Adventure Thread - Group B

Yue smiled and leaned against Mr. Ales. "Thank you Mr...No, Alex-nii-chan..." Yue said gratefully, using a term one of her maids from a far off country had taught her.

Yue face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Yes! Let's go, Alex-nii-chan" She said excitedly. "Eevee~! Eevee~! Eevee~!" She began to sing again.

Alex caught a glimpse out of one of the guild windows. "Oh, it's actually pretty late. We'd better not go out. We're both new to town. It would be really embarrassing to go and get lost on our first day here. Okay, new plan. If I'm gonna be like a big brother, how about we have our little friends do a quick sparing match? Has Bubbles ever been in an actual battle with you yet? If not, don't worry. Squirt is a giant wuss anyways. I tell him to pull his punches. I have to make sure you can actual handle yourself. If not, I'll teach you!" Alex thought that this would be better. They would stay in guild grounds, and then after the battle, hopefully Brooke or Leon would be back so he could head to Grass Branch.

Yue puts the newly bandaged Bubbles into her ball to rest while she and Alex-nii-chan went to find Ms. Brooke and Mr. Leon. "Alrighty, should we check in with Ms. Brooke or Mr. Leon first?"

Yue nods. "Mr. Leon it is!" Yue runs back into the Guild Building from the area that she and Alex-nii-chan had been having their battle, forgetting that she had no idea where the Dark Branch was located.

The Dark Branch mission board has a notice pinned at the top, informing the reader about the "daily quota" of Trainer Battles one is expected to win. Currently, the quota stands at a total of three wins per person per day. It seems like it's based on an "honor" system, where you are assumed to be truthful about earning your quota. It isn't stated, but seems implied that there is some stigma if you choose to abuse this "honor system". Aside from the important notice, there are a handful of generic missions. All are ranked from A-F, with F being the easiest and A being the most challenging. These missions are also color coded. Well, some are at least. A few have a small dark spot on them indicating that they are Dark Branch-specific missions. These are all ranked C and above, while non-Dark missions can be ranked D or F. Seems like Lady D'Mara holds her Branch Members to a slightly higher standard than the rest of the Guild.

The F-rank jobs are usually simple tasks, like fetching supplies for the Guild, or helping someone find their pet Meowth who constantly wanders off. The D-rank jobs are slightly more challenging, but still fairly straightforward. Most of them seem to be things like 'Go make a new Pokemon friend just outside of town.' or 'Help Branch Officers with simple field studies.' Oddly enough, as you go up in difficulty ranking, the jobs become more and more obscure. A particular B-rank job only states 'Investigate rumors of a hostile Pokemon prowling the Route between Saffron City and Cerulean Cape Town.'

Current generic missions:
F: 1.) Fetch supplies! 2.) Find the wandering Meowth!
D: 1.) Go make Pokemon friend! 2.) Help Branch officers with field studies!
B: 1.) Rumors of bad pokemon! Route between Saffron City and Cerulean Cape Town.

Dark Branch specific missions:
A+: 1.) Investigate dangerous locations for signs of Dark-Type Pokemon. Locations include, but are not limited to: Lavender Swamp, Rock Tunnel, and "Cerulean Cave".

Alex looked at the two missions and noticed the difficulty level of both. He visibly cringed at the sight of the "A+" difficulty. He then took notice of the battle quota one Leon had ended on. He said, "Oh wow. You have your work cut out for you huh? That battle quota is gonna be tough. If you need patched up between battles let me know. I'll try to get them going as fast as I can. We're mainly here to see how you were doing though. You know, first day and all. Lots of nerves settling into a new life. I was going to talk to your Branch Leader also, but I don't see her around at the moment. That's alright, it is getting late. As for joining Dark, I'm not sure. I don't wanna tie myself down battling all the time. I'm a healer at heart. I don't think I'd have the time to keep up with that." As he finished he pointed to the quota. Alex shrugged and nodded towards Yue. "Besides, we found out a little bit more about her just a bit ago. I'll fill you in on it in the morning. I'm sure you wanna get to bed. If you need Yue, she'll be in Normal Branch. I may spend the night there in the dorms also. I...kinda beat up Bubbles a little bit. She's tough for her size though."  He says approvingly towards Yue. "Still going to have to watch Bubbles through the night to make sure she heals up."

Alex turns to leave and remembers, "Hey, meet us in the mess hall near Normal Branch in the morning? Good a place as any to meet up. We can decide on what to do there. I need to touch base with Brooke. I haven't seen her in awhile. I'm gonna swing by Flying Branch before getting back to Normal. If I miss her and you happen to see her first, fill her in for me?"

Yue looked the board up and down. "Hmmm...I wonder..." Yue sprints back to the Normal area and looks around for a Mission Board.

As you sleep, you dream. At least, you think it's a dream. You are asleep, right? In this "dream", you stand alone among the ruins of a large city. Fires rage everywhere, and corpses litter the ground, blood running in little rivers all around you. "What could have caused this?" You ask yourself. Your feet begin to move of their own volition, walking you through the grisly scene. You begin to recognize faces here and there, though you can't recall where you've seen them. Suddenly, you stop, looking down at one particular corpse. This one is clad in heavy armor, a helm covering their face. You reach down, slowly lifting the visor and then removing the helm altogether...

While you do not recognize this person on sight, you can definitely tell that they were important. Her armor seems nicer than most soldiers. You see another body next to the Female Knight's, as if she were defending somebody with her dying breath. This one's face is also somehow familiar, though again you know not where you've seen it.

You then feel an urge to continue on, exploring more of the ruined city. As you pass some of the still-burning buildings, waving away the occasional wisp of smoke from your face, you see a large castle silhouetted against the night sky. It, too, lies in ruin. Huge chunks of the castle walls are missing, but there is very little rubble to be seen. It's almost as if the rubble were simply disintegrated. Proceeding into the castle ruins, you make your way past the bodies of several dozen more armored figures. Some have helms, others do not. All they share is the fact they are dead, and the insignia on their armor. Examining this insignia closer, you recognize it as a symbol of the Crown. These people may not have been "Knights of Kanto", but they most assuredly were guardians to the Queen. All lie dead, with not a scratch among them. Almost as if the very life were drained from them. You come across one Royal Guard whose eyes remain open. Instead of seeing a murky version of their normal eye color, such as brown or blue, you instead see a pool of blackness. They say the eyes are the window to the soul. If that is true, what does this mean? Do these people have no soul? This thought causes all heat to drain from your body. You feel chilled to your very core. You look away from the soulless eyes of the fallen soldier and proceed into the Throne Room proper. If you thought the outside of the castle was a scene of horror, what does that make this? The bodies of humans and their various Pokemon are scattered about where they fell, defending their Queen and Country to the last. You see several bodies piled around the damaged throne. One is garbed in an extravagant dress the likes of which are never seen outside of the Capitol. This must be Her Ladyship, Queen Amelia. She's quite beautiful, even in death.

A voice echoes in your mind as you stare at her pale, bloodless face. "This is the future as events now stand. Only you have the strength to prevent this."

The dream ends suddenly, and you awaken with a shout of "No!"


You have gained your first Milestone for being accepted into the Adventurer's Guild, and 'surviving' your entry trials.