Chapter 3: Trials and Tribulations

“Rise and shine, rookies!” A voice boomed in the hallway, followed by a cacophony of intense banging sounds. “You guys got five minutes to get out here, ready to go!”

Krem groggily opened his eyes and tried to stretch his tiny limbs. Blinding sunlight spilled out of the windows, forcing him to duck his head back under the sheets.

“Uuuurrrggghh.” A loud groan erupted from the mattress to Krem’s right. Sachi crawled out from under his sheets. “How long was I out?”

“Like, fourteen hours. Now get up before I personally drag you two out by your tails,” a restless Dela called from across the room. The skitty was already up and raring to go.

“W-what are we doing today? Where are we going?” Krem asked wearily, adjusting to the brightness. Did he really sleep for over half a day?

“Some kinda training thing or whatever.” Dela sounded even more impatient than usual. “Seriously, come on. I swear to Arceus if we’re late I will-“

“Okay, okay, I’m up. Jeez.” Sachi jumped up and grabbed his bag. He opened the door and the three stepped out into the hallway.

Several other pokemon exited the rooms around them. A squirtle, an eevee, and a goomy were standing just outside the door to their right, chattering excitedly to one another. Two familiar rattata stood across from them, listening intently.

“Heya Team Caustic!” Remmy called over to the trio. “Mornin’!”

“Good morning, Remmy, Rollie,” Dela said curtly, then gestured towards the other group of pokemon. “And who might these mons be?”

“Oooh, this is Team Core. They’re trainees t-” Remmy started, before being interrupted by a booming voice coming from down the hallway.

“ALRIGHT KIDS, ENOUGH IDLE CHATTER! I’M LATCH, AND I’M unfortunately YOUR CHAPERONE FOR THE DAY. GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE, WE’RE HEADED OUT TO THE TRAINING GROUNDS!” The voice belonged to an aggron, who tapped his plated legs impatiently. He clapped his hands together, ringing out another loud bang. Three other pokemon were gathered around the steel type behemoth, seemingly unfazed. A frogadier was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. A durant stood, unmoving and expressionless, as a sneasel sat on its back, inspecting his claws.

“Yeah, you guys better hurry up,” the frogadier said with a smug look. “We’ve been up for thirty minutes already. You don’t wanna make us wait any longer.”

Dela scowled at the provocation. “And who do you think you are?”

“We’re Team Serration. Watch the attitude or we’re gonna have a problem,” the sneasel piped up, not looking away from his claws.

“What a bunch of dweeb-ass losers,” the squirtle from Team Core muttered just out of their earshot.

Any further drama was cut short by the deafening sound of the aggron clapping again.

“AND I’M GONNA CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU IF YOU’RE NOT OUTSIDE BY THE NEXT MINUTE,” the aggron boomed again before heading down the stairs. The trainees looked at one another, then headed down after him.

The aggron led the group to a grassy field just a short walk away from the dorms. Krem suddenly felt very small upon peering across the vastness of the area. He was also immediately overwhelmed by the sheer amount of pokemon present.

A myriad of ground, rock, steel, and fighting type pokemon were training their strength and endurance near the large, artificial mounds of dirt and rocks on the left side of the area. On the other side of the field were many water pools of various sizes. Krem could count at least ten water and ice types there splashing and sliding about. Over a dozen flying types were perched on a tall, wooden structure erected near the center of the field, taking turns diving through the hoops hanging off of it. A bunch of grass and poison types were hanging around the lush trees that bordered the field, firing away at some target boards and mechanical dummies.

“Woah, this place is fuckin’ massive!” the squirtle from Team Core exclaimed. He had introduced himself as Sorbi, as well as his teammates Effa Eevee and Gammi Goomy.

“Yeah no kidding,” Remmy added, a look of awe on his face.

“These are our training grounds. Today, I’ll be introducing you to each of our training staff so you know where to go for the next few weeks,” Latch explained, looking back at the group and performing a headcount.

The aggron brought the trainees to the closest of the dirt mounts. A large tyrantrum stood at the top of a tall, plateau-like structure, shouting commands down at several pokemon struggling to make their way up the tall, steep cliffside. He paused as he noticed the group approach.

“Latch! Herding around the newbies today I see!” the rock dragon roared. A barbaracle scaling the wall cursed as he got distracted and slid rapidly down to the bottom. Krem flinched as the large rock type impacted the ground, emitting a dull thump and creating a small cloud of dust.

“Howdy Wrexel,” Latch replied, giving the tyrantrum a subtle salute before turning back to the trainees. “This is Wrexel, the guild’s rock type trainer. He works closely with Icharin, our ground and steel trainer, and Fochi, our fighting trainer. You’ll usually see them around the hills. Now, moving on.”

###

Latch took the trainees to several more areas around the training grounds. Krem was introduced to his two trainers. His water type trainer Kraken was a stern mon with permanent frown on his face, or maybe that’s just how all gyarados look. His bug type trainer Thyme was a jovial and talkative mothim, a stark contrast from Kraken. He was to meet with at least one of his trainers daily for the next three weeks. Then, if the trainers deemed his performance and that of his teammates satisfactory, they would officially be greenlit to embark on actual missions.

“This is ridiculous,” an exasperated Dela complained. “They’re saying my whole team needs to qualify before I can accept missions? Why should my success depend on the skill of others?”

All the trainees except Team Serration were sitting together at a table in a populated dining hall, munching on their lunch after a morning of touring. The room was jam-packed with pokemon, most of whom were preoccupied with their own conversation.

“That’s the point of being on a team,” Sorbi replied, rolling his eyes. “But don’t worry. Surely your greatness will rub onto your teammates soon enough.”

“Are you mocking me?” Dela fumed, face as bright red as the tamato berry soup in front of her.

“He ain’t wrong, y’know,” Sachi piped in. “You’ve been flexing nonstop all morning.”

“Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side, numbskull,” Dela grumbled, defeated.

“Then don’t insinuate that I’m incompetent,” Sachi retorted. “Talk shit, get hit.”

Krem watched silently as his two teammates bickered, trying his best to stay invisible. Sachi probably wouldn’t hold them back, but he sure would. Maybe the salandit was right earlier about him being a liability. Krem felt like he bit off more than he could chew.

---

If Dela had had any inkling of excitement about training (which she didn’t), it would have been immediately quashed by the torturous routine she was subjected to upon arrival. The skitty groaned as she finished up another lap across the width of the typeball stadium walking on just her forelegs. Effa Eevee and the rattata duo flanked her on both sides, also participating in the grueling exercise.

“THAT’S IT! WORK THOSE UPPER BODY MUSCLES!” a buff ursaring, the normal type trainer named Polari, roared from the sides. He stared at them menacingly.

“Hey coach… I don’t think I can… Oof…” Remmy groaned as he fell face-down into the dirt.

“Hmph. With that kinda weaksauce you won’t be able to even pull off a tackle,” the ursaring observed, not shifting from his sour expression. “Speaking of tackle, that’s what we’ll be learning today.”

“What? You’re joking. Everyone knows tackle,” Dela piped up, standing back on all fours as she finished her third and final lap. “It’s the easiest move ever. They teach it to every single mon in primary school.”

“Which is precisely why you must learn it the right way,” Polari said as he turned to face Dela. “Since you apparently know so much about tackling, I want you to tackle me.”

“I’m sorry, what?” A bewildered Dela tilted her head at the ursaring.

“Yep. As hard as you can. I won’t move.” Polari widened his stance and crossed his arms. To any ordinary rookie, the ursaring’s imposing physique would have been overwhelming. Dela was no ordinary rookie.

“You’re on.” Dela paced a few feet backward and bent her short legs until her face was barely above the dirt. Here goes.

The confident skitty charged up a weak pulse of normal energy. She pounced forward as the energy ran through her legs, causing her paws to glow a very faint white. Picking up speed with every stride, Dela made sure to lock onto her target with her squinted eyes. As she approached the ursaring, she extended her energized forepaws in front of her and bent her forelegs slightly to absorb the impact.

OOMPH!

The skitty’s small body slid off the large frame of her coach, who didn’t even flinch. Dela felt her face turn hot as she scrambled back onto four legs.

“Weak. Predictable. No technique.” The ursaring glared down at Dela, who growled back.

“Not fair. You’re like, twenty times my body mass,” Dela complained, scowling. That was a perfect tackle from start to finish. The wind up, the charge, and the follow through were all textbook. Obviously, since tackle is a weak move, she wouldn’t be able to faze a pokemon who was much more physically developed than her. There was nothing wrong with her technique, she was sure of it.

“You’re Tahlia’s kid, aren’t you?” Polari asked suddenly.

“Uh, yeah…” Dela sputtered, a little surprised by the question. Her expression quickly returned to its former scowl. “And why does that matter?”

“You have her arrogance, but not her skill.” The ursaring’s cold, monotone voice was really getting on Dela’s nerves. How dare he compare her to her mother? Only she herself was allowed to do that.

“Wait, your mom is the legendary Tahlia? Like, the former Team Vigilant member?” Effa asked, eyes wide and mouth agape in awe. “That’s amazing!”

“I guess,” Dela grumbled. Every. Fucking. Time. She was really not in the mood for this again. She must have done a poor job hiding her annoyance, as the eevee’s wonderstruck expression suddenly shifted to an apologetic frown.

“Oh, sorry. I understand if you don’t want to bring it up,” Effa muttered remorsefully. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose a parent so young.”

“That’s not it.” Dela sighed. She would never escape the shadow of her mother. Especially not here at the guild.

“Okay kids, back to work.” Polari tapped his foot impatiently.

“Yessir!” Effa snapped her attention back toward their trainer.

“I assume you all are aware of what same-type attack bonus is,” the bear continued. The group of four trainees nodded in silence. “But what they don’t teach you in school is how to apply it. Or that you even need to apply it in the first place.”

Polari marched his way to a set of polished wooden mannequin dummies just outside the field, each roughly resembling a different pokemon. He stopped at a position approximately ten feet in front of one that resembled his own species. It was about the same size as him too. Dela wouldn’t be surprised if that ursaring had it modeled after himself.

“I will first show to you tenderpaws how I conduct a non-STAB tackle. It will look quite similar to what our young star attempted earlier.” Polari continued staring at his wooden doppelganger as Dela quietly seethed.

Cracking his knuckles, the real ursaring took one step back and crouched slightly. Suddenly, he launched himself at the dummy, small auras of energy glowing from his paws. After a few forceful strides, Polari collided with the wooden figure, knocking it to the ground and forming a few deep dents on it where his claws made contact. The impact it made with the ground created a shallow imprint on the packed dirt.

“That’s the tackle everyone knows.” Polari lifted the dummy back upright and marched back to his original position. “Now, I’ll show you how to apply normal STAB to that tackle. I suggest you keep your distance if you value your eyesight.”

Polari took a step back and pounced again. This time, before his paws began to glow, his body was momentarily engulfed in a veil of luminous white mist. The mist quickly faded as Polari extended his forepaws and impacted his target, instantly cracking the dummy in two and spraying countless splinters into the air. Dela instinctively shielded her face with her tail.

“That was a tackle?” Remmy marveled, eyes twinkling in awe.

“A tackle you will be expected to master at the end of this week. Once you get the gist of STAB, it can be applied to any offensive normal move you know with ease. Now, let’s begin…”

The group listened attentively as Polari lectured them on how to manipulate energy. Dela made a mental note of every small detail regarding his technique. From now on, there will be no more mistakes. Any slight slip up in footwork, energy management, positioning, targeting, or aim could prove fatal in a high danger level dungeon. She knew this more than anyone.

###

As much as she hated to admit it, the bear knew his stuff. At the end of the day, Dela was performing tackles almost twice as powerful as before.

“Woah…” Effa mused as Dela smashed yet another dummy in two. “How’re you already so good at that? I still don’t get how to do the energy cloak thing.”

“Uhh… thanks?” Dela responded, slanting her eyes. Was the eevee really complimenting her, or did she just want a brush with fame? “I’m a fast learner. Nothing is really hard for me.”

“Do you mind if we practice together?” Effa asked, flashing a pair of baby doll eyes at Dela. “I still have a lot to learn.”

“Or you could just ask Polari,” Dela dismissed the notion. She didn’t have anything to gain by training with an amateur.

“He isn’t too approachable, to be honest.” The eevee side-eyed the ursaring, who was sitting lazily on a bench nearby, “supervising” them with his eyes closed. “C’mon, it’ll be more fun than smashing dummies alone. I promise.”

Dela glanced over at the two rattata, who were taking turns attempting to channel STAB energy correctly. Remmy finally recreated the veil of normal energy, producing applause from Rollie before the two began chatting excitedly. Dela felt a long suppressed flutter in her heart seeing the duo laugh at the nonsense they were speaking.

She looked back at Effa, who was waiting hopefully for a response.

“Alright, deal. But strictly training. Limit the funny business.”

Her mother would never approve. There is nothing to learn from the weak, she would say. But then again, when did Dela ever need her approval?

---

“So the first thing you remember is darkness?”

“Well, yeah. Um… pain and d-darkness.”

“Pain? Where? Like sharp pain or just sore?”

“Um… um… I’m not too sure. I think it wasn’t really sharp, but it hurt a lot. And all over. Like getting hit by a b-buncha blunt objects.”

Sachi and Krem sat across from one another on their respective beds. They had just returned from day two of training. Sachi didn’t hate it as much as he thought he would, honestly. His poison type trainer, a crobat named Khirell, was super chill. He taught Sachi some stuff about STAB, which apparently every trainer was supposed to brief rookies on. There was a spinarak and a grimer from some low level teams that joined in afterward and practiced with him. They weren’t really much of a challenge, but Khirell seemed impressed with his performance nevertheless.

Sachi had tried conversing with his wimpod teammate about it, but Krem didn’t seem too eager to share his own training experiences. They ended up picking back up on the subject of Krem’s lost memory.

“That doesn’t really give us much to work with… I mean, you did just recover from being jostled up in some demonic whirlwind. That’s gotta hurt like a motherfucker.”

“Hmm… I also remember thinking something about p-pancakes… Kinda random, I know.” Krem’s yellow eyes squinted harder, as if he was deep in thought. “Gah, there’s something at the tip of my tongue. Something important about those pancakes. I j-just know it.”

“I can list off different kinds of pancakes and you can see if anything rings a bell,” Sachi said dubiously. “Oran pancakes, rawst pancakes, leppa pancakes… Are you sure it wasn’t waffles? Or poffins?”

“Real funny,” the wimpod drawled, rolling his yellow eyes. Sachi could tell he did find it at least a bit amusing, given that he loosened up a tad. “Dunno, maybe it really wasn’t anything important.”

“Anything else you can remember?”

“I think I had… two arms? Yeah, and two legs too. Not a hundred p-percent sure… It’s slipping away from me fast.”

“So, pain, darkness, and pancakes upon waking up. Might have had two arms and legs. Can’t read. Recognizes most common things like trees. Doesn’t know what mystery dungeons are.” Sachi scrawled some notes on a shoddy notebook he had purchased for a couple poké from the general store down the road. Krem crawled over to observe his writing.

“OWWW OW OW OW AAAAAHHH!” Krem suddenly emitted a guttural cry of agony. Sachi turned his head to see him zooming around in a circle like a three-wheeled carriage.

“What’s up?”

“MY ANTENNA! IT BURNS!” The bug did not stop running. “THE PAPER IS EVIL.”

“Dude, calm down. Let me see what the hell’s wrong.” Sachi squinted, trying unsuccessfully to get a better look at Krem’s supposedly injured antenna. “Wouldya stop scuttling about, for Arceus’ sake.”

“O-Ok-Okay.”The bug slowed to a halt, but was still hyperventilating violently. Sachi could observe a tiny cut present on Krem’s left antenna.

“Just a papercut. Though it does look pretty painful. You gotta watch where you put those antennae of yours. They’ve got like a billion nerve endings each.”

“I d-didn’t kn-now… This is th-th-the most p-painful thing I have ever experienced in m-my life,” the wimpod muttered, still wincing.

“Yeah, you definitely weren’t a wimpod. Or any bug type for that matter.” Sachi stared thoughtfully at his wounded teammate. “Anyhow, let’s get you to a nurse before that festers.”

---

“C’mon Krems, you gotta focus. Try again, boy.”

Krem closed his eyes and tensed up as hard as he could.

“Hold… Release!”

“Gah!” Krem jolted backwards suddenly, a small burst of light green energy fizzled out from where he just stood. “Ugh, s-sorry.”

Krem stood near the center of a small, breezy meadow in the forest just a few minutes walk from the training grounds. Gray clouds hung low across the sky, not allowing a single ray of sunshine through. Thyme hovered across from him, chewing on a blade of grass while studying his pupil intently.

“Ehh, it’s getting somewhere,” the mothim reassured Krem. “Definitely an improvement from yesterday.”

It has been just under a week since Krem had begun his training at the guild. And it was going as poorly as he expected. After a first session of harsh verbal abuse, it was evident that Kraken wanted nothing to do with a wimpod that knew zero moves.

Thyme, on the other hand, was a lot more eager to take him in as a student. There aren’t too many bug types at the guild, so the mothim was able to accommodate daily private sessions with Krem.

“Instead of tensing up your entire body at once, try to control the tension at different points. For a struggle bug, the energy needs to start at your core. Then, it ripples all the way out through your shell. Go on, try again boy. Hold…”

Krem was confused as ever, but tried to do as he was instructed. He felt a warm, fuzzy sensation from where he assumed his heart was. He eased up a bit, allowing the energy to spread throughout his tiny body.

“Release!”

This time there was no recoil. Rays of green light emanated from Krem for a fraction of a second. The stiff blades of grass underneath him turned ever so slightly limper.

“How was that?” Krem asked, quite proud of his display.

“Ay, we’re getting there Krems, you got down the first step of struggle bug perfectly that time!”

“F-first step?”

“Eeeyup. All you did was generate the type and form of energy required. You still need to properly launch the energy at a target.” Thyme explained. Then, seeing Krem’s dejected look, he added: “Don’t sweat it boy, after you learn your first move it all goes uphill from there. First time’s always a doozy.”

“Sure…”

“Anyways, we’re running a bit late today and it’s about time for dinner. Gotta get your fibers to keep your energy intact. Seeya next week, boy.”

###

Krem crawled out of the meadow as the hazy air grew colder and darker around him. Sachi, who had already finished his daily poison training a while ago, was waiting for him at the exit. They began walking towards the nearest mess hall.

“About time you showed up. How’d today go for ya?” the salandit asked, stretching his skinny arms and letting out a yawn.

“Some progress, f-for a change.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Well, I managed t-to uhh… harness energy for a struggle bug attack,” Krem sighed. “Sorry but, you may need to do missions with Dela alone for a few weeks. This is gonna t-take a while. I asked Thyme and he said he can just greenlight you two for missions without me.”

“Man, you’re seriously leaving me with that psycho cat?” Sachi complained, expression souring.

“Listen, it’s gonna t-take me half a month just to learn how to use one of the most pathetic moves in existence. You two will for sure be better off w-without me for now,” Krem explained.

“Hmm, hate to say it but ya might be right. Maybe we can just hold off on missions until you’re ready to go.”

“Dela isn’t g-going to like that.”

“Ugh,” Sachi groaned, facepalming. “Just… try to be quick with it, okay? Cheat if you have to. For my sanity.”

The duo arrived at a wooden building and entered. The cozy establishment resembled an old-timey tavern. The dimly candlelit room was empty save for a very tired looking leafeon and a strange typhlosion seated at the bar, too engrossed in conversation to notice their arrival.

“Ever wonder why it’s always so empty in here? The food’s not bad,” Sachi mused as the two sat down at a table in the corner.

“Dunno, but this place is d-definitely designed to fit a lot m-more than four customers,” Krem replied.

Moments later, an amiable marshtomp wearing a comically large chef’s hat popped out of the kitchen and walked over to greet them.

“Welcome back, fellas. What can I get y’all today?”

“Hey, I’ll get one of those uhh ‘Blast Pies’ please,” Sachi responded.

“And for you, my eight legged friend?” the marshtomp asked, jotting down the order.

“Um, just a small b-berry salad please.” Krem answered.

“Gotcha, I’ll be back with your food shortly.” The marshtomp said as he left the two teammates and headed back into the kitchen.

Tired from a long day of training, the duo weren’t really in the mood for chatting. As Krem waited for his food, he unconsciously started eavesdropping on the nearby conversation.

“So Raize and Black have also disappeared?” the leafeon asked, gently rubbing her large eye circles.

“Well, I haven’t heard from either of them in over a week now. And Metaphys was just wiped from the team list yesterday,” said the typhlosion, taking a sip of his flaming drink.

“Alright, this is seriously sketchy. So Torr tries to call out Team Vigilant for… working on something suspicious. Then a week later, the guildmaster tells us all that Torr has escaped the guild after he ’caused havoc in a forbidden sector’, whatever that means. And now his entire team has just vanished,” the leafeon muttered.

“Yeah, Torr for sure saw or heard something he shouldn’t have. My man was non-stop rambling to me about how Vigilant were up to something ‘dangerous’ and that he had to ‘get to the bottom of it’ for a couple days before dropping off the face of Araegis. They probably needed to shut him up.” The typhlosion finished his drink and slid the empty glass to the end of the counter.

The leafeon sighed and scratched behind her ear. “Well, I’m guessing going out on our own volition and looking for them is out of the question.”

The typhlosion shook his head. “Yeah that would just paint a fat target on our backs too. Don’t worry Lekkie, we’ll think of something like we always do. Sleep on it for tonight.”

“Yeah…”

The pair of pokemon got up and started to leave, noticing Krem and Sachi on their way out.

“How much did you two hear?” the leafeon called Lekkie asked, shooting a stern look at the rookies.

“Um… uh…” Krem started, too startled to form a coherent response.

“Something about someone and their team going missing, I think,” Sachi replied.

“Whatever you heard, don’t tell anyone,” the leafeon growled. “It could get us all in deep trouble.”

“We’re no snitches,” Sachi reassured her.

The leafeon let out a weary sigh. “Thank you.”

The two larger pokemon promptly left the building in silence.

“Team Vigilant… ain’t that the guildmaster’s team?” Sachi pondered, turning towards Krem.

“Uh, I think so,” Krem responded softly, still winded from the encounter.

Their awkward conversation was interrupted by the sound of a marshtomp scrambling out of the kitchen, a plate teetering precariously on each arm.

“Order up, lads!” the marshtomp said cheerily as he set the dishes in front of the duo.

Krem pondered the conversation he had just overheard as they ate their food in silence. He had heard of the incredible feats that the guildmaster and her Team Vigilant had accomplished throughout their careers: saving a whole town from a sudden flash fire, dismantling the largest bandit ring in the continent by infiltration, and even rescuing the mythical pokemon Diancie, ruler of the Diamond Domain, from the Thorrisan Empire’s relentless invasion. Although he wasn’t one for heroics, he had to admit the adventures of Vigilant gave him chills of excitement.

But perhaps glory does not translate to integrity, if those two pokemon were telling the truth.

“So, uhh, we’re definitely not telling Dela about that,” Sachi said matter-of-factly. “I can’t see that ending well, hah.”

“Yeah. She practically idolizes the g-guildmaster.”

“Mhmm. Honestly, this stuff doesn’t really concern us too much, best to just forget about it for our own sake.” Sachi wolfed down the last of his pie and wiped his mouth. “Alright, let’s get outta here.”