Chapter 3: First Test, With a Friend!

After meeting with Dante the Murkrow, & being led off to go discuss things, leaving Riley the Riolu alone, Eric was filled with growing excitement at the growing opportunity being put before him. Dante seemed to be quite the charmer, his movements & mannerisms swift, & amicable.

The pair were now walking through the main square of Allenwood Town, talking to one another about various explorer team topics.

“So, Eric was it? You wanna make your own team, right? Why is that?” Dante asks.

“Well, it’s pretty simple really, I want to start my own team because I wanna explore the region, see new things & meet new Pokemon.” Eric replies, smiling all the while. Dante chuckles a bit in response to this.

“Okay, so do you even know what goes into forming an explorer team? Are you aware of the types of teams you can make?” Dante asks, cocking an eyebrow at the Eevee walking beside him.

“Uhhhh, wait there are other types?” Eric tilts his head at this, giving a somewhat confused expression.

“Uhhhh, yeah of course there are. Do you seriously not know?” Dante seems to smirk at this after mimicking Eric’s prior “uhhhh”, tilting his head upwards.

“Well, I mean, you seem to know. Can’t you explain it to me?” Eric quickly retorts.

“Alright I suppose I can. I figured I shouldn’t have to since I assume you’re going to be the leader, but it’s whatever.” Dante clears his throat as the pair stopped walking for a moment to let a small crowd of Pokemon walk past them.

“You see Eric, there are two types of explorer teams you can make. There’s a guild team, & a freelance team. You know what those are?”

“Uhh, I assume a guild team is part of a guild. And a freelance team is a team that’s not part of a guild?” Eric replies, to which Dante nods his head.

“Ohhh alright, so I guess you do know some things.” Dante gives Eric a couple pats on the back, showing now a more condescending smirk.

“Gods above this guy is such a douche….” Marco grumbles in Eric’s head, to which Eric shushes him.

“You sure you wanna be on a team with this guy kid?”

“Hey, shush you!” Eric whispers under his breath, to which Marco simply scoffs in response.

“Oi, are you shushing me right now?” Dante cuts in, leaning his head to Eric.

“Ah! Ohhh no no no, sorry I was just errr, talking to myself. Sorry!” Eric felt his cheeks flush slightly in embarrassment before he quickly shook his head.

“Anyway, to keep explaining, yeah. Guild teams are explorer teams that work under a particular guild, while a freelance team only works for themselves. And obviously, there are ups & downs to doing either. You know what those are?” Dante asks as the pair resume walking.

“…Hm, I can assume by your slack jawed stare, that’s a no.” Dante rolls his eyes slightly, his grin now fading as he noted the Eevee’s sheepish look.

“Alright then, I guess I’ll keep explaining. When you work in a guild, you have to play by that guild’s rules, no ifs ands or buts about it. But, as you work & complete job requests while in that guild, your explorer team rank will go up much faster, giving you more notoriety both within the guild & for your team specifically.”

As Dante would explain, he’d glance at Eric every so often to make sure the Eevee was actually listening, & to his surprise, he appeared to be. The Eevee’s attention was locked solely on him, much to his surprise. Though after a moment, Eric yelps in surprise as he bumped into an Ambipom who was walking with a bunch of bags.

“Hey! Watch it kid, come on!” The Ambipom spoke in a stern tone as Eric profusely apologized & helped recollect everything that was dropped, ranging from various produce to some clothing items.

“Anyway, where was I?” Dante asks after the Ambipom walks off.

“You were gonna talk about freelance teams now?” Eric asks.

“Ah, right! Another thing you don’t know.” Dante remarks, to which Eric pouts some.

“Let’s see, now for freelance teams…” Dante then clears his throat.

“In a nutshell, freelance explorer teams are teams that don’t align themselves to a particular guild. They work for themselves & do whatever jobs they can get their paws, or claws on. If ya don’t like pre imposed rules & just wanna do your own thing, then go for it. You can get hired easier for most job requests & you’ll always get the full reward & payments if you go freelance. But on the flip side, if you wanna rise up in the ranks, it’s going to be a slower process as opposed to you being in a guild. Does that make sense?” Dante asks.

“Uhh, yeah I think so.” Eric pauses for a moment to scratch one of his ears.

“So basically, if I make an explorer team that’s in a guild, I can rise through the ranks quicker but it can be stifling because of guild rules & stuff. But, if you’re a freelance team, you have more leeway for rules & the like, but because you’re not part of a guild, it’ll be more difficult to move higher in rank, right?”

Dante pauses for a moment at this, then nods his head. “Yeah, you’re right. Surprisingly. Huh, & here I thought you weren’t paying attention…” Dante spoke, giving Eric a bit of a curious look.

“Well, why wouldn’t I be? I’m trying to start my own team here, & I wanna learn all that I can.” Eric retorts, his eyes narrow slightly at the Murkrow.

“Hmph. Yeah sure, but do you really think you have what it takes? I mean just a moment ago, you didn’t know jack squat about any of this stuff until I told you.” Dante fires back, his eyes narrow in response as well.

“Well I can just as easily learn everything else, can’t I!?” Eric takes a step toward Dante, who scoffs.

“You really think an explorer team is all that huh? Well there’s a lot more that goes into it than you think, Eevee! And frankly, I’m starting to think a team with you might just be a big mistake.” Dante spoke, his voice lowering somewhat as he stared Eric down.

Eric’s ears flatten to his head a bit at the Murkrow’s demeanor.

“What are you saying right now? What, I’m not cut out for this just because I don’t know some things?” Eric says, now taking a small step back.

“I’m saying that there are a certain kind of Pokemon that are meant for something like this.” Dante responds.

“So you’re saying I’m not one of those Pokemon?” Eric asks, his voice starting to shake a bit.

“Yeah. I am. That is, unless you can prove me wrong.” Dante spoke, a grin forming across his beak once more. “And I think I know the way to do it. A little test if you will, that is, if you think you’re up for it.” Dante takes a step toward Eric as he speaks, his grin now forming into more of a grimace as his eyes narrow, making Eric take another step back in growing apprehension.

“And it just so happens that I know the perfect place for a little test. You wouldn’t be opposed to one, would you? Up & coming leader?” The Murkrow cocks an eyebrow as he speaks, staring down Eric, who seemed more hesitant. However, before the Eevee could reply, Marco decides to chime in.

“Oh geez kid! Are you really gonna keep letting this douche of a Murkrow keep talking ya down? Seriously! Straighten up & tell him off already!” Marco says in a rather firm tone that makes Eric go somewhat rigid in his stance. After a moment of pause, Eric then opens his mouth to speak.

“F-Fine! Let’s hear it! What do you have for this test!?” Eric demands, taking a somewhat shaky step forward.

Dante chuckles a bit as he looks Eric up & down, noting the present shakiness. “A little ways outside of town, there’s an entrance to a small cave in a little grotto. Surely you’ve heard of it?” Dante asks, though the somewhat blank stare was a clear indicator of Eric’s answer, making Dante let out an annoyed sigh. “Ohh gods above, look, just go find this cave on the outskirts of town! I’ll be waiting for you there, you literally cannot miss it, you’d have to be a special kind of stupid to somehow not see it!” Dante then turns & spreads his wings, flapping away from Eric. Once he was out of earshot, Eric lets out a low groan as he hangs his head low.
“Urrrgghhh… Marco! How & why did you convince me to do that!?” Eric says, exasperated, to which Marco lets out a little huff in response.

“Well first off, how did I do that? You’re just a pushover, no two ways about it. And why did I convince you? Because you’re a pushover, kid! I mean seriously! Every time you tried to say something back to that Murkrow, you just let him knock you down from what little pegs you got yourself onto! Good grief!” Marco says, sounding rather annoyed as Eric just sighs in defeat.

“Great, how in the world am I gonna do this test? Can I even do it by myself?” Eric wonders aloud as he paces around in a little circle, his worries & apprehensions only growing now, which made Marco groan in growing frustration.

“Hey, maybe I can help?”

Eric then pauses as a familiar voice spoke out. He turns to see the red spectacled Riolu, Riley, having just come trotting over, carrying a small box under one arm. “Hello again, Eric.” Riley gives a wave to the Eevee, who’s expression brightens some.

“Oh, hi Riley. Uh, what’re you doing here?” Eric asks with a little tilt of his head.

“Well, I had a little chat with my gramps after you went off with Dante, & now I’m here, with something I wanted to ask, but now one something has become two. Uhh, is Dante still here?” Riley replies, cocking an eyebrow as he observes Eric.

“Oh, well umm, actually…” Eric sighs as he would then go on & explain the little conversation he & Dante had prior to Riley showing up, which made the Riolu grimace in response once Eric had finished.

“Wait wait, so you’re telling me that Dante doesn’t wanna make a team with you because you’re totally new at this? Oh come on! What’s that guy expecting!?” Riley throws his hands up in the air as he speaks, tossing the box up in the air as a result. The lid of the box seemed to lift open slightly, before falling back down, to which Riley catches with one hand without even looking. “Seriously, I think Dante’s just trying to be a jerk & knock ya down for no reason. And you accepted this test of his?”

Eric stares at Riley for a moment, then he nods his head.
“Yeah, I did. He may seem like a jerk, but I want to prove to Dante that I can do it. I don’t want him to think I’m just some pushover!” Eric straightens up some more, giving Riley a more confident look this time.

“Huh, I guess that’s one way to look at it. Well,” Riley rocks back & forth on his feet briefly, before taking a step forward. “If you’re interested Eric, are you perhaps looking for more team members?” Riley asks, giving a sideways glance to Eric.

“Wait, huh?” Eric tilts his head slightly at this, then his eyes slowly widen as he processes what Riley just asked. “You want to be on a team with me? Even after I told you about what Dante said to me?”

“Well sure. I’ve always wanted to just explore the region, meet new folks & help out where I can. What better way to do all that than by being in an explorer team?!” Riley replies, a wide grin forming across his face. “So what do you say? Can I join? And before you ask, yeah I talked with my gramps, & he totally encourages me to go out.” He adds, holding a paw out to Eric.

Eric was stunned at first, still somewhat processing Riley in general, this Riolu having approached him & just asking him to be on a team, seemed like such a foreign concept to Eric at first. However, after he blinks a couple times. He smiles & nods.

“Yeah! Yes, I’d love to have you Riley!” Eric then holds out a paw, which Riley grabs & shakes. Both pokemon then smile at one another as they shake paws, then they both look in the direction that Dante flew off to. “Well then, I wanna go see Dante! You’ll come with me, right?”

“Yeah of course! Let’s go!” Riley nods & the two of them then make their way out of Allenwood Town proper, they go down a dirt road way, the day now starting to shift toward the afternoon as a warm breeze begins to blow, rustling the tall grass that was on both sides of the wide road. “Hey Eric,” Riley glances down at Eric as they walk together. “You mind if I put this in that bag of yours? I don’t wanna have to carry it everywhere I go.” He asks, holding the small box toward Eric.

“Oh, uhh sure. But what’s in that box?” Eric asks as he shows his bag to Riley, who smiles & stows it inside.

“Err, call it a little surprise. I’ll show after we breeze through this little test from Dante, okay?” Riley replies. He adjusts his glasses slightly on his snout before giving Eric a little wink, which made Eric chuckle a tiny bit.

“Ooookay then? Sure.” Eric then shrugs as the pair continued on their way.

“Don’t do it kid! He’s clearly hiding some crazy item or something & he’s just pawning it off on you!” Marco suddenly pipes up in Eric’s head, making the Eevee jump slightly.

“Wait what? Come on, don’t be ridiculous!” Eric quickly retorts in his mind.

“No, I’m being serious here! What if Riley here’s some criminal mastermind in the form of some kid!? He could be holding the key to the end of the world!”

Eric seemed to hesitate at Marco’s words, clearly unaware of the joking tone Marco was speaking in. “W-Wait, are you seriously serious right now?” Eric mutters under his breath, a little bead of sweat ran down his head as he gave a side glance to Riley.

Marco then laughs as he notes Eric’s reaction, which after a moment, makes Eric begin to pout. “Hey wait! You’re just messing with me again, aren’t you!?”

“Yes! Of course I’m messing with you kid! What else can I do in this body of yours?” Marco retorts, now beginning to laugh, while Eric just rolls his eyes.

Throughout all of this though, Riley would glance down at Eric, to see him almost blankly stare ahead, every so often his mouth slightly moving as if he were mumbling something to himself. He cocks an eyebrow slightly, but upon Eric sigh heavily, he quickly looks back ahead. Though before he could ask anything about it, they both looked to the left slightly, just off the road to see Dante, standing beside what looked to be a large mound of upended earth with a large hole in it.

“Well! Took you long enough.” Dante says as the pair approach the hole. However, upon seeing Riley arrive as well, the Murkrow grimaces. “Hey uhh Eric? Why is he here?” He points a wing at Riley, who rolls his eyes in response.

“For your information Dante, I came here because I wanted to help. And also because I don’t trust whatever test you have in mind for Eric, who’s trying to do his own thing.” Riley retorts, tapping his foot on the ground as he speaks. Dante would then look to Eric, who slightly nods his head.

“I mean, you never told me to come alone, sooooo…” Eric gives a bit of a bashful glance away from Dante, while Riley, on the flipside, was wholly unabashed, despite his clear intervention in what was supposed to be a one on one affair according to Dante. Nonetheless, Dante opted not to argue on the matter any further, as he did not wish to waste any more time than he felt he already had. “Anyway, what’s this test Dante?” Riley asks, placing a paw on his hip.

“I’m getting to that, you left footed two-stepper.” Dante shoots back, before clearing his throat, while Riley just narrows his eyes. “So, before I get rudely interrupted again, let me explain. This cave here is apparently supposed to lead into something real special, but there hasn’t been anyone brave enough to challenge its depths yet. My test to you Eric, is to get to the bottom of this cave, & bring back some form of proof that you did it! Got it? Or are your nerves already getting the best of you because going down a dark, musty cave is too much for someone like you?” Dante says, his tone growing more condescending as he speaks.

Eric looks to the Murkrow with a narrow eyed gaze, his expression going a bit more serious now at Dante’s last comment, while Riley looks down the mouth of the cave.

The cave itself seemed to go down several feet, give or take, before it would slope & curve downward & to the left, blocking what else could be seen further inside from view. There was a slight sense of apprehension that was inside Riley, but that apprehension would quickly get outweighed by his drive to help this Eevee he had just met. His attention would then turn back to Eric as he heard him speak up.

“Yeah! I can do this. Just you wait, Dante!” Eric gives a firm nod, before turning to the cave’s entrance.

“I’ll come along too, I want to help out if I can.” Riley chimes in, to which Dante merely rolls his eyes.

“Yeah yeah, do what you want Riley, I don’t care. Better yet, you can go with him, & if you come back alone, then I’ll know what happened to Eric.” Dante remarks, chuckling to himself. Riley scoffs at him, while Eric shivered slightly.

“Come on Eric! Let’s do this!” Riley proclaims. Eric nods his head & the pair soon make their way into the cave, with Dante watching the two of them. As soon as the two of them fully disappear from view, Dante’s smug grin slowly fades & he shivers slightly when a particularly cold wind blows, ruffling the bird Pokemon’s feathers. And with that wind, came a voice, a voice only Dante could hear, low & smooth, with a bit of a paternal tone.

“So, the boy took your little challenge then…?”

Dante closes his eyes & nods his head, not saying a word. At that, another cold wind blows.

“Good, good. It is time we see just how capable this one truly is. Wait ten minutes, then follow in after him.”

Dante lets out a low sigh as the wind carries on. He stares down the mouth of the cave, now watching & waiting.

“Agh! Ow… It’s so dark down here, I can hardly see!” Eric grunts as he & Riley slowly make their way through the cave.

Eric had taken the lead at first, but after tripping on what was now, the third rock that he failed to notice, he decided to let Riley take the lead shortly after, to which the Riolu happily obliged.

“Hey don’t worry about it, just take a second to let your eyes adjust.” Riley speaks, glancing over his shoulder at Eric, though when Eric looks up, he could see that the Riolu’s eyes were closed, & the little appendages on his temples were slowly lifted up.

“Uhh, why are your eyes still closed?” Eric asks, tilting his head slightly.

“Oh this? Well, I figured this would be a good spot to try & hone my aura sense.” Riley adjusts his glasses slightly, but after a moment, he lets out a sudden yelp of surprise as he winds up tripping over a rock as well.

“Ow….” Riley mutters as he opens his eyes.

Eric went to go help Riley back up while Marco proceeded to laugh in the back of Eric’s mind. “Well, guess I still have some work to do.” Riley admits with a chuckle as he adjusts his glasses once more, then brushes himself off.

Afterward, the pair continued onward, going down a rather steep decline as their vision was of nothing but stone & dirt. Every so often, they would come across little mushrooms & bits of fauna, but nothing quite out of the ordinary. After a while, the path down would begin to widen up a fair bit, providing more space for the two to now walk side by side.

“Umm, hey Riley? Can I ask you something?” Eric asks as they keep moving. Riley nods his head before picking up a nearby rock.

“Not that I doubt you or anything but uh, why did you want to join a team with me anyway? It all just seems kind of out of the blue, now that I’m really thinking about it.”

Riley idly tosses the rock up & down as he seemed to be thinking for a good moment.

“Well, I guess I can say this much. Honestly Eric, I wanted to join your team because it’s a perfect opportunity for me.” Riley says, now glancing down to the Eevee.

“An opportunity? For what exactly?”

“Well you see, I’m looking for someone. Someone very important.” Riley explains while continuing to play catch with the rock with himself. “As I’m sure you’re aware by now, I live with my grandfather. He’s great & all, but he’s not exactly in his prime anymore & I need to find this certain someone. And my grandpa knows that I’m looking for this particular someone, it’s just he doesn’t want me going it alone, ya know what I mean?” He glances at Eric, now stopping his catching of the rock.

“Damn, looks like this kid has got his priorities on lock. I’m actually surprised.” Marco remarks. Eric sighs internally as he looks up at Riley, stopping his walking, which makes Riley stop as well.

“Yeah, I get it. So, I’m just a means for you to get what you want?” Eric asks, his ears dropping to his head some.

“Well, no-I mean, kinda? Look, I actually do want to help you get your explorer team off the ground, that’s true. It’s just my end goal just so happens to share the same path with yours?” Riley brings his hands up in defense briefly, noticing Eric’s shift in demeanor. “Basically Eric, I still want to do a team with you. It’s just that I have something I need to do too, but I can’t do it alone. Does that make sense? I’m sorry…” Riley trails off at that, now looking away.

“No, no it’s fine. I get it Riley. We all have things we need to do, we can help each other out.” Eric replies, now giving Riley a smile.

“You’re helping me start an explorer team, so maybe I can help you find this special someone you’re looking for. How about that?”

Riley then turns his head back to Eric. “Wait, really? You’d help me out?” Riley asks, with a somewhat surprised look on his face & Eric nods his head.

“Of course! It only makes sense. Teammates help each other out after all, right?” Eric gives Riley a nod of his head, making him smile in return.

“Yeah, you’re right. Thanks Eric.” Riley goes & gives Eric a small pat on the head, making the Eevee’s tail wag in response. “Now come on, let’s go!”

As the pair continued onward, they found the path was getting more twisting & turning the further down they would go. Every so often, they would have to step to the side of some stalactites & the like. Eventually, after going down a slight decline, they both come to a stop at a large opening, seeing what looks to be a large cluster of crystals at the bottom of a steep slope.

“Woah! Hey look at that!” Eric points to the crystal cluster with a growing grin, his tail wagging as well. “Looks like we’ve got something to take back to Dante! Come on!” He says as he hurries onward. Riley was about to say something, but stopped as Eric went on ahead.

“Hey, kid, you really think it’s gonna be this easy?” Marco says, making Eric slow down a bit as he slid down the slope in the center of this large cavernous space.

“I mean, why not? It certainly seems easy.” Eric says in his head. “I’m sure Dante didn’t plan for this to be too challenging.” He gives a hopeful little smile as he approaches the cluster of crystals, each one appearing to shimmer & shine with different colors. Marco simply scoffs in response.

“Alright fine, but don’t start crying to me once you wind up getting into some trouble.” Marco states, before going quiet once more. Eric rolls his eyes in response as he gets a little bit closer.

As that happened, Riley had made his way down the steep decline as well, being a bit more careful on his part, a sense of unease starting to well up within him. “Hey Eric! I could be wrong, but I can’t get this feeling that something bad’s gonna happen.” Riley says as he starts to approach the crystal cluster as well.

“Oh come on! We got this! We’ll just take some pieces of this crystal & bring it back! Then Dante won’t try to mess with us anymore!” Eric spoke, giving an assuring smile to Riley, before turning back to the crystals. He looks around for a small piece, then grips it with his mouth & tries to tug on it, but it doesn’t seem to budge. “Urrrrgh! Come on you!” Eric utters through gritted teeth, but no dice. Riley narrows his eyes slightly at all this, the sense of unease not going away. He then takes a small breath & closes his eyes. As he exhales, Riley raises a paw up in front of himself as he begins to focus into his aura sense. As he starts to focus, it’s at this point he can see the pale blue fiery mass that stood in Eric’s spot, his aura, though there was something weird he noticed. Every so often, Riley could just faintly make out some strange black wisps seem to emanate from Eric’s aura. But before he could say something about it, it’s then he catches it, another pale blue mass of aura, coming directly above, & another coming from somewhere behind. “Eric! Watch out!” Riley then lunges forward, reaching out as far as he could to grab Eric by his fluffy tail & pull him away, right as a figure had just dropped from the ceiling of the cave, intending to slam down on top of Eric, but had just missed thanks to Riley’s quick action.

“Now then, what exactly are a pair of brats doin in my cave?” The figure spoke, their form obscured by the mass of dust that they kicked up.

“Ahh crap, this is bad…” Riley mutters under his breath as the figure lumbered toward the both of them…