//------------------------------// // New Apprentices // Story: Spike's Destiny in the Pokémon World // by Darth Severus //------------------------------// Spike was sleeping in the house that Suzie and Scar had given him. As the sun rose, he started to wake up and said, "Man, what a weird dream. Me becoming a Totodile." before getting up and yawning before looking in the water. "Oh crap, that's right, it wasn't a dream, I really am a Totodile. Well, I better go look for Suzie and Scar." before heading out of the front entrance of his new house. Scar was leaning against Spike's mailbox, nudging the sleeping Suzie with his foot, "Hey, Suzie, wake up, Spike's up." Suzie jumped awake and looked over to Spike, "Hey Spike, how'd you sleep?" Spike sighed, "I slept well, until I thought that me being turned into a Pokémon was just a dream. So, what do we do now?" Scar told Spike, "Well, if Butterfree sent that letter of recommendation, we should check the mail to see if we've been accepted as apprentices." Before walking over to the mailbox and looking at the mail, "Well, there's the newspaper, and a Rescue Team Beginner Kit, but nothing else." He looked over to Suzie and sighed, "Looks like we may not be becoming Union apprentices." Before Suzie could reply, a Pelipper landed on their mailbox and dropped in some mail. Spike ran over and read it out loud, "Dear Team Go-Getters, Ms. Butterfree spoke highly of your skill while rescuing her son Caterpie from Tiny Woods. It is for this reason we invite you to join the Interplanetary Rescue Union. The Union Headquarters is to the north of Pokémon Square. Please bring this letter with you as proof of your acceptance." Suzie jumped in joy, "We did it, we're in the Union! Let's go! Pokémon Square is this way!" before running off, Scar and Spike running after her. As they headed to Pokémon Square, and then north, they saw Whiscash Pond, and to the left and right of the pond were sets of stone staircases leading up to a large building on the cliff behind the pond. Spike was surprised there could be such a big building made by only Pokémon. Scar spoke, breaking the silence of awe, "Let's go in already!" before running up the stairs with Spike and Suzie behind him. As they approached the gate of the building, a Bisharp stood in front of the gate, who said, "Halt, who goes there?" When Spike showed the letter to the Bisharp, he smiled, "New recruits eh? Go on ahead, show this letter to the Terra Union Leader, she's in the planetarium up on the second floor. My name is Ezio by the way" As the team walked up to the second floor, they saw a Gardevoir looking into a high powered telescope. She wrote down some notes, before realizing that Team Go-Getters were there, turning to them and saying, "Oh, hello! You must be the new recruits. My name is Sabrina, I'm the head of the Terra Branch of the Interplanetary Rescue Union. Please, follow me and we'll get you the proper supplies." As they followed Sabrina, Spike noticed a strange pad, and asked, "Excuse me, what's that pad for?" Sabrina smiled, "You're a curious one, aren't you? That's the teleport pad. It allows travel between Terra and the other four Core Worlds. However, you won't be allowed to use the teleport pads until you reach Bronze Rank. Right now, your team is at Rookie Rank, so you'll need to get to Normal Rank before Bronze Rank, but I'm sure you can do it if you give it your all." The continued walking through the hallway up until they came to a door. Sabrina opened it to show all sorts of stuff, but when she grabbed what looked like a Rescue Badge, Scar asked, "Why do we need a Rescue Badge? We got them in our Rescue Team Beginner Kit." Sabrina nodded, "As do all new Rescue Teams, however, these badges also act as communicators. With them, we can call you if something comes up, and you can communicate with each other should you get separated while you're in a dungeon. Only Union sponsored Rescue Teams are allowed to carry such badges." As Sabrina handed them the new badges, Spike smiled, he felt as if he had dozens of new friends. He asked, "So, now that we've got the proper supplies, what do we do now?" Sabrina thought for a minute, "Well, we don't have any high priority jobs you can do here on Terra, perhaps you should go to the Pelipper Post Office and see if there's any missions you can do on the Bulletin Board. You can also look around the HQ if you'd like. We have many facilities for training, and much more. Well, I must be off, I have much work to do in the planetarium." before heading back to the planetarium. Suzie smiled, "Well, we're official Union Apprentices now, so we should get to work! Let's take a look around the HQ and then we'll go to the Pelipper Post Office." before walking down the hallway, looking around as they did. The HQ seemed to have everything, from training equipment to training dungeons. Spike saw a bulletin board and walked over to it, seeing posters of Pokémon and said, "Woah! Guys, take a look at these! I think these are wanted posters!" Scar and Suzie ran over to Spike and the bulletin board, and Scar said, "Damn... I never knew the union went after wanted Pokémon. Do any of these missions look easy enough for us?" Spike shook his head, "No, these Pokémon are way out of our league. Let's go back to my house, I saw Pelipper heading that way." Suzie nodded, "Maybe we'll get our first mission as a Rescue Team!" Now that Team Go-Getters has been inducted into the Interplanetary Rescue Union, they are marked as a true Rescue Team. As a Union Rescue Team, they have standards to meet, and they have the will to become the best Rescue Team ever.