Chapter Four
The First Assignment

We were awakened the next morning by an Insanely loud Voice Screaming at us to get up.

"HEY!!! WAKE UP!!!! YOU'RE LATE!!!!"

I shoot awake. "OW!! My Ears!!!" I looked up and saw that it was a loudred yelling at me. "Damn that voice is ridiculously loud!"

"What!?" Kaizer said, Temporarily deafened by the Loudred's voice.

"I SAID THAT VOICE IS REDICULOUSLY F*CKING LOUD!!!" I Said.

"Ow!" Cameran said. "You Don't Have To Yell! The Loudred can do that for you!"

"GOOD! YOU'RE UP!! NOW GET OUT THERE OR YOU'LL MISS THE MORNING BRIEFING!"

He walks out of the room, leaving us momentarily stunned.

"My ears are ringing." Kaizer said

"What did he mean by morning Briefing?" I asked. And then it hit us.

"The Guild!!!" Kaizer said, jumping to his feet and running out of the Room.

(A/N Typically an exploration team has two members, so Azura's room only has two beds. Cameran gets one and Kaizer and Azura share the other.)

Cameran and I run out after Kaizer to join the Briefing.

"YOU'RE LATE, ROOKIES!!!" Loudred yelled.

"Hush!" Chatot said. "You're voice is ridiculously loud!" Loudred merely grunted in response

Wigglytuff steps out of her Room. After a few moments of Silence, Chatot flew over to her.

"Um, Guildmaster?" Chatot asked.

"Zzzz..."

"she never ceases to amaze me..." The Riolu, Noah said.

"Thank you, Ma'am!" Chatot said. "We all value your... words of wisdom. Well, Off to work!!" At this, Everyone goes their separate ways.

"Hello there, rookies." Sean, the Charmeleon from earlier said, walking up to us along with the Riolu, Noah. "Since this is your first day, Chatot assigned Noah and I to show you the ropes."

"I remember when I was in your shoes, not too long ago." Noah said. "But I had to figure things out on my own. It's a lot easier when there's someone to Guide you."

"Although Easier is entirely Relative in this case, Judging by the looks of you." Sean said. "You probably don't even know how to do a thundershock." He said, looking at me. He then looked at Cameran. "And I can't even begin to list the things I suspect are wrong with you." He looks at Kaizer and begins to say something, but noticing the Relic Fragment around his neck, he decides to shut up for some reason. "Anyway, let's get on with the tutorial." As we followed them upstairs, I could just barely make out what Noah and Sean were saying to each other.

"I give them a week." Noah whispered.

"I give them three chapters." Sean replied. Once again we hear Something break off in the distance.

When we get up to the Second basement level, they led us to the board on the left side.

"This is the job board." Noah explained to us. "everyone has to start out with this on their first day."

"The board on the right will be explained to you tomorrow by another team." Sean said. "Although I doubt you children will be able to handle this one."

"Hey, who are you calling Children!?" Cameran shouted. "You only look a year older than me!"

"Yes, and with that year, I have superiority over you." Sean said. "Now chose your job, or you can quit now, and not embarrass yourself."

I walked over to the board and looked at the jobs. I take one down and read it aloud.

"Hello. My name is Pikachu. A few weeks ago, I was traveling through the Drenched Bluff when I lost my favorite Rainbow scarf, a very hard Item to come by. I went to go get it, but found out that the Bluff had become a Mystery Dungeon. I need an Exploration team's help to get it back."

"Wait a second..." Cameran said. "You mean we're just fetching an item someone else dropped!?"

"Lucky you." Sean said "You got an easy Dungeon. When I started out, my first job was in Mt. Bristle. Barely made it out alive. But I went in a Charmander and came out a Charmeleon."

"Well, you three should get to it!' Noah said, much more optimistic of our success than Sean. "If Chatot finds you guys slacking off, He'll have your butts mounted on a wall."

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After a few minutes later, we found ourselves at the entrance to Drenched bluff.

"Hey, Kaizer?" I asked, "What's a mystery dungeon? You said something yesterday about having to be out of my tiny mind to go in one."

"A Mystery Dungeon is a Labyrinth distorted by space and time. They can be very long and treacherous. And nearly impossible to get through unless you have a team with you."

"Surely people make maps of them, right?" Cameran asks.

"It's impossible to make a map. Because a Mystery Dungeon changes every time you enter."

"But, that's not possible!!!" I said.

"It gets worse. Once you enter the second level of a dungeon, there's no turning back. And if you faint, you're stuck in there until someone rescues you, or you starve."

"And they expect us to go through one!?" I said.

"Well, as long as you have a team with you, you're safe from most threats a dungeon proposes."

"Well, there are three of us, so we've got a Good chance of getting through." Cameran said. "So, let's go inside!"

Cameran ran inside as fast as he can.

"That was kinda haphazard, wasn't it?" I said.

"Come on, we gotta go after him!" Kaizer said, running in after him. I quickly followed.

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Drenched Bluff 1F
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As we begin traveling through, we are met by several different paths.

"This is gonna be more difficult than I thought." I said. "And there's no sign of Cameran anywhere..."

"We're going to have to check all of these tunnels?" Kaizer asks

"Nah," I said, "He broke the Fourth Wall Earlier. We just need to follow the trail of broken glass" I look around, and sure enough, I find a trail of broken glass leading down one of the pathways. We follow it and find a ladder leading up to the next level.

"Here we are. let's just hope Cameran hasn't gotten his butt kicked yet." I say, Starting to climb up the ladder.

"Are you sure about this?" Kaizer said. "I mean, once we go to the next floor, there's no turning back..."

"C'mon, Kaizer. This is your dream, isn't it? Exploring new places, Discovering new lands. For all we know, this could be the first step to finding where that Relic Fragment came from."

"...Okay." Kaizer said, flying up through the hole in the ceiling, I follow him via ladder a few seconds later. Once we get up to the second floor, the hole we came up through sealed itself.
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Drenched Bluff 2F
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"Wow. When you said no turning back, you weren't kidding." I said. Not two seconds after I said that, a Chingliing came and head butted me in the forehead.
"... DAMN IT! WHY DOES THAT KEEP HAPPENING!?!?" I prepare for a fight, but the Chingling had knocked itself out with that attack. "What was that about?

"The Pokémon in Mystery dungeons are Extremely territorial. Once they start attacking, they won't stop until either you or it get knocked out. And there's no reasoning with them. They're hardly even sentient."

"How do they end up trapped here?" I asked, as we continued our search for Cameran.

"No one knows for sure. But some signs point to the possibility that they were in the places when they became mystery dungeons. Suddenly a Lileep comes up behind me and uses wrap on me, Squeezing me until I can't breathe.

"The Lileep begins to laugh sadistically. "EHAHAHAHAH!!! Thought you could sneak into My territory, huh!?" He begins to squeeze tighter.

"Please! We were just- GAH!!" I coughed up a small amount of blood as the Lileep broke a rib. "We're Just looking for a friend!!"

"And When I find him, I'll do the same to him!" Lileep said.

"You Forgot about me!!!" Kaizer said, throwing a stone at Lileep.

"So you wish to be dealt with, too?" Lileep said, dropping me and dodging the rock.

"Quick, Azura! Use Thunder shock on it!" Kaizer said. At that point in time I was unable to. I was too busy trying to get air back into my lungs, that and I didn't know how to do it on command yet. Suddenly, The Lileep falls to the ground with three long gashes on his back.

"I knew you three would have trouble." Sean said, stepping out of the shadows. "But I didn't realize that it would be this bad."

"You were here!? The whole Freaking time!?" I said.

"Yeah, so? I just saved your sorry rear-ends."

"So you just stood and watched as that thing tried to crush me? Snap my spine!?"

"I wanted to see if you knew how to get out of it" Sean said. "That's the last time I'm going to save you, by the way."

"But that was the first time." Kaizer said.

"Exactly." Sean said. "You're on your own from here on out." He walked further down the path and left us alone.

"Are you okay?" Kaizer asked me.

"Depends, Me or my pride?" I asked.

Cameran came walking up to us. "What did I miss.

" God Damn it, Cameran..."

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Drenched Bluff 3F
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"I'm getting kinda hungry..." I thought aloud.

"Mystery dungeons have that effect. They kinda distort time in a way that makes you heal faster, but also empties your stomach faster."

"Unless that has anything to do with food, I'm not sure I care..." Cameran said.

"We can go ahead and take a rest." Kaizer said, sitting down. He took out the Explorer pack given to him at the guild last night. "I think I put a few apples in here..." I wasn't listening anymore. On a fountain towards the back of one of the corridors, something caught my eye.

"I think I found the scarf." I said, heading towards the fountain.

"Finally! We can get out of here!" Cameran said.

I got to the fountain to see that it was a lot bigger up close. "I can't quite reach it. Kaizer, do you think you could fly up there and grab it.

"Sure" he said, flying up to the top of the fountain and grabbing the scarf. "There! The Time Squad's first assignment is Complete!"

"So we can leave, now?" Cameran asked.

"Are you kidding?" Kaizer said. "I've heard that there are seven floors to this place. We're only on the third, I say we keep going!"

"I'm with you, Kaizer." I said.

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A few hours later, back at the Guild.
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"That was amazing!"I said when we got back to the Guild. "I've never seen anyone take out a slowpoke with two fingers and a stick before!"

"I didn't know it was even possible, before I did it." Kaizer said.

"Well, I'll be Damned..." Sean said as he watched us walk into the second floor. "You made it out alive."

"Yeah, well, my ribs still hurt." I said back. "But thanks for the save."

A Pikachu walked up to us. "Are you the Time Squad?" He asked.

"That would be us." I responded. "I believe this is yours?" I took out the rainbow scarf.

"Oh, Yes! Thank you!!" He said, taking the scarf and kissing me on the cheek. "You have no Idea how worried I was! I checked in every day with the Keckleon Brothers, but they never had one! How can I ever repay you?" He said. After a few seconds of thinking, he turned me around and tied the scarf around my neck. "There. Yeah, It looks much cuter on you!"

"Um... thanks...?" I said, a bit confused. "But isn't this scarf your prized possession?"

"Yeah. But the thing is, Scarves will get torn or fade, but friends are forever." He said. "You can give me a call if you need help out in the field." He walks out of the room He turns to leave before looking back and winking at me. "Or if you're just feeling lonely"

"Uh... sure thing..." I said.

"Are you blushing?" Kaizer asked with a chuckle.

"What, um-" at that point Chimecho rang the dinner bell, saving me from the most awkward conversation of my life.

"oh, boy! dinner!" Kaizer said. "We never got a chance to eat back at the Drenched Bluff!"

"Well then, let's go.' I said, hoping he wouldn't return to the subject of the affectionate Pikachu.

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Later that Night...
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Kaizer and I ended up having to share a bed again that night.

After a few minutes of silence, Kaizer spoke up.

"Hey, Azura?... Are you up?" He asked.

"Yeah. What is it?"

Today was pretty hectic, wasn't it? Loudred waking us up; my ears are still ringing, by the way, Our First assignment, The look on Pikachu's face when we returned his scarf..." He chuckled. "He sure seemed to like you, didn't he? But he must have been really grateful to have given you that scarf. Seeing him so happy was worth it." Kaizer let out a huge yawn. "Wow. those mystery dungeons take a lot out of you. Good night, Azura..." Kaizer quickly fell asleep and I soon followed.
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God, that took forever to type. Mainly because I was working on the cut version at the same time. Anyways, I hope you like it! Please review! Your feedback is welcomed!
- bioniclefan3/ Ashurathehedgehog199