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Monday February 1st, 2010

Dear Diary,

I started an exploration team today, just like I promised I would a year ago. Because I have not found a partner myself, I went to the partner-assignment office to be paired up with another Pokemon. I got paired with Incultyr, a larvitar.

We spent most of the day picking out our room, preparing it, and moving our belongings in. After lunch, Ink suggested that we take a look at the Bulletin Board to see the kinds of jobs that were available.

Well...I wanted to take something easy for our first mission, but my partner didn't seem to agree with me. He instead took a mission that would take us to Starburst Island.

A lot of things happened today. Our only real battle was with a Spinarak who built its web across the bridge, and Ink got caught in it. I was scared, but I burned up the web, and Ink knocked the Spinarak off the bridge.

We met and startled a group of Chikorita when we got to the next Island. They were on the beach sunbathing in the last few minutes of light. They attacked us, but we managed to push through them and entered the forest.

The sun set by then, and I'm embarrassed to say that I walked right into a tree. A caterpie that had been sleeping on the tree got knocked off and landed on Ink. A Slakoth fell on me.

...It was really scary, I couldn't breathe. But I managed to get out from under the Slakoth, and all the noise had attracted someone. It was Zangoose, our target!

We fought him, but in the confusion, the Caterpie helped turn the fight against us. The Zangoose didn't hurt us though, and explained that he didn't commit any crimes. It seems that our client had simply lost some items to Zangoose while gambling.

Zangoose returned the items to us, and we went back to the Guild. It was really late, but we managed to find our client and give his stuff back.

The Spinarak and one of the Chikorita wanted to join us, but both me and Ink decided that we weren't ready to take new recruits yet.

It's been a long day. Even though I was often scared...it was fun. I enjoyed exploring with Ink, he seems to know so much.

I'm going to go to sleep now. Tomorrow will be another big day!

Team Polaris entered with their new recruit. Incultyr closed the door behind him.

"It's not much but...welcome to the team." Incultyr welcomed him, motioning at the room. Altus looked around for a moment, then turned to face his new teammates.

"You...you wanted to know why those other Riolu drove us away, correct?"

Incultyr nodded, and went over to sit down on his pile of sand. Morana padded over to her makeshift bed and curled up on it, staring up at Altus. She stretched and then turned her head to the side, allowing her hind legs to get at an itch behind her ear.

Altus found a seat on the ground between the two of them.

"Well..I was born on the warrior Plateau and grew up with the Riolu clan. We trained and bettered ourselves, and protected our own little piece of the Plateau from intruders." Altus looked up at the ceiling, though he didn't seem to see the room he was in.

"I was happy, and the thought of leaving and seeing other places never occurred to me until..." Altus looked back down for a moment, a sparkle in his eyes. "I met Veritas."

Morana was listening carefully, but she didn't dare make a sound. Incultyr wasn't nearly as reserved.

"I heard you mention that name before. So who was she?"

Altus turned to look at Incultyr and smiled sadly. "She was the most amazing girl I have ever met." The Riolu shifted to a more comfortable position.

"She was exploring the Warrior's Plateau. On her own. A friend of hers was sick, and she thought that this flower that grew at the bottom of the canyon would help her friend. That's how I met her, and I got to know her quite well. The flower didn't worked sadly, but her friend recovered OK."

"She was kind and compassionate. She really cared about other Pokemon. I came to like her a lot, and, well, I guess I loved her. She visited me one day and asked me to form an exploration Team with her. I agreed. My friends didn't like her though, and they tried to drive her away. I...I protected her, and we ran away together."

There seemed to be little regret in his voice.

"So me and Veritas formed our own Exploration Team, independent from the Guild."

"Why would you do that? Wouldn't it be hard to find missions without affiliation with the Guild?" Incultyr interrupted.

"Well, one thing Veritas never liked about the Guild was the fact that teams got their missions from the bulletin board or otherwise from the guild itself. Our Team was dedicated to completing the request of wild Pokemon too far from the palace to find a team. Because of this, we never even had a home. We had to travel constantly to make our services available to as many pokemon as possible."

"Interesting...continue..."

"Well, about a year ago, me and Veritas were trying to find someone's child that had gotten lost. We were attacked by some wild Pokemon, and we were separated. I think...I'm pretty sure she's dead. I've been...trying to find her for the past year but...but no one's seen her. That's why I had decided to return to the Plateau, although I didn't know the Riolus were that upset with me..."

The recounting seemed to be too much for him. Altus had tears in his eyes, and it was clear that he was trying hard not to cry. Morana got up and padded to his side, not sure of entirely what to do, but she nuzzled him, trying to comfort him. She knew just how hard it was to lose someone you hold dear, and not know if they are alive or not.

-day after the regional ball-


"Hmmm...Team Polaris..." Zero read the sign on the door. Zosee knocked on the door firmly with a paw.

They waited several minutes. Nothing.

Zosee knocked again.

Still nothing.

"You sure this is the place?" Zero asked, his tail swishing softly back and forth. The electrike took a step back from the door.

"If the information we've got is correct, then yes. This is the only team with a Houndour, a Larvitar, and a Riolu. Hmmm, maybe they're just not here..." Zosee looked up at the door, feeling slightly frustrated. She came all the way down here from Thunder Ridge, and she can't even find the person she's looking for!

"Um...excuse me there. Are you by any chance looking for the members of Team Polaris?" A voice asked behind them, and both Zero and Zosee turned around so fast that the Caterpie who addressed them received quite a scare.

They hadn't meant to startle the poor thing, but it was just reflex by now. The two of them might not look it, but they are hardened fighters.

The Caterpie had backed up several steps, and seemed to be struggling to compose herself.

"Ah, sorry. And yes, we are looking for Team Polaris. Would you know where they might be found?" Zosee asked, keeping her voice low and gentle. The unnerved Caterpie seemed to have finally found herself.

"Oh, well, I am a member of Team Polaris. Most of the team was injured during the attack at the ball last night. Me and Chronicler are currently the only ones not at the Hospital. If you have any requests for the team, I'm afraid you should find another party for help." The Caterpie explained.

Zosee looked down at the little bug-type with incredulity.

"What!? Injured!? How's Morana?" She asked, worry in her voice. The Caterpie seemed taken aback.

"You...you know Morana?"

"Of course I do, I'm her older sister! Please, I have to see her, now."

Altus was sound asleep on the two blankets that served as his bed, still recovering from the last mission. Being chucked through the air several dozen feet, then squashed under a pony-sized Houndour and a Gyarados, and finally taking a Hyper Beam head-on...you could say that he's not in great shape.

In the girl's room Morana was curled up in her bed, licking a baby Turtwig that was cooing happily. Besides the houndour was a small pile of berries, and she was carefully giving Acer them one by one, always squishing them up first so the baby would avoid choking on it. Within minutes the entire pile was gone.

"Turtwee!" Acer cried out happily as Morana got up and ushered him through the open door to the guy's room, and to the box that served as the baby's bed. He was too big for her to carry now, but at least he was big enough to crawl into the box by himself. Unfortunately, it also meant he could get out by himself as well.

"Tweee~ Nighty Mornanan!"

Acer ate like a Snorlax, but if his condition was good for anything, it's that the team didn't have to constantly take him outside so he could photosynthesize under the sun. Here in the team room they could keep him much safer.

Crack

Altus woke with a start and turned to stare at the egg half-poking out of Incultyr's sandpile. If the Larvitar had been grumpy about keep the egg, he did his best to take care of it.

"Anna, it's hatching!" Altus cried out and immediately regretted it, his ribs aching from simply just yelling. Morana turned at Altus's voiced and walked over. They've only gotten the egg three days ago from their client.

As cracks ran along the egg, Morana helped ripped the shell open with a claw.

Out flopped a wet, slimy...something.



Morana stared at it as it flopped around on the ground, gasping. Gods, it was a water type!

"Morana, we have to get it some water!" Altus yelled, struggling to his feet as he hurried over to the Houndour's side. Morana nodded and dashed out the door, wondering how they hadn't foreseen a problem like this occurring.

She tripped over an Eevee and both of them went sprawling.



"Watch where you're going!" Atra growled, picking himself up. His expression softened when he realized it was Morana though. That darned houndour was always such a softy it was hard to be angry at her.

"What's going on?"

Morana explained.

---

Several hours later, Atra plugged the cord into a wall socket and nodded happily when the fish tank's light turned on and the air pump began to function. The tank took up all of the wall in his living room, decorated with castles and weeds and bubbling treasure chests. Besides him the useless Feebas floated aimlessly in a plastic bag filled with water.

The eevee turned to the Skarmory that was behind him and Katara nodded. The Skarmory stepped forward and lifted the bag up over the tank with her beak, and with a wing, cut the bottom.

The Feebas simply slipped out of the bag and flopped into the water with a splash. Atra hopped onto the table next to the tank, dropped in some fish food, and closed the lid.

Oh yeah, btw, he named the thing Crescendo.

((...um...yeah...))

Chronicler was sleep in her hammock, exhausted after coming back from Team Polaris's vacation out on the beaches of the Swirling seas. While there had been a few problems (accidentally dropping Incultyr in the water and trying to find him again was one of the most memorable) it was overall pretty relaxing. It bugged Chronicler that she had been missing the events back at the guild, but hey, everyone needs a break every once in a while.

Crown's cocoon was still in the corner of the room, barely moving. Chronicler thought it was of interest to note that through the semi-transparent dark shell she could see patterns of orange black and white.

And while Chronicler slept, it happened.

The Metapod split at one end, as if sliced apart with a knife. And within the timeframe of about ten minutes, a wet, soggy thing dragged itself out until finally, its two little round yellow feet broke free. Its wings were wet and crumpled together but within minutes it unfurled and dried.


Crown looked confused, which was perhaps to be expected after being in a comatose state within a cocoon, having your entire cellular structure being rearranged. The last thing she remembered was a Pidgey trying to eat her.

She looked down at her body, and then to her new wings. The confusion in her face turning to horror.

"Oh no." She gasped, trying to turn around to view her new wings fully but instead toppling off her perch on her now empty cocoon. Her wings flapped frantically as she struggled on the ground to stand up, and the noise woke Chronicler.

The Cherrim peeked over the side of her hammock, raised a folded petal so she could see.

"Crown! You're back!" She cried out excitedly; she had been missing Crown. But the new Butterfree did not reply, and simply lurched into the air, crashing into the door, forcing it over, and fluttering outside. Her flight was uncontrollable and wobbly, with her constantly banking to one side or the other, crashing into the walls.

"Oh no, what have I done?" The butterfree wailed.

With a sharp crack! Lilium teleported next to Atra's bed, a bowl of Farfetch'd noodle soup levitating just beside her. The blanket on the bed was in a messy lump in the middle.

"Master Atra, you should eat something." Lilium told the lump, concern filling her voice. A muffled sound came from the blankets she couldn't make out, but she knew it was similar to, if not exactly, "Go away". The shiny Cyndaquil sighed, placed the bowl of soup onto the desk next to the bed, and climbed on.

Grabbing the blanket with both hands, aided by a bit pf psychic power, Lilium yanked the covers off and threw them to the side. Normally she would have cringed at the sight of blankets on the ground, but something had to be done.

The bed covers as well as the blankets themselves were blackened and scorched in places. The newly evolved Flareon has not yet learned to control his body temperature, and it fluxed wildly. The entire bed was rather damp, a result of Lilium's efforts to keep it from bursting into flames overnight. She has had barely had any sleep since she was alerted two nights ago that Atra had come back from the Molten caverns.

Atra groaned, rolling over so that he faced away from Lilium. The fabric under him that was now uncovered had been burned through to the blackened mattress below.

The Cyndaquil walked over to Atra on all fours, grabbed him by the back of his neck-ruff and tugged, trying to roll him back to face her. Giving up on that -after evolution, he was simply too big for her to try anything like that anymore- she climbed over him, sitting there until Atra finally opened his eyes.

"Fine." He muttered, his voice raw. Atra had been crying a lot, despite his best efforts to hide it. As Lilium brought over the soup with her psychic, she knew she had to do something about Atra.

She settled the bowl of soup on the bed, willing to break her usual rule of no food in bed. Atra pushed himself up and padded over to the soup bowl, and Lilium held it steady on the surface of the bed with her psychic. The damp sheets hissed as the Flareon's paws made contact, creating little wisps of steam and soon Atra created another dry patch on the bed which soon began to turn black.

As he bowed his head and listlessly began to lap up the soup, Lilium hopped to the ground and gathered the damaged blankets, inspecting them.

"Master Atra, do you mind leaving your rooms for today? I was planning to clean it up. I ordered some fire-resistant fabric and I can replace your bedsheets with them by the end of the day."

Atra looked up, staring at her with a frown. I'm not an idiot you know. Said his expression.

I wonder sometimes. Said hers.

With a heavy sigh, Atra attempted to grab the partially empty bowl with his own psychic magic, to put it away on the table. Instead, the moment he tried to summon the magic he felt a painful burning sensation through his body. With a yelp he let go of the magic, and it quickly retreated into his inner reservoir. The bowl quivered and toppled over, spilling all over the bed sheets.

He cursed, wincing as pain laced through him with each beat of his pulse. He hadn't tried to use magic since he came out of the volcano, and he hadn't expected to find his magical conduits so badly damaged. Magic seeped out of his reservoir which was in bad shape, bleeding out of the tunnels of magic. No wonder his fire was so out of control, with so much loose magic infusing his system.

This was all the effects of him using Arceus' power. Mortals just weren't meant to channel so much raw energy. He would heal, but it would take time.

"...you OK?"

Atra forced his attention back to the physical world, outside the magical realms of his own body.

"Yeah. Fine, I'll go for a walk or something." He told her, hopping off the bed and leaving her to clean up the mess. Katara hopped to the ground when she saw him enter the living room.

"It's fine, I can walk." he assured her, and left the rooms.

"Hey there Anna, how're you doing today?" Zero and Zosee sat just outside the door to the Team Polaris girl's room, and Morana sat at the reshold.

"Ah, I'm good. The alarm got triggered an hour ago, do you know what that was about? Crescendo slept across the door and wouldn't get up, so we couldn't leave." Morana explained. Zero looked at Zosee. Crescendo? Who was that? Ah screw it, they'll get to catch up on Morana's team soon enough.

"Some idiots wanted to steal the Guild's eggs. Oh yeah, we brought one 'em for you." Only now did Morana see a bloody pink lump behind her siblings. It was a dead happiny. The houndour wagged her tail happily at the gift; she had giving in long ago and had been going out hunting for food, but she still didn't get to do it as often as she needed to, so a good portion of her diet still consisted of apples and berries.

The houndour walked forward, clamped her jaws around the dead Pokemon, and dragged it back in, depositing it next to the door. She'll eat good today~

"Why are you here today?" Morana asked her older siblings, knowing that Zero and Zosee never came to the guild without a reason. The two canines looked to each other with a loving smile, and both lowered their explorer bags gently to the ground.

"We're parents Anna; you're going to be an aunt soon." Zosee told her little sister excitedly, showing Morana the two eggs.

"We didn't want to raise them out in the wilds, and no way we were going back to the pack, so..." Zero began.

"We're registering Absolute Indignation with the guild. It would be the safest place to raise our kids." Zosee finished. Yes, the two of them understood that the Guild was a dangerous place for children (and adults); two kids have already recently died here and just today some people had come in demanding the guild's eggs. But compared to their other options...

Morana's tail was wagging so fast it was a blur now, showing her elation. Oh boy, she was going to have little nieces or nephews! Kind of an odd thought for someone who's only two years old, but ah heck~ Some of the Pokemon here in the guild are a few months old but already parents anyways. The guild seems to kinda mess a lot of Pokemon up that way.

"So we were, ah, wondering where we go to register."

Morana giggled; so that's why the two of them came. The Houndour stepped forward and closed the door behind her.

"Follow me."