Chapter 3

	The luscious green leaves of the Verde Forest filtered the morning sun from burning the early-birds while they sat in an even flat of swaying grass.  While the gentle wind blowing through their fur felt nice in the numb heat,it felt like they were waiting their lives away for their instructor to arrive.  Oran's wagging tail beat against the tall blades of grass as his head scurried from angle to angle, hoping to find someone.  No one came.

	He yawned while leaning back on his arms, “Hey, Pecha, do ya think we might be in the wrong spot?”  He asked.  He turned his eyes to his sister, to find Pecha blacked out in her own lap.  Her snores were monstrous for a girl her size, loud enough to even cause unrest in the surrounding forest.  “That's fine, you just sleep,” he told her. Catching a few Z's himself sounded good to him, but he couldn't will himself to do it.

	He collapsed on the dewy ground with both arms stretched out wide.  Watching the curtain of leaves over his head wave with the influence of the wind, he thought to himself, who will his instructor be?  “I hope he'll be someone cool,”  Oran said to himself, looking up in the sky.  “Maybe he'll be a highly decorated explorer, who'll take us to touch every corner of the world!  Or maybe he'll be extremely smart, and teach us every secret pathway in every cave!”

	His ears twitched, catching the nervous chants of someone close by, “I'm late!  I'm late! This can't be good!”  Oran picked himself off the ground in curiosity, and caught someone running towards him and Pecha: he was a large mantis Pokémon, colored a bright lime green.  The bug scurried nervously into view, just enough for him to see the neatly folded bandanna with white stripes running diagonally was tied around his neck. He waved his left scythe while running,  “H-hey, guys, sorry I'm late!” 

	The Scyther fell to his knees when he got to Oran, huffing for his life,  “Hah, hah, again, sorry I'm late,” he wheezed.  Scyther always spoke as if he permanently swallowed his tongue; for some reason, he just could never pronounce his “s” sounds properly.  “I would have completely forgotten about this if Florges didn't say anything.”

	“Are you gonna be our instructor, Scyther?”  Oran asked him.
	
	“Yeah,” he said.  “Is there something wrong with that?”

	“No, no,” Oran waved his paws in front of him, “I just never took you as an instructor.”

	Scyther chuckled.  “Yeah, I get that a lot,”  He said smiling.  “It's probably just the way I talk; I don' let it bother me, though.”  He looked to his right to find Pecha, sleeping like a rock while purring like a Glameow.  “Is she all right?”  He asked Oran.

	“Who, Pecha?  Yeah, she'll be fine,” Oran said to him.  

	Scyther got up from his knees and tiptoed towards the sleeping rabbit, “Okay, Pecha, I'm here, now,” Scyther said to her in a loud whisper.  “Nappy time's over; it's time to start your lesson, now.  Pecha?”  Either his whispers weren't  loud enough to reach her, or she learned Soundproof, somehow.  “Why isn't she waking up?”

	“Don't worry, that's normal.  Watch this,” Oran stood up, and poked his sleeping sister in her forehead, and watched her immediately collapse to the ground.  “Not even Loudred could wake her up.  I bet you I can throw her against a tree, and she'd still be sleeping.”

	“No, no, don't do that,”  Scyther objected to that thought.  “I just want her to wake up without harm!  Is there any way we can wake her up?”  He asked.

	Oran picked his sleepy sister up by her shoulders.  There was only one way for him to wake her up: with a swift backhand across her right cheek!  “Ow!”  Her face flooded with pain and some tears, enough to shock her out of her sleep.  She pushed Oran off of her, and onto the ground, “What was that for?!”

	“Scyther's here,” Oran told her.  “We're starting our lessons, now.”

	Pecha rubbed her sore cheek, “Well, you didn't have to slap me!  Those things on your paws aren't exactly the softest things ever.”

	“I told you to wake her up without causing harm,”  Scyther screamed at the little Riolu.
	
	“Nuh-uh,”  he argued back, arms crossed, “all you said was 'don't throw her against a tree'.”

	“You weren't listening, were you?”

	“You were going to throw me against a tree?!”  Pecha blared into Oran's ears.  

	Oran folded his ears flat on his head, and kept them there with his paws, “It was a joke,”  he replied loudly.

	Scyther separated the two with his scythes, trying to keep the situation from getting any uglier, “Guys!  Guys!  Can we just calm down for a minute, and do our lessons?”  He asked the rowdy duo.  “Let's all just sit down for a while, okay?”  He plopped onto the grass below him with a cautious pace, hoping he could convince the children to do the same.

	Pecha and Oran took a quick look at each other, they had no idea what was going on for different reasons.  Without talking to each other, they both decided to join the Scyther in sitting in a close triangle.  “Okay, good, very good,”  he clanked his scythes against each other happily.  “I hope we all got that out of our systems.  Before we get on to our lesson, today, how about you guys tell me a little about yourselves?”

	His offering threw the Buneary back a little, “What?  Why?”  She asked.

	“Well, because we're gonna be working together for a while,”  Scyther answered.  “Don't you think it would be nice to know each other a little?”

	Pecha turned her head away from him, “No thanks, I'll pass,” she said in a huff.

	“Sounds like someone's a little cranky, this morning,”  He said.  “If you don't wanna go, then I'll go: my name is Scyther.  I'm level twenty-six, and my favorite move to use is Fury Cutter.”  He took a while to think to himself, “Gosh, how long have I been exploring?  It's been so long, I can hardly remember.  But the places I've been at, I'll tell you your dreams will never compare.”

	Oran gasped, wagging his tail ferociously, “Were they really that nice?”  He asked.

	“Oh, you better believe it,”  he assured the Riolu.  “I can even remember some of them as if I just went there yesterday: the bright, shining violet stalactites of the Lavanda Cave; the rainbow-colored leaves of the Vida Forest,” he looked away for a brief moment, wiping a single tear strand from his left eye with the back of his scythe, “I can't even describe it without crying!  I look like a weenie to you, don't I?”

	“No, not at all,” Oran told him, with a large smile on his face.  He threw his arms out wide, “That's one of the reasons I want to be an explorer!  I always want to go to new places, experience new things!”  He looked at his open palms right in front of him, “And maybe, along the way, I can learn how to control my aura powers.  All I know is it's an important thing to all us Riolu.  It's our power.  I'm just level five, but if I learn my aura, I can do anything!”

	Scyther rubbed the back of his left scythe against his chin, “Hmm, aura, that's a bit tricky,” he told him in an unsure tone.  “I don't think I can teach that.  Now that I think about it, I don't think anyone at the guild can teach that.”

	“Agh, really?” He crossed his arms, and groaned to the ground.  He never thought he could feel so disappointed in his life.  “Well, that kinda stinks.  I was really hopin' the guild can help me with it.”

	“Sorry if I disappointed you,” Scyther apologized.  “But we just never had the need to teach that.  But I'm sure you'll meet someone out there who could help!”  

	“Sounds like your power's just a waste of time, Oran,” Pecha butted in.

	Oran turned to his sister, “Why do ya think that?”  He asked.  “Lessee you do any better than that!”

	Hearing those magical words stretched a slight grin across her face,  “Well, if you insist,” she sung.  She looked at the Scyther, and cleared her throat a little of its morning dryness, “Ahe-hem.  Well, like Oran, I want to be an explorer, too.  But unlike him, I'm smart enough not to rush into situations that are over my head-”

	“Everything is over your head,” Oran interrupted, trying to hold back an intense wave of laughter behind his paws.

	Pecha aimed her irritated stare at her kid brother, with an uncontrollable twitch in her right brow, “You find that funny, don't you?”

	Oran tried calming himself down before speaking, “It's funny 'cause it's true!”  The moment he opened his mouth again, he couldn't hold it back anymore. He fell to his back, kicking his feet in the air as he tried finding the air to breath after each howl of gut-splitting pain.

	Pecha let out a frustrating grunt, “Scyther, Oran keeps interrupting me,” she cried out loud to her instructor.

	The mantis gave the jackal pup a concerned glare, “Seriously, Oran, let her talk, okay?”

	Oran picked himself up, and sat himself back down, holding his waist as his giggles burned away, “Okay...okay, I'm done, I think,” he huffed, wiping the tears out of his crimson eyes.

	Pecha tried her best to ignore her brother as she began speaking again, “As I was saying, since I'm too weak to fight, I want to work my way up.  But I want to explore for a different reason: treasure,” she yelled, throwing her arms with enough enthusiasm to rival even Oran's.  “I hear rumors all the time about Mystery Dungeons protecting a lot of treasure.”   She fonded over the thought while wrapped up in her own arms, “With all those riches in one place, what more can a girl want~?”

	“Hmm,” Scyther hummed, deciding whether he liked that reason or not.  Any reason was a good reason to explore to him; but some took a little more persuasion for him to form a solid opinion.  “I don't know about that, Pecha. Sometimes there's a reason some of it's left untouched.”

	“It's treasure,” Pecha replied in a brash temper, “It's there to be taken! I'm not just gonna stand there and not take it; it needs a home.”

	Scyther felt he wasn't reaching her the way he hoped.  In order to get through such a thick skull of youthful ignorance he had to be crafty with his taste in words. Something clicked in his head, “I'm not saying treasure hunting's bad, it can be a very rewarding experience.  I just think there's a time to do it, and a time to...not...do it.”  Whether the translation from mind to tongue was lost in a sudden second thought or his thick, dorky stutter, he knew it wasn't what he wanted to say.  “Moving on, since we all know a little about each other, let's move on.”  He picked himself up from the soft ground, and started walking a bit before turning his head to the children.  “C'mon, you guys,” he shouted at them, “I can't teach my lessons if you don't come with me!”

	“But where are we going?”  Oran asked.

	“Everywhere,” Scyther shouted back in a happy light.  “We have the entire Verde Forest in our convenience, and I'd really hate to waste it!”

	Wherever the dirt paths of the forest twisted and turned, Scyther went for miles, leading Pecha and Oran while admiring the quiet morning.  It always made him happy to see the early sun's rays leak through the thick veil of leaves, feeling his short wings catch their warmth.  But one of his students didn't share that appreciation with him-

	“Why are we just walking around aimlessly?”  Pecha moaned from the back of the line, dragging her tired feet across the ground.  “I liked it better when we were sitting.”

	“Sometimes when you travel through a forest, you have to walk for hours just to make progress,” Scyther sputtered with numb sounding words.  “And besides, I like walking around, works up my ol' brain juices, y'know?  We'll be doing this every day before our lessons, to get accustomed.”

	She groaned to herself while brushing her wool diaper, “Ugh, my fur's getting all dirty.  I can already feel all this gunk weighing me down.”

	“Probably a good idea to sheer yourself, then,” Scyther replied.  “You're gonna get dirty often when your out traveling.”

	“What's gonna be our lesson, Scyther?”  Oran asked.

	“Well, since it's our first lesson, I thought it'd make sense to talk about teams,”  Scyther said.  “Ah, here we go.”  The path led them to a clear patch after a good thirty minute walk, with nothing but a short stump in the middle of the ring of trees.  Scyther parked down on the stump, and the children sat on their knees.  

	“Much better,” Pecha sighed with sweet relief, letting the soreness in her feet slowly fade away.

	“Okay, so this is basic stuff,” Scyther started to explain.  “Your typical exploration team has around two to four members.  Each member has their own role in the team, for example: the leader, who obviously leads; the strategist, who comes up with strategies for the team to safely subdue any possible threat; the quartermaster, who packs and manages supplies for the team; the list goes on and on.  For the purposes of my lessons, I'll function as the leader of our group.”

	“So if we're a team, does that mean we'll go on missions and stuff?”  Oran asked.

	“That's the plan, kiddo,” Scyther stuttered back.  “When that time comes, I'll start us off with some  easy stuff-”

	“Are you kidding?”  Oran barked.  “Where's the challenge in that?”

	“That's not the point, Ora-”
	
	Oran passionately interrupted the instructor, “How are we going to grow as explorers, if we don't do the difficult stuff?  I wanna feel the struggle in my bones!”

	“Here in a second, Oran, you're going to feel the struggle everywhere,”  Pecha barked back to her brother, ready to enforce her warning on him.  “Quit being a pain.”

	Oran jumped from his sitting position to confront his big sis, pointing a finger very close to her nose, “How 'bout you quit being so bossy?!” 

	Even with a single finger almost touching her nose, she just crossed her arms and looked at it as if she expected it, “You really like testing others' personal spaces, don't you?” She asked in a bland tone. 

	“Guys, guys, we're getting really off topic here,” Scyther intervened, having to yet again protect the two from each other with his gentle scythes.  He felt his top inch closer and closer to blowing off if he had to keep doing that; these children did a thorough job of testing his mellow nature, and it hasn't been a full day, yet!  “Are you two done, yet?”  Scyther asked them in a frustrated squeak that was meant to be an angry growl. One look into his piercing glare, and Pecha and Oran couldn't stop shivering under their pelts.  “I won't be ignored while the both of you egg each other on!”

	“But, Scyther, I wasn't doing anything wrong,” Pecha pleaded.  “Oran's the one interrupting your lesson,”  She said pointing at her brother.

	Scyther aimed his glare at the pup, “Oran, I am not going to put up with behavior like this, do you hear?”  He asked in a harsh tone.

	“Y-yes, sir,” Oran said, fearing for himself.

	The mantis dropped his behind back onto the stump.  He took a deep, relaxing breath or two, before his blood had the chance to completely evaporate.  He looked back at the children, lacking all harshness he had a moment ago, “If we are going to be a team, we need to be in unity,” Scyther replied In a much more calmer demeanor.  “I'll be frank: it may all sound like fun n' games, now, but out there, it's survival of the fittest; we need to cooperate with each other, or we're not gonna last five minutes out there.  I was at least hoping to be the nice teacher about it- but if we're not going to be serious- then I guess I'll just have to be the not-so-nice teacher.”

	The siblings looked at each other, sharing the same guilty expression, nodding before answering to him in a synchronized “We'll listen, Scyther.”

	“Thank you,” the mantis replied.  It took him a couple seconds to figure out where he last left off, “Teams aren't limited to only exploration, you also have: archaeology teams, who focus on unraveling mysteries kept locked beneath the earth; bounty hunting teams, who specialize in tracking and subduing outlaws; and rescue teams, who relieve lost or injured Pokémon from dungeons and forests.  There are many paths to choose...”

	Within the center of the Verde Forest was the homely Verde Town, a small community of thirty, just half a mile north of the Florges Guild.  Being one of the most southern-bound settlements in Unido separated from the rest by several hundred acres of overgrowth, life was often quiet for the little town- when it didn't concern the guild.

	The early afternoon heat wave failed to faze the denizens from opening up their shops: from the Kangaskhan storage facility and Klefki Bank, to Arcanine's transit services and Roselia's herb shop, everyone knew everyone, like they all were in the same family.  Even visitors and strangers felt at home when stepping into town.

	Like an orange blur thundering through the town an Arcanine rushed to the entrance of Florges Guild, with two passengers riding atop his back.  “Thank you for choosing Arcanine Express,” the bear of a dog thanked his customers, while kneeling low to the ground.  

	The Delphox crawled off his strong back cautiously, to make sure she regained the feeling in her legs from the long ride.  She raked at her matted burnt-red fur with her short claws to smoothen it out.  Before she had the chance to thank the giant bear-dog, he was gone in a flash and a cloud of dust.

	Delphox looked down and shook her arms a little to wake up the sleeping Pokémon she held, “Cheri, baby, we're here,” she whispered to her.  

	“Nhnn.”  The small Fennekin pup stretched her body inside her mother's hold, and let out a small squeak of a yawn.  She opened her sapphire eyes, and through her foggy vision saw the stone face of the guild's owner, lightly coated in moss. “Where are we?”  She asked her mother in a slow moan.

	“This is the Florges Guild,” Delphox said.  “This is where we'll call our home.”

	Though she usually never thinks much of anything while sleepy, the Fennekin knew exactly how she felt looking at the coarse stonework of the structure- it made her want to fall asleep again.  “I liked our old place better,” she replied as she burrowed her pointed snout into the soft fur of her mother's arm.

	“In due time you'll learn to appreciate it here,” the mother told her sleepy pup.  Delphox viewed the stonework in a different light than her daughter that made her smile on the inside: she had a certain appreciation for anything built by a Pokémon's hand as art.  “The Guildmistress requested me by letter, saying she was in need of a move tutor.”   Her mother was no ordinary move tutor: her methods involved magic, a medium other tutors dared not touch.  Using such a volatile force to tinker with the inner machinations of other Pokémon, who could blame them for not wanting to get near that stuff?  They called her insane- she called them inept.  With her drowsy daughter in her arms, Delphox stepped forward through the giant stone Florges' mouth of an entrance.

	After a day under the roasting heat, Scyther, Pecha, and Oran welcomed the shady coolness the assembly hall offered. They've spent three hours in the wilderness; overloaded from Scyther's wisdom, Pecha and Oran's ears, hiding underneath their paws, couldn't take another lecture.

	“So many...so many words,” Pecha whimpered messaging her crammed cranium, feeling it might burst at any moment if she didn't soak in what she learned today.

	“MY HEAD FEELS LIKE IT'S LEARNING,” Oran cried falling to his knees.  “MAKE IT STOP!”

	“It wasn't that bad, you guys,” Scyther sputtered to them encouragingly.  “I know it was a lot to cover, but you'll get used to it.”  The team stopped in their tracks.  Two Pokémon they've never seen before stood out in the shallow crowd: a Delphox, with her Fennekin child.  “Are they looking for help?”  Scyther asked himself, as he compelled himself to meet the stranger upfront, with his young students following behind.

	The mantis confronted the family openly, “Can I help you with something?”  He asked the Delphox.

	Delphox shot him an uncaring glare that pierced through him as if he was invisible, “We will not be need your assistance,” she told him in a low tongue.  “Our needs have already been met.”

	“Uhm...okay.” 

	Seeing another Pokémon his age, Oran couldn't controlled himself, and ran to the Fennekin.  “Hi, my name's Oran,” he introduced himself with glee.  “What's yours?”

	The fox took several steps back, and sheltered herself behind the thick robe tail of her mother, with only her head popping out.  She had an uncomfortable look in her eyes, as if Oran threw her into a corner just by asking her for her name.  “Don't be shy,”  Delphox told her as she watched.  “Tell him your name.”

	It took her a few seconds to gather the courage to speak, “Cheri.  My name's Cheri,” she told him.

	“Cheri, huh? That's a cool name,”  he told her smiling.

	“Y-yeah.”  She hid herself deeper behind her mother's legs.  Socializing was never one of the young Fennekin's strong points- she never found a way of getting around the nerve-wracking feeling of being being spoken to.

	“She is not in the mood for conversation, it seems,” Delphox told the group.  She bowed to the Scyther, “And my name is Delphox.  I am terribly sorry if my earlier attitude seemed strange to you.”

	“It's no big deal,” Scyther waved his scythe.  “I've met with stranger clients, before.”

	“Client?”

	From one of the hallways leading from her office, Guildmistress Florges strutted to the Delphox, with a smirk of joy that a realtor would have after selling their first house.  “Miss Delphox, Cheri, may I interest you in a tour of our- oh-!”  the early arrival of Scyther and his two students came as a shock to the Florges.  “Scyther, you're back already,” she exclaimed.  “Was it a short lesson, today?”

	“Nah, it was pretty normal,” he replied.  “Are you working with these two?”

	“Why, yes, I am,” she sung.  “Everyone, as of today, Miss Delphox will be our new move tutor~!” the excited Florges proclaimed to the Scyther and his students. “Isn't that wonderful?  Now we won't have to travel for miles just to relearn our techniques.”
	
	“How long have we been looking for a move tutor?”  The mantis asked with his interests somewhat piqued.  For as long he was with the guild, he forgot how long that certain position was left empty.

	“Far too long,” Florges happily responded.  She turned to the Delphox, and asked her, “May I interest you in a tour around the guild?”

	“Yes, that would be lovely.  Thank you.”  Delphox tailed behind the Florges to discover what her new home had to offer.

	“Well, today sure turned out to be exciting,” Scyther told himself as he walked away from Pecha and Oran.  He rubbed his long blades against each other, making mental notes of their bluntness, “I think I need to order a new sharpening stone,” he murmured to himself, “my scythes have been feeling really dull for a while.”

	“All right, Oran, let's just get this day out of the way,” Pecha said to her brother as she walked away.  Her teacher's lesson put a heavy strain in her head, limiting what she felt like putting up with for the day.  “The quicker we get to Azumarill, the better.”  Something came off as odd to her: she turned her head, and saw her little brother staring intently at the new Fennekin.  “Oran, what are you doing?” She asked.  But Oran still stood motionless.

	A wild beat drummed in his chest, and his blue coat almost took on a faint purple hue.  He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something he liked about her: maybe it was her mustard yellow fur?  The fluffy, scarlet tufts in her ears that looked like clouds?  Or was it simply those deep baby blues that needed little eye contact to capture him?  A violent shake by his shoulders broke him from his hypnotic funk, falling to the ground as he pushed himself away from his aggressor, Pecha.  “What was that for?”  He asked.

	“Don't ignore me like that,” she told him, “You know how much I hate that!”

	“Sorry, Pecha,” he said, “I was just thinking to myself.”

	Pecha had herself a good giggle, “What?” she asked, wanting to know if she hadn't misheard.  “You, thinking? Good one, Oran.”

	“It's true,” he yelled back.

	“Right,” she mocked him.  “It's a good thing I stopped you then: any longer, and you would've overwhelmed yourself.   And what exactly were you thinking about?”

	He paused for a moment, mouth gaping as if he forgot what to say.  Regardless of what he'll say, his big sister would make fun of him, anyways.  “I was...I was thinking about food,” he told her.

	“Pfft, whatever,” Pecha scoffed. “Get up; let's just get our chores out of the way.”

	“Okay,” he grunted back, picking himself off his knees.  
