Chapter 2: Where We Washed Up
by poper466I made a small edit on 10/18/2023 to generalize the term for the infirmary (originally it was called the medical ward but as I said infirmary is more general and I don’t know why I didn’t just default to it). This applies to this chapter, the previous chapter, and every chapter going forward. 10/19/23 Fixed Arboliva being misspelled as “Arbolivia” applies to all current chapters that feature Arboliva. 10/20/23 fixed an instance of Litwick being referred to as she, if there are any more instances of this feel free to let me know, applies to this chapter only. 3/18/24 fixed some spelling errors in the updated notes themselves (Because for some reason the FFN doc editor doesn’t spellcheck and I didn’t catch that I had misspelled stuff)
Very VERY Small edit on 5/22/24 fixing one of the most embarrassing mistakes I’ve made on this fic (Out of the ones I noticed anyway) I managed to miss spell “Scyther” after typing it TWICE in the previous sentence, no, that was not intentional.
January 21st, 7:00 am.
Surfspark Guild.
Coast Continent.
Riolu woke up at the request of her growling stomach, turning to see if Joseph had awoken before her. She saw no sign of him, so she figured he had already woken up.
“He must be getting breakfast without me.” She sighed, “Guess I’ll get going then.”
As Riolu approached the door, however, she heard a strange rustling noise.
“I’m still here!” Joseph shouted as he jumped from the bed, ambushing Riolu with a playful pounce.
“Oof!” Riolu cried as she tumbled to the floor, “You scared me half to death!” She shouted as she pushed Joseph, knocking him over.
“Hey! No fair!” Joseph laughed, “I’m still getting used to picking myself back up.”
“Should’ve thought of that before you jumped at me.” Riolu laughed.
The two got up and ran down the hall, passing by Budew and a Smolive on their way. When they got to the dining room, they both skidded to a stop, nearly bumping into Cinder in the process.
“Hey Cinder!” Joseph shouted, making Cinder jump in surprise.
“H-howdy!” She shouted back, still in shock, “You seem to have slept well.”
“Sure did!” Joseph declared gleefully.
“That’s good to hear!” Cinder cheered, “I was worried you wouldn’t get any sleep at all after yesterday.”
“Yeah, yesterday was very hectic.” Riolu sighed, “You wouldn’t happen to have any new info on Oshawott’s condition, would you, Cinder?”
“Nothing big, no, but doctor Arboliva said he opened his eyes at one point.” Cinder said dejectedly, “Sorry, I can’t tell you much.”
“That’s all I needed to hear.” Riolu said with a sigh of relief. ‘At least he’s alive for now’ she thought.
“Well alright,” Cinder said, “I’ll be sure to keep tabs on him for you.”
“Sounds good!” Riolu responded, “Well we’re gonna get something to eat then maybe look around a bit.”
“Oh, that’s perfect!” Cinder exclaimed, “The Guildmaster actually assigned me to take you guys around on a tour of the guild and Sunset Square today.”
“Sunset Square?” Riolu and Joseph asked simultaneously.
“It’s the town you two went through to get here.” Cinder clarified, “You must’ve rushed through it trying to find help, huh.”
“Yeah, you could say we were in a hurry.” Riolu answered.
“Well, it worked out in the end, now let’s eat, so I can prove to you that I’m the best tour guide on the Coast Continent!” Cinder exulted.
The three got their breakfast and took a seat, this time opting for one inside the dining room, Joseph looked around noticing that the crystal Chandalure were gone, a giant sun-shaped crystal accompanied by a smaller Espeon shaped one taking their place.
“Isn’t it cool?” Cinder asked, “The lights change out every day! They even change periodically throughout the day!”
“That’s crazy!” Joseph blurted, “How did anyone make all this?”
“Well, nobody knows for sure, but some say it’s because of a wish the Guildmaster made with Jirachi.” Cinder explained, “Others say he found some sort of dream crystal that let him bring this dream to life, but it’s all just rumors.”
“Strange, has anyone asked Lanturn about it?”
“I don’t think so, but something tells me he wouldn’t reveal his secret.”
As the three finished their breakfast, Joseph remembered the conversation he had with Nail last night.
“So, uh, you know anything about that Nail guy?”
“Not really, but I’ll tell you what I do know. He’s from another world, just like me,” Cinder explained. “He said something about living in a place called Hisui, which sounds like a weird place. When I asked him what continent Hisui was on, he just replied with ‘Hisui’.”
“Ah, I see,” Riolu responded, pretending to know what any of that meant.
“So he’s from the Hisui region,” Joseph said, “I mean that’s pretty obvious given his species.”
“Wait, you know what species he is!?” Cinder gasped, pulling out a notebook from her treasure bag, “Tell me, so I can finish the page on his species!”
The notebook had info about Pokémon species on each of its pages, but the page on Sneasler was basically empty, with any information listed being accompanied by a series of question marks.
“What’s with the notebook?”
“It’s a species log, it has info on every Pokémon I’ve encountered!”
“Oh, so it’s like a Pokédex!”
“Pokédex, what’s that?”
“Something humans made to identify every Pokémon, it also has all known info on them as well!”
“Oh, so that’s where my human friend got this from, I always thought it was because he couldn’t remember it all.”
Joseph looked at the page for Sneasler, checking its accuracy before correcting a few things on it.
“The typing is wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sneasler’s a poison fighting type, not a dark fighting type.”
“There’s no way! Just look at him, he screams dark type!”
“There’s literally poison coating his claws.”
“So? Umbreon are said to be poisonous too, yet they’re dark types!”
“Oh, is that so, well then has Nail ever shown you his signature move?”
“Signature move?”
“That’s right, he can learn the move Dire Claw, but no other species of Pokémon can.”
“Dire Claw?”
“It’s a poison type move that can sometimes put the target to sleep, poison them, or paralyze them.”
“There’s no way that’s real!”
“You can ask him later.”
“Um, not to discredit you or anything,” Riolu chimed in, “But how would you know?”
Joseph replied, “Because back home, there was a game that had Sneasler in it.”
“But what if this isn’t like that game?”
“It could very well not be, but you’re a fighting type, right?”
“Yeah, but I don’t see how that supports your argument.”
“Your ability is most likely either steadfast or inner focus, but rarely others of your species have prankster as their ability. You evolve by becoming close friends with someone and leveling up during the daytime. Finally, after evolving you’ll become a Lucario which is a fighting steel type that gains access to the move Aura Sphere, which is a move that most Riolu cannot learn.”
“There’s no way you knew all of that, you have to have looked at Cinder’s notes!”
“He didn’t, most of that info isn’t there!” Cinder exclaimed, “Some of it’s stuff that I thought was fake, yet you know it to be true!”
“Yeah, mainly because back home there was a Riolu that had Prankster for his ability that bullied me.”
“Sorry for bringing up those memories.” Joseph apologized.
“It’s alright, I believe you now, sorry for doubting you.”
“I think we’re getting a bit sidetracked, shall we start the tour now?” Cinder asked, trying to lighten the mood.
“Yeah, let’s get moving!” Riolu shouted, snapping out of her brief sadness.
The two were guided around the rest of the first basement floor by Cinder, nothing particularly important was there just more bedrooms, but it was nice to know where everyone else was in case something happened. Before they left BF1, they stopped by the infirmary to check on Oshawott, who was still out cold.
“Rest well, bud, hopefully you’ll be better soon.” Riolu whispered before leaving to resume the tour.
After leaving the infirmary they ended up by the ladders, Cinder took them down the second ladder to the bottom floor, this floor was pretty empty, only having what seemed to be a huge vault door.
“What’s this for?” Riolu asked.
“It’s supposed to be a bunker, actually this whole place was supposed to be one, hence why it’s got so much stuff in it.” Cinder explained, “This is supposed to be the safest place in the guild, although it’s reserved for emergencies only.”
“That’s strange, why was this place supposed to be a bunker?”
“Supposedly it had something to do with excessive flooding in the Coast Continent due to storms. This building functions as a lighthouse and a bunker in the case of floods, although there hasn’t been a flood here in a long time.”
The three took one last look at the bunker before heading all the way up to the top floor.
“This is the sentry post, this is where Litwick checks for any potentially shady characters before allowing anyone entry.”
“Yeah, he just phases right through the door and takes a look at you.” Joseph replied, “She let us in yesterday.”
“Oh, then you’ve already seen a third of this floor.”
The two walked into the room dead ahead of the door. In the room, there were multiple boards that almost looked like screens and a map table, which again appeared to have a screen. Each of the boards had a slot seemingly for some sort of device to fit into, the table had multiple similar slots with differing colors.
“This is the job room. It’s very fancy, isn’t it?” Cinder asked as various lights flickered from the electronics around the room.
“Are those screens?” Joseph asked.
“They sure are, they’re so much better than the job boards back home!”
“So those handle rescue requests and stuff, right?”
“Yep, you just take off your watch, place it in the slot, and pick the jobs you want to do. After you do that, the jobs are downloaded to your job list.”
“What’s the table for then?”
“Ah, the quest table, It’s for bigger adventures focusing on exploration rather than doing a specific task.” Cinder answered as she walked towards the table, “There’s more watch slots on the table so that more than one team can go out on the same quest.”
“Team?” What kind of team?” Riolu asked.
“Well that’s up to you, Surfspark Guild teams are free form, allowing anyone to make a team about anything.”
“That sounds interesting, tell me more.”
“You can make a team for saving other Pokémon, taking out outlaws, discovering uncharted territory, documenting mystery dungeons, and much more, plus the guild is always looking for new teams.”
“Maybe we could start a team, Joseph!” Riolu suggested.
“I like that idea, but what would we specialize in?”
“That’s the best part, you don’t have to specialize in anything!” Cinder cheered, “You can just do whatever you’re in the mood for that day!”
“Alright, that settles it then, I’m going to make a team, so I can dispose of the evil purple goo that devoured my home village!” Riolu declared, slamming her fist into her palm.
“Alright, I’ll get you registered once this tour concludes!” Cinder exulted, “Hopefully you can think of a team name by then.”
“Shoot! I definitely didn’t think of that!”
“Well, that’s why I’m giving you time to think it over. Now shall we conclude the guild tour?”
“Yeah that sounds good” Joseph said before exiting the job room”
“Where are you going?” Cinder asked, “There’s still something I want to show you in here.”
Joseph turned around and walked back towards Cinder, who had her nubby little paw on the wall. She pressed down on a hidden button in the wall, revealing a set of stairs that went up into the guild’s attic. The three proceeded up the stairs, Joseph stumbling multiple times as he climbed, until eventually they all reached the top of the stairs.
“This is the attic, or as we like to call it, Gimmighoul’s room.”
“So someone lives up here?” Riolu asked.
“Yeah, and that someone is me.” A strange voice said.
“Where Are you!? I don’t see you!” Riolu gasped as she looked around the room but struggled to find where the voice was coming from.
Joseph rolled his eyes, “He’s in the chest” he said
“Aw, you’re no fun!” Gimmighoul said, popping out of his chest.
The chest Gimmighoul was sitting in was rather empty, Joseph estimated there were only about 15 coins in it.
“This is Gimmighoul,” Cinder explained. “If you find any strange looking gold coins, give them to him, he’ll trade you some pretty nice stuff in return.”
“Good to know.” Joseph replied.
Joseph took a look around the attic, eying all the junk the guild had accumulated. Among the junk he spotted a strange box, it looked metallic and had weird red and blue stripes lining from about halfway down the sides of the box all the way to the middle of the top of the box, in between the two stripes there was a circle in between two curved lines.
“Hey Gimmighoul what’s with the strange box?” He asked
“Oh that hunk-a-junk?” Gimmighoul asked, rolling his eyes as Joseph nodded, “The stupid thing won’t open again, not that it matters because it’s empty.”
“Well, if you don’t want it, can I have it?” Joseph asked.
“Go ahead, take it.” Gimmighoul said, rolling his eyes again, “Just don’t try to bring it back after you realize it’s worthless.”
Joseph took the box but then immediately realized; “Oh right, how am I gonna carry this thing?”
“I’ll hold it.” Riolu sighed, taking the box from him and holding it in both of her arms, “This thing is much lighter than I expected.”
“Well DUH! It’s empty!” Gimmighoul ribbed.
“Let’s just take it back to the room, so we can get on with the rest of the tour.” Riolu muttered, slightly offended by Gimmighoul’s little joke.
The trio left the attic and continued on until they reached the room, where they proceeded to place the mysterious box onto the desk in the corner. But before they left, Joseph felt something staring at him, but he decided not to question it. ‘It’s probably just my imagination’ He thought.
After regrouping with Cinder outside the room, they went back to the first floor and proceeded to the entrance.
“You three leaving?” Litwick asked.
“Yep, we’ll be heading out to see Hula first, then we’ll stop by Sunset Square. We’ll be back in a bit.”
“Alright, just make sure you’re back by lunchtime.”
“I always am!”
“Just making sure you don’t lose your streak.” Litwick laughed before waving as the door to the guild opened.
Cinder led Joseph and Riolu out of the guild onto a dirt road that went down the cliff the guild had been fixated upon and split off in two directions. The trio took the path that went left from where they were facing.
“I thought you said there was one more part of the guild you wanted to show us.” Joseph said, confused as to why they had left already.
“Oh there is, but it’s not inside the guild itself, rather it’s just affiliated with it.” Cinder elaborated.
The three reached the end of the road which led to a huge garden that grew all sorts of things, flowers, berries, fruit, and other crops.
“Oh, hey Cinder!” A cheery feminine voice called out.
“Howdy Hula, how are you?”
Hula emerged from behind some of the shrubbery that obscured her. Her body was primarily purple, with two pink flowers dressing her head, she wore a skirt made out of leaves that were two vastly different but still very vibrant shades of green.
“I’m doing great! The garden’s been doing nice as always, and I’ve been having fun tending to it!”
“Great! It’s always nice to see you’re doing well!” Cinder cheered, “Seeing you and the garden doing well means seeing the guild do well after all!”
“Oh please, my gardening isn’t that impactful.”
“Come on, don’t sell yourself short like that, if it weren’t for you, we’d have no food!”
“Well, when you put it like that, it does sound impactful, huh.” Hula chuckled, “I bet everyone at the guild appreciates my work then.”
“Uh, not to break up the chit-chat or anything, but what is this place?” Riolu asked
“This is my humble garden.” Hula answered, “This is where I grow all the guild’s berries and plants.”
“So are you the guild’s lead gardener?” Joseph asked.
“That’s what the guild members call me, but I’m not a fan of that title, so just call me Hula.” Hula said, reaching out to shake Joseph’s paw.
Joseph reached his paw towards Hula’s arm, only to immediately lose his balance and face plant.
“Was it something I said?” Hula asked, scratching her head.
“No you’re fine.” Cinder interrupted, “He’s just in a bit of a weird situation, and he’s still getting the hang of things.”
“I’m not catching your drift here, what’s going on?”
“Do you remember that story I told you about that human that got turned into a Pokémon?”
“Yeah, I still don’t exactly believe it, though.”
“Well, this is Joseph, a human who got turned into a Shinx.”
“I beg your pardon!?” Hula gasped.
“Yeah it’s true.” Joseph said, struggling to regain balance, “Why else do you think I’m struggling to stay balanced?”
“I still can’t believe this! How could a human just transform into a Pokémon like that?”
“I assume it’s a result of humans as a species not existing in this world, so the world assigns all humans that enter it a new species.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Cinder and Hula both said in unison.
“Well, it’s the only conclusion that does make sense to me.” Joseph sighed.
“Forget about that for now, I want proof!” Hula demanded.”
“What kind of proof?”
“I’m gonna ask you something and if you can’t answer it, you’re a liar!”
“Ok, then, ask away.”
“What are the three Pokémon of Hoenn’s legends?”
“Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza.” Joseph answered confidently.
Suddenly, everyone went silent. Hula’s eyes shot wide open, ‘T-that’s not possible, how could he know about legends from another world?’ She thought.
Finally, after a solid couple of minutes, Hula broke the silence, “That’s impossible! Not only did you know what I was talking about, you also didn’t stop to ask where Hoenn was!”
“Yeah because it’s in another world.” Joseph replied.
“How do you know that?”
“Because from what I’ve been told you’re from another world too, which would explain why you know about that world’s legends.”
Silence overtook the group again. Hula took a deep breath before breaking the silence with an apology.
“Sorry, I doubted you.” She sighed, “It’s just I’ve heard so many bad Pokémon claiming to be humans so that they could scare others.”
“I understand.” Joseph replied, “From what Riolu here told me, it sounds like Pokémon here don’t take too kindly to humans.”
“Well, at least you found someone who’s ok with your presence.” Hula chuckled.
“Well, I probably wouldn’t be if he didn’t prove he wasn’t like what my parents told me humans were like.” Riolu explained.
“I did?” Joseph asked.
“Yeah! Remember how you snapped me out of my panic on the beach yesterday?”
“Oh yeah I guess I did huh.”
“You were panicking!? On the beach!?” Hula gasped.
Riolu sighed, “It’s a long story.”
“Well, if you feel comfortable sharing, I’d love to hear it. Maybe over lunch?”
“Alright, it’s a deal! Once we’re done touring the town, we’ll meet you back at the guild for lunch!”
“Alright then, take care!” Hula said as she waved to the trio.
“See ya!” Joseph said, returning the wave before falling flat on his face again, “I can’t catch a break, can I?” He muttered.
The trio walked back along the path, passing by the guild along the way. As they were walking, Cinder started talking.
“We should probably get some idle chit-chat going while we walk, so we don’t get bored. The walk from here to town is relatively long.”
“Ok, I’ve been wanting to ask Riolu some stuff since yesterday, but I never really got the chance.” Joseph replied.
“Ask away.” Riolu responded.
“Well, first thing’s first, could you be more specific about the evil humans thing?”
“Well, not really, my parents told me a little about it, but I didn’t get to heat the end of the story.”
“Dang, I guess I’m still in the dark.”
“Don’t worry, I can fill you in!” Cinder cheered. “It sounds like a complete fairy tale, but I think there’s a bit of validity to it.”
“Alright, then lay it on me.”
“From what I’ve heard, about a hundred years ago a human appeared in this world, she took the form of an Eevee. One day a powerful evil appeared, the human and her friends tried to stop this evil, but the human betrayed her friends, joining the dark side. But her friends were able to distill the evil. After they did this, a portal opened to take the human back home, but her former friends prevented her from entering. They told her that her punishment for her misdeeds was to live out the rest of her life as an Eevee. She ran off in tears and eventually made it back to the village she had awoken in on her first day. They drove her out of the village, threatening to kill her for what she had done. She then was never heard from again.”
“Wow, that’s kinda sad, she didn’t even get a chance to redeem herself or anything.” Joseph said.
“I mean yeah it’s a little sad, but did she deserve a chance? She chose to turn evil.”
“I guess not, it’d be one thing if she was corrupted or controlled, but if she chose the path of evil, maybe she got what she deserved.”
“Well, the Guildmaster made it sound like she made that decision on her own, so chances are she chose to be evil.”
“I don’t think we have enough details about the supposed evil to come to that conclusion.”
Riolu agreed with Joseph, what if this “evil” made her its puppet with some sort of magic or something, she chose to bring this possibly to Cinder’s attention, “What if the evil that was mentioned had the ability to take control of the human?”
“I mean, it sounds unlikely due to the fact that nobody knows whether the evil had control over anyone else.” Cinder answered.
“To be fair, you did say this was over a hundred years ago, though.” Joseph replied, “Maybe some of the details were lost to time.”
“You have a point, but unfortunately, she’s not the only human who’s entered this world and turned evil.”
“Figures, after all, why would anyone stay angry over an event that happened a hundred years ago?”
“Honestly, I think it would be a little understandable if that’s all it took for the Pokémon of this world to shut humans out. Prior to that whole event, nobody knew about humans at all, unlike the Pokémon back home who had myths to go off of.” Cinder explained.
“Uh, not to interrupt you guys, but I think we’re here.” Riolu said.
The trio had finally made it to Sunset Square, but Cinder quickly realized something was off.
Joseph was confused, “Where is everyone?” He asked.
The trio continued walking until they spotted what appeared to be the whole town cowering in fear. They walked closer, only to be not so nicely greeted by a relatively small Eevee.
“You three, down on the ground NOW!” The Eevee shouted.
The three laughed, ‘This tiny Eevee is really what the townsfolk are afraid of?’ Joseph thought, ‘How could this runt pose a threat to anyone?’
“What’s so funny?” The Eevee asked.
Still laughing hysterically, Cinder said, “There’s no way someone like you could pose much of a threat.”
“ARE YOU MOCKING ME!?” The Eevee shouted, “I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I’M THE DECEDENT OF A HUMAN AND I’LL END YOU!”
The trio’s laughter only grew louder. ‘He can’t be serious right now.’ Cinder thought.
“FINE, YOU LEAVE ME NO CHOICE!” The Eevee shouted, he then lunged at Cinder only to be met by her Fire Blast.
“Unless you want me to put on a light show at your expense, I would recommend staying down.” Cinder quipped.
“Ugh…” the Eevee groaned, the fur on the top of his head was still ablaze from the attack, but surprisingly none of the surrounding fur was charred.
“Well that takes care of that, everyone’s free to return to their normal activities” Cinder cheered as she struck a heroic pose.
The townsfolk then continued on with their daily activities and Cinder continued her job as a tour guide after calling to have someone pick up the Eevee, who was being doused by a Lotad’s Water Gun. Cinder led Riolu and Joseph to the center of town. They were surrounded by buildings shaped like various objects and Pokémon.
“So, what do you wanna check out first?” Cinder asked.
Riolu shuddered, “Um, Joseph, could you decide? I’m a bit overwhelmed.”
“Alright, let’s check out…” Joseph paused to look around, one building caught his eye, one very familiar one, “That one over there, the one that looks like a Kecleon.”
“Alright, we’ll start with the Kecleon shop then.” Cinder said. They walked over to the Kecleon shop to find three Kecleon behind the counter, one was the normal green with a red stripe on its stomach, another was bright purple with a red stripe, and the last one was a slightly different shade of green with a blue stripe.
“Hey Cinder!” The blue striped Kecleon greeted.
“Howdy!”
“What brings you here today?”
“Oh, I was just showing these two newcomers around.”
“Well in that case welcome to the Kecleon shop, my name’s Kecleon, but you can call me Cobalt. My brothers go by Crimson and Amethyst. I think you can guess why.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty obvious.” Riolu sighed.
“Well, something a little less obvious is the fact that each one of the Kecleon brothers sell different items. Crimson sells normal items, Amethyst sells orbs and TMs, and Cobalt sells rare items.” Cinder explained.
“What kind of rare items?” Joseph asked.
“All sorts of weird things like old slates, mysterious gemstones, strange contraptions, and just plain old rare stuff.”
“Hm… interesting…” Riolu muttered, “Is any of it useful?”
“I’m sure you could find a use for some of it, but most Pokémon just buy this stuff to keep as a good luck charm.” Cinder answered, “I mean, I’m even guilty of it myself, I bought a weird rock thing. It’s a lot like obsidian, but it’s definitely not obsidian.”
Her brief description caught Joseph’s attention, “Can I see it?” He asked.
“I guess.” She said as she reached into her back and produced the glassy rock, “It’s strange but pretty.” She added, “But I haven’t been able to identify it.”
“I think I know what it is, but it’s hard to say.”
“I don’t get what you mean by that.”
“I think it’s Black Augurite, but I’m not entirely sure.”
“Black Augurite? What’s that?”
“It’s an evolution item meant for Scyther, but the only way to confirm that it is indeed Black Augurite is by giving it to a Scyther.”
“Interesting, maybe that Scyther on Team Granite would want it.” Cinder wondered, “Well, for now we should focus on finishing our tour.”
Riolu agreed, “Yeah, we’ve been standing here for a while now, we should get going.”
And thus the tour continued. They moved on to a store shaped like a huge present. The store was huge, so huge in fact that everything was inside the giant present itself, which was surprising considering all the other facilities in town were basically just stalls.
“Whoa, this place is huge!” Riolu gasped
“Is this a department store?” Joseph asked
Cinder nodded, “Yep, this is Sunset Square Supplies, the biggest store on the Coast Continent!”
“But why is there a Kecleon shop if this place is here, isn’t that a bit redundant?” Riolu responded.
“If I had to guess, it’s because this place is some huge corporation trying to put small businesses out of business.” Joseph deadpanned.
“What, no! It’s nothing like that!” Cinder gasped, “This place is entirely different, I’ll show you.”
The trio entered the store, immediately Riolu was amazed she had never been in a building so big, it was overwhelming for her, causing her to lag behind Joseph a bit.
“Wow I was not expecting this is-” Joseph was cut off by the sound of confetti cannons firing on all cylinders, suddenly there was confetti as far as the eye could see.
Suddenly a Ribombee flew through the confetti and shouted, “CONGRATULATIONS, YOU’RE OUR 10000TH CUSTOMER!”
“W-w-what?” Joseph squeaked.
Joseph looked up to see a customer counter behind the Ribombee, it had hit 10001 customers exactly.
“Oh, I guess I am! ” Joseph gasped, “Lucky me!”
The Ribombee continued, “To commemorate this occasion, please accept this bag filled with goodies!” The Ribombee then tossed a pretty sizable bag to Joseph. Inside there were a couple TMs, a box of heart shaped chocolates, and some assorted berries. The bag itself was a bright blue with a red zigzag pattern.
“Thank you!” Joseph said.
“Please, it’s us who should be thanking you, without patrons like you, we wouldn’t be where we are today, so thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Joseph replied
The Ribombee then flew off in a flash, leaving the trio dazed.
“That was weird.” Riolu thought.
“Hey, that’s Silky for you, she loves big and flashy celebrations.” Cinder explained, “She’s the co-owner of this place, by the way.”
“Where’s the owner?”
“He’s out right now, he said something about a wrapping paper shortage, but that’s about all I know.” Cinder mentioned, “Anyway, here’s 2000 Poké, you can spend it on whatever you want. Think of it as a thank-you gift for sharing dinner with me yesterday.”
“Whoa! 2000!? I’ve never even seen this much Poké before!” Riolu gasped.
“Dang, there must not have been that many dungeons where you’re from then.” Cinder chuckled.
Riolu sighed, “You got that right.”
“You’re not alone in that regard.” Joseph replied, “Back where I’m from, there are no dungeons.”
“I’m not gonna question how that works.”
“Well, good because it’s probably not in my best interest to share that here.”
“What, why- oh right.”
“Well, let’s just get shopping, I’ll tell you when we get back.”
The two then split off in two directions forcing Cinder into a panic, ‘Shoot which one should I follow!?’ she asked herself before quickly deciding on her approach, ‘I guess I should follow Joseph since he might have a bit of trouble getting around.’
“Hey Joseph!” Cinder shouted, “Wait up!”
Joseph slowed down a bit so that Cinder could catch up, then sped back up to match her pace.
“So is this place huge or what?” Cinder asked.
“It’s pretty big!” Joseph replied, “I didn’t expect to see something like this here.”
“Me neither, it blew my mind when I came here for the first time!”
The pair stopped at what appeared to be a bakery, it had a counter that had all sorts of candy and icing decorating it, and menus for ordering different types of candy and dessert. Behind the counter there was a bright yellow Alcremie with purple ribbon sprinkles on its head.
The Alcremie greeted the pair, “Welcome to The Batter Splatter! What would you like?”
“Can I get a cookie?” Joseph asked.
“Sure what kind?”
“Chocolate chip please.”
“Alright, would your friend like anything?”
“Can I get a Red Gummi please?” Cinder asked.
“Certainly! Will that be all?”
“Can I also get one Orange Gummi, one Yellow Gummi, one Grass Gummi, and one White Gummi?”
“Of course! Is that everything?”
“Yes, that’s everything!” Cinder replied.
“Alright, we’ll have everything ready in a moment.”
“Sounds good!” Cinder cheered, she then turned to Joseph who was just staring off into space, “Hey Joseph, you ok?”
Joseph snapped out of his trance and quickly replied, “Y-yeah, I’m fine, I was just staring off.”
“Just checking.” Cinder chuckled, “I wonder what’s going on with Riolu.”
Meanwhile, Riolu was taking in the vibrant colors and the open space of Sunset Square Supplies. She was so distracted by her surroundings that she didn’t realize impending doom was approaching her rapidly, *THUD*, she was thrusted onto the ground by an unknown perpetrator.
“Oops sorry ma’am!” The mysterious figure cried.
“Ugh…” Riolu groaned, “It’s ok, I wasn’t looking where I was going, so it’s kinda my fault.”
Riolu jumped back to her feet only to be greeted by a Spheal rolling up to her.
“My name’s Slippy, Slippy the Spheal, and yours?”
“Oh, I uh, just go by Riolu.”
“So what’s got your attention Riolu?”
“Oh, uh, just the atmosphere here is a lot to take in.”
“Lemme guess it’s your first time here?”
“Yup, I’m still new to the whole continent.”
“I feel ya’ I came from the Glacier Continent, my first time here was very similar, only a big meanie bumped into me while I was taking everything in. But because he bumped into me, he was caught.”
“Caught, what do you mean caught?”
“He was stealing from The Batter Splatter, a bakery on the other side of this place. It’s run by a huge family of Alcremie, which was not great for the thief who happened to be a Pangoro.”
“Wow, what a dimwit.”
“Yeah, he clearly didn’t think that through.”
Riolu was enjoying Slippy’s company, he was the first Pokémon she’d met since arriving with a sense of normalcy after all, so she had an idea “Hey, since you’ve been here before do you think you could show me around?” She asked.
“Of course!” Slippy cheered, clapping his flippers together in excitement, “I love showing others around, just follow me!”
The pair wandered around, as they wandered, Slippy explained each store in detail. The pair wandered for a bit before stopping in front of some sort of metal door.
“What’s this?” Riolu wondered, “Some weird kind of door?”
“It’s not just any door, it’s an elevator door!” Slippy explained, “It leads into an elevator.”
“What’s an elevator?”
Slippy thought for a moment, describing an elevator to someone who hadn’t ever heard of one probably wouldn’t be easy, “It’s a bit hard to explain, I think it’s better if I just show you.” He said, hoping Riolu wouldn’t get uneasy.
To his surprise, this excited Riolu, “Ok, this better blow me away then!” She exclaimed.
Slippy called the elevator down, soon after the elevator came down. The door opened, revealing the relatively cramped elevator.
“This is it?” Riolu scoffed, “Well, at least it blew me away with how underwhelming it was.”
“There’s more, trust me.” Slippy assured her.
Slippy entered the elevator, and Riolu quickly followed suit. Slippy pressed the button for the second floor, the door shut, and the elevator began to move.
“Um, what’s going on?” Riolu asked, “Why are we in this room and why is it moving?”
Slippy noticed Riolu start to panic, so he tried to calm her down the best he could, “Just try to stay calm, nothing bad is going to happen.”
“I don’t like this!” Riolu shouted, “I don’t like being trapped in this weird moving room!”
Thankfully, the elevator stopped, and the door opened, causing Slippy to sigh in relief as he exited the elevator.
Riolu on the other hand ran out of the elevator and looked around in a panic, “Wh-what where are we now!?” She blurted.
“Let me guess, first time on an elevator?” A familiar voice asked, sounding rather disappointed.
Riolu turned to her right to see Joseph and Cinder walking up to her, “O-oh hey you two.” She said sheepishly, “How’d you get here?”
“We took the elevator, and to answer your first question, we’re on the second floor now.”
“Oh, I think I get it now, that thing took us up here!”
“Yep, that’s the whole point of an elevator.”
“But why wouldn’t you just use the stairs?”
“It’s more convenient to use an elevator.”
Cinder then wondered, “How did you even use the elevator if you didn’t know what it was?”
“I took her with me.” Slippy said, “My name’s Slippy, by the way, what’s yours?”
“My name’s Joseph and this is Cinder, We’re Riolu’s friends.”
“Nice to meet you, Joseph and Cinder, I hope we can all become great friends!”
Slippy’s friendliness brought a smile to Joseph’s face, “Nice to meet you too! We’ll be around doing stuff for the guild, so we’ll stop and chat if we have time.”
Slippy’s face lit up at the mention of the guild, “Really!? You guys are with the guild!?”
“Well, not yet, we still have to make a team, but we’re gonna do that after our little tour.”
“Can I join you guys? It’s been my dream to explore the world in search of rare items, but the guild doesn’t let anyone join alone.”
This caught Riolu off guard. ‘Woah, skipping straight to forming a team with us, talk about fast friends.’ She thought.
“I’d be fine with it as long as Riolu is.” Joseph replied.
“Wait, why are you leaving this up to me?”
“Because this team was your idea, so I think it’s only fair that I let you be the leader.”
“Huh, I never thought of that.” Riolu said, “I was just gonna let you lead because I don’t know if I’d make a great leader.”
“Well, don’t worry about it, if you think you’ll need help with leading the team, I’ve got your back.”
“You’ll really do that for me?”
“Of course! Think of me as the co-leader.”
“Wow, I don’t know what to say, thanks for having my back.”
“You’re welcome,” Joseph said, smiling briefly before continuing, “So where were we?”
“Oh yeah, I hereby declare Slippy the Spheal an honorary member of Team… er… well… the name’s still pending.”
Slippy began to clap his flippers together again, “Yay!” He yelled out, “We’re gonna go on so many fun adventures together!”
Slippy kept cheering happily until a rather loud voice called out, “SLIPPY! What have I told you about causing a ruckus!?”
Joseph turned around to see a massive Walrein towering over the group. He jumped back a little in surprise, the sheer size of the Walrein made him panic internally, ‘He could crush me with ease If he wanted to!’ He thought.
Slippy jumped back with a squeak, “EEP! I’m sorry papa! I was just really excited!”
“Excited? About what?” Papa Walrein asked.
“I finally found a team to join the guild with!”
“Oh really!? That’s great!”
“Great!? It’s more than great, it’s a dream come true!” Slippy shouted before noticing the stern look on his father’s face, “S-sorry, I didn’t mean to get all rowdy again.”
“So when can I meet your teammates?”
“You’re looking at them right now!” Slippy exclaimed, “Papa, meet my teammates; Joseph and Riolu!”
“Hello, you two, how are you today?”
Riolu, unfazed by the giant Walrein, responded before Joseph could stop mentally freaking out. “We’re doing good, right, Joseph?”
Joseph stood still frozen in his internal panic until he heard Riolu’s voice, “U-uh yeah it’s been going great!” He said shakily.
“You don’t sound like you’re doing great, is something wrong?” Walrein asked.
“No, he’s just not used to seeing bigger Pokémon, that’s all.” Riolu explained, “His parents never evolved and up until now he’s lived a pretty sheltered life.”
“Oh, shoot, sorry if I scared you little dude.”
“I-it’s ok.” Joseph squeaked, “It’s not your fault.”
“Well, at any rate, it’s great to see that Slippy’s making friends despite his weird dream of meeting a human.”
“Papa!” Slippy shouted.
“What I figured you’d told them already.”
“No, I hadn’t because it always makes others stop talking to me.”
“O-oh, oops.” Walrein muttered.
Slippy’s heart sank. ‘Now I’m never gonna join the guild, there’s no way they’ll let me join their team after hearing that.’ He thought. Tears began to form in his eyes before he was called to his senses.
“It’s ok, Slippy, we’re not gonna judge you for wanting to meet a human.” Joseph said, “It’s ok to be curious.”
“You really mean that?” Slippy asked.
“From the bottom of my heart.” Joseph promised.
This however didn’t stop Slippy from bawling his eyes out. “T-thank y-you.” He cried with a sniffle.
Riolu and Joseph hugged Slippy until his tears died down, afterward his father spoke, “Thank you, truly thank you.” He said, “Slippy has a hard time making friends, even without them hearing about his dreams. To see that he’s found such understanding friends puts a smile on my face.”
“You’re welcome.” Riolu said, “We kinda have the same problem, making friends doesn’t come easy to us.”
“Oh, then I guess this is a win-win for everyone then!”
“I guess so!”
“Uh, not to interrupt you guys but-” Cinder awkwardly interjected before, *GRUMBLE*
“What was that!?” Joseph squeaked.
“That was my alarm, it’s time for lunch!” Cinder said jokingly.
“Why is your alarm sound so terrifying!?”
“Because I didn’t get to choose it, and I’ve put it on snooze for way too long.”
“What do you mean you didn’t get to choose it?”
“It’s my tummy rumbling, you dingus.”
“Oh, I get it now.”
“We should probably get back to the guild for lunchtime.”
“Ooh, can I come too?” Slippy asked.
“Sure!”
Slippy’s face lit up, “Yay! Thank you!” He cheered.
“You’re welcome, little dude.”
“You won’t get in trouble for letting him into the guild, will you?” Riolu asked, concerned about Cinder potentially losing her position at the guild over bringing a guest for lunch.
“No, as long as we tell Litwick he’s here to form a team, he’s good to have lunch with us.”
“Ok, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t gonna lose your position or anything.”
“I know what I’m doing, besides Guildmaster Lanturn is as laid back as can be, he’d only kick someone out of the guild if they did something unspeakable.”
“Well, that’s a relief, I was worried that we’d get kicked out if we did too poorly.”
“Don’t worry about it, Lanturn is cool, he doesn’t care if you mess up as long as you’re ok.”
“Aw, that’s sweet.”
“Yeah, hearing him say that was a nice change of pace from what I was used to.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, back home Chatot would scold me for every tiny little mistake I made, I’m convinced he hated me.”
“What reason would he have to hate you?”
“That’s a story for another time, for now-” *GROAR* Cinder’s stomach rumbled, “We should take care of this.” She sighed.
Slippy gave his papa a hug before the quartet headed back to the guild for lunch, on the walk back Cinder’s stomach rumbled like a volcano every so often.
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