Episode #56:
The Guild Graduation!
Battle The Grand Master of All Things Bad!

Now that all was right with the Pokemon World, the guild could focus on more important matters, like Team Hunters. Not because they want a party again, but because they felt it was time for a graduation ceremony. The team seemed to be confused with this process.

“Graduation?” Cody asked.

“That's right,” Chatot said, who seemed to be better, enough that he no longer had bandages. “You've constantly proved yourself time after time and we feel it’s the right time for you to move up the ranks. Normally, we wait until Silver Rank, but we feel that you kids have enough strength to continue onward.”

“That's awesome,” all three of them said.

“It's only fair. I mean, you did save the world.”

Cody wondered if this also had to do with his return to their time period. He was still confused about this graduation thing, though.

“Will we still stay or are we forced to leave?” Cody asked.

“Naturally, you won't be allowed to reside here. The only thing you can do is gain missions from here. Team Ebony graduated a while ago, so they pop in and out from time to time. It's not like we're kicking you out or anything, especially after what you've been through.”

“That's good,” Turtwig replied.

“So what do we do?” Cyndaquil asked.

“Easy,” Chatot said. “Go to Mystifying Forest and find the Luminous Springs.”

“That's it?” Cody asked.

“That's it.”

Cody didn’t realize that it would be this easy. He smiled, knowing that he would pass no problem.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Chatot said to them. “You probably think, ‘oh this is going to be sooooo easy, I don’t have to worry about monsters or anything like that!’ Well, guess what, there is a reason why that forest is often referred to as Death Forest!”

“Death…Forest?” Cody asked, feeling nervous.

“Guildmaster, if you will,” Chatot said.

Wigglytuff went forward and cleared his throat.

“Legend has it that a mysterious villain exists within the forest. He’s killed thousands of innocent lives just for trespassing within his territory! Some call him a demon, some call him pure darkness…but if anyone knows anything truthful about him, they’ll refer to him as…THE GRAND MASTER OF ALL THINGS BAD!!!”

Turtwig and Cyndaquil gasped in shock and held each other tight, while Cody wondered who would seriously call themselves that.

“What a dumb name,” Cody replied.

“Mock his name if you will!” Wigglytuff replied. “I heard terrible stories though. The grossest being that he opened someone’s chest, ripped out their organs and ate them as they were!!!”

Cody immediately went to his partners, feeling frightened about this mission. Especially the painful mental scarring that they were experiencing right now.

“But, other than that, it should be a simple cakewalk! Speaking of, I’m still feeling kind of full from that last bit of cake.”

Now Cody was wondering whether or not he was even being serious. Was this Grand Master even real?

“I remember facing that guy once,” Loudred said.

“You fought him as well?” Turtwig asked.

“Did you win?” Cyndaquil asked.

Corphish began to laugh, leaving Loudred to growl in annoyance, since he knew what happened.

“He lost so badly!” Corphish laughed.

“Hey, it’s not my fault Wi---“

“UTTER ANOTHER WORD AND I’LL BE THE ONE RIPPING YOUR ORGANS OUT!!!!” Chatot shouted in anger.

“Uhh…yes, sir, sorry, sir.”

So many thoughts were running through Cody’s head right about now. The biggest thought was whether or not this Grand Master of All Things Bad was even real!

“Your mission starts tonight,” Wigglytuff said. “Have fun!”

“All right,” Chatot said. “You’re all dismissed!”

“YES SIR!!!” they all said.

Cody and his team headed back to their room. They were probably going to be there for the last time, in more ways than one. Buneary ended up following them, hoping to give them support.

“Hey,” Buneary said.

“Oh, hey, Buneary,” Cody said. “Come to wish us luck.”

“Yep! I’ll be helping with the gang.”

“The gang? With what?”

Buneary realized that she said something she shouldn’t have, so she tried to make a tiny lie to them.

“You know, helping the guild; making sure that you all stay alive.”

“That’s really thoughtful,” Turtwig said.

“Yeah, it’s the least I could do.”

Buneary sighed, realizing how close that was just now.

“Well, I better get going! Got a lot of things to take care of!”

She headed off in search of the others, while Cody and his team hung out for a while, at least until tonight. Whether or not the Grand Master existed, they were ready for him no matter what. This mission may be the toughest yet, but who knew? Maybe they would graduate after all!

----------------------------------------------------

The gang went through Mystifying Forest, the fog-filled forest in the dead of night, in search of Luminous Springs. Cody still wondered about the Grand Master. Does he really exist, or was it all a fabrication? The guild had been acting strange ever since they gave him the mission. Cody still couldn’t figure it out at all!

“Hey, I’ve been wondering,” Cody began. “Is this Grand Master of All Things Bad even real?”

“Why do you ask, Cody?” Turtwig asked.

“Well, it seems odd that the guild been acting strange since they mentioned him. Chatot threatened at Loudred for no reason and Buneary seemed to have made up that excuse. It doesn’t make sense.”

“You do have a point.”

“Well, either way, we’ll pass this!” Cyndaquil said. “Right?”

“Yeah, I’m sure we’ll pull through!” Cody said. “Just…it seems…odd, that’s all.”

They soon heard someone approaching them from the distance. They looked behind them to see two familiar faces, at least to them. One was a small, teddy bear-like Pokemon with caramel fur and a tan colored mouth with a white, crescent moon pattern on their foreheads. The other was a large bear with a tan colored muzzle and a similar colored ring on his chest. They were known as Teddiursa and Ursaring, respectively.

“Hey, I know you two,” Cody said. “You used to hang out in the village a lot! Teddiursa and Ursaring, right?”

“Yep,” Teddiursa replied. “We didn't expect to see you here!”

“We figured this area was a secret,” Ursaring said. “What brings a team like you out in these necks of the woods?”

“We're on a graduation mission,” Turtwig said. “We complete this and we'll be graduates of the guild!”

“We just have to reach the Luminous Springs and we're set!”

“Hey, that's we're going too!”

They all reacted in shock. They had no idea why they were going through, but after hearing about the Grand Master of All Things Bad, they feared for the worst for them.

“But why?” Cody asked. “Don't you know about the huge monster here?!”

The two had no clue what they were talking about. Cody began to explain about the Grand Master of All Things Bad to them, but the two seemed to be confused.

“Sorry, but I've never heard of him before,” Ursaring said.

“Yeah, we play in this forest all the time and nothing bad's even happened to us! You must have misheard it.”

Cody wondered if they were right after all, and that he didn't exist.

“If he's real, chances are, we would have encountered him,” Ursaring said.

“Yeah,” Teddiursa replied. “Now come on, we have to get going. If you want we can show you where Luminous Springs is!”

“You'll do that for us?” Turtwig asked.

“I won't tell if you won't.”

They headed off, feeling proud that they managed to get a lead on all of this. Cody sighed in relief at the fact that the Grand Master never existed to begin with. He began to follow Teddiursa and Ursaring into the forest and hoped to find this Luminous Spring.

“It's so nice of you to help us out!” Cody said.

“Hey, it's the least we can do for our heroes!” Teddiursa replied.

They continued onward, leaving Teddiursa and Ursaring to get ahead. Colm felt happy that he would get the easy way out and not have to deal with the Grand Master of All Things Bad.

“Looks like this'll be easier than I thought,” Cody thought. “Nothing can stop us no---”

Suddenly, a pile of leaves that they stepped on fell into a pit, with Team Hunters hovering above said pit. They immediately fell through, causing them to scream in fright. They fell to the ground, leaving the trap to be covered from above by other Pokemon.

“Wh-What's going on?!” Cody asked.

“The Grand Master!” Cyndaquil replied nervously. “He exists!”

“This must be some error! They said that the Grand Master doesn't exist!”

They all heard a crazy and maniacal laughter within the pitch black area. They all huddled together and freak out.

“YOU FOOLS WILL SUFFER FOR TRESPASSING!” a dark and creepy, and yet feminine, voice roared.

“It's...It's the...” Cody stuttered nervously. “THE GRAND MASTER OF ALL THINGS BAD!!!!”

They soon saw more eyes popping up in the darkness of all shapes and sizes. They wondered what to do now.

“This is your last moment. Any last words?”

“Cody, what do we do?” Cyndaquil asked.

“Keep in mind that should you all decide to fight me, I can guarantee that none of you will survive!”

Cody gulped nervously. Did he really have to fight him, he thought. He wondered if his life was worth it. He soon realized that he had been through worse.

“No way!” Cody said adamantly.

“Pardon?” The Grand Master asked.

“You don't scare me! I'll defeat you no matter what! We need to reach the springs and you're not going to stop us!”

Turtwig and Cyndaquil realized that he was right after all and prepared to fight him.

“Cody's right!” Turtwig said. “You're not going to stop us!”

“Yeah, we'll beat you!” Cyndaquil said in the same manner.

“You think so? Well, we'll just see how strong you are when---”

As he continued talking, the trap above opened up, letting some light inside. The Grand Master stopped talking when he realized he had been found out.

“Hey,” Cody said. “Isn't that…?”

The light managed to reveal everyone within the cave. The Grand Master of All Things Bad was none other than the Perfect Apple obsessed Pokémon: Wigglytuff. In fact, every single member of the guild was within the large, lit cave!

“Wigglytuff?” Turtwig asked.

“I don't get it,” Cody said.

Chatot growled in anger. His fury increased to new heights to the point where he couldn't take it anymore.

“BIDOOF, YOU IDIOT!!!!” he screamed.

Up above, Bidoof fell on his rear, wondering what he did wrong this time.

“I, uhh,” Bidoof said. “I just thought that...you all wanted some fresh air down there, so I...uh...”

Chatot smacked his forehead with his wing in disgust.

“I can't believe I dragged that moron onto this adventure!” Chatot said.

“All right, explain yourself, now!” Cody asked. “Where's this so-called 'Grand Master of All Things Bad' that you're telling us about?! Well, I don't see him anywhere!”

“Well, anyway, this is the final exam,” Chatot said. “Let's get on with it.”

“You really think the Grand Master of All Things Bad doesn't exist?” Wigglytuff asked. “Surely you can't be that naïve!”

Cody and the others wondered what he meant by that. Soon, Wigglytuff got a nasty look on his face and smiled at them.

“Because I'm...THE GRAND MASTER OF ALL THINGS BAD!!!!”

They all wondered what had gotten into Wigglytuff. Chatot realized that he accidentally goofed up and tried to go along with it.

“Y-Yes,” he said nervously. “And I'm the Grand Master's servant! We all are! Prepare to face your doom, trespassers!”

They all slowly crept towards him as Team Hunters slowly backed away.

“Wh-what's gotten into you guys?” Cody asked. “Hey, say something!”

They all wondered if he was really the Grand Master. He soon knew now that there might just be a Grand Master, and he had possessed all of the guild members. Now they had to attack their own friends! How were they going to handle this now?


To Be Continued!