Advent: Explorers of Boundaries

Chapter 5: Altaria Guild struggles

As the sun peeked through the window, a sound pierced the silence, shattering their peaceful slumber. It was a voice—no, a sonic boom of a voice, resonating at a frequency only heard by bats and dolphins. The culprit? It was a member of the guild. Responsible for waking up rescue teams who have the same predicament as Sleeping Beauty.

"IT’S ALWAYS THE ROOKIES! WAKE UP!" Loudred shouted.

Startled, they leaped out of their beds, only to find themselves catapulted to the ceiling by the sheer force of the vocal assault. They clung to the light fixtures, their hearts racing as they braced for impact.

But alas, gravity had other plans, and they plummeted back to their beds with a thud, the impact reverberating through the room.

Yet, even as they lay tangled in their sheets, the ear-splitting vocal onslaught continued, reaching new heights of decibels. It was as if the voice could reach the farthest corners of the earth, making its presence known in distant Den City.

Still, they stubbornly clung to their pillows, their ears ringing with each piercing syllable. The relentless voice echoed through their skulls, rattling their brains like a poorly secured tambourine.

"UGH! FINE! HAVE IT YOUR WAY! I DON’T WANT TO BE LATE MYSELF!" Loudred shouted as he quickly exited.

Finally, as the cacophony subsided, the source of the auditory assault retreated, leaving behind a warning that echoed in their minds like a thunderclap.

Eventually, they emerged from their beds, disheveled and disoriented, their ears still ringing with the aftermath of the sonic onslaught.

With ears still ringing from the morning wake-up call that could rival a foghorn, still disoriented and bewildered. As they tried to piece together the events of the chaotic morning, realization dawned like a bucket of ice water: they were late for the morning meeting!

"Alex my dude! The morning meeting! Guildmaster Altaria is gonna be angry! Hurry!" Elton shouted.

"... What?!" Alex asked, not hearing Elton at all as his ears were ringing like crazy, making him deaf.

Elton didn’t hear him and it was at that moment, that he put two and two together and figured that they are both deaf. So, as a means to make Alex understand that they need to go now. Elton pointed at the clock while pointing with his other hand aggressively at the door. The realization soon hit Alex in the face like it were bricks and he too was worried.

Frantically scrambling to get out, they tripped over each other. They raced through the underground corridors, narrowly avoiding collisions with startled guild members.

Finally bursting into the meeting room, they skidded to a halt, breathless and disheveled. All eyes turned towards them, eyebrows raised in amused disbelief everyone except the guildmaster…

The guildmaster's face turned a shade of red that rivaled a ripe tomato as he erupted into an explosion of anger, his voice booming like thunder. "You two sleeping beauties! New and already causing me this bullshit?!"

But alas, they couldn't hear a word he said, their ears still ringing from the morning's ruckus. They watched in horror as fire emanated from his very pores.

Furious, guildmaster Altaria commanded them to stand near him for introductions. Confused, they exchanged puzzled glances until Farfetch'd, with a mighty swing of his huge leek, launched them towards the seething guildmaster.

As the deafening effects began to wear off, the guildmaster turned to Elton, demanding his name. But all he could muster was a confused "huh?"

Laughter erupted among the assembled rescue teams as the guildmaster's frustration reached its boiling point. With a swift kick, he sent the hapless individual flying into the wall, where miraculously, his hearing began to return amidst a symphony of obscenities.

Turning to the other, guildmaster Altaria issued a warning: "If your name is also 'huh,' you'll meet the same freaking fate!" Trembling with fear, Alex stammered, "M-my-my name is Alex, sir!" earning a skeptical glance from the grumpy Altaria.

"Ok listen up! The sleeping beauties are our new recruits everyone! As for their punishment, they won’t eat today!" Altaria shouted, still giving Alex his undivided attention.

With a grumble, the guildmaster instructed them to take a seat with the other teams, warning them sternly that they were on probation.

"What legends. First day and you guys already caused such a ruckus-that’s a new record. By the way. I’m Spinda from Team Fuse." Spinda quietly introduced himself as Alex and Elton ignored him, afraid of ticking off guildmaster Altaria more. "Ok I get it. Le Silent types."

After the meeting adjourned, Farfetch'd called Alex and Elton for a mission, sending Elton into a frenzy of excitement as he envisioned daring rescues and epic treasure hunts. But his dreams came crashing down when Farfetch'd revealed they were tasked with finding a lost item—a Magmarizer.

Elton argued vehemently, deeming the mission beneath them, until Farfetch'd silenced him with a swift whack of his leek. With begrudging acceptance, they set off to Sonic Jungle, where Farfetch'd claimed the item while that place was also in where they fought Zweilous.

After a few hours of searching, Alex spotted the Magmarizer on a rock. Both of them agreed on how carefree the fellow was to leave it at such an obvious place. They contacted the requester, and Magmar arrived, overjoyed to have his prized possession returned. He handed them $3000, elating Alex and Elton, as Magmar casually mentioned the item's true value due to their initial worry of him giving him that much money.

Their joy turned to disbelief as Farfetch'd swooped in, snatching the money and leaving them with a measly $300. Elton protested angrily, but Farfetch'd merely smirked, explaining the guild's cut—a whopping 90% of their earnings.

As Alex and Elton protested the unfairness, they were swiftly silenced by another whack of Farfetch'd's leek. And so, their adventure in the underground guild continued, with a valuable lesson learned: never underestimate the power of a leek-wielding duck.

Farfetch'd, recognizing the need for some serious skill refinement, decided to send Alex and Elton to the training grounds under the mentorship of Frosslass. Both eager to level up their abilities, Alex hoped to fine-tune his moves, while Elton was keen on picking up some flashy new techniques.

However, their high hopes were quickly dashed upon meeting Frosslass. With an icy demeanor to match her chilling abilities, Frosslass was not the nurturing mentor they had hoped for. Instead of a motivational training montage reminiscent of the Rocky Balboa movies, their session turned into a chaotic comedy of errors.

Alex, in his eagerness, managed to accidentally break a couple of walls and a door with his moves, while poor Elton, in a stroke of spectacular clumsiness, somehow ended up bashing Frosslass on the head with his flailing limbs, multiple times.

Understandably, Frosslass's patience wore thin, and she unleashed her icy wrath upon them, freezing them multiple times over. Elton seemed to bear the brunt of her frustration, finding himself encased in ice more often than not.

Their training session quickly devolved into pandemonium, with Frosslass's chilling rebukes echoing through the training grounds. By the time they were done, the once pristine area resembled a scene from an ice age disaster movie.

With Frosslass unimpressed by their progress and thoroughly unamused by their antics, she promptly ordered them to clean up the mess they had made—a task that proved to be just as grueling as the training itself.

Exhausted, frustrated, and with stomachs grumbling, Alex and Elton longed for the comfort of dinner at 6:30 pm. But their hopes were dashed when Altaria, still fuming over their morning disturbance, barred them from joining the others for the evening meal.

Defeated and disheartened, they trudged back to their rooms, vowing to do better next time and praying for a chance at redemption.