The Next Day
Wigglytuff Guild, Grass Continent
Victor, who wakes up very early, can be seen sitting at the edge of the cliff behind the building, staring at the sea as the sun is yet to rise. He is still unable to believe that he's now an explorer apprentice under Wigglytuff Guild and a leader of the team. He is unsure how to feel right now.
When he first played the game, it was a normal moment for him. He had formed an official team with his game partner, and over time, the moment had become more than just making a team. It becomes something special for his playthrough, and throughout the journey, he gets to discover more about his partner and his motivation, so he admittedly cried ugly when THE moment happened.
Back then, it was a game. A game that has a special place in his childhood memories, but a game nonetheless. But now, it's real, and he is unsure how to feel. On one hand, he is happy he gets to experience it for real. But many things worry him. Does he qualify as a leader?
When he was a student, there were reasons why he wasn't qualified to be the class president. Sure, it was a different thing, and he had matured, but he lacked a lot of things that make a leader. He didn't believe he was the better choice to be one, but given how no one seems to be willing to take the place, it leads to the eldest taking charge.
Another thing that concerns him is how he might get addicted to the position and start abusing it. It was a stupid and irrational fear, but he had seen it happen so many times that it concerned him. His past self isn't something to be proud of, and he was afraid that the leader position might turn him into someone worse than that.
Then, there are other things that concern him. How will the timeline go from here? He is not the main protagonist of this side of the story; he never was. He was simply a nobody who somehow accidentally got sent into this world and ended up in the right place and the right time to meet with the deuteragonist, or in this case, deuteragonists of the story. This made him feel like an imposter, someone who didn't belong here. Sure, he will make sure the world won't fall into despair out of fear and concern for the Pokémon, not to mention having such knowledge made it impossible for him to ignore, but the feeling still lingers inside him.
Victor could only sigh in frustration as the thoughts continued to live in his mind rent-free. He had no idea and simply went with the flow. The only plan he had was getting stronger and saving the world, but besides that, he let the story flow by itself. He did make sure that any avoidable issues were avoided, but besides that, he had no idea. He isn't a smart guy who can think up a plan for the future in a very detailed way, and that was always been his main flaw.
"Victor?" Victor turns to see Thorn approaching him; his face shows concern. "Why are you up so early? You should get enough rest."
"I had enough rest…" Victor says with a forced smile. "My body...it only requires a short amount of sleep to be fully energized…"
"I wish I had that," Thorn huffs as Victor chuckles.
"Trust me, it ain't as good as it seems. I prefer sleeping as long as possible." Victor says as Thorn snorts.
"So…what's been bothering you?" Thorn asks.
"…just thinking if I'm qualified to be a leader or not," Victor admits. "I…wasn't exactly having the best reputation when it comes to leadership. I screwed up so many times. I…lacked a lot to be an actual leader."
"…oh, Arceus. We put a lot of pressure on you, didn't we?" Thorn says with a guilty expression.
"W-what? No. I could've rejected it anytime, but-!" Victor tries to object, but Thorn cuts him off.
"That doesn't excuse us," Thorn exclaims. "…I'm sorry."
"…don't be," Victor says as Thorn sits next to him.
"…if you feel pressured, you could rely on us to help you with some duties," Thorn suggests.
"I feel like I dump responsibility on you," Victor says as Thorn snorts.
"Well, we did it by giving you the position. So, you can say it's a way to say sorry." Thorn says as Victor looks at his friend. The expression Thorn made is clear; he won't let Victor argue about it.
"…well, I suppose I could let you be my second-in-command," Victor says, making Thorn furrow his brow in confusion.
"Why me?" Thorn asks.
"No offense to Sabo, but unless he has the confidence to finally tell Tesla off, letting him have the second-in-command position will allow him to let Tesla off easy every time he's going to do something reckless," Victor says.
"… Then why do you choose him as the leader when Vice Guildmaster Charlie asks?" Thorn asks.
"I…didn't think things through since the sudden question threw me off, and no one seems to object…" Victor says Mareepishly. "Another reason why I didn't think I fit to be a leader."
"You're being too hard on yourself," Thorn says with a snort. "Neither of us is perfect; mistakes are bound to happen. It's how you're going to deal with that mistake that counts."
"You make it sound like an avoidable mistake counts," Victor says.
"That's not the point!" Thorn exclaims before noticing Victor's teasing grin and rolling his eyes. "Very funny." Both chuckle before watching the sun rise from the edge of the sea.
"…maybe I should get used to waking up early." Thorn comments. "The sunrise is beautiful…"
"And not to mention, we get to avoid something bad," Victor adds, which puzzles Thorn. What does he mean by that? "Anyways, thanks for listening to me ranting..."
"…happy to help," Thorn decided not to think about it as he smiled at his partner. "It's what friends do, right?"
"…yeah," Victor gives Thorn a wide smile. Then, suddenly…
"RISE AND SHINE!!!!" They hear Larry's voice booming through the entire building to the point that it shakes. Both Victor and Thorn wince at the loud noise, covering their respective ears due to how loud it is.
"…you weren't kidding about avoiding something bad!" Thorn exclaims in disbelief as Victor laughs. "How did you know!?"
"Did you forget how loud he is!? If I'm the Guildmaster, I would immediately let him have that role!" Victor says as Thorn facepalms.
"Of course you would," Thorn deadpans before the entire guild fills with loud groans, and some stuff is thrown. They can hear a loud shout coming from the building before followed by pained screams. Thorn feels like he loses some color on his skin as he continues to hear the commotion.
"I think I made a mistake joining this Guild," Thorn says in fear, which makes Victor chuckle even more. To him, the commotion is quite tame compared to when he was in a class full of delinquents, consisting of students who had repeated their semester due to so many rules they had broken, and he ended up in that class due to his low grades. The scenario reminds him of how the delinquents act inside the class.
After the noise has died down, both Victor and Thorn go inside the building and are greeted with a messy hall, Larry getting chased by everyone as they toss stuff at him, and Charlie exasperatedly sighs. Victor and Thorn merely sweatdrop at this before approaching their vice guildmaster, standing beside the Chatot. Charlie notices this and lets out a sigh of relief.
"Oh, thank Arceus that not all of the apprentices have lost their minds," Charlie sighs in relief before he looks at them in puzzlement. "Where have you two been?"
"We're simply getting some fresh air and watching the sunrise outside the building, Vice Guildmaster," Victor says as Charlie merely nods.
"I see, I am glad that you are capable of waking up so early. After all, the early Pidgey gets the Caterpie," Charlie says as Victor can't help but pale slightly. He knows that Pokémon eat Pokémon in this world, but he didn't need the mental image. "Could you please stand in line in front of me? We're planning to start our morning cheer, and some announcements will be made."
"Announcement?" Victor can't help but voice his surprise.
"You just have to wait until we announce it," Charlie says as Victor nods and both he and Thorn do what Charlie has asked. Then, Charlie clears his throat before letting out one of the loudest screeches he has ever heard from a bird.
'I swear to Arceus, I'm gonna lose my hearing next week if this keeps happening!' Victor thought in sheer disbelief. Fortunately, the screech did its job as everyone stopped moving, looking at Charlie in slight fear.
"You all have delayed enough for our daily routine," Charlie exclaims in annoyance. "Now, cease your ridiculous behavior and gather around, just look at your junior, who knows how to properly act in the morning!"
This causes Victor and Thorn to stiffen, looking like a Deerling caught in headlights. They didn't expect Charlie to call them out like that, but thankfully, no one seems to care as they simply gather around them without any negative feelings directed at them.
"Hey," Tesla hisses at Victor and Thorn. "Why did neither of you seem angry at the shouting?"
"We woke up early, so we didn't hear the scream," Victor says as Thorn nods.
"You could wake us up as well," Tesla exclaims.
"I'm your leader, not a babysitter. Besides, I am not risking you electrocuting me because I woke you up too early. You look like you love to sleep till noon." Victor deadpans as Tesla tries to argue, but he didn't. Tesla loves his sleep, and he would rather that no one disturbs him, so he was angry at Larry waking him up in such a way. And now that he thinks about it, it sounds a bit dumb when he asked Victor to wake him up.
"Now, then. Everyone seems to be present. Let us conduct the morning address," Charlie says as everyone prepares themselves. Then, from the office, William walks out, but his appearance throws everyone off. The Guildmaster looks sleepy; he wears a sleeping hat, and his hands hold a large pillow.
Victor bit his lips from laughing at the scene, and he noticed everyone seemed to be doing the same thing as well. Charlie looks at the Pokémon he serves under in sheer disbelief, his eyes twitch in irritation, and he feels like he's about to lose it.
"Guildmaster…please address the crew…" Charlie says, feeling his patience is wearing thin.
"Um…yeah," William says sleepily, rubbing his eyes. "I hope…you all will do well…be careful when entering the dungeon… make sure you don't enter without any supplies…and so on…"
Charlie feels like he is truly about to lose it while everyone is stifling their laughter, shaking uncontrollably. Neither of them is willing to let out any laughter sound escaping their lips, fearing to disrespect the Guildmaster, but the shit's are too funny not to react.
"…thank you for your…word of wisdom, Guildmaster…everyone, please take his words of wisdom to heart." Charlie let out an exasperated sigh. "Now then, let's not forget our morning cheer:
A ONE, A TWO...A ONE-TWO-THREE
ONE! DON'T SHIRK WORK!
TWO! RUN AWAY AND PAY!
THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES! "
'Still as iconic as ever…' Victor muses with a smile, feeling slightly nostalgic about the cheers.
"Now, then. Before you all went to work, let me inform some terrible news." In an instant, the atmosphere shifts from comedic to a tense one. Victor can't help but feel nervous upon hearing that. What exactly is the bad news?
"Yesterday night, the Time Gear in the Treeshroud Forest was stolen." The news hit him like a meteor crashing from the atmosphere. Victor's blood went cold upon hearing that. The Time Gear has been stolen!? So early!?
"We have no idea who's truly behind this, but the news reporter had taken a glimpse of it. Three Pokemons are the culprits behind them." Victor feels like his brain has short-circuited. Three!?! What the fuck!?! What do you mean three!?! Are you telling him that somehow, Grovyle now has two companions who join on his quest to retrieve the Time Gear?!
He had a pretty good guess for Grovyle's first companion. He believes the companion to be the human protagonist of the PMD: Explorers, who probably arrived in the past in the same place as Grovyle. The human protagonist is Grovyle's trusted partner, and he's very loyal towards him, so even if the human protagonist might have amnesia after the time travel, Grovyle will explain everything to him with zero lies.
But he can't guess who Grovyle's second companion is. On one hand, he guessed it to be Celebi, but at the same time, he didn't seem to be confident about it. Back in the game, Celebi refuses to go to the past with Grovyle as she chooses to distract the antagonist while the protagonists go back in time. Victor believes that she chose to stay in the future just in case Grovyle got sent to the future; he isn't sure.
All of these changes made him scratch his head like crazy; everything he knew about the future was possibly thrown out the window. Right now, he feels even more anxious about the changes than usual.
"Victor?" Thorn calls, startling Victor as he looks at the seed Pokémon. "You're okay?"
"…got a lot of things to think about…" Victor mutters. "The Time Gear is stolen...I remember in the book it says taking it away from its resting place could cause severe consequences."
"Indeed," Sabo nods. "The Time Gears keep the time in the surrounding area from flowing properly. Getting rid of them will cause that particular location to freeze in time. All living beings who were around that area, if they didn't get out of there, might be frozen in time."
Victor shudders at the idea of that. Imagine being frozen in place, still alive and well, but the time around you stops moving, including yourself. Does that mean their thoughts were halted? What did they see when time froze? Did everything turn black because the light stopped shining due to it being frozen in time? What about breathing? Or any of that? Victor slowly widened his eyes in horror; the fear of the unknown had taken over him.
"Victor?" Victor flinches once again as Thorn calls him. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"….I am wondering what happened to the Pokémon that was frozen in time?" Victor says as Sabo was about to reply, but he pauses and thinks about it before he slowly becomes horrified, understanding Victor's fear. Thorn and Tesla also seem to understand what Victor is implying, as they are all horrified as well.
"…let's not think about it," Thorn says, shaking his thoughts off. "Let the authority handle the thieves. We're just apprentices, don't think about something that's out of our league. Anyway, let's go. Vice Guildmaster had called us to meet him on the first floor, but you were deep in thought to hear it, Vic."
"Y-yeah…" Victor pauses as he looks at Thorn. "Also, Vic?"
"It's a nickname. It's easier to call you that," Thorn says before he looks at him with hesitation. "Or…maybe you don't like it?"
"I don't mind, you can call me Vic," Victor replies, making Thorn beam. Sabo notices this and feels a twinge of envy in his chest. He wishes he could be that close to Victor, but as long as Tesla remains overprotective, he wouldn't be able to bond with him more.
Thorn had rarely bonded with him like they used to ever since Victor came into the picture. The way they bond made it feel like Thorn prefers bonding with Victor instead of him, making him slightly question their friendship. Sabo can't help but feel slightly hurt by this.
As they climb to the first floor, they notice Charlie standing next to a board filled with papers pinned to it. Victor is still trying to memorize each letter to read the jobs written on those papers, but his head hurts just from seeing so many foreign alphabets and trying to translate them.
"Here is the Job Bulletin Board. In here, there are various tasks given to the Exploration Team to do. Each has been given the details of the mission you're going to do." Charlie pauses before looking at everyone. "You all are aware of bad Pokémon increases in numbers, right?"
"Yes, it was because the time flow is now messed up that it's wreaking havoc, right?" Sabo says as Charlie nods.
"How does a messed-up time flow have to do with Bad Pokemons increase in numbers?" Victor couldn't help but ask. The game only tells how it increases the number of bad Pokemons appearing, but not how it is related.
"You can say we Pokemons were very sensitive to changes, especially if it's something as big as the time stream itself," Charlie says. "Usually, it causes some Pokemons to act aggressively out of fear and desperation. The flow of time is what keeps this world alive, so imagine how most Pokémon feel when the world feels like it is dying."
"…then why do you guys call them Bad Pokemons if they act out of instinct instead of intentions?" Victor asks in puzzlement.
"You are quite clueless, huh?" Charlie comments offhandedly. "If you must know, our instincts are our inner desire. Everything a Pokémon feels and desires is in the form of instinct. For example, a mother's instinct is to protect her child because her inner desire is to keep her child away from harm. A lot of these Bad Pokemons were taken over by instinct, their fear and desperation of the massive changes replaced with their inner feelings and desire."
"That's…interesting…" Victor blinks, not expecting such an explanation.
"And the messed-up time flows also caused the increased number of Mystery Dungeons, which leads to an increase in jobs," Charlie says as he points at the shit tons of paper on the bulletin board. It's like a massive pile of paperwork superglued to the board.
"If you're wondering how there are so many of them, and thinking there won't be this much, it is due to the majority of Guilds taking the high-rank missions over the smaller ones. So, we're taking all of these since no one wants them." Charlie mutters in annoyance, causing Team Dawn to sweatdrops. "Anyways, if you want a mission, you can pick from here. Let's see…" Charlie muses as he looks around the board. "Ah, this mission should suffice!"
With that, Charlie pulls one paper from the board and gives it to Victor. Before Victor could do anything, Thorn gently took it from Charlie, which prompted Victor to give Thorn a grateful look. Thorn takes a look at the paper before he speaks the mission out loud.
"'Hello! My name is Spoink!'" Thorn reads. "'An outlaw has run off with my most prized possession! 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 the bluff is reported to be extremely unsafe! I could never go somewhere so frightening! Oh, friendly readers! Would you be so kind as to go to the bluff and get my pearl? I beg your help, exploration team members! – From Spoink'…" Thorn finishes.
"Wait, that's it!? We're going to do chores!? Fetching something that a careless idiot dropped!? This isn't a mission for an exploration team!" Tesla exclaims in utter disbelief as he looks at Charlie in annoyance. "Give-!"
"Shut it!" Victor exclaims as he pinches Tesla's mouth shut, causing him to look at Victor in shock. "First of all, we're newbies! What did you expect? A mission to go to a dungeon where a Legendary Pokémon resides and take the treasure in there!? Did you forget what the Guildmaster and Vice Guildmaster said yesterday? As apprentices, we're only qualified for low-ranking jobs. You should've expected this the moment they explained it to you."
"Thank you. I suppose you being the leader is the right choice." Charlie praises with an approved nod, making Victor give the bird a look that says, 'I did it not for the praise, so shut it'. "Now that you understand the mission, I suppose you could go now. Don't forget to get supplies for the mission!"
"… excuse me, Vice Guildmaster?" Victor calls, getting Charlie's attention.
"Yes, what is it?" Victor deadpanned at the beaming smile Charlie gave him.
"Are there other low-rank missions that are required to finish in …" Victor looks at the paper for a moment. "…Drenched Bluff?"
"….I'm glad you asked!" Charlie's smile somehow grows wider and brighter, making Team Dawn sweat nervously.
'Why did I feel like I had made a mistake?'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Later
Drenched Bluff, Entrance
"'Are there other low-rank missions required to finish in Drenched Bluff?' he said..."
"I get it, I get it…"
Team Dawn can be seen standing in front of the entrance to the new Mystery Dungeon they discovered, Drenched Bluff. Victor can be seen holding a stack of papers given by Charlie after he asks the question. There are a lot of them.
Not many explorers are willing to take a low-paying job when they are granted access to high-paying jobs. It ended up accumulating so much on the bulletin board, which explains why it looks like someone superglued every paper available to the board itself.
"You and your big mouth…now, we had to clear what? 30 E-Rank Mission in Drenched Bluff!?!" Tesla exclaims in disbelief. "We have to do 30 chores in this Arceus-forsaken dungeon!"
"…" Victor resisted the urge to retort because he knew it was his fault for asking. It may be too much, but he was at least glad that all of them are E-Ranks. He really should be careful when talking, or else Charlie might do this to him again.
"L-let's just finish our chores, I mean, missions," Sabo mutters. He had honestly shared his brother's disappointment towards the mission content, but he held his urge to complain since he knew they were just newbies. But he didn't expect to be given 30 jobs to finish! Sabo and Tesla grumpily walk into the dungeon as Victor and Thorn walk side-by-side, with Victor looking visibly guilty.
"…I don't blame you, you know," Thorn comments, getting Victor's attention. "Vice Guildmaster shouldn't have done this to you just because you are willing to take more jobs. I don't mind several jobs done since it could get us more money, but 30 is too much."
"But, still, if I didn't open my big fat mouth, none of this would've happened…" Victor mutters. "Some leaders I am…"
"Like I said earlier, mistakes are bound to happen," Thorn says. "You made your mistake, and you could learn from it, or just ignore it."
"I'll be the world's greatest idiot if I repeat this mistake." Victor deadpans before pausing. "… okay, maybe I am. I have repeated some of my mistakes multiple times in the past."
"Okay, now you're just being too harsh on yourself." Thorn deadpans. Upon entering, they didn't waste any time clearing the jobs. They made sure to search every side of the dungeons to search for the missing items and sent Pokemons back to the Guild using the Team Badge (Victor is visibly confused with the teleportation function, like how does it even work).
They even had to beat a bunch of Dungeon Pokemons because they somehow got their hands on the missing items, and they're too violent to even do it the easy way. They managed to get stronger than before with how many Dungeon Pokémon they beat, but the constant fights were visibly taxing.
It takes them an entire 8 hours to finish every mission given to them and reach the end of the dungeon, where they find the Spoink's Pearl. They immediately return to the Guild with the Badge, visibly tired by the sheer number of missions.
Upon returning, they were greeted by William, who is visibly concerned for them and disapproves of Charlie for abusing his authority and giving them so much mission to finish, even if they manage to finish it quickly. After returning the retrieved items to every client, William rewards them with 20% of the job payments instead of 10% and an entire day off tomorrow for them as an apology. They didn't complain about it, but they sure lost their respect for Charlie after this incident, and Tesla still blames Victor for opening his big fat mouth.
Unknown to them, their feat didn't go unnoticed, and it became the beginning of a legend for the future Guild, a group of rookies who broke the record of how many missions were done in a single trip to the dungeon.
To Be Continued