First Contact

																First Contact

															Chapter One: New News

	As sunlight crept over the horizon, the quiet coastal settlement of Treasure Town began to stir. The apprentices and explorers of Wigglytuff’s Guild were, as always, the first to rise. No one knew this better than the Bayleef who reluctantly pushed herself up from a mass of straw that would suffice as bedding. She grinned to herself as she took notice of the unusually quiet ocean, at least two hundred paces below her home, which was situated neatly inside Sharpedo Bluff. The bluff itself was named for the face and maw of the Pokémon it resembled, so maybe it was fate that her home and the unofficial base of team Jaws was inside the mouth of a vicious predator, just behind its teeth. It had been thirteen long and somewhat uneventful years since the Bayleef had prevented the world from becoming paralyzed, and twelve since the malevolent Pokémon known as Darkrai had attempted to shroud the world in darkness and nightmares. She and her exploration team had become legends on the Grass Continent and even beyond, though younger explorers had taken up the torch from them since the victory against Darkrai. After all, it was not this Bayleef, her team, nor their guild who had prevented all the world’s Pokémon from turning to stone and prevented the planet itself from hurtling into the Sun. But that was years ago, and some part of her wanted a new challenge to present itself.

	“Why do you gaze at the water awestruck like that every single morning?” A cheeky voice behind her inquired. “What could possibly be so interesting about that ocean? Everything that can be mapped has already been mapped and there’s nothing down there.”

	The Bayleef sighed and turned to see her partner in rescuing and exploration, a recently-evolved Feraligator, with a makeshift cast present on his left arm, sitting up on his clump of straw, looking at her with a grin so massive it could probably rip his head in half. Seeing this, the Bayleef giggled. “Oh hush, you. I just find it… relaxing, that’s all,” the grass-type replied calmly, as was her nature, but there was a hint of joviality in her words. “Now go back to sleep, Jawey, you need your rest.”

	“Oh all right, just try to be careful out there, the last thing we need is for both of us to be out of commission.” The voice replied. Jawey was an unoriginal nickname she had given the Feraligator, then a Totodile, when they were children. The name caught on with the other apprentices at the guild and eventually the entire town started to call him that. Jawey preferred that others call him by his human name, but he made an exception for the Bayleef, who was his ally and best friend. As her partner rolled his eyes and settled back down in his bedding, she took a closer look at his damaged arm. “You really shouldn’t have gotten that Machamp cross with you. This will take at least another three weeks to heal.”

	Having turned back over on his side with his back to her, Jawey only spoke in reply, “Don’t you worry about me Chik, just take Lombre with you to the guild to do another rescue job.” As the two said their goodbyes for the day, Chik the Bayleef hesitated at the door that led out to the top of the bluff.
“Oh, right,” she remembered, “at the watering hole yesterday, Bibarel was telling me about some encounter he had during a recent outing with the Guild.”

	Immediately, Jawey’s head peaked up to look at her with interest. Things had been quite slow and dull in Treasure Town, and any exciting piece of news or a new mystery was paramount for breaking the monotony, especially since Jawey had been trapped here for the last month due to his injuries. “He was talking about some kind of strange, gray flying-type he and some of the other guild members saw above Oran Forest. Apparently it was moving way faster than anything we’ve ever heard of, so it couldn’t have been a Skarmory. Everyone’s been talking about it and they’re saying the forest is haunted, but I’m positive there is something far more mysterious than a few ghost-types at work.”

	She paused for a second before continuing, proudly reflecting on how far she had come not just as an explorer, but as a person, since she had met Jawey; little more than a decade ago, Chik would have been too afraid to investigate any strange rumors such as this. “I’ll bring Lombre with me to investigate, if that’s alright with you Jawey, you’re team leader after all.” It took less than a second of pondering before the Feraligator responded with a whole-hearted “Yes”. With Jawey’s blessing, Chik left to meet up with the trustworthy third-in-command of Team Jaws, Lombre.


	To find the jolly lily pad Pokémon, Chik did not have to look far. Anyone who knew Lombre would easily be able to recall that her favorite place in the entire world was Spinda’s Café, recently renovated to have a floor built above the old entrance. Chik approached the wooden structure, which was only completed earlier that year, to find a group of Pokémon crowding around Bibarel, who appeared to be standing on top of a crate excitedly explaining something in his rural accent. Chik noticed Lombre near the back of the crowd, and nestled in next to her.

	“What’s going on?” Chik questioned Lombre.

	Lombre hurriedly replied without looking, “Well, seems as if toothy here saw that steel bird again. I don’t believe a damn word of it; seems like every other month he’s come up with some new tale.”
She wasn’t wrong. Just last winter, Bibarel had claimed that a monster had raided Treasure Town’s food supply. It had turned out to be Bibarel himself sleepwalking. There were countless other examples of his exaggerations, Chik thought, but she wanted to seize the opportunity to have a day without having to hear the shrill voice of Chatot, the Guild’s second-in-command, bark at her. At some point, she would have to explain to him what Team Jawey was up to for today, but that could wait. For now, with trained ears, she listened to the naïve Bibarel speak.

	“By golly, it was swifter than any ‘a them Skarmories or Swallow, I swear! It roared too and… an- oh yeah! It also spout fire from its behind and left a trail of steam or smoke behind it.” Bibarel paused to catch his breath after his long diatribe, before waving around his stubby little arms and continuing. “And last week, when I went south to visit my family, we heard these strange noises at night, I reckon it sounded like chopping, or like the fists of a Machoke or Hitmonchan punchin’ the air rapidly. It’s really hard to explain, but I reckon somethin’ weird and sinister is goin’ on.”

	After his rambling speech ended, a roaring voice from the crowd, which Bayleef deduced must have come from Exploud, one of the guild members, challenged Bibarel’s assertions. “AND WHY SHOULD WE BELIEVE YOU? I WAS WITH YOU IN ORAN FOREST AND I DIDN’T SEE ANYTHING!”

	Bibarel looked as if he was going to rebuttal, but hesitated, instead scanning the crowd and finally settling on Bayleef. “Hey look, it’s her! It’s Chik from Team Jaws! She’ll vouch for me!” Bibarel eyed Chik expectantly, awaiting a response.

	All eyes turned to her. They all knew who she was. She was famous in Treasure Town and an experienced explorer. Her opinion on the matter would have real weight to it, she thought, but if she was indeed going to publically support Bibarel’s claims, she would have to tread carefully, for if Bibarel was wrong or was simply lying, she would look like a buffoon for believing him. Or would she? If anything, this would only make Bibarel look worse, and Chik seem like a saint, having given one last chance to Bibarel to prove himself while also taking time from important Guild work to investigate the sighting. Her mind was made up.

	“Well, none of what you described sounds familiar to me, and I’ve been all over the world. I cannot think of an explanation for the sounds you and your family heard, and if what you’re saying is true, then I’ve never seen or heard of something that could move so quickly.”

	There were some whispers from the crowd, but no one interrupted her, so she continued.

	“Actually, after you told me about this yesterday, I was planning on bringing Lombre here along in exploring Oran Forest today to see if anything is off.”

	For a brief second out of the corner of her eye, she saw an expression on Lombre’s face that could only be described as a mixture of surprise and reluctance, but Chik would deal with that once they got out of the Café and away from the crowd.
“So, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be taking our le—”

	“And what is this I hear! SHIRKING YOUR WORK TO INVESTIGATE THE RAMBLINGS OF OUR VILLAGE IDIOT!” An outraged voice squawked from behind them.

	They all knew who it was. Normally, even when he was annoyed or frustrated, Chatot would never outright insult somebody, so he must have been livid. Bayleef and Lombre knew that this was going to be a long morning.