~\({O})/~
5.
The Council of Baram
~\({O})/~
Baram Town ~ Air Continent
~Mawile and Archen~
“It’s too windy up here…” Archen commented as he and Mawile crossed yet another fenceless, sky-high bridge between the massive windmills of Baram Town.
“You’re in a better mood today,” Mawile noted, tucking her journal back into her bag.
“Yeah…” Archen ruffled his feathers nervously. “Well, sleep does wonders for the brain, it turns out. You could stand to get some every now and then.”
Mawile chose to ignore his obvious jab. She knew that Archen simply didn’t like heights, and it would do them no good to get riled up before a meeting with the city council.
Archen looked upwards, seeing not the shadow of another bridge above them but only the looming presence of the windmills’ massive vanes. The thought to look down briefly crossed his mind, but he immediately dismissed it and edged just a little farther from the ends of the bridge. Flying types were flying types, but
somemon could have thought to install fences for those who weren’t blessed with the power of flight, he thought to himself.
A pair of murkrow fluttered forwards as Mawile and Archen approached the end of the bridge.
“Names; appointments,” one of the murkrow sighed, despite knowing well who the pokemon who stood before him were.
“Mawile and Archen, Expedition Society,” Mawile responded without skipping a beat. “Here to provide testimony on the petrification of Pokemon Plaza. Appointments scheduled for 9:00 A.M. on Wednesday.”
The murkrow checked his clipboard, routinely confirming Mawile’s information (which he knew to be true already), then stepped aside.
“The mayor will be with you shortly,” The murkrow bowed, glad to be over yet another routine checking. “Until then, please enjoy your stay in the waiting room.”
Mawile walked forward, throwing open the doors with proper grace as so to see they didn’t hit the wall when she and Archen walked in.
The waiting room was suitably lofty for the space inside the highest windmill in Baram. Many open-paned windows decorated the wall, and the floor was decked out in an impressive display of ceramic tile-art. Archen didn’t like the way it felt against his talons, but he was happier to be over the fenceless bridges between the windmills than he was annoyed by the floor. Mawile, who wasn’t bothered by the tiles at all, strode over and promptly took a seat on one of the lobby’s backless stools.
Archen didn’t have the patience to sit, and didn’t even consider the notion until he noticed he was getting several looks from the few other occupants of the waiting room. One of the windmill’s goliath weathervanes slowly turned over the windows and blotted out all light in the room. When the vane had finished its journey over the window, Archen was sitting near Mawile, with little evidence he had been loitering around in the first place.
“’That right? Well, eat a mudkip for all I care! I’ll poop wherever I darn well
feel like pooping!”
Mawile looked up from her personal logs at the insult, watching a livid staraptor throw open the gem-encrusted doors that led further into the windmill and march out angrily. The staraptor made a gesture with its wings Mawile refused to record out of simple decency, then walked back out onto the bridge and let the large double doors slam behind it.
“That was… irregular,” Mawile quietly commented to herself, marking down the broad outline of the event in her logs for future reference. Archen could just hear the bell ringing from below, chiming nine times to announce the arrival of 9:00 A.M.
A third murkrow stepped out of the office, carrying a scroll in its wings.
“Appointments scheduled for ‘Mawile’, ‘Archen’, at 9:00 A.M.?” he wearily announced.
“Present.” Mawile stepped down from the stool, discreetly making sure Archen was tailing after her as she walked in the door. Archen ruffled his feathers once more as the doors closed behind the pair of explorers, and then they faced the immense gut of Mayor Honchkrow.
Mayor Honchkrow gestured to a pair of stools with his wings, prompting Mawile and Archen to take a seat.
“I must apologize for my previous client,” Honchkrow said, trying to hide the edge of embarrassment in his tone. “I’m sure you… ‘heard’ all about that on your way in.”
Neither Mawile nor Archen spoke.
“Did you know it’s customary on the Grass Continent to just do your ‘business’ wherever you please?” Mayor Honchkrow asked, after ten seconds of silence had elapsed.
“…No. We did not,” Mawile choked out, causing Archen to spare her a confused look. She must have noticed but opted to completely ignore him, keeping her eyes trained on Honchkrow.
“Well, neither did I,” Honchkrow continued; a false cheerful gait to his voice. “Until I became mayor.”
He clapped his wings together, leaning forward.
“Anyway… now that we have that behind us, let’s get down to the business at hand, namely: Why were two
cartographers sent to scope out the crisis on the Grass Continent?” he eyed Mawile as if scoping her for falsehoods.
Both Mawile and Archen shared an indecipherable look at the Mayor’s sudden turn in behavior. That was not the business at hand.
Now, now, nothing wrong with maps,” Honchkrow corrected himself. “I love a good map. They make great napkins. But when mere map-making suddenly becomes interference on the level of a Rescue Federation, one has to assume…”
Honchkrow let the sentence die in his gizzard, the implications ringing clearer than his voice.
“I think you’ll find our alibi steady, both legally and in practice,” Mawile stated calmly, doing her best to keep her cool as always. “As the largest and nearest available registered Exploration Establishment, the Expedition Society was granted the legal power to act in HAPPI’s stead, due to weather blocking any teams arriving from the Mist Continent. Once we arrived and learned of what happened, we proceeded in accordance with the proper instructions issued by HAPPI guidelines via electrical transmission, and are here to deliver our eyewitness reports on the matter.”
Honchkrow was left silent, trying to process the graveller-load of information he had just been saddled with. Mawile took the opportunity to capitalize upon the mayor’s moment of silence, digging in her large exploration bag and producing both her and Archen’s Expedition Gadgets.
“That’ll solve your legal woes,” Mawile told the flabbergasted mayor, setting both Expedition Gadgets on the desk.
“Don’t let it go to your head.” Honchkrow regained his composure at the last minute, staring Mawile down with all his girth. “Or… heads. Which one is it again?”
“Head, thank you.”
Without another word, Mawile clicked both gadgets on, pressing the photo button and slowly scrolling through the photos of the dilapidated Pokemon Plaza. Honchkrow began to fidget uneasily as he viewed the slideshow of perfect stone statues, taking a deep breath once it was over.
“Something else you might want to know,” Archen began before Honchkrow could say anything. “We were attacked right after we took those photos.”
Mawile mentally cursed. How could she have forgotten?
“Is this true?” Honchkrow asked; one eyebrow raised.
“It is.” Mawile scrolled back through the photos. “We were ambushed by what appeared to be a walking anomaly, for lack of a better term. You can see the very edge of it in a few of these photos.” She stopped on the photos for good measure, allowing Honchkrow to find the anomaly himself.
Honchkrow leaned back in his seat, taking a deep breath and rubbing his temples with his wings.
“I want those photos transferred to HAPPI. Send in the thingamabobs if you need to. And then… I want the Expedition Society to stay out of this. If I so much as
catch any of you on this continent before this whole thing blows over; there will be consequences. For both you and your Society. Now be a good ‘mon and go tell your employees that for me.”
Mawile gathered the Expedition Gadgets from the desk, stuffing them into her exploration bag and ushering Archen out. However, she could not help but stop at the doorway, making rare use of her back maw to speak to Honchkrow.
“The Expedition Society is not under my jurisdiction,” Mawile’s maw rasped out, raspy and guttural from years of non-use.
And if you were ever to meet the ‘mon with that power, you wouldn’t be so arrogant in his presence.
Honchkrow jumped in his seat at the sound of Mawile’s second voice.
“Oh! Silly me,” Mawile stated, hiding the smirk on her face. “It
is heads. The back maw has a mind of its own sometimes. I’d be wary of making it angry, if I were you.”
Honchkrow stayed frozen, as if unsure whether to believe the explorer or not.
“S-same difference,” he finally managed to say.
Mawile let the doors to Honchkrow’s office close behind her. And as the pair of explorers made their way down the massive windmills, even erudite, disciplined Mawile couldn’t help but hide the beginnings of a well-earned grin spreading across her face.
~\({O})/~
School Grounds
~Espurr~
“Not that one, dangnabbit!”
Nuzleaf thwacked one of Farfetch’d’s spare teaching stalks into the board. “This one is ‘E’. Find ‘Z’ for me. Zzzz.”
Espurr was reaching the end of her patience threshold. Nuzleaf was not a born teacher- he had apparently expected her to memorize the entire alphabet within one teaching session, which inevitably led to Espurr playing a large-scale guessing game as she tried to find the letters he asked for. She’d even avoided the ‘E’ for him as much as possible.
Which; unsurprisingly, had led to disaster. Nuzleaf had not once asked for ‘E’ – The only letter Espurr was sure she knew – instead pointing her towards other obscure markings like ‘I’ and ‘M’ and ‘Q’. The class had gone on for the better part of an hour now, and both Espurr and Nuzleaf were well on the way to losing their cool.
“Crapshoots.” Nuzleaf glanced at the sky, taking in the morning sun and gauging the time. “We’re outta time.” Espurr took that as cause for celebration.
“Since ya
still didn’t manage to find the darn ‘Z’,” Nuzleaf snapped, thwacking Farfetch’d’s stick to the board again. “It’s here.” He pointed to the very last letter at the end of the board, which Espurr had purposely avoided because it seemed too obvious. “The zigzagoon zigs an’ zags like a Z. See them zags??”
“Mr. Nuzleaf?” Espurr raised her hand before the frustrated Nuzleaf could pack his bags and leave the school.
“What is it?” Nuzleaf questioned sharply.
“Why don’t you just do that for all the letters?” asked Espurr innocently.
Nuzleaf didn’t answer that. He suddenly looked incredibly flustered, his face turning bright green.
“...Didn’ think of it,” he sheepishly admitted.
“Frakkin’ blue monkey…” Espurr heard him mutter to himself as he marched off. “Can shove his ‘guard duty waive’ up his arse. Didn’ tell me it was
this hard ta teach pokemon how ta read the alphabet…”
Espurr tilted her head in confusion as she watched Nuzleaf’s figure become smaller as he entered the village plaza in the distance. In the three days she had been here, she had not heard anything about ‘guard duty’... that would be something for her to look into later.
Or now.
~\({O})/~
“I don’t know anything about that, why do you ask?” Deerling absentmindedly scratched at her tawny new dark green coat of fur with a hoof. Espurr sat in the unoccupied desk next to Deerling’s (that Pancham had been so insistent upon taking, but Deerling had requested remain vacant for her own sanity).
“One of the teachers let it slip,” Espurr explained. “I’m still getting the hang of things around here, so I thought I’d ask around.”
“That is really weird,” Deerling admitted, tilting her head. “Although… my parents are always out on ‘important business’ every few weeks… maybe they’re guarding the Ancient Barrow?” she shrugged the best she could. “That’s the only way I can explain it.”
“Ancient Barrow?” Espurr asked.
“Oh. Right. I keep forgetting you’re new. It’s the molt, I swear it…” Deerling massaged her forehead with her hooves briefly.
“The Ancient Barrow is this creepy house that was already standing when the village was founded,” Deering continued. “No-mon knows who built it, or what it was even for. It’s on the outskirts of town, so you won’t see it unless you actually leave the plaza, but seriously. Not even Tricky’s been past the front gate.”
Even Espurr knew that if Tricky refused to enter a building or other spooky place, that was a major red flag.
The other students were beginning to file in now, supervised by Audino instead of Watchog. Espurr had to admit the change in atmosphere was pleasant.
“Hey, Espurr! Over here!”
Tricky, who had barged into the classroom at some point, waved back at Espurr from up-front. Deerling’s face darkened.
“Remember our talk?” she nudged Espurr with a hoof for her attention, her tone suddenly hushed and urgent. Espurr nodded. It sounded like fair advice, especially after last night’s encounter. Espurr couldn’t deny that she still felt a little shaken from yesterday’s encounter. It was finally setting in that they could have
died. They almost
had died. Even Tricky had lost her bearings in there.
“Yo Deerling!” Pancham hopped over his desk and into his seat, leaning back with his feet on the desk. “Looking good with that new summer coat—”
“Go stick your head in a trash can and
faint, Pancham.” Deerling fired back.
“You aren’t switching seats, right??” Tricky called back. Espurr hopped down from the vacant desk and walked over to her own.
“What were you doing with Deerling?” Tricky asked once Espurr had sat down.
“Sometimes it’s enjoyable to spend time with other pokemon for a change,” Espurr told her. Tricky looked somewhat dejected.
“Attention, class!” everymon looked up from their chatter as Farfetch’d took his place at the teacher’s desk. Watchog lumbered off towards his post. looking like he had lost an entire night’s worth of sleep.
“As I’m sure I don’t need to remind you…” Farfetch’d picked up one of his trademark leeks from the ground, crossing off student’s names quickly. “...Tomorrow marks the date of the first of three pre-summer exams. Namely, my exam. As students, you have a right to know what to expect. And as a teacher, I have the right to brief you on it.”
Farfetch’d pulled a paper out of the history book he had brought with him, straightening it and beginning to read off it slowly.
“The history exam will consist of a set of problems on sheets of paper, written in the Unown language. Participation is mandatory for all students, and where you fall on the test will affect your curriculum next year.”
Espurr quickly raised her hand.
“Mr. Farfetch’d, am I to…” she began, without waiting for Farfetch’d to call on her.
Farfetch’d held his wing in the air to silence her, his eyes remaining on the paper.
“Students who feel they cannot complete the written exam for whatever reason may request an oral session from any of the teachers,” Farfetch’d finished, lowering his wing. Espurr quickly brought her hand down. She knew which teacher she wanted to ask.
~\({O})/~
“I’m afraid not,” Farfetch’d said, taking a sip from his recess wooden cup of tea. “I’ve already arranged a session with Goomy for the test. I will direct you to Nurse Audino, however. She’s popular with the less able students.”
“I’m sorry, I just can’t,” Audino told Espurr, setting out the lunch prep. “Deerling came in and asked me only a minute ago. Writing with your nose can’t be easy, so I said yes. Why don’t you ask the Principal?”
“Mine,” Shelmet growled, throwing open the door to the principal’s office with the pointy side of his shell and letting it whack Espurr in the face. Espurr, who was sick and tired of having her face shoved into things, had half a mind to drag him out of there herself and throw him into a wall just to
see how he liked it.
As the door closed behind Shelmet, the implication finally hit Espurr full-force. There was only one teacher left, and she surely wasn’t going to learn Unown in a single day…
…Oh no.
“What’s your excuse?”
Espurr spun around, startled. Pancham leaned against the side of the School Clinic, his arms folded.
“You’re a handsie. Just like me.” he made a point of wiggling his fingers just for emphasis. “You don’t need an oral session. Unless…” A cunning smirk spread across his face. “There’s something you’re not telling us?”
Espurr wasn’t dumb enough to fall for that twice.
“I have nothing to say to you,” she told him flatly, then left him on the spot.
“Where’ve you been all recess?” Tricky fell into stride with Espurr as they walked down towards the classroom.
“Trying to get an oral session for the test,” Espurr responded. She looked at Tricky’s paws, which looked in no way suitable for writing with. “Don’t you need one?”
“Nah,” Tricky replied cheerily. “I write with my claws! It might come in handy, when you’re trapped in a mystery dungeon without a pencil, and you have to write a message to save your life...”
“One minute!” Watchog yelled grumpily from below. “Everymon had better get down here!”
Tricky spun on her heels, casually walking backwards down the path.
“Oh- that book on mystery dungeons? I checked it out. And guess what? There’s a small dungeon right near Pop’s oran berry fields! It’s where all the combee make their honey, and they sell it to Kecleon every year, so there’s
no way it’s dangerous. Wanna go exploring with me after detention?”
“Tricky…” Espurr carefully skipped a lopsided step in the path. “I think it would be best to take a break, after what happened yesterday.”
“But…” Tricky struggled to come up with an excuse. “Once we join the Expedition Society, we aren’t gonna get breaks, so why take any now?”
There it was again. Expedition Society.
“I never agreed to join the Expedition Society,” Espurr said matter-of-factly.
“Sacrilege.”
Tricky couldn’t help but stifle a laugh at Espurr’s shocked face. “C’mon- I’m kidding! You take jokes waaaay too seriously. Besides…” Tricky whispered, as they entered the classroom and took their seats.
“I’ll convince you in time... ”
The classroom went deathly quiet as Watchog lumbered up like a zombie possessed, then took his spot at the teacher’s desk.
“May I have your attention, please,” he muttered out, looming over the students from the teacher’s desk. “Firstly, I’m sure I don’t need to remind everymon of what happens if I catch you using the skills taught in this classroom unauthorized outside of it.”
“Detention for life,” the class wearily recited back in unison. “We know.”
“Good.” Watchog picked up one of Farfetch’d’s leeks and whacked the blackboard unceremoniously like a gong.
“Moves in dungeons,” he began loudly. “We already know that all pokemon can use Moves indiscriminately. What type you are affects what kind of Moves you can use: For instance, a fire-type will use fire moves; a water-type will use water moves; etcetera.” He paced the classroom from side to side frenetically like a military commander. “However, Moves also draw from pokemons’ bodies indiscriminately. The energy required to perform a single Move would be enough to completely consume the energy of a small animal.”
A small bird chirped in the trees above. The class silently stared up at the canopy, wondering what a Move could do to it.
“Lucky for you lot of troublemakers, however…” Watchog continued. “Pokemon have much higher energy rates than small animals. Or any animals in general. As pokemon, you can both use and endure Moves… up to a certain threshold. Every time you use a Move, that depletes some of your internal energy. It also requires the same energy to properly defend yourself against Moves.”
In the back of the classroom, Shelmet lay asleep in his seat, having snuck in and dozed off at some point in the class.
“Everymon awake in the classroom!!” Watchog yelled at him. Shelmet snapped awake, quickly sitting straight up in his seat. Espurr took the opportunity to raise her hand, and since she was at the front of the class, Watchog had no choice but to call on her.
“What is it?” he asked.
“By that logic, it’s possible to die by using a powerful enough move, right?” she asked nonchalantly.
The entire classroom looked somewhat shocked by Espurr’s casual use of the word ‘die’. Watchog quickly wiped the momentary surprise from his face, returning to business immediately afterwards. “I’ll give you that one,” he responded after a moment. “It is
theoretically possible for a pokemon to use a move powerful enough to consume their entire energy force. However, your body will shut down long before that happens.”
Watchog addressed the entire class. “What happens when your body is pushed past its energy threshold?” he asked loudly.
“You faint,” most of the class replied back.
“Fainting.” Watchog struck the blackboard like a gong again. “Fainting is what happens when your body loses too much energy. You can Faint from hunger, Move fatigue, or by getting hit with enough Moves. In civilized settings, making your opponent Faint is the universally accepted method of winning a Pokemon Battle. But in Dungeons, Fainting can mean the difference between life and death.”
Watchog cast his intense gaze towards Tricky. “And that is why
none of you should be playing around in mystery dungeons,” He finished, glaring at the fennekin accusingly. At Tricky’s determined smirk of ‘Never!’, Watchog changed gears, chucking the leek to its side by the teacher’s desk.
“While going into an actual mystery dungeon is far too unsafe for the likes of you right now,” Watchog went on, “the Principal has given me express permission to use my Vice Principal Powers-” Tricky fail to suppress a loud snort of laughter “-to turn this classroom into a Fully-Safety-Regulated Mystery Dungeon!
Ping-Shapow-Whazam!”
Watchog snapped and clapped his fingers together repeatedly, the sounds coming from his mouth devolving into indistinguishable sputtering noises as he continued.
“We’re still in the classroom,” Tricky pointed out after Watchog had finished.
“Yeah. Lame.” Pancham traded looks with a still-sleepy Shelmet.
“Use your imagination,” Watchog grumbled. “It’s not like you’re in any shortage of that.”
He walked in front of the teacher’s desk, staring down the students in their seats.
“Pair up! All of you!” Watchog clapped his hands together. “We’re going to be practicing using Moves today.” And then he looked Espurr’s way, and Espurr thought she noticed a glint in his eyes.
“I need a couple of volunteers…” Watchog began, his eyes gliding to two of the seats at the front of the class. “Espurr, Tricky!” he snapped. “Would you like to volunteer to demonstrate?”
“Why not.” Oblivious to whatever Watchog was planning, Tricky got up from her seat, tapping Espurr on the shoulder with her tail as she passed. Espurr got up from her desk, not taking her eyes off Watchog the entire time. She’d play along until she had an idea of what he was doing.
Watchog positioned them on opposite sides of the teacher’s desk, making them back up until they were standing against opposing sides of the classroom.
“On my mark!” Watchog began, raising his arm into the air. “I want you both to hit each other with your strongest Moves.” Espurr moved her eyes from Watchog to Tricky, who was busy conjuring an ember in her chest. Tricky opened her mouth, and Espurr saw the flickering flame that burned in the back of her throat.
“Entire books have been written on the art of learning Moves,” Watchog declared for the benefit of the class. “But my opinion? The best way of learning moves is in practice. Start!!”
Watchog’s arm came flying down, and in an instant, Tricky planted her paws into the ground and shot a blast of flame straight at Espurr. At a loss for ideas, Espurr did the only feasible thing she could think of in the moment- she ducked. The Ember went straight over her head and dissipated in the distance as it flew off.
Espurr slowly picked herself up from the ground, ignoring the way her coat stung where she’d hit the dirt.
Watchog sputtered in annoyance. “What was
that??” he questioned annoyedly. “Again!”
Espurr and Tricky took their positions once more. Watchog stood against the teacher’s desk, raising his arm once more.
“On my mark!”
It was at that point that Espurr realized she had no idea what she was doing. This must have been his plan. He must have known that she didn’t know how to use Moves somehow!
“Ready?” Watchog surveyed the both of them. Tricky nodded readily, practically bouncing in place. Espurr resumed her fighting position. Watchog had said that all pokemon could use Moves indiscriminately, right? Well, she was a pokemon. Logic dictated that she could use a Move.
“Start!”
Once more, Tricky launched an Ember straight at Espurr. And this time, it didn’t miss its target. Espurr was sent flying, landing a good few feet back against the edge of the blackboard tree.
“And
that is how to properly use a Move!” Watchog clapped his hands together in applause. Espurr slowly picked herself up from the tree, biting back the dull ache that had popped up where the fracture in her arm used to be.
“Alright; next pair, over here!” Watchog pointed to the ground in front of the teacher’s desk. “You two. Up against the wall with everymon else!”
Pancham and Shelmet rudely pushed Deerling and Goomy aside as Espurr and Tricky took their spots against the notice board next to the steps to the clinic.
“No misbehavior; either of you.” Watchog raised his arm again, eyeing both of them suspiciously. “Three… Two… One…”
“Start!”
Tricky fired another Ember from her mouth, which Espurr narrowly avoided. Watchog gazed down at her disapprovingly as she picked herself up from the ground.
“Again!”
Espurr was hit in the face.
“Again!”
Espurr was sent flying against the desks.
“Again!”
Espurr charged forward with a stick in her hands-
“That’s cheating!”
“My throat hurts,” Tricky complained. “Can we do somemon else for a while?”
“Switch!”
“Wow,” Pancham smirked as Espurr and Tricky took their places against the wall. “You guys are getting
beat. I’d hate to see you have to go up against me.”
“I don’t understand it…” Espurr stared down at her paws, frustration building up in the back of her head. Why wasn’t she able to use any Moves? She didn’t have an explanation, no matter how hard she thought.
She looked up at the sounds of crashing coming from the front of the classroom, where an obviously faking Deerling had just let Goomy tackle her to the ground. Espurr thought back to all the training rounds she had been forced to endure in the last fifteen minutes. She ran a mental tape in her head, perusing everything that had transpired in that time. Watchog’s pomp… getting pummeled to the ground… all the getting pummeled to the ground… and Tricky’s warmup.
And then it clicked. Maybe she needed time to warm up!
“Mr. Watchog?” Espurr raised her paw once more. Watchog looked like he wanted to correct a certain honorific, but bit it back for the sake of the class. ”Yes?” He asked; a hint of suspicion in his voice.
“I’d like to try one more time.”
Watchog thought it over for the better part of a minute. Then, he sighed, and pointed to the space in front of the teacher’s desk. Tricky let out a wordless groan, slumping her head in defeat. She began to trudge towards her spot in the classroom slowly.
“Not you.” Watchog verbally stopped Tricky in her tracks. “I promised Audino I’d leave you all relatively unharmed, so up to the clinic you go. Now!”
Without another word, Tricky changed her course towards the school clinic, bounding up the stairs quickly.
“Any volunteers?” Watchog asked the rest of the class.
“I’ll do it.” Pancham’s smooth voice rang out against the silence of the other students. Espurr watched him saunter up to the other side of the teacher’s desk, taking a fighting position confidently.
“One more time! On my mark!” Watchog raised his arm, glancing at both students. “Everymon ready?”
Espurr closed her eyes, blotting out the world. There had to be something she could use. Perhaps her mind trick she had picked up yesterday… except that she couldn’t seem to get ahold of
him, and she didn’t want Watchog to accuse her of cheating if she lifted anything else.
“Start!”
Pancham wasted no time charging towards her, his fists brimming with colorless energy. He was going to use a Physical Move on her. But Espurr wasn’t going to let him. Something twitched in the back of Espurr’s mind, and she grabbed it-
-And suddenly, there was the sound of a large
‘boom!!’, and Espurr felt herself get blown to the ground, and then she couldn’t bear to open her eyes again for several more minutes.
~\({O})/~
“...Safety. Regulated!”
The rantings of Watchog slowly trickled through the ringing fuzz that was Espurr’s hearing. “Because what could a bunch of kids do?? But
no…”
“Oi! Watchog! Calm yourself!” Farfetch’d squawked in the background.
“Calm myself?!” Watchog sputtered.
“Look at the classroom! Just think of the carpenting bill for all this! What Move even was that??”
“It wasn’t a Move.” The principal’s voice rang out near Espurr. She could hear his footsteps near her ear. He must have been nearby. “This is what happens when a psychic type pokemon lets their mental power run amok. Luckily for both us and her, she is still young, so the blast wasn’t fatal. However… most psychic types master their talents before they even walk. To see somemon of her age with so little control over her mind is curious; to say the least. Nurse Audino, if you would like to do the honors?”
“Yes, Principal.” There was another set of footsteps, and then Espurr felt herself get lifted off the ground.
“Not fatal; my
tail…” Espurr heard Watchog mutter in the distance. “Piece of the blackboard nearly got me in the heart.” She tried to move, but felt Audino adjust her in her arms to stop her from falling out.
“Stay still for me, please,” she heard Audino whisper in her ears.
A single thought plagued Espurr’s mind as she was carried up into the clinic: Logic was infallible, but also ruthless.
And then: What an idiot she had been.
After that the ringing and the headache took over for a little while.
~\({O})/~
“Holy mystery dungeon!” Tricky hollered; leaning out the window. “The classroom is wrecked!”
“So wrecked…” Shelmet said in between bites of food, “That school should be cancelled for the summer?”
“Nice try.” Audino said, setting Espurr’s lunch aside and taking a bite of an apple. In the corner, Watchog stared out the window and sputtered to himself in disbelief.
Principal Simipour poured himself a wooden cup of Orangeberry Tea and blew on it to cool it off.
“The classroom’s destruction should do nothing to impede our regular school schedule,” he said. “Classes will continue as normal.”
That garnered collective grumbles from all the other students. Simipour took a sip of his tea indifferently.
Espurr slowly felt the effects of the headache coming off her, until she was able to sit up properly without the entire clinic spinning in front of her.
“Doing better now?” Farfetch’d looked down at Espurr.
Espurr nodded. “I think so.”
“Atta girl.” Farfetch’d lightly tapped Espurr on the head with his leek, before moving off to another part of the clinic.
“Espurr!”
Espurr barely had time to glance in the direction of the voice before she was tackled by Tricky. Soon after, she was swarmed completely by the rest of the students.
“You totally destroyed the classroom!” Tricky exclaimed.
“It was awesome,” Pancham said. “You get that.”
“It was not awesome!” Deerling glanced at Pancham angrily. “Somemon could have been seriously hurt!” She looked at Espurr. “Are you alright?”
“I think I swallowed a wood chip,” Goomy complained.
“Maybe it’ll stay in your belly forever and ever…” Shelmet hissed to Goomy. A scathing look from Deerling a few seconds later made him retreat into his shell.
Audino placed Espurr’s lunch in front of her.
“Seeing as you’re doing better,” she began. “You should be well enough to serve detention after school as well.”
Watchog suddenly stood up.
“That reminds me…” he muttered to himself, before pushing open the door and heading towards the supply building in the distance.
Tricky flopped down upon the bean bag next to Espurr.
“I wonder what detention’s gonna be today?” She mused to herself idly.
~\({O})/~
“Separate detentions??” Tricky howled as Watchog pushed her out the door. “But why??”
“Doesn’t matter why,” Watchog grunted. “Any chance to separate troublemakers is a gift to me.” With that, he managed to push the fennekin out the door; Goomy sliming off in their wake.
“You’ll be helping me clean up the clinic today,” Audino said as Espurr approached. “Start by picking up all the bits and pieces of food strewn around the place. I’ll clean the back room.”
With that, she pulled on a pair of gloves and continued into the backroom. Espurr saw a bed and a wall of wooden filing cabinets as it closed after her.
Left to her own devices, Espurr got to picking up all the stray bits of food that had been scattered around the clinic by the rest of the students. There were copious amounts of nuts and seeds scattered everywhere (Because all pokemon ate like hooligans; apparently), the splotchy remains of an oran berry that looked like it had been stepped on, and an entire discarded apple core that was probably Shelmet’s. Espurr even picked out all the small bits of food that had landed in the straw beds (A task spent sorely wishing she could just rip all those bits and pieces out of the straw mentally without suffering a headache).
By the time she was done setting the empty wicker baskets on the counter that was almost taller than she was, Espurr felt thoroughly exhausted. She cast a look at the stack of baskets sitting on the counter to her right. They… had hidden something there; hadn’t they?
That stray thought was enough to jog Espurr’s memory. She had completely forgotten about it in the mess of a day that followed! Casting a look towards the back door of the clinic to make sure Audino wouldn’t suddenly burst in and catch her unawares, Espurr slowly pulled the stack of woven baskets towards her, being careful not to let them topple everywhere as she removed them from the countertop.
She found it stuck to the underside of the penultimate bin at the bottom of the stack; a folded piece of paper that had been glued there with some of Goomy’s slime. Espurr knew the baskets were recycled every three days. One more day; and Audino would have found it. Whatever ‘it’ was. Espurr neatly stacked all the baskets again (For they were quite the mess; just strewn all about), and was in the process of trying to scoot them all back up onto the counter when she heard the door open behind her. It took all her willpower not to jump and accidentally spill the baskets everywhere.
Audino, who had just exited the room and shook her duster off into the wastebin, caught sight of Espurr and quickly ran over to right the baskets.
“Oh, honey! You don’t need to do that part.” Audino took the baskets off Espurr’s hands and set them safely on the counter. She looked down at Espurr. “You should have asked me!”
Espurr quickly stepped on the paper so Audino wouldn’t see it. Audino handed Espurr a smaller duster, picking up her own once again. “The next step is dusting. I’ll get all the high places. I need you to dust in the lower spots for me. Can you do that?”
Espurr thought that was a strange question. She also thought she sensed Audino looking at her strangely as she hobbled off, doing her best to keep that paper out of Audino’s view. Once she had ducked behind the straw beds under the pretense of dusting there, Espurr was finally able to pull the paper off her foot. Not a few seconds later, Audino came dusting around the ceiling in that area, and it was all Espurr could do to slot the paper under the straw and make it look like she had been working.
It was going to be a while before she’d be able to sneak a peek, wasn’t it?
~\({O})/~
Café Connection
~Tricky~
“Just some regular old cleanup at Kangaskhan’s,” Watchog said as he made Tricky and Goomy march ahead of his through the square. “What could go wrong? Everything. Everything could go wrong. But
nothing. Is going. To go wrong. Or I’m not Vice Principal Watchog- Sharp left!”
Tricky and Goomy both made a sharp left, heading up the steps and into the candle-lit interior of the Café Connection.
“And what can I get for y- Oh! Watchog!” Kangaskhan almost dropped the stack of seashells she was drying as she caught sight of Watchog approaching the counter. “It’s not like you to bring students along for your evening drink.”
Ampharos, two seats away, set down his menu at the sound of the word ‘students’. He then slowly raised it up again, just until he could see over the top. Discreetly, he eyed the pair of pokemon by Watchog’s side. There was a goomy (That, Ampharos was not too concerned with), and the fennekin from before. And… nothing. Perhaps the espurr was late? Going off what he had heard from the townspeople, Fennekin and Espurr were like glue- they had rarely been seen apart ever since Espurr arrived in the village… three days ago.
“Alas, duty calls,” Watchog told Kangaskhan. “I’m here on official school business. These two troublemakers have landed themselves detention. I don’t suppose you have some chores they could help out with?”
“Doesn’t the school usually handle detentions?” Kangaskhan cocked a rocky eyebrow.
Watchog leaned in close over the counter.
“I’m not supposed to tell you this,” he began, his voice dramatically low. “But just between you and me: One of the students had an ‘accident’ in the classroom. A
big accident. Boom.”
“Boom… ?” The other eyebrow went up.
“Boom.” Watchog waved his hands out, exaggerating the effect as much as possible.
“Well…” Kangaskhan set the stack of seashells aside before she had another chance to drop and crack them. “I guess I could use some help behind the counter. A-“
Tricky suddenly blanched at the word that was about to leave Kangaskhan’s mouth. Kangaskhan quickly corrected herself before the word was uttered in its entirety, sending Tricky a brief apologetic look.
“I mean,
Tricky could do that. And Goomy could help me with the dirty dishes. Sound all right?”
Watchog leaned back, taking a seat on one of the stools next to the counter. “Sounds wonderful. And I will have that drink, by the way. Mago berry, please. Here- I’ll pay you-”
As Watchog searched the small bag he had brought along for his money pouch, Tricky quietly slunk off into another section of the restaurant. She
never ever got to come in here. It was going to be fun to see what made this place tick!
“H-hey! Wait for me!” Goomy called over the hustle and bustle of the restaurant. Tricky looked back, tilting her head at Goomy in confusion.
“What’s the problem?” Tricky asked.
“You can’t just leave me alone like that…” Goomy said, sliming up to Tricky. “Not like what you did yesterday.”
“What did we do yesterday?” Tricky’s voice oozed with confusion.
“You left me! All alone in the heat with the Vice Principal!” Goomy said; appalled by Tricky’s ignorance.
“Oh, that…” Tricky’s eyes suddenly lit up. “That was fun. You should have joined in!”
“I spent three hours in the hot sun waiting for you guys!” Goomy snapped. “I almost dried out! That wasn’t fun! That was unpleasant! And dusty!”
Their argument was beginning to turn the heads of a lot of serenity villagers. Tricky’s ears slowly lowered at Goomy’s comments.
“Sorry…” she muttered, turning around and trudging back to the front of the counter. Glancing back at Watchog, Goomy began to follow.
Tricky quickly scampered around the corner of the counter at Watchog’s silent command, where Kangaskhan propped her up on a moving cart against the counter.
“Don’t get too rowdy, okay?” Kangaskhan told Tricky. “I won’t have accidents in my restaurant. You’re my waiter for the night. Just take everymon’s orders and bring them to Houndoom in the kitchens. He’ll take it from there. You can start with this one: ‘One Mago berry drink; fermented.’ Got it?”
Tricky nodded so vigorously it unsettled Kangaskhan a little. “Alright then. Go!”
Tricky hopped down from the cart and sprinted into the kitchens, where a houndoom was mixing and chopping and simmering several different things almost simultaneously.
“Oi!” He paused the heating of one dish with his breath to snap at Tricky. “No kits in the kitchen!”
“But I’m the waiter!” Tricky announced with a slight air of pomp. “Also, I have all your orders, so you don’t wanna kick me out.”
Houndoom raised an eyebrow, taking a second to continue simmering the dish again. “Let’s see them, then.”
Tricky cleared her throat. “One Mago Berry-“
“Not like that!” Houndoom snapped. “You’re supposed to write them down first!” he went back to simmering the dish full force, ordering Tricky out with his eyes. Tricky was gone faster than a speeding Thunderbolt.
~\({O})/~
Baram Town ~ Air Continent
~Mawile and Archen~
“Once we get back to the Society, I am taking a long,
long nap,” Archen announced as he and Mawile idly strolled through the streets of Baram Town. “And then I’m not in charge of any off-continent missions for the next week.”
The lapras Mawile had chartered was running late, and the next wailord liner to the Water Continent wasn’t for another six hours. That left Mawile and Archen with nothing to do until their lapras arrived for them, and while Mawile would have much preferred to prematurely record the day’s events in her explorer’s log, Archen had almost forcefully dragged her out to see the town’s sights while they were here. In hindsight, Mawile couldn’t really complain. Baram Town
was a tourist location for a reason, after all, and it even made Mawile a little wistful that they wouldn’t be able to return for a while after this.
“Count your lucky wooloo, that’s all we’ll hear about it politically.” Mawile held on tightly to the exploration bag as they passed through what looked like a disassembled bird pokemons’ choir. “We’ll be officially out of HAPPI’s snouts once we hand over those photos to Cloud Nine, and then it’ll be down to Dedenne and the Chief to handle Meowth and the local news outlets.”
“Wherever he is.” Archen added candidly.
Mawile simply chose not to respond to that.
“I wonder that caused the delay?” Archen wondered as they passed a stall of dungeon supplies. “This particular Lapras is almost never late.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much on it,” Mawile responded. “We all run a little late on occasion.” She sent a pointed glance towards Archen with that last comment. Archen ruffled his feathers and annoyedly shrugged the comment off.
A sudden commotion that erupted from the docks only seconds later turned both Mawile and Archen’s heads. Without another word between them, the two explorers rushed in the direction of the harbor, pushing past several other ‘mon who were fleeing in the opposite direction.
A panicking swirlix pointed a trembling limb towards the water as they and a mob of other pokemon arrived
. “look…” she gasped out.
The source of all the commotion made both Archen and Mawile’s hearts skip a beat. For floating on the water was the stone statue of a lapras on a wooden barge; a note stuck to its chest in thick, loopy handwriting:
Your sins have risen from the grave to drag you back down with them. I am this world, as it lives and breathes.
Revel in the little time you have left; for your day of reckoning is nearly upon you.
Mawile dug in her bag with haste. She pulled out an expedition gadget – it didn’t matter which one – and snapped a photo of the atrocity floating before them. Then two others. And a fourth, just to be safe. Then she quickly pulled Archen away by the wing, the avian pokemon scrambling to keep up as she walked away from the docks at a brisk pace.
“W-what’s this about??” Archen squawked, trying not to end up with his poor feathers pulled out.
“This is better discussed at the inn,” Mawile said; but even her steady tone couldn’t help but betray the slightest hint of unease. “We don’t want to be standing here when the police show up.”
Even stubborn Archen had to admit that was advice best taken. He made more of an effort to catch up with Mawile, and neither of them cast a single look back on their hurried path to the inn.
“I know this may be a bad time,” Kecleon asked hopefully as the pair of explorers walked by his stall. “But have you heard any word on when my supplier will—“
“Don’t count on it,” Mawile told him flatly. And then they were gone.
~\({O})/~
School Clinic
~Espurr~
If there was one useful thing Espurr had learned all day, it was that so much work went into cleaning a single room she almost didn’t want to use rooms anymore; just for fear of messing them up. Audino hung the pair of feather dusters back up on the hooks jutting out the side of the school cabinet, finally sitting down on one of the straw beds.
“That’ll be the end of your detention for today.” Espurr, who had just finished emptying the contents of the wastebin into the compost out back, nodded in acknowledgement. She cast a glance at Audino to make sure she wasn’t looking, and then immediately ducked under the opposite straw bed in excitement. She removed the folded piece of paper she had slipped under the bed, holding it in both her hands. It was the moment of truth. She was finally going to see what had flown in on the breeze by chance. Unfolding the paper slowly, Espurr spread it out in front of her…
It was – or at least it looked like – a map. It wasn’t like she could read any of it, but the pictures of towns and small trails snaking every which way made it obvious what it was. Espurr wasn’t sure if that upheld her expectations, or let them down completely. What was such a thing doing flying around on the breeze? And who did it formerly belong to?
Never mind the fact that the largest town on the map was marked with a sigil that looked like a golden butterfree, and above it; more of those pesky Unown symbols that annoyed Espurr so. She could sound out a few of them, like ‘Live Town’, and of course Serenity Village, but the rest of them remained a mystery to her.
A route marked in bright red led all the way from Live Town, up into a mountain-surrounded basin and then down to what looked like (And Espurr assumed it was) Serenity Village. So that settled it. Whoever had previously been in ownership of this map had wanted to get from Live Town all the way here. And that somemon was either stuck wandering around the mountains without a clue as to where they were going, or they had turned back, or maybe; just maybe, they had already made it here…
…Ampharos. Of
course. He seemed like exactly the kind of ‘mon who would need a map. Exactly the kind of ‘mon who had lost a map. This must have been his. Espurr sat back against the straw bed, folding her arms and feeling quite the clever conspiracy theorist for figuring all that out. And now that she had deduced the owner of the mysterious map… only the one burning question remained: What was she going to
do with it?
“…Ms. Audino?”
Audino looked up from the book she was reading, which had some complicated title in Unown that Espurr couldn’t even hope to decipher. “Is something the matter?” she asked.
“Could I walk around town for a while?” Espurr asked, peeking up from behind the straw bed. “The sun won’t go down for another hour.”
“I don’t see why not…” Audino glanced out the window to check the sun. “Just make sure you’re back by sundown.”
And with that, Espurr suddenly was out the door so fast Audino couldn’t help but wonder if Tricky had been a bad influence on her.
~\({O})/~
Café Connection
~Tricky~
The normal waiter was an inkay, so there was no ink anywhere around the Café Connection to write with. But Tricky had found a fix for that. Oran berries were kind of like ink, and yes; she
had used up like ten of them (And nibbled a few when Kangaskhan wasn’t looking), but now she had something to write with! It was just a problem of remembering everything long enough to get it all down on paper, and hoping that Houndoom wouldn’t chew her out for misspelling a little something here and there.
Tricky scooted the moving cart over to the last pokemon currently in the café she hadn’t taken the order of yet, trying to get a good look at the pokemon who was obscured behind the giant menu.
“Can I get your order?” she asked cheerily.
“A plate of the vegetable pasta, please.” Ampharos put down the menu, clearing his throat politely. “And a raspberry sorbet- those always have been my guilty pleasure; I’m afraid…”
Tricky’s eyes practically bugged out of her head. “No.
Way!” she exclaimed, barely keeping her voice down to an excited hiss. “You’re Ampharos! We totally met in the square two days ago!!”
“That; we did.” Ampharos folded the menu and set it aside. “I must say, I was looking forward to meeting the two of you again. What kept your friend?”
“You mean Espurr?” Tricky tilted her head. “She got stuck with detention somewhere else…”
“How very unfortunate.” Ampharos had half a mind to ask what had gotten the two of them in detention, but decided to shelf the question in favor of more important things. “See,” he continued. “After our chance meeting, I got in touch with a close friend in the Expedition Society.” Tricky’s eyes widened and sparkled. “They pulled some strings with the top brass, and brought into my possession a pair of Junior Memberships.” Ampharos sighed. “I was going to gift them to the two of you, but presenting them with only one of you around… that just won’t do! It’ll have to wait until I can meet you both.”
Tricky almost yipped for joy with excitement! Her dream was finally coming true and she couldn’t believe it!!!!! She just stopped herself from throwing a joy tantrum in the middle of the restaurant, instead taking a deep breath and asking Ampharos the world’s most important question—
“Whencanwemeet?? I know this really good place and it’s quiet and there’s a nice view and—“
“Hmm…” Ampharos thought on it. “How about… in three days? I hear that’s when your schooldays end. I’ll be waiting for you at the hill with the tree at sundown.”
“Done!” Tricky excitedly shook Ampharos’ paw before the yellow pokemon could say another word, perching herself back on the metal cart immediately afterwards. “Now… what was that order again? I… kinda forgot.”
~\({O})/~
Serenity Village Outskirts
~Espurr~
It was getting close to sundown now. Espurr wandered the streets of Serenity Village, drawing the attention of no pokemon as they chattered amongst themselves and enjoyed the sunset breeze. The place wasn’t large, she concluded. The main plaza in the center of the village took up a good amount of space itself. There was the school to the north, the residential sectors to the south and west, and the village entrance lay to the east, all broken up by small rivers through the entire town. Simple, without a doubt. Espurr had taken the southern pathway, because that seemed like the most interesting place of the village but also because Carracosta’s was to the east and she had been there, seen that already.
The houses got sparser as she continued; within less than a minute, she had completely outstripped all buildings.
Except for the villa.
It stood all on its own out on the bay, on a small, swampy island that was only large enough to cover the house itself and the end of the dock leading to it. Espurr was sharp enough to figure out what it was: This was the Ancient Barrow.
She cast a furtive look both ways, just in case somemon caught her staring at the taboo location unawares. There was no way the old house was
actually haunted, of course. And even if it was, the ghosts obviously preferred to keep to themselves. The entrance to the house, sealed off with several large wooden planks, made that much clear.
It wouldn’t hurt to peek, half of Espurr’s mind said.
The other half told her to pack up those idiotic thoughts and march right back to the school.
The first half countered with the logically sound argument that she was never going to sleep until she knew exactly what was up with this house.
The second half reluctantly allowed a single peek.
And so Espurr slowly crept along the creaky, moss-covered dock, testing each new board hesitantly with her foot before she stepped on it. Why did this dock have to be so
long?
It didn’t get any better as she went. Some of the boards had literally rotted away, and Espurr was almost lost to the waters below when a board she stepped on snapped off and tumbled down into the river. And that was to say nothing of the desolate feeling that pervaded the entire island. It made Espurr feel like she was constantly being watched, and regardless of whether she was or not, it solidified one chief concept in her mind that she accepted as fact: There was something
wrong with this house.
With this
place. The entire island was evil; a blight upon the village and she was sure of it, and she just wanted to leave before something bad happened…
…And then she looked at the Ancient Barrow itself. It
would be folly not to at least take a look while she was here. It would spare her the return trip, at least.
Espurr trudged through the mud towards the crooked house. It stuck to her fur as she walked, and she brushed off a grimace at the mess that must have been her feet.
It was only then that she noticed the door of the Ancient Barrow was open.
But it had been sealed. There were boards nailed to that door!
…And yet it was open.
Against all better judgement, Espurr slowly trudged up near the Barrow’s sagging porch. She gazed into the darkness that crawled out of the Barrow’s front door, and her eyes locked on the softly-flickering blue flame that danced in the middle of it.
There was a gurgling deep within the Barrow. And then a wet POP, and the sound of liquid being sprayed every which way met Espurr’s ears. But all she could focus on was that the light wasn’t illuminating anything around it but more blackness, and there were windows, and why wasn’t there more light in there??
And then the blue light was snuffed out, and an endless torrent of swamp water shot out the doors of the Ancient Barrow, engulfing Espurr completely and sending her skidding back across the dock covered in nasty-smelling water.
Espurr picked herself up, coughing from the mouthful of swamp she had accidentally inhaled – swamp tasted
disgusting - , and tried to rub the water out of her eyes with her wet fur. She was back on the mainland, apparently, and the Barrow stared her down like the monolith pillar of evil she
knew it was.
And the boards were back on the door. Like nothing had happened. That was the point where Espurr decided it was officially too weird for her. She had to get as far away from that house as possible.
But first she was getting cleaned up.
~\({O})/~
Village Square
~Tricky~
“Freedom!!” Tricky gleefully announced to the world as she bounded out the doors of the Café Connection.
“Your tail is still mine for the next three days; you hear that??” Watchog grumbled after her; still half-drunken.
Goomy silently slimed around Watchog, keeping to himself as he headed west. He didn’t want to rack up any extra detentions.
Finally over her burst of energy, Tricky spun in a circle in the middle of the square, then fell on her haunches dizzily. Glancing offhandedly to the south side of the village, she thought she saw…
…No way… Was it…
“Espurr!” Tricky called out, immediately making a beeline for her classmate. “You’re never gonna believe this-“
For a second, it looked like Espurr was running to catch up with her too-
-But then she rushed right past the fennekin; her coat smelling of wet fur, and Tricky’s face fell as she watched her only friend catch up with none other than Vice Principal Watchog.
“Excuse me, Vice Principal,” Espurr said as she caught up to Watchog.
“So now you use my title,” Watchog snapped, and it became clear to Espurr that he was not fully himself right now. “After you colluded with the Troublemaker, ran off during detention yesterday – made me worried sick - and blew up the entire classroom.”
Espurr was left speechless. That… was a lot of trouble.
“So what do you want??” Watchog’s harsh tone slapped Espurr back to reality. “Did you just come here to gloat? Or was Audino too much of a bore for you.”
“Actually,” Espurr began. “I’m here to apologize.”
Watchog came to a halt; so suddenly Espurr outstripped him by a few steps before she realized he had stopped. His face twitched slightly; a look of disbelief covering it completely.
“You want… to apologize?” He asked slowly. Espurr nodded. Watchog sighed in disbelief.
“I’ve never had a student apologize to me before,” he said. Espurr wasn’t sure it was meant for her. “I-is that all you want?”
“That…” Espurr began. “…And maybe an oral session for the test tomorrow,” she finished quicker than she probably should have.
“I knew there was a catch.”
Watchog continued walking, but didn’t seem to object to Espurr following.
“So…” she began trepidaciously.
“Yeah; I’ll do it.” Watchog muttered. “Happy now? Cheater.”
Espurr wanted to say something, but she couldn’t think of anything that wouldn’t spoil Watchog’s rare calm mood. Instead, she silently broke off at some point, running in the other direction and back towards the school.
In her haste, she forgot to acknowledge Tricky standing off to the side at all, even as the fox started to call out for her.
Tricky’s ears and tail drooped. Slowly, she began to trudge back towards Carracosta’s place. She knew what was happening. Deerling… Watchog… Espurr was making new friends, and then she wouldn’t want to spend time with the Village Troublemaker anymore. That was what happened to all the new pokemon who came to stay in the village. Why would Espurr be any different?
But the sun was beginning to set, and Tricky knew Carracosta’s strict curfew rules, so she set out for home a little quicker, and resolved to think about it more on a full belly.
~\({O})/~
Baram Town ~ Air Continent
~Mawile and Archen~
“I- I- I don’t get it,” Archen said as he paced the hotel room anxiously. “Of all the lapras in the sea- why our lapras? Why us?”
Mawile didn’t have an answer for him, and she told him as much. “The most important thing we can do right now is make copies of the pictures we took, and contact the Chief,” she told him, taking the connection orb out of her expedition gadget and slotting it back in again.
“Yeah- and has he picked up yet?” Archen half-squawked. “You’ve been doing that for almost an hour.”
“Give it time,” Mawile calmly said. “He’ll pick up sooner or later.”
“How long before it comes for us??” Archen wrung out his head feathers with his wings. “How long before whatever got to all those pokemon in Pokemon Plaza – whatever petrified that poor lapras – comes for us?”
“If you’re that concerned over it, then help me make copies of all these photos.” Mawile set the second expedition gadget on the table and scooted it towards the pacing Archen. “That’s what I’ve been doing all this time.”
“But…” Archen stammered. “I- …fine. I need to sit down anyway.”
“That, we agree on.” Mawile never even looked away from her expedition gadget as Archen reluctantly sat down at the table.
A sudden knocking at the room door roused both their attention. “I’ll get it,” Archen announced, standing up a little too readily.
Mawile spared a rare glance up from her gadget as Archen slowly opened the door a crack, and peeked out.
“M-Mr. Mayor!” he suddenly stammered out. That phrase caused Mawile to stuff both gadgets in her bag and stand up, posthaste.
The door was opened wide, and a pair of murkrow fluttered in, preceding Mayor Honchkrow himself. The mayor sighed.
“I thought I told you to leave,” he said, a weary tone cracking through his voice.
“Well,” Archen began, his voice beginning to rise into a squawk. “Maybe-“
“We experienced a hold-up at the docks, Mayor.” Mawile smoothly cut in, neutering whatever petty insult Archen might have had at hand. “One I have no doubt you’re aware of by now. Given that all transportation to or from the Air Continent was cut off… We didn’t have much choice but to stay.”
“Well, it’s too late to do anything about that right now.” The mayor walked towards the table, picking one of the complimentary berries off the plate in the middle and eating it. “Stay here the night. There’ll be a sharpedo waiting for the two of you in the early morning tomorrow. I want you to take it.”
“We’ll be out of your feathers first thing tomorrow,” Mawile replied cordially, setting the exploration bag on the opposite side of the room from the mayor. Satisfied, Mayor Honchkrow turned around and left, the murkrow closing the door after them.
“Another early morning,” Archen grumbled, falling back on the room’s cot and folding his wings. “Can this day get any better?”
Mawile held back a sigh, taking out her expedition gadget and formally beginning another attempt to contact Ampharos. This was going to be a long night.
~\({O})/~
Music of the week!
The Consul of Wizards - Benjamin Wallfisch
Forest ladle