Welcome to Thousand Roads! You're welcome to view discussions or read our stories without registering, but you'll need an account to join in our events, interact with other members, or post one of your own fics. Why not become a member of our community? We'd love to have you!
Chapter 4 is kind of an extension of Chapter 3–a pretty brief respite, and then it’s back to running for our lives, trying to evade the resurgence of the soldiers. A little interesting worldbuilding in the lull, there. I’m always interested in how the human and PMD worlds relate, so the remains of the pokeball certainly piqued my curiosity! The whole “great flash”… based on the author’s specific headcanon, I’d tend to guess either the Ultimate Weapon or something nuclear there. Very curious to learn more about it and, of course, what exactly caused a die-off of the gods…
I mean, not everything about the stories I write is a 1:1 with my headcanon. Sometimes I make divergences for the sake of playing around with a mechanic that I feel has potential, and what the Great Flash is is one of them. :V
I won't get too in-depth about what it was since that'd kinda suck the surprise out of things and I'm still threading the needle of how much I can reveal and when in planning. I will say that while what happened is something that hasn't happened in series canon (yet, anyways), it wouldn't be thematically far removed from the Ultimate Weapon.
If you happen to know be familiar with some of the meta behind this story that... I mean, nothing is hard-and-firm canon until it actually shows up in the text, but you can probably get some rough ideas of what exactly the Great Flash entailed. That is all that I will say on the matter.
I also enjoyed the little moment with the inteleon where Dalton ultimately decided not to roast him. Always here for a ”true colors” moment like that where we see our thieves aren’t as hard-hearted as one might assume. I’m also curious to see whether they’ll be able to keep that compassionate streak despite the tough journey they have ahead. In Fledglings the answer would be clear, but with this fic I can’t be entirely sure!
Well, I'm glad that I to hear that I can keep you on your toes like that. Since a part of the journey of Once a Thief is the story of the story's cast deciding what sorts of Pokémon they ultimately want to be amid the lot they are dealt. I can't promise that they'll all get happy endings out of it, but eh. Those are bridges to be crossed when we get there.
As of this chapter, though, I was feeling a bit of battle fatigue. The action was well done as always, but after all the battling that’s unfolded already, I wasn’t super excited to see more. Arlen wasn’t a character I knew very well, so his loss didn’t mean a lot to me. I did kind of wonder if there might be some way to condense the latest chapters a bit. For example, I understand why you wanted to get everyone split up into teams, but perhaps not so much time needed to be spent on the process of doing so, or on Lyle’s group heading our on their own, not finding anything besides the pokeball and then coming right back, etc.
That's a bit unfortunate to hear, though I suppose there had been three chapters of pretty involved action sequences. And... yeah, the gang's kinda in need of a break. Things should be a bit lower-boil for this arc, or most of it anyways. So hopefully that helps a bit with resolving that battle fatigue until it comes time to throw the cast into a gauntlet again.
So I was glad of a break in Chapter 5! This is where it feels like the plot truly kicks off as we get our ultimate objective and start making plans to reach it. You’ve certainly put your characters in dire straits here… exactly what I like to see!
I’ve got to wonder what Irune was up to when she was supposedly off burying her scarf… No way did I buy that she’d give it up that easily. Kind of surprised the other characters did, tbh. And that whole “I get to choose first” thing… yeah, they’ve definitely locked themselves into a bad deal with that. I’m sure the payoff there will be a lot of fun, however far off down the road.
Irune was hoping to leave her scarf behind in a fashion such that she'd at least have a chance to go back for it later. Was it well-advised? Probably not, but hey, she's young, and people do dumb stuff when they're young.
As for the "I get to choose first" thing... well, I'll let you see how that deal shakes out when things get there, but you're right to keep an eye on her.
I also enjoyed the bit of Reshiram lore here. Crumbling ruins and half-forgotten gods (sounds as though there was a Zekrom pillar there at one point?), and I was loving the wistful sense of decay here. I was also glad to see Lyle wrestle a bit with his experiences in the dungeon. I’m hoping we’ll see a bit more about how Dalton feels after losing his friend later, too. Right now he feels a bit apart from the other characters—I don’t have much grasp on him yet. Hoping for more development for him in the near future!
Well, "half-forgotten" is a bit debatable. Since if you read between the lines of the earlier text, it hasn't been that long in the grand scheme of things since that big dieoff. You are correct in your assumption that that was the remains of a pillar to Zekrom. What happened to it is a story for another day, as given a few details about this story, there might be a few other questions regarding it to keep in mind.
As for Dalton... yeeeeeah. A bit unfortunate to hear that, and it's probably a sign that I ought to consider worming in a few firmer glimpses at him into my current planning. I'll need to think carefully on that though, since there's some things about Dalton that aren't meant to come out for a while that are intended to catch readers a bit off-guard when they do.
Like I said, it feels like the fic is properly underway now! You’ve got quite a journey set out in front of your cast, and I’m looking forward to how they handle it. But perhaps the greatest draw for me at this point is learning more about this world of yours and the mysteries of its past. Hope to keep up with this one going forward. It’s got the kind of update rate I can handle, heh.
Well lucky for you, that rate happens to include an update right about now.
Originally, I was hoping to jam this out on the very last day of March to catch up with the lack of an update in February, but... meh. I suppose some things just can't be rushed, and there's some other longer months in the year where I can get a second bite at the apple to do a double feature. In the interim, I've got the update for April, in which Lyle and the gang get a good look around Moonturn Square, and I left my writing BGM on for part of the chapter. :V
Die Zeit unmittelbar nach dem glühenden Blitz war eine Ära großer Umbrüche. Wie ohne die Menschen, die einst unsere Vermittler waren, wandten sich die Pokémon unserer Welt gegeneinander. Inmitten von Verwirrung und Gewalt zogen sich die Pokémon, die unter den Menschen lebten, in die Räume zurück, die ihre Vermittler gebaut hatten und die nach dem großen Aufruhr der Welt immer noch standen. Zu ihren Türmen, ihren Amphitheatern, ihren großen Märkten. Überall, der zu einer Schanze und einem Zufluchtsort ausgebaut werden konnte.
Diese chaotischen Zeiten ließen unter dem Schutz der Gelöbnis und der Führung von Klaus der Erbauer und der Göttin, die auf seine und unsere Bitten um Hilfe hörte, nach. Nach der Geburt der Ordnung, die unsere Welt untermauert, gab es eine kurze, glänzende Ära, in der es schien, als gäbe es Hoffnung, dass das Wissen der Menschheit gerettet und an unsere Zivilisationen weitergegeben werden könnte. Mit einen großen, strahlenden Glanz, von dem einige sagten, dass es das Potenzial hatte, das wiederherzustellen, was unsere Welt durch den Glühenden Blitz verloren hat. Während andere, der Erbauer selbst eingeschlossen, darauf bestanden, dass es riskierte, sie vollständig zu ruinieren.
Diese Hoffnungen wurden mit Blitz und Feuer in Schutt und Asche gelegt, als Wunsch und Wirklichkeit in Wunder zum ersten Mal zusammen mit den Ländern, die sie als Gönner begrüßten, aufeinander prallten. Da schnitten sich die beiden zum ersten Mal zusammen mit der Schwelle, die zwischen ihnen stand. Inmitten der zurückgelassenen Unordnung wurde jener strahlender Glanz zerschmettert und mit ihm verblasste das menschliche Wissen, welches wir uns noch nicht angeeignet hatten. Was auch immer vor diesem schicksalhaften Kampf der Götter geschrieben worden sein mag, nichts als bloße Fetzen blieben für uns übrig, über die wir uns danach hermachen konnten.
- Auszug aus »Die Wahrheiter Chroniken – Eine kurze Geschichte der frühen Jahre unseres Königreichs«
The hour after Lyle and his companions reached the top of the hill and set off for Moonturn Square and its anchoring spire went by without incident. The expected scenery of the hinterlands was there, with fields and simple dwellings whose only markers to distinguish them from a Wilder's nest were the presence of mailposts and mats set out in front of them. A few particularly unenviable abodes of the style consisted of nothing more than such a mat and postbox, with naught but the bare sky above and a threadbare blanket or two for shelter.
Right about when Lyle had predicted they'd come across Moonturn Square, he and his fellow Outlaws approached a wooden bridge over a slender, swift-moving river, built over the stony stubs of something sturdier and more robust that used to stand there. After five prior invasions from Edialeigh, most newer bridges were built in such a fashion. As the four made their way onto the bridge and began to cross, their ears picked up the sound of loud buzzing that hung in the air much like the drone of an angry Beedrill. Kate and Dalton blinked a moment at the sound, as Irune shrank back, looking about nervously.
"What on earth is that noise? Is someone fighting up ahead?" she asked. Lyle quirked a brow briefly, before pinning his ears back in annoyance and rearing up to point off to his left.
"What? You've never heard a Schöpfrad₁ turning before?"
Irune turned her head and glanced off at a set of tall, wooden wheels upstream that rotated along with the water. The Axew watched as the wheels kept turning, bringing up buckets that transferred from one wheel to the next up to a stone aqueduct that towered high in the air. The Dragon-type followed the stone channel's path, seeing the stone was visibly mismatched in color in different places, but snaked off towards the top of a flattened hilltop with straight, steep ledges and almost triangular protrusions that poked out of them. After noticing that the gray spire they saw from afar jutted off into the sky from behind the ramparts, the Axew blinked, and belatedly realized that the wheels were merely supplying water to the town they'd seen off in the distance. She brought a claw up to the back of her head, biting her tongue and blushing a little from visible embarrassment.
"Er… I usually saw smaller and quieter ones," she replied. "I… didn't exactly get out of my village much before I became an Outlaw."
"Hrmph, consider this a lesson then. Just keep an eye out for a wagon we can hitch a ride on," Lyle said. "We have no idea how much trouble we're all in right now. Even with these Hunter scarves, I don't feel like blindly gambling on the Gendarmen at the gate not noticing us."
Dalton raised a brow back at Lyle, before folding his arms skeptically.
"So then why lead us here if you're not even confident we can enter the town safely?"
"Again, we're looking for a Carrier to get us out of here in a hurry. And as a trading hub, Moonturn Square is the closest place to find one," the Quilava insisted. "If we're really in enough trouble to the point where a scarf change wouldn't help us for more than a day or two, we ought to get things squared away for getting out of dodge before word really starts getting around."
The Heliolisk gave no rebuttal to Lyle's explanation. Evidently, even though he appeared skeptical, he couldn't think of a better alternative to propose. Lyle's other companions seemed more unbothered by his argument, as Kate chimed in with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Personally, I'd be fine with just walking up to the gate and booking it if it looked like the guards were onto us," she said, rolling her eyes theatrically. "Buuuuut you're the local here."
Lyle motioned for his fellow Outlaws to follow him under the bridge, where they crouched and waited. After a few moments, they heard heavy footsteps and rolling wheels approaching, prompting the four to poke their heads out and see a Mudsdale making her way over pulling a wagon laden with crates covered by a worn tarp alongside with a Gurdurr that kept watch with a scavenged metal beam at his ready that had visibly been flecked with patches of rust.
Lyle and the others shrank back into the shadows and waited for the wagon to cross over them, following after the sound of stomping hooves and wheels loudly clattering against its timbered span as the four crept along up the approach of the bridge. Lyle paused and waited for the Gurdurr to head up towards the front of the wagon to talk with the Puller as she stopped, before motioning to his teammates and letting out a low whisper.
"Come on, hurry!"
Lyle darted up to the open back of the wagon and hopped on, spotting a gap between a pair of crates just big enough for him to poke his shoulders into, which a quick glimpse revealed blocked off an empty space further inside. The stoat ducked up, and wedged his body between the crates, before curling in and pushing against the wood just enough to widen the gap just enough for Dalton's body to fit. The stoat rolled back onto his feet and darted in where he discovered the empty space he'd seen had come from other crates and barrels that had jostled about in transit.
The Quilava heard Dalton follow after him, then Irune, and finally Kate, who wedged her claws into the wood of the rightmost crate and pulled it to the left to make the gap less noticeable. Not a moment too soon, it sounded, as the Gurdurr's footsteps could be heard and for a brief moment, the Pokémon hesitated just past the freshly-closed gap. The Fighting-type hesitated and prodded at the crate with his beam with a few low thumps. Lyle and his companions held their breaths.
The scent of something that reminded him of seawater hung in the air, hopefully enough to mask their scents, though with how close their quarters were with the Fighting-type… either way, there was nothing for them to do but wait tensely, as worry that the Fighting-type would discover them at any moment burned at their stomachs. Except the feared discovery never came to pass, as they heard footsteps drifting away and a low, grumbling voice on the other end.
"Damn roads always jostle these things around," the Gurdurr's voice muttered. "We oughta invest in a better set of ties one of these days."
Lyle and his companions flinched from behind the crate hiding them from the Gurdurr's line of sight after hearing it creak against the wood of the cart, before the Gurdurr bodyguard carried on. The cart suddenly jostled forward, Kate losing her footing once and stepping on Dalton's tail as he struggled to stifle a pained yelp. After growing satisfied that they had not been overheard and attempting to spread out to the best of their ability in the cramped space, Kate slipped her claws between the crates and pulled their covering one rightward, allowing the Outlaws a glimpse of the world behind them.
The wagon rolled along as the bridge and aqueduct shrank into the background, the wagon lurching up along the road up the inclines that climbed the straight, star-like defensive lines. The same ones they'd seen from the hill that led up to the town's gates where cannons and dart-throwers to sling the likes of Apricorn shot and Blast Seed shells were meant to be wheeled out and dug in in times of trouble.
Lyle cast a wary glance at the surrounding crates and barrels, and shoved at them whenever they jostled too close to his body from a bump in the road. He stiffened up at the sound of chatter from the right side of the wagon, the Quilava wondering for a moment if they were passing a group of guards, only to notice mats and ragged tents pass their peephole along the right side of the road. A few Pokémon like a thin and scraggly-looking Mareep and Flaafy at the side of the road held their limbs out after the cart, only to turn away disappointedly as the cart rolled along.
"… There's still refugee camps all the way out here?" Kate whispered. "After what I heard about what happened to Port Reyn's, I'm surprised a place like this hasn't been cleared out."
It was a fair question. After all, it'd been seven years since the last Edialeighers from the last invasion had been driven from Varhyder soil or else taken prisoner, barring a few scattered groups that had turned to banditry. Most Pokémon who'd been displaced during the invasion had since drifted back to what was left of their homes, or else to new lives in their adoptive corners of Varhyde. Except, between much of the western coast having been sacked in the years before then, and Carolins seemingly losing their value by the moon, there were a large body of Pokémon that remained in limbo attempting to get by on odd jobs and the food dole outside larger settlements. Lyle could only guess that the refugees here hadn't become too much of a burden on the town quite yet. Because once they had… well, there were plenty of stories surrounding Port Reyn's clearances a couple years ago to give an idea of what would happen after that.
"What can I say?" the Quilava sighed. "Not every town is run by heartless bastards."
Lyle wasn't sure if he'd rather have preferred such types to have run Moonturn Square or not. The last time he willingly came here was when he'd gone to help recruit for the Foehn Gang about three years ago. Then, just as now, the camp had felt oppressive just approaching it. With how desperate some of the Pokémon they'd sized up as potential recruits were, the whole experience had left a bad taste in his mouth. Some part of him always felt guilty over the Pokémon they ultimately accepted, knowing they'd used those 'mons misfortune to win over their aid. Much as had been done to him when he first dipped his paws into banditry…
Not that the ones they turned down from the camp back then made him feel much better, especially how gutted some of them looked from being rejected.
It was the first and last time he helped scout for talent as an Outlaw outside of parties that he or a buddy personally knew, but he couldn't deny it was effective. Maybe some wiseguy among the local garrison figured out the math worked much the same for getting supposedly willful takers for army levies, and that was why the camp hadn't been cleared out yet.
The refugee camp mercifully slipped from view when the Outlaws suddenly felt the wagon lurch down and heard the clops of hooves and rattling of wheels striking wood. Kate looked back and realized that they were crossing another bridge similar in construction to the one over the earlier river, with ledges that dropped sharply into what looked like some manner of canal that turned abruptly like the points of a star. Kate blinked a moment, recognizing them to be…
"Wait, is that a moat?" she asked. "I thought we were going into a town, not a fort!"
"Larger towns tend to have them," Dalton remarked. "Still, I'm surprised Moonturn Square could build defenses like these. They couldn't possibly have been cheap to make."
Lyle didn't know the full story behind how Moonturn Square came to have its present defenses—only that they'd been built sometime before his father was born, when the town had been sacked early on in the war. The defenses had been the town's pride and joy since then, along with its great spire from the human era, and allowed it to endure the worst Edialeigh had thrown against it since then, even if some areas were more obviously patched up than others from past fighting.
Lyle's mind turned towards tales his father had passed along about the moat. He had allegedly been told stories by his own parents of a time when the moat was originally dry and lined with Apricorn and Blast Seed mines that occasionally messed up some unfortunate traveler that wandered too far off the paths leading up to the town gates at night. At some point since then, the moat was linked to the nearby river and flooded for aquatic Pokémon to live in, and if necessary, to help defend the town with tooth and claw. Lyle was quietly grateful that he could only see a tiny sliver of all the water all about them, lest the knot in his belly get any worse from having his mind remember that he was surrounded by deep water right now.
… Maybe that had something to do with why the local Gendarmen were always looking for 'donations'. If the defenses weren't cheap to build, then how much did they cost to maintain?
The cart abruptly jolted to a stop, knocking Lyle down with a stifled yelp as he briefly flared up, blackening the wood of the crate beside him, earning an annoyed glare from Dalton and tense grimaces from Irune and Kate for his trouble. Movement could be heard from outside, as a pair of voices that Lyle couldn't recognize spoke up.
"Hold it, Mudsdale," the first voice growled. "We're gonna need to pull you aside for an inspection."
Lyle and his companions gulped inside the cart, when the Gurdurr abruptly cut in from outside, giving a frustrated huff in protest.
"We come here every week with the same old Gummi mix from Port Reyn!" the Fighting-type exclaimed. "What on earth is there to inspect?!"
"That's not important, and I wouldn't recommend you picking fights you can't win, Gurdurr," the second voice buzzed. "Though if you really wanna try your luck, go ahead and take a swing."
The Fighting-type audibly quieted, and Lyle sucked in a sharp breath as his companions visibly tensed up. Blauflamme! Of all the possible turns of fate to be had, they were going to be discovered by a bunch of Grünhäuter because of their attempts to avoid trouble! The Quilava's head suddenly felt dizzy and fought hard against a nervous urge to light up, when he heard a neighing voice speak up from ahead of the cart.
"Herr Duodino₂, Herr Scherox₃. I assure you that nothing has changed from the last time we made a delivery," the Mudsdale's voice insisted. "Surely we could come to an understanding of some sort?"
… Or maybe they wouldn't. From the way the Mudsdale was schmoozing the guards and the faint sound of coins jingling from up ahead, it seemed that the Puller they'd hitched a ride with was intending to pay her way out of trouble. There was a tense silence, before Lyle heard the guards murmur amongst themselves, and then the first voice, 'Herr Duodino' from the sound of it, spoke up.
"We guess we can take 30 Carolins between the three of us to move things along."
"40," 'Herr Scherox' cut in. "Having two heads doesn't mean you suddenly get twice as much as me!"
There was a brief silence with the sound of movement in front of the cart, before it lurched forward and carried on. Lyle and his companions looked back as they passed through a stone gate, where much as everyone had gathered from the conversation, they spotted a Zweilous and a Scizor in Grünhäuter armor readying themselves to badger another wagon approaching in the distance. Through their narrow window, the four caught a glimpse of earthen lanes and stone-and-wood shacks with thatched and shingled roofing on either end.
Lyle let out a stifled yelp as he abruptly pitched into one of the crates, the cart suddenly hung a sharp turn and he lit up out of reflex and blackened the wood again. Good thing that wasn't his stuff there. The Quilava hastily smothered the errant cinders much to his teammates' frowning annoyance when a tall, broad structure entered their vision from around the corner and the cart suddenly stopped and lingered. After a moment waiting to pick out the Gurdurr's voice talking with the Mudsdale from the front, Kate wedged herself back between the crates, pushed them wide, before popping out onto the ground behind the wagon and motioning for her teammates to follow.
"Psst! This is our chance to bail!" she whispered. "Before that Gurdurr comes poking around!"
None of the Outlaws needed any further prompting. Irune hopped out first, followed by Dalton, who lost his footing and fell flat onto his stomach, dragging Lyle on top of him with a quiet yelp. The pair laid there and cringed, expecting the Mudsdale Puller or her bodyguard to whirl around at any moment, only to hear the cart's wheels rumbling and see that she was mercifully lumbering on none the wiser.
"Oi, are you two just going to lie there?" Kate scolded. "Get up already!"
After a moment to catch their breaths, Dalton and Lyle got up with a shared sigh of relief and hurried away from the cart. The four darted out of the lane, which they quickly discovered to be a back alley, and stepped out into the sunlight where their eyes drifted up to the tall gray spire at the center of town.
After noticing that they were still deep in the shade, they turned around and discovered the broad structure they'd spotted earlier: a tall mass of structures built up atop what seemed to be a large, gray concrete base. The whole jumble of buildings had been laid out almost like a ring with small windows and gaily-colored buildings made of wooden timbers and shingled roofs attached to it. Kate, Dalton, and Irune stared at the mass of structures in rapt amazement, only to see that their Quilava guide appeared unmoved beyond a shake of his head as he dropped onto his forepaws and started off for the mass of structures.
"I know where we are," Lyle said. "Follow me."
After a moment to regain their bearings, Lyle led his companions off towards the tall mass of structures that loomed over the surrounding shacks and huts' rooftops until the four came across a cobbled road that ran straight from the gate to a broad breach in the heaped-up buildings. Through the gap, they could see that there were really two layers of buildings built on top of some sort of foundational structure underneath with exposed passages at various levels that seemed to lead to other shopfronts and homes built directly among ancient halls and pillars. There was a long, tawny tarp hung from the right end to the left over the gap to provide shade, and the street in between the two sides of the breach was packed with Pokémon and carts making their way in and out of an open space beyond it.
"This is probably the best place to start looking around for a Carrier," the Quilava remarked. "Come on, there should be some places they hang out in up ahead."
Lyle's companions traded curious looks with one another, before the Quilava led his companions past the tarp, where they emerged into a large, almost bowl-like square filled with a bustling crowd of Pokémon of what seemed to be every imaginable form and color. Steps seemed to radiate in all directions around the square, going up some manner of hill that rings of the timbered buildings had been built up along. At the center was a plaza with a prominent pole with lights made of ancient resin hung from it, and colorful stalls and shops about it in all directions.
The four made their way deeper into the square. There was a Turtonator blacksmith working a red-hot lump of metal over an anvil in one of the shops around the ring, a shop displaying scarves from the awning staffed by a Leavanny tailor, and more stalls hawking produce and assorted bric-a-brac than they could count. Why, there was even one specializing in playing cards with illustrations of Pokémon on them that had both youngsters and grown 'mons alike gawking at its wares.
A few of the places had been obviously styled after various Pokémon, including one prominent, rounded shop modeled after a Kecleon's head wedged near a set of steps up the bowl-like hill that loomed over the nearby stalls.A number of the shops sported signs insisting on payment in Poké. There probably was some sort of sad comment to be made about how the Kingdom's own coinage was less trusted than what was essentially merchant scrip from the Colorswap Consortium, but that was hardly an Outlaw's problem beyond knowing which of the two was safe to hide away in a hole in the ground.
And of course, there were the Gendarmen and soldiers in their green plates loafing around that made the four reflexively stiffen up as they drifted by. Lyle didn't know if they were on-duty or not, but he doubted any of them had any interest in going over to find out. In spite of it, here in the market, one could almost forget that Varhyde was bleeding and reeling from a war being fought from across an entire sea. The Quilava noted that Irune seemed particularly impressed by the sight, as she blinked and eyed her surroundings with a sense of bewildered awe, before turning with a puzzled tilt of her head to her partners.
"Where are we?" the Axew murmured. "I thought you said we were just going to a trading town, Lyle."
"This is the trading town. More specifically its central marketplace," Lyle explained, cracking a small smile. "Long ago, Moonturn Square was founded in and on top of the human ruin underneath all these buildings here. The town obviously outgrew it, but you could pick worse places to build a settlement."
Lyle led the party over to the lightpole in the center of the plaza and hopped atop a small platform at the base as he raised a paw to scan his surroundings. Dalton stared up at the ancient pole and its wreathing lights, before giving a curious tilt of his head.
"You certainly don't come across too many ruins like these," the Heliolisk remarked. "Though do you come here often? You speak as if you're familiar with this place."
"I've been around enough to get a feel for the place," Lyle replied. "The field I worked at normally's about an hour's journey just west of here."
The Quilava trailed off and pinned his ears back nervously. He brought his paw back down to his side and glanced about his surroundings uneasily.
"I just hope that that doesn't work against us…"
"Oi!"
The Outlaws froze and felt their blood chill as they saw a shadow fall over them and heard a low, rumbling voice bark at them from behind. The lot turned around, where, much to their horror, they saw an Aggron in green armor plates glaring sharply down at them.
"That's a historical landmark, not a bench!" the Aggron snapped. "What do you think you're doing clambering on it like some Wilder Mankey?!"
Kate, Dalton, and Irune felt the color drain from their faces as the Aggron lumbered forward. Just then, they noticed Lyle's features ease as he seemed to sigh out of relief, before hurriedly hopping off his perch and forcing a sheepish, apologetic smile over his face. The Aggron stopped briefly and eyed the four suspiciously, when his attention fell on the four's red-and-silver scarves as he gave a puzzled quirk of his brow.
"Eh? I've seen those patterns of yours before," the Aggron said. "You're with that traveling rescue team that pulled into the guild the other day. 'Team Wayfinder', I think."
"Heh heh, that's right, Oberwachtmeister₄Stolloss₅!" Lyle spoke up, giving a cheerful smile back. "Sorry, didn't realize you weren't supposed to climb up there. We just joined the team and were having a bit of trouble finding our new digs!"
Kate and Dalton quietly shot back befuddled stares at their Quilava teammate. Thankfully, the armored Aggron didn't seem to notice them, as he trained his attention back to Lyle with a toothy grin.
"'Oberwachtmeister Stolloss'? Please, you don't have to try that hard to get on my good side, Quilava," he remarked. "'Sheriff Mack' is fine. Rolls off the tongue a bit easier, too. Though I assume you were trying to find the lodgings at the Guild, right? Because that's easy."
The Aggron turned and pointed off at the gray tower poking high into the sky over the rim of the bowl-like mass of buildings, and then off at a path leading through another gouge in the walls of the central market off in its direction. Lyle and his companions blinked a moment, as mixed in with the traffic, groups of Pokémon in coordinated scarves could occasionally be spotted shuffling off to and from the tower's direction in pairs, trios, and occasionally in still larger groups. There was nothing to doubt the Aggron's insinuation that there was Guild for Hunters at the spire, and the Steel-type seemed to be proud of himself for being able to point it out so effortlessly.
"It's built right in the hollow of the Great Spire," Mack said. "Why even a Deino wouldn't be able to miss it!"
Lyle gave a cheerful smile back as his teammates traded nonplussed looks with one another. After flattening her ears out and pawing at her shoulder, Kate warily spoke up and began to pace forward.
"Er… thanks?" she said. "Though I think that we can handle it from here."
The Sneasel started off for the guild, with Dalton and Irune hesitantly following along. The lot hoped that pretending to head off for it for a minute or two would be enough to keep the guard's curiosity at bay, only for him to abruptly sidestep and cut off her path.
"Huh? What gives?" Kate asked, only to be met by Mack peering down and holding out an open claw.
"Well, it's been a bit of a long day on the beat," the Steel-type explained. "So I was just wondering if you four would be interested in helping a humble Gendarm beat the heat a bit."
Kate shot a frown back up to the Aggron, before attempting to brush past him with a quiet harrumph.
"… Have you considered just standing in the shade for a bit?" she asked. "I think that'd help you a lot more than anything we've got-"
The Sneasel was abruptly cut off by a low growl, Lyle shooting a wide-eyed stare back at her. Kate blinked, before looking back up at the Aggron, where any trace of his earlier friendly attitude was gone, and replaced with a sharp glare with his horns lowered threateningly towards her.
"You oughta not blow off 'mons so casually when they're being polite, Sneasel," Mack insisted. "The least you can do when someone gives you a helping claw is to show a little appreciation in return."
At once a realization came over the group, as Irune's features fell into an unimpressed scowl when she realized just why this 'Sheriff' wouldn't let them pass.
"Wait, are you seriously asking for a bribe for giving us basic directions?" the Axew scoffed. "That spire was literally impossible for any of us to miss!"
The Aggron's mood seemed to take a turn for the worse, as he stomped forward with bared fangs, the Steel-type held a claw out and pointed it accusingly as he snarled down at the little Dragon-type and her companions.
"Look, Fräulein. I bust my tail to help keep little runts like you safe," Mack snapped. "If you and your team want to have a good time here in town, I'd strongly suggest that you show some respect where it's due-"
"Here."
Irune, Dalton, and Kate fell silent as they watched Lyle take an Oran Berry from his satchel and hold it up before the Aggron. The Quilava gave a visibly forced smile, as he spoke up with audibly overeager friendliness to the much bigger and stronger Steel-type.
"We really don't have a whole lot. Times aren't exactly easy," he insisted. "We don't exactly have any drinks on us, but hopefully this'll help, won't it, Sheriff?"
The Aggron took the Oran Berry, and after giving a sniff at it, popped it into his mouth and chewed it. The Steel-type's features eased, as he gave a knowing smile down at the Quilava and his companions.
"Heh, that stoat friend of yours has got a good head on his shoulders," Mack remarked. "The rest of you could stand to learn a thing or two from him."
The sound of a crash rang out as a Clefairy holding a jug staggered about in a daze after knocking over a clay pot off a market shelf, a quick glance revealing the Pokémon had dilated pupils and red stains leaking out the corner of his mouth. An angry, shouting Diggersby stormed out, shoving the Clefairy over as the jug fell to the ground and spilled a thick, red liquid onto the ground. The Sheriff and the Outlaws watched as the Clefairy noticed the spilled liquid and got into an angry scuffle with the Diggersby, Mack throwing a claw over his face with an exasperated growl.
"Gottverdammt, another syrup drinker?" the Aggron grumbled, before shooting a stern frown down at the four Outlaws.
"I've got my claws full at the moment," he harrumphed. "Don't let me catch you four getting into any trouble again, you hear?"
"Heh, wouldn't dream of it, Sheriff!"
Lyle forced a smile and waved the Sheriff off before hurriedly scurrying in the direction of the other exit to the marketplace, his companions keenly keeping pace after him. After putting a bit of distance between themselves and the Aggron, Dalton's face fell into a sharp frown, as he looked back at his Quilava guide with an unimpressed harrumph.
"Hrmph, I never pegged you as the type to grovel like that, Lyle," the lizard scoffed. "I do hope that's not going to become a habit for you."
Irritated fire danced from Lyle's vents, the Quilava turning his head back with his eyes narrowed into a sharp glare at the Heliolisk.
"That Aggron's in charge of the Gendarmen of the entire Grafschaft₆ that covers this town and everything within a day's walk from it, you dense skink," he huffed. "If you want to burn through these Hunter disguises even faster than normal over your pride and whatever passed for 'idealism' on your old crew, by all means, go ahead."
Dalton scowled back but said nothing in response, as the stoat led his teammates up a flight of steps going up the bowl-like hill. After all, this was familiar territory for Lyle, while he was the 'mon presently in uncharted waters. Even so, Kate seemed to find something puzzling about the encounter, as she tilted her head back at Lyle with a small frown.
"I thought you said that the 'mon in charge of the Gendarmen here in Moonturn Square was some bossy pill of a Stoutland," she said. "You never said anything about him shaking down 'mons for bribes."
"What, Sheriff Vandamme? He got deployed to Edialeigh over a year ago," Lyle replied. "Though that was just him that was clean, and that's about the best that could be said for him. Considering the sort of ship he used to run with the guards, I'm not holding my breath on him coming back from Edialeigh in one piece."
The Sneasel flattened her ears and let out a grumbling sigh. Even if it was relieving to know that the local garrison hadn't been tipped off about them just yet, the wound to their pride lingered with the four. Even Irune seemed bothered by the Aggron's casual extortion, as she pawed at her shoulder and shook her head with a low grumble.
"Are we going to have to do this for every guard we come across?" she asked.
"Hrmph, those Grünhäuter always give some sort of self-justification for extorting 'mons like that. Usually they like to pretend it's circumstance forcing their claws as if just about everyone else in Varhyde isn't also having troubles with that," Dalton scoffed. "If we keep our berth from them, we should be able to stay in the clear."
The Heliolisk's advice drew a low sigh back from his Sneasel teammate. While it was sound, it was a bit late for them to act on. Lyle watched as the Dark-type pinned her ears back briefly, folding her arms with a wary frown.
"… Weren't we supposed to be talking to some Carriers right now?" Kate pressed. "Heck, how are we supposed to get a lift without getting asked questions about why we want to get out of dodge so badly?"
Lyle raised a paw and motioned off to a low-slung building up a flight of steps straddling a ramp on two sides that went up to a ledge that stopped just above some rooftops. On it, was a pictorial sign hanging over the door with a merry-looking Tepig and a somewhat drunken-looking Delphox with a mug of beer on it. Completely unsurprisingly, the runes on it revealed the establishment's name to be the 'Laughing Delphox and Tepig', with the smell of stale beer wafting out evidencing if nothing else, there was a tavern onsite. Like most other businesses in Varhyde, the proprietor couldn't take it for granted that all his customers could read, and while it was a bit subtler than a giant Delphox head, the signboard made it hard to confuse itthe tavern with another shop or competing tavern.
The place looked decently trafficked as well. Up in front of the tavern, a Bouffalant could be seen being unhitched from an empty cart and leaving it behind in a small row of similar carts and wagons wedged between the steps and ramp. The Bouffalant shuffled in through an open entrance lined with pull-down shutters followed by a Pelipper that grumbled about needing a drink after a recent mail run.
… Didn't they all? Lyle lowered his head, before giving a quiet snort back to his teammates.
"They tend to have a few hangouts they like to gather at in town, and just about anyone will take a job without asking too many questions when the right amount of money is on the line," he said. "That tavern's one of their more popular ones in town, and as you can see, it's conveniently located for us. Come on, there's bound to be someone inside who'll take a few passengers."
The four shuffled up the approach of the ramp and steps and past the eave of the tavern into an open doorway. There inside, they found a musky space that smelt of cheap beer set out with round, wooden tables. On the right side of the room, there was a long counter on one wall manned by an Emboar sporting a few prominent battle scars on his right arm. On the wall behind him was a display of bottles and jugs of various shapes and colors, with a dog-eared set of green army plates proudly hung just to its left. All about, the space was packed with patrons, many of them, like a Rhyhorn standing at a table opposite a seated Ambipom were burly Pokémon well-suited to pulling the carts and wagons up, while others like a Skarmory and a Talonflame preoccupied in a game of chance had wings.
A quick sniff of the air by Lyle revealed it smelled strongly of alcohol and the musk of patrons' sweat and other markers of a long, hard morning's work… or at least he hoped that was what he was smelling. Given the likes of an audibly slurring Spinda the four passed by, one could never tell in taverns like these. Sometimes it was better to remain blissfully ignorant. Over the hubbub of the chattering Pokémon, the sound of instrumented music floated over the air carrying a peppy tune.
The Outlaws turned and spotted a small band in the corner on a makeshift stage. A Rillaboom behind a wooden stump of a drum, a Kricketune whistling and chirping, and a Toxtricity with a frill of yellow sparks strumming his chest. Most curiously, there was a Pikachu seated at a row of orbs, rubbing at them to make them chime according to their kinds. Allegedly such arrays of orbs were used by musicians to try and recreate sounds from instruments where the knowledge of how to make them had been lost in the wake of the Great Flash. From the noises that were coming out—some of them that reminding him of a Porygon's chirps and drones—he guessed that the band was attempting to do much the same. At the fore of the musicians, a second Toxtricity with a frill of blue sparks and matching markings tapped her foot to the tune, before crowing out a small ditty over her gathered audience.
♫ Don't worry about the future, it's alright
Because a better picture we can't find
Just like our dreams, they've gotta be free, so
Anyway, let's move on~ ♫
Lyle pinned his ears back and moved along with a sour frown in reaction to the lyrics of the Electric-type's song as she continued on with her peppy tune that he was pretty sure had something to do about flying. Even if they weren't Outlaws who'd had their world collapse around them last night, Varhyde was in its… what, seventieth of war with Edialeigh now?
On top of that, there was the kingdom's Carolins losing value by the month, the on-and-off food shortages, and the threat of impressment by military levies. Worst of all, there was the lingering specter of the war's tides turning once again, to the point that the frontlines would come back home from across the sea along with a tide of baying soldiers in red plates.
How could one not worry about the future? Why, the only reason Lyle could think of was if one just concluded there was no future worth worrying about in the first place.
"… Catchy tune, it almost makes you feel like you're flying."
Lyle turned his head over to Irune and blinked for a moment, before shaking it back with a low sigh.
"Just don't get too used to it," the stoat remarked. "The sooner we get out of this place, the better."
Lyle shuffled forward as the other Outlaws watched him keenly, noting that as he went about, his attention stopped and lingered over Pokémon seated about the tavern who had wings. Irune looked about and took in her surroundings uneasily, before pawing again at the Quilava with a curious tilt of her head.
"Do you know any of these Pokémon, Lyle?" she asked. "Otherwise how do we know who it's safe to approach?"
"By looking for someone big who can get into the air and take us along with no questions asked," he explained. "Even if it'd potentially mean trouble for him."
Kate and Dalton raised a brow before the three's attention fell on a Dragonite seated on his own at a corner table with a trio of empty seats. The Dragon-type wore a teal scarf with three white bands forming an inverted triangle intersected with a stroke for a pattern, with a harness meant to be worn along his back with empty bags attached to it that had been dumped unceremoniously on the floor beside him. There, the drake pushed a frothing mug forward, before taking a small flask and pouring a red, syrupy liquid into it. The Dragon-type shook the mug around slightly, before drinking deeply and smacking his mouth, the three Outlaws staring at the sight with quiet blinks.
"Someone like that guy?" Kate asked. "Just how many questions is someone drinking Lansat Syrup gonna ask?"
"Yeah, he'll do," Lyle said, nodding back, prompting Irune to turn to him with a dubious frown.
"Will a 'mon with a substance habit like that even be able to get us out of here in one piece?" she asked.
"We'll figure out pretty quick after asking a couple questions," the stoat insisted. "Come on. He's not going to get any more lucid at this rate."
The four made their way up to the Dragonite's table, Lyle, Dalton, and Kate shuffling up the free seats and claiming them as Irune leaned onto her tiptoes to peer over the top. Lyle tapped his paw against the table for attention, prompting the Dragonite to look up from his drink with a start and shoot him a distrustful scowl. Had they really caught this 'mon that off-guard? One would think that a 'mon with as good of eyesight as Dragonite were supposed to would've seen them heading over well before they made it to his table. Lyle bit his lip and sucked in a breath quietly, before he raised his voice just loud enough to speak over the background chatter.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself," the Fire-type said. "Been on a long flight recently?"
"It comes with the territory," the Dragonite replied. "I'm set to run a batch of parcels out to Newangle City tomorrow morning, so I'm taking some time to unwind before then."
Lyle tensed up at the mention of the Dragonite's mention that he was headed off to Newangle City. Why, that was exactly the sort of Carrier they'd need to convince! From his end of the table, Dalton shot a wary glance from the side of his eye at the Dragonite's flask, before giving a small frown.
"By spiking your drinks with Lansat Syrup?" he asked. "You do know that that's not supposed to be a healthy mixture, right? Aren't you worried that anyone will notice?"
The Dragonite pinned his antennae back and shot a sharp glare across the table, clearly not thinking much of the Heliolisk's line of questioning.
"Hrmph, so I need a little more than some cheap swill to put myself in a good mood and forget about the world around me? So what?" the drake snapped back. "Odsent doesn't mind as long as he doesn't have to explain anything that happens in his bar to the Gendarmen, and a little dash like that will just put a 'mon my size into a minor buzz."
Lyle hesitated briefly. He'd heard stories of the army tolerating soldiers drinking some berry syrups at least as far back as his father's own stint in the army. Enough so that some of the merchants that orbited army encampments and garrisons were bold enough to ply flasks under euphemistic names like 'Drive'. Allegedly there were even some 'mons among the Trosse₇, the entourages that trailed after army units in the field, that had gotten into the act themselves.
There were syrups that went around among them made from the likes of Chesto Berries to stay alert and the likes of Kasib Berries to dull feelings of fear and anxiety, but never Lansat Berries. Whatever its effects for putting Pokémon into good moods, not even the most incompetent Hauptmann would tolerate his underlings going off to fight with their senses distorted as badly as what Lansat Syrup was capable of.
Gods, they had gotten lucky here. They'd found a Carrier who was already headed towards Newangle City, had reason to be tight-lipped around the guards, and was even making his next leg at just the right time they needed…
So naturally with the way the stars were lining up, there had to be a catch to fortune this good. Though there was only one way to find out what that would be, and it'd do them good to get a better feel for this 'mon anyways.
"That's actually about what we were hoping to hear from you, Dragonite," Lyle said. "Got a name by any chance? We were wondering what your rate would be to take four passengers out towards Newangle City as part of your next run."
The Dragonite paused, before shaking his head and lifting his mug again with a sharp frown.
"It's 'Hermes'," the Dragonite replied. "And sorry, I don't do passengers. I can't fly as fast while carrying 'em, and they're too much of a liability to keep safe on my runs."
"Too much of a liability for a Dragonite to keep safe?" Kate asked, raising a brow. "That shouldn't be a hard feat for a 'mon of your sort. Though it makes me wonder how on earth a tough guy like you managed to dodge conscription all this time-"
Hermes seemed to reflexively stiffen up at Kate's 'tough guy' comment and quietly bared his teeth. Maybe Hermes wasn't as tough as he looked. Lyle supposed he'd heard of stories before of Wilders that had evolved unnaturally early from exposure to the Distortion of Mystery Dungeons… had something similar happened to him in the past?
Whatever the story behind it was, the comment seemed to have hit a nerve. Given the turn in the 'mon's mood, it was probably for the best not to press the matter further.
"Look, having flights that go wrong on your record isn't good for business for a Carrier. Especially ones with passengers," he spat. "I already have my claws full keeping parcels safe from Outlaws and crabby Wilders taking pot shots at me during my runs."
Kate, Dalton, and Irune traded wary glances with one another. The Sneasel of the group pawed at Lyle and quietly mouthed 'let's just try someone else', only for him to brush her off and harrumph back at the Dragonite.
"Everybody's got a price at which they're willing to make an exception," the stoat insisted. "So what would be yours?"
Hermes drank from his mug, before folding his arms and scowling. The drake reflexively opened his mouth to speak, before pausing and easing his features with a skeptical tilt of his head.
"And what's got you in such a hurry, huh?"
"That's not any more important than us knowing why you've got illicit substances on you," the Quilava retorted. "The point is that we need a lift in the direction of the Capital."
The Dragonite said nothing at first, before narrowing his eyes back at the four across the table.
"Maybe, but you can't expect me to accept a job from a 'mon that can't give me any details to work with. Why, you haven't even told me your names," the Dragon-type scoffed. "What's gotten you so tight-lipped? Did you four kill someone or something?"
Kate and Dalton shifted uneasily, as Lyle paused with his features kept in a firmly neutral expression, before he spoke up with an impatient huff.
"… You don't need to worry about it, just like we don't need to worry about the things you do to keep yourself going in the day," the Fire-type replied. "Though the name's 'Igel'. My pals and I together are 'Team Forager', the Exploration Team we put together."
Hermes raised a brow at the Quilava and curled his mouth into a frown.
"Your parents seriously named you 'Igel' when you hatched? As in the same 'Igel' from 'Feurigel₈'? Talk about being unimaginative," he scoffed. "What, do you have a brother named 'Quil' or something?"
"Look, you asked for a name and I gave you one, alright?" Lyle snapped. "So just what'll the cost to persuade you be?"
"Where specifically do you need to go?" the Dragonite asked. "I'm running an express flight tomorrow and the only stop I was planning on making was at Toya Square to rest my wings a bit before making the final push into Newangle City."
"Toya Square would be fine," Dalton cut in. "We were planning on doing some missions on our way into the capital to work towards our team rank, and Toya Square's a couple days' journey from there on foot at most. Works out fine for us. Just give us a number to work with."
Hermes moved a claw to his chin as he mulled things over for a moment. The drake still didn't seem particularly enthused with the proposition, but from how long he was wavering, he clearly had thought of a price he'd be willing to entertain. The Dragon-type lowered his head, before letting out a gruff harrumph in reply.
"If you really want to come along, I'll do 25,000 Poké for the four of you. Bring it an hour after sunrise, since that's when I'm leaving," Hermes said. "Carolins have been inflating a bit more than normal this month, so might as well get paid in something with a bit more security."
Lyle couldn't help but have his body's fire flicker to life with a brief start, as his companions visibly blanched. 25,000 Poké?! Lyle knew that air travel got expensive, but he didn't know it got that expensive!
Why, even if they exchanged everything they had to their name from the caravan raid into Poké, it still wouldn't have been enough. In fact, it was probably worth more than what their combined bounties were at the moment!
The other Outlaws stared back blankly at the Dragonite, as Irune spluttered, before waving her claws with an indignant huff.
"How's any 'mon supposed to come up with that in a day?!" she demanded.
"Look, last-minute flights in general aren't cheap, buddy. Especially since I'd need to get a set of loops made in a day to carry you safely," Hermes snapped back. "You asked me how much it'd take for me to make an exception for carrying passengers? Well that's my price. If that's too rich for your blood, find some other Carrier to take you out to Toya Square!"
The four Outlaws traded uneasy looks with one another. Would it make sense to just approach another Carrier? They'd known that Carolins didn't buy what they used to in Poké, but 25,000 Poké for a flight for four that didn't even make it all the way to Newangle City was little better than extortion!
… But then again… were they actually in a position to consider other options? There weren't many Pokémon that worked as Carriers that could carry a party of four at once. Or who were willing to take last-minute passengers at all. Would anyone else really offer them a cheaper price? Bright and early the next morning? For no questions asked?
Lyle traded glances with his teammates. He couldn't tell if this 'mon had quoted them such a high price to try and get them to buzz off, or else if he'd somehow put two and two together that they were stuck between a rock and a hard place and was trying to wring them dry. But it was hard to argue they had many other options. The money they did have would at least get them most of the way to Hermes' price, wouldn't it? After a noticeable pause, Lyle noticed Dalton shake his head back from the corner of his eye, and let out a low sigh in response.
"We'll see what we can do, alright?" the Heliolisk sighed. "But you're definitely not making this easy."
The four got up and retraced their steps out of the tavern for the lane. All the while, Irune stared blankly at the ground, wracking her mind as to how they could even begin to get that sort of money in a mere day. The Dragon-type looked up at her teammates to ask them for ideas, where much to her surprise, none of them seemed particularly worried about the matter and more concerned with the name Lyle had offered up as their team moniker.
"'Team Forager'? Seriously, Lyle?" Dalton scoffed. "Why didn't you just go ahead and introduce us as 'Team Bandit'?"
"Yeah, if you were going to be cheeky with names with hidden meanings, you should've gone with something like 'Team Raider'," Kate chimed in. "At least that one sounds impressive."
The Quilava let out a defensive huff, the flames on his vents flaring up in annoyance.
"Look, when a 'mon talks about a 'forager' the first thing that comes to mind's some peasant picking berries in the woods and not someone lurking in said woods waiting to jump them," the Fire-type shot back. "Double entendre or not, it's not that bad of a name."
Irune blinked at her teammates' seeming nonchalance, before giving an impatient stomp of her foot and crying out to them incredulously.
"Will you three just shut up about the names for a moment?! How can you all be so calm?!" she demanded. "25,000 Poké would be almost enough for the four of us to each learn Outrage from a move tutor!"
Lyle, Kate, and Dalton traded glances with one another, before the Quilava looked back at the Axew with a shake of his head and low murmur.
"It's not such an impossible figure. For one, I'm pretty sure the loot we've got between us will get us about two thirds of the way there after we convert it," Lyle said, before pawing at the back of his neck with a quiet wince.
"The last third's… a bit of a lift, yes, but we've got ways of scraping that much together in a day. One that should be right up our alleys," the stoat insisted.
Irune blinked back puzzledly at him. "Wait a minute… we do?"
Lyle cast a glance around, before leaning in with a low whisper.
"We steal it, of course. What else were you expecting?"
Author's Notes:
Words and Phrases:
1. Schöpfrad - A water wheel with attached buckets, used to raise and deposit water, lit. "scoop wheel". Of similar style and construction as ones referred to as "norias" in English.
2. Duodino - "Zweilous"
3. Scherox - "Scizor"
4. Oberwachtmeister - A rank between "sergeant" and "staff sergeant" that pops up historically in Germanosphere militaries, and more relevantly in the modern day, in police forces. This term is used as the analogue to "Sheriff" in German PMD localizations, with Sheriff Magnezone's Officers in that localization holding the title of "Wachtmeister"
5. Stolloss - "Aggron"
6. Grafschaft - A historically analogous unit of administration in purpose and function to a "county" or "earldom" in the Germanosphere, especially in regions that were once part of the Holy Roman Empire. lit. "Grafship". In most of the modern Germanosphere, the analogous unit of administration in the present day is a "Kreis" or some permutation of it such as "Landkreis", most commonly translated in English as a "District".
7. Tross(e) - a contingent of camp followers, particularly associated with historical formations composed of Landsknechte. Usually translated as "support staff", "baggage train", or "unit train" when used in such a capacity. In non-military contexts, the word can be used as a term for a generic entourage or group of followers.
8. Feurigel - "Cyndaquil"
Teaser Text:
The time immediately following the Great Flash was an era of great upheaval. As without the humans who were once our mediators, the Pokémon of our world turned upon each other. Amid confusion and violence, the Pokémon that lived among humans withdrew to the spacesᵃ their mediators built that still stood after the great churning of the world. To their towers, their amphitheaters, their great markets. Anywhere that could be fortified into a redoubt and place of refuge.
Those chaotic times subsided under the protection of the Vow, and with the guidance of Klaus the Founder, and the goddess who listened to his and our pleas for aid. After the birth of the order that underpins our world, there was a brief, shining era in which it seemed that there was hope for mankind's knowledge to be saved and passed down onto our civilizations. With a great radianceᵇ that some said had the potential to restore what our world lost to the Great Flash, while others, who some say included the Founder himself, insisted that it risked bringing it to ruin entirely.
Those hopes were reduced to rubbleᶜ with lightning and fire as Wish and Reality first clashed with each other in Wander, alongside the lands that hailed them as patrons. It was then that the two first cut each other down along with the Threshold that stood between them. Amid the disorder left behind, that radiance was shattered and faded away, and with it, the human knowledge we had not yet learned for ourselves. As whatever may have been written before that fateful clash of the gods, naught but mere scraps remained for us to pick over afterwards.
- Excerpt from 'The Varhyder Chronicles - A Brief History of our Kingdom's Early Years'
a. Raum/Räume in German can take on a number of meanings depending on context, with one of the more common ones being "room(s)".
b. A more faithful translation of strahlenden Glanz would be "radiant splendor", the phrase is sometimes glossed as "radiance" in translations into English, as is done here.
c. The original construction of "Schutt und Asche" is more literally "rubble and ashes". It is commonly glossed as "rubble" in English translations.
2
So, togedemaru are the nopon of this story. Duly noted. I expect one will end up in the “party,” then.
The raid starting with a totter orb brings smoke and flash grenades to mind. Less video gamey and more like police raids. Or the kinds you see on TV, anyway. I do appreciate that, initially, things are fairly anchored to Lyle’s POV for the raid, with things happening in the background loosely described as a flurry of chaos. However, when Aerodactyl crashes in and things get a bit more frenzied, I do feel like you slip back into your Fledglings habit of giving a complete play-by-play of everything happening to a multitude of characters. To a point where I’d argue it slips out of third-person limited, because we stop seeing Lyle’s perspective in exchange for rote description of attacks. You even have a similar trend of “Someone gets hit, opponent starts taunting, gets cut off mid-taunt by an attack from someone else” with the army personnel skirmish.
I do enjoy some of the environmental stuff, though. Like the outlaws working to dismantle the wagons with their elements. Anyway, yup, the found Axew in the raid. Though I guess they didn’t get separated from the other outlaws in the process.
3
I feel like I’m used to reading things where Irune would be the POV character and we’d already know her background. So, it’s nice to have the shoe on the other foot, because I do agree with the other bandits that I find things hard to believe. granted i don’t understand enough about this world. Still, I think the whole explanation could do with more of Lyle’s thoughts on the matter since he’s supposed to be the POV, but in these bigger group bits it feels like the fic kinda forgets about him. All we get is his opinion on what seems like foreshadowing that Dalton was in/has ties to Varhyde’s military.
… Ah, so this is where things go belly-up. Nice bait and switch. Though, again, the scramble that follows really just feels like a play-by-play without any sort of character thoughts on the matter. That said, I was surprised that Alvin ends up abandoned here. So that’s why he’s not in the banner. It might’ve been more impactful if we’d seen more of the depth of Lyle’s relationship with him, instead of snippets told in chapter one.
4
Kate POV? 👀
… Oh, no. It seems things snap back to Lyle once Parker starts talking about the colonel they ran into? And then when Irune offers to join Dalton and Artem, we get inside the former’s head. Yeah, it seems like this chapter sees you slipping into your old omniscient habits. Makes things feel a bit less focused, especially with some of the other slips from the other two chapters. ^^; I do appreciate that there’s a bit of time for Lyle to panic over Alvin’s potential fate.
I don’t have much to say about the dungeon crawling that follows because it’s standard fare and similar to what I’ve read from you before. The mob of soldiers was similarly chaotic and, again, mostly stuck to blow-by-blow descriptors, though I like the strategy of needing to get the armor off. And Artem getting warped away was unfortunate, but somewhat foreshadowed by the trap encounters the group had earlier.
5
In a vacuum, there’s something very… Uncharted-y about this premise of some ragtag thieves heading to mystical ruins in search of a grand treasure, potentially racing a stronger and more well-equipped organization. Granted, I don’t think they’re as competent as Nathan Drake. Still, that’s what actually came to mind here.
The scarf finding was… awfully convenient. Almost Fledglings levels of convenience. I also get the feeling we’ll see the robbery victims again. Why else would you bother giving them names? Anyway, the remainder of this is some more worldbuilding stuff. Really isn’t until the debate about eating the offerings that we get back into Lyle’s head again, though even that’s a vessel for more of the worldbuilding stuff. I wish it could be shown properly. XP
6
More insight into Lyle’s previous gang life via exposition. Again, it doesn’t have quite the same impact. Even him talking about it with someone else would be preferable for me. Actually, the whole introduction to Moonturn is quite heavy on exposition. Some of the scene setting is nicely woven in with dialogue like discussing the moat and why it even exists, but it’s all punctuated by multiple paragraphs going into historical stuff. Like, there’s no way Lyle’s that deep in thought, right? They’re practically tangents. XP
About the most interesting thing I got out of this part was the attempt at shaking down Dragonite for a ride only to have things turned back around on them, leading to Lyle opting to double down on the criminal behavior that got them caught up in this in the first place. It’s juicy, since he’d been bemoaning all this misfortune, but now he’s shifting into the full “one last job” mentality Alvin tried to get him into at the start.
Overall, the adventuring premise remains nifty. Though, as stated above, it feels like this handful of chapters backslid a bit compared to the prologue and chapter one. As in, the writing was more like Fledglings, when I was hoping it would remain tight with a limited perspective that colored the narration. The fic’s still young, so it’s not too late to pivot back to how things were in the beginning. ^^;
On a couple occasions, one of the other Outlaws would quietly thump the ground with a foot to call for a stop after a guard with more dangerous vision was spotted, before doing so again twice to sound the all-clear.
The lizard brought his bony club down in an upward swing and a sharp thwack followed, sending the rodent flying with a pained squeak into the side of a wagon
it's gonna take time for anyone to just find this place!"
Just then, a startled yelp rang out from the front entrance of the Pocket, a Watchog running up wide-eyed, and gesturing in alarm at the fog-filled passage beyond.
"You found the entrance?" the Swellow asked, his eyes widened out of surprise. "Where is it?"
"Nah, I found a Slow Wand," the Sneasel insisted, pointing off towards a blue, forking branch with a glass knob at its end. "I'd been looking for one of those!"
Why, there was even one specializing in playing cards with illustrations of Pokémon on them that had both youngsters and grown 'mons alike gawking at its wares.
Hey there, I read this chapter yesterday and now I'm gonna leave my review on it. So, buckle up.
This fics version of Mystery Dungeons is shown to us in the early parts of the first scene. It looks like you more or less went with the pre-psmd versions of dungeons as your main inspiration here since you incorporated the dungeon hunger mechanic. I enjoyed how Waterhead Cave was described, and extra points for having its existence have an actual tangible effect beyond its status as a dungeon. I wonder if the water coming from the cave spawns into reality through dungeon weirdness or if it has an origin elsewhere.
Moving forward a bit, I loved how Lyle said he didn't need help, only for him to almost end up getting lost in the dungeon's fog. That wouldn't have ended well. Good thing Kate's string was there to help him out though, it's almost as if she knew he'd end up needing it.
After they came out of the fog, I enjoyed seeing the encampment. It was such a mob of pokomon. Also, there was something both wholesome and sad about seeing Lyle meet old pals again but feeling he had to leave again when everything is said and done. Though I do not for a second think this caravan raid will end smoothly and everyone will go their ways, unless the story is supposed to be a super short one.
The fight scene was a pretty great read. Prefacing it with that overly confident Lurantis getting destroyed really helped in adding extra flavor and tension to Lyle's face off against Parker. Dude had some guts for sure, and it's good to see that he managed to pull through in the end even if he was narrowly saved by a ticking timer. Too bad Parker was too salty to let him join her tent though, but at least he got under Myra and Ford's good graces anyway.
The rest of the chapter was planning and set up for the eventual raid. Love the nod about the fearsome Kec caravan company. Lots of hype all around. I look forward to seeing where it all leads to.
Read three chapters today and this is my quick review on them :D
Chapter 2 was all about the caravan raid plan taking place. We got to see a lot of cool action scenes which were written superbly and flowed very well. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time waiting for when things will go wrong once the Aerodactyl was introduced, but surprisingly enough things turned out really well. I was hyped enough that i went to the next chapter right away. Things can only go up from here, right?
So chapter 3 shed some light on the freed Axew prisoner's background as someone trying to unearth treasures left behind by resurrected legendaries or something. But then the skyrim imperial army comes charging into the bandit hideout and hell broke loose. Amidst the chaos Lyle, Kate, Dalton and Irene escape, but Alvin the Chipmunk is unfortunately left behind. FeelsBadMan.
Chapter 4 was just a long and prolonged escape sequence as the remnants of the outlaws try to outrun the skyrim imperial army and fending off against them in moments where they couldn't. The rest of Parker's crew are left behind as well as the swellow whose name i forgor. By the time they escape the dungeon, only about four pokomon remain. Where will the story go from here? I don't know for sure but i'm very curious to find out!
Hey there, it’s pretty belated but I’m here to review the fourth chapter of this fic you got here.
The first scene picks up right where the last one left off with the remnants of the bandit gang having made it out of Waterhead Cave. Their situation is dire, and now they’ve become painfully aware that Irune wasn’t lying about what she said before all hell broke loose a few chapters ago. She gives them an offer and they weren’t really in the best position to refuse even if they wanted to. Though the fact that Irune says she gets to pick the first treasure is pretty suspicious. If I had to guess, I’d say the treasure she plans to pick is actually the one this is all about and everything else pales compared to it.
It was kind of sad seeing Lyle contemplating and then knowing he didn’t quite have anywhere else to go if he turned Irune down, and he’d burned the bridge with his family too badly to ever be taken back in. Especially now that he’s no doubt garnered more notoriety due to being associated with Irune and the raid on those round boi togedemarus.
Not long afterwards, they steal some scarves from a poor novice adventure team and then proceeded to pillage some food offerings for dead gods. Kate was more than willing to fill her stomach, Lyle begrudgingly followed, meanwhile Dalton and Irune resisted doing so. It was kind of funny, and while kate had a point it makes sense that others would be pretty uncomfortable with the idea of stealing food from a shrine like that. They do spot a landmark that’ll get them to their next destination though, which should lead into next chapter.
All in all I enjoyed my time reading this chapter and I hope to get on to reading the following chapter to see where things go from here.
Bold of you to assume that when traveling Nopon are primarily heroic archetypes. Oh, and I guess Tatsu I suppose, but Tatsu kinda sucks so he doesn’t count.
I mean, never say never, but you’re a bit more likely to see the gang run into one in the capacity of a recurring antagonist/rival, especially if you caught onto a few details of the team they rip off in Chapter 5.
The raid starting with a totter orb brings smoke and flash grenades to mind. Less video gamey and more like police raids. Or the kinds you see on TV, anyway. I do appreciate that, initially, things are fairly anchored to Lyle’s POV for the raid, with things happening in the background loosely described as a flurry of chaos. However, when Aerodactyl crashes in and things get a bit more frenzied, I do feel like you slip back into your Fledglings habit of giving a complete play-by-play of everything happening to a multitude of characters. To a point where I’d argue it slips out of third-person limited, because we stop seeing Lyle’s perspective in exchange for rote description of attacks. You even have a similar trend of “Someone gets hit, opponent starts taunting, gets cut off mid-taunt by an attack from someone else” with the army personnel skirmish.
I do enjoy some of the environmental stuff, though. Like the outlaws working to dismantle the wagons with their elements. Anyway, yup, the found Axew in the raid. Though I guess they didn’t get separated from the other outlaws in the process.
Hm. Sounds like the raid sequence was a touch hit-or-miss for you, though I’m glad to hear that at least on a tactical level you seemed to enjoy it, even if action sequences aren’t quite your cuppa anymore.
3
I feel like I’m used to reading things where Irune would be the POV character and we’d already know her background. So, it’s nice to have the shoe on the other foot, because I do agree with the other bandits that I find things hard to believe. granted i don’t understand enough about this world. Still, I think the whole explanation could do with more of Lyle’s thoughts on the matter since he’s supposed to be the POV, but in these bigger group bits it feels like the fic kinda forgets about him. All we get is his opinion on what seems like foreshadowing that Dalton was in/has ties to Varhyde’s military.
Yeah, Irune’s background has been the tricky balancing act of this story, since there’s a fine line between hinting and building up to what’s going on with her and just blurting things out loud. Thus far, I think I’ve been doing a decent job at walking that tightrope either that, or I’m just temporarily benefitting from the fact that like ten people have actually bothered to read this story past the first chapter or so ^^;
… Ah, so this is where things go belly-up. Nice bait and switch. Though, again, the scramble that follows really just feels like a play-by-play without any sort of character thoughts on the matter. That said, I was surprised that Alvin ends up abandoned here. So that’s why he’s not in the banner. It might’ve been more impactful if we’d seen more of the depth of Lyle’s relationship with him, instead of snippets told in chapter one.
Alas, that’s definitely one of the flaws of the earlier bits of the story. I’m not admittedly not fully decided as to whether I’ll attempt to go back and try to improve that one, or just press on to try and avoid revisionitis.
It’ll definitely be on my mind for if I can think of an expansion or two to slot in, since that moment getting undercut by a lack of a bead on Alvin is kinda a recurring criticism I’ve noticed.
4
Kate POV? 👀
… Oh, no. It seems things snap back to Lyle once Parker starts talking about the colonel they ran into? And then when Irune offers to join Dalton and Artem, we get inside the former’s head. Yeah, it seems like this chapter sees you slipping into your old omniscient habits. Makes things feel a bit less focused, especially with some of the other slips from the other two chapters. ^^; I do appreciate that there’s a bit of time for Lyle to panic over Alvin’s potential fate.
I might actually go back and rework that scene into being from Kate’s PoV. Emphasis on might, since that’d definitely be a trickier balancing act than third person-ing most of the other bits where things veered into omniscient narration.
I don’t have much to say about the dungeon crawling that follows because it’s standard fare and similar to what I’ve read from you before. The mob of soldiers was similarly chaotic and, again, mostly stuck to blow-by-blow descriptors, though I like the strategy of needing to get the armor off. And Artem getting warped away was unfortunate, but somewhat foreshadowed by the trap encounters the group had earlier.
Well, at least the strategy stuck in your mind, so it wasn’t a total wash?
I’ll keep this feedback in mind for future action sequences. Can’t promise they’ll all deliver perfectly, but hey, might as well keep some pointers in mind for trying to keep things feeling more gripping.
5
In a vacuum, there’s something very… Uncharted-y about this premise of some ragtag thieves heading to mystical ruins in search of a grand treasure, potentially racing a stronger and more well-equipped organization. Granted, I don’t think they’re as competent as Nathan Drake. Still, that’s what actually came to mind here.
It’s a fun point of comparison to keep in mind. Even if they’re a few male dragonmons shy of being able to have a ‘Drake’ of any sort in the fold. :V
The scarf finding was… awfully convenient. Almost Fledglings levels of convenience. I also get the feeling we’ll see the robbery victims again. Why else would you bother giving them names? Anyway, the remainder of this is some more worldbuilding stuff. Really isn’t until the debate about eating the offerings that we get back into Lyle’s head again, though even that’s a vessel for more of the worldbuilding stuff. I wish it could be shown properly. XP
I’ll probably drop in a couple lines of dialogue when I get around to the bigger reflows in light of your review implying they’d been combing the woods for like an hour to make things feel a bit less coincidental / better sell a progression of time, since the intent was they were skulking around offscreen for someone to rip off and that was the first promising mark they could come across.
Also, while I’m fairly loose about naming, you are right to keep that Exploration Team in particular in mind. It won’t be the last you see of them.
6
More insight into Lyle’s previous gang life via exposition. Again, it doesn’t have quite the same impact. Even him talking about it with someone else would be preferable for me. Actually, the whole introduction to Moonturn is quite heavy on exposition. Some of the scene setting is nicely woven in with dialogue like discussing the moat and why it even exists, but it’s all punctuated by multiple paragraphs going into historical stuff. Like, there’s no way Lyle’s that deep in thought, right? They’re practically tangents. XP
Yeeeeeeah, I think that that’s something that I’m just going to need to take on the chin there. Since while I can kinda see what you’re getting about them feeling like tangents, there’s not a whole lot of information there that could really get cut and yeeted elsewhere.
Hopefully today’s chapter reads a bit better in that regard for you. Though, eh. If not, I’ll have plenty of runway to try and get a better hang of balancing the plot with my inner worldbuilder.
About the most interesting thing I got out of this part was the attempt at shaking down Dragonite for a ride only to have things turned back around on them, leading to Lyle opting to double down on the criminal behavior that got them caught up in this in the first place. It’s juicy, since he’d been bemoaning all this misfortune, but now he’s shifting into the full “one last job” mentality Alvin tried to get him into at the start.
I’m not sure if the gang would’ve really seen themselves as shaking him down, though… yeah, they weren’t exactly expecting a guy with a substance habit to play hardball with them.
Also for the criminal behavior, well, when you have a skill and a perfect environment to put it to use…
Overall, the adventuring premise remains nifty. Though, as stated above, it feels like this handful of chapters backslid a bit compared to the prologue and chapter one. As in, the writing was more like Fledglings, when I was hoping it would remain tight with a limited perspective that colored the narration. The fic’s still young, so it’s not too late to pivot back to how things were in the beginning. ^^;
I mean, omniscient narration has its own value for stories, though this one is making a point of having its characters color the narration's framing. I actually went back to touch up some of the bits that you pointed out where the narration slips away from a particular character's perspective, though those changes aren’t quite ready for primetime yet outside of Chapter 2, which got updated right before publishing today’s update. It'll be a bit of a slow roll for patching those in, since I can only give my proud beta readers so much work at a time without drowning them. ^^;
Yeah, that’s a carryover from Cyndaquil’s dex fluff. Figured that sort of anxious response wouldn’t go anywhere after evolving, even if it might not manifest itself as frequently.
Blame the official game fluff for that quality of Lansat Berries. I had MDMA more on my mind when describing the properties of this story’s take on the drug made from the them.
"That's an oddly specific comparison. Explorers or Xenoblade?"
"... yes."
Yeah, there’s a number of such nods of that ilk both to canon PMD and to various Xenogames lying around in this story. That happened to be an easy tee-up for one that worked both ways.
Not really sure it makes sense for the narration itself to stuter.
Bold of them to assume that when they stuck their noses into army business that they very obviously did not want anyone else to know about. Like there comes a point where you just know too much to be left alone.
Reshiram, after reading through her 15,000th confession: "Mortals were a mistake. Why are they all so horny?!"
Wait, is that a reference to some sort of incident? Though never say never, since I do need a few background gags and the like to take the edge off some points of the story down the pipe. :V
What can I say? I was reading Power Trip for a decent chunk of the pre-release period and early run of this story, so there’s a few imprints from it and little nods here and there lying around that attentive readers will pick up on.
This fics version of Mystery Dungeons is shown to us in the early parts of the first scene. It looks like you more or less went with the pre-psmd versions of dungeons as your main inspiration here since you incorporated the dungeon hunger mechanic. I enjoyed how Waterhead Cave was described, and extra points for having its existence have an actual tangible effect beyond its status as a dungeon. I wonder if the water coming from the cave spawns into reality through dungeon weirdness or if it has an origin elsewhere.
I mean, there are a healthy bit of Super and DX mechanics to MDs in this world, but there are a few attributes of pre-Super dungeons like underleveled encounters that I’ve held onto stubbornly because I just like it, it opens up a few worldbuilding possibilities, and it better sells the idea of a mysterious and unnatural area.
Moving forward a bit, I loved how Lyle said he didn't need help, only for him to almost end up getting lost in the dungeon's fog. That wouldn't have ended well. Good thing Kate's string was there to help him out though, it's almost as if she knew he'd end up needing it.
Yeah, for all her risk-taking, Kate does have a fair amount of competence as an Outlaw. I felt that it was as good an opportunity as any to show that off a bit.
After they came out of the fog, I enjoyed seeing the encampment. It was such a mob of pokomon. Also, there was something both wholesome and sad about seeing Lyle meet old pals again but feeling he had to leave again when everything is said and done. Though I do not for a second think this caravan raid will end smoothly and everyone will go their ways, unless the story is supposed to be a super short one.
So short that it ends before the entire summary plays out, huh? :V
Though yeah, it would’ve been a boring story if Lyle just went home after this and went back to berry picking with a stash of ill-gotten loot that he just went “What, this? Won it in a game of cards” about.
The fight scene was a pretty great read. Prefacing it with that overly confident Lurantis getting destroyed really helped in adding extra flavor and tension to Lyle's face off against Parker. Dude had some guts for sure, and it's good to see that he managed to pull through in the end even if he was narrowly saved by a ticking timer. Too bad Parker was too salty to let him join her tent though, but at least he got under Myra and Ford's good graces anyway.
Yup, and that was the main meta reason for showing some unfortunate sod meet the business end of a seamitar. Though glad to hear that it had its intended effect. ^^
The rest of the chapter was planning and set up for the eventual raid. Love the nod about the fearsome Kec caravan company. Lots of hype all around. I look forward to seeing where it all leads to.
Chapter 2 was all about the caravan raid plan taking place. We got to see a lot of cool action scenes which were written superbly and flowed very well. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time waiting for when things will go wrong once the Aerodactyl was introduced, but surprisingly enough things turned out really well. I was hyped enough that i went to the next chapter right away. Things can only go up from here, right?
But more seriously, there were a lot of readers that were expecting things to just go south in the raid. While I understand the meta argument for it, I felt that it was important to establish that the gang weren’t exactly helpless as Outlaws. Which would be a bit hard if they just ran into a wall on their first in-story mission, eh?
So chapter 3 shed some light on the freed Axew prisoner's background as someone trying to unearth treasures left behind by resurrected legendaries or something. But then the skyrim imperial army comes charging into the bandit hideout and hell broke loose. Amidst the chaos Lyle, Kate, Dalton and Irene escape, but Alvin the Chipmunk is unfortunately left behind. FeelsBadMan.
In retrospect, guess I oughta have given ‘Adalwin’ a bit more thought for Alvin’s name huh? But eh, I figured that it was important to keep the more down-to-earth portions of the cast named in a down-to-earth fashion to play up the “everyman” vibes for them. Or at least as “everyman” as you can get robbing travelers in the boonies.
Chapter 4 was just a long and prolonged escape sequence as the remnants of the outlaws try to outrun the skyrim imperial army and fending off against them in moments where they couldn't. The rest of Parker's crew are left behind as well as the swellow whose name i forgor. By the time they escape the dungeon, only about four pokomon remain. Where will the story go from here? I don't know for sure but i'm very curious to find out!
And I’ll be looking forward to seeing those reactions, though you kinda surprised me with another review right before today’s bump, so let’s see how the answer to that question played out, huh?
The first scene picks up right where the last one left off with the remnants of the bandit gang having made it out of Waterhead Cave. Their situation is dire, and now they’ve become painfully aware that Irune wasn’t lying about what she said before all hell broke loose a few chapters ago. She gives them an offer and they weren’t really in the best position to refuse even if they wanted to. Though the fact that Irune says she gets to pick the first treasure is pretty suspicious. If I had to guess, I’d say the treasure she plans to pick is actually the one this is all about and everything else pales compared to it.
Would a sweet little girl like her do something like that? Really? Really? :V
Though you’re right to keep Irune’s actions there in mind. Hold onto that thought for the future.
It was kind of sad seeing Lyle contemplating and then knowing he didn’t quite have anywhere else to go if he turned Irune down, and he’d burned the bridge with his family too badly to ever be taken back in. Especially now that he’s no doubt garnered more notoriety due to being associated with Irune and the raid on those round boi togedemarus.
Yeeeeeaaah, it took a bit of fine-tuning to make sure that that note came out during pre-publishing, but I’m glad to hear that the intended vibe came through. It’s the most appealing of several terrible options for Lyle and the crew.
Not long afterwards, they steal some scarves from a poor novice adventure team and then proceeded to pillage some food offerings for dead gods. Kate was more than willing to fill her stomach, Lyle begrudgingly followed, meanwhile Dalton and Irune resisted doing so. It was kind of funny, and while kate had a point it makes sense that others would be pretty uncomfortable with the idea of stealing food from a shrine like that. They do spot a landmark that’ll get them to their next destination though, which should lead into next chapter.
Yeah, it was a little character interaction moment to help set the mood and tee up the next arc of the story. Well, among other things. Those with keen eyes might have picked up on some additional undertones and implications from that scene, but those will come out a bit more obviously and blatantly further down the pipe.
All in all I enjoyed my time reading this chapter and I hope to get on to reading the following chapter to see where things go from here.
you’re in luck, since I’ve got a fresh update for you to add to the reading pile today. :V
And it took me a bit longer than I’d have liked, but eh. I still made it in time for my “per calendar month” goal. Today’s chapter is on the longer side, but that’s a bit of an artifact of me not being able for the life of me to figure out a place to cut things off earlier without undercutting a sense of narrative progression.
But eh, such is life with storytelling. The next two will be a bit shorter than this one, though in the interim, we left off with one ‘Team Forager’ about to steal their way to pay off a flight. Let’s see how that’s working out for them, huh?
Ich hatte nicht erwartet, Ihnen so bald nach Ihrer Entsendung zu schreiben, um mich mit den Gendarmen vom Münsterplatz zu koordinieren, aber aufgrund meiner Erkenntnisse glaube ich, dass unsere derzeitige Vorgehensweise unsere Mission gefährden könnte. Ich habe Grund zur Annahme, dass sich die Dyade möglicherweise nicht im Hinterland der Gegend versteckt, wie Sie es ursprünglich vermutet haben, sondern Zuflucht in einem weiter entfernten Teil des Königreichs sucht.
Nicht lange nachdem ich die örtliche Garnison über die Dyade und den Ganoven informiert hatte, mit denen sie zuletzt gesehen wurde, hörte ich zufällig einen Bericht über eine Gruppe, die nach Treueplatz suchte. Eine Partei, deren Spezies denen der Raufbolde entspricht, die uns letzte Nacht entwischt ist. Ich habe nach weiteren Informationen über diese Partei und ihren Träger gesucht, obwohl ich zu diesem Zeitpunkt keine Erkenntnisse zu berichten habe. Mir ist durchaus bewusst, dass dies eine weitere Finte der Dyade sein könnte, aber nach dem letzten Jahr, das wir damit verbracht haben, sie zu verfolgen, wäre es nachlässig von mir als Ihrem Oberstleutnant, diese Möglichkeit nicht zur Sprache zu bringen.
Ich werde mein Möglichstes tun, um mehr über die gesichtete Partei herauszufinden, aber es könnte für Sie relevant sein, in der Zwischenzeit mögliche Routen von Norden und Osten zum Treueplatz zu überprüfen. Und wenn ich den Standort der Dyade bis heute Abend nicht bestimmen kann, erwäge ich, einen Teil der Stärke unseres Fähnleins zu entsenden, um einen Abfang entlang einer dieser Routen durchzuführen. Vorausgesetzt, wir haben die Kapazität dazu.
Ich verstehe immer noch nicht ganz, wie die Dyade in der 'Operation Zündfunke' eingesetzt werden soll. Aber wenn sie wirklich das Potenzial hat, diesen Krieg so entscheidend zu beenden, könnte eine solche Präsenz weiter südwestlich von uns den Unterschied zwischen ihrer Bergung und dem wochenlangen Verlieren ihrer Spur ausmachen.
Wochen, die wir vielleicht nicht haben. Und wenn unsere schlimmsten Befürchtungen über die Dyade zutreffen, könnten jene Wochen den Unterschied ausmachen, ob die Operation Zündfunke wie geplant fortgesetzt werden kann, oder das Königreich dieselbe Spirale aus Zerstörung und Elend wiederholen, die es in den Anfangsjahren dieses Krieges durchgemacht hat.
- Dringende Depesche von Ritterin von Herbergau, Sophia Krarmorstochter an Graf von Wellenhafen, Lacan Dragoransohn
A little over half an hour later, Irune found herself just outside of the hustle and bustle of Moonturn Square's central marketplace alongside the newly-named 'Team Forager'. There, the Outlaws peered out from an alleyway towards a small collection of stalls just north of its outer wall, keenly eyeing passers-by who drifted to and fro between them. All the while, Irune kept fidgeting and giving nervous gapes about her surroundings, before she turned back to her three teammates with an exasperated hiss. After all the trouble they'd gone through just to get into Moonturn Square, their plan for making up the ten thousand Poké they needed was…
"We're seriously stealing again after we just went through the trouble of getting new scarves?" she demanded.
… not at all what she'd been hoping to hear. The Dragon-type watched as her Outlaw companions traded glances with one another before collectively shrugging back in reply.
"Hey, when you've got a skill, you might as well use it," Kate said. "How else did you think we were going to get that much Poké in a day?"
Irune narrowed her eyes, and frowned sharply back at the Sneasel. Sure that sort of money was a tall lift, but they hadn't even tried to think of alternatives!
She turned her head as she heard faint clattering, turning to see Dalton grabbing an empty coinpurse made of brown cloth, probably one he'd snatched from last night’s raid, as he carefully slipped a few rocks from the ground into it. The Axew cocked her head and wondered to herself what the Heliolisk was up to, watching as he felt the bag's weight for a moment, before he tugged its drawstrings shut and looked down at her, bobbing the purse up and down in his right hand.
"Calm down, we're in a well-trafficked place, so we can afford to be a bit picky about our marks," he insisted. "Besides, we're not going to be doing anything crazy here. Just a bit of simple opportunism."
Irune frowned and tilted her head back at the Heliolisk with a dubious raise of her brow.
"What do you mean 'opportunism'?" she demanded.
Dalton said nothing back before he stepped out into the crowd, watching the passers-by as his eyes fell on a blue Meowstic stopping to inspect a bolt of silk at a tailor's stall. Irune followed the Heliolisk's gaze and noticed the cat had a purse of similar coloration. Before she could ask, the lizard lowered his head and slipped forward into the crowd. Dalton lingered as the Meowstic set the silk down and unwittingly approached him, when just as the Psychic-type passed by, Dalton batted his tail out in front of the Meowstic, who pitched forward and fell to the ground with a yelp.
"Ow!"
Dalton stooped down, forcing an alarmed look over his face as he held out his left hand to help the Meowstic up, all while keenly eyeing the Meowstic's coin purse that had flopped onto the ground and quickly switching it with his.
"I'm so sorry!" Dalton insisted. "I'd just been distracted by the rest of the market for a couple moments, and-"
"So pay less attention to it and learn to watch where you're going, jerk!" the Psychic-type snapped.
The Meowstic scooped up the bag on the ground and stomped off hissing under his breath. After seeing the cat vanish off into the crowds of the outer market, Dalton quickly scurried back to the mouth of the alleyway, as Irune stared at him with her mouth hanging agape.
Why, the 'mon had nicked that Meowstic's money almost as naturally as a Magikarp would take to swimming in a river! Irune stared at Dalton as he retreated back into the alleyway's shade, watching as he opened the mouth of the bag in his hands in front of her and her fellow Outlaws. At once, Irune stiffened up and gaped down in astonishment, as she saw from top to bottom, the purse filled with metal coins of varying colors.
"I'd say a bag of stones is a pretty good trade for this one, don't you think?" he asked. "It's not all in Poké, but it shouldn't be too hard to find a merchant willing to make a trade for the rest."
Irune stepped forward and gave a mesmerized paw at the coins in the bag. Why some of them were even in good enough condition to visibly gleam under the light! She… didn't know what to make of the Heliolisk's gambit at first, but as she looked down at the purse's contents, she couldn't help but feel a quiet awe at how effortlessly Dalton had purloined it.
"I… I suppose that is kinda impressive…" she murmured.
Lyle and Kate raised their brows back at the Axew's remark, prompting her to bite her tongue. Was… Dalton's snatching not as impressive as she'd thought? After all, the two were looking at her as if she'd just said something strange and unexpected.
"Huh? There's no need to flatter him like that over some simple pickpocketing," Lyle insisted. "The bag's probably not even worth a thousand Poké all together."
Irune blinked with a start as the Quilava took a tarnished, silvery coin from the bag and immediately noticed the coin's edges seemed unusually smooth, before flipping it over to reveal a worn, hollow triangle with circles on each tip. A Schild der Wirklichkeit, as most Carolin coins of its sort had. Except the circles weren't supposed to be abruptly cut off like they were on this one.
"… Probably less if there's coins clipped this badly in it," he remarked. "But pickpocketing like that's a fairly simple two-step. Even little runts who've never set foot into a Mystery Dungeon can get pretty good at it."
"Yeah, it's just simple situational awareness and having quick paws," Kate chimed in. "Why don't you go ahead and show us what your old crew taught you?"
Irune felt the color drain from her face and her jaw hung open briefly at the Sneasel's challenge. … She knew that this moment was going to come, but even then, she hadn't worked out how she'd get around it. The Axew hemmed and hawed for a moment, before clearing her throat and trying to suppress a nervous titter in reply.
"Er… I- I never did get the hang of doing things in and around towns," she said. "I kinda stuck to sneaking around in more backwoods areas."
The Axew forced an awkward smile over her face back at her fellow Outlaws, and at once saw the others leveling unamused frowns back at her. Lyle turned his head up suspiciously for a moment, before having his eyes notice something in the market and pointing at it.
"Then we'll keep things simple for you," the Quilava said. "I… personally wouldn't have picked the mark myself, but there's a 'mon shopping over there with a hole in her purse, you shouldn't have any trouble with her."
Irune turned and followed Lyle's forepaw, and immediately froze after noticing that he was pointing off at a Kangaskhan looking over a stand selling sundry pieces of cloth for patchwork. The Axew froze, as she noticed with a joey dozing in the pouch, and a small golden glint coming from the fabric of a small bag about her waist. Irune blanched. Whatever her thoughts of the idea of stealing from a mother, they paled in comparison to the idea of stealing from a 'mon that had to be at least ten times her size. The Dragon-type stammered in place briefly, before whirling back to Lyle with a startled squeak.
"Y-You can't seriously expect me to try and fight her!" she protested, making the Quilava raise a brow back skeptically.
"No? I'm expecting you to just snatch her purse while she's not looking and leg it," he insisted. "It should be right up your alley."
Kate sized up the Axew as she visibly shuffled her feet and squirmed, the Sneasel flattening her ears out with an unimpressed frown at the Dragon-type's visible reluctance.
"You did actually help these 'Balance Bandits' you used to be part of, didn't you?"
"O-Of course I helped them!" Irune spat. "Just give me a moment!"
Irune stomped out of the alley and made her way darting past the legs of passing Pokémon over towards the Kangaskhan. As she neared, the Axew hesitated and slowed her pace, looking up at the distracted Kangaskhan with a quiet gulp.
Irune's eyes turned towards the metallic glint coming from the Kangaskhan's purse as she stopped and breathed in. She lingered a moment and closed her eyes with a small shiver.
Here went nothing…
Irune threw her claws forward at the purse, and felt the strap give way with the sound of jingling metal.
"Hey!"
Irune flinched from the shout and lost her grip on the purse, which fell to the ground with an audible clatter. Her eyes immediately shot wide, and she looked up to see the purse's owner snatching it off the ground and leveling a piercing glare down at her.
The Dragon-type paled and reflexively turned to bolt and run, when she felt a sharp, stomping pain shoot through her tail and pitched face first into the earthen lane. The Axew groaned and spat some dirt out of her mouth, when she heard a low growl and looked up to see the Kangaskhan hovering over her.
Just the sight that she needed to upend her nerves and make her to let out a sharp scream.
"A-Aah!"
"What is your problem, you little brat?!" the Kangaskhan snapped. "Is trying to steal from a working mother your idea of a fun time?!"
Irune sucked in sharp, panicked breaths and froze up. A quick glance about her revealed that other passers-by in the market were starting to stop and stare at her. Irune yelped as a sharp pain shot through her tail as she felt the Kangaskhan grind it harder into the dirt.
Why had she ever agreed to this? She'd surely be beaten to an inch of her life, and then Lacan would catch up with her, and-
"Answer me already!"
Irune flinched and let out a low whine, looking back up to see that the angry Kangaskhan hadn't gone anywhere. The Axew trembled, and she was pretty sure that her scales weren't supposed to look this pale, as she gaped up and stammered nervously at the glowering Normal-type.
"I… I…"
The joey in the Kangaskhan's pouch began to cry from the racket, the Normal-type flinching and hesitating as she reflexively lifted up her child and attempted to soothe her with a cooing reassurance.
"W-Weine nicht, Liebling.₁ It's okay, it's okay."
Irune drew panting, frightened breaths as the Kangaskhan seemed to loosen her grip on her tail and have her attention diverted. Now was her chance! If she could just sneak away, she could run off back to safety!
Irune desperately tried to pull herself free, only for the Kangaskhan to push her foot back down again. The Axew tried to blink back a few tears of pain, looking up to see the Normal-type glaring down at her from past her still-sniffling joey.
"If I didn't have a baby to calm down right now, I'd break your tusks, you little thief!" the Kangaskhan snarled. "Get out of my sight before I change my mind about it!"
Irune felt the Kangaskhan let go, and scrabbled forward onto her feet with a frightened yelp. She didn't dare try the 'mon's patience any further and took off as fast as her legs could carry her. On her way off, she could just barely overhear the shopkeeper attempting to calm the Kangaskhan with a wary 'easy there, Oulen, she's gone', before the sounds of confused onlookers rang out about her. The Axew ran back to the alleyway for dear life, running clear to the other end of it where she stopped and gasped for breath. She could still feel her tail smart from being stomped on earlier, and nursed it with a low whine, when a sharp scoff filled the air behind her.
"… What exactly was the last thing you stole as part of your old crew?"
Irune turned back to see Kate stepping forward from behind the cover of a small stack of broken-up crates with Lyle and Dalton flanking her. Based on the Sneasel's furrowed brow, the Dark-type was thoroughly unimpressed with her performance. From a quick glance at the way Lyle's flames were kindling in visible irritation from his vents, and the way Dalton was folding his arms, those two didn't think much of it either.
Honestly, it was kinda hard to fault them. After all, she knew the answer to Kate's question, and she had a pretty good idea of how her teammates would react to finding out.
Perhaps she ought to have tried to make an excuse, but from past experience, Irune doubted she'd be able to lie about what happened back there even if her life depended on it. She’d always had much better luck just keeping quiet about things she didn't want others to know about.
And besides, she was counting on these three to bring her to the Divine Roost. If they were just going to figure out the truth eventually, perhaps it was best to just be out with it.
"I… uh… technically was still going through initiation?" Irune replied, nervously shuffling her feet. "So nothing yet?"
The Axew watched as Lyle threw a paw over his face, with Dalton screwing his eyes shut in frustration at her reply, and Kate rolling her eyes at the answer. Yeah, she figured that was about how they’d react.
Irune thought to cut in and try to offer some sort of explanation of how she got to her present state, only for Kate to make the matter moot by shaking her head with a low sigh and leveling a sharp frown down at her.
"Look, if you expect this partnership to work out, let alone actually get you to the Divine Roost, you're going to need to brush up on some skills first!" she exclaimed.
Irune said nothing for a long while afterwards, before awkwardly pawing at the back of her head. As embarrassing as her debacle with the Kangaskhan had been, it was hard to admit the others didn't have a point… After all, the four of them were going to the Divine Roost as Outlaws, and just what sort of Outlaw couldn't steal something to get by?
"I… suppose that's fair?" she murmured. "But… where do I even start?"
The marketplace was unusually trafficked by Grünhäuter after Irune's bungled attempt at pickpocketing. Lyle wouldn't have thought that that would've caused so much trouble, but he guessed that Moonturn Square was just full of surprises. Per his insistence, the four loitered about a quieter residential neighborhood to pass the time, and drilled in a few primers into Irune's head about the importance of staying alert and to keep her wits about her.
A little over an hour later, after a moment to test the waters to ensure that they hadn't stirred up enough trouble to be summarily run off, Team Forager slipped back into the central bowl of the main marketplace and found that it had largely simmered down. It was time for Irune to put her lessons into practice, and a crowded marketplace was as good a place as any to find easy marks suitable for a novice like her.
There, Lyle and his companions made their way down a line of colorful stalls hawking odds and ends. Some offered produce or street food, others sold small knick-knacks such as books or decorations to place in and around Pokémon's houses, burrows, and other places they called home. There was even one stall that hawked cards with pictures of Pokémon on them which turned Kate's head briefly…
Right next to one staffed by a Sableye hawking colorful and supposedly protective charms, which was being perused by a visibly antsy-looking Quilladin in army plates. Thankfully the 'mon didn't seem to have any buddies with him, and whatever had gotten the guards so worked up earlier had passed. After giving the apparent soldier a suitable berth, Lyle nudged at Irune for attention.
"The first thing to know about stealing from a mark is being aware of your surroundings," the Quilava explained. "Fighting draws attention, and as such, you need to have a nose for situations where you can get what you want without picking one."
The Fire-type reared up onto his hind legs and walked forward down the path. Up ahead to the right was a Slurpuff chattering with a Appletun behind the counter of a stand serving donuts. The stoat eyed the pair closely before looking around, casually darting up and snatching one of the donuts off the counter, then walking on.
He probably should've been a bit more worried about how naturally swiping the donut came to him given that it was Kate who had 'Quickpaw' as her Beiname. But Irune needed a primer, and besides, it was just a donut.
Lyle carried along with his teammates, greedily tearing into his ill-gotten snack as he glanced back at Irune with his mouth still full of sweet bread.
"Working on building up a sticky paw is an easy way to practice that," he explained. "All you need is to find the right shop and the right moment, and you'll be rewarded handsomely for it."
The Quilava watched as Irune looked about the surrounding stalls and their attending riot of colors, sounds, and smells, before she turned back and stared at him blankly. Lyle tilted an ear back puzzledly and raised a brow.
"Something the matter?" he asked.
The Axew looked around and pawed nervously at the back of her head. Was Irune still shaken-up from her encounter with the Kangaskhan? It was hard to understand why she'd be this nervous over a little shoplifting…
"How… am I supposed to figure out what that 'right shop' is?" she asked. "With all these stalls around us, where would I even start looking for it?"
Unless of course, it was something like that.
Lyle flared up and threw a paw over his face with an exasperated sigh, before shaking his head and curling his muzzle into a sharp frown.
"It's not that hard, kid," he scoffed. "You had to have nicked something as part of that collection of shiny junk in your bag, right?"
Irune fumbled with her words for a moment, making the Quilava blink briefly. He looked over just in time to spot Kate and Dalton making their way back from a round of picking over the crowd when they stopped. They’d apparently overheard his line of conversation, and seemed to think about as much of it as he did. Kate was visibly flabbergasted with the Dragon-type's lack of response, while the latter pinched his brow, before stepping forward with a low sigh.
"Look, the point of this is for you to practice your skills," the Heliolisk insisted. "This is around the time when most towns are preparing for the Autumn Festival, so you're not exactly wanting for opportunities here."
"Yeah, just nick a glass bead for that collection of yours or something," Kate chimed in. "It's small and shiny. You probably wouldn't need any more motivation than that to nick it."
Lyle looked down at the Axew as she continued to waver and narrowed his eyes. He could already tell that this journey to the Divine Roost was going to be quite the ordeal even if they survived it.
"Look, you learn by making mistakes sometimes, and this is about as safe an opportunity you'll get to make some while being an Outlaw. Just go around and look for a stall that looks nice with an absentminded shopkeep, then just take it and get out before someone spots you," the Quilava insisted. "It could be an Apple for all I care, the point is for you to just take something. With how much trouble you've already gotten yourself in, are you really dragging your feet this much over something where you could just pretend you forgot to pay if you get caught?"
Irune gulped and glanced around her surroundings, before taking a sharp breath and steeling herself.
"O… kay?" she replied. "Absentminded shopkeep. I can do this…"
Lyle watched as the Axew set off into the crowd and Dalton and Kate peered after her for a moment, the Dragon-type slipping away amid the sea of Pokémon and vanishing from their line of sight after about a dozen paces. Dalton turned and gave a wary side-eye back at his Quilava partner, giving an uneasy tug at his frill.
"Are you sure you shouldn't be assisting her, Lyle?" he asked. "She did manage to fumble a simple pickpocketing earlier…"
"Oh c'mon, it's shoplifting," Kate scoffed. "Worst case scenario, we just play 'er off as a newly-recruited Wilder who doesn't understand the concept of personal property yet. Sure we'll get an earful from it, but hey. Could be worse."
"Hey! Get back here!"
Team Forager's members flinched at the sound of a harsh, barking voice calling through the crowd. The three looked up just in time to see Pokémon darting out of the way of an approaching figure, and saw Irune run up panting and wide-eyed holding an Apple. Lyle flattened his ears out at the sound of shouts from further down the street, before narrowing his eyes at the Axew with an exasperated frown
"Irune, what did you do?!" he exclaimed. "How'd you manage to stir up this much trouble over an Apple?!"
"I-I tried that 'sticky paw' thing on a shop where the shopkeeper was asleep!" the Dragon-type protested. "You didn't say anything about these shops being watched by guards!"
Dalton and Kate blanched at the Axew's explanation, as Lyle caught himself and found himself starting to get worried. Sure, shops usually weren't one-mon affairs, but they usually didn't have the resources to hire standing guards like Irune was saying…
"Wait a minute, just where did you try and shoplift that was watched in such a fashion?" Dalton asked.
The Pokémon ahead in the crowd shuffled aside, and the color quickly drained from Lyle and his teammates' faces as a trio of glaring Kecleon stomped forward donning red scarves that each had a golden circle and four arcing lines surrounding it. Lyle's eyes shrank to pins, the stoat rearing up as his body's fire came alight with a start. The Quilava felt his heart race in a panic and began to feel lightheaded as he stared at the approaching lizards.
"Y-You took something from a Consortium shop?!" he squeaked. "Wh-Why would you even-?!"
Before Lyle could finish pressing Irune about what in the gods' names made her think it was a good idea to steal from the most dreaded marks in all of Varhyde- no, of all of Wander, the leader of the Kecleon trio held out a claw pointing at the Axew in front of Team Forager's members.
"You there! With the Apple!"
Lyle stood there dumbly for a moment, his breaths coming out shallow and panicked as Kate pinned her tail feathers tightly against her body and forced an uneven, stammering grin over her face.
"Er, s-sorry about that!" the Sneasel insisted. "She's a new teammate of ours we recruited from the hinterlands and-"
"Oh gods, just take it!" the Quilava cried.
Lyle snatched the Apple out of Irune's hands and threw it back at the Kecleon, turning and bolting for dear life along with his teammates down a back alley. The four carried on as they heard shouts coming from behind, ducking down twists and turns before they realized that they no longer heard anything other than their own tense breaths coming in and out of their lungs. Lyle slowed to a stop and shivered a little from the encounter, when he felt a sharp prod at his shoulder and heard Dalton speak up.
"Lyle?"
Lyle blinked and glanced over his shoulder towards Dalton's voice, where Kate was folding her arms with her ears pinned back looking much as if she'd just been soaked in the face. Dalton entered his field of view right afterwards, Lyle spotting him just in time to see him shoot a sideways glance at a visibly sheepish-looking Irune, before narrowing his eyes back at him with a sharp glare.
"I think you should let me take over the teaching duties here."
Half an hour after Irune's bungled attempt at shoplifting, Team Forager opted to move deeper into Moonturn Square. They'd need to let things simmer down in the marketplace again, after all. The four ultimately found themselves in an alleyway overlooking the town's Great Spire—an ancient human ruin consisting of a tapered tower that had been built on three giant legs, that broke off abruptly at its top.
Its surface was gray with mottled stains from the elements over the years since the Great Flash, with a few missing chunks that revealed a hollow within. According to Lyle, he'd heard while growing up that it was the last, lingering reminder of a still-taller portion of the tower that used to be there. One that had collapsed long, long ago and was vaguely remembered as having once been a popular haunt for flying Pokémon in the town. The towering structure bathed a square built underneath its three legs in shade from the sun, where stone steps into the ancient structure had been built along them and were trafficked by a steady stream of Pokémon that followed them up and down.
All things considered, Irune would've seen how it’d have been a decent place to look for a mark, except for one problem…
"Um… Dalton?" she began. "This- This is where the town's Exploration Guild is."
And one that a casual glance revealed was staffed by no shortage of Hunters. Enemies to Outlaws that could get every bit as fearsome for an one as a Grünhäuter. Hell, there was even supposed to be a decent amount of overlap at times. The Army apparently had a long history of drawing off such types as to become rangers in hinterland areas, and of course as Jäger₂, skirmishers and patrollers that exploited their knowledge of how to move about the land to chip away at enemy fighters in small groups.
… Maybe that had something to do with why they came to be known as 'Hunters' among Pokémon like them in the first place… even if one never would've guessed from looking at the bored-looking Torterra and Exploud in green plates at the plaza’s northern approach halfheartedly attempting to draw recruits. From how the pair gathered less attention than the beggars they spotted near the outskirts of the marketplace, there evidently wasn't much appetite among Hunters for willful stints in the army these days.
"Scales, why the hell are we here?" Kate asked, shooting a sharp frown over at her Heliolisk teammate. "This is a guild for Hunters. How on earth is this going to be any easier than starting Irune off with shoplifting?"
So it wasn't just her who had misgivings about coming here. Irune watched as Lyle and Kate turned their attention to the steps that led into the lower levels of the spire's hollow that the Hunters at this Guild occupied with their meeting halls, dorms, and… whatever else it was that they needed with that sort of space. In his chatter about the town, Lyle hadn’t said anything about having ever gotten a good look inside of it… or another Guild of its sort for that matter. And if any of them did so now as Outlaws, it might very well be the last thing they ever tried.
"Remember that we're assuming the identity of a team of Hunters," Dalton reminded. "Everyone's guards will be down here, and if Irune does get into trouble, we can get her out of it with about the same excuse had she shoplifted from a normal shop in the marketplace."
Irune blushed a bit and screwed her eyes shut at the Heliolisk's comment. Was her mistake really that clumsy of her? She heard the lizard tap his foot briefly and glanced back to see the Electric-type fold his arms and click his tongue.
"Besides, the practice I wanted to put you up to doesn't involve doing anything too risky like going into the Guild’s building itself…"
The Heliolisk pointed at the square, where much like the central marketplace, it was packed with Pokémon milling to and fro.
"Squares like these next to Guilds tend to be popular places where you can get lost in a crowd easily," he explained. "As long as everyone thinks you belong here, you'd be able to find a mark without having to set foot into the Guild itself."
Irune blinked and watched the crowds go by for a brief moment, and just from a cursory glance, it was hard to argue Dalton's point. There, Pokémon in matching scarves moved about in groups, some congregating in front of a bulletin board with posted missions by the northmost leg. The place also looked like it was also a popular gathering spot for Pokémon who passed through town, as a few Pokémon tending to carts and bags on their person stopped to ask for directions or chat with locals from the area. After sizing up the crowd, Dalton ducked back into the shade of their alley between the back of a Storage Shop styled after a Swalot's head and a strip of timbered shacks, looking down at Irune with a stern gaze.
"While being aware of your surroundings is important, something every bit as much as that is being able to coordinate with your teammates," he explained. "After all, they'll be there to help correct you if you're slipping up or getting into trouble. As such, you need to be able to pick up on subtle cues in the heat of the moment that will tell you if it's safe or not to make your move."
Irune blinked and gave a puzzled tilt of her head back in reply. Hadn't she already fought alongside these three? Even if she wasn't exactly a professional thief, she didn't think that her ability to work with others was that bad.
"… What does that have to do with me here?" Irune asked. "I wasn't exactly dead weight in the battles we got into, was I?"
"You weren't, but now you need to apply those skills in some other circumstances."
Dalton shook his head and pointed off beside one of the steps leading to one of the stairways into the Guild's entrance. There, next to the leg of the ancient tower and the steps beside it, were an Arcanine and Rapidash in olive-colored scarves laden with bags that hung at rest along their flanks, who were visibly resting and loudly trading banter.
"Tch, you so did not make the run between Errberk Village and Port Velhen in a day!" the Arcanine scoffed.
"My timesheet speaks for itself, doesn't it?" the Rapidash shot back. "If you're having so much trouble believing it, perhaps that's a sign you need to get into shape and slim down a bit!"
Irune blinked a bit as the Arcanine shot back with a huffing insistence that his bulk was fur and not fat. Given how unstable food prices were, the courier was probably being earnest… even if he did look a bit more rounded than she would've expected an Arcanine to be. Irune turned up with a puzzled frown at the Heliolisk, as he stared off at the pair and spoke up.
"Those two couriers have been running their mouths off at each other since we came here, and they haven't been paying much attention to their surroundings either," the Electric-type explained. "While they're distracted, you should be able to help yourself to some of the money and parcels they keep on those bags on their flanks."
Irune's jaw flopped open at the sight of the two Fire-types at by the steps. After the trouble she'd gotten into with the Kangaskhan, and then the shop in the marketplace that turned out to be run by Colorswap Consortium, she'd have thought Dalton would pick an easy mark for her. Did he seriously expect her to steal from those two?"
"Th-They look even stronger than that Kangaskhan that stomped my tail earlier!" Irune squeaked. "How on earth is this supposed to end well?!"
"Because, this time you won't be attempting to steal from them on your own. I'll tell you when you should make your move by signaling you," Dalton insisted. "Just make your way over to them and keep an eye on me. I'll give you a sign when it looks like the coast is clear."
Irune stared up at the Heliolisk and attempted to duck back into the alleyway only for Lyle and Kate to cut her off and shove her out. Some teammates they were! The Axew shot a dirty glare back at the pair, before audibly gulping. Here went nothing…
The Dragon-type shuffled over on pins and needles, creeping up towards the Arcanine and Rapidash. Fortunately for her, much as Dalton had said, the pair really were distracted by bickering with one another, which from brief eavesdropping seemed to be about their past performances as couriers.
"Pah, straightaways don't really count anyways," the Arcanine scoffed. "I seem to remember beating you easily going across Newangle City from the western gate to the eastern one just last month!"
"I got caught up in traffic for that run and you didn't!" the Rapidash exclaimed. "How is that a fair comparison?!"
Irune crept up next to the Arcanine's side, where sure enough, he had bags on him that seemed bulky enough to be filled with mail and small parcels, with the faint sound of jingling coins coming from somewhere inside of it. The Axew paused, and looked back at the mouth of the alley, where she saw Dalton motioning with his paws to his right. The Axew blinked puzzledly, unsure if the Heliolisk meant it was safe for her to start sifting through the dog's bag or to stop and wait, when he stared blankly and motioned again. Irune cocked her head puzzledly for a moment as she noticed the Arcanine's body shift, and her attention darted back up to the Fire-types' bickering.
"Nice excuse there. Do I detect a hint of jealousy that you're getting shown up by a big old Arcanine on twisty and winding streets?" the Arcanine said, shooting a smug smirk back. "Why, they were even cobbled. That was as perfect a layup for you as you could get and I still beat you on that run!"
The Rapidash let out an unimpressed huff, and stomped at the ground as he snorted out a few stray embers.
"Don't go imagining things there," the horse shot back. "You got lucky there and you know it."
Irune looked back at the Arcanine's bag, and then back at Dalton, who was now jerking his head along with his paw's movements, and apparently beginning to spark out of frustration. Irune quirked a brow back and gave a puzzled shrug in reply, watching as Dalton buried his face in an open palm as the Rapidash began to speak again.
"And another thing-"
The Rapidash trailed off mid-sentence as his eyes happened to drift towards the other end of the square. Irune followed after the Fire-type’s head where she noticed Dalton at the mouth of the alleyway behind the Storage Shop flaring his frill and pulling it back in in a repeating cycle. A quick glance back up revealed the horse was blinking puzzledly and staring at Dalton with a flabbergasted murmur.
"… What on earth is that Heliolisk doing?"
Irune shrank back as the Arcanine shifted and turned to follow his rival's gaze and similarly spotted the Heliolisk, who saw the pair staring at him and froze, flattening his frill with an embarrassed cringe. The hound squinted at the sight with a befuddled frown, before he glanced over his shoulder and spotted Irune standing by his bags, the Dragon-type squeaking as the Arcanine courier got up and turned to face her with a wary scowl.
"Wait a minute, who are you and when did you get here?" the Arcanine asked.
Irune shrank back, tripping over her words as she backpedaled. She tried to calm herself and suck in deep breaths. She was pretending to be a member of an Exploration Team, so it shouldn't be that hard to give them a reason other than that she had been trying to rob them.
… Except she kept coming up blank for excuses to offer. How on earth did other Pokémon manage to tell convincing lies on the spot?! The Dragon-type increasingly lost her nerve as she watched the much stronger and larger Fire-types staring down at her.
"I- I- Uh… A-Aah!"
The Axew took off running and fled from the couriers, bolting for the safety of the alleyway where the rest of Team Forager had shrunk further back along its length to avoid being seen. Irune ran past them into the safety of the shadows and hung her head panting, when she glanced up and spotted the three staring down incredulously at her.
Why on earth were they so upset with her? Irune scowled back up, narrowing her eyes with a frustrated wave of her arms.
"I kept waiting for Dalton to tell me if it was safe or not!" she fumed. "How come he didn't say anything?!"
Lyle just stood there with his mouth hanging open for a moment, as he flattened his ears and threw a paw over his face.
"Blauflamme," he groaned. "Seriously?"
Dalton's mood was little better, as the Heliolisk screwed his eyes shut and sported a frustrated scowl that looked much as if a Mud Shot had just splattered over him. From the back of the group, Kate stepped forward and gave a wave of her claws as she made her way to the front of the group, giving a disapproving click of her tongue to her teammates.
"Tch, you two are going about this all wrong!" she exclaimed. "If you're going to show Irune the ropes at being an Outlaw from scratch, you've got to start her off simple. With something not even a hatchling could mess up."
About an hour later, Kate had led the rest of Team Forager to a sleepy corner of Moonturn Square away from the bustle of the crowds, where simple timbered and earthened huts were set back from each other with small yards that had berry bushes and other garden crops planted. Probably for their owners if they found themselves coming up short for their food budgets.
After nicking a few berries and fruits from the yards, and giving Dalton and Irune a much-delayed meal for the day, Irune followed after Kate to what she insisted would be a great chance to put her skills into practice. The four came across a tree with red autumn leaves that drifted off with the wind, which stood outside a small complex of low wooden shacks with stump desks arranged in neat grids in front of simple blackboards.
Irune recognized the place as a school. It probably wasn't the most impressive one Varhyde had to offer, but it looked more impressive than the one she remembered her home village having before Lacan started chasing after her. And it was surely a sufficient place for little tykes to be taught their runes, along with enough Hightongue to flatter their elders and authority figures. Except… Irune wasn't sure how this was supposed to help her.
"Kate, how is going to school supposed to help me become an Outlaw?" she asked.
"By giving you an easy mark to practice on," the Sneasel insisted.
Irune cocked a brow dubiously as Kate raised a claw and pointed off at the tree. Irune looked along, wondering just what the Sneasel could've seen when the street sounded deathly quiet. Between the lack of noise and the westward position of the sun in the sky, she was sure that school had let out for the day already. After training her gaze towards the base of the trunk, she saw him.,
A lonely Shinx who sat against the base of the tree. One of the few youngsters who normally buzzed about the complex with their teachers who was still around. The young Electric-type pawed at some paper set on a tatty green notebook in the shade, unaware that the whole time, he was being watched. Irune at once realized what the Sneasel was getting at, and shot a worried look back at her.
"You… You want me to rob him?" she asked.
"No, I want you to go up to him and give him a smooch," Kate scoffed. "Of course I want you to rob him!"
From further in the alley, Lyle and Dalton both grimaced briefly, before the two shot uncomfortable glances at their Sneasel teammate, with the Heliolisk of the pair narrowing his eyes with a judging scowl.
"Is this really necessary, Kate?" Dalton whispered.
"Well, you're the ones who think she needs a mark that’s easy to practice with!" she shot back. "After how well your attempts have been going, it's only logical to start her off with baby steps!"
Irune watched as Lyle pawed at his shoulder. She hadn't expected it, but even he looked genuinely uneasy about the Sneasel's proposal.
"Yeah, but taking some ankle-biter's milk money?" Lyle murmured. "The 'mon looks like he's barely left a Day Care!"
"Which is exactly the best place to start!" Kate insisted. "All she needs to do is walk up, get his guard down, and then that milk money's hers for the taking!"
Irune grimaced and turned up to the Sneasel, poking her fingers together with a nervous murmur.
"Um… Kate? Isn't there someone else I could practice on?" she asked.
"Look, do you want a mark that can't beat you up if you get caught, or not?" the Sneasel shot back, giving an impatient snort. "Just hurry up and get out there!"
Irune paused as her thoughts turned back to Kangaskhan stomping her tail, and then running for dear life from the Kecleon guards from the Consortium shop in the marketplace. Even the two couriers she failed to rob earlier would've been… painful to fight with if they’d realized what she was up to. In light of all that, it was hard to argue the truth of Kate's point that she was better off picking a weaker mark to practice on.
Why did it have to be one that made her feel this guilty, though?
The Axew sucked in a sharp breath and shook her head before exiting the alleyway and walking over towards the Shinx. As she neared, he flattened his ears, his attention fixed on his notebook as he pulled a paw back from his paper, shaking his head with a low growl.
"No, no, no. That doesn't work either…" he murmured to himself. Irune narrowed her eyes and cupped her claws, calling out to the Electric-type as she neared.
"Hey!"
"Huh?" the Shinx asked, looking over with a puzzled blink. "Is something the matter?"
"Those papers by your feet," Irune began. "What are they and what are you doing with them?"
Irune noted that the Shinx had a bag sitting at his side to the left, whose contents had all but spilling out as he'd grown immersed in what was probably just some schoolwork. If she could just distract him for long enough, she could go through his belongings, take any coins he might have had, and then get out and leave this whole sorry business behind her.
The Dragon-type began to make her way towards the satchel, when the Shinx turned to her and piped up in reply.
"Oh these? I'm trying to write a story to impress my teacher," he explained. "But I keep getting stuck with it."
Irune abruptly froze and stared back at the Shinx, quietly setting her teeth on edge before steeling herself and shaking her head.
"A… story?"
"Yeah, it's about this Luxio and her sister that are growing up as Wilders on some plains in the wilderness," the Shinx explained. "And in the story, their pride is in a big fight with a pack of Manectric that neither side can seem to find a way to end."
The Electric-type sighed, crumpling up his piece of paper and batting it away with his forepaws. Irune watched as the Electric-type grew distracted with his lack of progress, and drug his bag over.
… Of course she wasn't be able to just get away with stealing from him while his back was turned.
Irune braced herself and narrowed her eyes, readying her tusks to strike. The Shinx didn't seem to pick up on her intent, so if she could just stall him a little longer, she'd surely be able to get his bag and let him off with just a little nick.
"Uh huh…" the Axew said. "Tell me a bit more about it."
"Well, I wanted the Luxio to leave her pride and get some ideas of how to end it by meeting other Pokémon in a nearby town that would help her," the cub explained. "But I can't settle on who from there could give those ideas to her or how she'd learn anything for how to bring peace. After all, the town's soldiers would be going off to a fight they can't seem to end either… that's what they do, right?"
Irune froze and squirmed as soon as the Shinx's words left his mouth. Gods, of all the Pokémon in this town she had to rob, why did it have to be one that would make her feel this guilty? As the Axew wavered, the Shinx shook his head, and turned his eyes to look square into hers with a bashful rub of his forepaws together.
"Do you have any ideas, Fräulein Milza?" he asked. "You look a bit older than me, so maybe you've heard a story that got around this problem before."
Irune froze and bit her tongue, remaining deathly silent as the Shinx tilted his head back puzzledly. The Axew turned around, avoiding eye contact as she croaked out an audibly guilty-sounding reply.
"I- I need to go," she said.
Irune lowered her head and much as she had earlier in the day, ran back for the alleyway where the rest of Team Forager was lurking. Lyle and Dalton were there, and closed their eyes with defeated sighs, as Kate stepped forward with her eye twitching in exasperation.
"What the hell was that?!" she exclaimed. "You had him dead to rights and then you just let him go!"
"Oh come on, Kate," Lyle scoffed. "If I felt iffy about it, how do you expect someone who's as much of a rookie at thieving as she is would feel?"
Dalton shook his head and pinched his brow at the turn of events. Irune noted that he looked almost happy about how things had ended. Part of him must've been glad she didn't have the heart to mug the little cub. But with nothing but a few stray berries to her name as a thief thus far, how were they supposed to get the Poké they needed this late into the day?
"I suppose we'll just have to go back to the drawing board-"
"Fräulein Milza?"
Irune and her fellows on Team Forager stiffened up, turning to see that there at the mouth of the alley was the Shinx from under the tree. The lion cub gave a puzzled tilt of his head at the sight of the other three Pokémon and shied away for a moment, before shaking his head and speaking up.
"Are you alright?" he asked. "You were behaving really strange earlier."
Lyle, Kate, and Dalton shifted back and quietly tugged at Irune to follow, only for the Axew to linger and look back at the Shinx. The Dragon-type pawed at her shoulder briefly, before speaking up in a halting tone.
"I'm… surviving, I guess," she said. "I've just been going through a lot recently."
The Shinx hemmed and hawed for a brief moment, before raising a forepaw and pointing off behind Irune.
"I… was just going to say that if you weren't feeling well, maybe you should ask your teammates for help," he suggested.
The four Outlaws blinked puzzledly for a moment, as the young Electric-type carried on.
"I mean, my mom says that's what teammates on an Exploration Team like yours are for. That they're friends who are there to look out for you when you're having trouble," he explained. "Maybe I was reading into things a bit much, but you just seemed like there was something that was bothering you a lot."
The Shinx brought his forepaw back to his side with a wordless blink. After an awkward silence, the lion cub lowered his head, rubbing his forepaws against each other with an uneasy glance back.
"Sorry if that didn't help much. Though, I guess maybe I should ask my mom for help myself," he said. "I mean, she's kinda my teammate…"
Dalton sighed and hastily piped up in reply.
"That would probably be wise, Herrlein₃ Sheinux₄. You probably shouldn't be lingering off on your own like this," the Heliolisk said. "If you got back home too late, you'd worry your mother sick. Even if the war's far away right now, there's a lot of Pokémon causing trouble around these days."
Kate quietly shot an annoyed frown up at the Heliolisk as the Shinx nodded back and began to shuffle off.
"Right, I guess that makes sense," he remarked. "And I guess it is getting kinda late…"
As the lion cub paced forward, he looked back over his shoulder, and shot a small smile towards Irune.
"Thanks for trying to help me, though, Fräulein Milza!" he insisted. "If we meet again, I'll let you know how my story's going!"
The Shinx darted off down the lane, quickly slipping from view as Team Forager's members stared after him wordlessly. Kate was the first to break the silence, blowing her ear feather back with a puff of icy breath as she blew an annoyed raspberry.
"Pfft, well that was a waste of time," the Sneasel grumbled. "Was that comment at the end really necessary though, Dalton?"
"Actually… maybe that Shinx was onto something," Irune said.
The Axew's insistence made the rest of her teammates look back down at her. It'd taken her a while, but at last, she thought that she understood what her teammates had been getting at with their lessons. She watched as they stared at her, with Dalton blinking a moment, before giving a puzzled tilt of his head down in reply.
"Hm? Just what do you mean by that?"
As the sun began to drift over the horizon in the west and the skies flushed with the burnt orange tones of the early evening, Team Forager found themselves once again skulking the alleys about Moonturn Square's central marketplace.
They needed the better part of ten thousand Poké before sunrise, and thanks to Irune's struggles with the basics of thieving, they'd be lucky to get two or three from what little they'd pulled in. There, the three more senior members peered down at their Axew junior, with Lyle flaring up and shooting a skeptical frown at the young Dragon-type.
"Remind me why we're humoring this again when you've made complete hash of every practice run we've given you so far?" he demanded. "And wasted time we could've spent actually getting the Poké we need?"
"Because the best way to learn is from experience!" Irune insisted. "If we all work together, I'm sure that I'll learn what I need to about being a thief faster than trying to flail around from scratch!"
Kate rolled her eyes, folding her arms over each other before she tersely scoffed back at the Axew's reply.
"So in other words, you need us to do all the actual work for you," she harrumphed. Irune stomped her foot in reply, and screwed her eyes shut with an indignant cry of protest.
"I didn't say that!" she piped. "Look, we've only got this evening to get that Poké, so let's just take it from the top… What do you all look out for in a mark aside from him looking weak?"
Lyle pinned his ears back and spotted Kate and Dalton trading dubious looks with one another. He couldn't fault a 'mon for wanting others at one's back, but this was a bit much coming from Irune. A 'mon that had been struggling at basic thieving as much as this little pipsqueak worrying about what mark to pick out was by definition getting ahead of herself.
… On the other paw, it was already sunset, and they weren't exactly close to filling the gap with Hermes' money. Answering an idle question like this surely couldn't hurt, at least…
"Tch, opportunity, of course," Kate spoke up. "There's no sense holding up a 'mon if she doesn't have anything but her scarf to her name."
"I would think that where your mark's headed off to is a bit more important. It's easier to go after a mark if you know where he'll be instead of having to constantly shadow him," Dalton countered. "Why if it wasn't for those Grünhäuter, our best bet would've been putting up a mission up at the local guild to try and lure someone into Waterhead Cave or some other Mystery Dungeon to ambush them."
Lyle sighed and rolled his eyes in reply. Were there really Hunters dumb enough to fall for setups like that who had more than a thousand Poké or some equivalent to their name? What, was Dalton expecting that they'd find some bulliable rookie like a Bidoof just strutting around with anywhere close to seven or eight thousand Poké? One that'd both be gullible enough to take the bait on such a mission and dumb enough to bring that sort of money along into a Mystery Dungeon? What were the odds of that ever happening? Especially with the way things were in Varhyde these days?
But all of that was irrelevant when he couldn't even take it for granted that Irune wouldn't struggle with an ideal layup like that. Just what was he supposed to say as advice to a 'mon that failed at mugging a schoolkid for his spare change?
If they just sat around waiting for a mark that fit both molds and wouldn't be overly challenging for Irune to handle, they'd likely be sitting about Moonturn Square for a full month! Unless Lacan was magically hit by a bout of amnesia sometime over the past day, they certainly didn't have that sort of time to work with, so perhaps it was best to remind her to be realistic…
"Look, just… use a bit of common sense, alright? It's not often that you'll get a mark that'll check off all the boxes," the Quilava said. "With all the Pokémon around here, we'll probably be here well into the evening just trying to figure out which tree we're best barking up."
Lyle shook his head before lowering himself to all fours with a low grumble, and made his way out of the alley and into the marketplace. Gottverdammt, at this rate they would need to start asking other Carriers for prices, since they sure as hell weren't going to make up the rest of that money Hermes demanded in an evening like this.
"Just look around a bit. It's a big marketplace, so I'm sure you can find someone who looks-"
"… And you haven't seen anyone at all matching that description?"
Lyle trailed off after hearing a cawing voice, and looked ahead to see a Floatzel in green armor plates standing ahead in the marketplace. The voice from the Water-type's hem and haw in reply quickly made it apparent that it was none other than… Nils. Because of course that blighter would also be here!
He'd evidently been running late for his evening assignment in the hinterlands, and was impatiently eyeing the gate, as he shook his head back and shuffled aside to reveal a sight that made Lyle and his companions' blood run cold.
There, in front of him, was the same Corvisquire from Lacan's Fähnlein. The same one who'd wounded Alvin and held him back long enough to be picked off while retreating. Whatever doubts he had of her identity were settled by him seeing Irune suddenly turning stiff as a board and watching the color drain from her face.
"I mean, I know a Quilava, but he doesn't have any friends like those. And he doesn't normally come around these parts," Nils explained. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt for you to ask around the garrison or something, but why would you expect Pokémon who've gotten into as much trouble as what you're saying to come here, Frau₅ Kranoviz₆? Wouldn't they have been more likely to try and hide in the woods?"
For a moment, Lyle wondered why Nils was sucking up so hard to the crow when he saw the reason: her white army scarf had a gray chevron merged with a diamond enclosing a patch of Stabsoffizier blue on her scarf. He didn't know how he hadn't noticed that the night before, but the Corvisquire clearly wasn't some common grunt.
Lyle snapped back to attention at the sound of running footsteps and saw Irune and the others bolting down a nearby alleyway going up the bowl-like incline. He quickly followed suit, sprinting for dear life until they reached a shaded intersection between alleyways where they stopped to catch their breath.
"Götterblut," Kate wheezed. "That was way too close."
Lyle sucked in sharp breaths as he tried to calm himself and tamp down startled fire pouring out his vents as a sinking feeling settled in his stomach. So the marketplace hadn't been crawling with Grünhäuter earlier over the trouble Irune had gotten into. Someone must've tipped off that damn Graf off that they were here!
Then that meant they really didn't have any other options than Hermes at this point. It'd already be risky just to wait until the morning to leave Moonturn Square behind. And with Lacan's underlings asking around the town, it was too dangerous to ask more Carriers for offers when that Corvisquire would surely get the idea to question them.
Lyle hung his head blankly, and for a moment, he wished there was a Latios shrine nearby so that way he could plead with their ghosts or however that was supposed to work for good fortune. Just then, the sound of clattering from around the bend pricked the four's ears, making them freeze as a voice called out from further down it.
"Gah! Why does Scrafty insist on meeting in a dingy alley like this?!" a squeaking voice complained. "Dabohru almost stub toe on trash heap!"
Team Forager's members warily poked their heads around the intersection and past an upended and battered crate with a cloth draped over it and froze. There, they spotted the same Togedemaru who'd fought alongside the Roly-Poly Caravan's Aerodactyl the other night entering the intersecting alleyway. The Electric-type brushed past some rubbish that had piled up—the same old dregs that had already been picked through for anything worth eating or salvaging. Behind him was a tall, gangly lizard with an orange hide, a rounded head with a red crest, and shed skin that hung about his lower body almost like a pair of pants. The Pokémon was visibly agitated, gritting his teeth and shaking a fist at the Togedemaru with a low, threatening growl.
"Listen, you stupid furry volleyball," the Scrafty snarled. "Me and my associates paid good money for those Lansat Berries, and our business is on the line without them!"
The four quickly ducked behind the corner, panting as for a moment, worried that those two might have seen them. After a moment's quiet, Lyle crept forward and noticed that the cloth over the crate covered an entire side that had been largely missing, with a broken board on the other end providing a peephole. Lyle and Irune slunk in while Dalton and Kate opted to crouch and listen, as the Quilava and Axew watched the Togedemaru fan his spikes out and wave his nubby arms with an indignant squeak.
"Look, Dabohru and rest of Roly-Poly Caravan try to ensure customers happy, but sometimes incidents happen," the Electric-type spat. "Dabohru sure clever 'mon like Scrafty insured shipment. So Scrafty either wait for the next caravan to come in, or Scrafty pay for it to be expedited and pass costs onto customers."
The Scrafty grew visibly angered by the rodent's reply, and cracked his knuckles as he stepped forward and attempted to loom threateningly over the Electric-type.
"It's 'Iro'. And you've got some nerve to think that you're in any position to give me the run-around, you damn rat!" the Dark-type snarled. "I'll knock you into next-!"
A weak jolt of electricity suddenly jumped from the Togedemaru's barbs and struck the Scrafty in his stomach. The Dark-type let out a sharp yelp as his body went numb and his limbs locked up, before the Togedemaru knocked him over onto his back and hopped onto his stomach visibly sparking in anger.
"Dabohru and Roly-Poly Caravan don't care what customers do with the wares they ship with us. Not mean all Pokémon feel same way," the Togedemaru piped. "If Scrafty have such an issue with Caravan employees having run of bad luck from attack by Outlaws, Scrafty more than welcome to get Sheriff and guards involved. Dabohru sure that Scrafty have perfectly innocent reason for needing forty Scheffel of Lansat Berries all at once, right?"
The Scrafty blanched and his earlier belligerence quickly departed him. The Dark-type stiffly raised his arms, struggling against the effects of his paralysis to wave for calm.
"H-Hey, no need to get hasty there!" the Scrafty stammered. "We're not thrilled about it, but I'm sure that we can work around a one-time expense."
"Hrmph, it will take Dabohru time to see whether Caravan have any quicker Pullers who can move that sort of volume. Much of talent from last caravan is sleeping off wounds," the spike ball said. "Advance is 15,000 Poké, bring to Restful Square at midnight on the dot."
Irune blinked from her party's hiding place, the Axew murmuring to herself as she repeated the Togedemaru's words under her breath.
"15,000 Poké…?"
Lyle's eyes widened and he stifled a startled yelp at the amount of money involved. The guy wasn't exactly a Bidoof that'd just joined the local Guild, but 15,000 Poké was more than enough to make up the difference they needed to cover their flight. Why it would even give him, Kate, and Dalton back a chunk of the money they'd started off with!
Further down the alley, the Togedemaru hopped off his uncooperative customer, the Scrafty rolling over and hesitantly getting back onto his feet. The Dark-type gave the rodent a healthy berth, as he attempted to summon a brave face and snap back at the surprisingly strong pipsqueak.
"… Fine. But you'd better be able to-"
"Oh, Dabohru have one more condition," the mouse insisted. "Scrafty come to meeting alone."
Lyle watched as the Dark-type blinked for a moment, before getting back up and shaking some feelings into his limbs with a sharp glare.
"That wasn't part of the deal," the Scrafty huffed. "I'm not handing over that sort of money without some associates at my side."
"Well then Scrafty can go and find some other caravan to get those Lansat Berries!" the Electric-type piped. "After how rude welcome was earlier, dealing with just Scrafty enough of a headache! So come alone, or else Dabohru see to it that Scrafty and associates never get so much as Plain Seed delivered through Roly-Poly Caravan again!"
Dabohru turned his snout up and waddled out of the alleyway. The Scrafty glared after the Electric-type for a moment, before also taking his leave, visibly limping from the lingering effects of the Togedemaru's earlier Thunder Wave and growling muffled invectives under his breath. After the pair slipped off, Team Forager's members crept back out, Lyle, Kate, and Dalton breathing quiet sighs of relief as Irune stared off at the other end of the alleyway for a moment and shook her head.
"I think that we just found our mark," she said.
Lyle let his mouth flop open in reply, as Kate and Dalton stiffened up in response. For all of a moment, the three of them stood there stunned, before the Heliolisk piped up with a sparking huff.
"Did you hit your head earlier today?" Dalton scoffed. "That was a 'mon from the Roly-Poly Caravan."
"Tch, first you're too good for snagging a kid's milk money and now you want a grudge match with those Togedemaru?" Kate grumbled. "Seriously, get your priorities in order!"
"Irune, we're not getting involved with those furballs again. We don't even know how many friends that rat's going to show up with!" Lyle growled. "In case you forgot, but we didn't turn out too good from the last job we had involving them!"
The Axew turned back and gave a puzzled tilt of her head back at her fellow Outlaws.
"Eh? I didn't say anything about getting involved with the Caravan again. We'd be getting involved with the Scrafty," she insisted. "Didn't you hear the deal he just made? The deal that he's going alone for? It's the kind of mark we've been praying for!"
The three blinked a moment at the Dragon-type's reply, as Lyle turned his head to the side and warily glanced back at the thief-in-training.
"… Keep going with that thought a bit," he said, prompting Irune to paw idly at her left tusk in thought.
"Well, if we can run into the Scrafty on his own before he meets the Togedemaru, there'll be four of us and one of him," the Axew explained. "If those Togedemaru are really all that, he wouldn't dare try to double cross them and he’d have more than enough money to pay off Hermes. Isn't that already everything that you all said an ideal mark ought to have?"
Dalton and Kate stopped and visibly pondered Irune's suggestion. For a 'mon who wasn't any good at robbing Pokémon herself, it was hard to argue that she had a nose for promising marks…
"Yeah, and I doubt he's going to be reporting anything to the Gendarmen either if he gets ripped off," Kate mused. "The only 'mons that deal with that many Lansat Berries at once are farmers and 'mons pushing syrup to get others high. And since when did farmers have 'associates'?"
"So we've got a time, a place, and a Pokémon," Dalton said to himself. "The only thing we don't have is familiarity with the surroundings."
Kate and Irune fell silent at Dalton's words. Yes, that… would admittedly be an issue. Why if they didn't know the first thing about where the Scrafty was going to close his deal, then he could just take advantage of his surroundings to slip away, or worse, turn the tables on them. The Outlaws hung their head, when they noticed Lyle remained pensive and was pawing at his chin in thought.
"Lyle?" Irune asked. "Is something wrong?"
"No, not at all. It's just that I realized that Scrafty said he was going to meet that Togedemaru at 'Restful Square', right?" Lyle mused to himself, before shaking his head and glancing back with a small nod.
"Well if it's the same 'Restful Square' I know of here in this town, it's a little park out in a residential neighborhood on the east side of town. One that gets really quiet after dusk," Lyle explained. "We'll need to figure out a way of how to get those Togedemaru out of the picture first, but I think that I might know a couple areas around there to hide out…"
Author's Notes:
Words and Phrases:
1. Weine nicht, Liebling. - "Don't cry, darling."
2. Jäger - "Hunter", "Fighter". Also a term for light infantry in Germanosphere armies, used here in a more old-timey sense to describe the likes of skirmishers, scouts, sharpshooters and runners.
3. Herrlein - Diminutive of "Herr" with similar origins and function to "Fräulein", outdated in modern German. Note that "Herrchen" can also be used as a diminutive to "Herr", but was passed over by the story thanks to it most commonly being used in modern German as a term for dog owners.
4. Sheinux - "Shinx"
5. Frau - Female honorific and address for a woman of higher social stature roughly equivalent to "Lady" or "Mistress". Can be used as a general term for a woman or a wife. In this particular context, its usage would be analogous to addressing someone as "Miss/Ms./Mrs." or "Madam" in English.
6. Kranoviz - "Corvisquire"
Teaser Text:
Moonturn Square, 19. Herbstmond, 1027 n. d. B.
Lacan,
I was not expecting to write to you so soon after you dispatched me to coordinate with the Gendarmen of Moonturn Square, but based on my findings, I believe our present course of action may be endangering our mission. I have reason to believe that the Dyad may not be hiding in the local hinterlands as you initially suspected, but seeking refuge in a portion of the Kingdom further afield.
Not long after briefing the local garrison about the Dyad and the Outlaws she was last seen with, I chanced to overhear an account of a party seeking passage to Toya Squareᵃ. A party whose species matches those of the band of ruffians who eluded us last night. I have been searching for any further information regarding this party and their Carrier though I do not have any findings to report at this time. I'm well aware that this could be yet another feint by the Dyad, but after the past year we have spent in pursuing her, it would be remiss of me as your Oberstleutnantᵇ to not bring up this possibility.
I will do my utmost to try and find out more about the party that was sighted, but you may find it relevant to review likely routes into Toya Square from the north and east in the interim. And if I cannot determine the Dyad's location by this evening, to consider dispatching some portion of our Fähnlein's strength to mount an interception along one of those routes, assuming we have the capacity to do so.
I still don't fully understand how the Dyad is meant to be used in 'Operation Spark'. But if it truly has the potential to so decisively end this war, such a presence further southwest from us could mean the difference between recovering her and losing her trail for weeks.
Weeks that we might not have. And if our worst fears about the Dyad are right, weeks that could mean the difference between Operation Spark being able to proceed as planned, and the Kingdom repeating the same spiral of destruction and misery it endured in the early years of this war.
- Urgent dispatch from Ritterinᶜ von Herbergauᵈ, Sophia Krarmors to Graf von Wellenhafen, Lacan Dragorans
a. Derived by phonetic corruption. In a more faithful semantic translation, this would be "Loyalty Square/Plaza".
b. A senior field officer rank encountered in Germanosphere armies, equivalent to a 'Lieutenant colonel'. It is employed here along the lines of its more historical usage of a title specifically for an Oberst/Colonel's deputy.
c. A title roughly analogous to "Knightess". In reality, this title would most commonly be held by the wife of a knight or a "Ritter", but it is used here in the sense of a "female knight", as is common in German translations of the likes of fantasy media.
d. In reality, most titles involving "Ritter(in)" are built around the holder's surname. e.x. 'Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp'. Sophia's is modeled after a few historically older knightly titles that are built around locations such as 'Ritter von Lösnich'.
So I wanted to take a break from Fledglings and try something new. After seeing a Heliolisk was in the artwork for this on that other site, it was obvious what to try out. Because Heliolisk is the third best Pokémon to exist and anyone that doesn’t think that likely will explode into confetti.
But regardless, I enjoyed myself. I can definitely see the traces of similarities between this and Fledglings (and a little of the Xenoblade soundtrack, good choice by the way).
Now, I already like Lyle and Kate. Lot said about them from the mannerisms, gestures, and conversational patterns. Albeit, way more said about Lyle which makes sense since main.
I found myself not really paying too many other characters to mind, but something I did note was your worldbuilding here. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else us Apricots for a PMD story and the fact you have it in such a dark tonal indication and implication (with it being outright said one time) made me lean in my seat.
The world does seem very basic with campaign and the remnants of a long war that seemingly isn’t ending but steam is running out on both sides. Bandits and poverty be wrought and our main despite having turned away from that life after a big scare and escape may have to find himself getting back in just to make ends meet.
If I had to criticize something, it’d probably be some of the excerpts and words again. I get the whole “authentication” for the German and whatnot, but I just really don’t see how it benefits much when the reader would need to scroll down to read just one random word of phrase that’s in German which can easily be said in English. Now, I do think that if you wanted to add some validity to that is something you have already implemented in some ways. Such as “Vatername”. Stuff that speaks more to the Germanic culture and meaning differences of the language I found myself appreciating far more than just the one that meant “Full Moon” and little else.
So while I have minor gripes with this, I do appreciate the attention to the worldbuilding and personality you put into these things so let us simply do a “Agree to disagree”. Doesn’t change the fact that Lyle’s character was highlighted very well.
I do think the author’s note is bloated with information that could just be worked into the story later or even now (aside from the translations) but eh, it’s not that big of a deal. I just find myself not paying much of a heavy interest as I would the explanations that were done in the story. The narration can seem a bit info dumpy at times, but the manner felt fitting and didn’t drag on for too, too long.
All in all I rate this a 0/10. No Heliolisk!!!!!
Guess I’ll just have to wait till the next chapter. But even if it got a failing grade for the horrible sin of no Heliolisk, I can safely say I enjoyed this intro to once a thief to soon a thief again to not being a thief once more to power of friendship! To dark material to bantering nonsense of characters and bonding to heart to hearts (GET IT! XENOBLADE!) and the giant mechs.
Good luck!
PS: I really have just discovered I can’t for the life of me spell “Fledglings” correctly and I must cry in my pillow for another word added to the “Too dumb to get correct first try” list.
After making his way forward a few steps, Lyle watched as the fog thinned little by little, until he could just make out Kate looking back at him with a bemused smirk.
"So you needed help after all," she snorted, prompting Lyle to flatten his ears out in embarrassment.
Up until this point, I'd been under the impression that everyone was speaking German and that the German words were directly from their speech instead of translated for flavor or to preserve the original meaning and context better, but this line implies that German is a separate language, which now makes me confused on what the role of German is in this setting and why these particular characters aren't speaking it all the time if they still do know words and phrases of it and choose to use them among each other. Is it separated by class? Government versus the actual populace? When I don't know this, I don't know what the significance of addressing a Pokemon with their German species name is, either.
Lyle watched as Pokémon about the gathering in scarves of different colors made their way to the front of the gathering, joining the procession himself towards the front of the crowd in full view of the three leaders. Kate and Alvin shadowed him to the row behind, but even with their close presence, the Quilava couldn't help but feel put on the spot as the leaders sized them up and Ford let out a sharp snort.
"Naturally, we're not just going to let you come aboard," the Steelix added. "If you want in, you're gonna need to impress us."
Ford hadn't been referred to by name before this in the chapter so this mention of his name threw me off. I know it's implied right after that this Ford is the Steelix speaking, but it doesn't remove the moment of "who is Ford, was there a Ford mentioned before this, I better go back".
In a flash, the Lurantis lunged forward at the Samurott, bracing his leafy claws for a slash that he aimed at the base of the otter's neck. The mantis' strike found its mark and drew a pained bellow, prompting him to hop back and click his mandibles with a self-satisfied chitter.
The choice in the prose to refer to Pokemon as their real-life counterparts is a bit risky, mainly because there are many Pokemon whose real-life counterpart animal is ambiguous or they're claimed to be one species when they're quite far away from it (Cyndaquil being the Fire Mouse Pokemon, for one). I had to pause for a moment when a "hawk" was mentioned as I'd really pictured Staraptor as more of an eagle (I'm aware now, after a Bulbapedia check, that the Japanese name is Mukuhawk), and seeing Samurott being likened to a real life otter when it barely resembles one was a little iffy. Lastly, and I acknowledge this as a nitpick, Lurantis is not a mantis or even a bug. It's explicitly stated to be a plant pretending to be a bug, which is why it has no Bug typing and why its pre-evolution is named "faux mantis".
I was a fan of the aesthetics and ideas of the mystery dungeon, from more of the dungeon continuing to the ceiling to the surreal fog surrounding it to the potential pockets of normalcy that can form within. I also liked the idea of Pokemon circling the edges of a battlefield and putting up a Protect barrier - explains well how the audience stays safe from all the moves that keep going if they don't hit their target or even when they do.
Something that had me a little confused was what exactly the word "Outlaw" refers to, as in how exclusive or non-exclusive it is. It's sometimes used like it applies to all Pokemon that do illegal things, but it's also used to refer to these gangs collectively, but the story kind of makes it seem like these gangs are the "honorable thief" kind through the fact that the morality of their actions is never called into question and they apparently have enough consensus to work together when necessary and collectively decide that they hate traitors. What also points towards this to me is that the only bad thing about the life of an Outlaw to Lyle has been the fact that you can get caught, not that you're supporting people that are doing horrible things (stealing from people who can't afford losses, or any of the crimes that are illegal because they are genuinely morally reprehensible). If Lyle is so alright with the latter that he doesn't even think about it, that kind of makes him a horrible person, and I haven't gotten the impression that he's supposed to be that.
Regarding Lyle, though, I have to say that he's kind of losing likability for me. It's not a steep drop or anything, but it's gradual due to some little things. In the prologue, I felt for him because he was in an immediate bad situation basically throughout the whole prologue and acting understandably upset, but now he's among friends and also in a place where he apparently feels comfortable enough to boast and not pay attention and he's... boasting and not paying attention, which are both disrespectful. He's a wet blanket around his friends, with just that one humanizing moment when he's with Alvin and nostalgic about days gone by, which I did like, but would have wanted to see more of. Naturally, the protagonist of a story doesn't need to be a good or even a decent person, but likability is the most common and trusted way to make the audience invested in a character. If a character is not likable, something else needs to make up for it, such as particular intrigue or sheer audacity, but I'm not getting either from Lyle right now.
That does it for my thoughts. See you around, and good luck with writing.
So I wanted to take a break from Fledglings and try something new. After seeing a Heliolisk was in the artwork for this on that other site, it was obvious what to try out. Because Heliolisk is the third best Pokémon to exist and anyone that doesn’t think that likely will explode into confetti.
Though concurred that Heliolisk is a pretty rad ‘mon, shame that it didn’t quite catch on after Gen 6, since hey, what’s there not to like of an electric basilisk.
But regardless, I enjoyed myself. I can definitely see the traces of similarities between this and Fledglings (and a little of the Xenoblade soundtrack, good choice by the way).
Enjoy the subtlety while it lasts. I did give fair warning upfront that this story was partly a vehicle to appease my inner referential hack, and while I didn’t consciously go out of my way to rip off Takahashi’s writing, if you know your Xeno franchise, you’ll be getting that “wait a minute…” feeling here or there at points.
Now, I already like Lyle and Kate. Lot said about them from the mannerisms, gestures, and conversational patterns. Albeit, way more said about Lyle which makes sense since main.
Yeah, I’ve been trying to be a bit more aggressive about showing the world through other sets of eyes in more recent chapters. There’s one scene in Chapter 4 that’s pending a retrofit, but eh. You’ll get there when you get there.
I found myself not really paying too many other characters to mind, but something I did note was your worldbuilding here. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else us Apricots for a PMD story and the fact you have it in such a dark tonal indication and implication (with it being outright said one time) made me lean in my seat.
Apricorns, but yeah. As far as I know, only I and @SparklingEspeon as PMD writers utilize Apricorns in our settings, and we take them to some kinda
places.
The world does seem very basic with campaign and the remnants of a long war that seemingly isn’t ending but steam is running out on both sides. Bandits and poverty be wrought and our main despite having turned away from that life after a big scare and escape may have to find himself getting back in just to make ends meet.
I’ll admit that part of that is that mechanically Once a Thief was planned out as a simpler narrative, but hey. I’d like to think that there will still be enough about Wander when you get there to see that it’s not as basic a world as it might sound at first glance.
If I had to criticize something, it’d probably be some of the excerpts and words again. I get the whole “authentication” for the German and whatnot, but I just really don’t see how it benefits much when the reader would need to scroll down to read just one random word of phrase that’s in German which can easily be said in English. Now, I do think that if you wanted to add some validity to that is something you have already implemented in some ways. Such as “Vatername”. Stuff that speaks more to the Germanic culture and meaning differences of the language I found myself appreciating far more than just the one that meant “Full Moon” and little else.
So while I have minor gripes with this, I do appreciate the attention to the worldbuilding and personality you put into these things so let us simply do a “Agree to disagree”. Doesn’t change the fact that Lyle’s character was highlighted very well.
Yeah, this one’s a balancing act on my part since foreign language content just isn’t everyone’s cuppa. I’d like to think that I worked in some decent contextual hints, but based off your feedback, I might need to give them a closer look.
I do plan on sticking to my guns on this though even if it’s a touch polarizing. Personal headcanon about Pokémon language aside, Gratuitous German has been a part of the Xeno series since its inception, so it just felt thematically appropriate to incorporate it into a setting that makes references to it by the boatload. Also, it’s a handy vehicle to give particularly detailed-focused readers something to chew on, since… well, let’s just say that some of those teasers take on some different meanings if you look at ‘em a bit more closely than what the translation notes spell out.
I do think the author’s note is bloated with information that could just be worked into the story later or even now (aside from the translations) but eh, it’s not that big of a deal. I just find myself not paying much of a heavy interest as I would the explanations that were done in the story. The narration can seem a bit info dumpy at times, but the manner felt fitting and didn’t drag on for too, too long.
Yeah, that’s a bit of a recurring criticism of the Prologue. I’ll keep the criticism in mind for a potential smoothing out down the pipe, but this might be one of those things where I just opt to accept the flaws for what they are learn for future chapters. After all, stories advance with new content and not from constant revision of old ones.
Guess I’ll just have to wait till the next chapter. But even if it got a failing grade for the horrible sin of no Heliolisk, I can safely say I enjoyed this intro to once a thief to soon a thief again to not being a thief once more to power of friendship! To dark material to bantering nonsense of characters and bonding to heart to hearts (GET IT! XENOBLADE!) and the giant mechs.
Thanks for the review. I’ll be looking forward to seeing your feedback in the future, since even if you didn’t agree with everything, it sure sounds like you had a fun time. ^^
Fixed that up in that chapter. I’m pretty sure that that’s also a thing in a few others. Those will be rolling updates, so if you happen to see that in the future, it means that I most likely didn’t get to touching those up yet.
Up until this point, I'd been under the impression that everyone was speaking German and that the German words were directly from their speech instead of translated for flavor or to preserve the original meaning and context better, but this line implies that German is a separate language, which now makes me confused on what the role of German is in this setting and why these particular characters aren't speaking it all the time if they still do know words and phrases of it and choose to use them among each other. Is it separated by class? Government versus the actual populace? When I don't know this, I don't know what the significance of addressing a Pokemon with their German species name is, either.
It’s mostly a class thing, though Parker alluded to, breaking out the German localization address is seen as formalese/suck-up language in this setting. It’s meant to be built up towards throughout the story in little bits here and there, since admittedly it was hard to spell out the setting language dynamics without going full infodump.
The locals are speaking a language that has become its own thing with time, language drift, and outside influences that they call “Commontongue”. German is a rendering of a prestige language in their world they call “Hightongue” that still affects daily lingo, echoes in place names, and crops up in phrases here and there of common speech, and is used in certain social circles like those of the authors of the teasers.
Basically, it’s a similar relationship between Latin and its various daughter languages. If I had to go all the way and render the cast’s speech in something that wasn’t translation conventioned, it’d probably look like something closer to Dutch or Pfälzisch.
Ford hadn't been referred to by name before this in the chapter so this mention of his name threw me off. I know it's implied right after that this Ford is the Steelix speaking, but it doesn't remove the moment of "who is Ford, was there a Ford mentioned before this, I better go back".
I reworked this to make it explicit that Lyle deduced that it was Ford by process of elimination.
The choice in the prose to refer to Pokemon as their real-life counterparts is a bit risky, mainly because there are many Pokemon whose real-life counterpart animal is ambiguous or they're claimed to be one species when they're quite far away from it (Cyndaquil being the Fire Mouse Pokemon, for one). I had to pause for a moment when a "hawk" was mentioned as I'd really pictured Staraptor as more of an eagle (I'm aware now, after a Bulbapedia check, that the Japanese name is Mukuhawk), and seeing Samurott being likened to a real life otter when it barely resembles one was a little iffy. Lastly, and I acknowledge this as a nitpick, Lurantis is not a mantis or even a bug. It's explicitly stated to be a plant pretending to be a bug, which is why it has no Bug typing and why its pre-evolution is named "faux mantis".
Yeah, this is one of those things where I think that we’ll have to agree to disagree. Since in the end, you have to write your assumptions about Pokémon, and limiting yourself to “Name”, “the [Species]”, “the [Species’-type]”, and “the [Pokédex Category]” can get kinda stiff in prose.
I’m sure that some of those epithets won’t be seen eye-to-eye by everybody, but eh. There’s room for alternative interpretation, since in the end, the only materials that will 1:1 a reader’s headcanon are whatever said reader writes for him or herself.
I was a fan of the aesthetics and ideas of the mystery dungeon, from more of the dungeon continuing to the ceiling to the surreal fog surrounding it to the potential pockets of normalcy that can form within. I also liked the idea of Pokemon circling the edges of a battlefield and putting up a Protect barrier - explains well how the audience stays safe from all the moves that keep going if they don't hit their target or even when they do.
I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed those bits. They're a bit well-worn as explanations from my end at this point, but hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Especially since giving off a surreal vibe to the Mystery Dungeons was very much a deliberate goal.
Something that had me a little confused was what exactly the word "Outlaw" refers to, as in how exclusive or non-exclusive it is. It's sometimes used like it applies to all Pokemon that do illegal things, but it's also used to refer to these gangs collectively, but the story kind of makes it seem like these gangs are the "honorable thief" kind through the fact that the morality of their actions is never called into question and they apparently have enough consensus to work together when necessary and collectively decide that they hate traitors. What also points towards this to me is that the only bad thing about the life of an Outlaw to Lyle has been the fact that you can get caught, not that you're supporting people that are doing horrible things (stealing from people who can't afford losses, or any of the crimes that are illegal because they are genuinely morally reprehensible). If Lyle is so alright with the latter that he doesn't even think about it, that kind of makes him a horrible person, and I haven't gotten the impression that he's supposed to be that.
These Outlaws are pretty “stock PMD Outlaws”, so any “honorable thief” thing is just the bias of the viewpoint characters in action mixing up with their attempts to balance an unethical day job with things like their conscience and rationalizations they come up with. In a more conventional PMD story, they’d be a bit less experienced and set upon by the protagonists for money and Guild Rank points.
Perhaps one day they’ll be able to rightfully wear the “honorable thief” label, but none of the cast members are quite there yet.
Regarding Lyle, though, I have to say that he's kind of losing likability for me. It's not a steep drop or anything, but it's gradual due to some little things. In the prologue, I felt for him because he was in an immediate bad situation basically throughout the whole prologue and acting understandably upset, but now he's among friends and also in a place where he apparently feels comfortable enough to boast and not pay attention and he's... boasting and not paying attention, which are both disrespectful. He's a wet blanket around his friends, with just that one humanizing moment when he's with Alvin and nostalgic about days gone by, which I did like, but would have wanted to see more of. Naturally, the protagonist of a story doesn't need to be a good or even a decent person, but likability is the most common and trusted way to make the audience invested in a character. If a character is not likable, something else needs to make up for it, such as particular intrigue or sheer audacity, but I'm not getting either from Lyle right now.
He’s intentionally an ambiguous character. I can’t say I’ve had too many readers find him unlikeable in the past, but he is an active bandit that starts the story out as a bit of a standoffish pill, and I can see how that personality wouldn’t appeal to everyone.
We’ll see how you feel about him once the opening arc shakes things out, I suppose. I will say that I’ve had enough experience in storytelling to know that static characters tend to bore people. Jury’s out for how well things get played out, but Lyle is very much not intended to be the same character as he starts out as for the whole run of the story.
That does it for my thoughts. See you around, and good luck with writing.
Well, I appreciate your thoughts, and they were genuinely helpful, even if it was a bit hard for me to tell whether or not you enjoyed reading the chapter at times. ^^
Thanks again for the Catnip review, and for giving this story a second look.
Alright, it took a bit longer than planned since I got slammed by a mix of contest work and hosting a guest for a week and a half, but I’m finally back to bump this thing.
A bit of a long chapter this time around, but it tees up some things for the next one that sends off the present arc around Moonturn Square, and there was a fair amount of stuff happening in its own right, so hopefully it’ll be an enjoyable ride.
Ich habe Ihren neuesten Bericht studiert und glaube, dass ich eine fundierte Vermutung über Ihre Trägers-Route anstellen kann. Er wird höchstwahrscheinlich die Route nach Osten zum Treueplatz nehmen. Es gibt nur eine begrenzte Anzahl von Pokémon, die als einzelner Träger eine Gruppe von vier Personen tragen könnten, und ihre Physiologie würde wärmere Flugrouten stark begünstigen.
Dort gibt es einen mysteriösen Orte, der aus einer Reihe überwucherter menschlicher Ruinen in der Nähe einer Reihe von Wasserfällen besteht – Sie müssen Ihre Einheiten im lokalen Dschungel stationieren und auf die Ankunft der Gruppe warten. Ich habe bereits Furier Strachey und Gemeinwebel Frantz zusammen mit einer kleinen Anzahl unserer Abzeichen-Dispatcher und allen Einheiten, die in der Lage sind, die Strecke bis zum Treueplatz über Nacht zurückzulegen, entsandt, um Ihnen zu diesem Zweck zu helfen.
Was mich betrifft, ich werde mit einer kleinen Formation von Fliegern und einem Illusionisten zurückbleiben, um Deckung zu bieten, und Feldwebel Helmholtz damit beauftragen, den Rest des Fähnleins nach uns zu mobilisieren. Sollten die örtlichen Gendarmen die Dyades-Partei nicht festnehmen können, werden wir ihre Träger vom Münsterplatz aus beschatten, bis sie sich Ihrer Position nähern. Sobald wir in Reichweite der Abzeichenkommunikation sind, melden Sie Ihre Position und die Ihrer Einheiten, und es sollte eine einfache Sache sein, die Dyade und ihre Gruppe entsprechend zu Ihnen zu treiben.
Wären die Angelegenheiten weniger heikel und die möglichen Folgen einer Kompromittierung weniger schlimm, würde ich gerne hochfliegen und diesen Träger aus der Luft schlagen, sobald er die Stadtmauern verlassen hat. Aber wir haben nicht den Luxus, unsere Mission im Freien durchzuführen, und daher ist es besser, geduldig zu bleiben, damit wir dieses Abfangen in sicherer Entfernung von neugierigen Blicken durchführen können.
Seien Sie tapfer. Die Dyade ist fast in unserer Reichweite. Und durch sie Unsere Ägide. Unsere Vergeltung. Wer dieses Land, das wir „Wahrheit“ nennen, zum dauerhaften Sieg über seine Peiniger führt.
- Dringende Depesche von Graf von Wellenhafen, Lacan Dragoransohn an Ritterin von Herbergau, Sophia Krarmorstochter
From his hiding place in the sleepy residential alley, Dalton and Kate peered out at the 'Restful Plaza' Lyle had spoken of. The Heliolisk tried to fight off fatigue as he thought over the past few hours' events in his mind.
After a brief huddle to talk through their strategy, Team Forager concluded they were best off exchanging the money that they had already snatched into Poké. From there, they would then find a hiding place to bide their time for when the deal between the Togedemaru and Scrafty would go down, to avoid the attention of the Gendarmen. Fortunately, after a bit of searching, they came across a home on the north side of town that had burned in a fire, whose charred husk showed signs it been left barren for some time. Nobody other than Lyle was particularly keen on, in Kate's words: "sleeping in a glorified fireplace", but in the end, they agreed that an ash heap was a better bed than a holding cell.
Besides, they had other things to worry about. Their plan was simple: show up, meet that Dabohru 'mon and any of his fellows present from the Roly-Poly Caravan to blow up the deal before that Scrafty from the alley arrived, and then lie in wait to part the syrup-pusher of his 15,000 Poké as he approached the square. After that, it was just a matter of slinking back to their hiding place to avoid the prying eyes of the local Gendarmen and biding their time for sunrise.
"Should we be worried right now?"
Dalton shot an uneasy glance over at Kate. His partner for their part of the job to blow up the deal with Dabohru. It was night now, well after the moon and the stars had replaced the sun in the sky, and Moonturn Square had since shifted into a sleepier cadence. The town hadn't fully fallen asleep, as much like everywhere else in Varhyde, the end of the day for the town's diurnal residents was merely the start of a new one for its more nocturnal ones. Their ranks in Moonturn Square were noticeably thinner, and as a result, like other places where that held true, the night would be a harsh mistress whose darkness was used as a cloak by scoundrels.
And that was perfectly fine by him, since as far as most 'mons were concerned, they were scoundrels. Dalton glanced up over his shoulder, seeing that past the wall of the timbered building they were hiding behind and out the mouth of the alleyway, was Restful Plaza. It was a small square by an overlooking bluff on the eastern side of town, with a simple wooden railing along the edge. There were some diamond-shaped pinwheels mounted in between larger gaps that spun with the wind in some stretches, while others were visibly falling apart. Off in the distance, the town's Great Spire could be seen towering over its center and jabbing a darkened wedge against the stars and the glow of Waterhead Cave's auroras from further south. The only illumination around the structure at all was a dim glow at its base, along with a few small red lights near its tip to help fliers spot it at night.
Everything had been going smoothly… except it was almost midnight and there was neither hide nor scale to be seen of that 'Dabohru' or any of the others from his caravan.
"Lyle's sure this is the same 'Restful Plaza' that Togedemaru was talking about?" Dalton asked. "I didn't see any sign of him coming in and this place looks deserted."
"Lyle is the 'mon who lives around here," Kate reminded. "If he says this is Restful Plaza, I'm inclined to believe him."
The Sneasel suddenly trailed off and turned her head with a flick of her ears. Dalton blinked and tensed up at the sight. He'd heard that most warmbloods had better hearing than 'mons like him, but whatever Kate had heard, he'd been wholly deaf to it. The Heliolisk reached out to tug at his partner and ask what was happening, only for her to raise a paw and motion for a stop.
"Someone's coming," she murmured. "Keep quiet and stay still for a bit."
Dalton raised a brow, when just past the tree anchoring the center of the square, he saw a trio of Togedemaru walking in and coming to a stop by its trunk. The lot were led by the same 'Dabohru' 'mon who'd met with the Scrafty in the alleyway… and the same one who confronted them alongside his Aerodactyl partner the night before.
Dalton reflexively gulped at the sight of the three Togedemaru. He was hoping that Dabohru would've sent a middleman to handle the exchange, but considering the Roly-Poly Caravan's reputation for being cutthroats in their business dealings, perhaps he should've known better. If they were going to blow up this deal to more safely ambush that 'Iro' 'mon, they'd need to approach those Pokémon directly…
"… I sure hope none of them got a good look at us back at the raid," Dalton gulped.
"Since when do little squeakers like them have good vision?" Kate scoffed. "And we've got different patterns, so just don't get too close and we should be fine. The soak we took on our way out of Waterhead Cave oughta have helped us smell different from last night…"
As loath as he was to admit it, Kate did raise some solid points. If nothing else, they'd be able to flee those three reasonably quickly… or at least in theory. Even if he didn't think much of her lack of education, the Sneasel was quick-witted if nothing else. Kate got up and motioned for Dalton to follow, prompting him to suck in a sharp breath and get up from his hiding place.
"Here goes nothing," he murmured. "I hope we don't have to get them out of here by being chased off."
The pair made over to the plaza by the outlook, the Togedemaru turning to face them as they neared. Dalton faltered a bit as the three rodents stared at him and Kate, the Sneasel continuing on with an unbothered saunter as the Heliolisk reflexively stiffened up while approaching.
He didn't like rubbing shoulders with these three like this. The thought occurred to him that if he tried to pretend to conduct business with these Pokémon in Hightongue, that perhaps it'd throw them from recognizing him from his speech. But he didn't know how that would play out with a party expecting to do business with a bunch of thugs, and if Kate's Hightongue was as bad as her literacy…
Fortunately, none of the Togedemaru seemed to recognize them, so at least they had that much to work with. Dabohru and his subordinates traded puzzled glances with one another, while the leader Togedemaru studied Dalton and his partner. Dalton watched carefully as the Togedemaru lingered for a moment, before the rodent narrowed his eyes.
"Who are Sneasel and Heliolisk supposed to be and what are two doing here at this hour?" he demanded.
"We're here to pay the advance on our next delivery of Lansat Berries for our associates. Duh," Kate snorted, giving a dismissive shrug of her shoulders. "What? Did you walk into a pole on the way over here or something?"
The Togedemaru shot a sharp, frowning glare at Kate over the remark. Dalton knew that their job was to blow up this deal, but Kate had to be trying too hard there. The Heliolisk shot a sideways glance at her, before cutting in with a sharp grunt.
"Ignore her. I believe it was 15,000 Poké as an advance for our Lansat Berries?" Dalton asked. "We're ready to pay it to secure our next shipment, insured this time, I hope."
Dalton reached for his satchel and grabbed for the coin purse inside it. Even if they had all their money together right then and there, he wasn't sure they had 15,000 Poké. But that was beside the point. Their job was to sabotage a business transaction, and from the sound of crackling sparks and the sight of the piercing scowl that Dabohru was shooting the two of them, he and Kate were succeeding faster than they'd expected.
"Your colors different from earlier. And I made deal with Scrafty."
"Yeah, and? You didn't expect one 'mon to turn forty Scheffel of Lansat Berries into syrup on his own, did ya?" Kate retorted, folding her arms over each other. "As for the colors, we didn't feel like risking getting spotted by Grünhäuter in our normal ones. We just yanked some dweebs' scarves for the occasion. Just in case."
Dalton reflexively grimaced and shot a sharp frown at the Sneasel over her casual admission of them having stolen another 'mon's colors. Was she trying to get them in trouble? Fortunately, Dabohru didn't seem particularly fazed by her remark, as he fanned his steely barbs out and raised his voice with a squeaking pipe.
"Hmph. Heliolisk and Sneasel very clever," he huffed. "Yet stupid enough to forget most important detail!"
Even Kate seemed taken aback by the caravan leader's sharp berating, making her trade wary glances between Dalton and the trio of Togedemaru as Dabohru's subordinates took their places flanking him with a pair of stony frowns. Dalton bit his tongue and tensed himself, as he hesitantly spoke up to try and ask his fellow Electric-type what he was getting at.
"I'm… not sure if I know what you're talking about- Ack!"
The three Togedemaru abruptly fanned their barbs and spun, flinging thick bolts of electricity at Kate and Dalton's feet. The pair stumbled back with a shared yelp and fell to the ground, looking up to see Dabohru waddling away with a disgusted scowl.
"I tell Heliolisk's friend to come alone!" the Togedemaru snapped. "You two can tell Scrafty to find some other caravan to do business with!"
The caravan leader turned to the other Togedemaru, turning his nose up in the air with a displeased huff.
"We leave now! Dabohru not getting paid enough to deal with midwits like this!"
Kate and Dalton watched as the three Togedemaru tromped off down the path running by the bluff's fenceline. The Heliolisk laid on the ground panting in disbelief for a moment as Kate got up, dusted herself off, and held out a claw to him with an impish smirk.
"You'd think a 'mon like him would be better at remembering faces," she remarked. "I can't say I ever expected to perform a civil service as an Outlaw, but hey. I don't think those syrup-makers will be pushing their wares around here for a while."
Dalton blinked a moment before taking Kate's claw and letting her pull him up. The Electric-type after the Togedemaru as they rounded the corner and disappeared into the night, before sighing and shaking his head. Thank goodness they weren't planning to stick around for long. This stunt alone was bound to make them unpopular with those syrup-makers the Scrafty was in league with. He didn't want to think too hard about what would happen if they somehow caught up with them.
"Good thing we're leaving this town first thing in the morning," the Heliolisk grumbled. "As if we needed more enemies to deal with right now."
Dalton turned off towards the overlook, where beyond scattered lights in more trafficked districts, the warning lights on the tips of the Great Spire, and flickers of lanternlight from errant windows from huts and shacks in the mass of buildings below, all of Moonturn Square was darkened. It should've hardly been surprising; his own hometown and most of Varhyde's settlements similarly went dark at night by force of habit. Light provided direction to the likes of aerial squadrons mounting hit-and-run raids. Even if the frontlines were presently far across the sea, seventy years of war bred routines among Varhyde's Civils that were hard to break.
Except, he wasn't sure if it was necessarily a good thing for them. After all, they needed to be able to spot that Scrafty coming.
"How do you think Lyle and Irune are doing?" he asked. "I know that we found that safe house, but I'd like to not spend the whole night crouched in this alleyway.."
"Dalton, it's a burnt-out house. It's not exactly going to roll away on us like a wagon," Kate scoffed. "Though as for those two, let's see…"
The Sneasel turned her head out over the mass of rooftops, where after a brief moment studying the darkened scene, she stopped and stared off at a strip of houses. Dalton followed after her, and noticed a pair of fires flicker in and out of existence from an alleyway. The two waited a moment and watched, when they saw it again: three flashes in rapid succession. The same signal that they'd agreed on with Lyle for him to give once he started tailing the Scrafty.
"Looks like he just spotted our mark," Kate said. "Come on, I think I saw another way to get down to that alley earlier."
Down amid the mass of simple huts and shacks under Moonturn Square's eastern bluff, Lyle crept along with Irune in the shadows, following after the same 'Iro' he and the rest of Team Forager overheard talking with Dabohru earlier that evening. The pair watched as the Scrafty, garbed in a tan scarf that Lyle somehow hadn't noticed earlier, skulked down a back alley wedged between crude fencelines. They waited patiently before Lyle gave a nudge forward at Irune's back, prompting her to look back with a puzzled stare.
"Huh?"
"I can't signal Dalton and Kate if I'm right behind the guy," Lyle explained. "Go on ahead and keep an eye on him. I'll come in if you get into trouble."
Irune grimaced briefly, trading a glance between Lyle and then off at the Scrafty as he stopped to pull up his shed skin about his waist and kicked aside a pebble in the path. She gulped and squirmed briefly, before sucking in a sharp breath and stepping forward down the alleyway warily.
"Alright, just… please don't leave me hanging out there, okay?"
"I won't," the Quilava insisted.
Maybe he should've been slower to let the words come out of his mouth. After all, a promise among thieves didn't apply when one's neck was on the line. But after how much she'd struggled earlier in the day, Lyle couldn't help but feel a pang of unease at the idea of just leaving her to twist in the wind.
… Things wouldn't come to that, anyways. There was too much money on the line and too much at stake. Lyle hung back and snuck behind a gap in the fence as Irune made her way forward. He stopped to flash his flames from behind the cover of a set of planks through a yard that had been planted with an anemic-looking berry patch, creeping forward to make sure he wasn't falling too far behind his Dark-type mark to signal his position from the other end. Whenever the Scrafty sounded particularly close, he'd stop and wait a moment to let him drift ahead a bit, much as he did after hearing the Scrafty loudly fuming to himself.
"'Come alone, or else I'll see to it that you never get so much as a Plain Seed through us again!'" the lizard grumbled. "Who does that useless rat think he is? And how hard is it to get my name right? It's two syllables!"
Lyle carried along before he bumped into something hard and wooden and cradled his snout, stifling a yelp as he looked up and saw that he run face-first into another fence. Guess this was the end of this yard. He spotted a nearby barrel propped up alongside it and clambered up, peeking over the fenceline just in time to spot the Dark-type slow his pace and gape about the surrounding alley. The Scrafty looked up at the overlook where Restful Plaza was, when Lyle noticed that the next yard just across the fence stretched past the Scrafty's position in the alley, with another barrel similarly propped up against the far corner.
Lyle vaulted over the fenceline and hit the ground with a quiet crunch of grass, and at once immediately regretted it. In the moonlight, he could see the Scrafty's head crest whirl around, making him tear along and crouch behind a red-leaved Pecha bush for cover just as the Dark-type poked his head over to look for the sound of the scurrying footsteps.
The Scrafty lingered for a moment, before ducking back across the fence and grumbling under his breath how it was 'probably some refugee brat stealing berries'. Lyle breathed out a sigh of relief as he crept for the barrel, when he heard the Dark-type continuing to glower to himself from just across the fenceline.
"Would it have killed that furball to leave a sign of some sort up so that I could tell if he was even there or not?" he fumed. "Like a flag or a rope-"
"Or a lantern, maybe?"
Lyle saw the Scrafty pause and stiffen up, and did much the same after realizing that he was hearing Irune's voice. Gottverdammt, she was giving herself away too fast! The stoat hurriedly climbed up the barrel and peeked over the fence, just in time to see the Scrafty whirling around and staring down his Axew teammate. The Dark-type paused a moment, before crouching and baring his teeth with an audible snarl.
"Who asked you, brat?" he spat. "And what are you even doing here? I'm pretty sure it's well past your bedtime right now!"
Irune hesitated and glanced around briefly, before she shook her head and gave an idle kick against the dirt path underfoot.
"I just was curious, that's all," the Dragon-type replied. "It seemed like you needed an idea or two, and I thought it'd help if I suggested one."
What the hell had gotten into her? Lyle looked down the other end of the alley, where after spotting a pair of scurrying figures, he got his answer: there, Kate and Dalton were hastily ducking behind a makeshift trash bin and looking like they were on pins and needles. So Irune had been covering for them all this time.
Lyle blinked and turned back in the direction of the Axew as she gave an overeager smile back at the Scrafty, which he answered with a sharp glare. The Hoodlum Pokémon stepped forward, audibly cracking his knuckles as he approached and leaned in over the shorter dragon with a sharp snarl.
"Yeah? Well, how about I give you an idea?" he spat. "It's called 'you turn tail and go home if you know what's good for ya'!"
Lyle watched as Irune blanched at the Scrafty's menacing display, recoiling much as if she'd been suddenly jabbed by an Ice Shard. Things weren't going anywhere good, and fast. The Quilava braced himself, fighting back fire along his vents as he heard the Axew gulp and dig her feet in, as she stammered back to the encroaching syrup-pusher.
"That's… an awfully convincing-sounding idea, I'll admit," she replied. "B-But-"
"But what?"
Lyle watched as the Scrafty wound up a punch. That was far enough, they could make do with this. The Quilava hopped over the fence as his vents came alight, coming to a crouch in the alleyway as he raised his voice with a sharp huff.
"But you should try turning around for a moment."
The Scarfty whirled around with a start. As soon as Lyle saw the whites of the Dark-type's eyes, he spewed out a plume of smoke into the lizard's face. Lyle hopped back as their mark coughed and gagged from the Smokescreen's effects, fire dancing on the Quilava's pelt as he arched his back and cried out behind him.
"Get him!"
Dalton and Kate rushed in from behind the Quilava, the Sneasel blowing past him with a slash of her claws at their mark's legs that made him pratfall. Dalton followed, sparks jumping on his hide as he attempted to pass a Thunder Wave off onto the Scrafty.
Lyle ran in to harry the Dark-type further, when just then, the Scrafty sprang back up and knocked the Heliolisk off his feet with a low kick at his flank. The Electric-type yelped and shot back from the blow, tumbling stunned against a wooden fence as the Scrafty cracked his knuckles with a low growl.
"Oh a setup, huh?" the Scrafty snarled. "Well you two-bit thieves picked the wrong 'mon to mess with! Nobody pulls a fast one on 'Iro the Crusher' like this!"
A quick glance at Dalton wincing as he got up revealed that the Scrafty had hit him hard. Hard enough that the 'mon would give them trouble in a fight like this. But Lyle had ways of dealing with that, a burn would surely help throw him off his game. Lyle built up a searing Will-O-Wisp in his throat, only for the Scrafty to spot him and attempt to cut him off.
A frigid gust interrupted the syrup-pusher, Lyle seeing Kate spitting up the tail end of an Icy Wind. The Sneasel turned to fall back, but even with his stiffened limbs, the Scrafty's reach proved to be too much. He brought a hand down in a Brick Break that threw Kate back against a discarded crate and left her gasping for air.
The Scrafty made his way for Kate, winding up a stiff punch as a gout of dragonfire zipped in and struck him from behind. That had to be Irune's doing, and from the stagger it dealt, it was just the opening he needed.
He leapt forward and spat up a spray of bluish-white cinders that hit the Dark-type's arm from behind. The Scrafty reflexively jerked it away and nursed his arm as a burn began to spread over its scales. A brief glimpse past him revealed Kate quickly scurrying off in the background, with the sound of footsteps and a seething growl turning the stoat's attention back to the Scrafty as he turned to face him.
Lyle spat up a few stray cinders with a dismissive huff. If this was the best the 'mon could do, he should just save himself the beating and cough up his money while he was still ahead.
"You're not going to win this one, Scrafty. So make things easier for the both of us and-"
Lyle never finished his words. The Scrafty abruptly lunged at him as dark flecks trailed off his body and caught the Quilava in his side with a tackle.
The stoat rolled to a stop and felt his head hit hard wood, laying there sprawled out wheezing for air. G-Gottverdammt, how?! How was this Scrafty smacking him around this hard with a fresh burn?!
Lyle watched the darkened world around him swirl in his vision a moment, when he felt a scaly hand wrap around his throat to the point where he couldn't wheeze out words. He felt himself get dragged up, his feet feeling empty air underfoot as he gaped up in time to see the Scrafty grit his teeth and ready a crushing bite.
"Lights out, you furry worm!" the Dark-type sneered.
"Lyle!"
A sharp cry from a smaller voice rang out from behind, as Irune charged in and spat up a gout of blue dragonfire. This one caught the Scrafty in the side of his head, and at once Lyle felt the Scrafty lurch and lose his grip on his neck.. The Fire-type fell to the ground and rolled over wheezing as a crackling burst of electricity sailed in in a parabolic arc and knocked the Dark-type off his feet with a pained yelp. Lyle could still feel himself shaking from his encounter and quickly forced himself up, when he saw Dalton still sparking and scowling down at him impatiently.
"Look alive there, Lyle!" the Heliolisk snapped. "Pin him while he's toppled!"
He certainly didn't need to be prompted twice there. That choke hold from the Dark-type stung, and he was all too ready to repay the favor.
"Right! Everybody, get him!"
"Way ahead of ya!" Kate called back.
Lyle dove at the Scrafty with a fiery tackle that loosened his limbs and got his blood flowing. He bounded past the Dark-type, getting a safe distance away just in time for Dalton to throw in a hail of sparks, followed a chopping blow from one of Kate's claws. Brick Break judging from the way the Scrafty recoiled from it—Kate must've picked it up sometime after the Foehn Gang was broken up. The syrup-pusher frantically tried to regain his bearings and attempted to shield himself with his arms, which left him open for Irune charged in with a pair of chops from her tusks at his legs.
The Scrafty jolted up much as if someone had lit a fire under his tail, springing back visibly fatigued and startled from the ambush. He was visibly weak at the moment. Maybe now he was in the mood for giving in and they could wrap things quickly.
"We know you're carrying money on you," Lyle harrumphed, scowling up at the syrup-pusher. "Your partner's gone for the night. Fork it over and nobody needs to get hurt any worse right now."
Much to Lyle's dismay, his demand seemed to have the opposite effect on the Hoodlum Pokémon. The Scrafty shook his head, and in spite of his wounds and audible panting, forced a fierce glare over his face.
"N-Nrgh… I'm not letting you walk over me that easily!" he spat. "Let's see how you handle this!"
The Scrafty sprang forward with a lunging kick aimed square at Dalton, only for Irune to hurriedly shove Heliolisk aside. The Heliolisk stumbled and fought to keep his balance, but the Axew's shove had its intended effect: the Scrafty's High Jump Kick had missed its target entirely and hit empty air. The Scrafty's eyes widened briefly before he slammed face-first into the wall of a nearby shophouse with a crash that made Lyle wince.
… That one had to have left a mark.
The Hoodlum Pokémon stumbled back tottering, cradling his face. Lyle hesitated a moment as the Scrafty groaned in pain and turned away, exposing the back of his head. There wasn't a point in waiting to see if he was still going to fight it out or not, they'd already given him a chance.
Lyle lunged forward with a swift tackle that made the world around him blur in his vision and struck the back of the Scrafty's head. For a brief moment, the Dark-type jerked up and froze, before slumping over onto his belly with a low groan.
The Quilava panted and drew near as his body's flames died down, smoke still curling up from his vents. He and his compatriots warily approached the felled Scrafty, Irune scampering forward to prod at the unconscious Pokémon's body. So they'd actually done it. They'd overpowered their mark, and it wouldn't have happened without the help of the young amateur in their ranks. He walked up, and prodded at the Axew's shoulder with a tired smile.
"Hey, thanks for covering for us back there."
Much to Lyle's surprise, the Dragon-type's expression remained muted and guarded. Shouldn't she be happier right now? All the money they needed to get out of this town and into a safer part of Kingdom on their way to the Divine Roost was now just at their pawtips!
Except… Lyle couldn't see anywhere where the 'mon would keep that sort of money, and from Irune's increasingly alarmed expression, she hadn't found anything in her inspection either.
"Wait, but I don't see any sort of bag," she said. "Wasn't this 'mon supposed to bring 15,000 Poké with him?"
"Of course, and he did" Dalton said.
The Heliolisk kicked the Scrafty over onto his side, before giving a sharp tug at the forward hem of the Dark-type's shed skin. A brown bag flopped out onto the ground with an audible jingle, Dalton picking it up and pulling its drawstrings back to reveal it was filled with gold-colored coins inside.
"He is a Scrafty, so there'd only be one logical place left for him to keep it."
Lyle pinned his ears back after Dalton's discovery of the Scrafty's hiding place. He… didn't need to know that. Irune didn't seem any more enthused about the Heliolisk's findings herself, as she screwed her eyes shut and stuck her tongue out with a disgusted shake of her head.
"Blargh, I hope he bathed recently…" she grumbled. "Though what are we going to do about his 'associates'? I doubt they're just going to let this go unanswered when they find out we robbed him."
"Hermes said he was leaving first thing in the morning tomorrow," Lyle insisted.
He turned a wary glance back at the Hoodlum Pokémon. There was little sign of life to the creature beyond his chest weakly rising and falling. It didn't look like they'd hurt him that badly, but he wasn't exactly a doctor, and it wasn't his job to stick around and check on the well-being of his marks.
"Considering how he's out cold, I think we should be in the clear by the time they find him and put things together," the Quilava said.
Lyle watched as Dalton slipped the bag of coins into his satchel and shook his head, pawing at a deepening bruise on his flank. The Outlaw in him probably should have objected more to the 'mon deciding to hold onto their loot himself, but he needed the same flight tomorrow as the rest of them did. And after seeing where Dalton found the bag… yeah, he was fine letting the Heliolisk hold onto it for a while.
Dalton turned down the alleyway as a few nearby windows began to brighten up with lantern light, prompting the four to crouch and hide against the fenceline. Lyle stayed there and held his breath, where after a few tense moments, the lights eventually faded from view in the windows one by one. Lyle noticed Kate turn her head back briefly, before shuffling out warily. He and the others took it as their cue that the coast was clear. And one after the other, the four brigands emerged from their cover, before the Heliolisk pawed carefully at his satchel and shook his head.
"We should get moving. Our work here's done and it looks like some of the neighbors overheard us-" he started, only to be cut off by a sharp huff of protest.
"Not so fast," Kate interrupted.
Lyle and the others on Team Forager blinked and looked over at the Sneasel. He watched as she walked over to the fainted Scrafty and flashed her claws. He wondered to himself as to what she was up to when her gaze drifted down at the shed skin about the lizard's lower body, and an impish smile spread over her face.
"That punch from earlier hurt," she said. "I'm gonna need a little extra from this joker to even things out…"
The rest of the night after the robbery went by in a tired blur for Irune. She remembered her and her fellow Outlaws sneaking their way back under cloak of darkness for their hideout, where they made their way through the house's scoured yard and climbed up to the precarious remains of a charred loft.
Sleep overtook them not long after that, as the four dozed off underneath the shelter of a listing beam next to a shattered window facing south that overlooked a tree outside, along with Waterhead Cave's auroras in the distance.
"Nrgh…"
As she regained consciousness, Irune wondered how on earth she'd managed to fall asleep last night even with the comfort of part of her treasures beside her. She could feel her joints aching from having curled up on the hard loft floor, and her scales smelled like a firepit. Sunlight pricked her eyelids and she cracked them open to reveal the shade of the timbers overhead, and crawled out from under it to reveal blackened walls and a twilight sky overhead where a roof once was. The wind picked up suddenly and made the Dragon-type flinch, shivering a bit from the autumnal chill when a loud cheer cut through the air and burrowed into her earholes.
"Rise and shine, princess!" a Sneasel's voice piped. "We've got a flight to make!"
Irune stiffened up with a startled grunt, and rubbed at her eyes before she looking up and blinking. There in front of her was Kate, standing beaming by the loft's window with the shed skin of their Scrafty mark slung over her shoulder… and Dalton standing in the background with a hand thrown over his face alongside Lyle sourly frowning and flattening out his ears in annoyance.
"Kate, why do you still have that?" the Quilava fumed. "I could smell that thing from across the loft last night!"
Irune reflexively furrowed her brow in disgust. She must've been more tired than she remembered last night if she forgot about Kate carrying off her… 'memento' during their escape.
"Hey, after getting smacked around the way we did last night, we needed some sort of trophy." the Sneasel answered. "Besides, I doubt that Scrafty's gonna want too many mons seeing him walking around without 'em-"
"Oh for crying out loud!" Dalton snapped.
The Heliolisk snatched the shed skin out of Kate's claws and threw them out the vacant windowsill. The Scrafty's skin sailed up and snagged onto the branches of the tree outside about an Aggron's height above the ground. Irune stared over and blinked at the skin dangling in the branches, when she noticed Kate was also looking over at them. The Sneasel folded her arms and piped back at the Electric-type with an unimpressed frown.
"You do know I can just climb up there and get them back, right?" Kate said. "It's not exactly hard for a Sneasel to get up a tree."
… Gods, the 'mon really needed to get her priorities in order. They didn't need more hurdles for making their way back to Hermes. A quick glance by Irune at her other teammates and the displeased expressions on their faces revealed they must've been thinking about the same, but there was no reason to bicker over this.
Just from the morning twilight in the sky above, it was already painfully obvious they didn't have time for it.
"We're supposed to be going over to Hermes right now since he said he was leaving at dawn," Irune scolded. "Maybe let's not get him asking any awkward questions before we even leave town, huh?"
Her words made Kate pin her ears back. The Dark-type looked about at her other teammates, and after finding no purchase among them, rolled her eyes with a sour pout.
"Tch, you're all no fun."
Irune could already tell this was going to be quite the journey to the Divine Roost. She stooped down and gathered up a small handful of glass beads she'd set out beside herself before falling asleep last night, and hurriedly tucked them away into her bag.
She picked her bag up and stretched before slinging it over her shoulder. Audible rattle from her treasure hoard? Check. The familiar prod of a book cover against her back through the fabric? Check. Her pendant…?
Irune stiffened up and patted down her scarf, before feeling the pendant's tip poke at her chest's scales. She breathed a sigh of relief and cursed herself for being careless enough to leave it on while knowingly walking into a fight. It was her key to finding the treasure she was braving Lacan and his Fähnlein for at the Divine Roost.
She didn't know what she'd do if she had lost it. What was she to do, stop the brigands she was traveling with and insist "let's find the key we've lost" and that if they didn't find it, then trying to make it to the Divine Roost was close to pointless?
… No, the less they knew about the treasure she was after, the better. It wasn't something that Outlaws needed to worry about, and if they understood what it was, who was to say they wouldn't just sell it off?
Or sell her out to Lacan or gods-knew-who-else along with it?
"Hey, are you coming or what?"
Irune snapped back to attention and saw her teammates staring at her from the bottom of the loft where part of it had collapsed into a makeshift ramp. Kate was there, tapping her foot impatiently, as she frowned back up at her.
"For a 'mon who was in a rush to leave, you sure have a thing for staring off into space!" she chided.
"Sorry, I'm… just not fully awake right now."
It wasn't a lie. Even if it wasn't necessarily the whole truth either. Irune made her way down the collapsed end of the loft and down to the ground level, as the four retraced their footsteps in the ash pile on the ground. This house had once been someone's home, maybe many someones', and yet all that remained was this shell that had yet to have anyone rebuild it.
Perhaps it was a fitting portrait for Varhyde as a land, especially if the stories of the more scarred regions near the coasts were anything to go by.
"… Shouldn't we split up the money before we leave for Hermes?"
Irune blinked as Dalton stepped in front of the group's path. Kate abruptly tensed up and pinned her ears back, letting out a sharp harrumph.
"Scales, I can add numbers," she scoffed. "Let's worry about that once we actually make it to the 'mon."
"Bold of you to assume that we'll get a chance to do that," the Heliolisk said. "Considering how there were guards looking around for us yesterday, we should assume that we'll need to pay Hermes off in a hurry."
"Sounds more like you're looking for a way to keep more loot for yourself," Kate scoffed.
Irune looked between Kate and Dalton as the pair traded sharp scowls with one another. Gods, were the 'mons she was counting on to take her to the Divine Roost seriously having a dispute over money now of all times? After all, the solution to this problem seemed straightforward enough…
"Wait, weren't we just going to pool the loot we had from before last night, and then split the remainder afterwards?" the Axew asked.
The other Outlaws blinked and turned over to Irune. She stiffened up briefly, before giving an unimpressed snort and folding her arms with an unamused frown.
"We were ready to pool all our money together before we robbed the Scrafty last night when we were still at least seven thousand Poké short," the Axew reminded. "We all worked together for that job, so isn't splitting whatever's leftover evenly four ways the fairest way of handling things?"
"Technically, I could make an argument for getting a bigger share," Kate interjected. "Since I was the one who got kicked around the hardest…"
Irune had to fight the urge to bury her face in a set of claws and growl in displeasure. From the sharp frowns Lyle and Dalton were shooting the Sneasel, they didn't think much of her argument either. The Dark-type caught herself and trailed off, before folding her arms and flattening her ears with a low grumble.
"… Ugh, fine. We'll do it your way."
The four gathered together by some raised stones that looked like they might have once been part of a counter, when they took their purses with coins out and poured out the Poké they'd exchanged their money into from the prior day. Irune couldn't help but wince a little after noticing that her addition was the smallest of the lot, and by a large margin, but it was best not to dwell on it too much.
The Heliolisk quietly counted up the coins in each pile, going up to what Irune assumed was the nearest thousand. The whole time, she was mesmerized by the gleaming coins. If only she'd had a chance to sleep on a hoard like that for a night…
"Vierundzwanzig… Fünfundzwanzig.₁"
Irune snapped out of her thoughts as Dalton finished up his count of the coins and began dividing them up. The Electric-type's hands rifled through them effortlessly, almost as effortlessly as a shopkeeper might have.
Even so, something was weird about the whole incident. Dalton had been counting to himself in Hightongue. Irune couldn't say that she remembered running into too many Pokémon that reflexively did that before… or spoke with an accent like Dalton's at all. Most Pokémon that did were highly educated, or else occasional Wilders from particularly remote corners of Varhyde.
And the Pokémon she'd heard the most that spoke with an accent like Dalton's over the past year was Lacan. It was probably nothing, but she just hoped that it wasn't a bad omen of some sort.
An audible clink jolted the Axew back to attention. She looked down and much to her astonishment, and saw her share of the loot in a purse by her feet. The Heliolisk took his own share and stuffed it away in the satchel, before turning his attention to the purse with their flight fare in it.
"I suppose that all that's left at this point is picking someone to carry Hermes' money, and-"
"That shouldn't be an issue, Dalton. I'll do it."
Irune blinked and glanced over at Lyle as made his way over to Hermes' money. Dalton raised his snout and narrowed his eyes dubiously at the Quilava, as the stoat noticed his stare and began to smolder in irritation only to catch himself with a blink. Was Lyle really expecting anything different? Perhaps Kate trusted him since the two seemed to have history with each other, but she and Dalton had known him for all of two days. Even if they had a shared interest right now, he had to understand their hesitance… right?
"Look, I know these surroundings better than anyone," the stoat sighed, shaking his head. "And if I get cornered, I've got a way of buying time to slip away so that way we're not left handing empty air to Hermes. That's as good an argument as any for me to do the honors, right?"
"Yeah, Lyle and I go way back," Kate chimed in, leaning up against the Quilava. "And hey, he got us around town in one piece, didn't he? Besides, if you really trust him that little, just hold onto his share until we're airborne or something like that."
Lyle's eyes widened briefly and his vents came alive, but before he could protest, Dalton snatched his purse out of his paws and narrowed his eyes in reply.
"I suppose I can live with that."
… Looked like that issue resolved itself, even if Lyle was shooting a scowl at Kate that looked much as if he'd been suddenly soaked by a bucket of water. All of a sudden, the Quilava tensed up, and hurriedly ducked against the charred remains of the counter with a quiet hiss.
"Quick, get down!"
Irune's heart skipped a beat and she dove for cover with her teammates when creaking and groaning rang out from the direction of the front entrance. The four watched, where through the remains of the front door, they watched a wagon laden with hay pulled by a Meganium drift by. Team Forager froze briefly, Irune feeling her heart race in her chest as she heard Lyle suck in a sharp breath beside her and grumble under his breath.
"Blauflamme. I thought it'd be less active this early in the morning," he remarked. "Guess I should've known better when the town's starting preparations for the Autumn Festival."
Irune tensed up and shot a worried glance over. After the way they'd overheard Lacan's Oberstleutnant talking with the local guards the other day, was it even safe to move around openly in Moonturn Square? Who knew what on earth her or some other 'mon from it had told the guards by now?
"… How are we supposed to make it to Hermes, then?" the Axew gulped.
Lyle cast a glance through a gutted side window and off at a tattered fence. Irune turned to follow his line of sight, where she noticed there was a gap where one of the planks was missing. Behind it, there was an alleyway on the other side not unlike the one they'd ambushed the Scrafty in the prior night. The Quilava hesitated a minute and visibly drifted in his thoughts, before shaking his head back.
"… There's more than one way to the marketplace from here. Come on, we'll take a route off the beaten path."
A quick sneak out through the yard of the gutted house and a hop over the fenceline later, and Team Forager found themselves in the backstreets of Moonturn Square. Their journey down them took them along cramped lanes and alleyways as the town's nightly rhythms increasingly gave way to their morning ones. On their way, the four caught glimpses of the town's life through peeks out into more public parts. There was the Drakloak they spotted nudging an anxious-looking Dreepy at the entrance of the local school with a "Keine Angst, Schatzi.₂ You'll do great today, I know it", the Miccino sweeping the front of a bakery with her tail in anticipation of a new day's worth of customers to tend to, and the less-than-sober Noctowl stumbling out of a bar grumbling over how on earth Pokémon could stand going about at 'this unholy hour'.
The four came across a crossroads in front of a dusty Dojo run by a Crabominable that looked like it was barely trafficked, where Lyle's ears suddenly pricked up at the sound of approaching chatter, and prompted him to hurriedly motion his teammates for a stop.
"Wait, someone's coming."
The four hastily pinned up against the wall in a small alcove at the back of a timbered building. There, crossing the mouth of the alleyway were the same Zweilous and Scizor guards from the day before, the Zweilous' left head let out a yawning grumble as he shuffled along.
"Cripes, how'd we get stuck with a shift this early?"
"Genug jetzt!₃ Here I thought that yappy Floatzel back at the garrison was an earful, but you're sure giving him a run for his money!" the Scizor hissed. "We always start earlier on this day, maybe you shouldn't have been hitting the bar last night if you didn't want to be miserable."
"Oh sod off! We wasted our evening questioning some Exploration Team!" the Zweilous' right head protested. "Some team of red-scarved dweebs called 'Team Trailblazer' or something like that!"
Lyle blinked a moment, and fidgeted nervously as the pair of guards drifted past, and stopped to peek after them briefly as they rounded the corner. The Exploration Team they'd nicked their scarves from were here yesterday? Gods, they had gotten lucky that they hadn't run into each other. The Quilava caught a shock of black fur from the corner of his eye, where he saw Kate tensed up behind him. She stood with Irune hiding behind her, her claws firmly clasped around a whitish Blowback Orb.
"Thank gods they didn't stop and look around," the Sneasel sighed. "For a sec, I thought I was going to have to chuck this thing at those two and that we'd have to run for it."
Surely they weren't in that much danger back there, were they? Though with all the close calls they'd already had yesterday, Lyle didn't want to gamble on whether or not random Grünhäuter in town recognized them or not from the likes of a wanted poster. Just then, Dalton pawed at the stoat's shoulder, motioning off towards an alleyway that led off towards the mass of buildings around the central marketplace.
"Looks like this alley's a shortcut back to the marketplace, Lyle," he said. "If we're that tight on time, we shouldn't pass it up. The extra minutes could mean the difference between making our flight or not."
Lyle stared and blinked at the alleyway. He hadn't come by Moonturn Square that often in the past, but this still felt like a shortcut he'd ought to have used before. And yet for whatever reason, he didn't have any memories of doing so.
"Not sure how I never used this one before," the Fire-type said. "Though good eye, I guess."
Team Forager darted down the alley, making their way ahead when Lyle noticed something amiss. Up ahead, to the left there was a long stretch of reinforced walls, with a taller building with green-and-white banners poking up from behind and shorter attached buildings at its left and right ends. The Quilava and his companions slowed their paces uneasily, when they noticed that emblazoned on the banners was the same triangular sigil of the army.
Lyle bristled and felt fire prick up nervously along his head and rump. No wonder why he didn't remember taking this shortcut! It went right past the garrison where the local Gendarmen were stationed!
"H-Hey! Give that back!"
Lyle froze and watched as his teammates seemed to stiffen up as they heard a familiar, rough voice come around the corner. The four crept forward and peered past a drop-down gate that had been raised up and peered into a large courtyard. There, the Outlaws glimpsed a flatbed cart loaded down with metal tubes and wooden contraptions with springs and levers at their ends wheeling out of the way and felt their blood run cold at the sight behind it.
There behind where the cart had been was a small line of reinforced, boxy wagons, with battered, miserable-looking Pokémon in the colors of their bands from the night before queued up and being marched into them by various Grünhäuter. At the wagon at the very end closest to them, the four spotted a Ledian and Zangoose in green armor plates, the Normal-type of the pair dangling a bony club above the head of a Marowak with his arms tied behind his back with Ariados silk bindings.
That was that Dolch 'mon from the caravan! And that was Alvin he was bullying around!
"What's the matter, tough guy?" the Zangoose sneered. "I seemed to remember you being a bit braver that night out at the caravan!"
The Normal-type's taunts drew an unimpressed buzz back from the Ledian, who flitted up and waved his arms with an impatient hiss.
"Dolch, stop holding everything up!" the Bug-Type grumbled. "Get the prisoner onboard so we can keep processing!"
"Tch, relax, we're not in any rush right now," the Zangoose scoffed back. "So why not have a little fun first?"
Lyle felt his blood boil and heat simmer off his vents. The Quilava ducked back behind the entrance, struggling to fight back angry fire when he felt someone prod at his shoulder. A quick glance over revealed Irune looking up, and staring with worried eyes.
"Lyle?" she whispered. "Isn't that the Marowak that was with you earlier?"
He said nothing in reply, as did Kate and Dalton, when a sharp tak reached their ears. Lyle peeked past the gate and saw that it came from Dolch batting the knobbed end of Alvin's club against his head. The Ledian shot an exasperated frown over to his counterpart, who dutifully ignored the Bug-type's displeasure to lean in and further taunt his captive.
"So what changed? Do you stupid lizards really just curl up in a ball whenever you're parted from your bones?" Dolch scoffed. "Or maybe you're like this because you don't have anybody to hide behind!"
"W-Why don't you untie me and we'll see who's curling up in a ball, huh?!" Alvin snapped. "Let's see how tough you talk then!"
The armored Zangoose rolled his eyes, and gave a dismissive scoff before delivering a stiff jab at the Marowak's belly with his club.
"Oh yeah, you're really intimidating," Dolch snorted. "All your ringleaders are having a nice, long tour inside an Apricorn right now for what's left of their short, sorry lives."
The Ledian twitched his antennae before interrupting the Zangoose with a sharp buzz.
"Actually, I could've sworn the Staraptor with them got a different sentence. Though with that wing of hers and how badly she got messed up, I'm not sure it'd make much of a difference…" he started, before trailing off and hastily correcting himself.
"Wait a minute, why am I even arguing with you about this?! Focus on getting these 'mons loaded up and-"
"Look, will you shut up for a moment? I'm in the middle of something here!" the Zangoose snapped. "I was just telling this dweeb how I seem to remember that Steelix in charge of his merry little band of scum selling out his own lieutenants to try and to save his own hide! Sure worked out great for the lot of 'em!"
Lyle watched as Alvin's eyes widened for a brief moment, before he hung his head glumly. What little defiance the Marowak had earlier had been swiftly stripped away. It took every ounce of willpower in Lyle's body to not just charge ahead and set that bastard's fur alight. Dolch curled his muzzle into a cruel smile afterwards, as the Ledian let out a sharp sigh and loud harrumph.
"Some truly remarkable honor among thieves there," the Bug-type buzzed. "Perhaps that tour in that penal unit you and your buddies are set to take will fix that. Assuming you last more than a week after arriving in Edialeigh. But hey, better you than someone 'mons will actually miss."
"Face it, Marowak. You're alone," Dolch sneered. "And as long as that's true, there's nothing you can do to get the drop on me!"
Lyle pinned his ears back and felt his head spin at the Zangoose's words. They- They were sending Alvin to Edialeigh? As part of the levy that was going around? The Quilava grit his teeth and felt hot, angry flames from his vents and reflexively took a few steps forward when he saw Alvin abruptly perk up
The Marowak tilted his head just enough for the corner of his eye to line up with Lyle's, only to stay in place and go rigid. Lyle watched as Alvin opened his mouth, only to remain silent and gulp down his words. He- He could see them, but the Marowak stayed quiet. He had to know that calling out for would give them away, and so he just sat there, silently glancing back until his Zangoose captor snapped him to attention with a loud snarl.
"And what are you looking at, Outlaw?" Dolch demanded, prompting Alvin to jerk his head back to attention with a startled stammer.
"N-Nothing!" he insisted. "I just thought I-! Ack!"
Lyle felt his blood boil with rage as the Zangoose delivered a stiff kick at Alvin's gut, sending him slumping over coughing and gasping for air. The guard scowled down, tightening his red eyes into a sharp glare down at the Marowak below.
"Then pay attention to some important 'mons here!" he snapped.
Dolch kicked Alvin again, which drew a pained yelp. His Ledian partner flitted back with an unimpressed buzz, though otherwise did nothing to intervene. Lyle stormed forward, only to feel Dalton pull at his ear and throw a paw over his mouth. Irune stared on in startled shock only for Kate to grab her shoulder and do much the same.
"C-Come on," she said. "We're leaving."
Lyle thrashed and tried to spit up fire, only for the Heliolisk's grip over his mouth to remain firm when halfway back into the alley, the cold realization won out against his temper: they were four 'mons, with a stolen bag from a bunch of rookie Hunters. There was nothing they could do.
Lyle felt his mind go blank and his body go limp as he flopped back into the alley and fought back bitter tears. He could see Irune wrench herself free, looking back at her fellow Outlaws with a disgusted glare.
"That's your friend! He's about to be conscripted!" she cried. "How can you just leave him behind like that?!"
Kate shook her head back, flattening her ears and pawing at her arm with a low mutter.
"You think that I like seeing Alvin like that?" she spat "Irune, there's nothing we can do right now!"
"That's nonsense!" Irune spat. "You all fought your way through some of those same guards just two nights ago, and-"
"And we had help for that, which all got caught," Dalton finished. "Seriously, what the hell do you expect us the four of us to do against a garrison like that? Are you seriously telling me that you never had to do this for your 'Balance Bandits'?!"
Irune froze and bit her tongue, as a flash of guilt seemed to come over her face. Lyle couldn't make out more past that, as his eyes misted over with bitter droplets. He pawed at his eyes and looked away, gulping back a lump in his throat.
They were lucky they weren't in that courtyard themselves at the moment. The four of them were on borrowed time, living off the good name of complete strangers until somebody noticed they didn't belong. Even the most romantically-inclined idealist would have to admit that fighting their way through a garrison to come to a friend's aid was a fantasy to say the least. Lyle turned his head at the sound of pattering footsteps and saw Dalton lower his head and shuffled forward towards Irune, patting at the Axew's shoulder with a low sigh.
"I know where you're coming from, and I wish things could be different, but this is just life for Pokémon like us. Surely you know from experience," he said. "And you would know as well as any of us that this just isn't a battle we can win right now"
Irune said nothing back and let her gaze fall towards the ground. Lyle wiped at his eyes and brushed past his teammates. If he never saw this gottverdammten hole again in his life, it'd be too soon. He made his way down the alleyway for the mass of buildings of the central marketplace, turning back to his teammates with a bitter, shaky huff.
"W-We promised Hermes we'd have his money by now," he said. "Let's just get going and get out of here."
The Quilava shuffled forward, his teammates following along one by one in sullen, deflated moods. The buildings seemed to blur together as they made their way down the alley, for the ring of ruins about the central marketplace. They saw the sunlight again after exiting back out into the main square along the back wall of a bank run by a Garchomp who was arguing with a Pyukumuku trying to make a deposit in Carolins and walked out into the morning crowds, when a sharp cry pricked their ears.
"You!"
Lyle stiffened up as he heard a distinctly angry, yipping voice call out from among the crowd. The Quilava hastily reared up and looked around with a start as he tried to find its source.
"Huh-? Gah!"
A jet of water abruptly zipped in and struck him in his face. Lyle yelped and hit the ground, rolling onto his feet and pawing at his drenched facial fur as his teammates braced themselves. Just in time to see a quartet of a Dewott, a Grovyle, an Eevee, and a Houndour storming up. The lot of them sported livid glares, and much to Lyle's blanching realization, the exact same red-and-silver scarves Kate nicked on the route leading into town.
"B-Blauflamme. Just when this day couldn't be going any worse."
Author's Notes:
Words and Phrases:
1. Vierundzwanzig… Fünfundzwanzig. - "Twenty-four… Twenty-five."
2. Keine Angst, Schatzi. - "Don't worry, sweetie." lit. "No fear, little treasure." Usable in a context of between lovers, or as in this case, towards a child by a parent or grandparent.
3. Genug jetzt! - "Enough already!"
Teaser Text:
Moonturn Square, 19. Herbstmond, 1027 n. d. B.
Sophia,
I have studied your latest report, and believe I can make an educated guess as to your Carrier's route. He is most likely to take the route heading east into Toya Square. There are only so many Pokémon that could carry a party of four as a single Carrier, and their physiologies would strongly favor warmer flight paths.
There is a Mystery Dungeon there consisting of a set of overgrown human ruins near a set of falls—you are to station your units in the localized jungle and await the group's arrival. I have already dispatched Furierᵃ Strachey and Gemeinwebelᵇ Frantz along with a small number of our badge dispatchers and all units capable of covering the distance to Toya Square overnight to aid you to that end.
As for me, I will be staying behind with a small formation of fliers and an Illusionist to provide cover and tasking Feldwebelᶜ Helmholtz to mobilize the rest of the rest of the Fähnlein after us. Should the local Gendarmen fail to apprehend the Dyad's party, we will tail their Carrier from Moonturn Square until they draw closer to your position. Once we come in range of badge communications, report your and your units' positions, and it should be a simple matter of herding the Dyad and her party to you as appropriate.
Were matters less sensitive and the potential consequences of being compromised less dire, I would gladly fly up and strike this Carrier out of the air the moment he left the town's walls. But we do not have the luxury of conducting our mission out in the open, and as such, it is better to remain patient so that way we can conduct this interception a safer distance away from prying eyes.
Take heart. The Dyad is almost within our grasp. And through her, Our Aegis. Our Vengeance. Who will bring this land we call "Varhyde" to lasting victory over her tormentors.
- Urgent dispatch from Graf von Wellenhafen, Lacan Dragorans to Ritterin von Herbergau, Sophia Krarmors
a. Furier - More commonly rendered "Fourier", a spelling of French origin. A military rank in Germanosphere militaries given to people who handle logistics commonly rendered as "Quartermaster Sergeant" in English. Historically, every Fähnlein had one Furier/Fourier in its ranks.
b. Gemeinwebel - lit. "common usher". A historical rank in Germanosphere militaries, which in a Fähnlein were elected in pairs from the ranks of its mercenaries to act as mediators between the Captain/Hauptmann and the lower ranks. Sometimes rendered in English as "Common Sergeant".
c. Feldwebel - lit. "field usher". A rank in Germanosphere militaries analogous to a "Sergeant", presently still in use in Germany and Switzerland.
Yeah, this is one of those things where I think that we’ll have to agree to disagree. Since in the end, you have to write your assumptions about Pokémon, and limiting yourself to “Name”, “the [Species]”, “the [Species’-type]”, and “the [Pokédex Category]” can get kinda stiff in prose.
I’m sure that some of those epithets won’t be seen eye-to-eye by everybody, but eh. There’s room for alternative interpretation, since in the end, the only materials that will 1:1 a reader’s headcanon are whatever said reader writes for him or herself.
Actually, I would argue that trying to go for this many epithets is already not good for the prose. I would much rather read a name and the Pokemon species over and over than have a character referred to by their type when their type has no relevance to the current conversation. For all of my PMD fics, I've basically only used the name, the species and "the mon", and I've never once been told that it's repetitive. I've also read many other stories that do that, and I've never found it to be clunky. Names are like "said". They turn invisible.
Furthermore, there's a spectrum to these real-life-counterpart-assumptions. People might not all see Staraptor as a hawk, but everyone will see it as a bird, even a bird of prey. People won't all see Quilava as a stoat, but most of them will agree it's a mustelid, and everyone will agree that it's a mammal. I'm not saying no to all assumptions, but I am saying that more specific assumptions are more likely to go against the readers' than general ones.
I find myself with not much to say about chapter 8, here. I expected this to be about them getting what they needed to depart with Hermes and potentially hitting a snag, but I guess seeing you say "longer chapter" in your description led me to falsely assume they'd be departing the city with Hermes by the end. Which, well, doesn't end up happening. I guess we're going to be here for a few more parts, perhaps, before moving to the next location.
I preferred the sneaking around to the actual fighting with Iro, which I think went on too long given that we moved on from him by the chapter's midpoint. The intention was, I guess, to make him seem stronk. And my other guess is that, if the team's stuck in the city longer, they're going to run into further problems with Iro and his associates.
Alvin's appearance surprised me, though the exact sequence did confuse me a little bit. Between the team being on a tight time table and the follow up conversation where Lyle says that leaving Alvin was a necessary evil that came with the outlaw business, why did he stick around to hear so much of what the guards were saying? OOC it helps to update us on the aftermath of the bandit groups collapsing, but IC it seems a bit boneheaded, since it leads to them running into the explorers they looted earlier.
I'd find it a bit more believable if that part was interspersed with Lyle being conflicted on whether or not to do something to help Alvin. He briefly shows regret over leaving Alvin, but kinda stuffs it down when talking with Irune after.
... Oh, guess I had more to say than I thought. Welp. XP
Here for Catnip! You gave me a choice of Fledglings or Once A Thief, and I'm kinda saving the former for when the next Tales Of Arrival chapter is done. so the latter it is! Gotta say, "PMD with an all-rouge-party and a side of Xeno series bullshit" is an intriguing premise. I read the prologue.
We start with a Quilava (Cyndaquil line represent) working on a farm. Badly apparently. At least according to his boss. Times are tough though, especially with a war simmering in the background that surely won't be relevant later!
(sidenote the gratuitous German really helps the Xeno bullshit already, at least from a Xenosaga standpoint. :P)
He tries to walk home, but three things stop him. One is a pair of spoders that prove that even post-human (more on that later) the Vow is still a thing here. Second is him being extorted by a fucking cop, which further reveals his past. Third is... An old friend. Who wants him for the classic One More Job. Which never. Ever goes wrong. This should be FUN.
Also! The text at the beginning mentions humans being wiped out by a mysterious flash of light. I smell Nectozma. Good, because I love Necrozma.
But this looks really cool and I really wanna loop back to it again. Question is though: If it's Xeno inspired will it have MECHAS?!
I find myself with not much to say about chapter 8, here. I expected this to be about them getting what they needed to depart with Hermes and potentially hitting a snag, but I guess seeing you say "longer chapter" in your description led me to falsely assume they'd be departing the city with Hermes by the end. Which, well, doesn't end up happening. I guess we're going to be here for a few more parts, perhaps, before moving to the next location.
Guess you'll just have to read today's chapter and find out what happens, huh?
I preferred the sneaking around to the actual fighting with Iro, which I think went on too long given that we moved on from him by the chapter's midpoint. The intention was, I guess, to make him seem stronk. And my other guess is that, if the team's stuck in the city longer, they're going to run into further problems with Iro and his associates.
A worthy guess, but... well, I'll let you see for yourself how things play out today.
Alvin's appearance surprised me, though the exact sequence did confuse me a little bit. Between the team being on a tight time table and the follow up conversation where Lyle says that leaving Alvin was a necessary evil that came with the outlaw business, why did he stick around to hear so much of what the guards were saying? OOC it helps to update us on the aftermath of the bandit groups collapsing, but IC it seems a bit boneheaded, since it leads to them running into the explorers they looted earlier.
I'd find it a bit more believable if that part was interspersed with Lyle being conflicted on whether or not to do something to help Alvin. He briefly shows regret over leaving Alvin, but kinda stuffs it down when talking with Irune after.
I mean IC, they didn't know they'd run into that Exploration Team. A bit unfortunate to hear that the bit regarding Alvin's appearance didn't quite hit the notes it was intended to. I'll keep the feedback regarding playing up Lyle being more conflicted about whether or not to do something for the future. If inspiration plays nice on my end, it's something that could potentially be tightened up without too much effort.
... Oh, guess I had more to say than I thought. Welp. XP
I mean, I'm not complaining. It was admittedly a little hard for me to gauge whether or not you actually enjoyed reading the chapter, but the feedback you gave was certainly helpful.
Here for Catnip! You gave me a choice of Fledglings or Once A Thief, and I'm kinda saving the former for when the next Tales Of Arrival chapter is done. so the latter it is! Gotta say, "PMD with an all-rouge-party and a side of Xeno series bullshit" is an intriguing premise. I read the prologue.
Well, glad to hear that the premise took you so much. Since "PMD with an all-rogue-party and a side of Xeno series bullshit" is about as fun to write as that summary sounds. :V
We start with a Quilava (Cyndaquil line represent) working on a farm. Badly apparently. At least according to his boss. Times are tough though, especially with a war simmering in the background that surely won't be relevant later!
(sidenote the gratuitous German really helps the Xeno bullshit already, at least from a Xenosaga standpoint. :P)
You're actually the first reader to notice that before me pointing it out in a response. Though yes, Old!Xeno's love affair with Gratuitous German is indeed why German was cast as having the role it does in-setting. There are a lot of little flourishes here or there where I just had fun with mythology nods like that, and it'll be interesting to see how many of them you pick up whenever you come back for more. ^^
He tries to walk home, but three things stop him. One is a pair of spoders that prove that even post-human (more on that later) the Vow is still a thing here. Second is him being extorted by a fucking cop, which further reveals his past. Third is... An old friend. Who wants him for the classic One More Job. Which never. Ever goes wrong. This should be FUN.
If you mean mech mechs, they almost certainly existed once upon a time in this setting, but they're highly unlikely to still be functional by being a bit lacking on the power source front. I'm still playing around with when and where there are openings to show that off, but it's on the radar, at least.
Alright, I left you all off on a bit of a cliffhanger last time. Today's chapter turned out a bit longer than planned (if nothing too insane by past standards), but honestly, considering the ground covered, I think that the run length was justified.
Where will things go, you ask? Well, guess I should cut to the chase and just show off my hard work, huh?
Die Welt, die der Glühende Blitz hinterlassen hat, war eine Welt, die von Geheimnissen und Wundern geprägt war, zusammen mit den Echos der Großen, die in unserer Mitte zurückgelassen wurden. Die wir „Menschen“ nennen.
Und doch gab es in unserer gesamten aufgezeichneten Geschichte jene, die behaupteten, Menschen zu sein. Manchen fehlt die Erinnerung, kennen nichts als ihre Namen. Aber sie tragen immer unsere Formen und behaupten, seltsame Kreaturen zu sein, die in fremden Körpern gefangen sind.
Die meisten dieser Pokémon entpuppen sich später als Scharlatane, die die Hoffnungen und Neugierde anderer ausnutzen. Und doch weisen manch andere Qualitäten auf, die sich jeder Erklärung entziehen. Kenntnisse längst vergangener Schriften und Weisheiten, unmögliche Kräfte wie Hellsehen über ihren natürlichen Fähigkeiten, einige sollen sogar die Gunst der Götter gewonnen haben.
Bei solchen Figuren ist schwer zu unterscheiden, wo die Folklore aufhört und die Fakten beginnen. Niemand weiß, woher sie kommen. Manche sagen, sie kommen von jenseits der Sterne. Andere sagen, sie kommen aus Löchern im Himmel von anderen Welten. Andere sagen, sie stammen von namenlosen Orten jenseits von Zeit und Raum, wo die Dimensionen aufeinandertreffen.
Noch weniger wissen, warum sie kommen. Einige sagen, solche Erscheinungen seien nur kosmische Unfälle, andere Nachhall, der vom Glühenden Blitz zurückbleibt. Und wieder andere behaupten, sie seien Helden, die vom Stöhnen unserer unruhigen Welt angezogen werden.
Andere haben vorgeschlagen, dass es ihre Anwesenheit selbst ist, die dazu beiträgt, unsere Welt zu beunruhigen, und argumentieren, dass sie vielleicht zu gut in die Form der meisten Helden dieser Welt passen. Große und kleine Pokémon, die in einem Land als Retter gejubelt und gefeiert und in einem anderen als Geißel verachtet und gefürchtet werden.
- Auszug aus »Die Gesammelten Legenden aus Wunder«
"Yeah, you better be scared! Those are our scarves you stole!"
Kate flinched at the sound of the Dewott's sharp, accusatory cry. The otter glared at her, pointing his scalchop at her and her teammates. Around his neck was a red scarf with a silver, three-pronged spike, the same pattern and colors as the scarves they were wearing. The same ones she'd stolen on the way into Moonturn Square.
The Dewott's teammates were similarly in a surly mood. There was the Houndour towards the rear, flashing his teeth with a low growl. The Eevee wearing what appeared to be some sort of clip over her left ear that looked like some kind of gray cross with shortened arms who was doing much the same… if looking more silly than intimidating. And of course, the Grovyle of the group, who was currently tightening up the leaves on her arms into blades and letting out a sharp hiss, as she held out Irune's old, now dirt-caked scarf out in front of them.
"I believe that this is yours, we found it after following your footprints around from our campsite," the Grovyle piped. "Must say I was expecting a bit more from the ne'er-do-wells that've been running our name through the mud, but if you think we're just going to sit and take this, you're sorely mistaken!"
… Gottverdammt, she hated when Lyle was right. Fortunately, these Hunters were just a bunch of rookies and surely wouldn't be too hard to shake on their way to Hermes. But boy, did they know how to pick the world's worst timing.
A quick glance up ahead revealed Lyle and Irune shrinking back from the quartet of strangers, while off to her left, Dalton was bracing himself for battle. All the while, Kate cocked a brow and flattened her ears out, wholly unimpressed with the team of Hunters accosting them.
"I'm sorry, but who are you dorks again?" she asked.
"My name's-" the Dewott started, only to catch himself and trail off. "Eh, what do you care? Don't try and change the subject!"
"Our name's Bel, and we're Team Pathfinder!" the Houndour of the lot chimed in, striking a determined pose. "The rising stars of Varhyde who bravely march on to protect the world from devastation!"
Oh yeah, that sounded really impressive… not. Also, 'we'? Was this guy passing himself off as some royal, or was he a nut? … Probably a nut. The Dark-type's teammates looked similarly unimpressed, the Grovyle of the bunch taking a moment to sidle up and give an unamused paw at the Houndour's shoulder.
"Uh, Bel?" she said. "I think that we can spare the dramatic introductions here."
The Eevee was similarly unenthused, as she shot an aside glance over to her Dewott teammate, speaking to him from the corner of her mouth with a barely-concealed whisper that Kate's ears could pick up as clear as day.
"You and Vilma really need to hurry up and come up with a different catchphrase, Cruz," she sighed. "I know Bel's still getting used to things since we recruited him, but this is ridiculous."
"We weren't expecting him to actually go off blurting that out loud when he said it was a work in progress, Nellie!" the Dewott whispered back. "Why, that catchphrase makes us sound like a bunch of common criminals!"
"More like a bunch of dweebs," Kate scoffed. "What sort of band of criminals would be taken seriously with a motto like that?"
Kate snapped back to attention after the sound of a low growl, as she spotted the Grovyle of the lot nearing with a sharp scowl and gesturing ahead at her and the rest of Team Forager.
"The point is, we've been hearing about all the trouble you've been starting around town, going around and trying to steal things in our colors," the Grass-type piped. "We might have an escort mission to make later today, but we've got plenty of time to teach you a lesson beforehand!"
Kate rolled her eyes and began to walk off, when she noticed that the nearby bystanders were beginning to shuffle back a safe distance, and the members of this Team Pathfinder were bracing themselves for battle.
Seriously? Now? Right when they were about to take a flight out of this dump?!
Kate noted that the rest of her teammates looked visibly unnerved. While the team of Hunters that accosted them didn't seem that hard to manage, a few passersby had stopped to stare at them. Which was probably a bad sign for how quickly they were wearing through their disguises. Lyle stepped forward, forcing a nervous smile over his face, waving to the watching townsfolk as he attempted to explain away their hostile encounter.
"J-Just a little disagreement among teammates!" the Quilava insisted. "Nothing to worry abou-"
"Disagree your way out of this!" Cruz cried.
The Dewott drew his Scalchop as water wreathed it from his paw, the otter lunging for Lyle with a slash that ran across his belly. The Quilava stumbled back with a yelp and lit up his vents out of reflex.
The otter's other teammates then lunged forward, Kate hurriedly sidestepping a spray of embers from the Houndour while Dalton stepped ahead with a low, annoyed grumble as sparks began to dance on his hide.
"So much for a diplomatic solution…" he sighed. "Have at you!"
Dalton darted ahead and threw a wide, arcing burst of electricity that shot out and struck their assailants before zipping back towards himself. A Parabolic Charge from the looks of it, and from the sound of it, one that had stung. Kate breathed out an Icy Wind afterwards for good measure to throw the Hunters off balance, and turned to run, only to notice much to her astonishment that the team's Grovyle and Dewott had swung around to cut them off.
Gottverdammt, seriously?! Couldn't these dorks have picked a fight sometime when they weren't about to miss a flight?! The Sneasel crouched and braced herself, motioning to her teammates with a sharp cry.
"Hit 'em with everything you've got and let's get out of here!"
Kate, Lyle, and Irune darted forward into the fray, Kate lobbing a spray of icy flechettes at that 'Vilma' Grovyle from a distance while, Lyle followed up by barrelling into her with a Flame Charge. Good to see that even when he was a couple of years out of practice, Lyle could still use his head. Literally in this case.
The hiss of dragonfire and a sharp yelp turned Kate's attention off to her left, where she saw bluish embers dissipating from in front of Irune, and further back, Cruz skidding along the ground. The Dewott brushed at a chunk of singed fur and grit his teeth, before Kate noticed that Irune was completely undefended, and from the look of it, the Dewott had seen it too.
"Vilma! The Axew's open now!" the Water-type cried. "Help me take her!"
Kate whirled her head leftwards and right on cue, a blur of green and red zipped in and struck Irune along her left flank, knocking her to the ground. Kate hissed and grit her teeth, readying an Ice Shard in her claw as she beelined for Irune, only to suddenly feel burning pain rake her body.
Kate thrashed and yowled as she was swept up in an Ember, tumbling to the ground and entering a quick roll to put out stray cinders when she saw Bel running at her with fangs bared.
"Send us a telegram from hell, evildoers!"
"Back off, mutt!"
Kate braced her right claw, throwing a Brick Break forward the caught Bel in his throat. The Houndour reeled and bowled over gagging and wheezing for air. Bel never got a chance to recover, as Dalton stomped at the ground and threw chunks of stone and rock at the Dark-type, the Heliolisk's Bulldoze upending a stand of protective amulets as the Houndour went still with a sharp yelp.
On the sidelines, a few onlookers were starting to get unnerved, as a couple remarks of "someone get the Gendarmen" went around, but otherwise the rest were content to look on, a few like a Geodude taking the opportunity to actively egg the two sides on to fight.
One down, they just needed to throw the other three off-balance long enough in order to slip away-
"Eyaaah!"
A sharp cry of pain turned Kate's attention back to Irune, as she stumbled away from a watery slash run across her back. Because of course those Hunters would gang up on the one Pokémon they absolutely couldn't afford to leave behind for their flight. The Axew cried out in pain as she bolted forward, just as Cruz pulled his scalchop back and Vilma gave chase after her.
"Hah! I don't know why they even bother!" the Grovyle scoffed. "Just a little more-!"
"Paws off, you little runts!"
A fiery blur sailed in, driving the Dewott and Grovyle back as Lyle stepped in between Irune and her attackers as the fire from a fresh Flame Charge dissipated from his pelt. That was as good a sign as any to step in. It wasn't like Lyle was going to be able to handle that Dewott on his own. Kate bounded forward, readying an ambushing lunge, when she suddenly felt her limbs lock up and pitched forward with a yelp. She hit the ground and quickly discovered that she couldn't move her limbs, looking up just in time to see that 'Nellie' Eevee with a purple-banded Petrify Wand in her mouth giving a taunting harrumph.
"Neutralized. Stick around, Sneasel," she said. "We'll deal with you later."
Kate snarled after the Eevee and bayed after her to turn and fight, but the Normal-type was too busy beelining for her teammates as they harried Lyle and Irune. From her place on the ground, Kate watched helplessly as Lyle and Irune were mobbed, the Quilava's swift feet proving to be of no use after he was cornered up against the wall and cried out in pain from the hacking blow of a Razor Shell.
Then Kate felt the sharp tug dragging her up from the ground, and her limbs loosen as a sharp pipe reached her ears.
"Don't just lay there! Get up!"
Kate looked back to see Dalton, sporting fresh nicks and scuffs on his scales. The Sneasel stared at him briefly, before she blinked in confusion and flattened her ears out with a disgusted huff.
"Ugh, I'm supposed to be the one using dungeon items like that," Kate growled. "Though where the hell were you all this time?!"
"Doubling back to come to your aid!" he snapped. "We don't have time for this! Let's stun those Hunters and get out of here!"
Kate looked over at Lyle, who was pulling Irune free from their ringing opponents, the Quilava's ears pinned low as he ran along visibly dripping and shivering. Irune lost her footing and stumbled, as Kate watched the other Hunters descend on her and reflexively cried out to her Fire-type teammate.
"Lyle, whip up some cover for her!"
The Quilava crouched and spat up a cloud of smoke at Cruz and his still-standing teammates, which also swallowed up Irune in the process. Coughs and yelps rang out, as the Eevee of the lot stumbled out of the smoke cloud, prompting Kate to point out the Normal-type with a sharp cry.
"Get her, she's the Hunter with all of her team's items!"
Dalton needed no further encouragement, and shot a Thunderbolt at the Eevee that made her lock up with a pained screech. While Nellie reeled, Kate rushed at her, and clocked her across the face with a Brick Break that threw her aside and into the front of a nearby card stand, kicking up a flurry of slips of colored paper as the Normal-type struggled to get back up.
"A-Agh! How is this even remotely fair?!"
A spray of cinders from Lyle put her down for the count. Kate let out a scoff and turned her attention back towards Lyle's still-lingering cloud of smoke as she saw it clear enough to see Irune trying to flee from a Grovyle and Dewott's figures amidst the haze.
"Lyle! Grab Irune and let's go-!"
The cloud of haze suddenly lit up from a brilliant ball of fire, before Vilma was abruptly ejected from it screeching in pain. The Grovyle hit the ground visibly singed and rolled about, hurriedly running off for dear life with her tails pinned against her body as the smoke cleared. There, left behind was Irune panting wide-eyed as smoke trailed up from the corners of her mouth, and Cruz frozen and staring at her visibly spooked.
"Wh-What the-? Wh-What did you do to Vilma-?"
The Dewott was cut off by a Thunderbolt zipping in, which dropped him to his knees wincing and panting. Lyle ducked in and hurriedly pulled Irune along, the lot turning to leave when a hissing shout cut through the air.
"Oi! You're paying for those wares you broke!"
The four glanced over and saw a Sableye at the head of a group of Pokémon making their way over from the crowd of onlookers. Kate sucked in a sharp breath and grimaced, as Cruz got up from the ground and shot a dirty glare back at her.
"Oh, way to go! You broke it!"
It was then only she saw that the imp was pointing off at Cruz, which prompted Kate to blink before shooting a smarmy smirk off at the Dewott.
"Whelp, looks like you've got your paws full with Command Responsibility, Hunter," the Sneasel taunted. "We'll just leave and let you get right to sorting that out-"
"Not so fast!"
Kate's smile abruptly vanished and grimaces began to form on her teammates' faces as a Grovyle sporting singe marks and chewing a Heal Seed stepped out from beside the Sableye. The Grass-type narrowed her eyes, before raising a claw to point at her and the others on Team Forager.
"That's them," she said. "Those are the thieves you want."
The Ghost-type paused briefly, before adjusting his own claws accordingly. Her Houndour teammate was also up again with a weary "our head is spinning", spitting up a seed onto the ground as he hurriedly made his way over to his Eevee teammate and slipped a one with a small sprout into her mouth that made her start to stir.
This was bad. And judging from the toothy smirk on her face, Vilma knew it all too well.
"Reviver Seeds, gotta love 'em. Just saying, it didn't have to be like this," the Grovyle taunted. "I'll admit, I should've expected a surprise like that Fire Blast or whatever it was your Axew friend hit me with, but you should've expected that we'd have a few of our own."
Kate pinned her ears back and let out an irritated hiss, as Lyle's vents flared to life and he tugged Irune to take off in the other direction, only for the pair to freeze and look like they'd seen a ghost.
"Over there, Officers!"
Kate herself froze after she felt the ground tremble from heavy footsteps and watched as Dalton turned and let his mouth flop open in startled fright. A quick glance over her shoulder revealed what had spooked her teammates so badly: there, right on the heels of a Yamper pointing them out, was none other than the green-armored form of Sheriff Mack from the day before!
"This had better be good," the Aggron snapped. "I was in the middle of getting a Lemonade and- huh?!"
Kate flinched and stiffened up, her feathers and fur standing on end as the Steel-type followed the Yamper's paw down to Team Forager's members. Cruz folded his arms with an impatient scoff, before piping up with an audible harrumph.
"About time. Where have you been?"
The Aggron guard blinked and traded glances between the Pokémon in red and silver scarves, when he noticed Kate and her companions, and narrowed his eyes into an incredulous scowl.
"You're those cheapskates from yesterday!" he exclaimed. "Just what have you been doing around town to stir everyone up like this, huh?!"
The color rapidly drained from the Team Forager's faces as they saw other Pokémon in green armor emerge from the crowd with similarly inhospitable demeanors. Kate looked on as Team Pathfinder's members shot smug grins back and seemed to relish her and her teammates visible squirming. The Dark-type set her teeth on edge, looking around for any sign of an escape route as she hemmed and hawed back to the encroaching guards.
"We were… uh…"
Kate glanced up and noticed that the shop just behind Mack at the front of his entourage had been built styled after a Kecleon's head. That was the Consortium Shop that Irune had tried to rip off yesterday! The Kecleon proprietor was once again dozing off behind the counter, while the shelf behind him was lined with wares for the day, including one lined with a row of Wonder Orbs… just like the Blowback Orb in the bag they'd nicked from Team Pathfinder the other day.
"Just getting out of here!" she answered. "See ya!"
The Sneasel reached into her bag and hastily pulled the Blowback Orb out, smashing it against the ground right in front of Mack. A sudden gust of wind whipped up, sending the Aggron flying back into the counter with a crunch of splintering wood as the Kecleon woke up with a yelp.
The shelves on the display suddenly gave way, as a Blast Seed detonated and kicked up a sudden, fiery blast from behind it and ejected much of the shelves' contents out into the street. At once, the nearby onlookers hurriedly ducked for cover as Seeds, Wands, and Orbs flew about in a chaotic hail. A Sunny Orb refracting the sun's light to make it harsh, a Totter Seed striking a hapless Masquerain and making her lurch about in a daze. Team Forager watched briefly as the lane devolved into a chaotic mess from the effects of various dungeon items activating, when Kate whirled around and motioned frantically with her claws.
"Go go go!" the Sneasel cried.
Lyle took off running with his head held low after Kate launched Sheriff Mack into the front of Moonturn Square's Consortium shop, bolting for a nearby alleyway as a rain of Orbs and Seeds laid waste to a good chunk of the marketplace behind him. There were startled yelps, mixed with the roaring bellow of a livid Aggron, cries of "Thief! Thief!", and even a "Komm wieder her!₁" thrown in for good measure. It was as clear a sign as any that they needed to get the hell out of town, and fast.
A thousand thoughts raced through Lyle's mind along with his breath and the pounding throbs of his heart. But of all of them, one forced its way to the surface first and foremost:
"Reshiram's Fur, how'd we even get into this mess?!"
Team Forager's members heard a bellowing roar and hastily ducked down an intersecting alley right as a hail of rocks zipped past. Lyle ran alongside his fellows down the other end of the intersection, ducking around bends and turns as they heard shouts ring out behind them. A slicing gust of air from above snapped a clothesline, dropping a set of sheets into the alleyway that cut Lyle off from the rest of his teammates.
"A-Agh!"
The Quilava wheeled back and desperately tried to rejoin his teammates, only for an errant hail of stones to send him charging blindly for cover. He hurried down a back alley and heard footsteps charging past the other end, prompting him to hide behind a stack of crates and barrels that he noticed carried a faint whiff of something that smelled like seawater. When he looked up, Lyle noticed the roof of the Laughing Delphox and Tepig up near the edge of the bowl. Just a couple streets away from the looks of it.
Except, he was all alone, and he couldn't see hide nor hair of any of his fellows from their 'Team Forager'.
Lyle felt fire dance on his vents in a panic and sucked in light, rapid breaths. No, no, no! Damn it, this wasn't supposed to be happening! They were right here and Hermes would be flying off from this damned hole any minute now!
"Oh, for gods' sake, trouble this early already? Of all the days to get stuck with back to back morning shift and night shifts-"
Lyle abruptly froze at the sound of a yipping voice hurrying in from the mouth of the alley ahead. An uncomfortably familiar yipping voice. The Quilava turned to run when he lost his footing and stumbled, Hermes' money flopping out onto the ground with a loud clatter just as a blur of orange and cream came in and pinned him on his side, the Quilava looking up to see Nils staring down at him with a start.
"Lyle?!" the Floatzel exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing here?!"
Lyle panted and looked up blankly at the Gendarm, trying to form words in his mouth only to come up with nothing. The Quilava saw the Floatzel narrow his eyes briefly, before giving a quiet scoff and letting him go. Lyle got up and hastily dusted himself, gasping for breath as the Floatzel peered down at him with his arms folded
"So you have been getting into trouble again," Nils scoffed. "What'd you do this time? Knock off that Gummi Fab there?"
Gummi Fab? He supposed the crates did smell like the same gummi mix that the Mudsdale Puller the other day was transporting. Thank gods Nils wasn't aware of how much trouble he was in right now. All he needed to do was to get him off his back at the moment, maybe pass him a few Carolins—hell, a few hundred Carolins—and get the hell out of here.
"Nils, I don't have time for this-"
"No time for your old buddy to get you out of trouble again?" the Floatzel pressed.
Lyle heard the sound of jingling coins and felt his blood run cold. He whirled over to Nils and froze, the Floatzel had discovered the bag with Hermes' money, and he was tossing it up and down with a smug smile.
"Look, times are hard and so's changing habits, I get it. 'Once a thief, always a thief' and all that," the Floatzel insisted. "Naturally, I can't let you keep this. But hey, nobody said that shopkeep you lifted this off of had to get everything back."
Hateful, livid fire poured out of Lyle's vents and he bared his teeth. No. He was a minute from making it to Hermes. For all he knew, Kate and the others were already there with him right now. He was not about to let Nils of all damn Pokémon ruin everything!
"Now what's with that look?" the guard asked. "You think I don't know that you're having trouble too? With this sort of money, I think I could afford to cut you a little charity this time-"
"Gottverdammter Grünhäuter, give it back!"
Lyle dove forward as fire wreathed his pelt, ramming Nils in his legs and making him lose his footing. The Floatzel yelped and tripped, losing his grip on the bag and sending it falling to the ground with a loud clatter. Lyle darted over and reflexively snatched it up, when he felt a sharp pain shoot through his flank as a watery burst broke over him and knocked him to the ground. The sound of a low growl filled his ears as he turned and saw Nils getting up with bared fangs and an overpowering glare.
"Ungrateful bastard!" the Floatzel spat. "Fine! Starve in an Apricorn for all I care!"
Lyle reflexively bobbed and weaved on his toes and spat up a plume of smoke at the Floatzel, attempting to bolt past him. The Quilava made it to the open back door of the Gummi Fab when he felt a torrent of water overtake him. The Fire-type flopped belly first onto the ground and struggled up in a daze, noticing the entire alleyway was drenched. Had- Had Nils used Surf?! When the hell had Nils learned that?!
Lyle wheeled around as the Floatzel charged him, only for Nils to yelp and hit the ground from a sudden bolt of electricity.
"A-Agh! Wh-What the-?!"
Nils tried to get back onto his feet when a yellow-and-black blur cut in and shoved him to the ground, the otter yelping as a gout of blue dragonfire sailed in and struck his face. There, Dalton and Irune hurried in, Kate darting over to the Floatzel as he attempted to scurry away and knocking him flat on his back with a swipe of her claws that trailed white flecks of light. As Lyle picked himself up, he saw Nils readying a jet of water, only to freeze up as Kate stepped onto his chest plate and pinned him with her other claw drawn for a second Slash at his throat. The Sneasel scowled down at the cornered Grünhäuter briefly, before looking back at Lyle with an annoyed huff.
"Hey! Give us a warning if you're going to duck off like that next time, Lyle!" she exclaimed. "If we didn't hear that racket you two made, we'd never have found you!"
Nils' eyes shrank to pins and he coughed up his water, which did little more than to splatter over his armor plates inertly. His breaths came shallow and panicked as he tried to thrash free, only to accomplish little more than an ineffectual squirm as Dalton and Irune came over and helped pin him down. Lyle heard the Floatzel whine and watched as his air sac reflexively puffed up, the Water-type looking over at him with a pleading expression.
"L-Lyle! I-It was just an argument!" the Floatzel begged. "W-We're friends! W-We can talk it out!"
Gods, Nils really was as pathetic as he thought. Lyle couldn't help but feel some sense of satisfaction at seeing the leech squirm like this, and normally, he'd have half a mind to make Nils grovel a bit over all the crap he had to put up with from him over the last two years.
"Oi! Over there!" a voice barked. "I heard a scuffle!"
Except things weren't normal right now, and they certainly weren't going to be welcome in this town again anytime soon after this. Why, for all they knew, Hermes was about to spring in the air without them. The Quilava glanced back over at the open doorway and motioned at his fellow Outlaws to follow along.
"Quick, this way!" the stoat insisted. "We can cut through this Gummi Fab!"
Dalton shot a parting Thunder Wave at the Floatzel as Lyle and the others hastily ducked through the opened back door and into a darkened space full of vats and conveyer belts with the hum of crude machinery driven by Pokémon on running wheels. The group tore along, brushing past workers like a startled Togetic as they tried to follow the lines of contraptions, running past a one that deposited a stream of what appeared to be white, sea-smelling powder when they reached a wall.
"Gah! The exit's not this way!" Kate yelped.
"You!"
The four whirled around and much to their alarm, saw that they'd been cornered by an armored Zangoose. The same armored Zangoose from the caravan raid and from the garrison. From the way his red eyes narrowed, he clearly hadn't forgotten about them either.
"You're those damned Outlaws from that caravan the other day!" he hissed. "Nobody makes a fool out of Dolch the Cutter and gets away with-!"
The Zangoose was cut off by a plume of white as Kate abruptly flung some of the powder off the conveyer belt and into the Normal-type's face, Irune throwing in a pair of stiff chops with her tusks at the guard's shins that keeled him over with a pained wince as the four ran along, retracing their steps. Along the way, Lyle noticed Kate licking some stray powder off her claws, and her face scrunching up with a disgusted frown.
"Gods, that crap they make gummis out of really does taste awful before they add the flavoring," she grumbled.
"Kate, stay focused on finding a way out of here!" Dalton snapped.
They heard the voices of other guards in the room now when they spotted daylight peeking out through a doorway up a flight of stairs to their right across a conveyer belt. One by one, Team Forager's members ducked and slid under it, popping out out the other end, up the stairs, and out a front entrance into a lobby being watched by an incredulous-looking Indeedee from behind a crude wooden counter.
"Hey! You're not supposed to be-!"
The Psychic-type's protests were cut off as the four popped out onto the street outside, which much to their relief, was the same street running up the bowl of the human ruin that the Laughing Delphox and Tepig was built on.
After a brief run up, they could already make the sign out hanging over the doorway, along with Hermes. The Dragonite was shuffling out, laden with a harness with lengths of rope draped over his back and baggage slung over his flanks, grumbling to himself with a clay flask in his claws. Thank gods, looked like he was ready to take wing, and with not a moment to spare.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Hermes!" the Quilava squeaked. "We've got your money, so let's get flying!"
Lyle stuffed a paw into his satchel and pulled out their pilfered purse, throwing it at Hermes' feet. The bag landed with a loud jingle, making the Dragonite look down, before he shot an exasperated scowl back at his would-be passengers.
"Well that's great that you finally came through, but it can wait a bit given how you four obviously weren't in a rush," Hermes snorted, before snatching up the bag of coins. "I wanted a drink before hitting my route."
"We don't have time for that!" Irune cried. "Just take the money and get us out of here!"
Hermes stomped the ground and stepped forward, leveling an accusatory claw back out at Team Forager.
"Well if you're gonna give me an attitude like that, maybe you can go and find another-"
"There they are!"
A sharp shout came from the group's left as they saw Mack now sporting a few burns, scuffs, and stray splinters clinging to his hide, charging ahead at the front of a mob of other guards and disgruntled townsfolk, with Team Pathfinder's members near the front. Hermes's jaw slackened, as his grip on his flask slipped and it fell and shattered against the ground, splattering red syrup by his feet. The Dragonite looked down at his spilled Lansat Syrup, then back at Team Forager's members before crouching and motioning back with his head.
"Nevermind, flying now sounds good!" Hermes yelped. "Get on or forever hold your peace!"
Lyle hastily clambered aboard, latching onto the Dragonite's bags and rope loops for grip as he made his way onto his back, Kate and Dalton swiftly following as the latter hastily pulled Irune from the ground and onto Hermes' back when the Dragonite ran up along the path leading to the edge of the bowl and sprang up.
The Quilava yelped and wrapped his paws about the rope loop nearest him as his body pinned against Hermes' harness and he felt air rush through his fur. He looked back and saw a wooden railing zip past as Hermes dived briefly, flinching as he heard the sound of it splintering, and looked to see stones and dirt cascading over the edge with Mack stomping and shouting at them from the ledge. Hermes frantically pulled up as beams and missiles sailed by, the Dragon-type hurriedly tearing southwards past the town walls. Team Forager and their companions breathed sighs of relief as they watched the attacks whizzing by grow more and more sporadic as trees and fields passed below them and Moonturn Square faded further and further off into the distance behind them.
The wind was chilly that day, as it usually was this late in Herbstmond. Even so, Lyle had never realized just how cold it got at this time of year until he was on dragonback and feeling it whip against his fur.
Two hours later, Hermes' course had taken Team Forager southwards. Lyle's heart had stopped racing after Moonturn Square slipped over the horizon without any sign of pursuing Air Marshals, which allowed Lyle to turn his attention to his surroundings. They went by in a patchwork of fields and forests, with the occasional spire or some other human ruin jutting up here or there. Occasionally, a few regions showed abrupt changes in foliage anchored by Mystery Dungeons, a couple of which were already visibly frosted in snow that Hermes dutifully steered away from. Lyle noted that the Dragonite flew close enough to the ground that he could still faintly make out wagons with his nearsighted vision, yet high enough for much of his surroundings to go by in blurs. He wasn't complaining, but he could've sworn that Dragonite normally flew at higher altitudes.
A gust of frigid wind and a shuddering shake from Hermes made the stoat clutch tighter to the length of rope serving as a grip before him as he fought back nervous fire. Maybe that had something to do with why Hermes was flying relatively close to the ground. Lyle supposed these "loops" were safer than riding barebacked, but from this high up, he felt almost as vulnerable as when he was out in the middle of deep water.
"Hopefully we don't need to fly long-distance again anytime soon," he murmured..
"Blaugh, I can't wait until we hit the final stretch before Toya Square. I'm not buzzed enough to deal with these temperatures," the Dragonite grumbled. "It shouldn't be much longer now before you start feeling the difference."
'Feeling the difference', huh? Lyle supposed that meant that Toya Square wasn't far from a Mystery Dungeon. The only way a 'mon was beating the autumn chill short of starting a fire or wearing oneself out by constantly using Sunny Day was if they were around a Mystery Dungeon that affected its surroundings.
Lyle shifted in place from his spot on Hermes' harness and fought back a yawn. He hadn't slept well again last night, not that having to get up at the crack of dawn helped. Even if there was at least half of Varhyde to go after Toya Square before reaching the Divine Roost, he honestly wouldn't have minded if Hermes had opted to stop and rest his wings a bit. It'd be a chance to stretch and get his paws back on solid earth again.
It didn't help that there weren't many things to do for amusement other than sightseeing right then. Attempting to play cards would've been a non-starter even if they had them. That left listening in on his teammates' conversations, which when he'd been able to hear them at all over the wind or when Kate wasn't dozing off, had been guarded and stiff ever since they'd left Moonturn Square… for obvious reasons of not giving their much stronger Carrier any ideas of turning them in.
♫ You said you'd love me many days ago
"Don't worry about those things"
"It's not your fault"- ♫
And then there was Irune at the head of the group.
The whole trip, she'd gaped about her surroundings in awed wonder, and sometimes amused herself by flapping one of her arms, or trying to hum or sing parts of that dippy song from the other day at the tavern. Or at least she was when the chill and the air currents didn't catch up with her and make her flinch and shiver, much like they'd done just now.
The younger Dragon-type trailed off and scooted back to press up against Lyle for warmth. He blinked briefly, but couldn't begrudge her too much for doing so. Alvin had done likewise in colder months from time to time.
Even so, the Quilava couldn't help but find it curious at how Irune seemed to be wholly unbothered at being stuck zipping along in midair. Or at least when she wasn't freezing her scales off. Had she flown with a Carrier some other time in the past?
"Just what were you four doing in town to get the guards so riled up like that?"
As for casual conversation during their flight… well, Lyle supposed Hermes was turning his head back to face them just now, but from the exasperated scowl on his face, it was highly unlikely he had anything to say that they'd want to talk about.
He and his fellows traded wary glances with one another at the Dragonite's question, before Kate broke the silence with a quiet shrug of her shoulders.
"Eh, just some business."
Hermes turned his head back with a sharp frown. Lyle held his breath for a moment, worrying that perhaps Hermes had gotten wise to them, before the Dragonite snapped him back to attention with a distrustful growl.
"Are you going to be any more specific?" he demanded. "Since as far as I know, there's not too much business that'll get a 'mon into hot water like that."
"Look, we had an agreement to ride with you to Newangle City with no questions asked," Dalton huffed, narrowing his eyes back. "If you're really that worried, wouldn't it be in your best interests to stay in the dark as well?"
Boy did Dalton sure know how to pick his battles… this was the sort of lack of tact Lyle would've expected from Kate. The stoat eyed Hermes carefully as the Dragonite turned his head and shot an askew glance from the corner of his eyes for a moment, before training his attention back towards his flight path with a low grumble.
"Egh, maybe it's just the cold getting to me. It's just that a couple of times, I could've sworn I was being tailed," he muttered. " I guess it's nothing that I couldn't smooth over with a gift of a little tea to the guards next time, but you four are really not making this easy right now."
Lyle sighed out of relief before he noticed that the air suddenly felt damper and warmer than he remembered. He let his eyes drift out over his surroundings again. The ground below had given way to thick forests, and every now and then, there'd be a prominent patch of fog that clung to the landscape here or there. The telltale sign of a Mystery Dungeon's presence.
As luck had it, Hermes' route took them directly past one in the far distance. The fog wreathed the sides of a table-like plateau over the horizon much like an affixed cloud, and below it were a small pawful of spindly stone chimneys seemingly rising from the forests below. That was Raptor Rock, about a day's journey overland from the royal capital of Newangle City, and half a week's journey had they chosen to walk that sort of distance.
It was one thing to hear stories about such places, but it was another to see one of them in the flesh. It was said that places like Raptor Rock were formed from the churning of the earth the Great Flash inflicted on Wander, in which entire chunks of stone and earth had been raised aloft into the sky and kept in place in defiance of gravity by Mystery Dungeons anchoring them. Nobody knew whether such places would stay aloft if their anchoring Mystery Dungeons dissipated, but Lyle didn't want to think too hard about that right now.
The topic got Lyle thinking about their final destination at the Divine Roost. It was supposed to be an island which hung over the sea between Varhyde and Edialeigh, one only normally only reachable by traversing one of the Mystery Dungeons it served as a nexus to.
Except… Raptor Rock was supposed to be a Mystery Dungeon that Hunters went into for missions on a regular basis. The ones that led into the Divine Roost… weren't, to say the least. The only alternative was to brave the treacherous skies about it that few other than the gods could manage, hence its name.
He still wasn't sure what that was going to look like for them when they got there. If they got there.
Lyle felt Irune shiver and press up against him from the chill of the winds blowing past them on Hermes' back.
The Quilava froze and started to pull himself back before reminding himself that Irune was a reptile. Without a pelt to keep her warm or an element to counter the effects of the chill, it was only logical she'd find these temperatures uncomfortable. Lyle frowned and looked down, when he glimpsed Irune tugging her dart-like pendant with its white, gray, and black bands out from under her scarf.
The Fire-type tilted his ear puzzledly. What was that thing? And why the Axew had felt a compulsion to wear it while riding a flier as swift as Hermes?
He quietly reached a paw out for it, only for Irune's eyes to suddenly widen and her to clutch onto the bauble with a fierce glare and low growl from the back of her throat.
"Paws off, Quilava," she spat. "You don't see me rooting through your stuff, do you?"
Well, she certainly had her guard up as an Outlaw. A bit too up, if he said so himself. Lyle frowned and flattened his ears, giving a low harrumph in reply to the Dragon-type.
"If you're not going to let me get a closer look at it, would you at least tell me what that thing is?" he asked.
"I already told you," she huffed, stuffing the pendant back under her garb. "I need it for when we get to the Divine Roost!"
"That's not an answer and you know it," the Quilava scoffed. "Seriously, what is that thing? A key? A weight? What on earth would a stone wedge like that have to do with a treasure?"
The Axew fell silent and seemed to falter a moment, as if she were unsure of what to say next. After a long hesitation, she shook her head, before narrowing her eyes back sharply.
"That's not a matter that concerns a thief like you."
Lyle blinked for a moment, noticing Hermes' shadow falling over the treetops below briefly, before he snapped back to attention and narrowed his eyes with a quiet scoff.
"'A thief like me'?" he muttered. "Just what's that supposed to mea…"
Lyle abruptly trailed off, as the Quilava's eyes drifted off to the right and noticed that there, on the treetops behind them, were the shadows of a good dozen shapes closing in on their position. Dalton similarly spotted it, and clung tightly to his loop, pointing with his mouth hung open in shock off behind them and crying out something that he couldn't make out over the wind.
Lyle looked back past Hermes' tail and saw nothing but empty air, when his ears suddenly pricked at the sound of strong wingbeats. He at first thought it was his ears playing tricks on him, when he noticed Kate stiffen up with her fur tensed up and her ears pinned out. She'd heard it too.
The Quilava flushed pale as a dawning realization came over him: they weren't alone right now. He felt Irune paw at him, her earlier scowl now gone and replaced with a visibly nervous grimace.
"Wh-What's going on?" she asked. "What did you three see out-?"
As if on cue, a blue gout of dragonfire zipped past, just missing Hermes' wings. Lyle threw his paws onto his loop as Hermes abruptly pulled his right claw back from the passing Dragon Pulse and jolted his body in midair, sending the Quilava lurched over the side. Lyle felt his hind legs dangle in midair and held on for dear life. He clung tightly and felt Kate and Irune help pull himself up onto Hermes' back. The Dragonite's eyes were now shrunk to pins as he wheeled sharply to the left with a startled yelp.
"Ack! Götterblut! I went out of my way to avoid the Outlaw hotspots this time!"
Lyle and the rest of Team Forager's members looked back along with their Dragonite Carrier as Dalton threw a crackling wave of electricity back at the air behind them. The air abruptly shimmered with magenta light as a number of flying Pokémon suddenly came into view, including a Zoroark clinging wide-eyed to a Pidgeot that was pulling up from an uncontrolled dive with static still crackling on her plumage.
It took all of a few seconds for Lyle to notice that the lot of them were clad in green army plates and taking on a chevron-shaped formation. Much to their horror, there, making his way to the front of it, was none other than Lacan in his cloth and mail armor.
"You've got bigger problems than a few Outlaws back there!" Dalton cried.
Lyle flattened his body against Hermes and his vents came alight with a start as a hail of beams and missiles zipped past the drake's body: lightning, ice, fire, and a few others that the Quilava struggled to make out in the confusion. Gods, were they in over their head right now! Another Dragon Pulse zipped past when an angry growl rang out, which much to Lyle and his companions' alarm, came from ahead of them. The stoat gulped and pinned his ears back, looking up to see Hermes looking back at them with a furious glare.
"I knew I shouldn't have let you off for whatever you did back in town!" the Carrier fumed. "What did you little runts do?!"
"Oi! Easy! Easy!" Kate yelped. "We didn't have any more idea than you that this would happen!"
Lyle wasn't sure what the right thing would've been to say back to Hermes, but from the Dragonite's expression, he was sure as hell it wasn't that. The Carrier's face contorted into a bared-fanged snarl at the Sneasel's protests, before he launched into a bellowing tirade that rang in their ears.
"Sure you didn't! That's why I've got a dozen soldiers on my ass right now, huh?!" Hermes shouted. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't throw you off my back right here and now and just let gravity sort you out!"
Lyle bit his lip and glanced down at the treetops below with panicked breaths. H-Hermes was just bluffing, right? He had a record to keep as a Carrier, and he wouldn't just dump them off his back, would he? The Quilava snapped back to attention after seeing Irune wave at Hermes in protest as she raised her voice.
"Look, those soldiers obviously aren't going to let you off if you try something like that right now!" the Axew cried. "Just do what you can to not to get hit and we'll try to cover for you!"
"Spinnst du?!₂ Did you all hit your heads this morning?!" Hermes exclaimed. "How long do you expect me to hold out against all those 'mons?!"
Lyle and his fellow Outlaws looked about frantically, when his eyes fell on a sudden drop in a plateau up ahead. There, mixed in with the midst of a wide set of cascading waterfalls, was the telltale fog shroud of a Mystery Dungeon. If they skimmed it, it'd force Lacan and his cronies to either back off or else risk getting knocked into its Distortion by the likes of a stiff crosswind!
"That Mystery Dungeon up there!" the Quilava exclaimed. "If you can hold out long enough for us to cut right past it, we can force those guys to back off from us!"
Lyle watched as Hermes looked off ahead at the Mystery Dungeon. For a second, the Dragonite visibly blanched. He looked anxious. Scared, even. Before the Quilava could ask, an arc of lightning struck Hermes' hindquarters and made him lurch and lose altitude. Lyle screamed and he heard his teammates do much the same.
The Quilava screwed his eyes shut as the Dragonite pitched forward, only to get pushed down against the harness on his back as he hastily evened out. Lyle felt his heart pound in his chest and cracked his eyes open with a low whine. There, he saw Hermes panting for air, glimpsing briefly back over his shoulders at his passengers, before shaking his head with a sharp bellow.
"Alright, hold on to those loops!" he cried. "This is going to get bumpy!"
Lyle clung onto the rope in his paws for dear life and felt his body leave Hermes' harness as the Carrier dove down, picking up speed as he approached the forest canopy below. Lyle jolted against the harness' fabric as the Dragonite sharply leveled out about halfway to the ground. Or at least he assumed it was halfway to the ground from how much larger the treetops looked right now.
Their leaves were still an emerald green and Lyle felt beads of liquid roll off his brow. He didn't know it was physically possible for Quilava to sweat. It shouldn't have been, but then what on earth was…?
It then dawned on Lyle that the air itself felt warm and humid. Why, it had more in common with the wet heat of the midsummer days of Heumond₃ than the autumnal chill around Moonturn Square. Was that really what the weather around Toya Square was like?
A band of wind whipping over his face snapped Lyle back to attention. To his left was a wall of mist close enough for Hermes' claws to just skim it. Back above and behind them in the air, Lacan and his soldiers were headed in a diagonal path going behind the Mystery Dungeon. Hermes for his part seemed to be putting his boost of speed to good use, as Lacan and his lackeys' attacks kept veering off further and further away from them as they attempted to change course.
"Got you!"
A cawing sneer followed by a startled yelp from Kate turned Lyle's attention towards a Skarmory that was beelining straight for them. He must've flown in the draft from Hermes' wake and caught up with them! The Quilava instinctively spat up a spray of burning, bluish-white cinders in the Skarmory's face and the bird lost his balance. He heard a startled squawk as he clung to his loop for dear life where he could see Kate following up with an icy gust of wind from her mouth from the corner of his vision. The Steel-type began to fall behind and struggled briefly from the blows, when a weak spark zipped in from Dalton and settled on the Skarmory's left wing.
The Steel-type soldier abruptly went rigid with a startled screech, plummeting out of the air and into the boughs of the trees below. Lyle couldn't help but wince at the Skarmory's crash landing, and pulled himself back into a riding stance with a panting shiver. Hermes for his part didn't dare look back to examine Team Forager's handiwork, though from the abrupt loss of the Skarmory's presence, Lyle could already hear the Carrier's voice adopting an increasingly confident tone.
"Whatever you're doing back there, keep it up!" he cried. "We're almost at-! Agh!"
Just then, a blue-and-green blur zipped in. Lyle looked up and immediately grimaced. It was that damned Corvisquire from Lacan's Fähnlein in her Grünhäuter armor, with a length of rope in her talons. Lyle reflexively spat up a spray of cinders and heard her squawk with a start, his teammates shouting themselves as they tried to strike her when they suddenly felt Hermes' body lurch.
A quick glance revealed that the crow was banking and hurriedly flying off in the distance, while there in front of them, was her rope. Wrapped up and tangled around Hermes' wings. The Dragonite glanced back at the Corvisquire's work and went wide-eyed, the drake frantically trying to break free as he lurched and began to pitch forward.
A spray of stony flechettes sailed up from the ground followed by a sharp yelp. A quick glance revealed Hermes' flight was wobbling, as he pawed at his chest and wheezed for air. Team Forager's members held on for dear life to their loops as the Dragonite's balance wavered and they lost altitude. So there was a reason why Lacan's attacks kept veering off in one direction. He'd been herding them into an ambush!
"H-Hurry! Get Hermes' wings free!" Lyle cried. "We need to get out of here!"
Nobody needed any further prompting after that. Lyle made his way over to the length of rope between Hermes' wings and spewed fire along a section further away from his hide. The rope thinned and frayed, which Kate made short work of with a Slash. At once, Hermes' wings freed up, and while still encumbered, he beat them for dear life. He must've realized the soldiers' intentions himself.
Lyle clung to one of the loops on the Hermes' back as the drake hurriedly pulled up. The stoat felt himself get knocked against Hermes' back and heard his teammates cry out as the Dragonite started ascending sharply, flying past a stony ledge at the rim of the plateau as the treetops started shrinking below them. All of a sudden, Irune's eyes widened after she noticed something below, and she cried out in a loud voice.
"A-Aah! Hermes! Watch out-!"
The Axew never finished her words as Lyle watched an icy ray abruptly shoot up from among the treetops towards the edge of the plateau. The Ice Beam struck Hermes' right wing mid-beat, as he bellowed in pain and frantically tried to beat it to flee. Much to Lyle's shock, the wing visibly crusted over with ice, and for a fleeting second, everyone, even Hermes, looked at it with horrified stares.
And then the Dragonite's body rolled rightward and his smooth flight turned into a flailing tumble towards the rapidly approaching treetops below.
The next thing Lyle knew, the air filled with his and his teammates' screams as it whistled past them and their bodies began to drift away from the Dragonite's harness.
Gazing emptily, Lyle started to see glimpses of his past flash before his eyes:.
His parents playing with him when they were still Quilava and he was still a Cyndaquil, pointing out the stars in the sky and explaining that they were great fires far, far away in the distance much like the ones they wielded.
A night from when he was so young that he could only hazily remember anything beyond cowering with his parents and his brother's egg in the shop's cellar. All while the roar of marauding Rothäuter and their attacks rained down from the sky.
His father as a Quilava in front of a damaged shopfront littered with broken glass, hugging him and his mother goodbye before his deployment during Edialeigh's last invasion of Varhyde.
A night where he went hungry with his brother about a month after his hatching while his mother cried in the next room over.
The day the Pokémon deployed from his village came back from the last frontlines in Varhyde near Port Velhen thinned in number. And how his father returned as a Typhlosion but seemed wholly unable to get into the festive mood.
The day his mother evolved, and the dread she and his father had over how on earth they would afford the extra food she needed.
The day he was given his first glassblowing pipe by his father as an apprentice. And how happy and eager he was to follow in his footsteps.
The sleepless nights from his father waking from nightmares. Or from his parents worrying how they were going to keep the shop during leaner months.
And of course, the day when his mother was served that damned draft notice. The one he'd dipped his paws into banditry to afford bribing the soldiers garrisoned nearby to make disappear from the records.
Lyle felt his body jolt against Hermes' harness and snap back to attention. The Dragonite had managed to flatten himself out and pulled up just above the treetops. All of a sudden, Lyle launched forward as Hermes hit something. He watched the Dragon-type fall from view with his teammates and briefly heard their cries as he spun head over heels into the treetops below.
The Quilava felt damp foliage lash his body, and then hit a bough on his side that flexed under his weight. Lyle wrapped his paws around the branch, as it whipsawed back and forth while his vision ran muddy and he heard his vents pouring sputtering fire.
Craaaack!
And then it gave way and he fell, his body tumbling against one branch or set of vines after another before he hit a large fern and came to a hard stop against the ground on his back. Lyle lay there stunned for a moment, trying to roll over onto his feet as ferns and vines nestled among tall, shaded trunks danced in his vision.
The last thing he remembered before his strength gave out and the world went dark was keeling over and feeling the side of his head hit the damp earth.
"Lyle! Lyle!"
The first thing Lyle remembered after passing out was Kate's voice and a sharp prick at his side. The Quilava tried to curl and flare up, only to hear his fire sputter and his Sneasel teammate cry out 'Hey! Watch it!' in reply, probably from being too close to his vents again. The Fire-type felt frantic pawing at his belly, and woozily cracked his eyes open with a low groan as his paws brushed at wet dirt underfoot and the sound of rushing water in the background pricked his ears.
"Ngh…"
"Get up, Lyle!" Irune pleaded. "We don't have much time!"
Lyle's eyes jolted open as he felt a set of claws latch onto his forepaws and drag him up, coming face to face with Dalton and Kate. The two of them were visibly winded, with Kate's feathers frayed and mussed from a clumsy fall, and Dalton's hide missing scales on a few patches.
"Wh-What's going on…?" the Quilava stammered. "How long have I been out? Did we shake Lacan?"
"You fell off Hermes about fifteen minutes ago, and we'll be meeting Lacan real soon if we just stick around here!" Dalton insisted. "That Salamence and his goons are coming right this way!"
Lyle looked around his surroundings and noted that the trees were tall and dark-colored, with verdant undergrowth that continued unimpeded aside from a rough path that his teammates had evidently stomped through to get to him. The canopy overhead was thick enough to make it impossible to see the sky outside of small patches, and the trees looked closely spaced. Guess that would explain why Lacan's fliers hadn't found him yet. Distant buzzes and calls of local Wilders rang out in the distance, and the air was hot and sticky, not at all like the weather Varhyder autumns were supposed to have.
"Dalton, where the hell we are right now?! Where's Hermes?! Wh-Where do you expect us to go?!" Lyle exclaimed. "We've just crash-landed!"
"The Grünhäuter got to him," the Heliolisk snapped. "Look, just get up and get moving before they catch up with us too!"
"We already found a place to escape to!" Irune insisted. "Come on!"
Lyle watched as the other members of Team Forager hurried back along their hastily cleared path, and darted after them as he saw them approach the ledge of the plateau they saw from the air. In an arcing line, they could see the contents of a wide river spill over waterfalls in the background, into churning fog that clung at its base. The Quilava followed the fog and saw that it crept up along the cliff faces in some places, including right below them. The stoat's eyes widened and he pinned his ears back with a sharp grimace.
"Oh no. You can't be serious," he demanded. "We just got chewed up in the air and now you want to jump head-first into gods-knows-where in a Mystery Dungeon?"
Kate rolled her eyes and picked up a rock from the ledge before dropping it. The stone fell from sight before roughly a second later, the faint clatter of it crashing against something hard filtered back up to the team's ears.
"There's solid ground down there in the fog, so we're not jumping straight into it," she said. "And someone's come through here before."
Lyle followed the Sneasel's claws as she motioned at a set of vines that hung over the ledge and dangled into the fog. Along them were claw marks of a creature that had climbed them. The Quilava looked back at the forest warily, before turning back to his teammates.
"Look, for all we know, that ledge leads straight to some Pocket with a Wilder's den in it!" he exclaimed. "Don't we have any way of getting better bearings on where we are right now-?"
Before he could finish speaking, Lyle heard sharp rustling from the forest's undergrowth, and spotted dark shapes flying amongst the treetops. The four braced themselves, when a rough, barking voice called out to an unseen presence deeper within.
"I hear them! They're up ahead!"
Lyle felt the blood drain from his face, when Irune tugged sharply at his flank, looking up with pleading eyes.
"There's no time!" Irune whispered. "Come on Lyle! You three know how to get around these places, and it's our only hope!"
The Quilava looked back towards the undergrowth as the approaching rustling grew louder and louder, before looking back at the vines. Reflexively, Lyle latched onto them and slid down into the fog, jumping down and feeling his feet land on damp stone. The stoat crouched and hastily rolled out of the way, his feet brushing against the edge of the ledge and feeling empty air for a brief moment. He heard the sound of Dalton and Irune following after him and could see their forms, pinning himself against the cliff's ledge and lighting up his fire to draw their attention.
Lyle felt his Heliolisk and Axew teammates sidle up against him, when a sharp hacking noise rang out as the vines gave way and Kate landed in a crouch, hastily jumping over the vines and rejoining her teammates as they whipped past her and slid off into the foggy abyss. The four held their breaths and looked up at the obscured ledge of the plateau as voices rang out overhead.
"Eh?! You said they were right here!" a buzzing voice cried.
"I mean, they were…" the first voice insisted. "I don't know what could've happened."
The four darted up against the stone wall when Lyle noted that instead of the stone of a cliff face, they were entering a darkening space. The Quilava continued on until the light behind them shrank to a rough circle, when he flared up and revealed that they were in a fog-filled tunnel.
"Keep it down and stick close," he whispered. "I don't know what's waiting for us on the other side, but I doubt it's anything good."
And with that, the four Outlaws pressed on, leaving the distant sounds of chatter beyond the cave's mouth to filter through the mist as they marched on into the dark passage ahead of them.
Author's Notes:
Words and Phrases:
1. Komm wieder her! - "Come/Get back here!"
2. Spinnst du?! - "(Are) you crazy?!" lit. "(Are) you spinning?!"
3. Heumond - "July" (archaic)
Teaser Text:
The world left behind by the Great Flash has been a world characterized by mysteries and wonders, along with the echoes of great ones left behind in our midst. Those we call 'humans'.
And yet, throughout our recorded history, there have been those that have claimed to be human. Some come shorn of memory, knowing naught but their names. But they come always bearing our forms, claiming to be strange creatures trapped in alien bodies.
Most such Pokémon go on to be revealed to be charlatans, preying off the hopes and curiosities of others. And yet, others exhibit qualities that defy explanation. Knowledge of long-dead scripts and wisdom, impossible powers such as clairvoyance beyond their natural abilities, some are said to have even won the favor of gods.
It is difficult to distinguish where folklore ends and facts begin for such figures. None know from whence they come. Some say they hail from beyond the stars. Others say they come from holes in the sky from other worlds. Others say they come from nameless places beyond time and space where the dimensions meet one another.
Fewer still know why they come. Some say such appearances are but cosmic accidents, others reverberations that linger from the Great Flash. And still others claim they are heroes drawn by the groanings of our unsettled world.
Others have proposed that it is their presence itself that helps unsettle our world, reasoning that they perhaps fit the mold of most heroes of this world too well. Pokémon great and small who are hailed and celebrated as saviorsᵃ in one land, and reviled and feared as scourgesᵇ in another.
- Excerpt from 'The Collected Legends from Wander'
a. Retter can also function in some contexts as "Rescuer", and is translated accordingly in such usages.
b. Geißel carries the same literal and figurative meaning as "scourge" in English. Unlike its English counterpart, it is significantly more elevated in language. In more normal German prose, one would use "Plage" (lit. "Plague") in this context.
This review is part of a review cycle so that I can keep enough silverware sane that I can still eat cake. As such, Lyle has been CHOSEN!!!! To be pulled out of his little post-Outlaw comfort life and back into the demands of screentime. He's going to be *so* glad for screentime once this chapter is over, lol.
So yeah, we start with a blurb telling us that this world is not having a nice time. For starters, the blurb is in another language but comes with a translation in the glossary. For seconds, it talks about an apocalypse that rendered what was a Trainerworld into basically a post-apoc post-human Terranstyle!PMD world.
Which means there was a good </sarcasm> transition time for anyone who made it past the initial post-apoc whole. Yay everyone who made it through!
I'm gonna say that while I can't read German, what I tried to read felt like it had a tonal and narrative form like tales of an expedition that survived a shipwreck or returned from a salted/scorched land, whereas the translated version feels more like a narration of events behind the trenches or from a facility or community hosting people looking for asylum. I don't know yet if either are intended, but they do paint a mental imagery of those Pokémon who survived the apoc and what vision of the world they had.
Und dann kam was wir „Der Glühende Blitz“ nannten. Auf einmal umhüllte ein blendendes Licht unsere Welt, welches die gesamte Menschheit entfernt hat. Die Dimensionen wurden gestört und die ganzen Kontinenten schüttelten.
This kind of catastrophe is becoming a staple of your 'verses, @SpitefulMurkrow . I mean, the Cradle's world basically went through the same, yes? Just saying :p
But yeah, I hope for the next setting they keep a better rein on those Fairy types and others mixing and mashing magical spells just to see what comes out. You don't really want to be known as the one who "Wingardium LeviOSÁH!"'d (or, in your better words, "oopsie'd") an entire race off the world, *and* made Waze and OpenStreetmap mappers' lives a living nightmare.
Anyway, Lyle!
Among the figures scurrying about was a tired-looking Quilava
He's a Quilava which automatically makes him cute and cool like all the Gen2 starters inb4 Chikorita. It's good to see some G2 representation. He's living in a potentially awesome world too. But hey he still has to earn the coins, I take it he's working basically as a seasonal gatherer and, given it's about to be the end of harvest season, he's not being happy about it.
The Quilava gaped about his surroundings on the way over, seeing other Pokémon in similar garb still at work trying to glean the last stray Oran Berries off bushes with leaves that had long since turned red with the seasons—a sign that they'd be the last crop to be picked from them until winter
Ooooooooor, you could just windshield them with a cover, and keep one or two NPCs close to water them and fertilize the soil for the next 48 hours, right? Right? I mean, berry farming in the games was easy, right? </sarcasm>
There, a Crustle in a simple tan scarf stood behind a table with a set of scales on them. One by one, the Pokémon in line would pass a slip of paper over [...]
Oh no! it's the Rey scenario back at Jakku all over again! Jakku is a shit world btw. Noone likes Jakku.
So, what we get from here and makes things worse is that not only are Lyle andhis fellow farmers picking up the last fruit of the season if they don't wisen up to the old tricks of clock manipulation and berry farming glitches, but also! Those berries are not even for them, they are for troops who are off figthing *and losing* somewhere else.
"… If you say so. I'm just glad that not everyone's as unmotivated as you," the Bug-type said.
Fck off, Trent. You have our little protag in the one state of things that's actually WORSE than the modern gig economy. Lyle is a poor little precariat, and a seasonal one at that!
And when the world's a sorry state of things as that, the best thing to do after hours is rise and revolt against the capitalist masters hit the local tavern. Or whatever passes for that. Once there (or what counts as "there"), Lyle hears some news about the sorry state of the war effort.
"A friend of mine who hangs around the garrison at Moonturn Square says another levy's coming down for 'mons to fight in the army's ranks over the next few days," the Gumshoos murmured, prompting the Greedent pause and to pin his ears back back in reply.
"Again?" the squirrel asked. "Whatever happened to all those 'mons who were shipped out in the campaign back in spring?"
Like, seriously, why else there would be *more* drafting? That's what happens in wars to those not smart enough to avoid being assigned as literal cannon fodder. And Pokémon wars have lots more potential for going nasty, elemental powers and all.
Just sayin'. If I was any of those NPCs I'd high-tail out of there before the next draft comes. Let's see if Lyle picks up the hint.
Except it'd been the fifth time that the theater of war had moved to Edialeigh in the more than seventy years the war had been dragging on,
Pick up the hints, Lyle! Listen, I have a very good spot here in the Suocéverse for a Quilava protag. You can be a Traffic police officer, how about that?
Stoatine Officer Stoakes: "Hey, boss? But that's my position for future screentime.
There, are we happy? Can we rescue Lyle? insert "I've met this Quilava for only a page and a half" meme.
Any hope of a decisive victory had died many years ago, much like the gods who'd once fought under the banners of those two lands and met their ends on the battlefield like so many others.
See? See what I'm sayin'? PICK UP THE HINTS LYLE!!!!! Get outta there while you can.
For Lyle, his problem was scraping together enough food for the week, and his ticket to that was the Persian paymaster at the counter of the last shack at the end.
No no no no. YOUR problem is to pocket yourself a train ticket outta there. Come on! Farming berries every day like it's Animal Crossing: New Leaf is not exactly going to get you anywhere. Even tho it's a good start that you should have been doing like, two backstory arcs ago.
Speaking of pocketing something, let's see if Lyle can pocket enough money for his work.
The Fire-type stared blankly at the coins for a moment and let his mouth flop open, before letting his body's fire flare up and spluttering back indignantly at the Normal-type.
"Hey, what the-?! This is 60 Carolins!" he exclaimed. "I got almost a third more than this for yesterday's pickings! I even brought in more buckets today!"
Yeah that was more or less what I was suggesting back there. Just do the berry farming on your own, glitch the game clock a bit, sell the results for brief enough that you can just walk off your way out of there.
I'm gonna say tho, those crabs and cats are sounding just about as detached from reality as any economist I've seen mouthing off about how great capitalism is for climate change and interregional wars since 2018, because really you have to guesstimate that at least half of everyone who is still alive complains of the same issues here at temporary precariatship as Lyle does.
"I'm sure I'll manage somehow," Lyle harrumphed. "Not like I'd be able to afford the cheap swill that dive here sells with this pay anyways."
Yeah, life outside of the numbered Routes sucks sometimes. At least this time Lyle's got it easy, he's got an elemental advantage and one of the attackers attached himself to him. One flame later, the two are scurrying away.
So basically we're reminded that besides the war effort going on and its drain on the populace, this also means they lose resources they could have used to control an important culture clash phenomenon that can reasonably end with civilized peoplemons becoming lunch.
Oh so now he also has his own personal "Protection" end-air-quotes Racket parole officer! Another part of the dirty business that comes with war efforts, truly, is assigning guards to keep backyard towns happy compliant, yet let them do as they please. In this case we have Nils who also knows enough of the past that Lyle tries to keep hidden, to boot.
Nils: "How about a friendly donation?"
Lyle: "More like a 'fiendly' donation..."
Nils: "What's that? You have $20 to spare?"
Lyle: "I don't know Rick Nils I'll give you $8 and I'm taking a big risk here."
Nils: "What? You want to give me $8 for not telling anyone about the glassblowers who scared you off?"
Lyle: "...Fine. $12." >_>
Nils: "What? $12?" o_o "For not distributing copies of these old, vintage, mint condition Wanted posters featuring Lyle?"
Lyle: "Sigh... Fine, I can do $16."
Nils: "Oh wait hang on I found these very old posts on Twitter!"
Lyle: "Wha—"
Pre-Apoc Twitter said:
@LyleQuilava Dec 2011
Boy I love being an outlaw so much! Foehn Gang rulz we're awesome. You can't catch us. In this thread I'll show you how to scam elderly people. (1/36)
Lyle: "......" >_____>
Lyle: "That's fake news you know, Twitter hasn't been around since before the Great Flash."
Nils: "Oh but it could lead peoplemons to ask questions... cross-reference things around..."
Lyle: "Fine! Fine! Take your dirty $20 you criminal scum. Are you happy?"
Nils: [scratches own neck] "You know, I happen to have armor, superior evolutive stage *and* advantage against Fire types."
Lyle: "....Don't push it" <_<
Protection racket or not, Lyle does have a point that he can't really afford to fight it, not so close to the end of the season while he still has a job (even if it pays bad). So let's hope Nils is reasonable here when it comes to this, assuming it's even true he's not shook Oulen from her money already.
As a result of the meeting Lyle has to carry on with a whole third of his earnings of the day taken from him.
—somewhere else watching the story on TV —
Dalvin the Piplup: "Ow, that sucks. They took his money!"
Minto the Human Bulbasaur: "Hey! worry about us!" [stamps foot on ground] "*We* are being scammed out of 90% of our earnings here!" <_<
Yyyyyyeah no, as much as "there's always someone who has it worse", Lyle needs a hug. And a better job. And to find a train ticket out of there.
You know what I'm going to relaunch the idea of just do some berry farm glitching of his own, because last time my monthly payment got cut off by one third, I joined the revolt that ended us here with *almost* getting a New Constitution.
One of the last things that had happened in his former life as an Outlaw was that he'd begun to falteringly learn how to use Flame Charge. He hadn't exactly practiced it much since then, but the fact that he'd even gotten to that point was sign enough that his time as a Quilava was nearing an end. Whenever that happened, he'd need to afford the extra food to feed his new body somehow, and it sure as hell wasn't going to happen with his wages.
Some interesting worldbuilding hints here. One thing that you have pressed on for worldbuilding discussions is to pay attention to / not ignore the costs in livelihood that come with having a more evolved body, so it starts to show here as early as Ch.1 which is good (just not for Lyle).
But also, does this imply that in this setting Pokémon don't have control over their own evolutive triggers, at least for the ones that are "by level"? I mean, it should be as easy as tapping B when the time comes up, right? In particular if your body *knows* already that it doesn't actually have access to the caloric energy intake to sustain a more evolved form, one would think the body would actively preempt evolution attempts.
Let's call it the Dark Eviolite of Capitalism.
Anyway, now that Lyle has the time he should just head home and pack his stuff. No distractions, no detours.
The stoat looked down and caught his breath, noticing a pair of long, white claws digging their points in at his throat.
Oooooor not. Really, Lyle can't walk ONE "city block" of distance without his life getting extra suck? Makes one wonder what his offscreen days of life go like.
And lo and behold, here we have an attacker Sneasel. A f(r)iendishly one, even.
Lyle: "Sigh, really Kate? Can't you do a normal greeting?"
'Kate': "Oh I'm sorry but I have my own style going on."
-'Kate' scratches her nametag to reveal it actually says 'Ketu'—
Lyle: "Oh great come on??? What are you even doing here, Ketu?" Kate Cross-dressing Ketu: "Sssssh, here it's 'Kate'. Gotta hold the charade."
Lyle: "Oh please like that gonna work. Kate, Ketu. Too similar the names."
Lyle: —looks around—
Lyle: "...What happened to Kate, anyway?"
Ketu: [shrugs] "Dunno, must be bleeding her guts out in a trench somewhere. Listen, I had to get the extra screentime, considering Fledglings is about to end its first season."
Geez, I knew the economy in your settings was going bad but like, THIS bad?????? Absolutely no one is safe.
Anyway, this Sneasel, 'Kate', was part of the same eeeerrrr, enterpreneur collective as Lyle back then and now seems to have also wanted to target Lyle specifically. Let's admit, it seems Lyle is quite the wantable character or everyone is just fighting for screentime payments so yeah I'm gonna take it.
It seems however, that at least 'Kate''s initial offering might be more worth it for Lyle considering his current situation.
Lyle: "What do you even want, Ketu? I'm busy."
'Kate': "In these trying days, I was thinking of offering you a job actually. Ya know, you scratch my back I scratch yours kind of thing."
Lyle: "...Eh. I left that life behind."
'Kate': "Well, what do you think? It also comes with screentime."
Lyle: [mulls it for a moment] "Well, it does sound like an offer Kate would make."
Lyle: "But, you want us to..."
'Kate': "Scratch each other's back." ^_^
Lyle: "Hmmmm listen, I guess I would totally do that if that was Kate, but this is only Chapter 1 so I still don't even know if I'm gay or not."
'Kate': "...I didn't mean it like that" >_>
Lyle: "You're the one sliding your claws around my chest."
'Kate': [shrugs] "Screentime, dear boy."
So Kate wants to recruit Lyle for a "like the old times" kind of job. Because those always go nicely and without issues. Lyle stands his ground like it seems he's had to do already for a few times, sure these ex-Foehn people are persistent.
'Kate': "Some of the old gang are still around, heh. Like your old buddy, Dalvin."
—somewhere else, watching Once a Thief on TV—
Minto, spitting a drink: "Whaaaat? Dalvin noooo!" :(
Dalvin, licking an icecream: "What's this about now? I don't remember having played through that story arc..."
So, 'Kate' describes the general job offer. Her crew and Dalvin's Alvin's are re-teaming up into a sort of Foehn 2: Electric Boogaloo job which consists of taking on a caravan coming up. Interestingly enough, they are teaming up under new management together as we hear of a new, female boss. And apparently Lyle's resume sells well enough that they'd come try and recruit him also explaining the plan out in the open.
And this gets Lyle thinking, actually relatively deep.
Lyle: "Everything that you come up with here is reducible to trodden praise and secondhand offerings, and there is therefore no intrinsic value in such a nebulous proposal."
'Kate': "Hypocrite that you are, for this is only Chapter 1 and you are judging me on backstory information where you concedee I've not failed you before. Will you fight for screentime? Or will you farm berries like a dog?"
It's called hunger, Lyle. It happens often to mons who don't GROW THEIR OWN FOOD!
There'd be nothing left to pick within a month, and the money he'd been able to save for winter this year had been… meager, to say the least. Maybe he'd be able to find an odd job to plug the gap, but if he didn't…
Considering his situation, it's even worse than that, because if he can't secure his well-being soon enough there will be nothing he can do to protect himself from the... what, ninth draft of Losers that's coming up?
Compared to that, if he can at least gauge that the Foehn 2 Electric Boogaloo group at least know what they are doing, Lyle might be looking at some form of economical safety within the next, what, 24 hours? And shawarma screentime after.
Yeah he won't want to be on the Losers side.
And thus, Lyle's decision is made. After all, a protagonist is born.
Lyle: "Alright. Show me where this so-called 'screentime' is."
All in all, a pretty good intro. A world that in the lines and between the lines is dying the "stop the Earth I want to jump off" kind of death, from what we can see at the local scope. What basically counts as an eternal war that has already killed gods is... not exactly the scenario you want to find yourself having to commit responsibility to.
Add to that the anus end of the capitalism trends, Lyle's already existing resume and, well, there's not much he can do other than being dragged around by whatever plot finds him at the moment.
So it's important that the first chapter ends with him at least executing some agency here. With any luck, who knows? He might find himself out of the whole war situation and living a happily ever after life. AAAHAHAHAHAHA.
Ahem. Yeah, he's so gonna die out there. The summary and the blurbs already promise a lot, lol.
In general a good job. Also good to see yet another setting of yours in action. Do try and be a bit nicer to your population tho. I can't really imagine Lyle taking it in good stride once he finds out the role and kind of story Neela was offered.
How to Succeed at Pissing Everyone Off Without Really Trying, by Quilava "Baguette" Lyle
Talk about a literal crash course of running into basically everyone the team had pissed off up to this point in the story. Because that's exactly what happened. I don't personally care much for the Team Pathfinder skirmish because it's another brawl with a group straight of the heels of one in the previous part. I'm also surprised at how strong the bystander effect is here. Yeah, someone eventually gets the sheriff involved, but considering these are magic creatures, you'd think some others might try to intervene. XD
I enjoyed the scramble away from the angry mob a bit more, mainly because it was a good mix of tension with little bits of humor that don't detract from the action taking place and are a nice break from the typical "Combatant tries to boast or make a comment, then gets interrupted by an attack" fold you've done before.
Also thought the brief aerial battle was a nice change of pace, too, with the team having to balance hanging on for dear life with fending off attackers. They don't entirely succeed, of course, but that's to be expected with these types of things. :P
Vor einer langen Zeit haben die Pokémon, welche diese Welt bewohnen, mit Wesen die sie „Menschen“ nannten geteilt. Seltsame Kreaturen, welchen die Weisheit gegeben war, die Geheimnisse unserer Welt wie durch die Augen der Göttern zu sehen und zu verstehen. Doch sie waren nicht in der Lage, diese Geheimnisse anzuwenden, nicht ohne die Unterstützung von Kreaturen wie uns.
Man sagte, dass Menschen wie Vermittler zwischen den verschiedenen Arten von Pokémon gehandelt haben. Sogar Sengo und Vipitis lebten friedlich nebeneinander und die Wilden konnten so leben, wie sie sich in ihrem unberechenbaren natürlichen Lebensraum niemals vorgestellt hätten.
Und dann kam was wir „Der Glühende Blitz“ nannten. Auf einmal umhüllte ein blendendes Licht unsere Welt, welches die gesamte Menschheit entfernt hat. Die Dimensionen wurden gestört und die ganzen Kontinenten schüttelten. In dessen Ebbe hat es eine entzweite Welt mit verzerrten Orten, welche wir „Mysteriöse Orte“ nannten, hinterlassen.
Auch mit solch einen großen Verlust, haben wir Pokémon mit der Weisheit, die die Menschen hinterlassen haben, unsere eigenen Gesellschaften entwickelt, welche dieser unserer Vermittler ähnelt. Um die Geheimnisse dieser veränderten Welt wenn auch flüchtig zu sehen. Und so bekam diese neue Welt, deren Geburt den Anfang unserer Zeitrechnung markiert, ihren Namen - „Wunder“.
- Auszug aus »Die Gesammelten Legenden aus Wunder«
The waning rays of the evening sun washed an Oran Berry field under warm orange tones, shining down on Pokémon going to and fro among rows of bushes. Here and there, the creatures would stop and gather up the blue fruits into small wooden baskets of varying sizes. Among the figures scurrying about was a tired-looking Quilava with a plain orange scarf tied about his neck, who paused to set down a basket that he lugged in his forepaws and dropped to all fours for a moment to catch his breath. The Fire-type felt the wind chill and blow over his fur, as it tended to during autumns in the north of Varhyde, which made him thankful for his body's natural warmth.
He looked down at his basket, the most recent he'd managed to fill with harvest season drawing to an end. With the bushes of the Oran field running increasingly barren, it was also likely the last he'd manage for the day. He let out a grumbling sigh and flattened his ears, before trudging off with it towards a small collection of huts off in the distance.
The Quilava gaped about his surroundings on the way over, seeing other Pokémon in similar garb still at work trying to glean the last stray Oran Berries off bushes with leaves that had long since turned red with the seasons—a sign that they'd be the last crop to be picked from them until winter. The Fire-type trudged along, until he reached the huts and came to a queue of Pokémon of different shapes and sizes. All of them waited with tubs of Oran berries at the ready, in front of a larger wood-and-sod shack with jars filled with luminous moss hung along its eaves.
There, a Crustle in a simple tan scarf stood behind a table with a set of scales on them. One by one, the Pokémon in line would pass a slip of paper over to the earthen-shelled crab, who would weigh their bucket's content before letting another Pokémon dump them onto a conveyor belt driven by Pokémon on running wheels in the background. Amidst the din of the conveyor belt's operation in the background, the Crustle would take the Pokémon's paper, scribble some marks onto it, before passing it back and moving onto the next Pokémon in the queue.
After what felt like an eternity, it came time for the Quilava to step forward. As he passed his bag and a sheet of paper across the table, much as he had every day since the middle of the last summer month of Erntemond₁ almost a full moon ago. The Fire-type tapped his foot and fidgeted irritably as he watched the Crustle take his bag, look at the scale skeptically, and then narrow his eyes back with a small click of his claws.
"… You're light today, Lyle." the Crustle weigher said.
"It can't really be helped, there wasn't much to pick on the bushes today," the Quilava harrumphed back. "It's better to gather the stuff that's still reasonable to harvest for now and wait for the last of the Oran Berries on them to ripen."
The weigher tilted his head and gave a sharp scowl in response, curling his mouthparts into an unimpressed frown back at the stoat in the orange scarf.
"You shouldn't give in so easily. These berries help to go and support our royal troops bleeding for us on the frontline," the crab reminded. "Why, that Hoppip Bucky brought in more than you today, and he's just a little grub!"
The fire along the Quilava's back vents danced for a moment, the Fire-type glaring sharply back up at the Crustle.
"Look, it takes me four trips with this stupid bucket just to gather a single Scheffel₂ of berries, and my wages are tied to each one I bring in," the Fire-type snorted back. "I think I know how much is in a day's work, Trent. So just let me go get my pay for the day and get some rest."
The Crustle said nothing for a moment, before pressing a stamp down on a scrap of paper and giving a low grumble under his breath.
"… If you say so. I'm just glad that not everyone's as unmotivated as you," the Bug-type said. "If your parents' generation quit as easily as you during the last invasion, we never would've driven those dirty Edialeighers back across the sea, and we'd all be getting kicked around by them right now."
The Crustle slid the paper across the table towards the Quilava. Lyle rolled his eyes and snatched the receipt, all but crumpling it up in his paws before nipping at a corner and making his way on all fours over to a low-slung shack at the other end of the strip. The Quilava didn't bother unfurling the paper, only a complete idiot would fail to keep track of the number of buckets he'd brought in in a day, or the number of Scheffel they added up to in volume. Eighteen. Eighteen measly Scheffel of those gottverdammten₃ Oran Berries that this field grew, for which he could expect five Carolins each for his trouble to repeat the process again tomorrow. Just enough to put two meals' worth of food and a pint of stiff lager in his belly for a day or two… and precious little else.
The Fire-type drifted past the shacks along the strip, stopping by one with a set of chests where he fished out a tatty satchel that he'd brought and left for safekeeping prior to starting his day's work. He couldn't imagine there being much worth stealing from it, but you never knew these days. After collecting his belongings, the Quilava carried along down the strip, making his way forward on all four of his legs.
Along the way, he passed a dingy hall with crude tables and seats fashioned from wooden odds and ends that carried a strong scent of alcohol. The place was a dive that served the sorriest excuse for beer he'd ever tasted, but there never seemed to be an absence of pickers visiting it after a day's work. Among the customers today were a Gumshoos and Greedent, who sat outside the door with clay cups trading low whispers with one another.
"A friend of mine who hangs around the garrison at Moonturn Square says another levy's coming down for 'mons to fight in the army's ranks over the next few days," the Gumshoos murmured, prompting the Greedent pause and to pin his ears back back in reply.
"Again?" the squirrel asked. "Whatever happened to all those 'mons who were shipped out in the campaign back in spring?"
"I dunno, but I ran into one getting patched up after being sent back from getting a paw messed up out there," the Gumshoos explained. "He seemed pretty shook up over whatever happened, so it makes me wonder just how many of those 'mons from that last levy are still around."
Lyle paused and reared up, flicking his ears uncomfortably at the Gumshoos and Greedent's chatter. It was the third week of Herbstmond₄, well into autumn and around the time when the army would try and ship more fighters off for the front line. Their last opportunity for the year to shore up their offenses against Edialeigh, before winter weather made further ones in the intervening months into exercises in futility.
There had been much crowing among those close to the army about how things were different now. It'd been seven years since Edialeigh's last invasion into Varhyde had finally been broken and chased back across the sea. Now, the ravages of war were their problem and the homefront in Varhyde could know something approximating rest. There was no fear of raids by warbands of 'mons who spoke muddled Commontongue, or at least not for now. And at times, the war could almost be forgotten as some sort of faraway nightmare…
Except it'd been the fifth time that the theater of war had moved to Edialeigh in the more than seventy years the war had been dragging on, and meant there was little enthusiasm to go around for chances at glory and vengeance. Every year since then, there seemed to be little to show for the Kingdom's offenses on Edialeigh's territory but some new funerals and chewed-up 'mons limping back to their homes to look forward to a life of unstable employment and praying that the nearest town's food dole didn't fall short yet again.
Any hope of a decisive victory had died many years ago, much like the gods who'd once fought under the banners of those two lands and met their ends on the battlefield like so many others. Even with the promise of revenge and repaying old wounds, the endless grind had burned away much of the enthusiasm and fighting spirit of Varhyde's Pokémon, and the Gumshoos and Greedent trading worried looks with one another were hardly exceptions.
"… You don't suppose they'll start dragging out 'mons like us out there, do you?" the Greedent asked.
"I dunno… I heard that the Sheriff out there's been dragging his feet over it and holding out for some sort of workaround, but if there's really a levy going on, he's gotta send somebody," the Gumshoos murmured. "After all, when was the last time you heard of anyone volunteering to go to the frontlines who wasn't desperate, drunk, or both?"
Word was that even in the capital of Newangle City itself, the local guards had largely stopped bothering to arrest 'mons for airing such sentiments, even if on the books, such talk was tantamount to sympathizing with the enemy and grounds for conscription or worse. There were too many offenders, and morale within the ranks had been lacking even back when his father was a mere Cyndaquil.
But that was someone else's problem. For Lyle, his problem was scraping together enough food for the week, and his ticket to that was the Persian paymaster at the counter of the last shack at the end. The Normal-type had just finished counting out coins for a Hoppip under the dull blue glow of a cracked ring made of some sort of clear resin that was hung from a wooden pole. Stuffed with luminous moss if the color of the light was anything to go by. And if the ring-shaped light was really the human relic it appeared to be, it was likely the most valuable thing in the entire strip of buildings.
The Quilava made his way up, reared up onto his hind legs, and uncrumpled his paper, turning it in with a sigh and pinch of his brow. He watched the cream-furred cat look over the paper and count up the stamps on it, eighteen, just as he himself had counted, before reaching into a small box and pulling out a few gold-colored coins and clinking them against the counter. The Fire-type stared blankly at the coins for a moment and let his mouth flop open, before letting his body's fire flare up and spluttering back indignantly at the Normal-type.
"Hey, what the-?! This is 60 Carolins!" he exclaimed. "I got almost a third more than this for yesterday's pickings! I even brought in more buckets today!"
"Yeah, well that reflects the new price that the army passed onto us, and they get the first cut of everything grown here on top of it," the Persian explained. "Naturally, we can't afford to pay the same as we used to."
"And you'll just hike the prices for whatever you do get to keep at market, so how on earth is that fair?!" Lyle demanded. "How do you expect me to be able to buy food this week if I'm getting paid at this rate?!"
The Persian shot a dark glare back that made the Quilava reflexively flinch and tamp his fire down, half-expecting the cat to summarily yank his already meager pay off the table. While Lyle's fears ultimately proved to be unfounded, the paymaster's gaze remained firmly trained on him as she spat back a huffing reply.
"Lyle, everyone's getting squeezed here right now. I already know that you live in a burrow out in the fringes, so grow a berry bush of your own next to whatever hole you sleep in at night like everyone else does whenever things come up short!" the Normal-type growled. "I'm sure you've got someone who can take care of it while you're working out here, don't you?"
Lyle said nothing back to the paymaster for a long while, before pinning his ears back and snatching the coins off the counter. For most of the past two years, he lived alone, and barely knew his neighbors, so he wasn't exactly rich with options to act on the Persian's advice. So what else was he supposed to do?
Lyle sighed, and held his eyes to the ground. He'd thought of stealing the difference from the field while on the job before, but… he'd always found himself unable to muster the courage. Only a berry or two at the most. It just wasn't worth the risk of being kicked out of this job too.
He'd already struggled to find employment with an interrupted apprenticeship as a glassblower and a past that he deliberately kept opaque to others. Getting banned from what few potential sources of employment he'd been able to find was a complete non-starter of an idea.
… Perhaps he should be thankful he even had this much. Considering what became of most of his old friends, getting stuck slaving away in a berry field was probably the best outcome he could've realistically hoped for. Lyle quickly deposited the coins into a small bag that he threw into the bottom of his satchel and shuffled off for a dirt path down a wooded slope with a low grumble. At the beginning of the slope, the Quilava suddenly heard the Persian call out after him and turned his head back to see her giving a stern gaze.
"By the way, you might wanna wait and see if the moon comes out before you head off," the Normal-type suggested. "The routes have been getting more dangerous on dark nights like these lately. Besides, a drink with your fellow pickers over at the canteen might take the edge off of you."
Lyle fanned the flames on his head and tail out annoyedly at the Normal-type's insistence. It was already getting dark, and he wasn't exactly deaf! He'd heard the Persian's warning plenty of times over the past moon, and were it a mere two years ago, that same warning would probably have been about him.
"I'm sure I'll manage somehow," Lyle harrumphed. "Not like I'd be able to afford the cheap swill that dive here sells with this pay anyways."
The Fire-type huffled and dropped to all fours along the ground, darting off down the path for the road where he turned left and made his way along it. Lyle slowed his pace after the entrance to the Oran field he worked at slipped from view. It was already twilight, and running or not, he'd never beat the night's dark back to his home burrow. The Quilava gaped about the tree-lined path, the last rays of light faintly illuminating the fields on either side of him.
There were the standard fields of berry bushes and fields planted with the likes of wheat and rye. Others had been planted with seeds that had been affected by the Distortion of Mystery Dungeons, yielding crops that had little use beyond being used as implements to fight with. There was at least one more field planted in such a manner than he remembered from last year, and they seemed to consume ever-increasing swaths of Varhyde's land. There were Totter Seeds to daze Pokémon, Blinker Seeds to impair their vision, and Blast Seeds to blow their ramparts to smithereens. Crops that grew without the influence of Mystery Dungeons that were similarly weaponizable also gobbled up land for the war effort, as the Apricorn field he was passing to his left evidenced. It was hard to think of any use for the damned things other than for grapeshot and mines to swallow Pokémon whole, condemning those who weren't freed from them in time to hungry, lonely deaths trapped inside.
Lyle shook his head as the skies darkened and he moved on to a more wooded patch of the trail, happy to leave the fields behind. The sun's last glimmers had given way to a gibbous moon and stars above, so there was little light left to guide him beyond the glow of the fire on his head and tail.
He supposed there was the small ribbon of blue-and-green light in the sky towards the west, but the aurora appeared to just be one of the ones that formed in the skies above Mystery Dungeons. Over Waterhead Cave from the looks of it. But it was hardly bright enough to light his way even without a bunch of treetops obscuring it. The stoat lowered his head a bit so as to let his fire better illuminate the path, when he felt a sticky glob suddenly strike his right flank from the treeline.
"Agh! What the-?!"
"I got something! I got something!" a voice chittered.
Lyle tensed up and flared out his body's fire, whirling to his right where he spotted a glob of silk attached to his flank's fur, along with a white strand that his eyes followed back up to a pair of Spinarak dangling from the trees. Unlike the Pokémon back at the Oran field, neither of them appeared to be wearing any garb. The leftmost of the two Bug-types looked on in startled alarm at his target, while his companion turned with an angry chitter.
"I told you to try and track away from the path, you moron!" the other Spinarak fumed. "You tracked some knot-neck!"
Lyle narrowed his eyes and angrily spat up a small gout of fire at the tree, making the two drop from it with frightened screeches as the patch of tree bark where they'd been resting smoldered. After striking the ground, the two Bug-types squealed and hurriedly scuttled off into the undergrowth, their cries ringing out in the darkness.
"Eyaah! Run for it!"
"J-Just consider yourself lucky you can hide behind the Vow, you furry jerk!"
Lyle looked down at the glob of silk on his fur and tugged it off, burning it with a small puff of fire on the dirt path. He could've done without the hostile Wilder run-in on the way home, but he supposed that all things considered, the encounter could've gone worse.
It was said that Spinarak and Ariados among the guards of Varhyde's settlements stalked their own prey on the job by tagging them with silk and letting them lead them back to their hiding places. Evidently, even if they killed each other off for their sustenance and petty squabbles instead of on behalf of some kingdom or for loot and plunder, the practice was much the same among their Wilder counterparts.
The comparison almost made that sort of harsh Wilder lifestyle in the hinterlands sound noble when he framed it like that. Almost. Not that it made having to get the Wilders' silk out of his fur any less annoying. Lyle flicked his ears as quiet returned to the path when he noticed the sound of flowing water coming from up ahead. It wasn't exactly the most comforting thing to hear, but it was a sign the bridge he needed to cross about halfway back to his home was just up ahead.
The Quilava sighed and carried on, when he heard splashing and his nose caught the scent of damp fur. The Fire-type froze and flared up in response as his mind returned to the Persian's warning, only to be snapped back to reality by a yipping voice calling out from under the bridge.
"I see that you're as popular as ever, Lyle."
Lyle screwed his eyes shut in frustration after he realized the voice was deeply familiar. It wasn't from an Outlaw, but he'd frankly have preferred it if it was. The Quilava looked ahead, watching as the form of a Floatzel clambered up onto the bridge and sauntered forward.
The Sea Weasel Pokémon bore a gray scarf with a bold white chevron on it, with his underbelly and back covered in overlapping green plates, with one on his head of similar design that functioned as a rough helmet. The attire wasn't exactly hard to miss, but the presence of a white triangle insignia with circles at its tips that pointed upwards along with his scarf's chevron made it unmistakeable. It was a set of the standard issue armor that was given out in Varhyde's army and among the town guards who were subordinate to them.
Each of the plates were fashioned out of tightly-banded linen that had been treated with fire retardant, then glued together in layers until they formed a segment thick and durable enough to stop the likes of an Iron Thorn. And from the Floatzel's demeanor, he clearly hadn't forgotten about his armor's protective qualities.
The Floatzel shook some water off his pelt, Lyle recoiling as some of the drops dashed against him much to his disgusted annoyance and shifted back with a grumbling sigh. After all, if nothing else, he knew who the accosting sea rat was all too well.
"What is it this time, Nils?" the Quilava demanded, prompting the Water-type to turn his muzzle up with an affected display of offense.
"Now what's that attitude all about?" the Floatzel scoffed. "I'm a soldier and here you arego giving me the third degree like a common Outlaw!"
More like a 'Gendarm₅' who was unlikely to have seen any action outside of guarding towns or countryside roads and being a pest to peasants and travelers, but that was splitting hairs. Even if it was hard for him to imagine Nils lasting a moon in Edialeigh before deserting into some forest with his tails between his legs, Gendarmen like him were still technically part of the royal army and still Grünhäuter₆, as the green-clad bastards were sometimes mocked, through and through. Soldiers went off to the front lines across the sea and tore up battlefields and villages that were out of sight and out of mind for the homefront, while Varhyde's Pokémon had to live with the likes of Nils.
The Floatzel approached and brushed the fur on the exposed regions of his head back with some stray water that clung to it, the otter peering down at his shorter counterpart with a smug smirk.
"Really, I'm on your side here!" the Water-type insisted. "Edialeigh might not be able to throw a whole lot of 'mons into Varhyde proper right now, but that doesn't mean your old buddy Nils isn't putting his neck on the line for you!"
"Hrmph, thanks I suppose," Lyle said, as he attempted to brush past the armored pest in his way. "But it's getting late and I really should get moving on."
Nils quickly cut off Lyle's path and stepped into his way, making the Quilava fold his ears back and glance up with a quiet grimace. The Floatzel chuckled bemusedly to himself, shaking his head in reply as he stepped forward and leaned in over his captive audience of one.
"Lyle, Lyle, Lyle… you of all 'mons oughta know that we bust our tails to look out for the little guys," the Floatzel insisted. "And the army's had to cut back on stipends for us folk on the homefront over the 'mons going across the sea to keep the fight from coming back into Varhyde again…"
The Water-type reached out his right paw, and motioned towards his body with it a couple times with a small, almost taunting smile.
"So how about you help out a friend in need, huh? Consider it a friendly donation," the guard insisted.
Lyle narrowed his eyes in disgust and felt the fire on his body simmer. He didn't need to deal with this crap from Nils again. Not tonight of all times.
"Sorry, I've got my own problems this time," he insisted, prompting Nils to shoot back with an unimpressed scoff.
"And just what's that supposed to mean?" the guard demanded. "You're not getting back into trouble again, are you, Lyle?"
Lyle grimaced and pinned his ears back much as if the guard had just summoned a Surf to deluge him. Yes, Nils knew the Pokémon he shook down for his… 'donations' quite well. Well enough to know that even without his natural disadvantages, the Quilava before him was particularly ill-prepared to refuse his demands.
"I mean, I heard your ma and pa were those glassblowers out in Freeden Village, weren't they? But the last time I was passing through, they said that they didn't know any 'Lyle' other than some good-for-nothing thief they chased off from their shop," Nils explained. "And then there's that old wanted poster for a Quilava from some 'Foehn Gang' that was floating around last year with a description that matches up with everything but your name, Lyle Fremders. I mean, I'm sure that he's long been caught with how old that listing is. But… it'd be awkward for you if 'mons around here got you confused with either of those two characters, don't you think?"
Lyle bristled at the Floatzel's faux amity. Even close friends didn't bring up a 'mon's Vatername₇ in casual conversation, not that 'Fremders' was even his real one. It was a stupid idea he'd had to try and hide who he was when he tried to leave his past behind, to pretend that he was some recruited Wilder who didn't have a father to record.
At the time, he thought it'd surely draw less attention than just going around as 'Lyle Igelavars' like he had back when his parents still acknowledged his existence. But all it'd done was tip off more observant types like Nils that he had something to hide when they noticed his behavior didn't match up with his backstory. And it gave the guard all that he needed to skim off his pay without him being able to so much as raise a word in protest.
"Ugh… how much do you want?" Lyle grumbled. As soon as the words left his mouth, Nils' smile vanished from his face, and his expression hardened into an icy scowl.
"20 Carolins sounds about right for tonight. The straps for the back of my armor have worn out and I need to replace 'em, and I didn't really have the heart to go asking for money from folks like Oulen either," the Water-type said. "Ever since her joey came along, she's been struggling to get by, and not because she's got something to hide either."
Lyle muttered under his breath before loosening the pouch with his pay in it and grudgingly parted ways with a quartet of golden-colored coins from it. As steep as Nils' demanded bribe was, there wasn't much point in trying to dig his heels in. Even if Nils wasn't in a position to rat him out and have the book thrown at him, Nils' kind as Water-types held the upper paw over Quilava like him in battle. A straight fight right here and now would accomplish little other than getting him knocked out and giving the damned Grünhäuter a license to clean him out entirely. After palming the coins Lyle passed over, Nils threw them into a small bag that he stuffed back under his breastplate, and stepped aside with a smarmy smile and mocking wave of his paw.
"Have a good night! And do take care of yourself out there!" the guard said. "There's been a rash of robberies by Outlaws around these parts lately."
Lyle lowered his head and spat a few embers into the dirt as he trudged along over the bridge, growling under his breath over the indignity of having to let some sea rat help himself to his stuff. If he were still with his old gang, he'd have allies to make the Floatzel whimper out an apology and scurry off all the way back to his garrison at Moonturn Square. But yesterday was gone, and he'd left that game. He was just a berry picker now and there were no allies for him to call on, and no remedy for the third of the already-meager earnings he'd collected that day that Nils had just pocketed.
The Quilava paused and reared up, seeing that he'd gone far enough for the bridge to no longer be visible, and the trickling sounds of the stream no longer reached his ears. He had ended the day expecting to have earned 90 Carolins, and was now left with 40. Whatever thoughts of lager this week were sheer fantasy at this point, and he'd need to start thinking of what other meals to skip in it if this sort of pay was going to be his new norm. He supposed there was the food dole that was distributed in towns like Moonturn Square, but using it meant making yourself known to the local authorities… and for the army's levies for 'monpower for the front lines. Right when a fresh one was just about to go out and the garrison was already known to be short on volunteers.
Perhaps he should just give in and take from it. One of the last things that had happened in his former life as an Outlaw was that he'd begun to falteringly learn how to use Flame Charge. He hadn't exactly practiced it much since then, but the fact that he'd even gotten to that point was sign enough that his time as a Quilava was nearing an end. Whenever that happened, he'd need to afford the extra food to feed his new body somehow, and it sure as hell wasn't going to happen with his wages.
Lyle folded his ears back and dimmed his head and tail fire, staring down at the ground as the sense of solitude on the brisk autumn night sank in. Just then, he heard a branch crack in the undergrowth to the right of the path, and flared his ears and fire as he whirled over towards its direction.
"Huh? Who's there-?"
The Quilava was cut off by a black-and-red blur bursting out from the undergrowth and knocking him to the ground. Lyle curled up reflexively and flared out the fire on his body, before rolling over onto his feet and bracing for battle when he felt something catch at his throat. The stoat looked down and caught his breath, noticing a pair of long, white claws digging their points in at his throat.
"Heya, miss me, Lyle?"
Lyle followed the claws with his eyes up to their owner, and saw a Sneasel in a blue scarf with a lighter-shaded wind swirl design stooping down beside him with a wry smile. The Quilava panted tensely for a moment before calming after he recognized the features of the Dark-type, who pulled her claws back, brought them up behind her feathered head and stuck her tongue out teasingly. Lyle reared up, and after brushing at his throat a couple times, turned back to the familiar Sneasel with a sharp frown.
"Would it have killed you to give a normal greeting, Kate?" the Quilava fumed. "What are you even doing here?"
"Heh, so you do recognize me!" she exclaimed. "And here I thought this scarf from the Mistral Marauders would throw you off!"
"Hrmph, you're not exactly a character who's easy to forget," Lyle grumbled back, narrowing his eyes. "And you didn't answer my question about why you're here. There's a guard on the bridge not even a hundred paces down the path!"
The Sneasel unfolded her arms and circled around the Quilava, walking about him in an arcing path around his back from his left to his right.
"Well… I'd heard that you'd been having some money troubles," Kate said, giving a playful poke at the stoat's flank. "So I figured that I'd offer you a chance to scratch my back, and I'd do the same to yours."
Lyle stiffened up from the Sneasel's jab, which vaguely reminded him of the pokes he and his brother traded when they were younger to tease and roughhouse with each other, if a bit more uncomfortable on account of her claws. Kate really hadn't changed all that much from when they parted ways… or the times they'd met since then. Now, just as then, the Quilava gave a sharp shake of his head back, and repeated words that had become almost rote to him.
"Oh Blauflamme₈, this crap again?" he snorted. "I already told you last time, no more jobs. I left that game and I'm not planning on getting back in."
Kate folded her arms and blew a puff of chilly breath up at her ear feather, giving a sour frown in reply to her former comrade.
"You could've fooled me seeing how your current scarf's just missing that pattern our old crew's had. So you obviously don't have that many bad feelings about it," the Sneasel insisted. "Besides, I wouldn't have made the offer if I thought you'd have trouble with it! You pulled your weight every bit as much as I did back when we were on the Foehn Gang!"
"Yeah, well last I checked, the Foehn Gang doesn't exist anymore and the Charizard who used to run it got pushed into an Apricorn to starve to death," Lyle grumbled. "So there's not a whole lot I can do to help you there."
"Well the Pokémon from it are still around… or at least a few of 'em anyways," the Dark-type insisted. "Including your old buddy, Alvin."
Lyle hesitated for a moment at the Sneasel's words, who keenly watched his expression and posture in response. He never had heard of Alvin turning up among the Pokémon who'd been captured when the Foehn Gang was broken up. But at the same time, Kate had never mentioned him before the past times they'd met, so what was going on?
"Alvin?" the Fire-type asked. "Since when did you still work with him?"
"Well, it was more luck of the draw with the old bonehead, really," the Sneasel admitted. "His new crew and mine are teaming up to take on a caravan that's set to come through here tomorrow."
Kate raised a claw and prodded at Lyle's chest gently with one of her claws, curling her muzzle up into a knowing smile.
"The boss wanted some local muscle to help her and the gang out with the job," she explained. "When I mentioned that there was a former pyro from the Foehn Gang who had a mean Will-'O-Wisp and made a name for himself punching above his weight who was toiling away in a field right in the neighborhood… well, it kinda piqued her interest."
Lyle hesitated for a moment, before brushing the Sneasel's claw aside and starting off, sharply huffing in reply without bothering to look back at the Dark-type.
"I'm sure you can find someone else to help her," he insisted. "Outlaws aren't exactly hard to come by these days."
"Outlaws? Or 'mons short on coin?"
Lyle's ears pricked at the sound of jingling coins when he noticed that the flap of his satchel had been pried back. The Quilava whirled around and saw Kate holding his bag of coins, before opening it, eying its contents, and looking back with a disbelieving scoff.
"Lyle, can you even feed yourself properly with this sort of money? I've seen 'mons try their luck outside the law with more than this to show to their name!" she exclaimed. "And just how badly did that Floatzel clean you out earlier? I can smell his grubby mitts all over this thing!"
Lyle grit his teeth and let the flames on his body simmer in irritation. Kate must've been shadowing him for some time if she'd known about his run-in with Nils. He thought of raising his voice to ask her just how long she'd been following him, only for her to draw the bag of coins shut, and toss it up and down in her claw.
"Oh come on, what's with that look? You of all 'mons oughta know I don't rip off friends," she insisted. "And it's not as if I'm asking you for a commitment here either."
The Dark-type caught onto the satchel and tightened her grip around it, giving a stern look back.
"All I'm asking for is for you to lend your skills and help me and Alvin this one time, doing something that should be old hat to you: we go in, we pull a smash and grab, and get out afterwards," she said. "You'll get your share of the loot, we part ways again, and you leave better off from it. From what I've heard, the caravan we're targeting ought to have enough once everything's divided up properly for your cut to help you get a fresh start away from this dump."
Kate shook her head, before throwing the bag back at Lyle's feet. The Quilava reflexively stooped down to snatch the coins up, the Sneasel watching and letting her ears droop as she couldn't help but let an almost pitying look cross her face before speaking up again
"… Or you just say 'no' and I'll try and find some other talent from around here," she sighed. "I personally wouldn't find picking berries all day along with the occasional shakedown by a troll under a bridge to be rewarding, but hey. You do you."
Lyle stuffed his coin bag back into his satchel and clamped it shut. The Quilava turned to leave but found himself unable to just shrug off the Sneasel's offer as he had in the past.
Lyle bit his lip. Everything Kate had promised was secondhand, hardly a guarantee of any sort. But she was never the type to deliberately mislead him and wouldn't have pitched this as a one-time job if she didn't genuinely believe it was going to be one… so why did he have an awful feeling in his stomach about it?
Lyle heard the quiet grumble of his stomach and pinned his ears back. Right, he hadn't been eating well lately. And with his dwindling pay from the Oran field, he likely wouldn't be for the foreseeable future. There'd be nothing left to pick within a month, and the money he'd been able to save for winter this year had been… meager, to say the least. Maybe he'd be able to find an odd job to plug the gap, but if he didn't…
Wouldn't it just be a matter of time before he found himself back in this situation? And if it came to that, did he really want to face things without friends who could watch out for his back?
"… Those crews you're working with. Who are they? And what do they know about this caravan?"
Author's Notes:
Words and Phrases
1. Erntemond - "August" (archaic), lit. "Harvest Moon".
2. Scheffel - Analogous measurement of dry weight to a "bushel" in German-speaking countries, never standardized prior to replacement by SI units. Word is the same both in singular and plural forms.
3. gottverdammt(en) - "god(s)damn(ed)" (+'en' for multiple subjects). In German, compound words involving a leading noun with an attached word that isn't a noun have the leading noun in rendered singular form for both singular and plural forms of said compound word. Thus this remains "gottverdammt" even when using it to say "godsdamn(ed)" and does not become "götterverdammt", as "verdammt" is not a noun in German.
4. Herbstmond - "September" (archaic), lit. "Autumn/Fall Moon"
5. Gendarm(en) - "gendarme(s)"
6. Grünhäuter - "greenhide(s)". Local insult/slur for law enforcement and military akin to "pig" in English. Word is the same both in singular and plural forms.
7. Vatername - "Patronym", lit. "Fathername". There are other ways of saying this in German in reality, but this way was specifically chosen since a Vatername in this setting is tightly coupled to filling the role of telling who your father was.
8. Blauflamme(n) - "Blue Flare", used as a curse/minced oath in-setting, especially by Fire-types. Note that the canonical move name is "Blauflammen" while its use as an exclamation has been modified to comply with German declension rules regarding compound words ending in nouns when directed at singular subjects.
Teaser Text
A long time ago, the Pokémon who dwell in this world had shared it with beings they called 'humans'. Strange creatures, who had been given the wisdom to see the secrets of this world as if through the eyes of the gods. But they were not able to apply those secrets, not without help from creatures like us
It was said that humans had acted like a mediator between the different kinds of Pokémon. Even Zangoose and Seviper were able to live together peacefully and the Wildersᵃ could live like they would never have imagined in their ever-changing natural environment.
And then came what we called 'The Great Flash'ᵇ. All of a sudden, a blinding light had enveloped our world, which removed the entire human race from our world. The dimensions were disturbed and whole continents shook. In its wake it had left behind a sundered world with distorted places which we called 'Mystery Dungeons'ᶜ.
Even with such a great loss, we Pokémon, with the wisdom those humans had left behind, were able to create our own societies which resembled those of our mediators. To get a glimpse of those mysteries of this changed world. And that’s how this new world, the birth of which marked the beginning of our era, got its name - 'Wander'ᵈ.
- Excerpt from 'The Collected Legends from Wander'
a. "Wilden" in the original text is more properly translated as "Wilds", rendered as "Wilders" in Commontongue which covers the same concept of a category of Pokémon that live apart from civilization.
b. "Glühende" in the original text in a faithful translation would be "fierce" (in heat), "fiery", or "glowing", which was chosen since it still accurately describes the nature of the event and "Der Große Blitz" sounds a bit more awkward in German. This is what the event that created the setting's world is known as in Commontongue in-story.
c. A more faithful translation of this would be "Mysterious Places". Under the canonical German localization, this would be "Mysteriöse Dungeons", but it sounds a bit unnatural in German prose since "Dungeons" was imported wholesale from English for the localization name.
d. The name of the setting's planet in present-day Varhyde that has arisen by corruption/language drift. Its name in a more faithful translation would be "Wonder" or "Miracle".
Hello, I’m here for catnip, and I just wanted to start off by saying that I did like this initial chapter quite a bit for introducing who I assume is the protagonist of the story and the world that they inhabit. It’s not every day that I get to read a PMD story that very much puts war, civil conflicts, and likely politics at the forefront of it all, and I think there’s plenty of ground to be explored there (not to mention outlaws as the protagonists, which is cool) And as for this initial chapter, there’s a lot of exploration on that front alone, which I think is good and at points not so good.
But first, I do like what you’ve introduced so far, especially Lyle within the context of the world you’ve developed. I think he comes across very well as a character marred and painted by his environment and experiences, all supplemented by the way the world works right now. His tiredness, desperation, and teetering on extremes is something I especially like in this first chapter, because it defines him a lot as someone who’s at their limit, which leads well into him accepting Kate’s offer at the end coming across as a believable decision. The chapter does well in introducing him, which is a definite point in your favor for me, because I’m a character focused reader and writer, so the story’s captured me alone on it.
I also think you do well in prose and description (though I admit a decent number of words flew over my head, which is my fault for not being well versed). Environments and physical descriptions are vivid, and I felt them pretty well, and the prose through Lyle’s tired eyes is palpable; there’s a sense of seeing everything through spent eyes. Where it falls a bit for me (and this is probably just a me thing so you’re likely fine) is that there’s a bit too much frequent exposition about the world and the situation the characters live in. I do appreciate what we do get, because it’s intriguing and I’m excited to learn more about it, but at times it felt like it was too much emphasis on the situation of the world, where Lyle frequently pauses to think about a certain topic. I don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world, but I found myself towards the end just wanting more of the characters talking or doing things rather than exposition or thinking that certain parts of the exposition could be saved a bit later for a more natural delivery.
I know I’m being a bit vague, and this might just be my preferred way of story telling and such not aligning with yours, so feel free to disregard me as well. Hell, one of the parts that I felt we spent too much time in exposition (namely the frequent mentions of the levy and how everyone wants to avoid it) was used later on as a way to gatekeep one of the easier solutions to Lyle’s food problems, where by doing so makes him more likely to get shipped off in the levy, and thus adds to his desperation to find a way out and survive, or plain give up and let what happens simply happen to him. So, it has a purpose and it’s used well. I may just be talking out of my ass here, but I felt it was worth mentioning.
Regardless, I think you have a solid start to the story here, and I know things will only ramp up since only half the characters in the banner appear, so the story is bound to get more interesting. Characters, prose, environments, and plenty else land really well to get me hooked in wanting to know more and subsequently read more. I can’t really tell what direction it’ll take or what themes will permeate the story aside from civil conflicts and survival, but this is just the first chapter. I can almost guarantee that you’ve got a lot more special stuff down the road, and that’s plenty exciting. In essence, though I think there’s a bit too much emphasis on some of the exposition, I think this story starts off really intriguing and I can’t wait to read more when I have the time. With Lyle alone you caught me, because he’s a cool character so far and so early, and I can’t wait to see how he develops (and what other characters appear too.)
So, yeah, really good start, and I’m glad I was able to read this. I’m a bit wordy and not used to reviewing a ton, so this may have not been a thorough review. If so, feel free to ask questions or simply talk about the story and my points more through dms or wherever you can catch me. I’d be glad to learn more about the story myself, so I think the healthy dialogue could be nice.
Great work, and goodbye! I wish nothing but good things for you and this story!
