I figured that any letter in the alphabet would sound really dumb. I can't be sure how many times "The A Team" has popped up in the past.

"No, I don't think that would work out. Oh, what about 'Team Vee'?"

She tilted her head and pouted. "That's what I said."

"No, Vee as in V-E-E."

She tossed the name around her head and frowned. "No, it sounds kind of lame. It is actually something expected from us. I don't want anything to be obvious."

We sat there for a while, offering up suggestions and ideas.

"Team Soul?"

"Team Heart!"

"Team Spirit?"

"Team Joy?"

"What are we, Emotions and Ideals?"

"Okay, then, Team Charm."

"That sounds familiar..."

"Team Tag?"

"You're not even taking this seriously anymore."

"No, I'm not. Uh, Team Truth?"

"You're going back to the Ideals."

"You're such a critique, Amber. Okay, why don't you go?"

"Fine, uh... Team 'Eon?"

"That's another one of those expected ones."

"Team Trekon?"

"Where did that come from?"

"I don't know..."

"Team Icon?"

"I swear it's like you want us to be laughed at."

"Team Steel!"

"We're not steel types."

"Oh, I thought it sounded cool... and strong."

"Well, for a boy, of course. But not for a girl like me. Team Normal?"

"We are normal types, but that just sounds strange."

"I know..."

"Oh, Team Truth!"

"You already said that one."

"Darn."

"This is harder than I expected."

"...Team Unexpected?"

"You know what? We'll go with Team Truth."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's pretty simple."

"Awesome! Team Truth it is."

Miles looked as if he wanted to laugh. "It took you two long enough. Alright then, Here." He walked over and produced a treasure chest out of thin air. Really! The ground in front us was completely empty, and then... poof. Treasure.

I eyed the box uneasily. "How did you do that?"

"It's not important. Just open it." He gestured to the Treasure box and I complied. Opening the box, I saw what looked like an assortment of items inside that explorers used. A Wonder map, A treasure bag, and two badges that each had little wings on them and a small, black screen.

"It's an Exploration kit," Miles said. "The Wonder map is an amazing thing. It can adapt and react to certain things, like keywords and Items. Watch," He walked over and grabbed the map from inside the treasure chest. He showed it to me and I stared. The map seemed to be moving. Little pictures that looked like clouds covered the entire surface of the piece of paper, and I started to think that it was going to be one useless map. "Treasure Town." That is, until Miles said what appeared to be a keyword. The name of Treasure Town.

The clouds on the map MOVED. It was like watching a projection. The clouds parted over a small area and a little dot appeared with the words _Treasure Town _scrawled underneath it. I gazed in awe. Magic.

"And if you're curious, no, it's not magic. This map is just a wonder in itself. A Wonder Map." He then pulled out the two badges and held each one in his paw. "If you two don't mind, I'll need some DNA samples."

I took a step back "What for?"

He smiled. "The badges are inactive right now. They'll need a user. Only then will all the functions be available to you. Using this, you can talk to each other when separated in a dungeon or even send someone back to the guild with just a command. There's a lot more useful things it could do, but you will have to figure it out as you go. It won't work without a proper user, though. It uses your DNA to recognize you and yourself only. Therefore, only accepting the orders you give it. Now, once again. If you don't mind, I would like some DNA samples."

I chewed on my foreleg and managed to sever a strand of my fur. Amber just settled for sticking out her tongue in protest.

Miles walked over and took the strand of fur from my teeth. Opening a small hidden slot, he placed the fur strand into it and proceeded to press a certain combination. He gave me back the badge and the screen lit up with all of my information, including a picture of a generic Eevee. It had everything except a name on me. In the name slot, it had my species name entered. I scanned the little device, scrolling through the options and information. When I saw the little bar that displayed my HP and level, I slightly winced not realizing how low each were. My experience was pretty high though, I could level up in the dungeons.

I looked over to Amber to see that she still had her tongue out and her eyes closed. The Wigglytuff smiled and pressed another combination into the screen. A small rectangular thing popped out of the side and Miles proceeded to wipe it against Amber's tongue, earning a shocked look out of her. I then remembered that saliva was a form of a DNA sample.

The little rectangle popped back into the badge and it whirred before the screen flashed, a picture of an Eevee appearing on the screen and a list of its data. He handed the badge back to the surprised Eevee, the tip of her tongue still hanging out the front of her maw a little.

"Alright then, that about sums it up. Here's your Treasure Bag, you can use it to hold anything you find In dungeons, including Berries, Food Items, Gummis, and Other miscellaneous things... even that sorry excuse for a Treasure Bag you have there." He gestured to the home made satchel over my shoulder.

"Hey, it was a gift from my mother," I snapped at him and his insult. "This holds more value to me than your stupid generic Treasure Bag. I'll be keeping this, thank you."

He nodded. "Then this one goes to her." He pulled the Treasure Bag out of the box and gave it to Amber. Her eyes lit up and shone brighter than the stars on a dark, gloomy night.

He stepped back and admired us. "Well, there's only one more thing to do. This is my first time registering a new exploration team and I'm not really sure how Dad did it, but heck if I won't give it a try."

He then started... dancing? Yes, it looked like a weird form of the potty dance, just that he was shaking his hands next to his chest and murmuring the word "Registering" over and over. I wanted to tell him that he looked funny and was just embarrassing himself. I didn't even see the point in letting him continue what he was doing. "Uhh, Miles? What exactly-"

"YOOM-TAH!"

A bright light filled the room and I shielded my eyes, the badge in my paw let out a kind of rumbling noise and fell to the floor. The entire building seemed to be shaking on it's very foundation and I felt the roof was going to cave in on itself.

All of a sudden, it stopped. No more shaking. No more bright light. No more fear of getting crushed under a million rocks. I slowly opened my eyes to a cheery Wigglytuff. "Heh, I guess I overdid it. Look at your badges."

I looked down and picked up my badge from the floor. The screen lit up as I touched it and there was a flashing button that said "Press me"... I did.

A little page popped up, showing a banner across the top that said "Congratulations!" A picture of me showed up in the center. The text under my picture said "Eevee, honorary member of Team Truth." I admit, Team Truth kind of had a ring to it.

I blinked. "That's it?"

"What do you mean?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "I mean, is that all it takes to register an exploration team? No showing off our skills, or preforming three of the most complicated tasks you could think of?"

Charolette flapped his wings. "Well, we used to set up a trial dungeon for incoming exploration teams, but that costs poké, and since we started losing explorers; the guild can't possibly generate enough of the stuff."

Looking at my badge and the registration page I muttered, "I understand, but... is there any way I can fix this name thing?" I showed the badge to Miles and he smiled at the word "Eevee".

"Yes, but you're going to have to figure that out yourself, its getting a little late."

I grumbled as he turned to Charolette. "Charole... Chatot, Could you take these two to their rooms?"

The bird's feathers ruffled before he responded. "Yes, Guildmaster Wigglytuff." He turned to me and Amber, who was still rubbing her eyes in order to soothe them after the blinding white light. "You two, come with me."

He led us out of the office, towards the tunnel with the sign that read "Crew Quarters" besides it. I looked out one of the windows and saw that it was already dark out, giving me an idea as to how long the registration took. We followed him into the crew quarters and all the way to the end of the tunnel, where a curtain of moss hung down from the top of one of the rooms. Pulling aside the moss, he gestured inside.

There were two small beds of hay that rested on the ground. Besides the beds was a short stump of wood that I guessed would serve as a nightstand. I gratefully flopped down on the bed of hay nearest to the nightstand and sighed contentedly, finally getting a chance to rest my aching paws. Amber sat down on the opposite bed, looking just as relieved.

"You will reside here as long as you are enlisted in the guild as members," Charolette said. "Most of the other members are already asleep. You will have a chance to meet them come morning. Just go to sleep early and if you aren't awake for presentation tomorrow, then we will send someone to wake you. And I promise you will not like that. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir," I purred from my bed, surprised by how soft hay can actually be. "Sleep early, wake up earlier. You got it.

The Chatot nodded and left the room. I just remembered why I chose the bed nearest to the wooden stump and reached down into my satchel. Pulling out my family portrait, I placed it on the nightstand, leaning the picture against the wall and admiring it in the moonlight that shone down from a window overhead.

"Who are they?"

I turned to look at Amber, her eyes were shining in the darkness. They held a good amount of curiosity within them. "My family," I answered. She stiffened at the word and slowly reached up to place a paw at the base of her neck. I didn't have time to make sense of her movements before she responded.

"You all look happy..."

"Yeah, I guess we do." I lay back down in the bed, putting my head down and shutting my eyes tight. "Good night, Amber..."

I heard her shift around in her own bed, making herself comfortable before resigning to the night. I felt myself let go of consciousness as her whisper came to me in an almost dream-like state.

"Good night...Matthew."

---

Somewhere in a dark crater, dwelling inside a long dormant volcano, a figure as dark as the shadows themselves smiled menacingly. His sky-blue eyes twinkling with a knowing glint. Could it be? After all these years, will he finally enact his revenge on those two explorers fought so long ago? His smile grew wider, eyes shining hungrily in the darkness.

"Yes..."

Okay. I know it was bad. I didn't bother to edit it much and this is what I released several months ago somewhere on a different site. I just kept the same format and all. Don't bother me about it. I'm lazy. Anyhow, I'll catch ya around. Stay safe. Love you~ -Dusk