Post by Vulpix on Dec 14, 2020 21:00:57 GMT -6
After your day of preparation, the new recruits experience a blessedly peaceful night. No one dares to leave their makeshift beds outside of town as you rest up for your upcoming adventure. This is the whole reason you joined the guild, isn’t it? You all dream of the journey to come.
Chatot wakes everyone up, bright and early (much to Slaking’s chagrin)!
“Bags all packed and ready to go? ♪”
The tired apprentices nod, cleaning up the last few tent poles from their first base camp.
“Well, then! I suppose we shall be off! ♪ For the rest of the journey there, we will be splitting up into two groups. One will be led by our Guildmaster, and the second by myself! Guildmaster, would you like to announce the lists? ♪”
“Zzzzz...Snorfle...Zzzzz...”
“Ahem! Well, I suppose I can read the names then!”
“In Team A, with Monotuff, we have Espurr, Arcanine, Ditto, Samurott, and Nincada. In Team B, we have Slaking, Slakoth, Sandshrew, Mimikyu, Bayleef, and Eternatus. We’ll all be staying all together in our base camp when we get there. Each apprentice will be assigned a specific item to collect when we arrive. Is all that clear?”
The apprentices begin shuffling around into their groups as Chatot urgently wakes up Monotuff. The two groups set off on different paths.
Team A
Monotuff’s group, the smaller but faster of the two, take the lower path around the mountain ahead. The stream that flows beside it provides an excellent place for Samurott to surf along while singing a hiking tune to motivate the group. Nincada races Arcanine. Usually Arcanine would be much faster, but Ditto, who was having trouble keeping up, is riding on his back. Monotuff follows not far behind them, making sure to keep Nincada on track. The guildmaster’s demeanor seems to have shifted since the journey began. He seems much more relaxed. He even offers to have a staring contest with Espurr when they get to base camp, at which the other apprentices in Team A make bets as to who will win. Samurott and Nincada think it’s an easy victory for Espurr, but Arcanine and Ditto aren’t so sure. Neither of them can recall seeing the Guildmaster blink at all since they arrived.
“Oh, friends, look up ahead!”
Monotuff points excitedly at a withered, old tree, and runs up to it to give it a hug. The apprentices gather around.
“This tree marks the spot where Chatot and I decided to form a guild together. We came here after a long adventure. There were meanies everywhere we turned! We had to cross lava and blizzards, and tunnel through dark caves, and journey across oceans to finally get to our treasure! But when we got there, it was all worth it…”
The apprentices stare in anticipation. Monotuff turns and starts continuing on their hike.
“What are you slowpokes waiting for? Chatot’s team is gonna beat us there!”
Team A hustles away from the tree to catch up with Monotuff.
“I don’t understand, Monotuff, what was the treasure you found?”
“Oh!”
“Well, the treasure was a golden mask! We still have it at the guild. It’s said to bring you lots and lots of friendly friends!”
“And with the golden mask, you realized you could make enough friends to start your own guild?”
“Yep! After that big adventure, Chatot said he wanted to retire. But if Chatot retired, I’d have to start exploring by myself again! And after my adventures with Chatot, I saw it was much more fun to go exploring with friends. So we decided to form a guild!”
“There were other apprentices before us, weren’t there?”
“Yep!”
“So… where are they now?”
At that, Monotuff clams up. He pretends not to hear the question, and walks a little bit faster. He travels the rest of the way in silence, but the other Pokémon of Team A don’t let that stop them from enjoying themselves on the way to the base camp! They share songs and stories of their lives before joining the guild.
By the time they arrive, they find that Team B is nowhere to be found.
By the time they arrive, they find that Team B is nowhere to be found.
“They must be taking their time. There are a lot of sights to see on that mountain, after all! Let’s get the camp all set up and cook a delicious meal for them to eat when they arrive, okay, friends?”
And that is exactly what Team A does. Nincada and Samurott unpack and set up the tents they have, while Arcanine sets up a fire to cook dinner. Ditto and Espurr prepare the meal. Ditto keeps trying to make conversation with Espurr, but she doesn’t seem to be in a talkative mood.
Monotuff rests his tired feet and wonders where Team B is.
Team B
Chatot’s group, the larger of the two groups, watches as Team A embarks down their path.
“Chatot, I don’t see another path.”
“Of course not, Bayleef! ♪ We won’t be needing a path. Eternatus will carry the five of you over the mountain, and I’ll fly beside you to guide us! ♪”
Eternatus stares daggers at the bird.
“Yes, well, such are the consequences of destroying a home in Treasure Town.”
Slaking is the first to climb onto Eternatus’ back. Any excuse to not have to be walking himself. Sandshrew and Bayleef both make sure to thank Eternatus for giving them a lift before climbing aboard. Mimikyu cautiously clambers up behind them. Slakoth is the only one who doesn’t board right away. Bayleef offers for Slakoth to sit close to him to make sure he doesn’t fall off, but unfortunately he still won’t budge.
“Well, what is it you need, then, Slakoth? We can’t wait around all day.”
Slakoth stares up at Slaking with a pleading look on his face.
“Daddy, I want to go home.”
Slaking sighs.
“We can’t go home, son, I told you. Just c’mon. You’re like a superhero now, right? If you fall off it doesn’t even matter ‘cause you can fly. Just hurry up and get on!”
He offers his son a hand and lifts him onto Eternatus.
“We’d best be off before anyone else starts to have second thoughts.”
Chatot flies up ahead, and Eternatus takes off from the ground. As soon as they’re in the air, some of the apprentices’ fears begin to dissipate. Slakoth and Mimikyu clamber up to ride on Eternatus’ head. Slakoth finds that when he stretches out his arms, it really does feel like he’s the one flying! His cape flaps in the wind, leaving the smell of barf behind him. This, in turn, causes Slaking to become nauseated. Eternatus reminds their passengers that any bodily functions should be performed off the side, and guarantees that anyone who dares soil the majestic dragon shall be lunch. Chatot reassures them that no one shall be anyone else’s lunch here. Mimikyu begins to worry that his cloak might fly off. Bayleef helps him by holding it down. Slaking falls asleep for the rest of the ride. Sandshrew sits, looking down Eternatus’ tail at the town they’re leaving behind. Perhaps they could escape while they’re on this journey. They could all leave and never have to worry about another guild trial again. But as he looks at everyone right now, he sees that Team B seems to be enjoying themselves. Even Eternatus appears to have temporarily forgotten their circumstances as they carry the team ahead. He notices worry in Chatot’s eyes, still. For now, though, things aren’t so bad.
At Camp
By the time Team B arrives at the new base camp, Team A has already arrived and set up, and something smells delicious! Tonight, Ditto is the one to address them at dinner. They make a short speech about preparing their food with different ingredients that they knew everyone would enjoy. Unfortunately, the results are less than stellar. Rather than an individual dish for each Pokémon, Ditto and Espurr decided it would be a good idea to combine everyone’s favourite foods. They ended up making spicy apple-flavoured SPAM doughnuts sprinkled with Eukanuba Healthy Extras treats with a radish and kale icing, and during the meal Ditto screamed at the top of their lungs the whole time. Most of the apprentices manage to eat a few bites before giving up. Eternatus doesn’t even touch their meal, choosing instead to feast on the side-serving of screams. Arcanine seems to have enjoyed it quite a bit, though, so he finishes his own serving as well as a few others'.
After dinner, they sit around the campfire roasting marshmallows. Mimikyu takes this opportunity to distribute the rest of the friendship bracelets to the apprentices who didn't have them. Monotuff leads everyone in singing along to his favourite campfire song! As the night grows old, the apprentices fall asleep one by one.
Collecting Items
In the morning, Chatot delivers the assignments.
Bayleef is to collect persim berries.
Espurr is to collect belue berries.
Arcanine is to collect rawst berries.
Ditto is to collect chesto berries.
Mimikyu is to collect cheri berries.
Sandshrew is to collect pecha berries.
Slaking is to collect tamato berries.
Slakoth is to collect enigma berries.
Eternatus is to collect apples.
Samurott and Nincada are to go together to collect health orbs.
Each apprentice goes off to look for their items in different areas around the base of the mountain. They return at dusk, each apprentice with a bag full of what they collected. Everyone is so tuckered out they go right to sleep after dinner, which this time was just grilled cheeses made by Chatot.
Each apprentice goes off to look for their items in different areas around the base of the mountain. They return at dusk, each apprentice with a bag full of what they collected. Everyone is so tuckered out they go right to sleep after dinner, which this time was just grilled cheeses made by Chatot.
The Journey Back
The next morning, Monotuff’s Guild packs up camp and sets on their journey back. This time, they are all travelling in one group down the lower path around the mountain. The apprentices are talking and laughing, sharing their stories of what happened while they were collecting items.
Bayleef says his collecting was rather uneventful. The persim berries weren’t quite ripe, yet, so he helped the plant to grow before picking its fruit. Arcanine says he encountered an enormous ursaring, almost as big as Eternatus! He said that luckily, it was quite friendly, and after he had harvested enough berries the ursaring helped him collect some nectar, too! Ditto claims that on their way back to camp after collecting berries, they fell into a huge pit, and if it weren’t for Nincada and Samurott’s help they would probably still be down there. Samurott concurs. He says he and Nincada had trouble finding their wonder orbs. Nincada kept getting them lost whenever he got distracted. They managed to find only four before they returned for the night, helping Ditto on their way. Mimikyu confesses that he couldn’t help but eat some of the berries he was picking. This is evidenced by the red splotches on his costume. Sandshrew says he had a hard time harvesting berries. Every time he tried to get near a plant, his snow cloud would cause them to wither, which is why he collected fewer berries than anyone else. Slaking says that along with the berries, he found some magic mushrooms. By the time he considered bringing any back to Treasure Town, some little elves had come along and eaten the rest first. Slakoth snoozes on his father’s back on the way home, still tired out from picking so many berries the day before. Eternatus says something about how when they showed their mighty presence, the trees all quivered and dropped their apples to the ground in holy offering. Espurr, as usual, is eerily silent during their long hike back to Treasure Town. What’s stranger is that Chatot is equally quiet.
Bayleef says his collecting was rather uneventful. The persim berries weren’t quite ripe, yet, so he helped the plant to grow before picking its fruit. Arcanine says he encountered an enormous ursaring, almost as big as Eternatus! He said that luckily, it was quite friendly, and after he had harvested enough berries the ursaring helped him collect some nectar, too! Ditto claims that on their way back to camp after collecting berries, they fell into a huge pit, and if it weren’t for Nincada and Samurott’s help they would probably still be down there. Samurott concurs. He says he and Nincada had trouble finding their wonder orbs. Nincada kept getting them lost whenever he got distracted. They managed to find only four before they returned for the night, helping Ditto on their way. Mimikyu confesses that he couldn’t help but eat some of the berries he was picking. This is evidenced by the red splotches on his costume. Sandshrew says he had a hard time harvesting berries. Every time he tried to get near a plant, his snow cloud would cause them to wither, which is why he collected fewer berries than anyone else. Slaking says that along with the berries, he found some magic mushrooms. By the time he considered bringing any back to Treasure Town, some little elves had come along and eaten the rest first. Slakoth snoozes on his father’s back on the way home, still tired out from picking so many berries the day before. Eternatus says something about how when they showed their mighty presence, the trees all quivered and dropped their apples to the ground in holy offering. Espurr, as usual, is eerily silent during their long hike back to Treasure Town. What’s stranger is that Chatot is equally quiet.
Before they know it, all the apprentices have made it back at the crossroads! As they march up to the Guild House, a gloomy feeling falls over them all. Chatot starts a collection in the Mess Hall of items the apprentices brought back. They’re all instructed to hand over all their berries, apples, and orbs. At final count, the supply in the Mess Hall holds 12 persim berries, 5 belue berries, 6 rawst berries, 7 chesto berries, 6 cheri berries, 3 pecha berries, 8 tamato berries, 5 enigma berries, an enormous pile of apples, and 4 health orbs.
Monotuff retires to his room, and all the apprentices and Chatot begin their night in the Mess Hall.
you got this
