Sunlight shone down through the window of a small bedroom. Its powerful rays beat down on Saphire, who lay sleeping in her straw bed. Even as thin as it was, the bed was still comfortable for how large she was now. There was a knock on her door, but the Eevee did not stir. The door was opened next, with another set of knocks. Standing in the four-foot tall doorway was Johnny, who looked at her and smiled. "Come on sleepy head, it's time to get up." The Pikachu told her as he walked up to her bed and sat in her bed next to her. Saphire's back had been to Johnny so she wouldn't have been able to see him approach. Though when he spoke, her ears shifted back to listen to him talk. Johnny chuckled and set his right paw on her flank while he supported himself from falling by keeping his left arm stiff to the ground beside him. For a few minutes, Johnny only occupied himself with petting her side. He enjoyed letting her sleep for a little while longer as he dragged his hand along her brown fur. To go along with his petting, Saphire had begun to purr softly in her half-asleep state. His repeated rubbing had helped her rest peacefully for a few minutes more. Eventually, she decided that it was time to get up and get moving. The Eevee picked up her head slightly and rolled it over to look past her shoulder and into Johnny’s eyes. Both stared at each other in silence, Johnny smiling at Saphire; Saphire then smiling back at him before yawning. "Good morning, Johnny," Saphire said as she closed her eyes and stretched her front legs forward; reaching as far as she could to loosen her muscles up. Johnny chuckled once more as he watched her then stretch out her hind legs in much the same way. "Good-morning, hun.” He greeted back to her with a warm smile before asking her a question. “Are you ready for some breakfast?” As if to answer for her, Saphire’s stomach growled lowly, and she blushed a little bit. With a roll onto her belly, Saphire got to her paws and stood up in her bed before looking at him. “Yeah.” Saphire stammered. “I guess I am.” "Good," Johnny responded while petting her head softly as he stood up with her. "Go get washed up. Chanler is almost done making it." With that said Saphire nodded and Johnny left her room and headed left when he left her room. The Eevee had watched him take off and followed him out but turned right instead. Immediately to her left was a small room, smaller than her own, and it had a stream that was roughly the length of her body including her tail running under the walls and out of the house. “The washroom.” She thought to herself. “I wonder how they thought of doing it this way.” It didn’t really matter too much to her anyways, and quickly brushed off the thought. Saphire walked closer to the shallow stream and crouched in front of it with her face as close to it as possible without it touching the water. She then dipped her head in, fully submerging herself in the stream before pulling it back out and shaking her head off of water. Shivering, Saphire backed up a few paces as she drew her paw up to her mouth and licked her paw pads a few times over. “Brr.” She mumbled while drawing her paw behind her ears. “The water’s cold today.” Saphire wondered if it might be getting close to winter, and thought it might be a good guess as she was a bit chilly with her window open last night. Once she thoroughly shook all of the loose drops of water out of her fur, Saphire made her way out of the washroom and into the hallway once more. She followed along the path Johnny took to go towards the kitchen, and before long she found herself in the living room. It wasn’t anything too fancy: a small couch big enough to fit at least her and the two other occupants of the house, and then a small table in front of it. To the right was a wall divider behind the couch that separated the living room from the kitchen, and then on the far side of both was the dining room with a circular table and four chairs sitting around it. Saphire followed the wall until it opened into a threshold and walked through it to enter the kitchen. Standing with her back to Saphire, a female Pikachu was putting some steaming chopped up berries into a ceramic bowl. Saphire could tell it wasn’t Johnny because of the black heart at the end of the Pikachu’s tail. “Good morning miss Chanler.” She greeted her as she walked up next to the Pikachu and hopped her front paws onto the short counter so that she was standing next to Chanler. Chanler smiled and looked to her side to see Saphire. "Morning, Saphire." She stopped what she was doing for a moment and wrapped her left arm around her neck to bring Saphire's head in close before kissing her head. After that, she let go and finished placing their meal into bowls. "How did you sleep?" Saphire smiled back at her and giggled when she was kissed. “I slept alright. It was kinda chilly though.” She told Chanler, flicking her left ear a few times when she heard the front door open. "Oh, I would suppose so. I should've told you to close your window last night." Chanler admitted as she grabbed the three bowls and began to carry them over to the table. "It's getting colder by the day now as winter approaches." She set the bowls on the table and looked to her left to see Johnny walk up to the table. "Johnny, go and wash your hands." He looked to her with a confused expression momentarily before he connected the dots in his head. “Oh come on, I was barely outside for a minute!” Johnny confessed to her with his arms out to his sides at an angle. Chanler wasn’t having it and crossed her arms while continuing to glare at him. “Johnny, I know what you were doing out there. Now go and wash your hands!” The demand of the female Pikachu was clear and almost looked as if she was about ready to smack him upside the head. "Chanler you always do this! I'm not going to the bathroom every time I leave the house!" Johnny insisted with her, but still, she didn't believe him. "I'll even prove it-" That was the last straw with Chanler and with a quick movement of her hand she grabbed hold of his left ear and started to pull him in the direction of the washroom. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Quit pulling my ear!" Saphire watched the entire thing transpire between the two, and only started to giggle once they were gone. She had to admit that it was funny sometimes to watch the two of them squabble as they did. “I guess that just comes with being brother and sister.” The Eevee thought before walking over to the table and sitting in the chair that was closest to the wall. It was only a few minutes later that both Pikachus came back from the washroom and into the dining room. Johnny was still rubbing his ear as he got to his seat once more and sat down in it. “You know you didn’t have to pull on my ear like you did.” He would cross his arms and stare across the table at his sister. “Oh quit being a baby about it, Johnny. You know I don’t like it when you refuse to wash your paws.” Chanler explained, as she too sat down in her seat and prepared to eat. Johnny shook his head and sighed before looking at Saphire. “Never mind that. It’s not every day that you turn ten.” He chuckled and placed his hand on top of Saphire’s paw and shook it slightly. “Are you ready to start up as a trainee at the guild?” Saphire, who had been quiet up until now, smiled while her ears fluttered a little bit. “I am! I’m very excited to start at the guild today!” Chanler giggled; covering her mouth and nose with her left paw. "That's good, Saphire. Have you been studying those papers I handed you last week? They're your key to being admitted to the guild." The Eevee nodded happily and smiled at her. “Yep! I remember all of it!” This time it was Johnny’s turn to chuckle at the young girl’s enthusiasm. “If you keep remembering all of this information we may just have to start referring to you as an Espeon before you even evolve.” Chanler joined in with a giggle of her own and reached over to pet Saphire’s head. “At any rate, we won’t be getting there any time soon on an empty stomach. So let’s eat!” "I couldn't agree more, brother," Chanler stated as she looked between the two. Without waiting for anything else, Saphire began to eat her breakfast alongside Johnny and Chanler.
* * * * *
"This place is huge!" Saphire exclaimed as they stood outside of the entrance to the large guild. The entire building was constructed of bare tree trunks and boards cut from trees. "This must be like a hundred years old!" Johnny let out a laugh as he stepped up next to her on the stairs leading to the guild's door. "It's actually not that old," Johnny told her as he scratched the back of her head lightly. "In fact, I was here when the guild was built." “What?” Saphire asked her eyes wide in wonder. “You look so young though! Are you a hundred years old then?” This time Chanler laughed what Saphire said and patted Johnny’s back while his ear twitched in annoyance. “Oh honey, he’s not that old either. Johnny here is only thirty-four years old.” Even more, Johnny’s ear continued to twitch with how old Chanler was making him feel. Like you should talk, old lady. You’re already halfway to your forties!” Johnny countered, smirking for a moment; something he’d soon regret. With a quick balled up fist, Chanler drew her right arm back and clocked Johnny in the back of the head. Her arm had glowed red briefly as she hit him, and forced his head to the ground with enough force that his head shattered the wooden step in front of him. Saphire’s eyes were wide when she saw Johnny in front of her eyes one moment, and the next he had his head in the ground. She didn’t know what to say or even think about that, but she knew one thing for sure. “I am never making fun of Chanler’s age.” Johnny let out a groan as he pulled his face from the ground where an impression of his face was in the dirt with bits and pieces of the wood he just broke sitting in there as well. He rubbed his nose gingerly and stared at his sister. "You know better than to make fun of a girl's age, Johnathan," Chanler told him. It was clear that she was very annoyed, and Johnny knew that by his expression. They stood in front of one another, neither Pikachu was saying a word to each other. Though from Saphire’s previous encounters in this scenario she could tell that they didn’t need to speak words to communicate. The two of them had a bond that surpassed most where they could express what they needed with only looking at each other. It was Chanler who finally broke the long silence. "Fine, I guess you're right. Now's not the time to be fighting like this." Chanler sighed softly and looked at Johnny with softer eyes. "Sorry for striking you. I may be older than you by a year, but I still don't like being called old." Johnny chuckled and rubbed his sister's shoulder slowly. "I know, and I'm sorry for teasing you like that." He looked down at Saphire, who was still quite amazed at how Johnny's face wasn't broken. "For now let's get Saphire into the guild so she can try to sign up." Saphire didn't have any argument against that, and neither did Chanler by the look of it. Chanler nodded to Johnny, and the two of them began to walk up the stairs once more while Saphire took each step two at a time to the top. The Eevee was first to reach the twenty-foot tall doorway that had two heavy wood and steel doors swung open into the guild. On either side of the door was a sentry each, both of which were Lucarios, and both had some leather belt across their waistlines. Sitting on their belt was an odd metal piece that looked like it sat inside of something that was made of wood as well, and seemed to be about just over a foot long. Chanler and Johnny came to stand up next to her only a minute later, and Saphire popped the question. "Johnny, what are those things that those Lucarios have on their belt?" Johnny listened, and then looked to where Saphire was talking about before smiling and chuckling softly. "Those are swords. They're a steel weapon that can be used to fight. In this case, they use that to aid them in the protection of the guild's entrance." The Eevee looked at them momentarily, wondering why such strong looking Pokémon needed a weapon, but she didn't ask the question. Instead, she walked into the guild after Johnny and Chanler. While they walked in, both Lucarios seemed to look at them out of the corner of their eyes, and Saphire felt uneasy about their stare. With that, she walked up a little bit to walk between Johnny and Chanler to find little more comfort in being at their sides. Walking inside, Saphire found that it looked much larger on the inside than it did the outside. It was an enclosed gathering room with a forty foot high vaulted ceiling, and pillars every twenty feet across to keep it supported. On either side of the massive set doors, Saphire could see boards the lined the walls, and all of them chalked full of envelopes. She could read some of the subjects that they had posted at the top of boards: Search and Rescue, Search and Capture, Exploration, Bounties. There were so many of them, she didn't know how she would be able to remember just how many there were. She was jostled out of her daze when she noticed that her two Pikachu escorts weren’t with her. Saphire looked around, scared that she couldn’t find them when she saw the two of them climbing up a set of stairs in the center of the gathering room. Momentarily she was frozen, for what reason she didn’t know as something told her not to move. Her eyes darted from side to side, scanning the crowded room quickly. Was someone following her she wondered, and if they were, just who was it? Just on the edge of her vision, she could make out a figure with cream and pink fur standing near a wall. It was only for a moment that she could swear that it was staring at her, but when she turned her head to get a good look, it was gone. “Strange. I could’ve sworn there was someone standing there.” Saphire thought to herself before shaking her head and dashing forward to the stairs. Again like the stairs to reach the guild, Saphire took the spiral staircase two steps at a time to catch up to Johnny and Chanler. It only took her a minute to reach them, and then proceeded to act like she was behind them the whole time. Though her glory of fooling them was short lived when Johnny spoke. “Get lost down there? I would’ve thought that it’d be easy to follow us since you were standing right between us.” “Sorry.” Saphire stuttered. “I was reading those uh, headings I think they’re called. The headings on those boards down there? What are they for?” It was Chanler who spoke this time to answer her question. "Those boards are called the mission boards." She explained, not looking back at the Eevee while they all climbed the stairs together. "Each board holds its own selection of missions for guild members to take on anywhere from exploring new areas, to catching criminals, and to retrieve lost items. There are a great many missions to choose from, but you won't be going on any for the time being." Saphire cocked her head to the side, and then quickly back when she lost her balance trying to climb the stairs. Chanler probably suspected that she had questions, and continued. “You’ll be training to become a guild member first. Trainees only go on mock missions set up by the guild for practice.” The Eevee nodded her head from side to side as she took that into consideration. "I think I understand, Chanler," Saphire told her with an understanding tone of voice. After a few more moments of walking up the central stairs, they found themselves in a room that hung over the center of the gathering hall. Saphire immediately walked to the closest edge to the stairs and looked over it towards the ground. She immediately regretted this decision as her head began to spin when she realized she was at least sixty feet in the air and a drop from this height would probably flatten her like a Stunfisk. Luckily there was a railing and a thick log on all six sides of the platform to keep it securely to the ceiling above her head. When she finally found her balance again, Saphire made her way back over to Johnny and Chanler. Just as she reached them, a new voice spoke to her. “Ah, Saphire. What a pleasant surprise." Saphire looked past Chanler and to her left to see a large wooden piece of furniture. It seemed a lot like the desk that Johnny had in the room across from her own, only more significant. Sitting behind the desk, however, was a Gallade who was looking straight at her. “Sorry. How do you know my name? Do I know you?” Saphire asked him, looking confused by his knowledge about her name. “No, my dear Saphire. But I know you through Johnny and Chanler. They talk very highly of you and your mind.” The Gallade told her with a grin. “Apologies. Where are my manners?” He stood up and walked around to the front of his desk before kneeling in front of her. Even on a knee, the Gallade was still towering over her by another foot and a half. “My name is Michael. I am the Guildmaster of this guild.” Suddenly Saphire felt overwhelmed in an instant. She was standing in front of the Guildmaster and had just been snobby right in his face. Her face lit up red like a flame, and she quickly bowed her head down out of respect. "I'm sorry, Guildmaster!" She told him, her voice trembling with fear. "If I knew you were the Guildmaster I wouldn't have acted as I did!" Michael began to roar out in laughter as he pets the young Eevee's back. “Oh my, Saphire. There's no need to feel the way you did. You were justified in your reaction and suspicion of me. After all, I was a stranger to you, and yet I knew your name and a lot about you already." He stopped laughing but didn't stop rubbing her back to coax her into relaxing a bit. It didn’t take long after he said that for Saphire to recover from her embarrassing turn of emotion. “I’m sorry. I just hold you in such high esteem. You must be so strong to be the Guildmaster, and I didn’t want to make a bad first impression.” She admitted to him, looking away slightly in embarrassment. “Oh no, Saphire you are quite alright. If anything you just made my day!” Michael told her with a smile. “Up until now I had been having a bit of a bad day, and you just gave me a good laugh that cheered me right up.” He pets her head softly, ruffling her head fur just a bit before standing up. "Don't beat yourself up so much over that. You just simply didn't know, and that's alright. Everyone makes mistakes, even me." He had looked over to Johnny and Chanler, both of which nodded to him, and in turn, he nodded back to her. "So you're here to train in the guild so that you can become a guild member right, Saphire?" The Eevee looked up at him and gave him a nod of confidence. “Yes, sir. I’m ready to do what it takes to become a guild member!” Michael smiled down at her before returning to his chair on the other side of the desk. "Please, all of you have a seat." He told them, motioning his hand towards the three chairs sitting in front of his desk. "So does she know what is needed to start training?" The Gallade asked them. "Yes," Chanler told him with an assured nod. "I have helped her learn what is needed of every guild member when they first join the guild." He smiled at Saphire and cupped his hands together under his chin as he leaned forwards onto his desk. “Excellent. Now Saphire,” he began as he stared at her intensely, “what are the four most common berries for healing and getting rid of ailments?” Saphire went back to her sheet that she had been studying for this exact test. “They are Oran, Pecha, Cherri, and Rawst Berries.” Michael didn’t do or say anything to confirm nor deny her answer was correct. “Why do we have guilds?” That one was rather easy to her as well. “Guilds exist to help keep the peace in the region as well as help Pokémon in need.” “What are the three commandments of the Guild?” Michael asked her next. “Number one: Never leave a teammate or guild member behind. Number two: Protect the citizens of the region at any cost. Number three: Always work as a team no matter who you are with.” The Gallade looked at her for a long time. What only felt like a few moments actually felt like hours to Saphire as she waited for his next question. “Welcome to my guild, Saphire.” He told her with a smile. Saphire almost couldn’t believe that she had passed his test. “Wait. Really? I'm a part of the guild now?" She asked him to confirm, her body and mind filled with adrenaline. "That is correct." He told her with a grin and watched her subsequently giggling and prancing a few moments in her seat. "Since Saphire can't use paw script yet probably, Johnny can you fill out her paperwork for her as you are her guardian? Johnny nodded and looked to Chanler as he hopped onto the desk and picked up the feather. He then started to fill out her application for her by filling out her name, description, and her information like where she lived and who her relatives were. While Johnny filled out the application, Saphire was looking around the platform when she saw a pink sparkle floating lazily about in the air near the front door. She looked at Chanler, Johnny, and Michael before walking over to the edge of the platform to get a closer look at the sparkling. When she got to the side, the sparkle lowered down until it came into the cream and pink figure from earlier. It was a four-legged Pokémon with cream as its main body color, and pink across its tail, paws, ears, and rear end. The Pokémon had two bows, one on its left ear and another on its neck, and coming out from behind each was a pair of ribbons that appeared to move according to the Pokémon's will. Saphire couldn’t put her paw on it, but she could’ve sworn that she knew something about this individual. Suddenly Chanler called out her name, and Saphire looked towards her before looking back to the mysterious figure. Once again when she tried to find it, the Pokémon was gone from sight, and nowhere else in the guild. “Just who is that Pokémon?” Saphire wondered to herself before walking back over to the others. “Come on, Saphire. We need you to put your paw print on the bottom of the page.” Chanler explained to her as she finished writing something on the application. The Eevee hopped up onto the desk as well and looked down at the paper for a moment before looking at the shallow cup of ink. She dipped just her paw pads in ink and pressed them onto the thick parchment. After a few moments she lifted her paw off of it, and now only a print remained where her paw was just moments prior. "There we go," Michael said, lifting the application up to inspect it. "Perfect. You're all set to start here at the guild, Saphire." He looked at Saphire with a grin, and Saphire looked back at him with her own smile. "Your first training session will be tomorrow at dawn. You'll meet your new partner for the next four seasons and your trainer at the spiral staircase below us." “Thank you, Guildmaster!” Saphire told him with a toothy grin before hopping down to the floor and heading for the stairs. Michael watched Saphire leave before looking at Johnny and Chanler. "Are you two sure about this? What if she starts snooping around? Or worse, starts remembering?" Johnny’s face turned from one of happiness to one of concern. “I’ve already thought about that. I’m going to go and see my psychic friend here in the guild tomorrow, and I’ll bring Saphire along. She can make sure that Saphire’s past memories won’t surface.” Michael cupped his hands in front of his face again, but this time his mouth was partially covered as he went into deep thought. “How far back did you say this went?” "Until about four days after we started to take care of her," Chanler told him. "We wanted her to believe that her parents were in an accident and that she was left in our care." The Gallade shook his head slightly and looked down at his desk. “I don’t like this.” He mumbled. “Something feels wrong.” Johnny and Chanler both raised an eyebrow at that worried that something was wrong as well. “What’s wrong?” The two of them asked almost simultaneously. Michael looked between the two of them for a brief moment each. "There's this aura that's bugging me. It keeps appearing and disappearing around the guild, and just today I could sense it sitting in two different places for a little while." He explained, standing up and turning around to look down over the platform and at the crowd of Pokémon below him. Crossing his arms, he continued to speak, a bit louder because of the chatter of the Pokémon directly below them. "It seems like it's following something. I can detect its aura as friendly, but only towards a specific individual." Johnny looked at his feet before crossing his arms as well. “Do you think that this aura is following Saphire around?” The Guildmaster only sighed and turned around to face them. He threw his arms up slightly in defeat before letting them fall back to his sides. “I just don’t know. Whenever I use my psychic powers to delve into the aura, it disappears when I’m about to connect.” Michael told him. “Whoever it is that is going at will knows how to evade psychic and aura users.” The two siblings nodded and gave each other a nod as well. “Alright. We’ll keep an eye out for this aura you speak of. Until we can figure out who this aura belongs to, the guild guards need to keep on high alert for anyone suspicious or purposefully trying to blend in. If they can mask both their aura and get away from psychic types, they’ll know how to hide when they want to as well.” “Of course. We can’t let this slip under the radar for much longer.” Michael stated as he closed his eyes and relayed the needed information to all guild guards, asleep or on duty. “Be on your way, both of you. And mind yourselves while you go about your days.” He opened his eyes and starred not at them, but something unseen past them. “I sense dark times ahead, and we can’t afford to be careless.” Johnny nodded and looked to Chanler before Michael. “Understood, Guildmaster. We’ll be off.” He set his paw on Chanler’s shoulder and closed his eyes before the duo suddenly disappeared from sight. A moment later the two of them appeared behind Saphire, and Johnny set his paw on her back. “You ready to leave Saphire?” He asked her. Saphire was staring off into space, looking at the wall, but her eyes weren’t focused on it. When he touched her, Saphire was shaken out of her trance and looked back at him. “Yeah, I’m ready to go, Johnny.” Chanler set her paw on Saphire’s back as well and smiled. Saphire looked back at the second Pikachu to touch her and smiled warmly. “Good, because you got a big first day ahead of you tomorrow. Now let’s go home and eat some lunch.” Saphire nodded and let the two of them take the lead with her bringing up the rear. The Eevee was more than a little excited for tomorrow. It was her first official day with training in the guild, and her dream was finally going to be realized. Nothing could ruin tomorrow for her, she thought to herself as she followed after Johnny and Chanler.
Saphire begins her life as a guild member in the amazing town of Great Usarus. What awaits our heroin in the future?
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