Dungeon Explorers: The Time Mystery (Editing)

Ch 7: The Scream

"AND THREE: SMILES GO FOR MILES!"

It was three days later, and Team Friendship was at the fourth morning briefing.

Unlike their first three morning briefings, Wiggly was wide awake, and the girls had finally managed to memorize the morning cheers.

"DISMISSED!" Charap shouted when the cheers were finished.

Wiggly returned to his room; Dug and his dad Diglen, the Dugtrio, burrowed into the ground, Exploud and Loudra stomped over to the hole with the vine, Loudra climbing down. Toxics walked over to his cauldron, Chime floated over to the dining hall, and Buddy, Sunny, and Corphish climbed up the ladder.

Pattie, Blazie, and Elyon started to follow the last three up the ladder as they had been doing so far when Charap called out to them.

"Hold on there for a moment, Team Friendship."

Pattie, Blazie, and Elyon stopped and looked back.

"I have something else for you three today. If you'll wait for me at the top..."

Pattie, Blazie, and Elyon exchanged glances, climbed up the ladder again, and followed Charap's request.

Charap got to the top and hopped to the board on the right side. "You'll be handling the jobs on this side instead of the left today."

Elyon looked confused. "But we've been doing jobs on the other side ever since we got here. What kind of jobs are on this board?"

"Take a closer look at it," responded Charap.

The girls looked closer at the board. On the posters were pictures of different Pokémon.

"Who are they, Charap?" asked Blazie. "Are they famous explorers or something?"

"They're outlaws. They're all shady characters, wanted for committing crimes."

"They're wanted by the law?!" the three exclaimed.

"Correct," said Charap. "So there are bounties on their heads. Therefore, there is a cash reward for capturing them. There's so many aggressive Pokémon nowadays that Sheriff Magnezone and the Magnemite police force are finding it hard to keep up with the problem."

"And we're supposed to go after all the crooks on the board today?" asked Elyon. "No way! That's not possible!"

Charap laughed. "Oh no, no, no, that's not the case at all. When apprentices first do the outlaw board's job, they only do one a day until they've done a fortnight's worth. Afterward, they can do more than that."

"The outlaws come in different shades: naughty, evil, and everything in between. Some are just petty thieves looking for a quick buck. Others are completely wicked, thinking only of themselves. You can wait to take on the worst ones when you're much stronger. Now, just look over these posters, then pick a Pokémon that looks weak enough to be brought to justice."

Blazie looked a little reluctant. "Are they... dangerous, even when weak?"

Charap looked puzzled. "Uh, that depends..."

"Oh..." Blazie whimpered quietly, wringing her wings together.

"You'll work through it," Charap shrugged, ignoring Blazie's hand-wringing. "It's what the training is for." Then he turned toward the Job Bulletin Board, where the other guild members were. "Hey, Buddy? Buddy?!" he called out.

"Yup yup!" Buddy walked away from the other board and came over to them. "You called?"

The day after their job with Spoink, Charap had Buddy, another apprentice, guide Team Friendship through the guild, explaining what went on around there, who usually did what, and who everyone was. Now it looked like Buddy was going to do something similar, only explaining about the outlaw board.