"HEY!" a thundering voice yelled. I just about jumped out of my skin when I heard the exploding voice. I felt as if I could have had fur standing straight up, if I had had any. "HEY THERE! RISE AND SHINE!"

     My head pounded, like it did before. When I opened my eyes with a groan, I saw Loudred, but not Kip or Hex. They must have timed it so they didn't get this wake up call, but we did, as a joke.

     Pika was in no better condition than I was. He groaned, too, as his eyes fought themselves open.

     "Why are you still ASLEEP?!" Loudred thundered again, anger now in his voice. Only now? "WAKE UP!"

     Again, we groaned. "My poor ears," Pika croaked.

    "Come on! Snap OUT of it!" he called. Lowering his voice to a normal level, he told us he was a fellow apprentice. He also warned us not to miss the morning 'briefing,' and whatever that was going to be, I had no idea. "Guildmaster Wigglytuff has got a BIG temper. If you make him lose it... YOWEE! That would be one scary scene. I've got goosebumps just thunking about it. YEESH! So ANYWAY... I'm not about to get in trouble because you rookies got up LATE! SO GET IN GEAR!"

     Finally, he left.

     I was getting myself up, grabbing my battered bag and Pika doing likewise with the new one. "My ears are still ringing, Pearl!" he gasped.

     "Mine, too," I said. "But you heard him. We should get a move on."

     "Right," he said, still tired and shocked. "Let's go."

     When we got out, I saw there were two lines of Pokémon. The first row had Croagunk, Chimecho, Bidoof, Sunflora, and Hex, while the second had Dugtrio, Corpinch, Loudred, Diglet, and Kip. I went next to Hex and Pika went next to Kip.

     "You're LATE, rookies!" Loudred called.

     "Hush!" Chatot ordered, not looking too thrilled at the interruption. "You're voice is ridiculously loud!"

     I had to stifle a laugh. Loudred grunted in reply.

     Chatot scanned the two lines, counting in his head. "Everyone seems to be present. Very well. ♪ Let's conduct our morning address." Facing the Guildmaster's door, Chatot called for Wigglytuff. "Guildmaster! ♪ The Guild is in full attendance! ♪"

     The door was bust open, and Wigglytuff walked out. "Thank you, Guildmaster! ♪ Please address the crew."

     The request was met by soft snoring and silence. The apprentices started to murmur to each other. I heard something about the Guildmaster being asleep with his eyes open.

     "Thank you, sir!" Chatot, I can't blame him, was having a hard time hiding the fact that Wigglytuff was asleep. "We all value your... words of wisdom! ♪" He turned to us. "Okay, Guild members! ♪ Take our Guildmaster's words of wisdom to heart! ♪ Finally, let's not forget our morning cheers! All together now!"

     I rolled my eyes. Morning cheers? As in every single morning? I kept in a sigh.

     "ONE!" Every Pokémon called out. "DON'T SHIRK WORK! TWO! RUN AWAY AND PAY! THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!"

     I was thankful it was short. The first two sounded more like rules than cheers. The last one fit the bill, though.

     "Okay, Pokémon! Get to work! ♪" Chatot said. Everyone started to leave to their posts. Hex and Kip stayed with us.

     Chatot walked over. "Hey, you shouldn't just be wandering around here. You two, come here ♪," he said, indicating Pika and I. Kip and Hex followed patiently, like they knew what was going to happen.

     Up the ladder we five went, over to notice boards I'd seen yesterday. "You're just beginners," Chatot started. "We'll have  you start off with this assignment. ♪" Ripping off one of the notices, he handed it to Pika.  As we looked at the notice, Chatot continued. "This is the job bulletin board. Pokémon from various regions post job requests here. You're aware that bad Pokémon are cropping up in greater numbers, right?"

     "Isn't that always happening?" I asked.

     "No, it's not normal, Pearl," Pika said. "Because the flow of time is getting messed up. It's wreaking havoc, right? Which is why lots of bad Pokémon are appearing!"

     "What?" I murmured. What was wrong with the time flow? How could it just get messed up? What in the name of Arceus was going on?

     "Precisely." Chatot nodded to Pika. "Time getting out of whack has caused an outbreak of bad Pokémon. Perhaps because of all that... we have noticed an increase in the number of jobs. In addition... it's unknown if this is because of time's influence. There has also been a mass outbreak of mystery dungeons."

     "So, Pearl!" Pika said, turning to me. "You know how we got my relic fragment back yesterday, and how I explained mystery dungeons then? Well, I left out the part where if you faint in the middle of a dungeon, you lose half of your money... You can even lose half your items or more. I'd guess it's the price for safely kicking you out immediately." His eyes started to shine. "But every time you go inside one, there are always new things to discover! They really are fantastic places to go exploring!"

     Chatot flapped his now-ruffled wings to regain our attention. "Well! You're quite informed, aren't you? ♪ That makes things much easier to explain! ♪ Jobs all take place in mystery dungeons. So..." Chatot said, glancing at the jobs available. Hex took the one Chatot had given Pika.

     "You'd better have him chose one," she said. "I think he was getting one for us, since we'd need to keep up our jobs for the day. Good luck, guys!"

     "Ah, yes ♪," Chatot said as the other half of PokéClan left. "Maybe this will do?" He handed it to Pika, and I looked at it over his shoulder.

     "Okay, let's see what we get to do," Pika said, starting to read it.

     The paper read as follows:

Hello! My name is Spoink!
An outlaw has run off with my most prized possessions, my precious pearl!
That pearl is life itself to me!
I just can't seem to settle down if that pearl isn't in its proper place atop my head!
But I've heard my pearl has been sighted!
It's said to be on a rocky bluff. But this bluff is reported to be extremely unsafe.
I could never go somewhere so frightening!
Oh, friendly readers! Would you be so kind to go to the bluff and get my pearl?
I beg your help, exploration team members!

From, Spoink.

     "Heavy on the exclamation points, isn't he?" I commented dryly.

     "Wait a second," Pika said, looking up from the paper. Slowly, anger took over his face. "We're going to fetch an item someone dropped?" Calming down, he continued. "I would rather do something that's more of an adventure. I'd rather look for treasure or explore unknown places. Things like that!"

     Now it was Chatot's turn to look furious. "Hush!" he hissed, startling Pika, which was surprising for a bird Pokémon. "It's important that you rookies pay your dues! Now pay attention! I'll repeat the warnings again to make sure they stick!" He glared us both in the eye. "You'll be forced out of a dungeon and sent back here if either of you faints. You'll lose half your money! And you could lose half your items or more. You'd best be careful!" He push stress on the last words. Then Chatot calmed down. "If you've understood all that, I suggest you get on with the job! ♪"

     Pika sighed, and then we left for this bluff Spoink was going on and on about.

     When we got there, I knew I was going to have a hard time. "This doesn't look dry," I murmured, the name Dry Bluff coming to mind. "How inappropriately named."

     "What are you talking about, Pearl? This is Drenched Bluff. Of course it won't be dry. Now," he pulled out the contract from his bag. "It says that the pearl will be down on level B7F. Let's go, and be careful. It sounds like a dangerous place, with your tail..."

     I took a deep breath. "I'll be okay, Pika. Let's go."

     As we walked through the dungeon, we fought water-types. I was very careful not to let them hit my tail. By the time we got down to the B7F level, we were battered and bruised. But we found the pearl.

     "Oh! Look at that!" Pika exclaimed, rushing forward to the pink pearl. I followed close behind. "This must be Spoink's pearl." He grabbed it and put it in his bag. "Let's hurry back with it!"

     "We're burning daylight," I agreed. I led the way back out.

     At the Guild, Spoink was waiting anxiously until he saw us. "Do you have it?"

     We nodded and Pika brought out the pearl.

     "Th-thank you!" Spoink said. "That pearl must be propped on my head, you see. I missed it so much! I just couldn't settle down without it up there!"

     "We know," I murmured. Chatot gave me a glare that I returned.

     "So I was just boinging and sproinging everywhere! That's why I'm covered in dings and bumps."

     "Don't care," I murmured again, but quieter. This time Pika nudged me.

     "But thanks to you, that long nightmare is over! You have my sincere thanks!" He hopped over to Pika and gave him a protein, calcium, iron, and the two thousand Pokécoin reward in a small leather pouch.

     "Whoa!" Pika just stared at the pouch, as I took the items and slipped them in my bag. "Two thousand? All of this for us?"

     "Of course!" Spoink said. "That's nothing compared to my pearl's value! Farewell!" He bounced over to the ladder and miraculously didn't fall on the way up.

     "We're rich, Pearl!" Pika exclaimed, showing me the coins. "We got rich just like that!"

     "Well done, team! ♪" Chatot congratulated, hopping over to us. "Now, hand that money over, if you please!"

     Pika was shocked and exclaimed a question, but with reluctance he did as Chatot asked. "What?!" I echoed him.

     "Most of the money goes to the Guildmaster, you see! ♪" Chatot sang. "And your team's share of the money comes out to ten percent, this much...! ♪" Handing only coin back to Pika, we saw how much we got. Two hundred Pokécoin. From two thousand.

     We both exclaimed our disbelief. One would think we'd be warned of this beforehand.

     "That's just the Guild's rule," Chatot said, shrugging. "You simply have to accept it! ♪"

     Pika sighed, looking crestfallen. I can't say I was any better. Hex was right, the first day was the most interesting in learning, if not down-right disappointing with expectations.

     Later, Chimecho rang a bell, and I realized I hand't eaten since... I hadn't eaten. I had no memory at all of me eating.

     "Everyone!" Chimecho announced. "Thanks for waiting! ♪" He, too, sang like Chatot. Chimcho came from the mess hall, and everyone's attention was caught immediately. "I finished making dinner! ♪ Come on! Dinner's on! ♪"

     Everyone started cheering, hooting, and yelling. I pulled Pika over to the side. "What is so amazing? It's food."

     Pika shugged. "Maybe he makes really good food?"

     I felt a paw on my shoulder. "Come on!" Hex said. I noticed Kip was at Pika's shoulder. "Dinner time!" She pulled me along, and Kip with Pika, and I saw the table that dinner was spread out on.

     Multiple bowls of berries, be it sour, sweet, dry, or spicy, were mixed in various bowls. I took some pecha berries and some razzberries. Dinner wasn't too bad, and with Pika and I sitting across from Hex and Kip, I actually felt better about the money exchange. When I glanced at Pika, I noticed he looked happier, too.

     Back in the Team PokéClan room, I started to read my journal under the light of my tail flame, careful to not set the pages ablaze. Hex and Kip went to sleep immediately. As I read, it seemed I knew more humans, or whoever owned this bag before me did, and I skipped dimensions. That was when I met the Treecko. I had the Grovyle picture, and I studied it. I was determined to memorize him, in case I saw him.

     "Listen, Pearl," Pika said quietly, interrupting my reading. "Wasn't today hectic? So much happened!" I grunted in agreement. "I'm just relieved our first job was a success."

     "Me, too, Pika."

     "It was really upsetting how Chatot took most of the money, though... But that's just the cost of training, I guess. We can't do anything about it. What made me really happy today, though, was being thanked by Spoink!"

     "I thought he was annoying," I said. "I felt good, too, but he kept rambling on."

     "Yeah, I guess," Pika agreed reluctantly. He then yawned. "I'm getting tired. I'm going to bed, Pearl. Let's do our best again tomorrow."

     "Always, Pika. Nothing less."

     "Goodnight, Pearl."

     I didn't read much more. The description of Pearl was that she — I? — was in a dead world, and how she wanted to keep up her journaling. There was a first journal, this not being it. Maybe I'll find it, but maybe not. Probably not, I decided. After all, the writer skipped dimensions. Wouldn't it be in the other dimension?

     I remembered the one empty journal, and grabbed it. I started writing what happened yesterday in one entry, then made a second for today. If for nothing else that to see if there are similarities, I was going to write each day down.

     It was well beyond a reasonable hour to sleep when I finally let it claim me. First, though, I took a picture of the moon, and, with the faint moonlight, a picture of Team PokéClan, minus myself.

❦ ✎ ❦
May 3, 2017