Mirror Image

A New Journey

Once we had caught our breath, we headed, at a slower pace, to the Guild. As we headed up the pathway the entrance, which was inside some sort of strange, bright pink thing, I noticed there was a grate over a hole in the ground about halfway through the path.

As Belle stepped onto the grate, a voice rang out, calling, "New footprint! New footprint! The footprint is Vulpix's! The footprint is Vulpix's! Why are you here? Why are you here?"

"Erk!" Belle looked quite startled and began to get nervous. "I-i'm here to form a r-rescue team!"

"Go ahead! Go ahead!" The voice shouted. "Come forward other visitor! Come forward other visitor!"

I blinked in surprise but walked forward. As I did, Belle quickly jumped off the grate and stared at the thick, interwoven branches distrustfully.

"The footprint is... The footprint is... Er, the footprint is Skitty's! The footprint is Skitty's!" The voice sounded a little confused. "Go ahead! Go ahead!"

I walked off the grate and towards the oddly-shaped building. As Belle and I entered, I saw it was just a cover for a tunnel that led down into the lower areas of the cliff. We descended the slightly unsteady staircase, and we could vaguely see a warm glow emanating from whatever was at the bottom.

It turned out the thing at the bottom was a warm and cozy looking cave, with boards full of papers on either side, and there was another staircase leading even farther down. As we properly entered the room, a Chatot walked up to us and said, "Well, who are you then?"

"Um, we'd like to-" Belle started.

"We have no time for sales and such, so you can be on your way!" they interrupted.

"No, we want to form an exploration team!" Belle said.

"Oh, why didn't you say that?" Belle glanced over at me and rolled her eyes, "Come on then, you need to meet the Guildmaster if you want to make a team."

The bird-like Pokémon lead us down more stairs and to a room connected to the second cave, which was also quite nice. Inside was nicely furnished, the walls painted a nice yellow and the floor carpeted by soft straw. A pink, slightly ditzy-looking Pokémon was sitting, it's back to us.

"Mister Wigglytuff, we have new apprentices," announced Chatot. "Wigglytuff?"

"Yes! Hello, new friends! Welcome, welcome, welcome!" Wigglytuff sang, spinning around to face us. "Of course you may join, new friends!"

"I apologize, the Guildmaster is a bit, erm, eccentric," Chatot whispered as Wigglytuff continued to spin and sing.

"Oh, we don't mind," Belle replied, though she appeared to be holding in a fit of laughter.

"So, what are you calling yourselves, then?" Chatot asked.

"I don't know," Belle turned to me, "Do you have any ideas, Rachel?"

"How about Team Treasure?" I suggested.

"Alright! Team Treasure it is!" Belle grinned.

Wigglytuff twirled again and exclaimed, "Team Treasure! What a nice name, new friends!"

"I'll show you to your room," Chatot sighed. "Follow me."

I hesitated, looking back at Wigglytuff, who was still singing, but quickly hurried out of the room. Chatot showed us back into the cave, which had tunnels going out in various directions. We went through a tunnel furthest to the left. There were rooms that we could see from the hall, though only a few looked occupied. We were taken to one near the middle of the hall.

There was a bare stone floor, with two small, straw beds. The walls had vines clambering across them, and in the wall left of the doorway there was a window, covered in a grate very similar to the one on the front pathway.

"Please, make yourselves at home and then report to me," Chatot told us.

After he had left, Belle grinned and said, "Rachel, isn't this great? We can explore, and catch criminals,and maybe even find out what happened to you!"

"Yeah!" I agreed with a grin.

'Actually, what did happen to me?' I wondered. The rush of the past day had made the dilemma slip my mind for the time, but since Belle had brought it up, I began to ponder it. 'Maybe I'll find something connected to it when Belle and I explore. It's my best bet, at least for now. But I might as well enjoy myself! I mean, how often will I get to do this?' I grinned. 'Life might be confusing right now, but what's happened so far is still pretty cool!'

"Now, let's put our stuff down and go talk to Chatot," I said.