FauxFox
Wandering Fool
These ended up being a bit longer than 100 words, but here are my drabbles for bingo.
| Friendly Competition | Guildmaster's Favorite | |
| Hazing | New Teammate | |
| Rescuer Needs Rescuing | Climbing the Ranks |
Took Team Laughingstock in a possibly unintended direction with the given prompt though, as with the format, I figured it could also refer to a team itself being a laughingstock of the guild for their poor performance on jobs. If I get bored, I might go for a blackout, though that is unlikely given the remaining time. Without further ado, here are my "drabbles"
“Good luck out there today!” Zinnia the Floette shouted to the guild, as the various teams dispersed, talking amongst themselves. At the outlaw board, a Ribombee and an Excadrill, members of Team Root, browsed the bounties, while a Hattrem and a Crocalor, Team Shako, looked at the job board. A few of the other teams, such as the one composed of a Zorua and a Vulpix, the recently formed and quickly rising Team Faux.
But while all these other teams prepared for their jobs, one team met up on the road near the edge of the small town, home to this small but lively guild, for a different reason.
The phrase “Don’t worry, you can’t screw up more than the Magic Tricks” had been getting tossed around the Floette Guild for a good while now, and Lexi was sick of it. So she gathered her teammates for a discussion.
“Alright,” Lexi looked at Gale and Matt, “Lets go over the jobs we did in the last month. Surely we couldn’t have failed all of them. Like, I don’t know, the Pincurchin bounty. I don’t remember that one going poorly.” The Fennekin suggested.
Gale sighed. “That’s because I immediately tried to hit it with a Thunder Shock, only for it to shrug it off and hit you with a Bubble Beam, knocking you out cold.” The Shinx reminded her.
“And if Team Shako wasn’t in that dungeon for an unrelated task, we would have all been taken down.” Matt added. “What about the delivery mission we did last week?”
“Nope, we screwed that one up too.” Lexi said to the Nickit. “The Kecleon Shop got mail intended for Danny, Danny got Zinnia’s mail, we accidentally dropped off the delivery of bounties at Team Faux’s place instead of Laslow’s office, and we even managed to deliver some of our own mail to the Café.”
“And then there was the job to collect sleep seeds, where not only did we grab stun seeds instead, but we didn’t realize until someone decided to eat one.” Gale added, glancing towards Matt.
“Maybe we are as bad as they say…” The three of them muttered in unison, realizing that they had, in fact, screwed up all of their recent jobs.
Then, a strong gust of wind blew, kicking up sand, and blowing a paper right into Lexi’s face.
“Ah- I can’t see!” She shouted, trying to push it off her face.
“Let me get it…” Matt groaned, grabbing the paper in his mouth and pulling it off of Lexi’s face.
Lexi looked at the paper, her eyes lighting up.
“What does it say?” Gale asked, wiping sand out of his eyes.
A smile grew across Lexi’s face. “It’s a C-Rank bounty to catch a Seviper and a Beautifly. In other words, something not even we can mess up!”
After Matt rolled up the bounty and put it in the team’s bag, the three of them made their way towards the dungeon known as Breezy Meadows, as the members of Team Root laughed amongst themselves, as one of them, A Ribombee, pulled out a similar looking sheet of paper, with just one small change. Where the bounty sheet that the Magic Tricks had was marked with a C, this near-identical bounty sheet was marked with an A.
“Now, close your eyes and focus.” The ghostly voice said. “Imagine that you are the vase. Picture its shape, its texture. Think of how the vase feels.”
Theo kept his eyes closed, the human-turned-zorua doing his best to follow the instructions of the spirit in his head.
“Just like that. Now, relax. Become the vase. Stay perfectly still, and focus.” Mitch continued.
Theo let out a sigh. “It isn’t working. And how am I supposed to think of how a vase feels? It’s inanimate, it can’t feel anything” Theo asked, frustrated. “Why can’t I learn something more useful, like how to battle?”
“To stand a chance in a battle, you must be able to utilize your illusions.” The Hisuian Zorua spirit explained. “You must hone your illusions before you can hone your claws.”
“But you said Zorua could use moves like scratch without claws!” Theo retorted.
“I said that experienced Zorua could use moves like scratch without claws. If you don’t have faith in your illusions, then you won’t have faith in the rest of your abilities.”
“So you are saying that I’m not good enough then.” Theo muttered.
“Being good enough and having experience are two different things.” Mitch stated. “Being good comes from practicing, and having experience comes from using what you have practiced. If you would like, we can focus on something simpler, like slight appearance alterations rather than full on transformations.”
“Why wouldn’t we have focused on that first?” Theo asked.
“If you can master full transformations, slight alterations become a walk in the park.” Mitch explained. “Now try to make your tail look different, do whatever comes to mind.”
Theo closed his eyes, trying to picture something to change his tail into. He took a deep breath, focusing on just his tail, and what he was trying to make it look like.
“Now open your eyes, but don’t lose focus.” Mitch calmly instructed.
And so Theo did, and opened his eyes. He looked at the mirror on the wall next to him, and did his best to hold back a cheer, as it worked. While overall he still appeared to be a Zorua, he had managed to give himself Vulpix tails.
“Great job Theo.” Mitch said, congratulating Theo. “I should have realized that it would be easier for you to imagine being something else that is… animate, rather than a decorative item.”
“It’s fine, what can we try next?” Theo asked, more excited by his accomplishment, even if it was on the simpler side of illusions.
“Well,” Mitch paused, making a decision. “I guess it couldn’t hurt to help you get better at giving yourself claws through illusions, at least until you learn to fight without them…”
“Duck!” Theo yelled as he and Tina dashed through a forest.
Tina did as Theo suggested, and narrowly ducked under a pulsing blast of water. In retaliation, the Vulpix used Incinerate, directed at the Dewott chasing them.
Theo jumped to his left as the Water Pulse launched by the Dewott hit a tree, causing it to begin falling as the blast connected. “You missed, you shell-wielding bampot!” The Zorua shouted.
The Dewott seemed unfazed by Theo's insult, and simply fired another one.
“Look, pal, we aren’t interested in a fight!” Tina shouted, dodging the attack once again.
“Yeah, just leave us alone!” Theo shouted, when he had an idea.
The Dewott fired a weaker, yet still forceful blast of water. “Sorry kids, but orders are orders.”
Before the blast could hit Tina, Theo dashed towards her, knocking her over and sending them both tumbling into a bush.
“What’s the big i-” Tina began to say, before Theo cut her off.
“Tina, I have a plan, but I need you to trust me.” Theo said, in a hushed whisper.
“That depends on the plan.” Tina replied quietly.
“We don’t have time, I just need you to stay right here until he leaves. Got it?” Theo asked. “You need to trust me on this, it will work.”
“If I am staying here, then what are you goi-” Tina began, before being interrupted again, this time by the Dewott.
“I know you two are in the bush, so let's make this simple. I am only here to get the Vulpix. If you want your friend to be safe, then I trust that you will come out of that bush, alone. You have until I count to five, and if you keep hiding, then I have a water pulse with your names on it.” The Dewott explained. “One…”
“You heard him.” Tina said. “If I go, you will be safe.”
“Two…”
“Tina, don’t. We can’t trust him!” Theo replied.
“Three…” The sound of water forming together could be heard from outside the bush.
“Don’t stop me, just run to the guild once he is gone.” Tina said.
“Four…” The Dewott took a deep breath.
“Stop!” Tina dashed out of the bush. “It’s me you’re after, right? Then take me, and leave my friend alone.”
“Glad to see that you are cooperating.” The Dewott said, the pulse of water dissipating. “Come with me, and no funny business. Collateral damage would be a real shame.”
“I’ll go.” Tina said, voice shaking a little.
“Then follow me.” The Dewott said, pulling a scalchop from his side as he began to walk back the way he had come from, Tina following.
Once the two of them were out of sight, however, Tina stepped out of the bush, and dashed back to the guild. “He told me to trust him, he will be fine…” She repeated to herself as she ran, trying to keep her worries under control. “Theo has it all under control…”
“Now then, my teammate will be here in a few moments to confirm that you are the one we are after.” The Dewott said. “I need you to just sit tight until then.”
“And what are the ropes for?” Tina(?) asked.
“So you don’t escape.” The Dewott replied, looking down the road. “She should be here any minute now, and even if that Zorua friend of yours tries to get help from the guild, it won’t matter. We’ll be long gone before they can do anything.”
“Good thing that Zorua isn’t getting help from the guild.” The Vulpix said, as the illusion faded, revealing themself to be Theo. “And you are in Fury Swipe distance.”
With these words, Theo leapt towards the Dewott, the ropes tied to fit around a Vulpix sliding off, as claws manifested on the Zorua’s feet, and he launched a barrage of fury swipes on the Dewott.
The Dewott pulled the scalchops from his side, each one with ten notches carved into them, and blocked each slash from Theo’s claws. “You are a tricky little one… You would be a great asset for the Lance Guild.”
“Sorry pal, but I’ve already got a job, so I’m not interested.” Theo chuckled. “Besides, I don’t work with criminals.” One of his attacks finally connected with the Dewott, who staggered back.
When the Dewott turned to continue the fight, however, Theo was gone.
“You’ve won this one fox, but I’ll be back here when you least expect it. And next time, I won’t fall for your tricks.” The Dewott declared, turning to walk away.
“That went well.” A voice chuckled.
“Took you long enough, Tori. Some assistance would have been nice.” The Dewott replied.
“And miss out on watching an interesting fight? No thank you. Besides, Howell, I wouldn’t have been able to do too much to that Zorua anyway.” The Indeedee replied. “But your current mission can be put on hold, the boss has another job for you to do.”
“Guess we really can’t catch a break.” Howell sighed. “Well lead the way, and explain the details as we walk.”
Theo stepped into the Floette guild, a grin on his face. “I’m back!” He shouted.
“Theo!” Tina yelled, running towards him. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. The Dewott wasn’t trying to hurt me.” Theo answered.
“Thank Arceus…” Tina muttered. “Never, and I mean ever, try that ever again, alright! I was worried sick!”
Theo chuckled. “Well the disguise was pretty convincing though, wasn’t it? I even had him tricked with the voice.”
“I’m being serious!” Tina pouted.
“Lets just head home, it's getting late. If that Dewott is still looking for us, he will be headed here next. Although I’ll bet he’s just given up.” Theo said. “Race you home?”
Tina smiled. “You’re on. But if I win, you never pull that stunt again.”
“No promises!” Theo shouted, dashing out the door, with Tina close behind him.
“Good luck out there today!” Zinnia the Floette shouted to the guild, as the various teams dispersed, talking amongst themselves. At the outlaw board, a Ribombee and an Excadrill, members of Team Root, browsed the bounties, while a Hattrem and a Crocalor, Team Shako, looked at the job board. A few of the other teams, such as the one composed of a Zorua and a Vulpix, the recently formed and quickly rising Team Faux.
But while all these other teams prepared for their jobs, one team met up on the road near the edge of the small town, home to this small but lively guild, for a different reason.
The phrase “Don’t worry, you can’t screw up more than the Magic Tricks” had been getting tossed around the Floette Guild for a good while now, and Lexi was sick of it. So she gathered her teammates for a discussion.
“Alright,” Lexi looked at Gale and Matt, “Lets go over the jobs we did in the last month. Surely we couldn’t have failed all of them. Like, I don’t know, the Pincurchin bounty. I don’t remember that one going poorly.” The Fennekin suggested.
Gale sighed. “That’s because I immediately tried to hit it with a Thunder Shock, only for it to shrug it off and hit you with a Bubble Beam, knocking you out cold.” The Shinx reminded her.
“And if Team Shako wasn’t in that dungeon for an unrelated task, we would have all been taken down.” Matt added. “What about the delivery mission we did last week?”
“Nope, we screwed that one up too.” Lexi said to the Nickit. “The Kecleon Shop got mail intended for Danny, Danny got Zinnia’s mail, we accidentally dropped off the delivery of bounties at Team Faux’s place instead of Laslow’s office, and we even managed to deliver some of our own mail to the Café.”
“And then there was the job to collect sleep seeds, where not only did we grab stun seeds instead, but we didn’t realize until someone decided to eat one.” Gale added, glancing towards Matt.
“Maybe we are as bad as they say…” The three of them muttered in unison, realizing that they had, in fact, screwed up all of their recent jobs.
Then, a strong gust of wind blew, kicking up sand, and blowing a paper right into Lexi’s face.
“Ah- I can’t see!” She shouted, trying to push it off her face.
“Let me get it…” Matt groaned, grabbing the paper in his mouth and pulling it off of Lexi’s face.
Lexi looked at the paper, her eyes lighting up.
“What does it say?” Gale asked, wiping sand out of his eyes.
A smile grew across Lexi’s face. “It’s a C-Rank bounty to catch a Seviper and a Beautifly. In other words, something not even we can mess up!”
After Matt rolled up the bounty and put it in the team’s bag, the three of them made their way towards the dungeon known as Breezy Meadows, as the members of Team Root laughed amongst themselves, as one of them, A Ribombee, pulled out a similar looking sheet of paper, with just one small change. Where the bounty sheet that the Magic Tricks had was marked with a C, this near-identical bounty sheet was marked with an A.
Mentor
“Now, close your eyes and focus.” The ghostly voice said. “Imagine that you are the vase. Picture its shape, its texture. Think of how the vase feels.”
Theo kept his eyes closed, the human-turned-zorua doing his best to follow the instructions of the spirit in his head.
“Just like that. Now, relax. Become the vase. Stay perfectly still, and focus.” Mitch continued.
Theo let out a sigh. “It isn’t working. And how am I supposed to think of how a vase feels? It’s inanimate, it can’t feel anything” Theo asked, frustrated. “Why can’t I learn something more useful, like how to battle?”
“To stand a chance in a battle, you must be able to utilize your illusions.” The Hisuian Zorua spirit explained. “You must hone your illusions before you can hone your claws.”
“But you said Zorua could use moves like scratch without claws!” Theo retorted.
“I said that experienced Zorua could use moves like scratch without claws. If you don’t have faith in your illusions, then you won’t have faith in the rest of your abilities.”
“So you are saying that I’m not good enough then.” Theo muttered.
“Being good enough and having experience are two different things.” Mitch stated. “Being good comes from practicing, and having experience comes from using what you have practiced. If you would like, we can focus on something simpler, like slight appearance alterations rather than full on transformations.”
“Why wouldn’t we have focused on that first?” Theo asked.
“If you can master full transformations, slight alterations become a walk in the park.” Mitch explained. “Now try to make your tail look different, do whatever comes to mind.”
Theo closed his eyes, trying to picture something to change his tail into. He took a deep breath, focusing on just his tail, and what he was trying to make it look like.
“Now open your eyes, but don’t lose focus.” Mitch calmly instructed.
And so Theo did, and opened his eyes. He looked at the mirror on the wall next to him, and did his best to hold back a cheer, as it worked. While overall he still appeared to be a Zorua, he had managed to give himself Vulpix tails.
“Great job Theo.” Mitch said, congratulating Theo. “I should have realized that it would be easier for you to imagine being something else that is… animate, rather than a decorative item.”
“It’s fine, what can we try next?” Theo asked, more excited by his accomplishment, even if it was on the simpler side of illusions.
“Well,” Mitch paused, making a decision. “I guess it couldn’t hurt to help you get better at giving yourself claws through illusions, at least until you learn to fight without them…”
Trust Your Partner
“Duck!” Theo yelled as he and Tina dashed through a forest.
Tina did as Theo suggested, and narrowly ducked under a pulsing blast of water. In retaliation, the Vulpix used Incinerate, directed at the Dewott chasing them.
Theo jumped to his left as the Water Pulse launched by the Dewott hit a tree, causing it to begin falling as the blast connected. “You missed, you shell-wielding bampot!” The Zorua shouted.
The Dewott seemed unfazed by Theo's insult, and simply fired another one.
“Look, pal, we aren’t interested in a fight!” Tina shouted, dodging the attack once again.
“Yeah, just leave us alone!” Theo shouted, when he had an idea.
The Dewott fired a weaker, yet still forceful blast of water. “Sorry kids, but orders are orders.”
Before the blast could hit Tina, Theo dashed towards her, knocking her over and sending them both tumbling into a bush.
“What’s the big i-” Tina began to say, before Theo cut her off.
“Tina, I have a plan, but I need you to trust me.” Theo said, in a hushed whisper.
“That depends on the plan.” Tina replied quietly.
“We don’t have time, I just need you to stay right here until he leaves. Got it?” Theo asked. “You need to trust me on this, it will work.”
“If I am staying here, then what are you goi-” Tina began, before being interrupted again, this time by the Dewott.
“I know you two are in the bush, so let's make this simple. I am only here to get the Vulpix. If you want your friend to be safe, then I trust that you will come out of that bush, alone. You have until I count to five, and if you keep hiding, then I have a water pulse with your names on it.” The Dewott explained. “One…”
“You heard him.” Tina said. “If I go, you will be safe.”
“Two…”
“Tina, don’t. We can’t trust him!” Theo replied.
“Three…” The sound of water forming together could be heard from outside the bush.
“Don’t stop me, just run to the guild once he is gone.” Tina said.
“Four…” The Dewott took a deep breath.
“Stop!” Tina dashed out of the bush. “It’s me you’re after, right? Then take me, and leave my friend alone.”
“Glad to see that you are cooperating.” The Dewott said, the pulse of water dissipating. “Come with me, and no funny business. Collateral damage would be a real shame.”
“I’ll go.” Tina said, voice shaking a little.
“Then follow me.” The Dewott said, pulling a scalchop from his side as he began to walk back the way he had come from, Tina following.
Once the two of them were out of sight, however, Tina stepped out of the bush, and dashed back to the guild. “He told me to trust him, he will be fine…” She repeated to herself as she ran, trying to keep her worries under control. “Theo has it all under control…”
“Now then, my teammate will be here in a few moments to confirm that you are the one we are after.” The Dewott said. “I need you to just sit tight until then.”
“And what are the ropes for?” Tina(?) asked.
“So you don’t escape.” The Dewott replied, looking down the road. “She should be here any minute now, and even if that Zorua friend of yours tries to get help from the guild, it won’t matter. We’ll be long gone before they can do anything.”
“Good thing that Zorua isn’t getting help from the guild.” The Vulpix said, as the illusion faded, revealing themself to be Theo. “And you are in Fury Swipe distance.”
With these words, Theo leapt towards the Dewott, the ropes tied to fit around a Vulpix sliding off, as claws manifested on the Zorua’s feet, and he launched a barrage of fury swipes on the Dewott.
The Dewott pulled the scalchops from his side, each one with ten notches carved into them, and blocked each slash from Theo’s claws. “You are a tricky little one… You would be a great asset for the Lance Guild.”
“Sorry pal, but I’ve already got a job, so I’m not interested.” Theo chuckled. “Besides, I don’t work with criminals.” One of his attacks finally connected with the Dewott, who staggered back.
When the Dewott turned to continue the fight, however, Theo was gone.
“You’ve won this one fox, but I’ll be back here when you least expect it. And next time, I won’t fall for your tricks.” The Dewott declared, turning to walk away.
“That went well.” A voice chuckled.
“Took you long enough, Tori. Some assistance would have been nice.” The Dewott replied.
“And miss out on watching an interesting fight? No thank you. Besides, Howell, I wouldn’t have been able to do too much to that Zorua anyway.” The Indeedee replied. “But your current mission can be put on hold, the boss has another job for you to do.”
“Guess we really can’t catch a break.” Howell sighed. “Well lead the way, and explain the details as we walk.”
Theo stepped into the Floette guild, a grin on his face. “I’m back!” He shouted.
“Theo!” Tina yelled, running towards him. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. The Dewott wasn’t trying to hurt me.” Theo answered.
“Thank Arceus…” Tina muttered. “Never, and I mean ever, try that ever again, alright! I was worried sick!”
Theo chuckled. “Well the disguise was pretty convincing though, wasn’t it? I even had him tricked with the voice.”
“I’m being serious!” Tina pouted.
“Lets just head home, it's getting late. If that Dewott is still looking for us, he will be headed here next. Although I’ll bet he’s just given up.” Theo said. “Race you home?”
Tina smiled. “You’re on. But if I win, you never pull that stunt again.”
“No promises!” Theo shouted, dashing out the door, with Tina close behind him.
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