Chapter 3: Registration

"This is Wigglytuff's Guild." Belle said as she stands in front of the Wigglytuff-shaped building alongside Darkness and on the hill's summit.

It was just after they have retrieved Belle's treasured stone from the two thugs Skitty and Meowth. The sky was clear and dark, and they can see the heaven's beautiful stars shining its light down upon the land. The moon was jealous of the stars. They light, and it cannot do the same. That is why the sun was there to shine its outline, making the people of the earth stare in awe by its uniqueness.

The torches that surround the building burns bright to let it light up the way. The only thing that visitors can be startled of is the totems that stand beside each torch. One totem's head is of an Aipom's, smiling widely and frighteningly. The other is of a Hoothoot's, giving of the feeling of the night's darkness.

The building, on the other hand, is shaped like a Wigglytuff, with its hands raised up, and its mouth smiling, as if it was there to eat visitors alive, that is if the mouth was the gate leading inside. On Wigglytuff's belly is the gate made of dark steel bars.

Darkness thought that this place was a little odd. It was not because of the totems, the building's shape, or the location. It was the fact that the building was small. It got him curious as to why a guild was here in the first place, and how small it is to fit such a great number of Pokemon.

"To form an exploration team, you need to register your team here." Belle said, looking at Darkness, and the latter at her.

"Then you have to train until you become a first-rate exploration team." She added, turning her eyes on the building.

As she looks onto the building, she can't help but look around her surroundings, and eventually laying her eyes on the alarming totems. The torches intensify the totem's atmosphere, scaring her as well as Darkness.

"Isn't this place just a little bit odd? It just is!" She said. Looks like Darkness wasn't the only one thinking about it.

"No! I've got Darkness with me this time! No time to chicken out!" Belle thought.

"I have to be brave." She thought, balling her right hand into a fist.

She then went ahead and stood onto the grate, and an alarming voice can be heard underground. She jumped as she heard the loud voice, but she kept it in, hoping that it can accept her and let her in.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" The voice said.

"Whose shadow? Whose shadow?" Another voice can be heard.

"The shadow is Riolu's! The shadow is Riolu's!" The first voice said.

"Waah!" Belle internally screamed. "I can't lose it now!" She added. She held on to her bravery long enough until she heard...

"... Someone's with you, Riolu! So get that stranger to stand up there!" the voice frighteningly said.

"I think they mean you, Darkness." Belle said. "They said to stand up there." She added, pointing to the grate she just stood upon.

"There's a grate covering the hole." Darkness thought. "It's made so that no one can fall through." He continued.

"Still, it's really strange. It looks like it will tickle my feet or..." He thought, but was cut off by the voice underground.

"Hey you, Stranger! Get on the grate!" The voice shouted irritatingly. He's been waiting too long to examine him. Darkness stood upon the grate quickly. Would he be accepted into the guild? Will a number of guards come out of the gate and arrest them? That's a question soon to be answered.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is... The footprint is... Umm..."

"What's the matter?! Sentry! Sentry?!"

"What's wrong, Sentry Diglett?"

"Sentry Diglett?" Darkness and Belle asked simultaneously.

Underground, the sentry was sitting on a chair with a table on the entrance to a circular room. The sentry's name is Diglett. In front of him was a white, clean floor made up of Iron. One thick layer of quartz was lying on top of the iron to prevent it from looking dirty. The iron floor was there so that the shadow of visitors can be seen clearly. The quartz is cleaned everyday so that Diglett can examine those who visit the guild easily. During the night shift, every light in the room is turned off for Diglett to see the shadows of the visitor clearly.

"Umm... The footprint is..." Diglett said, flipping pages after pages, and still doesn't find it. Finally, it was all up to guessing.

"Maybe Darkrai's! Maybe Darkrai's!" Diglett said, with uncertainty whether or not he was right.

"What? MAYBE?!" a voice said from deeper underground with a hint of anger.

"B-but... It's not a footprint that you normally see around here..." Diglett said.

"Ugh! That's pretty crummy! Checking the footprint of a visiting Pokemon... That's your job, isn't it, Diglett?" The voice said irritatingly.

"Yes, but... I don't know what I don't know!" Diglett said, sweat-dropping.

Up on the surface, Darkness and Belle were confused about this situation. Are they merely fighting underground just because the sentry can't determine Darkrai's footprint?

"... Are they arguing?" Belle said, her sweat dropped from confusion.

"Looks like it." Darkness said, also sweat-dropping.

After a few moments of utter silence, the voice underground spoke again. "Sorry to make you wait!" the voice said underground, surprising them.

"Well, it's true that you don't see any Darkrai, if it is one, in these parts, but you don't seem bad."

"Ok. Good enough. Enter!"

As the two looked at each other for confirmation, the building's gate rose up, and a loud, metallic sound was heard, signifying that the gate has reached its maximum height.

Although happy as she may seem after hearing she was accepted into the guild, the eerie invitation giving of by the building was scaring the heck out of her. The shape of the building intensifies that.

"I'm so nervous! So jittery!" She said nervously.

"But I'm glad we're finally allowed in. My heart's pounding, though..." She added.

The two then looked onto the opened gate. "Anyway, let's go." Belle said.

Darkness and Belle went into the small building. Darkness was right; it was small. The inside of the building can be easily called a room. Three banners hang on the other end of the room, each with its own shape of insignia. They found a large board containing information about the guild to their left. They also found a hatch in the center of the room. The hatch intrigued them to think that the guild was actually underground. Who knew?

"Th-there's a hatch that leads underground!" Belle said as she nears the hatch. Belle then climbed down the ladder with Darkness.

"Wow!" Belle said with her eyes sparkling as she saw many various Pokemon. She and Darkness went to the center to get a better view of the room.

In the room, there were many kinds of Pokemon. There was a Sunflora talking to a Bidoof on their left near a board. A Seedot, Pidgey, Swellow and a Wurmple were chatting together. They might be talking about their explorations earlier this day. They saw another hatch that leads underground just beside the hatch they had climbed down.

"So this is Wigglytuff's guild!" Belle said, still with her eyes glassy, as if she is about to cry in happiness.

"There are sure a lot of Pokemon here. Do they belong to exploration teams?" She added.

Darkness and Belle went off to converse with the other Pokemon in the room. Swellow and Wurmple were the first to greet them and gave them a warm welcome to the guild.

As they are conversing, a voice came from the hatch that leads underground.

"Excuse me!" the voice said.

The voice startled Darkness and Belle, and they looked on where it came from. Seconds later, a small bird came up from the hatch. The small bird neared them, curious about their identity.

"It was you two that just came in, right?" he asked.

"Y-yes!" Belle said.

"I'm Chatot." She introduced himself.

"I'm the one in the know around these parts. And to be more specific, I am Guild Master Wigglytuff's assistant." She said.

"Now, shoo! Leave the premises! We have no time for salespeople or silly surveys. Off you go, if you please!" She added, much to Darkness and Belle's confusion. They didn't come here to do surveys or sale items in the first place.

"N-no! That's not why we came here!" Belle frantically said.

"We want to form an exploration team." She said. "So we came here. We want to get proper training as an exploration team." She added.

"Wh-what?! An exploration team?" Chatot asked. She then turned around to think about this.

"It's rare to see a kid like this want to appreciate at the guild, especially given how hard our training is." She thought.

"Surely, the steady stream of people that run away from our rigorous training proves how true that is." She thought once more.

"Excuse me." Belle said, snapping Chatot out of his thoughts. The latter then turned around to see them.

"Is the exploration team training that harsh?" Belle asked.

Looking into her eyes, Chatot can see a great weakness in her. Just looking at her, Chatot already knew that she was the coward type. Belle asking how hard the training is attests that.

She then looked into Darkness's eyes to see any signs of weakness in him, yet she cannot find a single one. She knew that Darkness can handle such training, given how strong and capable Darkness is, but with Belle, that is a different story to tell.

During the moment of silence, Belle felt her chest being weighed down by the heavy feeling. She felt Chatot's strictness just as she looked into her eyes. She felt how long the night is going to go on before they can be registered as an official exploration team.

Darkness seems to be a bit dense in this situation. He looked on Belle, then Chatot, then vice versa, and cannot seem to read into the atmosphere.

"... What's going on?" Darkness thought, sweat dropping.

After a moment of awkward silence, Chatot spoke. "Alright. Follow me." The guild master's assistant gestured them to follow her deeper underground.

"This is the guild's second underground floor." Chatot said. Darkness and Belle looked around the area. "This is mainly where the apprentices work." Chatot said. "Team registration is this way. Come this way." She continued.

As they come towards the door, Belle noticed a large window up ahead of them, and ran to see the outside.

"Wow! We're two floors under the ground, but you can see the outside!" Belle said in amazement.

"The guild is built into the side of a cliff." Chatot explained, causing the two to look at her. "It's only natural that you would be able to see outside." She continued. Belle returned to their side.

"Now here we are at Guild Master Wigglytuff's chamber." Chatot said, facing the round door that is in front of them. "On no account... I repeat, on no account should you be discourteous to our Guild Master." She gave a warning. The two then sweat-dropped upon the statement. Hearing her heartbeat fasten, Belle quickly toughen it up, letting her courage return to her.

"Are you ready?" Chatot asked, just for the two to nod in affirmative. Chatot faced the door and said, "Guild Master! It's Chatot! I'm coming in!" She turned the knob for the door to open. The trio then entered the Guild Master's room, with the two in intense and nervous feeling.

"Guild Master!" Chatot said, alarming the Guild Master from his work on the desk and waking Wigglytuff who was sleeping on his its bed on beside the Guild Master's worktable. Wigglytuff looked on to see who had come in, on to its feet, and looked on to its master for answers. The Guild Master stood up, his annoyed eyes staring at Chatot. The latter then sweat-dropped, thinking about what she had done to discomfort the Guild Master as well as waking up Wigglytuff.

"Chatot, how many times must I tell you to lower your voice while I'm working?" The Guild Master spoke.

"My apologies, Guild Master Wigglytuff." Chatot said, and bowed for forgiveness. After that, she gestured her left hand towards the two soon-to-be explorers and introduced them.

"Guild Master, I present to you two people who wish to join our guild as apprentices."

Wigglytuff walked towards them to get a better look. He looked at Darkness, from head to toe, with no evidence of familiarity within his eyes. Darkness kept himself as presentable as possible, even though he is drowning in extreme nervousness from the assumption that the Guild Master is very strict, let alone his assistant.

"You don't seem from around here. What is your name?" Wigglytuff asked.

"Uhh- My name's Darkness, and this is-" Darkness was about to introduce Belle, but was cut off by Wigglytuff saying "Darkrai." Wigglytuff then went to get a better look on Darkness. "I've seen many from my days, but I've never seen something like this. Such a strong and agile Pokemon, yes." Wigglytuff said, surprising Darkness. Yes, Darkness is like what he said, strong and agile, but they never knew how he had known that it is. A feat of a Guild Master indeed.

"Now for someone I am very much familiar with." Wigglytuff said as he turned to face Belle next. Just like what Darkness, Belle did her best to look as neat as possible. But wait, did he just said 'familiar with'?

"So, Belle. Do you now have the courage to achieve what you have always wanted, to be an explorer?" Wigglytuff asked. How did he come to know her dream?

"H-how do you know my name?" Belle asked.

"As a Guild Master, it's only natural for me to know every single person of Treasure Town. Every day, I walk the streets for some fresh air, talk to some few friends, and return to work." Wigglytuff said. "You worked for kecleon at the market in town, correct?" Wigglytuff added.

"Y-Yes." Belle answered.

"Ah, I see." Wigglytuff said. "Okay, enough chit-chat. Time for your registration as new explorers." He added.

"First, we must register your exploration team's name. What is your team's name?" Wigglytuff asked.

"Oh? Our team's name?" Belle said. "I didn't think about a team name." She added. She then turned to face Darkness.

"What do you think would be a good name for us, Darkness?" Belle asked.

"A name? Hmmm...." Darkness thought for a moment.

"How about Team Pokepals"

"Sounds good" Belle said blushing and smiling

"Then it's official you are now Team Pokepals" Wigglytuff said handing Darkness an exploration badge and bag but then was interrupted.

"Excuse me Guild Master there is a female eevee with no teammates wanting to make a team" Loudred said

"Well she needs a team" Wigglytuff said

"She can join us" Darkness said. Then the eevee who's name was Faith was let in and introduced to her new team. After that they were shown to there new room with only two beds so darkness,Faith,And Belle combined the straw to make one big bed.