Team_Ion
Junior Trainer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"Okay," Sean laughed, pushing Rai off him. It was nice to see the shinx smile again. "Should we go to the guild now?"
Rai paused his manic hopping and frowned thoughtfully. He glanced up at the sky where the stars were showing and shook his head. "No. It's too late for it today, the guild would be closed."
"How long were we unconscious?" Sean asked worried.
"Come on, you know where you woke up?" Rai asked and Sean nodded. "That's my home. We can stay there tonight."
He followed the shinx, wincing every third step. With the emotional period over, the physical pain was reminding him he had bruises all over him. They reached the crossroads, looking around again brought a stab of nostalgia through Sean's heart.
To their left was naught but a rock, but a future café would make their start there. To the right was a track leading off into mystery and adventure with a watering hole for thirsty pokémon. Straight forwards were a slope that quickly turned into steps, hewn out of the ground itself that led to the looming guild. To the left was where Rai was heading, towards Treasure Town.
Under his breath, Sean began humming the tune to Treasure Town, having heard it enough for it to be etched into his memory.
"Da-da-dun dun, dun, dun, dun daadada."
Taking another look around Treasure Town was wonderful, seeing it at night brought a whole new look. There were next-to no pokémon still around, mostly just those heading out an the nocturnal pokémon. The entire excitable town was relaxed and tranquil.
They walked for five minutes before Duskull's Bank came into view, the town was larger than the game could have shown, with Duskull manning the bank even at this time of night.
It amused him that the bank was still shaped like a duskull though.
"What are you humming?" Rai asked as they passed the bank.
"Oh… just something that popped into my head," Sean answered, smiling like a loon. He was enjoying the feeling of happy rather than the all-consuming fear that lurked beneath it. He was a pokémon! Holy shit!
"Well, this is Treasure Town." Rai paused to sweep a paw in a wide circle. "Definitely the best town in the land. Way better than Capim Town. There's everything a pokémon needs here, explorer or not." Rai smiled, he did love Treasure Town.
"Looks like a great place," Sean commented. "You've lived here your whole life?"
The question was innocent, conversational, he didn't intend on Rai flinching at it.
"W-well." He glanced away and Sean gathered that was an off-limits question.
"How's it like living at the cliff?" he asked instead, moving past whatever wound he had just poked at.
"Pretty nice," Rai answered, looking back at him with a glimmer of releif. "No wind or water gets in and the sounds of the sea are great for going to sleep to."
"Sounds great."
"It's a place to sleep." Rai shrugged. "If you're used to the waterfall nearby. Come on, we're both sore and tired."
The rest of the walk passed in silence. Several times Sean tried to gather the nerve to say something, but Rai had gotten very quiet and was looking firmly ahead. He gathered the shinx wasn't in the mood to talk.
Instead, Sean took in the sights of a place he knew so well yet had no true idea of what it was like. He saw shops he recognised, as well as buildings he didn't. They passed over the small, rickety, bridge and through the marketplace and further still.
He took a glance at Kangaskhan Storage, closed of course. It was shaped like a kangaskhan as well, very curious design choices.
It took nearly some time to pass through town, with them being slowed down by injuries, before reaching the cliffside. The waves were still crashing against the cliff, seemingly harder than they had in the morning.
"Here we go," Rai said, giving Sean a tired smile. "Home sweet home." Rai began to head into his abode, but Sean's attention was caught by something else.
A scrap of silver, fluttering in the wind, trapped under a rock. He stumbled over to it and tugged it out awkwardly with his numpty paws, missing fingers already. It was a streamer of silver, right where he had woken up.
Thinking this could be important, Sean wrapped it around his hurting paw and followed after Rai.
Cosy was about as nice as Sean could say about Sharpedo Bluff's dwelling. Cramped was a better word, not that he'd say such a thing out loud.
For one pokémon like a shinx it was snug, any more than three would be pushing it.
"Take some straw off the pile," Rai said as he moved to the small drinking well that took up most of the room. After almost dunking his head in the water and just inhaling the liquid, Rai pulled his head out with a gasp and caught his breath. "Feel free to have a drink too."
Sean quietly took a small amount of the bedding from Rai's pile and set it up like a pillow. Rai gave him an unimpressed look, gathered some straw in his mouth, and dunked more on his pile.
"That is your bed," Sean argued, but Rai was already slumping down onto his pile with a soft sigh of relief. He had done most of the fighting today after all.
Swallowing guiltily, Sean realised his throat was parched and moved to the well. The germaphobe in him was highly disinterested in drinking anything that had a shinx head in it, but the part that wanted water overruled it and he drank deeply.
By the time he was done, Rai was asleep.
Feeling excessively guilty for reasons he didn't want to think about, Sean laid down on his pile. Despite his exhaustion he couldn't sleep. Tossing and turning, he just tried to get comfortable. Eventually curling up like a cat seemed most pleasant and he tried to relax.
Nothing seemed to help much and there was the matter of the item he had picked up off the cliff. A silver stream of fabric; it radiated something that eased some of Sean's nerves.
It was difficult to sleep regardless. His new, much better, feline eyes could see in the dark much better than his old human eyes. He could see Rai trembling and not from the cold. He wasn't asleep, was he?
The feeling of guilt and sympathy lasted until he finally fell into a fitful sleep.
Waking up was greatly unpleasant for Sean.
The injuries from yesterday's unfortunate twist of events had dulled into an ever-present ache, the awful throbbing pain being what roused Sean.
Groaning, he rolled over, off his little patch of straw, and onto hard and cold ground. His heart thumped a little as he opened his eyes, taking into view the low roof of the small dwelling.
"Okay. Confirmed. I'm really somehow in the Mystery Dungeon world," Sean thought to himself as he tried to gather the energy the get up. There would be time to have a panic attack later, for now he had to stand.
Finding the will to stand was difficult, but he slowly realised that he was the only person in the room. Suddenly fearful of being left alone, Sean shot right to his feet, only staggered once, and made his way outside.
He was still holding onto the ribbon he had picked up, it was crumpled from sleeping on it, but he was not planning on letting the soothing feeling it delivered go just yet.
Sean looked around, taking a deep breath of the salty air and closing his eyes. When he opened them, Rai was approaching.
"You're up, Meowth," Rai said brightly, trotting over to him. Sean paused and blinked, it seemed that his panic was nothing but foolishness. "I'm glad you're awake, we both slept in a lot longer than I planned to. We should get going soon if we want to get into the guild today."
Balanced on the shinx's head was a small wooden plate, on top of which were two apples. Sean salivated at the sight as his stomach gave a harsh rumble.
He grimaced at the feeling of his stomach rolling as well, the memories of Skuntank's stench still haunted him. The apple was too delectable to pass up, however, and he accepted one of them from Rai.
He had it bitten to the core in three bites. After a moment of deliberation, he ate the core as well. After swallowing he had to ask. "What do they make the apples with here?" he exclaimed. "I've had apples before and they were all… average at best. That was wonderful."
"The Kecleon Brothers harvest them from dungeons, apparently," Rai said in between bites. "It's a fact that anything gained from a dungeon is top notch. Better to lure pokémon in a guess." He swallowed and shook his head. "Ah, that's better. So," he trailed off, growing shy. "Are you ready to go?"
Sean noticed that Rai was adamantly avoiding looking directly at him, but he caught a glimpse of the shinx's eyes anyway. They were red and puffy. He was sure his eyes were little better.
"I am," Sean said before falling into step with Rai. "I'm glad you seem better this morning."
"Mm." Rai hummed.
They entered Treasure Town, it was crossing the afternoon, but still much livelier than the previous night. For one, there were more than three pokémon around. There was no litleo to accost them this time.
Sean couldn't help but smile widely as he took in the many fantastic creatures, beings he had only known to be fictional, but now here and real in the flesh.
Metal too, a magnezone was floating around as well. "I wonder if that's Officer Magnezone?" Sean wondered to himself, but he wasn't sure how to phrase the question without seeming too knowledgeable. Magnezone was very shiny, clearly kept themselves in tip-top condition.
Kangaskhan was manning her business and Rai felt the need to explain as they walked. "I didn't mention it yesterday, but that's Kangaskhan Storage. She'll store and protect any item we leave with her. She's never misplaced a single item, however big or small."
Kangaskhan gave a cheery wave as they passed. "Good morning, Shinx, and Meowth too!" Which the pair returned. Past Kangaskhan's shop was where the marketplace truly begun.
Sean took a much closer look than he had the previous day. Where he had only ever known the Kecleon Market to be the only real store, now he could see several booths and shops pulled up like a shanty neighbourhood. A few were manned, most were not.
"Over there." Rai nodded in their direction. "Is mostly a big swapping joint or place where adventures might sell items they wouldn't sell elsewhere. That's the Kecleon Market, hi guys!" Rai spoke up loudly, causing Sean to wince.
"Good afternoon, Young Shinx," the green kecleon on the left said.
"And to your friend as well," the purple kecleon greeted, giving a bow.
Sean gave a wave as they passed. "Hello."
"They are the main pair to buy and sell stuff," Rai explained as they walked. "I got the apples from them earlier. They are really strong, that's how they get most of their items."
They continued walking, Rai getting twitchier as they approached the guild. Past the bridge and in the main town, the Wigglytuff Guild could be just seen from where they were. A big pink blotch against the blue sky.
Near the outskirts of the marketplace lurked the bank.
"Good morning, Duskull." Rai gave a nervous smile. Sean swallowed meekly as well. It was one thing to know about Ghost-type pokémon. Another to see one first hand.
Duskull didn't look so far removed from the depiction Sean knew it as; but the way its body constantly moved and rippled, yet didn't go anywhere, was creepy. The one red orb bouncing between empty eye-sockets was not pleasant to look at either. Yet at the same time he felt almost comfortable staring at him, the eye to the body reminded him of something… like a blanket perhaps?
"Hello," Sean said after Rai. It would not do to be impolite and stare.
"Most sincere greetings to you both," Duskull greeted, breathy and amused all at the same time. "Feel free to come by any time, Duskull Bank is your most worthy of stops."
They both gave nods and hurried on their way.
"Hoo." Rai breathed once they were clear. "Duskull's definitely good at what he does, keeping your money safe, but he gives me the heebie jeebies."
"He seems alright." Sean rubbed an arm, wincing as he was reminded how bruised he was under the fur. "But I'll trust you."
"So, that's Treasure Town, always a bit busy." Rai gave a smile, he still wasn't looking directly at Sean. "There's Exploration Teams all over it. I only recognised Team Ebony today, they don't seem to sleep at all."
"The shuppet and, uh… what was the bird?" Sean had seen the pair whispering to each other himself last night. He couldn't quite remember off the top of his head what the non-ghost member of the team was.
"Murkrow," Rai answered. "She's nice. She gets a bit fixated on things though."
"I see." Sean did. He could remember them, however vaguely.
As they arrived on the crossroads, Rai paused and Sean considered whether to give him a hand, or paw. Rai took a breath and continued onwards, wearing a fierce expression too determined for Sean to question.
"So, what do we do when we get there?" Sean asked, hoping to break the silence. "Everything went a bit quick yesterday for me to keep up."
"We gotta stand on the grate and get our footprints checked," Rai answered. "They'll let us in, then we just… ask to become apprentices."
"That easy, huh?" Sean muttered. It seemed odd, but he did remember it really was that easy.
"The guild keeps a track of all known wanted pokémon in the area," Rai said, changing the topic back. "If someone wants to get in, they gotta be cleared and if they are suspicious the guild will know by their footprint."
"Sounds like you've done your research," Sean joked and Rai gave an embarrassed smile.
"I've wanted to join them for… a while now," Rai admitted, scuffing the ground. "Every time I've tried to get the nerve to do it, I've lost it soon enough. Once I even made it inside, but when Chatot asked me what I was doing I made up a story about losing an item and wanting an explorer to find it for me… damn, I'm… ugh."
"Well now you've got me!" Sean grinned, pointing a claw at him and nearly poking himself in the chest. "We're in this together. Tell you what, I'll grab you by the tail if you try and run."
Rai gave him a perturbed glance and Sean inwardly cursed some excessively foul language. "I don't mean… like… um. What did I say?" He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his head; the words were gone and if he kept on chattering he'd start saying some highly thoughtless things.
"Nothing," Rai said, snapping Sean out of his thoughts. The shinx smiled and looked directly at him for the first time that day. "Glad to know I can… thanks. I might want to just mention, about the." He glanced around. "Human thing."
"Yeah?"
"It's not a really a pokémon thing to tell people your name right off the bat." For some reason Rai began to blush. "So, I'll call you Meowth and you call me Shinx when we're around others, okay?"
Sean nodded. He didn't quite understand, but he'd go along with it. "Okay."
Sean smiled and Rai smiled back. He was very cute. Sean could bet he was cute as well, he had a nose, that brought up the cuteness rating at least several levels. He could feel his ribs when he breathed in, however, glancing down he was very bony.
That was weird but… he had no time to dwell. They had reached the guild.
The giant Wigglytuff built into an entranceway was still horrifying. The empty eyes, paint chipping, the multi-coloured feathers tied to one side, and the weird totems in front of it. It looked threatening. "Maybe," Sean reasoned to himself as he and Rai stood frozen. "That's the point."
"You ready?" Sean asked, forcing his eyes away from the yawning chasm of The Wigglytuff and to the grate that laid like a trap before it.
"No," Rai answered honestly. "But I wasn't ready to lose my Relic Fragment either."
Stepping forward, missing the pained expression on Sean's face at the reminder, Rai stepped forward to the grate.
The holes were far too wide for him to stand on it and he hesitated. "I… uh… could you go first?" he asked, quietly and flushing in embarrassment.
"No problem," Sean said, smiling as Rai recoiled back from the grate like it stung him. He stepped over it, not nervous at all. He'd done this already, he was a pro.
There was a moment of nothing long enough for Sean to wonder if the guild was occupied.
"Pokémon detected!" a sharp, high, voice declared, causing Sean to jump and Rai to fluff up with sparking fur. "Pokémon detected!"
"Whose footprint?" another voice, that could only be described as intense, boomed. "Whose footprint?" Thankfully the owner of the voice wasn't shouting. Yet.
"The footprint is meowth! The footprint is meowth!"
"You again?" the voice Sean knew to be Loudred demanded. "Are you going to play by the rules this time?"
"We will," Sean shouted, voice echoing for Diglett below.
"Fine. Then get your FRIEND on the grate!"
Rai breathed in and out several times very quickly as Sean stepped off and looked to him. He was shivering like a leaf in the wind and Sean came over, thinking he might need to carry him over. The shinx was heavy too, or at least heavier than he was.
"You can do it," Sean said, hoping this measly attempt at cheerleading would help. Rai stared at him for a moment before swallowing and dragging himself over. He hesitated again before stepping onto the grate, looking back to Sean for support. "You know you can."
Rai nodded and stepped onto the grate. "Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" Hearing that for the third and fourth time reminded Sean of the pokémon detective movie he probably would never see now.
"Who's footprint? Who's-?"
"The footprint is shinx," Diglett interrupted, his voice growing very excited. "The footprint is SHINX!"
"WHAAT?" Loudred gasped before the gate began to open rapidly. "Get in here then."
Rai gave Sean a baffled look, but the meowth had no words of explanation for that. "Let's go," Sean said, jogging forward. Rai, much calmer now, ran after him and the two of them approached the mouth of the building.
"I wonder what that's about?" Rai asked as they stepped into the mouth of the building, the gate clanking shut behind them. Sean was relieved to see that, rather than a ladder to climb, there was a steep incline heading down in a spiral to the next level. He had been wondering how Rai was going to climb a ladder without hands or opposable digits.
Walking down to the second floor brought back another wave of nostalgia in Sean. Seeing the Wigglytuff Guild from such a different angle was strange, but even then, he felt at home inside its walls.
Several pokémon were up and about, looking over the notice boards. There were posters plastered up about pokémon who weren't outlaws, just famous. There was a very prominent picture of a lucario with a caption in strange runes that… Sean could read. Called The Legendary Lucario.
Sean found himself grinning widely again as he recognised each pokémon. Bidoof and Sunflora were looking over the job notice board while Corphish was glancing over the outlaw notice board. He spotted Chimecho giving Corphish advice as he worked out what mission to take.
The pair received a glance or two from the pokémon in the room, but no one approached. Sean was sure Sunflora didn't even notice them come in, already used to how loud Loudred could be.
"Ah, hello there," a voice chirped up from behind them. Sean turned, with Rai stiffly turning with him, to find a colourful bird having stepped up from the floor below them. "I am Chatot, Guildmaster Wigglytuff's right hand pokémon."
"Hello," Sean replied, Rai did not make a peep. "I'm-"
"May I ask what your business is here?" Chatot asked, cutting over Sean. His words were polite, but his tone was sharp. He hadn't quite taken in Rai's appearance, the shinx having shrunk behind Sean.
Sean adjusted, letting Chatot see them both. His eyes widened as he took in the sight of Rai. "We'd like to join as explorers!" Sean said, grinning widely.
It was funny how quickly Chatot's demeanour changed. Moving from a guarded and professional guise to a flappy and delighted one.
"Indeed? A new pair of pokémon who wish to become explorers?" Chatot rubbed his beak with a wing, seemingly speaking his mind out loud. "Splendid! Splendid! What a splendid day. Oh yes, you are aware of the difficulty of our program, yes? Of course you are." He nodded to Rai. "Splendid!"
"I-is the training really that difficult?" Sean asked, finding his voice again.
"Hmm?" Chatot asked before he focused on the nerves in both of their faces and fell into a flurry of flaps. "Oh no-no-no! Not at all, no, not at all. Our training is as easy as can be!" He gave a laugh, stiff and forced. "Yet we only deliver quality, oh most certainly yes! Come along you two, come along swiftly!"
"His attitude can change quickly," Sean thought to himself as Chatot composed himself.
"Follow me now," Chatot said, motioning them to follow him. "Let's get you signed up post haste with the Guildmaster. We don't wish to dawdle, chop-chop."
Sean quickly followed, reaching the second slope down before realising Rai was having difficulty following. "Um… Rai?" He remembered Rai's words. "Sorry, Shinx?"
Rai was shivering again and wearing an expression Sean could only call petrified. "No stun seeds around," Sean said, coming to Rai's side and pushing him gently. "Come on, we gotta go. Don't want Chatot to think we're lazy."
Rai began to move, and they descended to the second level. Chatot was waiting for them with an air of eagerness. "Come now, come now. We cannot leave the Guildmaster waiting."
Sean was able to quickly glance around, spotting the edge of Croagunk's Swap Shop and also saw Loudred. He gave a wave to the fellow Normal-type pokémon and received a swift nod in response.
Chatot took them to the left and to a pair of impressive doors. The light from a window was beaming into their eyes and Rai made a low, impressed sound. "Wow. We're two floors underground and we can see the sky."
"The guild is built into the side of a cliff," Chatot explained patiently. "It's only natural one could see the outside." He turned back to the doors and hesitated. "Now," Chatot said. "We are to see the Guildmaster. Behave yourselves around him. Do not speak unless spoken to. And on now account. I repeat, on NO account, should you be discourteous to our Guildmaster."
With that he called out. "Guildmaster? Chatot is entering with guests." And pushed the doors open.
Sean silently whistled. The doors were much bigger than Chatot, but he pushed them open like they were made of straw. Clearly stronger than he looked.
They entered a rather quirky room as Sean started to think of team names. It was beautiful at a first glance. Fresh flowers being set in pots. Light streaming in from two windows, one was broken. Wigglytuff always refused Chatot's requests to get it fixed, claiming he liked the fresh air. Lavender drapes made by the best weavers around, the same colour as the splash of purple on the guild's forehead outside.
There were also a pair of treasure chests busted open and sprawled off to the side. Pink was the dominating colour of the room, except for splashes of other colours, and Wigglytuff was there.
The big balloon pokémon was not facing them and was standing unnaturally still. Chatot took this in complete stride and hopped over to his side. "Guildmaster?" he asked. "I present to you the two pokémon who wish to join your guild as apprentices. Meowth and Young Shinx!"
Wigglytuff didn't respond.
Rai was frozen almost as still as Wigglytuff and Sean was busy glancing around in mounting excitement.
"Guildmaster?"
"HIYA!"
Wigglytuff spun around on them, startling everyone in the room. His voice was high and musical, fitting Sean's perception of the peppy, constantly cheerful, quirky wigglytuff he knew from the games.
"I'm Wigglytuff." He introduced himself. "I'm the guild's Guildmaster, the Guildmaster of the Wigglytuff Guild. Guildmaster Wigglytuff. You want to form an exploration team?" He didn't wait for their response, instead opening his arms like he wished to hug them. "Then, let's GO FOR IT! YOOM-TAH!"
Powerful sound waves blasted from him, streaming over Sean and Rai like a gale-force wind. Strangely the Hyper Voice didn't hurt, simply ruffled their fur a bit.
The most important effect was snapping Rai out of his funk. Blinking rapidly, he leaned on Sean to steady himself, his muscles having locked up from how tense he had been.
"First, we have to register your teams name," Wigglytuff said, oblivious to the stunned expressions he was facing. "So, tell me your teams name?"
"Team name?" Rai repeated, latching onto the last words as he began to return to the present. "Oh shoot! I had… I had… uh… help?"
With his voice bordering on hysterical, Sean quickly jumped in with the only name he'd been able to come up with. "Team Ion," he blurted.
"Team… Ion?" Rai asked, cocking his head slightly. "That's different."
"Y-yeah," Sean stuttered briefly, feeling everyone eyes on him. "It has something to do with electricity, I think, so I thought it'd be perfect."
Rai gazed at him. "What about you?"
"The only other name I thought of was ThunderClaw, and that sounds a bit… much."
To that, Rai agreed.
"All settled then!" Wigglytuff cheered. "I'll register your team name as Team Ion. Registering," he sang. "Registering… registered. YOOM-TAH!" He nearly blew them away again, but his clear enthusiasm was making Sean and Rai smile.
"Congratulations!" Wigglytuff applauded excitedly, Chatot did as well. "From now on, you two are an official Exploration Team! I present you this in commemoration. A Pokémon Exploration Team Kit." With that he pulled out a box from somewhere. Sean blinked, one moment Wigglytuff's paws were empty, then he had something in them.
Chalking it up to Fairy-type magic nonsense, he stepped forward. Rai joining him moments after.
"Wait. Is he a Fairy-type?" Sean wondered about the situation he was in, there was a litleo and other pokémon past Gen 4 so….
He was snapped out if it when the box opened by itself.
"A Pokémon Exploration Team Kit?" Sean asked as they peered in. Rai seemed to know what he was looking at, he had only the foggiest of memories.
"Yep," Wigglytuff answered. "It has everything an explorer might need. Quick, grab it all out."
With Wigglytuff nearly vibrating with excitement, Sean did the honours. He was the one with more dexterity after all.
"A badge," he said, pulling everything out.
"Two," Rai noted, as a second badge fell out of the pile Sean held.
"A map." Sean unrolled it, noticing a highly detailed map of the Grass Continent. He could spot various towns and landmarks he never would have known of. Treasure Town and Capim Town in particular stood out. There was some close places to Treasure Town. Quad Town. Sicilly. And the marks of some other guilds, the Clefable Guild in Blackstone Village a fair bit northeast and-
"A Treasure Bag!" Rai gasped, clutching onto it like it was a lifesaving gabite scale. Sean looked up from the map. "I've always wanted one. These things cost a fortune!"
"Your badges will be your official guild identification," Chatot explained, hopping over to Wigglytuff's side. "The Wonder Map is a wonderful tool to have to find your way. And the Treasure Bag is yours to keep. Now look inside before the Guildmaster pops from excitement!"
Rai did so, finding a pair of cloth items. He dug them out as Wigglytuff gave a high pitched 'eee' sound in excitement.
"That one's a Special Band, it'll make your Power moves stronger." Wigglytuff pointed to the scarf-like azure cloth. "The other one isn't complete just yet. I saw you had that silvery ribbon!" He beamed at Sean.
Sean glanced down, realising Wigglytuff had spotted the ribbon he had wrapped around his paw. "But you have no way to wear it properly. If you hand it over, I can combine it with this one to make you something awesome!"
Sean hesitated for just a brief moment before rationalising that Wigglytuff was perfectly trustworthy. He pawed over the bow and the band to the excited pokémon.
"Lalala," Wigglytuff sang as he twirled around. Each time he spun, and Sean got a look at what he was doing he had made progress. He spun nearly fifteen times before stopping. "Ooh. Dizzy…" Wigglytuff wobbled a bit but was steadied by Chatot. "Here you go. A super nifty bow to wear. It'll do wooonderful thiiings." He handed it over before falling back, landing on Chatot.
"Guildmaster!" Chatot grumbled, unprepared for Wigglytuff's weight. "GUILDMASTER!" He was nearly sprawled on the ground, Wigglytuff had to be doing it on purpose.
Wigglytuff bounced right back onto his feet with a wide grin. "HIYA!"
"Thank you," Rai said, and Sean gave his own thanks. "I really mean that… I didn't know it'd be so easy, you're very nice, Guildmaster Wigglytuff."
"Aww," Wigglytuff sniffled, tearing up. "Come here." Before anyone could so much as begin to refuse, Wigglytuff pulled Rai into a hug. It took about four seconds before he grabbed Sean as well and hugged him as well. "We have always believed you could do it, Shinx," Wigglytuff said warmly, setting the pair down.
Rai blushed.
"But first you had to come to us," Chatot added, hopping up beside Wigglytuff, ready to intervene in case their new apprentices needed more space to breathe. Wigglytuff's hugs could be debilitating. "Can see it as the first hurdle."
"Yep! But now we'll be having so much fun!" Wigglytuff cheered and did a dance around them before grabbing both of Team Ion plus Chatot for another hug.
"You will also be working hard," Chatot added, acting as the stern teacher in comparison to the dancing Wigglytuff, despite being smushed up with them in the hug. "There will be no shirking of work and there are few excuses accepted here. Understand?"
"We do." Rai nodded, determination replacing all previous trepidation. "Right, Meowth?"
"Right."
"Very good. Come with me you two," Chatot said, releasing them from Wigglytuff's affection. "I'll show you to your rooms."
"Have fun." Wigglytuff waved, doing another spin. "And have a good rest, you two look very tired."
"Thank you," Sean and Rai chorused as the doors closed behind them.
"Come," Chatot said, hopping his way past the window and to a corridor. "The apprentice's rooms are this way."
"We get rooms!?" Rai cheered under his breath, hurrying to catch up with Chatot.
Sean grinned and raced after him, but not without glancing back and seeing Croagunk and Loudred staring at them.
Chatot led them past several pairs of rooms on either side of the corridor and to the final one. "With Team Celestial absent, here is where you'll stay during your training here." They entered into a basic room. Having a pair of equally sized beds of straw and a window. It was somewhat roomier than Rai's place, but only due to the lack of a water fountain.
They stepped onto their beds, feeling them as Chatot continued. "You'll live here while you train with us. Things will start getting busy tomorrow so make sure you go to bed early tonight. Dinner is held when Chimecho rings her bell. You are expected to attend all morning briefings. Understand?"
"Yes," Rai said, Sean nodded.
"Very good." Chatot paused and considered something for a moment. "We are happy to have you with us, Shinx. You will do well here," he said before looking to Sean. "As you can probably gather, Shinx is well known. I must offer a thank you for providing him with this boost of confidence." He nodded once and turned to leave.
"Wait," Sean called out, causing the bird to pause and glance back.
"Yes?"
Now that things had calmed down and Rai was no longer shivering in a half-panic attack, Sean was able to think clearly again. He noticed something rather pertinent to the time.
They had stayed the night at Rai's instead of joining the guild. It was only now occurring to him that they were supposed to have their first mission today. Spoink, or something.
"Is it possible we can have a job to do?" Sean asked, trying to speak as coolly and naturally as possible. No hint of desperation or pleading no sir.
Chatot's eye quirked in a slight smile. "Eagerness is a good sign, but just use today to prepare yourselves. Maybe introduce yourself to your fellow apprentices. There is no need to be hasty." Shaking his head, he continued hopping away. "Such eagerness, that might be tough to keep up with… the youth of today…" he muttered under his breath, falling out of hearing range soon enough.
Sean swallowed and glanced to Rai. He was looking much livelier than he had been earlier, a smile was spreading over his face.
"I did it," he whispered, joy beaming his face like no amount of light could. "I DID IT!"
Despite his own misgivings of screwing everything up ever, Sean couldn't help but grin wildly as Rai danced around the room. "I'm an official explorer now. I didn't run away like the last sixty-two times! I did it, I did it, I did it!"
He finished hopping around and turned to Sean, beaming smile still in place. "It's all thanks to you. Thank you, thank you!" He pounced on Sean and gave him a lick on the koban, the coin on his forehead, before freezing and leaping hard enough off him that the wind was knocked out of Sean.
"I'm so sorry!" Rai gasped before hiding his face in his paws. "I got to excited. I shouldn't have licked you."
Sean pulled himself to his feet. Being pounced on was not a feeling he was used to at this size, thankfully Rai had tackled him into one of the beds, so the fall wasn't painful. The shinx's tongue was somewhat staticky though and his forehead felt very strange.
Rubbing the koban, and fully realising he had a bit of metal fused into his head now, Sean gave a smile. "Heh, it's fine," he said bashfully. "Maybe a bit of warning next time?"
Rai peaked out from his paws and saw Sean was unbothered. Sighing in relief he propped himself up. "Sorry. I sometimes act without thinking, I can be thoughtless, sorry."
Sean waved him off. "Haha, that's the same as me. You're fine."
Smiling now, Rai stepped forward. "Well, you heard what Chatot said." Flicking his tail, Rai looked back to him. "Let's introduce ourselves to the other members of the guild."
"Look who's all confident now," Sean teased as they went, Rai grinned but the smile was somewhat tight.
"I got into the guild. That's the biggest step of my life!" he said brightly. Sean grinned.
Sean considered what meeting the apprentices was going to be like. He had seen, or heard, everyone he knew from the games on the way in, barring Dugtrio.
They exited into the guilds second floor and found that they had a small crowd waiting for them.
"Oh my gosh!" A pitch only Sunflora could make squealed out in delight. "Shinx did it!"
Rai and Sean had only moments to prepare themselves before they were swarmed by their guildmates. With only Croagunk, Diglett and Dugtrio abstaining from the attack on their personal space, everyone else went to clamber over them.
The image of various monsters rampaging towards him evoked a sense of primal fear in Sean and it was him who froze up under the attention. Rai was all bashful smiles and quiet introductions while Sean tried to reboot.
"And this is Meowth," Rai finished introducing himself and noticed Sean hadn't said anything. Hearing Rai introduce him as Meowth managed to bring Sean back to the world of the living and he blinked a few times to clear his vision. His tail was ramrod straight, but he didn't notice it.
"Ah, hello," he said, heart still hammering in his chest. He did a mental countdown and reminded himself he was good at socialising. His tail slowly began to relax.
Bidoof, of all pokémon, seemed to detect his anxiety and shuffled back. "Golly, I think we might have come on too strongly."
The rest of them saw it too and took a few steps back. Sean gave a nervous chuckle and rubbed his face.
He took a breath and reached out to Sunflora, giving a smile. "My apologies, you startled me a bit. I'm a meowth as you can see, but I'm happy for everyone here to call me-" Before he could finish introducing himself, Sunflora took his paw in her leaf-like limb and shook his whole body with impressive strength.
"Oh my gosh!" she repeated, beaming at Sean. "I'm so totally delighted to meet you. You're both so cute! I'm Sunflora, this is Bidoof, that's Corphish." She continued pointing everyone out and Sean nodded and said hello to everyone she pointed out.
"Skulking over in his creepy shop is Croagunk." Bidoof and Loudred stepped out of the way to let Sean and Rai spot Croagunk, who gave a lazy wave from his perch. "If you want to swap stuff, he's the guy. Although not at the moment."
"Someone blew my cauldron up," Croagunk called, smiling lazily. There was no reproach in his voice.
"Our main sentry is Diglett," Sunflora continued, "he's the one who read your footprints. And his dad is … uh…?"
"Here," Dugtrio said, rising from the ground. "We took a break from communing with the waves to follow the commotion. Shinx, it is wonderful to see you in our ranks at last."
"Th-Thanks," Rai said, perching down and almost burying his face in his paws as he was blushing so brightly. "For all this. Thanks."
"I'm Loudred, I'm one of the main sentries for the guild." Despite being pointed out by Sunflora, the others had decided it was only polite to introduce themselves. "There's no one better in the guild than me to come to for advice on outlaws. I know 'em all. GREAT to meet you." He rattled Sean's arm worse than Sunflora had, Sean guessed it was some tough-guy thing.
"Nice to see you," Rai said, smiling.
"Yeah," Sean agreed. "You seem strong." This time he did massage his arm.
Loudred puffed up proudly. "But of course! I'm the strongest apprentice here!"
"Second strongest!" Sunflora called out.
"FIRST STRONGEST!" Loudred roared back and the two fell into an argument.
"Hey-hey, I'm Corphish." A crustacean pokémon shook a paw each with his pincers, taking great care not to crush or pinch them. "Ignore those two." He had to speak loudly over Loudred. "Croagunk is actually the strongest but don't say that around them."
"Yup-yup," Bidoof agreed, stepping up to them. "Those two can get pretty competitive by golly. I'm Bidoof. I was the most recent apprentice before you two showed up. Gosh it makes me so happy to see some newcomers."
Sniffling slightly, he let himself be pulled back by Chimecho, who floated up as the last member of the mob. "It is great to meet the two of you," she positively sang. "I am Chimecho. I am the chef and nurse of the guild and I also manage the Exploration Teams in general as well as the representative of the Psychic Network. If there are any questions you may have, places you need to scout, or anything at all, feel free to ask."
That was a lot of things.
"Thanks for the offer." Rai smiled but Sean did have a question.
"Psychic Network?" he asked, that sounded new.
Chimecho beamed at him. "Haven't heard of it?" He shook his head. "Curious. Well, it's a simpl thing to explain! A collection of Psychic-type pokémon who have created a linked neural connection pathway that-"
"Chimes," Sunflora giggled as Sean was already looking foggy-eyed. "I think you're going too fast." Chimecho blushed and a few of them laughed. "It lets her talk to other towns and guilds, basically. That's about as much as we need to know."
Sean looked to Rai who bobbed his head. "That's about as much as I've heard."
"Oh."
"We might ask someone for advice soon. Chatot said we go on a job tomorrow." Rai explained. "At the moment we're just told to familiarise ourselves with the place and you guys too I guess!"
Sean tried to withhold his disappointment at the no mission. He was pretty sure the first mission was meant to be Spoink, but would it if they were a day behind on things?
A stab of nervousness went through him at that, and Sean wondered how he was going to handle what was to come.
"Well, good luck," Chimecho said. "Feel free to ask any questions. I'll see you all at dinnertime soon!" She floated off, leaving the pair with Bidoof and Corphish.
"By the way," Corphish started. "Well done Shinx. I was always rooting for you to join the guild!"
"Yup-yup, always knew you could make it," Bidoof agreed, bobbing his head.
"Ah… don't embarrass me." Rai blushed.
Bidoof grinned. "Knock-knock?" he asked, and Rai smiled.
"Who's there?"
"Snow," Bidoof said eagerly.
"Snow who?" Rai asked. Sean watched in amusement, not expecting knock-knock jokes.
"Snow point pretending you don't know me!" Bidoof finished and Rai chuckled.
Corphish shook his head at the antics. "Behave, Bidoof," he said, faux-seriously. "Seriously though," Corphish continued, "we're happy to have you here. I know you'll be an amazing adventurer. Super strong too, just like your sister!"
Rai's smile became fixed. "O-Oh, thank you."
Corphish blanched as he realised he'd said something wrong. "Uh… uh… hey-HEY what's that over there?" He scuttled off as quickly as his six legs would carry him, Bidoof mumbling something unintelligible before running off himself.
Bidoof glanced back, eyes meeting Sean's for a moment, before he ducked down and ran up to the next level. Sean turned to Rai who was blinking a little too much to be normal.
Swallowing, he decided to take a stab at asking some difficult questions. Only to default to something safer. "So, they ran off in a hurry?" He took a moment, Rai didn't respond, so he pulled it back to difficult. "What's that about?"
"Nothing really." Rai shrugged, turning around to walk back to their room. "My sister left a fair while ago, I've just heard about how strong she is so many times."
Sean heard what wasn't said and wisely decided to listen and not press further. He glanced between Rai and the slope leading to the upper level, debating. He quickly decided to stick with Rai, everything was still far to strange and different to consider being alone.
He heard the shinx sigh a little when he caught up and walked with him in silence back to their room. "I'm still really sore from yesterday," Rai admitted once they got to their room. Slumping down on the nearest bed he groaned. "I'm not used to getting pounded like that."
Sean bit his tongue and walked to the second bed. "Well, yeah to be honest I'm not used to getting beaten up either. But when we find them…" he trailed off warningly.
Rai rolled over to face him, consternation marring his expression. "Find them?"
"We'll find those Team Skull assholes," Sean confirmed. Not a doubt lingering in his words. "And we'll get the Relic Fragment back."
Rai blinked at him owlishly for a moment. "Noctowlishly?" Sean wondered, before Rai spoke.
"You're a very strange pokémon," he said plainly. Sean gave a chuckle, but Rai's expression was firm. "You told me you were a human… I'm not sure if I believed you, but you don't act like any pokémon I've met before."
"You've only just met me," Sean said. He knew it could be hurting his chances at being believed, but he still had to say it.
"Yeah," Rai agreed before surprising Sean. "Exactly." He smiled slightly before yawning and closing his eyes. "I know we only just woke up, and I even normally wake up early, but I'm still so tired."
Sean hummed his agreement. "I'm not such an early-delibird, but I don't sleep too easy either."
"Heh," Rai laughed, eyes still closed. "Been here a day and you're already saying stuff like 'early-delibird'."
"Thought it'd make sense," Sean said. He had planned the comment in advance.
"Mm."
They laid in silence for a moment, drifting off, but something occurred to Sean that wouldn't allow him respite until he had answers.
"Rai? You still here?"
"…Yeah. That's a weird way of asking if I'm awake though."
"About the name thing you mentioned before…?"
"Yeah."
"What's the reason behind that?"
"I don't really know. It's just polite to call someone you don't know, or just acquaintances with, by what they are. It's a privilege thing, something for friends, family and mates to call you by your name. Pokémon that go about telling everyone their names are usually regarded as, uh… w-well, you shouldn't do it."
Sean digested that information for a moment, it made a comforting amount of sense. Still, there was one last thing on his mind.
"You told me your name. And you barely know me."
"You told me yours. Even if you didn't know the significance, you still did. I like to think, though, that we could be friends. Either way, I'm fine if you want to call Rai, as long as I can call you Sean. It's an odd name for a meowth, you don't look shorn."
He chuckled. "The other pronunciation for that would be seen."
"Seen? Sounds more like a Psychic-type name. Or something like a lucario or something."
"Heh. I got a lot of people calling me Seen. Ever heard of the Meowth Theatre? Could think of Scene?"
"Words are confusing."
"Yeah. Shorn, Sean, Shawn. Whatever, I'll get used to Meowth."
There was a bit of silence.
"I'll do my best. Goodnight Rai, and… thanks. You didn't have to help me out yesterday either, but you did."
"Goodnight Sean. And thank you. I never think I'd ever get to join the Wigglytuff Guild. If I had to lose my Relic Fragment to do it, well… that's just what had to happen."
Rai fell asleep first, setting a trend Sean knew would persist. Sleep did not come to him as easily, though. Rai's last words lingered in his head.
" Yeah… but you weren't supposed to lose it. That's not how the story goes. It didn't need to happen. But we will find it. We have to. Team Skull will turn up eventually, the expedition I think. I gotta make sure that happens…"
Timeline wise things are already messed up a bit. Normally this day would have the job request to find Spoink's Pearl in the Drenched Bluff. But they joined today. But what does tomorrow bring, a certain predatory Psychic….
Rai paused his manic hopping and frowned thoughtfully. He glanced up at the sky where the stars were showing and shook his head. "No. It's too late for it today, the guild would be closed."
"How long were we unconscious?" Sean asked worried.
"Come on, you know where you woke up?" Rai asked and Sean nodded. "That's my home. We can stay there tonight."
He followed the shinx, wincing every third step. With the emotional period over, the physical pain was reminding him he had bruises all over him. They reached the crossroads, looking around again brought a stab of nostalgia through Sean's heart.
To their left was naught but a rock, but a future café would make their start there. To the right was a track leading off into mystery and adventure with a watering hole for thirsty pokémon. Straight forwards were a slope that quickly turned into steps, hewn out of the ground itself that led to the looming guild. To the left was where Rai was heading, towards Treasure Town.
Under his breath, Sean began humming the tune to Treasure Town, having heard it enough for it to be etched into his memory.
"Da-da-dun dun, dun, dun, dun daadada."
Taking another look around Treasure Town was wonderful, seeing it at night brought a whole new look. There were next-to no pokémon still around, mostly just those heading out an the nocturnal pokémon. The entire excitable town was relaxed and tranquil.
They walked for five minutes before Duskull's Bank came into view, the town was larger than the game could have shown, with Duskull manning the bank even at this time of night.
It amused him that the bank was still shaped like a duskull though.
"What are you humming?" Rai asked as they passed the bank.
"Oh… just something that popped into my head," Sean answered, smiling like a loon. He was enjoying the feeling of happy rather than the all-consuming fear that lurked beneath it. He was a pokémon! Holy shit!
"Well, this is Treasure Town." Rai paused to sweep a paw in a wide circle. "Definitely the best town in the land. Way better than Capim Town. There's everything a pokémon needs here, explorer or not." Rai smiled, he did love Treasure Town.
"Looks like a great place," Sean commented. "You've lived here your whole life?"
The question was innocent, conversational, he didn't intend on Rai flinching at it.
"W-well." He glanced away and Sean gathered that was an off-limits question.
"How's it like living at the cliff?" he asked instead, moving past whatever wound he had just poked at.
"Pretty nice," Rai answered, looking back at him with a glimmer of releif. "No wind or water gets in and the sounds of the sea are great for going to sleep to."
"Sounds great."
"It's a place to sleep." Rai shrugged. "If you're used to the waterfall nearby. Come on, we're both sore and tired."
The rest of the walk passed in silence. Several times Sean tried to gather the nerve to say something, but Rai had gotten very quiet and was looking firmly ahead. He gathered the shinx wasn't in the mood to talk.
Instead, Sean took in the sights of a place he knew so well yet had no true idea of what it was like. He saw shops he recognised, as well as buildings he didn't. They passed over the small, rickety, bridge and through the marketplace and further still.
He took a glance at Kangaskhan Storage, closed of course. It was shaped like a kangaskhan as well, very curious design choices.
It took nearly some time to pass through town, with them being slowed down by injuries, before reaching the cliffside. The waves were still crashing against the cliff, seemingly harder than they had in the morning.
"Here we go," Rai said, giving Sean a tired smile. "Home sweet home." Rai began to head into his abode, but Sean's attention was caught by something else.
A scrap of silver, fluttering in the wind, trapped under a rock. He stumbled over to it and tugged it out awkwardly with his numpty paws, missing fingers already. It was a streamer of silver, right where he had woken up.
Thinking this could be important, Sean wrapped it around his hurting paw and followed after Rai.
Cosy was about as nice as Sean could say about Sharpedo Bluff's dwelling. Cramped was a better word, not that he'd say such a thing out loud.
For one pokémon like a shinx it was snug, any more than three would be pushing it.
"Take some straw off the pile," Rai said as he moved to the small drinking well that took up most of the room. After almost dunking his head in the water and just inhaling the liquid, Rai pulled his head out with a gasp and caught his breath. "Feel free to have a drink too."
Sean quietly took a small amount of the bedding from Rai's pile and set it up like a pillow. Rai gave him an unimpressed look, gathered some straw in his mouth, and dunked more on his pile.
"That is your bed," Sean argued, but Rai was already slumping down onto his pile with a soft sigh of relief. He had done most of the fighting today after all.
Swallowing guiltily, Sean realised his throat was parched and moved to the well. The germaphobe in him was highly disinterested in drinking anything that had a shinx head in it, but the part that wanted water overruled it and he drank deeply.
By the time he was done, Rai was asleep.
Feeling excessively guilty for reasons he didn't want to think about, Sean laid down on his pile. Despite his exhaustion he couldn't sleep. Tossing and turning, he just tried to get comfortable. Eventually curling up like a cat seemed most pleasant and he tried to relax.
Nothing seemed to help much and there was the matter of the item he had picked up off the cliff. A silver stream of fabric; it radiated something that eased some of Sean's nerves.
It was difficult to sleep regardless. His new, much better, feline eyes could see in the dark much better than his old human eyes. He could see Rai trembling and not from the cold. He wasn't asleep, was he?
The feeling of guilt and sympathy lasted until he finally fell into a fitful sleep.
Waking up was greatly unpleasant for Sean.
The injuries from yesterday's unfortunate twist of events had dulled into an ever-present ache, the awful throbbing pain being what roused Sean.
Groaning, he rolled over, off his little patch of straw, and onto hard and cold ground. His heart thumped a little as he opened his eyes, taking into view the low roof of the small dwelling.
"Okay. Confirmed. I'm really somehow in the Mystery Dungeon world," Sean thought to himself as he tried to gather the energy the get up. There would be time to have a panic attack later, for now he had to stand.
Finding the will to stand was difficult, but he slowly realised that he was the only person in the room. Suddenly fearful of being left alone, Sean shot right to his feet, only staggered once, and made his way outside.
He was still holding onto the ribbon he had picked up, it was crumpled from sleeping on it, but he was not planning on letting the soothing feeling it delivered go just yet.
Sean looked around, taking a deep breath of the salty air and closing his eyes. When he opened them, Rai was approaching.
"You're up, Meowth," Rai said brightly, trotting over to him. Sean paused and blinked, it seemed that his panic was nothing but foolishness. "I'm glad you're awake, we both slept in a lot longer than I planned to. We should get going soon if we want to get into the guild today."
Balanced on the shinx's head was a small wooden plate, on top of which were two apples. Sean salivated at the sight as his stomach gave a harsh rumble.
He grimaced at the feeling of his stomach rolling as well, the memories of Skuntank's stench still haunted him. The apple was too delectable to pass up, however, and he accepted one of them from Rai.
He had it bitten to the core in three bites. After a moment of deliberation, he ate the core as well. After swallowing he had to ask. "What do they make the apples with here?" he exclaimed. "I've had apples before and they were all… average at best. That was wonderful."
"The Kecleon Brothers harvest them from dungeons, apparently," Rai said in between bites. "It's a fact that anything gained from a dungeon is top notch. Better to lure pokémon in a guess." He swallowed and shook his head. "Ah, that's better. So," he trailed off, growing shy. "Are you ready to go?"
Sean noticed that Rai was adamantly avoiding looking directly at him, but he caught a glimpse of the shinx's eyes anyway. They were red and puffy. He was sure his eyes were little better.
"I am," Sean said before falling into step with Rai. "I'm glad you seem better this morning."
"Mm." Rai hummed.
They entered Treasure Town, it was crossing the afternoon, but still much livelier than the previous night. For one, there were more than three pokémon around. There was no litleo to accost them this time.
Sean couldn't help but smile widely as he took in the many fantastic creatures, beings he had only known to be fictional, but now here and real in the flesh.
Metal too, a magnezone was floating around as well. "I wonder if that's Officer Magnezone?" Sean wondered to himself, but he wasn't sure how to phrase the question without seeming too knowledgeable. Magnezone was very shiny, clearly kept themselves in tip-top condition.
Kangaskhan was manning her business and Rai felt the need to explain as they walked. "I didn't mention it yesterday, but that's Kangaskhan Storage. She'll store and protect any item we leave with her. She's never misplaced a single item, however big or small."
Kangaskhan gave a cheery wave as they passed. "Good morning, Shinx, and Meowth too!" Which the pair returned. Past Kangaskhan's shop was where the marketplace truly begun.
Sean took a much closer look than he had the previous day. Where he had only ever known the Kecleon Market to be the only real store, now he could see several booths and shops pulled up like a shanty neighbourhood. A few were manned, most were not.
"Over there." Rai nodded in their direction. "Is mostly a big swapping joint or place where adventures might sell items they wouldn't sell elsewhere. That's the Kecleon Market, hi guys!" Rai spoke up loudly, causing Sean to wince.
"Good afternoon, Young Shinx," the green kecleon on the left said.
"And to your friend as well," the purple kecleon greeted, giving a bow.
Sean gave a wave as they passed. "Hello."
"They are the main pair to buy and sell stuff," Rai explained as they walked. "I got the apples from them earlier. They are really strong, that's how they get most of their items."
They continued walking, Rai getting twitchier as they approached the guild. Past the bridge and in the main town, the Wigglytuff Guild could be just seen from where they were. A big pink blotch against the blue sky.
Near the outskirts of the marketplace lurked the bank.
"Good morning, Duskull." Rai gave a nervous smile. Sean swallowed meekly as well. It was one thing to know about Ghost-type pokémon. Another to see one first hand.
Duskull didn't look so far removed from the depiction Sean knew it as; but the way its body constantly moved and rippled, yet didn't go anywhere, was creepy. The one red orb bouncing between empty eye-sockets was not pleasant to look at either. Yet at the same time he felt almost comfortable staring at him, the eye to the body reminded him of something… like a blanket perhaps?
"Hello," Sean said after Rai. It would not do to be impolite and stare.
"Most sincere greetings to you both," Duskull greeted, breathy and amused all at the same time. "Feel free to come by any time, Duskull Bank is your most worthy of stops."
They both gave nods and hurried on their way.
"Hoo." Rai breathed once they were clear. "Duskull's definitely good at what he does, keeping your money safe, but he gives me the heebie jeebies."
"He seems alright." Sean rubbed an arm, wincing as he was reminded how bruised he was under the fur. "But I'll trust you."
"So, that's Treasure Town, always a bit busy." Rai gave a smile, he still wasn't looking directly at Sean. "There's Exploration Teams all over it. I only recognised Team Ebony today, they don't seem to sleep at all."
"The shuppet and, uh… what was the bird?" Sean had seen the pair whispering to each other himself last night. He couldn't quite remember off the top of his head what the non-ghost member of the team was.
"Murkrow," Rai answered. "She's nice. She gets a bit fixated on things though."
"I see." Sean did. He could remember them, however vaguely.
As they arrived on the crossroads, Rai paused and Sean considered whether to give him a hand, or paw. Rai took a breath and continued onwards, wearing a fierce expression too determined for Sean to question.
"So, what do we do when we get there?" Sean asked, hoping to break the silence. "Everything went a bit quick yesterday for me to keep up."
"We gotta stand on the grate and get our footprints checked," Rai answered. "They'll let us in, then we just… ask to become apprentices."
"That easy, huh?" Sean muttered. It seemed odd, but he did remember it really was that easy.
"The guild keeps a track of all known wanted pokémon in the area," Rai said, changing the topic back. "If someone wants to get in, they gotta be cleared and if they are suspicious the guild will know by their footprint."
"Sounds like you've done your research," Sean joked and Rai gave an embarrassed smile.
"I've wanted to join them for… a while now," Rai admitted, scuffing the ground. "Every time I've tried to get the nerve to do it, I've lost it soon enough. Once I even made it inside, but when Chatot asked me what I was doing I made up a story about losing an item and wanting an explorer to find it for me… damn, I'm… ugh."
"Well now you've got me!" Sean grinned, pointing a claw at him and nearly poking himself in the chest. "We're in this together. Tell you what, I'll grab you by the tail if you try and run."
Rai gave him a perturbed glance and Sean inwardly cursed some excessively foul language. "I don't mean… like… um. What did I say?" He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his head; the words were gone and if he kept on chattering he'd start saying some highly thoughtless things.
"Nothing," Rai said, snapping Sean out of his thoughts. The shinx smiled and looked directly at him for the first time that day. "Glad to know I can… thanks. I might want to just mention, about the." He glanced around. "Human thing."
"Yeah?"
"It's not a really a pokémon thing to tell people your name right off the bat." For some reason Rai began to blush. "So, I'll call you Meowth and you call me Shinx when we're around others, okay?"
Sean nodded. He didn't quite understand, but he'd go along with it. "Okay."
Sean smiled and Rai smiled back. He was very cute. Sean could bet he was cute as well, he had a nose, that brought up the cuteness rating at least several levels. He could feel his ribs when he breathed in, however, glancing down he was very bony.
That was weird but… he had no time to dwell. They had reached the guild.
The giant Wigglytuff built into an entranceway was still horrifying. The empty eyes, paint chipping, the multi-coloured feathers tied to one side, and the weird totems in front of it. It looked threatening. "Maybe," Sean reasoned to himself as he and Rai stood frozen. "That's the point."
"You ready?" Sean asked, forcing his eyes away from the yawning chasm of The Wigglytuff and to the grate that laid like a trap before it.
"No," Rai answered honestly. "But I wasn't ready to lose my Relic Fragment either."
Stepping forward, missing the pained expression on Sean's face at the reminder, Rai stepped forward to the grate.
The holes were far too wide for him to stand on it and he hesitated. "I… uh… could you go first?" he asked, quietly and flushing in embarrassment.
"No problem," Sean said, smiling as Rai recoiled back from the grate like it stung him. He stepped over it, not nervous at all. He'd done this already, he was a pro.
There was a moment of nothing long enough for Sean to wonder if the guild was occupied.
"Pokémon detected!" a sharp, high, voice declared, causing Sean to jump and Rai to fluff up with sparking fur. "Pokémon detected!"
"Whose footprint?" another voice, that could only be described as intense, boomed. "Whose footprint?" Thankfully the owner of the voice wasn't shouting. Yet.
"The footprint is meowth! The footprint is meowth!"
"You again?" the voice Sean knew to be Loudred demanded. "Are you going to play by the rules this time?"
"We will," Sean shouted, voice echoing for Diglett below.
"Fine. Then get your FRIEND on the grate!"
Rai breathed in and out several times very quickly as Sean stepped off and looked to him. He was shivering like a leaf in the wind and Sean came over, thinking he might need to carry him over. The shinx was heavy too, or at least heavier than he was.
"You can do it," Sean said, hoping this measly attempt at cheerleading would help. Rai stared at him for a moment before swallowing and dragging himself over. He hesitated again before stepping onto the grate, looking back to Sean for support. "You know you can."
Rai nodded and stepped onto the grate. "Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" Hearing that for the third and fourth time reminded Sean of the pokémon detective movie he probably would never see now.
"Who's footprint? Who's-?"
"The footprint is shinx," Diglett interrupted, his voice growing very excited. "The footprint is SHINX!"
"WHAAT?" Loudred gasped before the gate began to open rapidly. "Get in here then."
Rai gave Sean a baffled look, but the meowth had no words of explanation for that. "Let's go," Sean said, jogging forward. Rai, much calmer now, ran after him and the two of them approached the mouth of the building.
"I wonder what that's about?" Rai asked as they stepped into the mouth of the building, the gate clanking shut behind them. Sean was relieved to see that, rather than a ladder to climb, there was a steep incline heading down in a spiral to the next level. He had been wondering how Rai was going to climb a ladder without hands or opposable digits.
Walking down to the second floor brought back another wave of nostalgia in Sean. Seeing the Wigglytuff Guild from such a different angle was strange, but even then, he felt at home inside its walls.
Several pokémon were up and about, looking over the notice boards. There were posters plastered up about pokémon who weren't outlaws, just famous. There was a very prominent picture of a lucario with a caption in strange runes that… Sean could read. Called The Legendary Lucario.
Sean found himself grinning widely again as he recognised each pokémon. Bidoof and Sunflora were looking over the job notice board while Corphish was glancing over the outlaw notice board. He spotted Chimecho giving Corphish advice as he worked out what mission to take.
The pair received a glance or two from the pokémon in the room, but no one approached. Sean was sure Sunflora didn't even notice them come in, already used to how loud Loudred could be.
"Ah, hello there," a voice chirped up from behind them. Sean turned, with Rai stiffly turning with him, to find a colourful bird having stepped up from the floor below them. "I am Chatot, Guildmaster Wigglytuff's right hand pokémon."
"Hello," Sean replied, Rai did not make a peep. "I'm-"
"May I ask what your business is here?" Chatot asked, cutting over Sean. His words were polite, but his tone was sharp. He hadn't quite taken in Rai's appearance, the shinx having shrunk behind Sean.
Sean adjusted, letting Chatot see them both. His eyes widened as he took in the sight of Rai. "We'd like to join as explorers!" Sean said, grinning widely.
It was funny how quickly Chatot's demeanour changed. Moving from a guarded and professional guise to a flappy and delighted one.
"Indeed? A new pair of pokémon who wish to become explorers?" Chatot rubbed his beak with a wing, seemingly speaking his mind out loud. "Splendid! Splendid! What a splendid day. Oh yes, you are aware of the difficulty of our program, yes? Of course you are." He nodded to Rai. "Splendid!"
"I-is the training really that difficult?" Sean asked, finding his voice again.
"Hmm?" Chatot asked before he focused on the nerves in both of their faces and fell into a flurry of flaps. "Oh no-no-no! Not at all, no, not at all. Our training is as easy as can be!" He gave a laugh, stiff and forced. "Yet we only deliver quality, oh most certainly yes! Come along you two, come along swiftly!"
"His attitude can change quickly," Sean thought to himself as Chatot composed himself.
"Follow me now," Chatot said, motioning them to follow him. "Let's get you signed up post haste with the Guildmaster. We don't wish to dawdle, chop-chop."
Sean quickly followed, reaching the second slope down before realising Rai was having difficulty following. "Um… Rai?" He remembered Rai's words. "Sorry, Shinx?"
Rai was shivering again and wearing an expression Sean could only call petrified. "No stun seeds around," Sean said, coming to Rai's side and pushing him gently. "Come on, we gotta go. Don't want Chatot to think we're lazy."
Rai began to move, and they descended to the second level. Chatot was waiting for them with an air of eagerness. "Come now, come now. We cannot leave the Guildmaster waiting."
Sean was able to quickly glance around, spotting the edge of Croagunk's Swap Shop and also saw Loudred. He gave a wave to the fellow Normal-type pokémon and received a swift nod in response.
Chatot took them to the left and to a pair of impressive doors. The light from a window was beaming into their eyes and Rai made a low, impressed sound. "Wow. We're two floors underground and we can see the sky."
"The guild is built into the side of a cliff," Chatot explained patiently. "It's only natural one could see the outside." He turned back to the doors and hesitated. "Now," Chatot said. "We are to see the Guildmaster. Behave yourselves around him. Do not speak unless spoken to. And on now account. I repeat, on NO account, should you be discourteous to our Guildmaster."
With that he called out. "Guildmaster? Chatot is entering with guests." And pushed the doors open.
Sean silently whistled. The doors were much bigger than Chatot, but he pushed them open like they were made of straw. Clearly stronger than he looked.
They entered a rather quirky room as Sean started to think of team names. It was beautiful at a first glance. Fresh flowers being set in pots. Light streaming in from two windows, one was broken. Wigglytuff always refused Chatot's requests to get it fixed, claiming he liked the fresh air. Lavender drapes made by the best weavers around, the same colour as the splash of purple on the guild's forehead outside.
There were also a pair of treasure chests busted open and sprawled off to the side. Pink was the dominating colour of the room, except for splashes of other colours, and Wigglytuff was there.
The big balloon pokémon was not facing them and was standing unnaturally still. Chatot took this in complete stride and hopped over to his side. "Guildmaster?" he asked. "I present to you the two pokémon who wish to join your guild as apprentices. Meowth and Young Shinx!"
Wigglytuff didn't respond.
Rai was frozen almost as still as Wigglytuff and Sean was busy glancing around in mounting excitement.
"Guildmaster?"
"HIYA!"
Wigglytuff spun around on them, startling everyone in the room. His voice was high and musical, fitting Sean's perception of the peppy, constantly cheerful, quirky wigglytuff he knew from the games.
"I'm Wigglytuff." He introduced himself. "I'm the guild's Guildmaster, the Guildmaster of the Wigglytuff Guild. Guildmaster Wigglytuff. You want to form an exploration team?" He didn't wait for their response, instead opening his arms like he wished to hug them. "Then, let's GO FOR IT! YOOM-TAH!"
Powerful sound waves blasted from him, streaming over Sean and Rai like a gale-force wind. Strangely the Hyper Voice didn't hurt, simply ruffled their fur a bit.
The most important effect was snapping Rai out of his funk. Blinking rapidly, he leaned on Sean to steady himself, his muscles having locked up from how tense he had been.
"First, we have to register your teams name," Wigglytuff said, oblivious to the stunned expressions he was facing. "So, tell me your teams name?"
"Team name?" Rai repeated, latching onto the last words as he began to return to the present. "Oh shoot! I had… I had… uh… help?"
With his voice bordering on hysterical, Sean quickly jumped in with the only name he'd been able to come up with. "Team Ion," he blurted.
"Team… Ion?" Rai asked, cocking his head slightly. "That's different."
"Y-yeah," Sean stuttered briefly, feeling everyone eyes on him. "It has something to do with electricity, I think, so I thought it'd be perfect."
Rai gazed at him. "What about you?"
"The only other name I thought of was ThunderClaw, and that sounds a bit… much."
To that, Rai agreed.
"All settled then!" Wigglytuff cheered. "I'll register your team name as Team Ion. Registering," he sang. "Registering… registered. YOOM-TAH!" He nearly blew them away again, but his clear enthusiasm was making Sean and Rai smile.
"Congratulations!" Wigglytuff applauded excitedly, Chatot did as well. "From now on, you two are an official Exploration Team! I present you this in commemoration. A Pokémon Exploration Team Kit." With that he pulled out a box from somewhere. Sean blinked, one moment Wigglytuff's paws were empty, then he had something in them.
Chalking it up to Fairy-type magic nonsense, he stepped forward. Rai joining him moments after.
"Wait. Is he a Fairy-type?" Sean wondered about the situation he was in, there was a litleo and other pokémon past Gen 4 so….
He was snapped out if it when the box opened by itself.
"A Pokémon Exploration Team Kit?" Sean asked as they peered in. Rai seemed to know what he was looking at, he had only the foggiest of memories.
"Yep," Wigglytuff answered. "It has everything an explorer might need. Quick, grab it all out."
With Wigglytuff nearly vibrating with excitement, Sean did the honours. He was the one with more dexterity after all.
"A badge," he said, pulling everything out.
"Two," Rai noted, as a second badge fell out of the pile Sean held.
"A map." Sean unrolled it, noticing a highly detailed map of the Grass Continent. He could spot various towns and landmarks he never would have known of. Treasure Town and Capim Town in particular stood out. There was some close places to Treasure Town. Quad Town. Sicilly. And the marks of some other guilds, the Clefable Guild in Blackstone Village a fair bit northeast and-
"A Treasure Bag!" Rai gasped, clutching onto it like it was a lifesaving gabite scale. Sean looked up from the map. "I've always wanted one. These things cost a fortune!"
"Your badges will be your official guild identification," Chatot explained, hopping over to Wigglytuff's side. "The Wonder Map is a wonderful tool to have to find your way. And the Treasure Bag is yours to keep. Now look inside before the Guildmaster pops from excitement!"
Rai did so, finding a pair of cloth items. He dug them out as Wigglytuff gave a high pitched 'eee' sound in excitement.
"That one's a Special Band, it'll make your Power moves stronger." Wigglytuff pointed to the scarf-like azure cloth. "The other one isn't complete just yet. I saw you had that silvery ribbon!" He beamed at Sean.
Sean glanced down, realising Wigglytuff had spotted the ribbon he had wrapped around his paw. "But you have no way to wear it properly. If you hand it over, I can combine it with this one to make you something awesome!"
Sean hesitated for just a brief moment before rationalising that Wigglytuff was perfectly trustworthy. He pawed over the bow and the band to the excited pokémon.
"Lalala," Wigglytuff sang as he twirled around. Each time he spun, and Sean got a look at what he was doing he had made progress. He spun nearly fifteen times before stopping. "Ooh. Dizzy…" Wigglytuff wobbled a bit but was steadied by Chatot. "Here you go. A super nifty bow to wear. It'll do wooonderful thiiings." He handed it over before falling back, landing on Chatot.
"Guildmaster!" Chatot grumbled, unprepared for Wigglytuff's weight. "GUILDMASTER!" He was nearly sprawled on the ground, Wigglytuff had to be doing it on purpose.
Wigglytuff bounced right back onto his feet with a wide grin. "HIYA!"
"Thank you," Rai said, and Sean gave his own thanks. "I really mean that… I didn't know it'd be so easy, you're very nice, Guildmaster Wigglytuff."
"Aww," Wigglytuff sniffled, tearing up. "Come here." Before anyone could so much as begin to refuse, Wigglytuff pulled Rai into a hug. It took about four seconds before he grabbed Sean as well and hugged him as well. "We have always believed you could do it, Shinx," Wigglytuff said warmly, setting the pair down.
Rai blushed.
"But first you had to come to us," Chatot added, hopping up beside Wigglytuff, ready to intervene in case their new apprentices needed more space to breathe. Wigglytuff's hugs could be debilitating. "Can see it as the first hurdle."
"Yep! But now we'll be having so much fun!" Wigglytuff cheered and did a dance around them before grabbing both of Team Ion plus Chatot for another hug.
"You will also be working hard," Chatot added, acting as the stern teacher in comparison to the dancing Wigglytuff, despite being smushed up with them in the hug. "There will be no shirking of work and there are few excuses accepted here. Understand?"
"We do." Rai nodded, determination replacing all previous trepidation. "Right, Meowth?"
"Right."
"Very good. Come with me you two," Chatot said, releasing them from Wigglytuff's affection. "I'll show you to your rooms."
"Have fun." Wigglytuff waved, doing another spin. "And have a good rest, you two look very tired."
"Thank you," Sean and Rai chorused as the doors closed behind them.
"Come," Chatot said, hopping his way past the window and to a corridor. "The apprentice's rooms are this way."
"We get rooms!?" Rai cheered under his breath, hurrying to catch up with Chatot.
Sean grinned and raced after him, but not without glancing back and seeing Croagunk and Loudred staring at them.
Chatot led them past several pairs of rooms on either side of the corridor and to the final one. "With Team Celestial absent, here is where you'll stay during your training here." They entered into a basic room. Having a pair of equally sized beds of straw and a window. It was somewhat roomier than Rai's place, but only due to the lack of a water fountain.
They stepped onto their beds, feeling them as Chatot continued. "You'll live here while you train with us. Things will start getting busy tomorrow so make sure you go to bed early tonight. Dinner is held when Chimecho rings her bell. You are expected to attend all morning briefings. Understand?"
"Yes," Rai said, Sean nodded.
"Very good." Chatot paused and considered something for a moment. "We are happy to have you with us, Shinx. You will do well here," he said before looking to Sean. "As you can probably gather, Shinx is well known. I must offer a thank you for providing him with this boost of confidence." He nodded once and turned to leave.
"Wait," Sean called out, causing the bird to pause and glance back.
"Yes?"
Now that things had calmed down and Rai was no longer shivering in a half-panic attack, Sean was able to think clearly again. He noticed something rather pertinent to the time.
They had stayed the night at Rai's instead of joining the guild. It was only now occurring to him that they were supposed to have their first mission today. Spoink, or something.
"Is it possible we can have a job to do?" Sean asked, trying to speak as coolly and naturally as possible. No hint of desperation or pleading no sir.
Chatot's eye quirked in a slight smile. "Eagerness is a good sign, but just use today to prepare yourselves. Maybe introduce yourself to your fellow apprentices. There is no need to be hasty." Shaking his head, he continued hopping away. "Such eagerness, that might be tough to keep up with… the youth of today…" he muttered under his breath, falling out of hearing range soon enough.
Sean swallowed and glanced to Rai. He was looking much livelier than he had been earlier, a smile was spreading over his face.
"I did it," he whispered, joy beaming his face like no amount of light could. "I DID IT!"
Despite his own misgivings of screwing everything up ever, Sean couldn't help but grin wildly as Rai danced around the room. "I'm an official explorer now. I didn't run away like the last sixty-two times! I did it, I did it, I did it!"
He finished hopping around and turned to Sean, beaming smile still in place. "It's all thanks to you. Thank you, thank you!" He pounced on Sean and gave him a lick on the koban, the coin on his forehead, before freezing and leaping hard enough off him that the wind was knocked out of Sean.
"I'm so sorry!" Rai gasped before hiding his face in his paws. "I got to excited. I shouldn't have licked you."
Sean pulled himself to his feet. Being pounced on was not a feeling he was used to at this size, thankfully Rai had tackled him into one of the beds, so the fall wasn't painful. The shinx's tongue was somewhat staticky though and his forehead felt very strange.
Rubbing the koban, and fully realising he had a bit of metal fused into his head now, Sean gave a smile. "Heh, it's fine," he said bashfully. "Maybe a bit of warning next time?"
Rai peaked out from his paws and saw Sean was unbothered. Sighing in relief he propped himself up. "Sorry. I sometimes act without thinking, I can be thoughtless, sorry."
Sean waved him off. "Haha, that's the same as me. You're fine."
Smiling now, Rai stepped forward. "Well, you heard what Chatot said." Flicking his tail, Rai looked back to him. "Let's introduce ourselves to the other members of the guild."
"Look who's all confident now," Sean teased as they went, Rai grinned but the smile was somewhat tight.
"I got into the guild. That's the biggest step of my life!" he said brightly. Sean grinned.
Sean considered what meeting the apprentices was going to be like. He had seen, or heard, everyone he knew from the games on the way in, barring Dugtrio.
They exited into the guilds second floor and found that they had a small crowd waiting for them.
"Oh my gosh!" A pitch only Sunflora could make squealed out in delight. "Shinx did it!"
Rai and Sean had only moments to prepare themselves before they were swarmed by their guildmates. With only Croagunk, Diglett and Dugtrio abstaining from the attack on their personal space, everyone else went to clamber over them.
The image of various monsters rampaging towards him evoked a sense of primal fear in Sean and it was him who froze up under the attention. Rai was all bashful smiles and quiet introductions while Sean tried to reboot.
"And this is Meowth," Rai finished introducing himself and noticed Sean hadn't said anything. Hearing Rai introduce him as Meowth managed to bring Sean back to the world of the living and he blinked a few times to clear his vision. His tail was ramrod straight, but he didn't notice it.
"Ah, hello," he said, heart still hammering in his chest. He did a mental countdown and reminded himself he was good at socialising. His tail slowly began to relax.
Bidoof, of all pokémon, seemed to detect his anxiety and shuffled back. "Golly, I think we might have come on too strongly."
The rest of them saw it too and took a few steps back. Sean gave a nervous chuckle and rubbed his face.
He took a breath and reached out to Sunflora, giving a smile. "My apologies, you startled me a bit. I'm a meowth as you can see, but I'm happy for everyone here to call me-" Before he could finish introducing himself, Sunflora took his paw in her leaf-like limb and shook his whole body with impressive strength.
"Oh my gosh!" she repeated, beaming at Sean. "I'm so totally delighted to meet you. You're both so cute! I'm Sunflora, this is Bidoof, that's Corphish." She continued pointing everyone out and Sean nodded and said hello to everyone she pointed out.
"Skulking over in his creepy shop is Croagunk." Bidoof and Loudred stepped out of the way to let Sean and Rai spot Croagunk, who gave a lazy wave from his perch. "If you want to swap stuff, he's the guy. Although not at the moment."
"Someone blew my cauldron up," Croagunk called, smiling lazily. There was no reproach in his voice.
"Our main sentry is Diglett," Sunflora continued, "he's the one who read your footprints. And his dad is … uh…?"
"Here," Dugtrio said, rising from the ground. "We took a break from communing with the waves to follow the commotion. Shinx, it is wonderful to see you in our ranks at last."
"Th-Thanks," Rai said, perching down and almost burying his face in his paws as he was blushing so brightly. "For all this. Thanks."
"I'm Loudred, I'm one of the main sentries for the guild." Despite being pointed out by Sunflora, the others had decided it was only polite to introduce themselves. "There's no one better in the guild than me to come to for advice on outlaws. I know 'em all. GREAT to meet you." He rattled Sean's arm worse than Sunflora had, Sean guessed it was some tough-guy thing.
"Nice to see you," Rai said, smiling.
"Yeah," Sean agreed. "You seem strong." This time he did massage his arm.
Loudred puffed up proudly. "But of course! I'm the strongest apprentice here!"
"Second strongest!" Sunflora called out.
"FIRST STRONGEST!" Loudred roared back and the two fell into an argument.
"Hey-hey, I'm Corphish." A crustacean pokémon shook a paw each with his pincers, taking great care not to crush or pinch them. "Ignore those two." He had to speak loudly over Loudred. "Croagunk is actually the strongest but don't say that around them."
"Yup-yup," Bidoof agreed, stepping up to them. "Those two can get pretty competitive by golly. I'm Bidoof. I was the most recent apprentice before you two showed up. Gosh it makes me so happy to see some newcomers."
Sniffling slightly, he let himself be pulled back by Chimecho, who floated up as the last member of the mob. "It is great to meet the two of you," she positively sang. "I am Chimecho. I am the chef and nurse of the guild and I also manage the Exploration Teams in general as well as the representative of the Psychic Network. If there are any questions you may have, places you need to scout, or anything at all, feel free to ask."
That was a lot of things.
"Thanks for the offer." Rai smiled but Sean did have a question.
"Psychic Network?" he asked, that sounded new.
Chimecho beamed at him. "Haven't heard of it?" He shook his head. "Curious. Well, it's a simpl thing to explain! A collection of Psychic-type pokémon who have created a linked neural connection pathway that-"
"Chimes," Sunflora giggled as Sean was already looking foggy-eyed. "I think you're going too fast." Chimecho blushed and a few of them laughed. "It lets her talk to other towns and guilds, basically. That's about as much as we need to know."
Sean looked to Rai who bobbed his head. "That's about as much as I've heard."
"Oh."
"We might ask someone for advice soon. Chatot said we go on a job tomorrow." Rai explained. "At the moment we're just told to familiarise ourselves with the place and you guys too I guess!"
Sean tried to withhold his disappointment at the no mission. He was pretty sure the first mission was meant to be Spoink, but would it if they were a day behind on things?
A stab of nervousness went through him at that, and Sean wondered how he was going to handle what was to come.
"Well, good luck," Chimecho said. "Feel free to ask any questions. I'll see you all at dinnertime soon!" She floated off, leaving the pair with Bidoof and Corphish.
"By the way," Corphish started. "Well done Shinx. I was always rooting for you to join the guild!"
"Yup-yup, always knew you could make it," Bidoof agreed, bobbing his head.
"Ah… don't embarrass me." Rai blushed.
Bidoof grinned. "Knock-knock?" he asked, and Rai smiled.
"Who's there?"
"Snow," Bidoof said eagerly.
"Snow who?" Rai asked. Sean watched in amusement, not expecting knock-knock jokes.
"Snow point pretending you don't know me!" Bidoof finished and Rai chuckled.
Corphish shook his head at the antics. "Behave, Bidoof," he said, faux-seriously. "Seriously though," Corphish continued, "we're happy to have you here. I know you'll be an amazing adventurer. Super strong too, just like your sister!"
Rai's smile became fixed. "O-Oh, thank you."
Corphish blanched as he realised he'd said something wrong. "Uh… uh… hey-HEY what's that over there?" He scuttled off as quickly as his six legs would carry him, Bidoof mumbling something unintelligible before running off himself.
Bidoof glanced back, eyes meeting Sean's for a moment, before he ducked down and ran up to the next level. Sean turned to Rai who was blinking a little too much to be normal.
Swallowing, he decided to take a stab at asking some difficult questions. Only to default to something safer. "So, they ran off in a hurry?" He took a moment, Rai didn't respond, so he pulled it back to difficult. "What's that about?"
"Nothing really." Rai shrugged, turning around to walk back to their room. "My sister left a fair while ago, I've just heard about how strong she is so many times."
Sean heard what wasn't said and wisely decided to listen and not press further. He glanced between Rai and the slope leading to the upper level, debating. He quickly decided to stick with Rai, everything was still far to strange and different to consider being alone.
He heard the shinx sigh a little when he caught up and walked with him in silence back to their room. "I'm still really sore from yesterday," Rai admitted once they got to their room. Slumping down on the nearest bed he groaned. "I'm not used to getting pounded like that."
Sean bit his tongue and walked to the second bed. "Well, yeah to be honest I'm not used to getting beaten up either. But when we find them…" he trailed off warningly.
Rai rolled over to face him, consternation marring his expression. "Find them?"
"We'll find those Team Skull assholes," Sean confirmed. Not a doubt lingering in his words. "And we'll get the Relic Fragment back."
Rai blinked at him owlishly for a moment. "Noctowlishly?" Sean wondered, before Rai spoke.
"You're a very strange pokémon," he said plainly. Sean gave a chuckle, but Rai's expression was firm. "You told me you were a human… I'm not sure if I believed you, but you don't act like any pokémon I've met before."
"You've only just met me," Sean said. He knew it could be hurting his chances at being believed, but he still had to say it.
"Yeah," Rai agreed before surprising Sean. "Exactly." He smiled slightly before yawning and closing his eyes. "I know we only just woke up, and I even normally wake up early, but I'm still so tired."
Sean hummed his agreement. "I'm not such an early-delibird, but I don't sleep too easy either."
"Heh," Rai laughed, eyes still closed. "Been here a day and you're already saying stuff like 'early-delibird'."
"Thought it'd make sense," Sean said. He had planned the comment in advance.
"Mm."
They laid in silence for a moment, drifting off, but something occurred to Sean that wouldn't allow him respite until he had answers.
"Rai? You still here?"
"…Yeah. That's a weird way of asking if I'm awake though."
"About the name thing you mentioned before…?"
"Yeah."
"What's the reason behind that?"
"I don't really know. It's just polite to call someone you don't know, or just acquaintances with, by what they are. It's a privilege thing, something for friends, family and mates to call you by your name. Pokémon that go about telling everyone their names are usually regarded as, uh… w-well, you shouldn't do it."
Sean digested that information for a moment, it made a comforting amount of sense. Still, there was one last thing on his mind.
"You told me your name. And you barely know me."
"You told me yours. Even if you didn't know the significance, you still did. I like to think, though, that we could be friends. Either way, I'm fine if you want to call Rai, as long as I can call you Sean. It's an odd name for a meowth, you don't look shorn."
He chuckled. "The other pronunciation for that would be seen."
"Seen? Sounds more like a Psychic-type name. Or something like a lucario or something."
"Heh. I got a lot of people calling me Seen. Ever heard of the Meowth Theatre? Could think of Scene?"
"Words are confusing."
"Yeah. Shorn, Sean, Shawn. Whatever, I'll get used to Meowth."
There was a bit of silence.
"I'll do my best. Goodnight Rai, and… thanks. You didn't have to help me out yesterday either, but you did."
"Goodnight Sean. And thank you. I never think I'd ever get to join the Wigglytuff Guild. If I had to lose my Relic Fragment to do it, well… that's just what had to happen."
Rai fell asleep first, setting a trend Sean knew would persist. Sleep did not come to him as easily, though. Rai's last words lingered in his head.
" Yeah… but you weren't supposed to lose it. That's not how the story goes. It didn't need to happen. But we will find it. We have to. Team Skull will turn up eventually, the expedition I think. I gotta make sure that happens…"
Timeline wise things are already messed up a bit. Normally this day would have the job request to find Spoink's Pearl in the Drenched Bluff. But they joined today. But what does tomorrow bring, a certain predatory Psychic….
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