PMD Story: Dimensions of Time and Space

So I'm currently writing a PMD story, a sequel to a prequel I wrote and posted on Fanfiction.net. It got a lot attention (For me I mean) and I was encouraged to write a sequel but I'm having troubles deciding how to fit it all together so I'm posting it here for you all to read and give me any feedback you feel like. Thanks!

Synopsis of Pokémon: The Paralyzed Planet

In the beginning of The Paralyzed Planet, Haley meets Dusknoir and is convinced to go on a journey with him to see Dialga. What she did not know, however, was that Dialga, and thus Dusknoir, had very different views on the subject of the darkened world than she did. Along the journey to the Hidden Land, Dusknoir teaches Haley how to fight pokémon; and she experiences the Dimensional Scream, though it is not the first time. When they reach the Hidden Land, Haley meets with Dialga, who explains the Dimensional Scream to her, and commands her to join him or he will kill her. Frightened, she agrees. Dusknoir then explains to her what he and Dialga believe: mainly, that no one can restore time to its original state, because in doing so, the world of the darkness will disappear, including all the pokemon and people who lived there. Haley is horrified at this revelation, not wishing to become a murderer, and wanting the world restored to the light. She flees before Dusknoir’s dark revelation, heart broken by the pokemon she thought was her friend.

She finds a dungeon and tries to flee through it, but a Gengar uses Dream Eater on her, almost killing her. Fortunately, she is saved by none other than Grovyle. When she wakes in Grovyle's cave, they talk and Grovyle realizes that Dialga will be after them. They flee from the cave but are forced into the dungeon again by a feral Dragonite. Dusknoir and Gengar show up, and Dusknoir acts as though it were a set-up to capture Grovyle, causing Grovyle to stop trusting Haley. Haley ends up killing Gengar when he tries to attack Grovyle while he is distracted in his fight against Dusknoir. Then, just when it seemed that Dusknoir was going to win the fight, a division of the PIT (Planetary Investigation Team) shows up and drives him away.
Haley is taken prisoner of the PIT, them believing that she had set up Grovyle. She is knocked out while fleeing from them, and she wakes up inside a jail cell. When Dusknoir and the Sableye attack the PIT's base, Haley fights on the PIT's side, saving Grovyle from Dusknoir, and driving Primal Dialga's servants away. She then rescues the PIT's leader, Ninetales, from a dangerous condition by going to the Dark World with Grovyle and finding Ninetales' spirit. When they return from the Dark World, a meeting is held. It is decided that Haley and Grovyle should go back to Haley's home to warn her mother, a former PIT member, that Dusknoir is on the move again.

Grovyle and Haley attempt the journey to her house. Grovyle was poisoned for a time after a dungeon, but Haley cured him. Then they were chased into a trap by a group of Houndour. The pokémon orchestrating the trap appears to be Dusknoir. Haley and Grovyle flee, and Grovyle falls over a cliff. Haley seems to be trapped, but she jumps after him and lands in a river, which saves her life. But when she gets to shore, she finds Grovyle dead. Dusknoir shows up again and commands her to give up, but then Haley notices that Grovyle looks different, and she realizes that it was all a nightmare. She hears her mother's voice, and the dream-state is lifted from her. Haley's mother, Gina, drives Dusknoir off, but then reveals that the pokémon who had appeared to be Dusknoir was not Dusknoir after all, but an impostor. She refuses to reveal who the impostor is, and the group returns to Haley's home.

When they arrive at the house, Gina reveals a secret room under the house where many weapons and books pertaining to the planet's paralysis are stored. Over the course of several weeks, Haley is trained by her mother and Grovyle to fight with weapons, including an Aura Blade named Dawnblanche and a set of claws designed to fit over human hands. Gina explains the Aura Blade as a sword that draws the aura of its user and uses the aura in battle, making it a powerful weapon. Besides Dawnblanche, Gina also possesses another Aura Blade named after its previous owner: Dusknoir. She does not explain why Dusknoir has ever owned a sword, merely saying that he was very good at using it.

After several weeks, Grovyle and Haley go to Treeshroud Forest in search of a Time Gear. They explore the dungeon, eventually reaching the end, where Haley has her first Dimensional Scream in the presence of Grovyle. They then travel back to Haley's home to find it invaded by Sableye. Grovyle holds the Sableye off while Haley races to find her mother. She finds her mother in the basement, confronted by Dusknoir. They exchange banter, which includes insinuations by Dusknoir of Haley's father; hinting that he was still alive, though Gina had always sworn that Haley's father was dead.

But before Haley could find out what Dusknoir meant, Gina attacks, and the battle rages. Eventually, they find themselves on the first floor again, and the heroes are just about to win, when a cheap shot to the back brings Haley's mother down before Haley's horrified eyes. She quickly kills the offender, a random sableye holding a knife. Then she begs her mother not to die, while Dusknoir calls off the attack, believing that experiencing the death of her mother would break Haley. Haley sings a song to sing her mother to heaven, and then swears to herself that she would get revenge for her mother's death by restoring time, just like her mother had always wanted.

Two months later the story picks up again, with Grovyle and Haley at Limestone Cavern. They find the final chamber, where Haley senses that the Treasure Box is more than what is seems, and they meet Ditto, who tells them about Fogbound Lake, and warns them of a dangerous protector there. Grovyle and Haley leave Limestone Cavern, and Dusknoir attacks them again. Haley orders Grovyle to flee while she takes on Dusknoir. Dusknoir and her have a sword fight that she wins, but she is unable to take Dusknoir's life. Dusknoir then attacks her when she turns away; almost killing her, but a mysterious stranger steps in and saves her life.

When Haley wakes up again, she meets her mysterious savior, a Salamence named Starflight. She finds out that when Dusknoir attacked her, he left her with a foot-long scar across her right eye. She is barely able to see with it, and has to make due. She finds out that they are at a mountain filled with dragon-types, and that an army intending to destroy dragon-kind is advancing on the mountain. She is forced to leave the mountain by the leaders, and faces Dusknoir once more.

Just when Dusknoir prepares to kill her, she is again saved by a mysterious stranger, who turns out to be Celebi. Celebi takes Haley to her forest, where they are joined by Starflight, who offers to join Haley in her mission to find the Time Gears because he claims she is the prophesized savior of the pokémon world.
Meanwhile, Grovyle was being chased by several Sableye, one of whom was starting to get sick of being pushed around and being Dusknoir's lackey. This said Sableye helps Grovyle and kills one of his companions. Grovyle thinks it's a trap, and kills the Sableye. Then Grovyle begins to have doubts about the way he was raised, and vows to become a better pokémon.
Grovyle and Haley meet up at Dusk Forest, and they, along with Starflight, travel to Fogbound Lake. They meet Uxie in a battle, and beat him, upon which Uxie reveals that he was only testing them, and gives them each words of wisdom. Then he tells them to remember the old stories about himself and the others of the Spiritual Trio, and leaves.

They figure out that the other Time Gears must be guarded by Azelf and Mesprit, and so they must be at lakes. They decide to search the desert for a lake, since it would be an unexpected location. They travel for a while, and then settle down for the 'night.'

Haley has a dream where Darkrai comes to her and reveals that he is her 'father,' that is, she has his DNA inside her because he possessed her human father when she was conceived. When she wakes up, she begs Starflight to tell her that Darkrai is just insane, but Starflight reveals stories about shadow humans, humans born from ghost Pokémon possessing humans, and how these humans have powers beyond the average of their kind.

Grovyle assures Haley that it doesn't change anything, and they continue on through the desert. They do not get far before Starflight and Grovyle notice a Dark Flygon, a very dangerous dragon, approaching them. They flee into the desert and they find quicksand pools and jump into them upon Haley's insistence. They find the Underground Lake, where Mesprit is frozen in time, and proceed to leave. Dusknoir and his Sableye are waiting, but so is the Dark Flygon. It eats one of the Sableye, causing the others to flee in terror. Dusknoir leaves them to die, and Starflight sacrifices himself by fighting the Flygon so that Grovyle and Haley can escape.

Grovyle and Haley then go to Crystal Cave and solve the Crystal Crossing puzzle, whereupon Haley collapses in a Nightmare. She thinks that they have been surrounded and Darkrai appears, threatening to kill Grovyle unless she comes with him. She agrees, and she and Darkrai talk for a time before she loses her temper and Darkrai disappears. She then fears for Grovyle's life, and reflects on how all of her friends have been torn from her in one way or another, through harm and death; even traitors like Dusknoir.
Then she hears Grovyle's voice, pleading for her to come back to him, and she realizes that Darkrai had merely put her in a Nightmare, and she wakes up. The two then travel to Dusk Forest, where Celebi is waiting for them and that is where we left our heroes.

So; without further ado, I present to you:


It was dark. Then again, it was always dark in this world, Haley mused. A chill crept through her ragged, thin shirt, causing shivers to travel across her skin, raising tiny, pink goosebumps along her arms and legs. She adjusted the cracked, leather strap of her bag on her shoulder, said strap having dug into the hollows of her neck uncomfortably. The acrid tang of bubbling sludge hung heavy in the air, and Haley’s nose wrinkled automatically. She turned her gaze from the dark sky towards a tiny, rose-colored body floating in the air a few feet away.

"Thank you so much for your help, Celebi," she stated earnestly.

The Legendary pokemon paused, wings fluttering in the stilled air. She turned, glancing back with a cheery voice and half-smile. “It is surely no trouble for me, dear Haley,” she spoke with a bell-like voice, high and tinkling. Though she seemed cheerful, her pale green irises reflected worry and a slight bit of fear.
Haley turned her aquamarine orbs onto her other companion, his green, leafy body rustling slightly as he hopped along. He paused, seeming to realize that his two companions had stopped walking. He looked back, amber eyes curious, the long leaf sprouting from his head waving with the motion.

“Everything alright?” He called, hopping back to the two females.

Haley’s lips twitched, a wistfulness for days gone past washing over her. “Everything is fine, Grovyle,” she assured her male companion. “I was merely thanking Celebi again for all that she’s done for us.”

Grovyle turned his gaze onto the Legendary, dipping his head. “Yes, thank you so much, Celebi,” he stated, almost regally.

Celebi giggled. “Tee-hee! It really is no problem, dear, dear Grovyle!”

Haley’s eyes snapped away from Grovyle to the Legendary. Was that a note of fondness in the Legendary’s voice? Whatever it was, Grovyle didn’t seem to notice, and he looked to Haley.

“Are we going or what?” he asked, a note of impatience in his tone, mixed with anticipation and some excitement.

Haley’s lips spread into an amused grin. “Yes, Grovyle, we’re going,” she chuckled at her friend’s impatience.

The team of three made it through Dusk Forest easily, and soon stood before the Passage of Time. It comprised of several archways made of a blue-green light, with a portal at their end.

"Just walk through; I'll do the rest!" Celebi said.

Haley took Grovyle's claw in her hand. "Let's go, partner," she said. He nodded at her, and they walked into the Passage of Time, determined to change the past and save the world.

The first thing Haley noticed as they began to walk into the Passage of Time was the immediate distortion of the view outside the Passage. Everything seemed to sway and vibrate, flickering oddly. She had to look away from the outside view before she got dizzy. As they walked further in, it seemed less like they were walking and more like something, some strange force was pulling them forward. Haley clung to Grovyle’s claw tighter, anxiety coursing through her.

Grovyle looked down at her hand and then his amber eyes met her icy blue calmly, reassuring her without the need for words. Haley gave a small nod, and took a deep breath.

It was immediately apparent when they began to travel through time. Everything started to spin around them, blue-green lights flashing around them, with snippets of events traveling by the two companions faster than they could grasp.

Something seemed off to Haley, though. It seemed like a darkness had overcome her, a deep foreboding that something very awful was about to happen. “Watch out!” she suddenly cried, pushing Grovyle away from a dark beam of shadow. It struck her instead and she let go of Grovyle’s claw, crying out in pain.

“NO!” Grovyle gasped, reaching for her as she began to spin away from him, a shadowy burn spreading across her shoulder like fire.
He grabbed her hand, but she was slipping from his grasp. “No!!” he pleaded. “Don’t let go!”

Haley could barely hear him in her pain, but she grasped onto his claw instinctively. The swirls of time seemed to have a different idea though, for they kept pulling the two companions apart.

“Just a little longer,” Grovyle promised, hoping beyond hope he was right. “Come on, hang on!!!!!!”

But Haley couldn't keep her hold with Grovyle any longer. She yelled in desperation as her fingers slipped from his claws. "WAAAAAAAAHHHH!" she screamed as she disappeared into the streams of time.

Haley struggled through the water, flinching at the booming sound echoing from the sky above her, the sound of the bolts of electricity flashing across it. The waves tossed her back and forth until she didn’t know up from down or east from west. Tired from the blows she had received and the pounding of the waves, she gave into the sea, and it washed her onto a small beach, where she lay unconscious for the rest of the night.

When Haley next awoke, it was to a throbbing headache and blinding light. She groaned and turned her head, burying it in the sand to block out the light as she got used to it. Then she lifted her head and looked around, wondering why it was so light, and wondering why that very fact was strange to her.

She soon gave up trying to figure out where she was, as she did not even have the energy to budge an inch. She sighed, and gave into the soft darkness beckoning her into its welcoming arms, not noticing that her body had been completely changed.

Not far from the beach where Haley lay unconscious was a town known as Treasure Town. It had several shops meant for explorers, as on top of the hill was the famous Wigglytuff Guild, an organization that trained apprentices to become exploration team members, and helped out other pokémon on a daily basis.

Two apprentices always guarded the entrance to the Wigglytuff Guild, preventing dangerous pokémon from entering. A timid pokémon made its way to the front of the gate, wishing to enter. A loud voice told her to stand on the grate, where she was promptly scared away by another voice calling up from beneath the grate.

The pokémon sighed in disappointment, wishing to herself that she had the courage to enter the Wigglytuff Guild and ask for an apprenticeship. She brought out a small rock that she always hung around her neck. “I thought that holding onto my personal treasure would inspire me,” she whispered to herself. “But… I just can’t do it… I’m such a coward… I’m a disgrace to the name of Riolu…” Despairing that her dream would never come true, the Riolu turned and walked down the hill toward the beach.

She didn’t notice the two sinister pokémon watching her, though, who plotted to steal her treasure and sell it. They laughed together at the cowardly pokémon, and carefully followed her at a distance so that she, or anyone else, wouldn’t notice until it was too late.

The Riolu walked onto the beach, not noticing Haley’s sprawled form at first. She looked out onto the water, watching the bubbles that the Krabby blew across the sunset, feeling her spirits lift just watching. “Watching all these bubbles floating across the sunset… it always lifts my spirits,” she hummed to herself. It was then that she happened to glance further down the beach, and notice Haley’s unconscious body.

“Oh no! Someone has collapsed on the sand!” She hurried over to Haley. “Hey, are you alright?” She asked, gently shaking Haley.

Haley grumbled and opened her eyes. “What?” She asked irritably, the headache still not gone away, though it wasn’t as bad as earlier.

“Oh, I’m sorry for bothering you,” the Riolu answered timidly. “It’s just that you were laying there all still, and I thought the worst. Are you alright?”

Haley looked at the Riolu. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry for snapping at you; I’ve got a headache,” she answered apologetically, heaving herself to her hind feet, only to fall over.

“Hey, careful! What did you think you were trying to do, standing on your back legs like that?” the Riolu asked, looking at Haley funnily. “I mean, it’s not like you’re a Riolu, like me.”

“Of course I’m not a Riolu,” Haley said. “I’m not even a pokémon!”

The Riolu looked shocked. “But… you look like a totally normal Houndour to me!”

Haley gasped. “What do you mean? I’m a human!”

“Uh… look at yourself… you are obviously a Houndour,” the Riolu said, now looking apprehensive. Haley turned to look at herself in the water and shrieked in shock.

“I… I’ve been turned into a Houndour! But… how did this happen? I don’t remember anything… I don’t remember anything!” She gasped again. “What… I don’t remember anything about being a human… what my life was like before this…!”

“Hey, calm down,” the Riolu soothed. “I’m sure we can get this sorted out. Now, you say you were a human?”

“I’m positive that before I woke up here, I was a human,” Haley affirmed confidently.

“And now you’ve been changed into a Houndour, with no memories of your previous life? None at all?” the Riolu checked.

“Well, my name, Haley, but that’s it,” Haley said.

The Riolu paused. “Well, you don’t seem to be a bad pokémon, at least, even if you are a little odd…” Haley stuck her tongue out at the other pokémon at that, to which the Riolu grinned. “You have a good sense of humor, at least. Very well… I believe you. I’ll introduce myself; my name is Alexa. Haley, you said, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Haley nodded.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Haley. Maybe we can try to figure out where you came from…” Alexa offered, but she was broke off by a pokémon coming up behind her and pushing her into Haley, causing Alexa to drop her treasure.

“Whoops! Pardon me, I didn’t see you there,” a nasally voice mocked them. Both pokémon turned to see a Koffing and a Zubat floating in the air over Alexa’s dropped treasure, as the Koffing finished his sentence.

“Wha… why did you do that?” Alexa asked indignantly.

The Zubat laughed. “Couldn’t ya tell? We wanted to mess with ya! What’cha gonna do about it?” he challenged while picking up Alexa’s treasure.

“Hey, that’s mine!” Alexa shouted.

The Koffing chuckled meanly. “Woah-ho-ho, not gonna make a move to get it back? What’s a matter, too scared?”

“Let’s leave these cowards to it,” the Zubat said carelessly, and flew toward the cave behind Haley.

“See you around, wimps!” the Koffing floated after his partner-in-crime.

Alexa looked after the two criminals sadly. “That was my personal treasure; it means everything to me. If I lost that, I’d…” she trailed off, sniffing. Then she shook her head. “No, I have to go after them. Hey, Haley, will you please help me get my Relic Fragment back?”

“Sure,” Haley growled angrily. “Let’s put those bullies in their place!”

Alexa smiled happily. “Thank you so much! Come on, they went into the Beach Cave. They’ll soon realize that they’re trapped!”

They entered the cave, Haley first. She was a little unsteady on her feet at first, but quickly got used to this new way of moving. She looked around as they entered and realized that the entrance had disappeared. “This place… it’s a mystery dungeon, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Yeah, it is,” Alexa answered, surprised. “So you can’t remember how old you are, but you remember what a mystery dungeon is?”

“Uh, yeah, pretty much,” Haley answered, shrugging.

Alexa shook her head. “You are one strange pokémon –er, human… um… creature?” she stumbled over the terms.

Haley laughed. “Just call me a pokémon; that’s what I am now. And until we can figure out what happened to me, if we ever, we’ll just confuse everyone if you go around calling me a human.”

Alexa chuckled. “Alrighty then,” she replied cheerfully. “Come on, let’s search for the stairs.”

The two pokémon set off down the corridor, which was barely lit up by a strange light that didn’t seem to come from anywhere in particular. They soon entered a room that was brighter lit than the corridor, where they were met by a growling Kabuto.

It sprayed water at Alexa, the blast surprisingly strong for such a small pokémon. Alexa exclaimed in shock and pain. Haley’s hackles raised and she growled at the enemy instinctively. The Kabuto flinched back, shuddering under the effects of the larger pokémon’s glare. Haley leapt forward and opened her mouth, belching out a small ball of fire at the shellfish pokémon.

The fire didn’t do much damage to the tiny pokémon, but it combined with Haley’s glare sent the pokémon scurrying away fearfully, whimpering at its charred shell.

Alexa gasped as she saw the right side of Haley’s face clearly for the first time. A huge scar ran the length of her head, starting just above her right eye, crossing it, and running all the way down to her mouth, pulling that side down slightly so that it looked like she was permanently scowling on that side. Haley turned to Alexa, hearing her gasp.

“What is it?” she asked. Alexa shook her head, unable to speak for a moment.

Then she finally breathed out, “Y-y-your f-face… I-I mean, t-that scar!”

Haley turned her head away, covering her right side again. “A very evil pokémon did that to me, a long time ago,” she replied, her voice shaking.

Alexa’s eyes widened. “You mean you remember? I don’t know if that’s good or bad,” she whispered faintly, attempting a weak smile that appeared more like a grimace.

Haley laughed without humor. “That’s all I know. I don’t remember the action or who did it or even why; just that it was an evil pokémon some time ago that did it. Can we please move on?”

Alexa stiffened. “Of course, Haley. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to pry. I-I was rude,” she mumbled apologetically.

Haley sighed. “No, it’s fine, Alexa. It was a natural reaction. I’d better start getting used to it; everyone is going to react that way when they see it for the first time.”

Alexa scowled. “They’d better not; or they’ll have to deal with me!”

Haley laughed, genuinely this time. “Let’s get going, or those two dummies will get away.”

So they continued their journey. They easily found the stairs in the next room, and descended into the next floor. The Beach Cave was only five floors, and they easily got through it, only having to fight a few Kabuto and Lileep along the way.

They descended to the final floor to the sight of the Zubat and Koffing staring at the sea inlet, wondering whether to try and cross the sea or turn back.

“H-Hey!” Alexa yelled at them.

They turned around. The Koffing laughed at the sight of us. “Well, well. If it isn’t our friend…”

“…The chicken! Heh-heh-heh!” The Zubat finished his friend’s sentence.

Alexa set her jaw, trembling slightly. “G-give me back what you stole from me! It’s my personal treasure, it means everything to me!”

The Zubat perked up at this. “Treasure? So it is valuable?”

The Koffing followed his train of thought. “We ought to try selling it. It could be worth more than we hoped for. Whoa-ho-ho! All the more reason to not give it back!”

Alexa paled. “N-no! Y-you can’t!”

“If you want it back that badly…come and get it!” the Zubat laughed cockily, and the two bullies formed into fighting stances.

Haley and Alexa exchanged looks. Haley nodded confidently. Alexa took a deep breath, and nodded back. They, too, formed fighting stances, and in a second, the fight had begun. The Zubat took the first strike, slicing his wings through the air, sending a blade of energy through the air, but it just glanced off of Haley’s body armor.

Haley growled low, and then threw back her head and howled menacingly, sending shivers of fear through the Zubat and Koffing, while boosting hers and Alexa’s confidence. Then Alexa zipped forward, faster than the eye could see, striking the Koffing, who flinched back, whining in pain.
Haley spat embers at the Zubat, lighting him on fire. He panicked before flying into the sea water. He dragged himself out weakly, charred and gasping for air. The Koffing growled at seeing his companion down and out, and puffed up, spitting a cloud of noxious gas at the two pokémon. Alexa breathed it in before she could stop herself, and immediately threw up, clutching her stomach in pain. Haley held her breath as the cloud dispersed, and then spat another ember at Koffing, who was too late to dodge it, and received the same treatment as his partner-in-crime.

The two bullies lied on the sand, gasping for breath and slightly charred now, groaning. They struggled into flight again, still breathing heavily, glaring at the two pokémon who had beaten them. The Zubat snorted angrily. “Bah! Fine, take it then!” He threw down the rock, and Alexa hurried forward to claim it.

She scurried back to Haley’s side, beaming at her. Haley just quirked a small smile, her eyes shooting to the two antagonistic pokémon challengingly.

The Koffing bristled. “Whoa-ho! Don’t think you’re so awesome! Your victory was a fluke!”

“Yeah! You just remember that!” The Zubat agreed.

“Come on, Zeke,” the Koffing muttered to the Zubat.

The Zubat looked at him. “Right, Coal.” They flew and/or floated away respectively, still slightly shaky.

Haley shook her head after them. “Cowards,” she muttered. Alexa grinned, but then it faltered.

“I-I’m the real coward here… I couldn’t even knock out one of them,” she murmured, disheartened. Haley frowned.

“Don’t say that!” she scolded Alexa. “You’re not a coward! Did you see how you stood up to them like that! No coward would ever do something like that! No, Alexa, you are brave.”

Alexa sniffled. “How could that be brave?! I was shaking like a leaf and I just wanted to run and hide,” she said miserably.

Haley growled and stalked up to Alexa, pushing her chin up with one paw, forcing Alexa to look at her. “Now you listen to me, Alexa. I don’t care what anyone else has ever told you, you are not a coward. You are incredibly brave. Because, you see, courage doesn’t mean having no fears. Only a fool goes into battle or confrontations without fear. Courage, true courage, is being afraid of something, but going through with it anyway. And that’s what you did today. You were afraid, but you still stood up to them, and even got in a blow against that Koffing! You are not a coward, Alexa. You are brave.”

Alexa’s eyes filled with tears. “T-t-that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me,” she sniffled again. Then, without warning, she hugged Haley tightly. “T-thank you,” she sobbed, tears leaking out of her eyes.

Haley had stiffened at first contact, but now she leaned her head onto Alexa’s shoulder. She lifted a paw and stroked Alexa’s back softly. “It’s alright,” she whispered. “I’m here now, and no-one is ever going to bring you down again.” Haley was slightly disconcerted at the quick bond she was making with this pokémon, but she couldn’t find it in herself to regret it. This was a pokémon who was hurting deeply; she needed someone to take care of her. And if Haley had to be that person, she would be.

After a little while, Alexa calmed down. She let go of Haley, who shook herself, her coat easily shedding the moisture from Alexa’s tears. Alexa hiccupped. “S-sorry about that,” she whispered, red rising in her cheeks.

Haley dipped her head. “It was no trouble, Alexa. I’m just mad that you haven’t had someone let you do that before. Everyone needs a good, kind shoulder to cry on every once in a while. This world’s too hard as it is, let alone trying to get through it alone.”

Alexa smiled at Haley. “D-does this mean we’re friends?”

Haley chuckled. “Of course it does. Now let’s get out of this cave before it’s too dark to see our way.”

“Right,” Alexa said, looking around. “Now, there should be… Ah, there it is!” she pointed out a staircase near the end of the cave. “That will lead us out of the cave completely.”

They climbed the staircase out of the dungeon and onto the beach, where the sun was just beginning to set over the horizon.

“Thank you so much, Haley,” Alexa said again. Haley just shook her head, smiling.

Alexa brought out the rock, fastening it onto a string so that she could wear it as a necklace from then on. “Here’s what they stole from me.” She set it down so that Haley could see it.

“I’ve been calling it a Relic Fragment. It’s my precious treasure. I’ve always liked legends and lore…I get so excited when I hear stories from the past! Don’t you feel the same way?” Alexa stated excitedly. Haley cocked her head sideways, thinking. She had never really thought about it before, but… Alexa continued to talk, growing more excited as she spoke. “Hidden troves of treasure and strange relics…uncharted territories veiled in darkness…and new lands just waiting to be discovered! Those places must be full of gold and treasure! And history! Wouldn’t it be dramatic to make historic discoveries? That’s what I always dream of …and then I found this Relic Fragment. It looks like junk, but take a closer look.”

Haley did, examining the so-called ‘Relic Fragment.’ It was small, but on the top of it was a strange pattern, etched in a white material. The pattern was indescribable, the sort of thing you couldn’t truly imagine without seeing it for yourself.

Alexa continued, “There must be some meaning to this pattern. This Relic Fragment must be a key to legendary places! It must fit in somewhere, and I want to find where that is! That’s why I want to join an exploration team! I tried joining as an apprentice earlier… But I couldn’t work up the courage.” She stopped for a moment, swallowing thickly. Then she shook herself.

“I know all this must be confusing to you, what with you suddenly turning into a pokémon and losing your memory. If you don’t have anywhere to go, and you wanted, I mean, you did say we were friends… I was thinking I could ask you…”

Haley snorted. “Just spit it out, Alexa,” she commented good-naturedly.

“W-would you consider joining an Exploration Team with me?” Alexa asked, twisting her hands nervously.

Haley blinked. “Well, that would depend on what exactly an Exploration Team is,” she replied.

“Oh! Well, an Exploration Team is a team of pokémon that explore Mystery Dungeons like that Beach Cave. They find all those things I was talking about earlier, treasure and unexplored places, and legends!” Alexa’s eyes turned sparkly. Then she turned serious. “And, of course, they help other pokémon that are in trouble. Sometimes dungeons spring up unexpectedly and civilian pokémon get trapped inside or they decide to try and explore the dungeon without proper equipment and they get stuck. Exploration Teams help those pokémon out. And there are always pokémon like that Koffing and Zubat who mess with other pokémon, and crooks and outlaws that Exploration Teams capture for Officer Magnezone, the chief of police in this region.”

Haley mused over the idea for a moment. “Eh, why not?” she replied. “I don’t really have anywhere to go, and helping others is what I do best!” she flashed a quirky smile. “Plus, exploring all those legendary places and such… we may just find out who I am along the way, right? I’ll join an Exploration Team with you, Alexa.”

“Oh boy!” Alexa shouted in joy, hugging Haley again, tightly.

Haley made a play-choking sound. “Y-you’re choking me… can’t… breathe…” she gasped dramatically. Alexa giggled and let go.

“Well, first thing we need to do is go to the Wigglytuff’s Guild. We can register there to become apprentices and become a full Exploration Team. I’ll show you where it is,” she pointed down the beach from where she had come from.

So the two new friends traveled toward the famous Wigglytuff’s Guild of Explorers; having no idea of the magnificent journey they were about to embark on.

When Grovyle opened his eyes, he knew something was wrong right away. The air wasn’t the same stillness he had always woken to, and there was light coming from somewhere. He bolted upright, rolling into a defensive position, expecting an attack at any moment.

Nothing happened, as his eyes adjusted to the increase of light. There was sound all around him, but it was quiet, almost background noise, if it weren’t for the fact that there was never background noise in the shadowed world.

Wait… Grovyle peered around, still slightly disoriented by unconsciousness and the unexpected light. He saw colors, vibrant and bright, against light blue and vivid green backgrounds. He looked up at the sky, and saw, not the dreary grey and swirls of black of the shadowed, paralyzed world, but blue and swirls of white and, to the east, a bright yellow-orange disk that hung in the sky, beautiful and unbelievable in its existence.

“We made it,” he gasped, his voice a raspy whisper. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He gazed around, eyes wide and his senses tingling with over-stimulation. He could hear the twittering of bird pokemon, which told his screaming instincts to run. He could smell a fresh, clean, cold scent that was both sharp and soft at the same time and reminded him vaguely of his father. Colors, vibrant and vivid and deep, exploded from every direction. He could feel the heat of the bright ball of gas in the sky -the sun, Haley had called it. His thoughts screeched to a stop. HALEY! He looked around frantically.

His partner was no-where in sight. Grovyle glanced around, frantically searching for his first and only friend. Nothing, nothing except an endless maze of green and brown, the previously beautiful forest morphing into claws of thorn-branches and sharp-edged leaves, hemming him in, reaching for him, mocking him. Grovyle’s throat closed, seemingly of its own accord, and for a few scary moments, he couldn’t breathe for the panic. It clawed at his stomach and heart before traveling to his throat, causing him to gag slightly, forcing air into his lungs once more.
He fell to his knees, gasping for air. Where was she?! He wracked his mind for his last memory of her -and the panic increased substantially instead of fading as it should have.

The last memory of her, was her scream of terror and pain as her hand was ripped from his claws, falling away from him. Grovyle groaned, burying his face in his claws. She was gone, and it was his fault! The ball of shadow energy -it had been aimed for him, and she had pushed him out of the way. Grovyle despaired for a moment: a single, fleeting moment of stark terror and ripping, burning grief, overshadowed by a darkness Grovyle had seen in many pokemon of the shadowed world -a darkness that signified a loss of all hope. Then he shook himself. He mustn’t give up hope -there was no proof that Haley was gone for good… they had been separated, true, but that didn’t mean that she was… dead. She had to be out there somewhere.

He rose his head. He wouldn’t give up hope on his partner just yet -not until he saw her dead body with his own two eyes, and maybe not even then, for he knew that sometimes one could not even trust one’s own senses -not with a pokemon as dangerous as Darkrai slinking about. He set his jaw forcefully, feeling his teeth clack against each other painfully, but not caring. He would continue their mission, as he knew that she would despite their separation. And all the while, he’d keep an eye and ear out for any mention of her -surely a human would not go unnoticed in this past world? From what he understood, humans were scarce even this far back in history.

Grovyle made a disgruntled noise at the back of his throat as he stood, shaking his weaknesses from himself as he rose. He couldn’t afford to waste time worrying over his past mistakes and failures -not when so many people were depending on him to succeed. He looked around and saw his bag, thrown on the ground carelessly by whatever force had brought him here. It was crumpled, sagging, and the mouth was open, spilling out some of its contents -a couple orbs and iron thorns peeked out of the opening, and a few berries were a couple feet away.
Grovyle supposed that was one more difference between this world and his own -in his world, the berries would have been long gone, along with the bag itself, probably, stolen by some other pokemon. He hopped over to his bag, hurriedly throwing the items back in. Haley would likely bop him over the head once she saw the mess he left their bag in, but she wasn’t here right now, and he needed to get moving.

Celebi had told them that she was going to send them to a past several months before the total collapse of Temporal Tower. Grovyle knew from Haley’s investigations that the past world was larger than the collapsed world -in the collapse, the continent had shifted into itself, making it smaller and smashing islands from the sea into the coastlines. That meant this land was larger and unfamiliar to him, and therefore he did not know how long it would take him to collect the Time Gears again.

He didn’t even know where he was, or if he was even in a Mystery Dungeon or just the wilderness. Grovyle shook his head. There was no way to know, until he got moving. So he did. He hopped along a small, winding path, unwilling to stray in the trees until he knew whether this place was a Mystery Dungeon or not. Mystery Dungeons were tricky places, he knew, and he had heard horror stories of those who had strayed off the paths created by the dungeons -there was a reason feral pokemon were feral, after all.

“Screeeeeeeeeeeee!” Grovyle ducked instinctively, the sound of a skarmory’s cries sending an ancient fear through him, icy terror tickling his spine. He peeked into the sky from the leaves of a low-lying bush. A silver-feathered skarmory fluttered onto a branch on a tree a few feet away from him. “Now, what’s with all this hidin’ business, little grass-mon?” it said, peering down at him curiously. “I’m not gonna hurt ya, ya know?” the skarmory was male, and its voice was that of an adolescent. “T’ain’t like this here is a Mystery Dungeon or nothin’,” he continued.

Grovyle poked his head out of the bush, looking at the large steel-bird suspiciously for a moment before revealing himself. “I wasn’t sure,” he said. “I’ve never been to this part of the continent before, and I wasn’t sure where I was.”

The skarmory’s beak curved, giving Grovyle what he supposed was meant to be a friendly grin.

“Naaaaw, this here ain’t no Mystery Dungeon,” the steel pokemon said. “But you’re headed right for one, grass-mon. If yous continue ‘long this here path, in a few miles it turns to the entrance of the Eastern Forest Dungeon, it does.”

Grovyle tilted his head curiously. “Grass-mon?” he questioned delicately, golden eyes narrowing.

“Yeah, grass-mon… short for grass pokemon, ya know!” the skarmory bobbed its head, looking pleased with itself.

Grovyle shot the steel bird a look that distinctly said that he was not impressed. “Well thank you for telling me where I am,” he muttered. “Can you point me the way towards Treeshroud Forest, by chance?”

“Oh yeah, sure!” the skarmory agreed amicably. He pointed his beak towards the west. “If’n you follow the sun where it sets; it’s just past the little town of Viridan.” Grovyle looked to the west.

“Thank you.” he nodded to the skarmory, before leaping into a tree, beginning to spring from branch to branch quickly, leaving behind the steel bird quickly.

He traveled all day, keeping an eye out on the forest below, hoping beyond hope that Haley had not been separated far from him. Unfortunately, he caught no sign of her or anyone else. When night began to fall, Grovyle created a small hammock out of large leaves and lay back, enjoying watching the sun set in the sky, and enjoying the feeling of no hurry. He had to do this quickly, he knew, but he did have plenty of time, after all -enough time to enjoy this night, at least. He fell asleep to the soft sound of leaves rustling in the trees and the gentle softness of the leaves beneath him, for once in his short life not worried about being attacked whilst he slept.

The Wigglytuff Guild was slightly creepy, Haley thought to herself as Alexa led her up the stairs to the weirdly-shaped tent on the cliffside. The tent was in the shape of a wigglytuff head, the eye pupils open to the tent, revealing two X’s inside them from the sticks holding the tent up. It created an image of a dead wigglytuff, which seemed to stare right into her soul. She shivered in spite of the warm evening. The tent had an iron grate as a doorway in the only entrance. Haley stared, wondering why the Guild needed something so… protective. There was also a smaller grate with wooden slats over a hole in the ground directly in front of the entrance grate.

“This is the Wigglytuff’s Guild, as I’m sure you can tell by the large, creepy Wigglytuff head,” Alexa announced humorously, grinning at Haley.

The human-changed-houndour looked at Alexa and gave a wan smile. “Why the iron grates?” she asked seriously, her eyes dark.

Alexa’s smile faltered. She looked down at the ground. “Well, like I mentioned earlier… mystery dungeons are spreading, and pokemon are getting wilder. Pokemon like that Koffing and Zubat are becoming more and more common. The gate is meant to keep out dangerous pokemon. They won’t let just anyone in.”

Haley looked at the grates with understanding. “I see,” she said quietly, falling silent.

Alexa looked at her new friend worriedly, but continued on her previous train of thought. “Anyway… like I said before, this is the Wigglytuff’s Guild. To form an exploration team, you need to register your team here. Then the Guild trains you until you’re a first-rate exploration team.” Alexa took another long look at the creepy tent, with the Wigglytuff eyes staring at them.

“Y-y-yikes! Isn’t there something just a little creepy about this place?” she said, shivering. Then she shook herself, seeming to steel her courage. “No… I’ve got Haley with me this time. No chickening out now!” she stepped forward onto the wooden grate over the hole in the ground.

A pokemon suddenly called out in a loud voice: “Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!”
Another voice, even louder than the first, answered it, “WHOSE footprint? WHOSE footprint?”

“The footprint is… Riolu’s! The footprint is Riolu’s!” the first voice responded. Haley scooted back a couple of steps, startled by the sudden outburst.

Alexa shivered. “Y-y-yikes!” She looked like she was about to step back, but she forced herself to stay still, glancing back at Haley for reassurance. Haley, seeing Alexa look at her, nodded encouragingly. She may have been startled too, but Alexa needed to be brave now that she was so close to her goal.

“You may ENTER!” the louder voice announced. “Someone ELSE is WITH you. So get that STRANGER to stand on the GRATE!” the voice, a male, ordered.

Alexa stepped off the grate, relieved. She looked over at Haley. “I… I think they meant you.”

Haley rolled her eyes. “Of course they meant me; I’m the only one here besides you.” She stepped forward, shaking her head.

“Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!” the first voice announced, the two going through the same motions they had for Alexa.

“The footprint is… um… the footprint is…” the first voice faltered.

“WELL? WHOSE footprint?” the second voice snapped.

“Ummm… the footprint is… maybe houndour’s! Maybe houndour’s!”

“MAYBE? You aren’t sure?!” the loud voice growled.

“Well… you don’t really see houndour around here…” the first voice said grumpily. “I can’t tell you for certain. I don’t know what I don’t know.”

The second voice snorted. “Whatever, Sentry Diglett. You two! You don’t SEEM to be bad pokemon… GOOD ENOUGH! You may ENTER!” Haley rolled her eyes at the drama as the grate covering the entrance to the tent winched up. Alexa looked at her nervously, and Haley smiled in encouragement.

“Let’s go,” she said, nodding to the entrance. Alexa took the cue and led the way into the tent. The inside was small, only a bulletin board and a ladder leading down into a hole. Haley and Alexa exchanged glances.

Haley held out a paw, inviting her friend to go first. “You’re the one with more coordination -and hands. If I fall, you can catch me!” she grinned, showing all of her teeth. Alexa gave a dry chuckle and rolled her eyes.

“Sure, scaredy-meowth, I’ll go first!” she retorted, getting on the ladder and beginning the descent. Haley hesitated, looking into the hole. She had no clue how this was supposed to work. She put a front paw on one of the ladder slats. It held her weight, but she didn’t really want to go down face-first. She dithered for a moment longer, before steeling herself for a fall and taking the plunge, letting her feet do what they wanted. To her surprise, she made it to the bottom of the ladder without falling over herself.

She emerged at the bottom of the ladder, Alexa a few feet in front of her, taking in the large room beneath with an expression of awe on her face. Haley paced forward beside her, looking around like her new friend. She was surprised to see how large the room inside the cliff was -though in retrospect, she should have expected it -pokemon were much stronger than humans, and there was no way an entire guild could live in one tent, no matter how large.

A large, rounded rectangular room surrounded them. A second ladder led down another hole to the second underground floor beside the ladder that led above. Pokemon crowded around the room. A large group of pokemon were huddled around a counter, behind which a frantic and frazzled Raichu hurriedly accepted and handed out scraps of paper and parchment, clearly an important figure at the Guild. Haley looked to the right and left, and noticed two large bulletin boards nailed to the walls on either side of them. The boards were sturdy, but scuffed up and both had several gouges on them where a pokemon had apparently slashed at them. Bits of paper were sometimes still attached to pins in the boards, and a lone scrap of paper fluttered back and forth on the left board, stirred up by the commotion around them.

“Wow!” Alexa breathed, awestruck. “Look at all these pokemon! You think they are all exploration teams?!” she asked rhetorically.

Haley answered anyway, “I think some are clients…” she gestured a paw at a bulbasaur handing over a bag to a group of three poochyena. Alexa followed her paw and nodded as she glanced at the scene.

“Yeah, I’ll bet you’re right,” she nodded.

“Excuse me!” a voice called. Haley and Alexa turned their attention to a blue and yellow bird pokemon with a head in the shape of a music note as he fluttered up from the other underground floor. He was looking right at them. “It was you two that just came in, yes?” he asked. His voice was high, and he had a strange lilt to his words, his tone going higher at the end of each word, and he had a slight accent in which he would cut the vowels in his words short.

Alexa nodded in response to his question. “Y-yes, that’s right!”

The pokemon cast a sharp look at both of them, seeming to size them up. “I’m Chatot!” he introduced himself. “I’m the pokemon in the know-how around here!” he said self-importantly. “I am Guildmaster Wigglytuff’s right-hand pokemon!” he puffed out his chest at these words.

Haley barely refrained from rolling her eyes at that. This… Chatot thought he was special for no good reason, and was probably an arrogant jerk -they always were. She blinked, surprised at her own cynicism. Then she scowled at Chatot’s next words.

“Now… shoo! Leave the premises! We have no time for salespokemon or silly surveys. Off you go, if you please!” He said, assuming what they were there for.
Alexa’s jaw dropped. Then she gathered herself and spoke, “N-no! That’s not why we’re here! We want to form an exploration team… That’s why we came. We want to be trained as an exploration team!”

Chatot squawked in surprise, eyes widening. “Wh-what?! Exploration team?” Haley did roll her eyes at this. “Yes, exploration team,” she growled, irritated. “That’s what you do at this guild; train exploration teams? If not, then we’ve obviously gone to the wrong place!”

Alexa squeaked and cast a look of panic at Haley, but Haley just stared calmly back, sure of herself.

Chatot looked surprised that Haley had dared to speak to him that way. He replied stiffly, “Of course we train exploration teams. What kind of Guild do you take us for? I was merely surprised to see such young pokemon wishing to join us. Our training is very rigorous and difficult. If you don’t have what it takes, we’ll have no choice but to turn you out!” he looked at Haley sternly.

“Young?” Haley questioned quietly, almost dangerously, her eyes narrowing, right side still turned slightly away from Chatot, hiding her scar. She turned her head, revealing her scar. “I wouldn’t say that I’m young, in body or mind. I’m fifteen years old, after all.”

Chatot let out a faint screech, hopping backward in horror as he stared at the terrible scar marring the right side of Haley’s face. He stayed frozen in horror and shock for several minutes, before shaking himself and looking between the two of them, Alexa standing up straight but looking toward her new friend in concern, and Haley, baring her scar defiantly in his face. He swallowed. These were not normal new recruits, that was certain.

He cleared his throat. “Yes… well,” his voice was softer, having lost its scolding, hard edge for the moment. “You… should have told us up front that you wanted to join the Guild, and skipped this altogether. If you’ll follow me, I’ll bring you to the Guildmaster, who will decide if you can join the Guild and help you form your team if he allows it.” Which he will, as he always does, despite my advice, Chatot thought to himself as he turned to lead the way to the second underground floor.

Haley and Alexa exchanged glances, Alexa still concerned for her friend; Haley’s eyes like iced-steel. “He changed his mind rather quickly, didn’t he?” Alexa commented lightly, trying to bring a smile to her friend’s face.

Haley’s lips twitched at the corners, knowing her friend wanted a smile from her, but not quite able to manage it. The effect on Chatot upon seeing her scar sent bolts of alternating ice and fire through her veins. How could she ever fit in anywhere when pokemon reacted like that upon seeing her whole face? Even Alexa had reacted in horror when she had first seen it. Haley followed Alexa and Chatot numbly.

“This is the Guild’s second underground floor,” Chatot announced when they climbed down the second ladder. “This is mainly where the apprentices work when they aren’t in the field. Team registration is this way. Come along please.” He led the way over to a pair of large wooden doors that held a strange, red, painted sign on it. The sign looked like a thick swirl, which looked strangely familiar. Haley cocked her head to the side, thinking. Then it hit her -it was the same swirl as the tuft on the heads of wigglytuff.

“Now, here we are at Guildmaster Wigglytuff’s chamber. On no account… I repeat, on no account should you be discourteous to our Guildmaster.” he looked at Haley sternly at these words. She waited until his back was turned and then stuck her tongue out at him, causing Alexa to clasp a hand to her mouth to prevent a giggle from escaping.

“Guildmaster!” Chatot announced through the door. “It’s Chatot! I’m coming in!”
He opened the doors and they went inside.

Wigglytuff was sitting with his back to them, rummaging around in a large chest.
“Guildmaster, I present to you two pokemon who wish to become apprentices here at the guild. What say you?”

Wigglytuff didn’t seem to hear Chatot, and continued to rummage, mumbling to himself incoherently.

“Guildmaster?” Chatot asked warily. “Um… Guildmaster?!”

He hopped closer to Wigglytuff, about to tap him on the shoulder, when Wigglytuff spun around suddenly, causing Chatot to squawk in surprise.

“Hiya!” Wigglytuff greeted Haley and Alexa. “Welcome to the Guild! So you wanna be apprentices? No problem, no problem! Just tell me your Team’s name, and we can get down to registration!”

Haley blinked, surprised by the sudden turn of events. Alexa looked taken aback. “Oh… well… I didn’t think of a team name. What do you think, Haley?”

Haley looked at Alexa, thinking. “Um… how about… Elpis? It’s the spirit of hope in Greek Mythology.”

Alexa looked confused. “Greek Mythology?” she repeated. She shook her head. “You’ll have to explain that later. But… the spirit of hope. Elpis… Team Elpis… I like it! Yes, let’s have Team Elpis!”

Wigglytuff smiled. “OK, Team Elpis!” He produced a clipboard from somewhere and started writing on it, singing all the while: “Registering~ Registering~ Registering!!! YOOOM-TAAAAH!” Haley and Alexa jumped at the Hyper Voice Wigglytuff used in his excitement. “Congratulations! You’re now an official Exploration Team!” Wigglytuff exclaimed. He turned around and grabbed something, and then set it down in front of them. It was a small, golden treasure box. “In this treasure box is all the items you’ll need for exploring!” Wigglytuff announced. “Go on, open it!”

Alexa popped the latch, and swung the lid open. She looked inside and smiled. “Ah, these are good items!” she said, excited, pulling out a bag, a couple ribbons, and a strange piece of paper that had dots and lines that seemed to be moving.

“That’s your Treasure Bag! Use it to hold all of your items you find on your adventure! You can earn bigger bags by proving your worth as an Exploration Team! Those Ribbons are special; one is a Cobalt Bow, and the other is a Silver Bow! They have special attributes that can help you in battle! And that,” Wigglytuff pointed to the scrap of paper, “is a Wonder Map, which is a wonder of convenience! Inside the box are also twenty Exploration Badges; which act like permanent Escape Orbs, allowing you to teleport from a dungeon whenever you are done! Remember not to lose them!” Wigglytuff looked pleased with himself. Haley looked inside the box to see little badges with wings on them and a small button in the middle, the button coming in all different colors.

“Yay! Thank you so much, Guildmaster Wigglytuff!” Alexa exclaimed happily.

“Yes, thank you,” Haley added quickly, not wanting to seem rude.

Wigglytuff beamed at them. “I hope we can become very goodly friendly-friends!” he said. “Work hard and enjoy your training!” Alexa nodded, and placed their items back in the treasure box and picked it up.

Chatot stepped forward. “Come, I’ll lead you to your rooms, where you’ll be staying during your training with us.”

He lead the way into the open space, where Haley now took a better look at their surroundings. To the right of them, she saw a hole in the ground, and a vine leading down into it. Next to the hole, a strange contraption was set up that lead through the ceiling, and had a winch. A Loudred was standing by it, talking to a Diglett.
“It is now Closing time, and the Guild is no longer open for visitors,” Chatot said, noticing Haley looking at the two pokemon. “Our gatekeepers’ jobs are over for the day.”

Haley nodded thoughtfully. She also noticed a strange rock shaped like a Croagunk head, where a Croagunk stood stirring a strange pot with purple liquid in it. Chatot led them over to the left side of the room, where a tunnel led into a hallway, lit by little candles that hung on the walls by brackets. He led them down the hallway, past two doors, to the end of the hall, where a single door lay at the end. He opened the door to a surprisingly large room, with a little tree stump that had some papers spread out, and a small basin with water in it. Three beds were arranged from hay and feathers, and they were ruffled, like they had been recently slept in.
Chatot looked around and sighed, shaking his head. “Those three need to clean this place up,” he muttered to himself. He turned to Haley and Alexa. “Here is your room, which you will be sharing with another team that also recently joined the guild. They should be back from their mission soon, and then they can help you make new beds. You may stay up as long as you like, as we don’t have a curfew; but remember that we get up at dawn to start our day, no exceptions! Dinner will likely be announced soon; we only serve dinner and breakfast, so you’ll have to find your own lunch. We only serve each meal at a specific time, so if you miss it, you’ll have to fend for yourselves. I think that’s it; remember that we all meet in the main room for the morning briefing at dawn!”

With those words, he turned tail and left the room. Haley and Alexa exchanged glances. “What an odd bird,” Haley finally mumbled.

Alexa giggled. “I think that’s an understatement,” she laughed.

Haley smiled, and took another look around the room. A second tree stump was on the left side of the room, just shy of the door. “Let’s put our stuff down over there,” she nodded to it.

Alexa looked over. “Good idea,” she said. She set it down and opened it again. “Let’s organize this stuff, shall we?” She took out the Ribbons and fastened two Exploration Badges to them. “Which color do you want?” she asked, looking between the dark blue and the silver.

“Silver, definitely,” Haley replied. Alexa nodded and picked it up.

“Here, let me tie it around your neck like a scarf… or do you want it on your head?”

“Nah, around my neck is good,” she responded, and Alexa did so. Then she tied her own ribbon around her neck. She then spread out the Wonder Map on the tree stump, examining it. Haley stepped up next to her, looking at the strange scrap of paper. It depicted the layout of the Guild, with dots and names next to the dots. The dots moved around occasionally.

“Hey, there we are!” Haley noted, pointing at two small dots in an oval, labeled ‘Alexa (riolu)’ and ‘Haley (houndour).’

“This is so cool! It’ll be so useful when we explore dungeons. If we get the X-Ray attachment, it will even show us where enemies and items are in the dungeon! And as we explore, it will fill in the walls and rooms we’ve been in, so we won’t get lost!” Alexa exclaimed.

She turned the paper over, and a completely different map was displayed; one that didn’t move. Instead, it revealed an entire region. It was topographical, showing mountains and forests and deserts, though only a few regions had any names attached. They were currently near the sea, by a town called ‘Treasure Town.’ Down by the beach, a red dot was in the place where the cave they had fought the Koffing and Zubat. Under the dot, the words ‘Beach Cave’ was evident in white.
“Even cooler,” Alexa breathed. “It not only shows the interior of dungeons and buildings, but it also shows the entire region and the dungeons that we have explored or towns we have been!”

Haley was impressed. “How is this even possible?” she asked curiously.

Alexa looked over at her, surprised. “You don’t know what a Wonder Map is?” she asked curiously. Haley gave her a dry look.

“Nope. I’ve never heard of a Wonder Map. Or, if I have, I don’t remember.” she stated sarcastically. Alexa’s cheeks reddened slightly.

“Oh… right, I forgot,” she said in a small voice. “Well… Wonder Maps are said to have been created by the Time Lord and the Space Lord working together. They say that a tiny spirit resides inside Wonder Maps and they take the knowledge from their surroundings to reflect what they know on the Map.”

“Time Lord? Space Lord?” Haley questioned, confused.

“Dialga and Palkia,” Alexa returned. “Two of the three Temporal Gods.”

“oh,” Haley replied quietly, processing the information. “Who’s the third Temporal God?”

“…Giratina,” Alexa whispered the name, looking around, fear in her eyes. “Don’t make me say his name again. It’s bad luck. He’s known as the Agent of Chaos and the Dark. He’s the link between the Chaos World and the Real World. The Chaos World is where pokemon go after they die. They go there to be judged for their actions while living. If they’ve led a good life, they go to the Hall of Origin to live with Arceus. If they haven’t… they stay in the Chaos World, forced to spent the rest of eternity in horrible torment, forced to serve the Lord of the Chaos World.”

Haley’s eyes widened. She swallowed nervously. That sounded… horrible. She shook herself. “Um… let’s talk about something happier, shall we?” she suggested weakly, pushing away the dark thoughts that had begun to stir in the back of her mind.

Alexa nodded, looking relieved. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, the door flew open and three pokemon stumbled into the room, laughing raucously.

“Did you see his face?!” one laughed gleefully -a male by the sound of it.

“Oh my Arceus, I’ll never forget his surprise; the horror there!” Another laughed; this one a female.

“You two are so horrible,” another male chuckled, this one a little deeper and more mature than the other two voices. The pokemon stopped in the middle of the room, letting Haley get a better look at them. One was obviously another riolu like Alexa. The other two pokemon were a meowth and a bagon. They turned and looked at Haley and Alexa in surprise.

“Who are you?” This came from the riolu, looking at Alexa. The riolu was female, evident by her higher pitched voice.

“Um… well… we, uh…” Alexa squeaked out, startled. Haley rolled her eyes and stepped forward.

“My name is Haley, and this is Alexa. We’re Team Elpis; new recruits today. Chatot showed us to this room and told us that we would share with the team that normally resided here. I assume you are that team?” Haley said calmly.

The riolu smiled. “Nice to meet’cha, Haley! My name is Hailey, too!” She held out a paw.

Haley blinked, surprised, and then touched one of her paws to the riolu’s. “Your name is Hailey too?” she asked.

“Yup! And this here is Max,” the riolu jabbed the meowth in the side, “And the grumpy one over there is Starflight.” she teased the Bagon, whose expression had previously been blank. At her teasing, though, he scowled playfully and smacked her on the arm.

“I’ll show you grumpy,” he grumbled.

“Yeah, sure, sure, Grumpy,” Hailey the riolu replied. Then she turned back to Alexa and Haley. “We’re Team Lucky, and we’ve only been apprentices for a month. Now, since you two showed up, we’re not the newbies anymore!” she grinned.

“Maybe not newbies, but we’re still rookies,” Max, the meowth, grumbled. “Magnus will never let us forget it.”

Hailey grinned. “Yes, and I’ll never let that loudred forget when I flipped him flat on his back; so we’re even!” she laughed. Her team-mates joined her in laughter.
Alexa and Haley exchanged amused glances. At least they’re friendly and seem to be good pokemon, Haley thought.

“S-so… Chatot said that you’d help us make some beds?” Alexa said.

Team Lucky looked up. “Oh sure,” Max agreed amicably. “We’ll move our beds from the center of the room so you guys have some space!” Hailey and Starflight nodded, and the rearranging of the room began.

With five pokemon working, they quickly got the room in order. The three beds were moved to the far corner, away from the door, and two beds were made for Alexa and Haley by their tree stump, under the only window. They were still arranging the possessions when a bell rang through the Guild, and a magnified but musical voice called out, “Dinner is ready!”

Team Lucky cheered, and ran out of the door, dropping what they were doing immediately. Alexa and Haley exchanged glances again, Haley shaking her head in amusement.

“Let’s go get dinner, then,” Haley laughed, and they set off down the hallway. They emerged in the larger room to see the pokemon of the guild lining up at the other end of the room, where another hallway lead somewhere; presumably the mess hall. Alexa and Haley followed the guild members into the mess hall, where a large table was set up, and pokemon were already sitting down. They sat at the end of the table, by Team Lucky, who were all joking around and poking fun at each other and the other guild members.

“Well at least everyone has been friendly except for Chatot,” Haley said to Alexa. “So there was really nothing to worry about.”

Alexa nodded, picking up a berry and munching on it. “That’s true. It’s like one big, happy family here,” she said. But though her words were happy, her tone was dark.
Haley looked at her, surprised. Her friend was usually happy and easy-going. What had her so unhappy? “What’s wrong?” she asked quietly.

Alexa shook her head. “It’s nothing,” she replied, turning her attention to Max, who was chugging a tall glass of milk in one go, urged on by Hailey, a bidoof, and the loudred they had seen earlier -likely the one Hailey had mentioned before. Starflight was looking on in disapproval, shaking his head.

Haley exchanged glances with Starflight. “How do we get into crazy situations like this?” she asked him humorously.

An amused smirk cracked his disapproving mask. “We have to love them, or we’d never put up with their quirks,” he replied, nudging her. She grinned, conceding the point.

Max didn’t puke, much to Haley’s and Starflight’s relief, and Hailey’s disappointment. Soon dinner was over, and Team Elpis and Team Lucky headed to their room together, laughing and joking.

“So which one of you two is the leader?” Hailey asked when the two groups had reached their room and were settling down for the night.

Haley looked at Alexa, confused. “What do you mean?” she asked Hailey.

Hailey chuckled. “Well one of you has to register as Team Leader; the one who takes the blow when you mess up; and who makes the big decisions for the team. For now, with just two of you, it’ll just be a formality, but once your team gets larger and larger, you’ll need to have an established chain-of-command.” she stated this all with a straight face and calm voice.

Haley blinked. She turned to Alexa for guidance. Alexa just shrugged. “I told Wigglytuff to make you leader; didn’t you hear me?”

“No, I didn’t,” Haley replied, frowning, trying to remember.

“I didn’t think you would mind; you’re a better leader than me anyway,” Alexa mumbled.

Haley rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter to me anyway -we’ll just talk everything through together.”

Alexa nodded, before yawning widely. “Let’s get some sleep,” she suggested. “Remember, Chatot said that we have to get up at dawn; and its way past sunset.”
Everyone nodded, and the candles were put out. Alexa and Haley curled up on their beds, right next to each other, and fell asleep.

Haley was padding along a gray tunnel made of solid rock. It was dark, but she continued going anyway, not concerned by the darkness. Her eyes were used to the dark, after all. She could see enough not to slam into a wall, at least. She walked along for a while, wondering absently where exactly she was going, but continuing to walk anyway. Eventually, the tunnel opened up to a large circular cave. A fire crackled in the middle of the cave. She walked over to it. She looked around, wondering whose fire it was. She saw a blanket spread out on the ground and a pack set up like a pillow in front of it, but no one was in sight. She went over to it and sniffed, wondering how long the person had gone.

She was confused by what she smelled. She could smell her own scent, but no other. The person had obviously not been gone long, as the fire still crackled merrily, and the blanket was still warm, as though it had just recently held someone. Perhaps they could cover their scent?

“What are you doing here?” a voice asked from behind her. Haley spun around, wondering how she had not known someone was sneaking up on her. Her eyes widened when she saw a human girl standing behind her, in a ragged t-shirt and a pair of old jeans. She had blue eyes and blond, stringy hair. She was young, only in her early teens, but she had a haunted, hunted look. Her eyes were shadowed; the eyes of a world-weary adult.

“W-who are you?” Haley asked, voice trembling.

The human frowned, as if confused. She opened her mouth to say something, but a loud voice interrupted her.

“WAKE UP!”

Haley woke up with a sudden jolt, as the door slammed open and a loud voice started screaming at them to wake up. “WAKE UP, ROOKIES!!! I’m NOT getting in trouble because you NEWBIES got up LATE!”

“Shut UP, Magnus!” Haley heard someone snap -was it Max or Starflight? “We’re getting up!”

“HUMPH!” Magnus, who must have been the loudred from last night, slammed the door behind him.

“I am going to kill that pokemon someday,” someone swore. Haley thought that it was Hailey speaking now.

“No, no, you can’t do that, Hailey,” a more reasonable voice spoke -that was Starflight, Haley was sure.

She shook her head, trying to clear it, her mind all fuzzy from sleep and the sudden wake-up. “Ugh… are you OK, Haley?” Alexa asked.

Haley looked over at her friend and saw that she was holding her head in her paws. “Yeah, I’m ok,” she replied. “You?”

“Just a headache, but it should go away soon. Come on, let’s get out there before he decides we are taking too long and comes back,” Alexa said, throwing a glare at the door. Haley nodded and pushed herself to her paws, shaking off her pelt.

As she followed the other pokemon into the hallway and towards the main room, Haley’s thoughts turned to her strange dream. Who had that strange human been? Why had everything seemed so familiar? She shook her head. She didn’t have time to think about this; she had to focus on the guild’s training.

The two rookie teams entered the main room, where the other apprentices were already lined up, Chatot in front of them.

Magnus spotted them, and scowled. “You’re LATE, rookies!” he snapped.

Haley bristled, but Hailey got to him first. “Magnus, that’s YOUR fault! You’re the one who nearly blasted our eardrums out of our heads, causing us to take a long time recovering!”

Magnus looked outraged, but Chatot interrupted. “Enough, you two!”

“Hmph!” Magnus exclaimed, and turned away. Hailey sniffed, and then took up the space beside a sunflora, rolling her eyes. Max stood behind her, and Starflight came up to her other side. Haley exchanged glances with Alexa, who shrugged, and stood next to Max. Haley followed and stood next to Alexa.

Chatot looked around. “Everyone seems to be present. Very well. Let us conduct our morning address before breakfast.” He turned toward the Guildmaster’s quarters; the doors still closed. “Guildmaster! The guild is in full attendance!” he announced.

After a few minutes, Wigglytuff opened the doors and came out.

“Thank you, Guildmaster! Please address the crew!” Chatot said.

Guildmaster Wigglytuff said nothing for a few moments, then mumbled something that sounded like, “Mmphs, yes, sure… I’ll have some pudding…” then he snuffled, making sleepy noises.

Haley stifled a laugh. Alexa giggled into her hands. Haley could hear the other apprentices exchanging comments about how strange Wigglytuff was.

Chatot dipped his head, ignoring the strangeness, or perhaps used to it, and said, “Thank you sir! We all value your… words of wisdom!” He turned to the apprentices. “OK pokemon! Take our Guildmaster’s words of wisdom to heart! Finally, let’s not forget our morning cheers! All together now!”

Everyone started shouting words that Haley was unfamiliar with, even Alexa. “A ONE, A TWO… A ONE-TWO-THREE! ONE! DON’T SHIRK WORK! TWO! RUN AWAY AND PAY! THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!”

“OK, pokemon! Let’s get to breakfast, and then we’ll break for work!” Chatot announced, and everyone cheered and headed for the mess hall.

Breakfast was a more subdued affair than dinner last night, most of the apprentices still sleepy and half-awake. Hailey looked over at Team Elpis. “You guys haven’t been introduced to everyone, have you?” she asked.

Alexa shook her head. “We only know you Team Lucky pokemon.”

So Hailey went around the group of apprentices, introducing everyone. “The loudmouth from earlier is Magnus,” she started, pointing at the loudred, who stuck his tongue out at Hailey, who sneered at him. “The cheerful grass-mon next to him is Eliane,” she moved on to the sunflora next to the loudred. “Her best friend, who also makes these wonderful meals, is Nora,” she introduced the chimecho, who nodded at them, smiling, before turning to talk to Eliane. “The bottomless chasm over there is Castor,” a bidoof who was scarfing down his breakfast with gusto waved at them cheerfully. “Vector just sits in his little cave all day and fiddles with that cauldron of his,” Hailey grinned at the said croagunk.

“I’ll have you know that I go on jobs, too. I’m just way too fast for you, Hailey,” he replied, nibbling on a piece of celery nonchalantly.

“I’m sure that’s it,” Hailey replied with a cocky grin. She moved on down the line. “Those two diggers are father and son,” she pointed at a dugtrio and the diglett who had identified their footprints. “The dugtrio is Ero, and the diglett is Silu.” Then she moved on to the final apprentice, a corphish. “And last but not least, we’ve got Cammar, who’s the second-oldest apprentice here at the Guild. Magnus is the oldest, but he failed his graduation test just a few months ago.”

Magnus spluttered angrily. “I’d like to see you try that test, Hailey!” he blustered, turning red in the face.

“That’s enough, Magnus! Your voice is ridiculously loud!” Chatot interrupted. He turned to Hailey. “As for you, Hailey; stop provoking him, or you’ll find your team going out to Apple Woods to collect Perfect Apples again!”

Hailey nodded to Chatot, but she turned to face Team Elpis, and she rolled her eyes. Haley grinned, liking this riolu more and more by the minute.

Once breakfast was over, the apprentices all filed out of the mess hall and headed for their work stations, apparently already aware of what their assignments were.
Chatot called Team Elpis over to him. “You two, come here. Follow me.” he lead them to the first underground floor and over to one of the bulletin boards on the wall. “You two are just beginners. We’ll have you start off with this assignment. This is the Job Bulletin Board. Pokemon from various regions post job requests here. You’re aware that bad pokemon are cropping up in greater numbers, right?”

Haley frowned, unaware of such a thing, but Alexa agreed with Chatot. “Yup, because the flow of time is getting messed up. It’s wreaking havoc, right? Which is why lots of bad pokemon are appearing!” She said.

Haley frowned, now even more confused. What do they mean by… ‘time is getting messed up?’ Time as in hours and minutes? Why would that affect bad pokemon appearing? She wondered.

“Precisely,” Chatot nodded to Alexa. “Time getting out of whack has caused an outbreak of bad pokemon. Perhaps because of all that… we have noticed an increase in the number of jobs. In addition… and it’s unknown if this is because of time’s influence… There has also been a mass outbreak of… mystery dungeons,” Chatot continued.

Haley nodded at this last comment in understanding. Mystery dungeons were distortions of time and space, after all. It would make sense if more dungeons appeared where time distorted… maybe that’s what Chatot and Alexa meant by ‘time getting messed up.’ Perhaps they meant that time was distorting all over the region.

Chatot looked between the two of them. “Do I need to explain what a mystery dungeon is?” he asked.

“Oh no, Chatot sir, we know. They’re really mysterious places where time and space distort and work in strange ways,” Alexa replied.

“A simplified version of the definition, but passable,” Chatot nodded, and Haley rolled her eyes to herself. “Jobs all take place in mystery dungeons. So… let’s look for a job that you should perform!” he turned to the bulletin board, which only had a few notes on it, left over from yesterday. “Normally you’ll have to wait until the boards are updated,” he said from over his shoulder. “But I’d like to get you two started immediately in case you take a long time.” He sounded as if he expected them to take a long time. Haley scowled, but Alexa noticed and elbowed her, shaking her head. Haley shut her mouth, but she was disliking Chatot more and more with each word that passed the annoying bird’s beak.

“Ah, this looks promising,” Chatot said, turning around with a note in one foot. He passed it to Alexa and put the foot down as she read it.

“Oh, what does it say?” Haley asked.

Alexa looked disappointed. “It’s from a Spoink who lost his pearl. He said that it was seen at… Drenched Bluff, but that it’s too dangerous of an area to go himself. He’s asking for a team to go get it for him.” she looked up at Chatot. “We’re just going to find something that someone dropped?” she whined. “I thought that we would be doing something more exciting… you know, exploring new dungeons, figuring out puzzles and finding treasure; that sort of thing.”

Chatot fluttered his wings irritably, his eyes sparked with anger. “Hush now!” he snapped. “You two are apprentices of this Guild now! You receive training from us, and you rookies have to pay your dues! Not all missions are fun and games! Exploration Teams do not only find treasure; they also protect civilian pokemon! If you can’t handle this, you can leave right now!”

Alexa looked first taken aback, and then crushed, ears falling back, and turning her head away from Chatot, Haley saw tears starting to fill her eyes. Rage gripped her; no one hurt her friends!!!

She growled at Chatot. “She was just asking! We’re NOT quitting, no matter what you think! We’ll get the job done and bring back the pearl!” she snapped, and pushed Alexa towards the ladder leading out of the Guild. “Come on, Alexa, let’s get out of here, I need to calm down before I set fire to something.”

Alexa nodded and raced up the ladder and out of the Guild, Haley hot on her heels. She was surprised to see Alexa racing down the cliff stairs, and hurried after her.

“H-hey! Alexa, wait!” she called, looking at her paws nervously. The ground was going beneath her faster than she was comfortable with, her paws stumbling with unfamiliarity. She tried to stop herself, knowing that she was going to fall if she didn’t get her paws in the right place, but she was going too fast, and she fell head-over-heels down the stairs, falling into Alexa.

They tumbled down the stairs, becoming entangled on the way down.
“Wooooaaahhh!” Haley cried out, and they came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, rolling into a sign post.

Alexa groaned from underneath her. “You really need to get the hang of having four paws.”

“Sorry!” Haley apologized, scrambling off her friend, wincing.

The sound of someone chuckling drew Haley’s head up, scowl in place on her face.
An espeon sat at the corner of the crossroads, right beside a watering hole. She was chuckling, looking over at the two of them.

“New Guild recruits, I’m guessing?” she greeted them. Alexa got to her feet, a red blush rising to her cheeks.

“Y-yeah,” Alexa muttered, glancing at Haley. “S-sorry we nearly ran into you…”

“Yeah, sorry,” Haley echoed. “My feet get jumbled up sometimes.” She winced at how stupid she sounded. “Who’re you? Are you waiting for someone from the Guild?”

“Oh no,” the espeon replied. “Well, not really anyone specific. You see, I’m Treasure Town’s resident Psychic Transporter.”

“Psychic… Transporter?” Haley asked slowly.

“I can use my Teleport to transport other pokemon,” the espeon explained. “As long as they have been to the location before, or I have been to the location before, I can send them there. It makes it easier to return to locations that you’ve been before. It’s very convenient for Exploration teams.”

“Oh, I see,” Haley replied, nodding. “What’s your name?”

The espeon blinked at her. “What do you mean?”

Haley was taken aback. “What do you mean, what do I mean? You don’t have a name?”

Alexa elbowed her in the side, shaking her head. “What my partner means to say, is, do you have a title?”

“ah,” the espeon dipped her head. “I have no title.”

Haley blinked. She did not understand what was going on here, and she opened her mouth to say so, until Alexa elbowed her again.

“We’re looking to go to Drenched Bluff, Espeon. Do you know the place, or will we have to walk?”

“I do know the place. I actually sent a Spoink there a couple weeks ago. I’ve seen him bouncing around looking for his pearl lately. Are you going to fetch it for him?”

“Yes, exactly,” Alexa replied. “Can you teleport us there?”

“Right away!” Espeon replied, and closed her eyes. Her twin tails rose in the air, and the gem on her forehead began to glow. “Don’t move. I’m transporting you now.”

A blue-green glow encased Team Elpis, and Haley felt a sensation of motion, and then the light disappeared, and they were at the entrance of a ravine. The ravine was cloaked in mist, and Haley could not see into the ravine.

“Ah, it looks like it’s going to be hard to see in there,” Alexa commented worriedly.
Haley rounded on her. “What was all that back there? Why did you stop me from asking questions? What’s going on?”

Alexa turned to her, exasperation clear on her face. “Haley! Do remember that you used to be a human! There are just some things that pokemon understand inherently. Unless you want to bring attention to yourself, you’ve got to learn when to keep your questions until we’re alone so I can explain! I got us out of there quickly, before Espeon could get suspicious and try to read your mind.”

Haley blinked. “Well… I just don’t understand. All the Guild pokemon had names! You have a name! Why was it so odd to ask after her name?”

Alexa looked at Haley like she was stupid. “Pokemon don’t generally have names. Names are a human invention. Usually pokemon don’t have names unless there are a lot of pokemon of the same species together, in which case they are given a title. I was actually surprised by how many pokemon in the guild had names. But they must have all lived in areas populated by their species.”

“And the koffing and zubat from yesterday? I’m pretty sure they had names, too!”
Alexa shrugged. “You never know who has names.”

“So why was it bad that I asked her about it?”

Alexa sighed. “It’s just one of those things that you don’t ask. If a pokemon wants to share their title with you, they will. It’s considered rude to ask otherwise.”

Haley blinked and shook her head. “This doesn’t make any sense to me…” she sat and put her paws over her snout, frustrated.

Alexa prodded her. “Hey, it’s alright. I’m sure you’ll get used to it in no time!” She said cheerfully. “In the meantime, we’ve got a pearl to find!” She sounded genuinely excited, and Haley opened one eye to peer at her curiously.

“Well, your attitude changed quickly,” she commented. “Are you really excited to find this pearl?”

“Well, it’s not what I expected,” Alexa admitted, “but it’s still our first exploration! I’m so excited!”

Haley grinned at her friend’s obvious excitement as she paced a little. “Well, it was a little silly to assume that we would be searching for treasure every day, right?” she said, getting to her feet.

Alexa nodded. “Yeah, I guess so,” she admitted. “I just thought that maybe they would let us do something a little more exciting than just retrieving an item that someone dropped. But I guess we all have to start somewhere, right?”
“That’s the spirit!” Haley cheered. She looked ahead at the bluff. “Well, shall we begin? Chatot seemed to think we would take forever; so let’s prove him wrong, right? You got that map from yesterday so we don’t get lost?”

Alexa nodded and pulled out the Wonder Map from their Exploration Bag, then slung the bag over her shoulder. She spread out the map on the ground so that Haley could also see it. Haley peered at the map, seeing a portion of the large piece of parchment shaded in an odd shape that she recognized as the outline of the room that they were currently occupying. She could also see two small off-shoots of the room, one to the south and the other to the east of the room.

“So we can take either the south route or the east route,” Haley murmured. Alexa nodded. “Do you have any intuition as to which one we should take?” Haley asked her friend.

Alexa shrugged. “Not really. I’ve only ever entered the Beach Cave Dungeon that we were in yesterday. I’ve never been here, and haven’t really explored much. I’ve heard, though, that Explorers who explore a lot of different Mystery Dungeons start to get a second sense for these things. I guess it will just be trial-and-error for now.”

Haley nodded. “So… I guess let’s just go south for now and see where it takes us?” she said, and Alexa nodded, rolling up the Wonder Map.

Haley took the lead into the narrow corridor. The corridor was darker than in the larger room, strangely, but the darkness wasn’t a problem for her, her houndour eyes suited to piercing the darkness easily. “Can you see alright, Alexa?” She asked her friend.

“It’s a bit dark, but I can see well enough not to bump into a wall,” came Alexa’s voice from behind her.

Haley nodded to herself and continued down the long corridor. She winced in disgust as her paws sunk into a soft muck and she stopped for a moment to shake them off, but the mud stuck to her fur and made her feel slimy.

“Is everything alright?” Alexa asked her in concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just don’t like all this mud in my paws, is all,” Haley replied before continuing to walk. She would just have to get used to it.

Eventually they reached the end of the corridor and entered a larger room, where the light immediately got lighter. Haley looked around for a source of the light, and realized that the light was streaming in from above them, high up, past the tall ravine walls.

“Haley, watch out!” Alexa warned. Haley looked around, only to skid backwards a little as an anorith scratched at her and glanced its thick claws against one of the armored plates on her back. Haley growled angrily and struck out with a paw, stomping on the anorith’s head with said paw. The anorith hissed and scratched at her again, this time catching her paw and leaving scratch marks on it. Haley whined briefly in pain before shaking herself and narrowing her eyes at the bug-like rock pokemon. She could feel the heat inside her rear up instinctively, and then an ember was escaping her mouth, towards the anorith.

Just as the ember escaped Haley’s mouth, Alexa had flashed toward the anorith, slamming into it at the same time as the ember did, causing the anorith to wail loudly and immediately flee the vicinity. Alexa jumped up in victory, pumping her fist into the air. “YEAH, that was awesome!” she exclaimed excitedly. Haley chuckled at her friend’s excitement.

“That was perfect timing with the quick attack there,” she complimented Alexa, still smiling.

“Yeah, we really showed that anorith, didn’t we?” Alexa said, grinning happily. Then she shook her head. “Anyway, we should keep going; we’ve got a lot of ground to cover.

So this is as far as I've gotten in the Fourth Chapter, more to come. Thanks for any feedback you can offer me! Criticisms welcome~