Malatet broke the trio's jubilation and quickly ushered them to the planning hall. There, they convened with the Guild's head of mission coordination. They had a lot of questions, chief among them what kind of mission they would be performing. "Well, since you three are new, I don't think there are a lot of tasks we can assign you." The coordinator Rowlet explained. "See, we assign missions a specific ranking which determines who can take them, and a Dungeoneering Team's rank is based on collective merit."

"So what rank is our team?" asked Pyren.

"Ahm, last that I checked, you three are recruits and haven't formed a Dungeoneering Team. You aren't allowed to create one, either."

"What?!" Pyren stared in disbelief, along with his friends.

The Rowlet shrugged. "You actually possess a personal rank as well, and you have to achieve a certain rank before you can opt to form a team. Of course, only one of you needs to achieve that status before you can form a team, but most recruits simply join a pre-existing team."

Amelia leaned against the Rowlet's desk. "Well then, what rank are we and what rank do we gotta be?!"

"Well, I don't even have to look at the records to know that you're all E rank." said the Rowlet, even though he was pulling out records as they spoke. "Lowest rank you can have, and you quickly rise from it. There are five ranks in total: A through E. You need to be C rank to form a team, as well as having six Pokemon willing to be the founders."

"A whole six? But the three of us are-"

"Hey, if every single Pokemon came in here wanting to found a Dungeoneering Team, organizing the Guild would be a lot harder. This way, most Pokemon settle into whatever pre-existing team they find, and the leadership-oriented Pokemon can later go off to found their own teams."

Pyren and Amelia sighed, disheartened, but Remy assured them: "Hey guys, don't worry! I'm sure there's a team here willing to take all three of us! And hey, we'll make plenty of friends here. Maybe we'll be able to form our own team someday."

"Ahh..." The Rowlet said, dampening the Munchlax's spirits. "You actually need to have a D rank to join a team officially. As I said, you rise through E rank quickly. You can still go on explorations together, but you'll have to obtain permission."

Malatet sighed and told the group to get on with matters. "I don't have all day to be dragging you around."

Remy turned and asked, "Are you in a team, Malatet?" The Machop shook her head. "Oh, what's your rank then? Maybe we can all form a team togeth-" Malatet's scowl shut his banter down, and the Munchlax apologized.

Rowlet nodded and began shuffling through papers on the desk. "Let's see... E-rank, E-rank, E-rank." He pulled out a page with a grey letter E stamped to the top-left corner. "Here's a patrol mission for the forest to our north. It's being handled by Team Long Horns today, but the task is rather small. Assigning it to some rookies would free up assets to investigate other important matters."

"Oh, and we're not important enough to be assigned anything other than wandering in the forest?" Amelia asked with an unenthused tone.

"Well, the forest would be a great hiding place for anybody looking to attack our town. Keeping anybody checking around the area would discourage such a strategy."

"Yeah," said Malatet, "So stop with your whining and accept the mission already."

Remy, Pyren, and Amelia reconvened with Malatet at the Guild the next day for their patrol mission. Amelia arrived last of all when the team they would be replacing was walking out the door, on their way to the trading post west of Riverside. Remy and Pyren quickly realized why Amelia was late: she was hauling a large hiking backpack with her. "Is there any place that I can trash this stupid thing...?" She asked them, aggressively removing the pack.

Malatet glanced at Amelia's friends, who explained: "Her mother is overprotective." 

The Machop understood straight away. "Alright, you three, it's time to begin your first mission." She had the trio line up to present any supplies they had for the day's work. To Malatet's pleasant surprise, they were well prepared: between the three of them, the recruits had several medicinal potions and salves, bandages, and provisions of food and water for the day. The Munchlax even showed off a beautiful hunting knife he used for his potion-making, a prized possession. "Seems you three know what you're doing. What's the one thing you're forgetting?" 

Malatet stared at Pyren, singling him out. The Monferno paused to think before answering, "Better weapons?"

Malatet perked up and turned to the Rowlet, asking them to find the staff. "Acceptable, but not the answer I'm looking for. You should always have a map of the surrounding region whenever possible, and a compass to keep yourselves aware of your surroundings at all times. It's no use exploring if you get lost."

"A map?!" Amelia asked, her jaw slacked. "What good would a map do? The land's always moving beneath our feet! What could you possibly keep track of with a map?"

"First of all, Not everything in the world moves." sneered Malatet, her chastising voice echoing through the room. "Otherwise, keeping a city in one place would be impossible. Second of all, landmarks, dumbass! When you travel, you use known landmarks to get from place to place. If you're someplace new, you find new landmarks. Don't you know anything about exploring?"

Amelia was about to make a comeback before Remy reminded her of the sign they'd so often seen in the caves: the one pointing the way back to the city on the way out. It was always in the same location relative to the exit, placed in a fixed area of the world. Amelia sighed in defeat and said, "Alright, fine... can we have a map and compass?" 

The Machop nodded and motioned to the Rowlet, who was now returning with Remy's staff in its claws. Remy happily accepted his tool and started boastfully swinging it around. He gave it a little spin before it slipped from his hands, and he hurriedly grabbed it as it tumbled to the floor. "Aaaaaah... hmm..." Malatet said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Maybe... maybe I should come with you kids. Just in case..."

Rowlet came back with the map and handed it to Amelia. "Going out on an exploration, Malatet?" The bird asked. "That's a first!"

"Oh shut it, pellet boy! It's just a one-time thing." She glared at the trio. "Don't get used to it."

Their trip through the forest would follow a pre-determined path. The team would first circle the outer areas of the forest, traveling from landmark to landmark, before working their way inwards. Once at the forest's depths, they would reverse the trend until they were at the edge again. They would repeat this process until evening came. Looking over the map, Amelia asked, "Are you sure this path is thorough? It seems like there are a few gaps here..." She pointed out several areas to which their patrol gave a wide berth. Though they had been asked to avoid deviating from the path to remain consistent in the investigation, the party agreed to detour from the landmarks to investigate these areas just in case. With their itinerary decided, they began their treck into the woods. 

Serene Forest, as the locals called it, was a reasonably unproductive area that long ago saw use as hunting and foraging grounds. Back then, the city of Caeltem was small. As its population grew, so too did the exploitation in this forest until the natural resources were severely depleted. It resulted in a historic crisis that urged the city to expand its farming industry to the city's south, and its fishing industry in the seas to the east. The forest in the north now served as a cautionary tale of unsustainable growth, populated only by wild Pokemon from other lands who wandered in to forage on the sparse berry bushes.

But even depleted wastelands like this could offer something special for Pokemon who knew how to treat the land well. Remy frequently pointed out patches of herbs that he stopped to gather, replanting some of his harvests to ensure more would grow in its place. Malatet quickly became frustrated at this constant start-and-stop pace and convinced Remy to stop; he could gather leaves some other time. The Munchlax just huffed and began to mix some potions while on the move. He was sure Malatet would thank him later.

The first landmark they arrived at was an old tree, thick and hardy from age. The party paused briefly to marvel at the tree's circumference and to have a drink of water. This pattern continued for several hours across the outer reaches of the forest. The group kept their eye out for anything suspicious: signs ranging from wandering strangers to hidden camps to odd equipment left behind. At first, nothing turned up. Malatet had to remind Amelia and Pyren to be relieved that nobody was trying to kill them yet. Then they approached the first detour on their trek: A nearby grotto that could open and close at varying points with the shifting of the woods. A quick search revealed its location and that it was open. Malatet ordered Amelia and Pyren to guard the outside while she and Remy entered the small cave. She glanced around and concluded there were no intruders.

Remy begged to differ, pointing at the gravelly floor. Malatet began to chastise him before he pointed out something important: the gravel was substantially flattened compared to the rest of the cave floor. The same applied to some other patches of gravel. Inspecting with greater scrutiny, Remy felt confident that some other spots of gravel had been disturbed, either due to walking or by the placement of equipment. There was no sign of Pokemon living here, and the disturbance was too much to be caused by a feral Pokemon. He concluded that somebody had camped within the grotto and recently departed. Now the real question was: who were they, how long had they been here, and what was their business?

The team returned to the previous landmark and continued their patrol. The day carried on uneventfully, even considering their stops at several gaps in the route. By the late morning, they finally finished circling the outer rim of the forest and moved deeper into the woods to began another circle. The trip was once again uneventful, and they completed the circumference of the inner forest by mid-afternoon. All that was left to check was the forest center, dominated by a clearing with a single, fruit-bearing apple tree. It was the only remaining source of food in the forest. 

They grabbed some fruit to go along with mealtime. "Boy, this day has been uneventful, hasn't it?" Pyren remarked as he bit into his apple. "All we found was a cleaned-up campsite that might have been used by whoever we're looking for."

Amelia agreed, and said "Ya know, do we even know if we're looking for somebody? Everybody's in a panic after that Amalgamation we fought but, like, has anybody else even encountered another Amalgam? Any sign of them or anything? What if it was just one of the random ones?"

"Flynt may be a dumbass, but he wouldn't be in a panic for the wrong reasons." Malatet took a big bite of her apple as she continued: "See, I thought this was sensationalism spurred by the townsfolk till I talked it over with him. You heard about the Xorans, right? What they've been doing to their own people, and all?"

Pyren nodded in agreement. "We know. My dad rants about that stuff all the time. It's just isolated incidents."

"It's not..."

"Pardon?"

"The Xorans have appeared near town already."

The three rookies paused to stare at Malatet in disbelief. "I'm sorry, the Xorans have already been around here? As in, you guys have already been dealing with these Amalgamations?"

"Thankfully, no. In actuality, we arrested a Xoran trying to cause trouble around the town. They were a scout, likely gathering information for an attack. We couldn't get the full details before they... well, you can fill in the details yourselves."

A sigh of anguish escaped Remy's full mouth. "Man, if this has been going on... that sucks. How did they escape?"

Amelia punched Remy in the arm. "Suicide, dumbass!"

"Wait, what?! How did they manage that?"

"Nobody knows for certain. Word has it someone spotted a perpetrator fleeing the scene, but they just up and vanished before anybody could catch them. Apparently, the robes they wore resembled that of a northern-dwelling Pokemon. If it's not the Xorans, then those poor sods are being very strongly implicated."

"Wait, so..." Pyren stood up with haste. "Are you telling me we're looking for somebody who just appeared in a place being watched from all angles, gave a prisoner a knife without being noticed, and can just vanish into the shadows when they were done?!"

"Are you suggesting that you can't handle something like that?" Malatet gave the Monferno a cocky grin.

"I mean, no, but..." Pyren scowled and continued, "I wish somebody had told us about that part before we frolicked out here!"

"See why we take our jobs seriously?" asked Malatet as she bit into her apple. "Lives are at stake here. If we mess this up, people will die."

Remy stood and trumpeted, "Well, what are we sitting here for? C'mon, we gotta make another round of the forest and make double-sure there's no bad guys hiding around here!"

"After I finish my lunch, kid."

Following their mealtime, the party gathered their equipment and began the next leg of their journey: reversing the patrol route they'd taken to the forest's center. They moved with greater haste now that they had a grasp of the stakes. Along the way, they detoured to check on locations of interest, including a few new areas that Amelia and Remy identified after a thorough re-check of the map. Some new sites revealed some unexpected discoveries: There were more campsites in the forest, all cleaned up after the occupants but not well enough to disguise their presence. The group found no trace of the mysterious campers, however, which only caused their concern to grow.

The sun began to descend, and the team was forced to return home. Though they had some evidence of movement in the forest, no clues were leading to any identities. It was a faint disappointment, but some progress was better than nothing. They reconvened at the Guild to report on their progress. Rowlet collected the map and remarked about the marked detours, warning them that trailing off the route could allow their enemies to pass while they're distracted elsewhere. Pyren quickly informed the Rowlet that they found evidence of illegal camping off the beaten path and that they should take care to revisit them in the future.

"Alright, you three..." Malatet said, giving them a nod. "Good job today. Keep up the good work." Her face was cold as ever, but there was something in her eyes. Perhaps a glint of approval? Remy couldn't help but ask his friends if they saw this too as they departed for home.

"I dunno if it was very approving..." remarked Pyren as they proceeded down the market street. "She still seemed very annoyed at us."

Amelia shook her head. "I wouldn't say she was annoyed. It looked more like she was disappointed in having to come with us."

"Oh, come on, you two!" Remy bounced into a stride. "She looked pretty glum, but I think she was proud of us. We should be excited: we just completed our first mission for the Exploration Guild! And a pretty important one too, if the team we replaced was able to find something meaningful. Plus, we found something potentially valuable!"

Remy's bountiful cheer managed to lift the spirits of his comrades. They parted ways at the apothecary.

The next day, the trio gathered together again at the Guild to receive assignments for the day's activities. Rowlet once again handed them a map of Serene Forest and asked them to follow the prescribed route for patrol. Amelia, diligent about looking at the map to confirm the shortfalls of yesterday's route were corrected, noticed the map was the same as before. She could see smudge marks where the markings of unchecked areas were erased. "Hey, didn't we say some hiding spots were missing from the map?" Amelia asked.

"Oh, ah, well," Rowlet said, tilting their head, "I was told that we don't need to worry about those locations. So long as we explore the path described here, we don't have to worry. Just stick to the path and move quickly so nobody can sneak past you, OK?"

Feeling ignored, Amelia leaned over the Rowlet with eyes narrowed. "Listen here, you little fluffball..." She began, only to have her rant cut off when Remy and Pyren grabbed her arms and dragged her away.

"Just let it go, Amy. We can check those places ourselves..." Pyren remarked.

"Ah, no, no, no! I insist that there's no need." Rowlet said. "I have traced the most efficient route onto the map to cover ground as quickly and accurately as possible. Any hiding spots that are unchecked have a very minimal chance of hosting Xoran activity. Besides, if Xorans were hiding there, you'd see clear signs that-"

Amelia broke from her friends' grip and marched up to the bird, growling "We DID see signs! They'd flattened the ground with tents, and everything! What part of that are you guys not getting?"

Amelia was about to go on before another group of explorers marched up. They asked the rookies to finish up so they could get their orders for the day too. The Mawile retreated with a huff, and the trio departed the coordination hall. The moment they stepped outside, another Pokemon grabbed Amelia's arm. "Overheard ya. Check those places, kid. I got bad feelings about what's going on..." They whispered to her before letting go and entering the coordination hall.

And so, the trio departed for the forest again. Though Malatet was not there to guide them this time, they worked their way through the woods faster this time around. Despite the re-arranged paths, they remembered the general directions needed to reach each landmark on the trail. Along the way, Amelia marked off the sections of the woods where they noticed gaps in the patrol and where they should break off from the route to find them. She grew curious about something: "Hey, that Rowlet said he planned an efficient patrol route, right? We should maybe double-check and see if it's possible to look at the missing spots without leaving the path." Her friends agreed, and they made a conscious effort to stay on the path and see if they could spot the hiding spots from there. 

In some places, it appeared that the Rowlet's path did indeed enable them to catch a glance of the unmarked location and determine if it had been disturbed. In others, they could see it, but it was far enough away that they needed to approach to verify nothing was amiss. And finally, especially for the alcove from yesterday, the location was almost impossible to spot. "Man, talk about poor planning. The bad guys could easily hide out here!" said Remy, throwing his arms up.

"At least we're making better time," Pyren remarked. He glanced up at the sun to see it moving behind the ringworld, a sign of mid-morning at this time of year. "What do you two think? Maybe we can get two laps in before the day's over."

"Let's not rush ourselves." The Munchlax kept moving at hiking speed; Remy wasn't known for his speed. They reached the forest's center by the early afternoon, at which point they stopped for lunch and to review the places where they suspected enemy activity. Overall, the only areas of interest were the same as the places they'd looked at yesterday. What's more, the three most strongly suspected campsites were the same as yesterday. Remy remarked how those locations were somewhat equidistant, while Amelia noted that there were a few hiding spots between each site. Still, no substantial evidence. They took a second hike around and checked the place more thoroughly, which led to the same conclusions as before. They were convinced something was up. 

Evening came, and they returned to the Guild. Upon bringing up their findings to Rowlet, the owl said they would adjust the patrol based on their findings and dismissed them. Then, the trio brought their findings up to Malatet. "You're not the only one, from what I'm hearing..." She remarked, looking at another team of explorers who acknowledged the younglings with a brief nod. "bring it up with Guildmaster Foxy-boy if they don't update the route tomorrow."

The next morning looked set to begin fairly uneventfully as the trio entered the Guild. The hall was empty, and there was shouting echoing from the gathering hall. There must have been a meeting that neither Remy, Pyren, or Amelia knew about.

Then there was a flash in the meeting hall! the doors to the meeting hall burst open, smoke billowing out of the room, and a Pokemon suddenly rushed out and towards the front door. A large Bibarel bore down on the three rookies. Someone shouted above the chorus of noise echoing from the meeting hall, with cries of "Where did he go?!" and "Stop him!" Pyren was the quickest to take action, holding his arms out to prevent the Bibarel's passing. When the beaver shoved at Pyren to get past, Amelia responded by swinging her maw around and slamming them in the face, knocking the Bibarel back. 

"Get out of my way!" The Bibarel cried, curling up into a ball. He rolled himself through the trio with incredible speed! Amelia and Pyren dodged to either side of him, but Remy took the blow head-on. He managed to block the attack, enduring as they pushed him out through the door. Amelia and Pyren rushed out and the three surrounded the Bibarel. This was it, they all realized: Their first real battle! Whatever this Bibarel was responsible for, they had to be captured!

Remy made the first move, firing off a bolt of lightning! The Bibarel was struck, but quickly followed up by swinging a mighty, hyper-charged fist back at him. Remy caught the attack but was quickly overpowered. He flew across the paving stones! He quickly got back up and pulled out a salve to rub on the wound.

Amelia recognized the attack as Superpower, and noted that the Bibarel had exhausted some of his physical strength in using it. She took it as an opportunity to rush in and attack. She empowered her arm with fighting spirit and struck Bibarel with her Power-Up Punch! Pyren followed up with a Mach Punch!

Bibarel empowered his arms with water and swung his fist. Waterfall, a powerful Water-type move! Pyren immediately recoiled in fright and backed away. Amelia was left to take the blow, and she was hit hard! Even exhausted, this Bibarel hit like a truck! Remy had recovered and rushed to Body Slam his opponent. Bibarel simply kept their Waterfall attack going and struck Remy as well!

Pyren saw Bibarel was attempting to make a break for it. "Oh, no, you don't!" Pyren exclaimed, bolting after them. Taking a page from his lessons with Malatet, he poured his strength into his legs and took a flying leap. The extra speed from his Acrobatics move meant he landed atop Bibarel, causing them to tumble! He lept off of the beaver and prepared to finish them.

Bibarel got on all fours and charged at Pyren, readying his Waterfall attack! Unable to run, Pyren began to dodge their swings! He saw every twitch of the Bibarel's swinging arms and avoided them.

Remy stepped in to help, blocking a blow for Pyren! Bibarel struggled for a moment against Remy before backing off and kicking him away. Remy and Pyren prepared to attack in unison, only to notice Bibarel was doing some sort of dance. Swords Dance, they realized; Bibarel was powering himself back up!

Amelia struck Bibarel from behind, hitting the back of their head with her maw! The Bibarel was dazed for only a moment, but it was all Remy and Pyren needed. They charged in unison; Pyren struck with another Mach Punch, and Remy with a Body Slam! The Bibarel staggered back into Amelia, who followed up by railing them with her Play Rough move, wracking her opponent with numerous fairy-powered punches. A final blow into Bibarel's back knocked them to the floor, unconscious!

Guild members were rushing out of the hall, having collected themselves from the smoke at long last. Two of them came and ensured Bibarel was pinned to the ground. Malatet rushed over to the three and said, "Nice timing, newbies! Looks like we've finally figured out why we weren't getting good maps." She explained as she gestured to the Pokemon, now being dragged back into the Guild. "Turns out he's the one Rowlet has been placing on patrol-mapping duty. We started to question him, but he popped a smoke bomb and ran away as soon as his excuses fell apart."

Remy nodded and smiled. "Thanks, Malatet! I doubt he could have gotten very far anyway, given how slow Bibarels can-"

"Oh, just take the compliment," Malatet replied with a groan. "Anyway, cartography needs to get the maps updated after this little shenanigans, so you're off the hook for exploration." The three were about to celebrate a job well done when Malatet asked them to instead go to the training hall and practice with the training weapons. "You'll need to have a general understanding of every kind of weapon, even if you don't end up using them. It helps to know the proper form so you can counter it if you need to."

Remy, Pyren, and Amelia all proceeded to the training hall with Malatet and practiced with various wooden weapons. They weren't subtle about how they fought against Bibarel, and they could sense Malatet was carrying herself with pride at the understanding that her training was proving effective. Throughout the day, they heard about events surrounding the cartography group and the troubles around the traitorous Bibarel. They had accepted a significant sum of money in exchange for plotting patrol routes around a certain number of areas in the forest in the hopes of ensuring their ranks do not get caught. 

Without the Bibarel to hinder their efforts, the cartographers quickly updated the maps and assigned new patrol routes. To the rookies' great relief, the maps for the Sonata Forest were finally updated to reflect the discoveries they'd made. Moreover, the Bibarel's interrogation led the Guild to believe the Xorans were making camp at night, moving around several times before packing up at daybreak to commit whatever acts they would be doing. There would be a patrol during the evening now to try and intercept the Xorans.

Training wrapped up, and Malatet sent the rookies home. The next morning, they returned to the Guild to hear good news: The Xorans camping in the forest had been caught! The night patrol intercepted the group as it was traveling to one of their campsites, and the Xorans were scattered in the ensuing battle. The forest was now deemed a safe place, and the rookies would have a new patrol route assigned to them.