Sky's the limit

Chapter 17

"Wake up! Did you forget we have work to do today?! Get a move on!"

Gina flinched at the sound of Loudred's booming voice, groaning and stretching to her paws. Soren was just waking up beside her, and was rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"We got home so late last night, I nearly forgot we had guild work to do..." he muttered, stifling a yawn. "We'll just have to get used to being woken up like that again, huh?"

Gina shrugged. "I guess it's better than getting yelled at for sleeping in later on, right?"

Soren chuckled, sluggishly following her out through the hallway, past the guild members' rooms, and to the main floor of the guild where the other apprentices waited. Upon completing their morning cheers, Gina caught Chatot glancing in their direction. His gaze made her slightly nervous, and felt he was staring because of how exhausted Soren looked. We should at least act cheerful, she thought. Just so he doesn't think we don't want to work today.

"Looks like it's time to get back to work, Soren!" she said, breaking eye contact with Chatot and looking at her partner with a mix of lightheartedness and encouragement, hoping he would catch on to her act. It wasn't that hard to pretend to be cheerful; she did, in fact, feel excited to get back to work, in a way. "Let's do our best, like we always do!"

Soren's eyes quickly brightened, and he smiled. "Yeah, let's work hard at it!"

Chatot grinned, hopping over to them. "It's good to see such morning pep in you two!" he praised. "Let's hope you put that pep to good use today!"

Loudred's voice from over by the sentry post made all three of them jump. "What do you MEAN you can't identify them, Diglett?!"

"I just told you, Loudred!" Diglett's comparatively much quieter voice yelled back. "I can't identify what I don't know!"

Chatot hopped over to Loudred, Gina and Soren following behind. "What's happening, Loudred?" the Flying-type demanded.

"There's a visitor up top whose footprint can't be identified," he replied. "Diglett's an incredible sentry. It isn't often he gets stumped by these things." With slight bitterness in his tone, he cast a glance at Gina and Soren and added, "If it were THOSE two, it would be understandable."

Soren's eyes narrowed, and he clenched his fists at his sides. "Seriously? Are you forgetting the time we first came here? You couldn't identify Gina's footprint!"

"That's right!" Gina joined in. "If Diglett's such a great sentry, how come he couldn't recognize mine?"

Loudred glared at them. "First, Eevee are rarely ever sighted in these parts. And second, your footprint is TOO different from that of a regular Eevee's for us to identify!"

Diglett's voice from underground interrupted them. "...Wait, say that again? You want to speak with our Guildmaster?" There was a short pause before he said anything again, and his voice sounded rather ecstatic. "Your name is...Dusknoir?! Oh, of course! Please, wait just a moment!"

Loudred and Chatot gasped in unison. "Dusknoir?!" Chatot exclaimed.

"You mean the world-famous explorer, Dusknoir?!" Loudred yelled.

Gina and Soren exchanged a confused glance. Just who were they talking about?

~o~o~o~o~

It was not long before the Guildmaster exited his room and went to greet the visitor known as Dusknoir. He was much taller than any of the other Pokemon of the guild, and his singular red eye swept across the crowd of gathered apprentices curiously, taking in the shocked and enthusiastic looks on their faces.