Pokémon Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Free Fiction

[GumPlum]

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A human finds himself suddenly transported to a new world filled with all kinds of monsters, and worst of all, turned into one of them. His union with wary and unlikely companions destabilizes an already chaotic world, but through it all, they will live together, seeking a free and happy life… Because sometimes, that's all one really wants in the face of impending chaos.
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Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Free Fiction is my first real writing project in long form and truly my first dive into becoming a real writer. It's an odd story about family, fighting to live a life that's right for you, and indulging in everything that comes your way, good and bad. It may be a bit too big for my first project as a whole (those aren't even close to all of the other themes in here) but I am too passionate to not tell this story, even if I'm inexperienced. Be ready for a whole lot of characters navigating a life that's not supposed to exist, and all the while feeling happiness, sadness, everything in between, and just a lot of gay and queer feelings all over.

For this story, I'm seeking critiquing and input, but probably not too harsh because I don't deal super well with that. Rather, I'd just love advice on how to be maybe be better, and any comments about stuff you enjoyed while reading! Questions and doubts are fine too! I do hope you all have fun with this long story!

Spoiler: Warning

This story contains blood, violence, swearing, difficult subject matter that might be uncomfortable like the roles and ethics of carnivores, or discrimination, and eventual sexual themes and conversation.

Spoiler: Fun stuff

While not necessary, I do like to assign openings and endings to my story's different arcs, because I'm just Like That. So for Part 1, the opening will be Hello, World! by Bump of Chicken and from Kekkai Sensen, while the ending will be Ah Yeah! by Sukima Switch and from Haikyuu!! Again, this is purely for fun and to satisfy my anime brain, so just take it as that and indulge with me if you want. I'll probably order this better in the future or something.

To end this, I hope you enjoy the story! It's my whole pride and joy, so I work to make it a good one, and I hope that comes through! On with reading!

 

[GumPlum]

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Free Fiction

Part I: Expectations of Life​

Chapter 1: Arrival

Really, there was nothing all around. In the dark void that was the dreaming world, nothing was heard, nothing was felt, and nothing was seen. It was appreciated, in a way. Though there was nothing good, there was also nothing bad, so all in all, it was satisfying. And like any other dream, it could easily be filled with whatever the heart desired. Clearly, and without question, the dream was lighter than the heavy real world. It was easy to stay here, without problems or concerns, completely free… Forever…

But that changed… Without warning or control, it changed completely.

Amidst the silent dream was a rising light that only grew the longer nebulous time passed. It started out small, but it shone brighter and brighter until it encompassed all vision, and a voice came out of it.

There was only one shot at this, so it had to be perfect.

"Hello? Is anybody there?"

The voice was deep and booming, distant even, given how it seemed to come out of nowhere, surprising itself. Eventually, after what felt like the longest second of anticipation, a second voice, small and shy, answered its call. No doubt the owner of this empty dream.

"… Y-Yes? Who's that? Mmm…"

It seemed apprehensive, but the first to answer was the first to be chosen. The strong light started undulating until it was composed of a myriad of colors as a sense of excitement belonging to the light surrounded the dreamer.

"Okay, I don't have much time to explain, but you've been selected to go to the world of Pokémon! But first, I'm going to have you take a quiz to determine key aspects of your personality!"

Well, this was clearly a weird dream. Multiple questions aside, there was one thing that sprang to the dreamer's half-lucid mind. What was this "world of Pokémon," and why were they chosen? Nevertheless, the dreamer decided to play along with the dream to liven up considering recent events. They needed it after… Well, best not to remember it in what was supposed to be a happy dream.

"Uhhh… s-sure? A-Ask away?" the dreamer asked, cautiously.

"An easy pleaser, I see! That livens up this process on my end. Okay then, be completely honest in your answers. First up, what would you do if your friend was being bullied in front of you? Stand up to them or let it slide because the bully's really scary?"

"… If I'm being honest… I don't know, hide?" The dreamer didn't think much of the quick answer that would probably be a lie when given more thought, but the light changed from bright colors to a duller hue when it heard the answer.

"Oh… Well, we can't all be constant paragons of heroism, so don't worry! The light went back to its usual vibrant colors. "Next one! If you had the chance to go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?"

The dreamer wondered about what an "honest" answer to that question might be. They'd usually decide to stay in their room alone, but considering the reaction to the last question, an alternate answer might be in order. "I'd… go back to Puerto Rico… b-but I don't really wanna say why…" It technically was an honest answer, though also not entirely their first choice.

The light took a bit to respond. "… I see! Puerto Rico! … That's definitely a nice place!" The voice faltered for a moment, but the dreamer didn't pay much mind. There wasn't much point questioning a dream, much less one that they hoped would cheer them up.

"It's fine if you want to be more private, though, I understand. These questions are personal, after all. So, third question, which do you prefer, wide and open spaces with lots of people or more compact spaces with little to no people?"

"Ah… the more compact spaces. I'm… not very good with people." The questions were nearing pretty close to heart at this point, and it started feeling like a mean joke from the dreamer's subconscious.

"I see, I see. There's no shame in these answers here, they're perfectly valid."

A bit more time passed until the voice spoke again. "… O-Okay, we don't have much time left so I'll ask you the very last question and tell you the verdict. Are you ready?" The dreamer couldn't help but feel there was something missing here, but they decided not to press on the distant and boundless voice.

"Final question: Are you male or female?"

"Oh… um… I'm male, I guess…"

"You guess? Are you sure about that answer? Are you being honest?" The booming voice inquired with a doubtful tone.

"Ah! Y-Yeah! I'm definitely male!" That answer was more blurted out than said honestly, but the dreamer felt the need to pass onto the next part, failing to hide his uncomfortableness at the dream getting too relevant.

"… Well then, I think we're done for the quiz. You did very well." It definitely didn't feel that way to the dreamer with the different reactions that the voice gave to his answers. Still, as weird as this dream was it seemed to be coming to a close with the voice continuing to speak. "Now, it's time for the verdict. You seem like a… a… oh, oh geez- wait, nonono!"

The voice turned panicked, and all the colors started clashing into each other, creating a mess in the dream. The dreamer was turning anxious, he didn't know what was happening and the voice certainly wasn't sounding so confident either.

"Uhh, I'm terribly sorry, hehe… but, uh, our time here is done! You'll be sent to the world of Pokémon now! Great trials and, uh- tribulations, yeah, are awaiting you, so do your best!"

Now he was getting worried. Whatever sick dream this was, it was starting to get to him as the light started fading out. "H-Hey! What's going on?!" he shouted out into what felt like nothing. As the light faded out more and more, the dreamer felt a dragging sensation and he started to panic. Eventually as the pull heightened to an extreme, the light completely went out and then, darkness. The dragging stopped, the light was gone, and the dreamer felt like he was just floating, without a thought.

…

… Slowly, senses started to come back to him. First was the sound of gentle waves nearby, second was the feeling of sand beneath his body, and third was his eyes slowly parting to see a dark beach. He couldn't make out many details, but he did notice that he was in shadow, looking out onto the beach. Though, he quickly started to lose his senses again. He mumbled, "What... happened…?" before his world went dark once again.

---

The sun was strong this day and it was certainly taking its toll on the Pelipper flying above the forest. It had been a few days of straight flying from the desert region to the coastal region for his occasional mail route, which he was used to, but the extra passenger wasn't particularly helping with the flying. Thankfully, his target was coming into view and fast.

"Seems like we're almost there, kid! Hope you're ready for landin'!" The Pelipper looked back to the small passenger on his back and then immediately felt her scampering onto the top of his head. The newly revealed yellow Salandit looked onwards with a fascinated expression, feeling her closed frills and sunhat flailing in the air as she stared at the coastal city coming into view.

"OOOHHHH! It's happening! I'm finally going to arrive in the famed Reefly City to start my legendary adventuring career!" The Salandit stood on top of the Pelipper's head and struck a heroic pose. She was sure of it; this was her moment to shine! This was the beginning of a new era of discovery and change, and she was going to be at the helm!

"I love your enthusiasm, Ayza, but you're gonna fall if ya keep standin' there!" the Pelipper shouted to the beaming Salandit.

"Oh, let me have this, Free! I stayed inside your bill for the first few days after we left and it was the worst experience in my life!" she said as she went back down, held her sunhat to her head and assured nothing fell out of her backpack.

"You know damn well that was for your condition! Were it not for me, your scales woulda been burnin' real bad right now!" She knew it was true, her scales were even slightly stinging now, but she didn't want to admit defeat to Free so soon.

"Anyways, you should hide and hold on a bit more, we're comin' in!" Free shouted to her in anticipation. She complied, shuffling down into his feathers to stay hidden. Smuggling a Pokémon from a neighboring region wasn't exactly easy, but Free's work as a courier let him fly over the walls and register his arrival within the lighthouse and the postmaster rather than the city walls. Despite the need for stealth, Ayza still peeked out to see the sights, and there it was.

Reefly City, The Jewel of the Ocean, as she read in her books. A coastal city next to a big forest famous for the canals that went throughout the city and out to the ocean. To one side, all Ayza could see was that immense ocean, a sight she had only dreamed of seeing until now, but to the other side was the vibrant city with a beach and docks serving to connect the two. She could see all kinds of Pokémon roaming the city before her head was thrusted back as Free dived in quickly to get closer, and then readjusting soon after, the whiplash disorienting her.

"Free! You could've at least told me you were gonna do that!" she shouted in protest.

"What're ya talkin' about?! My warnin' was the last thing I said to you!"

Yeah, that's true. But did he honestly expect me to just not look in awe at the city? she thought with a giggle that made Free groan.

Anyways, now that they were closer, she got a much closer look at the crown jewel of the city, Vassaltis Castle. It was an ornate, marble castle right in the middle of the city where all the canals met. By itself, it was a relatively small castle, but the main attraction was the tower to the back of the castle that rose a bit more than a hundred feet above the city with a giant clock in the center and the royal throne at the very top in its own glass dome room looking down at all of its subjects. It almost looked like a mushroom cap in shape, and that made Ayza chuckle under her breath at actually seeing it rather than reading the words in her book.

Still, that was it. That was the goal, the prime target that Ayza was aiming for.

"You'll see, Free, one day I'll make it to the very top of that castle and meet the king myself!" she shouted proudly just so that Free could really hear her conviction.

"You keep dreamin', kid," the Pelipper chuckled, "the only way to get there is to be real good chums with the king, or to be arrested and tried by the king himself."

"Well, nobody's going to achieve it with THAT kind of attitude," she scoffed. Of course, it was going to be hard, that's what made adventures so fun! At least that's what happened in her books.

"Never mind that attitude of yours, kid, we're comin' in to land. I'll drop you off on the abandoned dock."

Free searched the docks from up high and quickly located the abandoned segment towards the edge of the beach. Diving towards it, Ayza knew Free was glad to have finally completed his shift and was already thinking about how he was going to relax all day after dropping off his client and the rest of his mail. As he landed on the dock, the maybe-too-excited Salandit quickly hopped off and gave a big stretch of relief.

"Ahh, flying really gets to you, am I right, Free?" she said as she looked back to find an incredulous face on the Pelipper, a long and decrepit single-story building framing him from behind. "But still, man oh man, I finally made it! My adventuring career starts today!" the Salandit cheered as she looked towards the glistening ocean for the first time in her life.

However, below that dock was another figure, starting to wake up after a dream had rocked his senses. He yawned as he slowly opened his eyes, seeing that familiar beach before he passed out. "Ayyy… ¿Qué pasó? Where am I…?" He slowly got up to his feet and noticed what appeared to be wood over his head, leaving him in the shadow of what appeared to be a sunny day. He could hear a voice shouting above him.

That's weird… This definitely isn't the bridge I slept under… There aren't even beaches close there… What happened to me?

"Mmm… no point in wondering when I can just walk out," he mumbled as he stretched his arms over his head. He felt surprisingly nimble and flexible for some reason. Despite the weird dream and waking up on a beach instead of the dirty bridge he slept below last night, he must have slept exceedingly well.

Must be some giant docks if he stood up and wasn't hitting the top. As he slowly walked out from below the dock, he heard that same voice yell, "Oh! I know I left the sand back home, but it's nice to see it again! I'mma go feel it!" and the sound of wood creaking rose as he looked back to see where the voice had come from and found a yellow body falling towards him.

"WHAT THE HE-" was all he could get out before the body tumbled onto him and he fell backwards into the hot sand. It didn't hurt much, but it was disorienting, which was the last thing he needed right now.

"Ayza! Ya can't just go around jumpin' on people!" a rough voice sounded above him as the body that crashed into him rolled out of the way.

"I was jumping towards the sand! I didn't know there was somebody there!" the voice that he presumed belonged to the body that just rolled away shouted in panic. Still disoriented, he righted himself and looked towards the direction of the voice and opened his eyes to the apologizing figure.

"I'm so, so, so sorry! Are you okay? Do you need any berries?"

He blinked. One more time. Why was a freckled yellow and black lizard with a sunhat and a backpack talking to him? He felt his eyes widen a lot more than usual, but that was the least of his worries.

"Oof, looks like you knocked 'em real good, kid."

He turned his head to the voice to find what could only be described as a giant pelican with disheveled feathers and a horribly giant bill encompassing half its body. And it was talking. Why the hell was it talking? There was only one explanation for this.

"… This is a dream r-right?" he asked with an unfocused, almost quivering stare.

"Uhhh, nope! This is real life, buddy! Are you sure you're okay?" the lizard asked, getting closer to him, its lavender and green eyes trailing his body. None of this was right.

"Where… Where am I? Who are you? What happened?!" he asked with his voice rising to a shout for the last question.

The lizard looked at him with narrowed eyes, "Hmm, I think I did some serious damage here, Free."

The abnormal pelican looked at her with a furrowed brow. "Don't go soundin' proud about it," The pelican then turned to the slightly hyperventilating victim. "Anyhow, are you okay there, kid? You look like you saw a Gastly when you looked at us."

"… That's because animals aren't supposed to talk," he said as he felt a nervous grin creep up his face.

The pelican looked almost offended at that. "Animals? D'you mean ferals? We ain't ferals, kid, we're plain old civilized Pokemon. If anythin', you're the weird lookin' one here, I ain't ever seen a Drizzile like you."

Now it went from nervous to panic. "Wh-What's a Drizzile, and why are you calling me that?"

The pelican was looking confused now and the lizard next to him was looking weirdly excited. "What are you talkin' about? You're a weird lookin' Drizzile, she's a Salandit, I'm a Pelipper, and we're all Pokémon… Somethin's wrong about you."

Remembering that this was a beach, the "Drizzile" in question crawled backwards in fear to look at the water. Instead of his normal self, he saw something else staring back at him with a fear-ridden face.

A weird lizard thing that was mostly comprised of a pastel blue stared back at him. It had a weird face with big, gradient blue and pink colored eyes with sky blue dots below them and what looked to be that same sky blue and purple protrusions on its head, looking oddly similar to his previously messy hair. It had a snout. Oh god, did he have a snout?

"Wh-What… WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!" he screamed to himself as he started to feel his new face with his hands… Oh god, his hands, they were weird, pink mittens with a thumb and an index finger! And his body didn't feel like skin, these were scales! Weird, small, and colored scales!

The panic attack had set in about this point. He got up, noting but ignoring his new two-toed, pink feet and ran to the shade below the dock once again and curled himself into his usual ball of comfort. "This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real… You're still you… You have to be…" he chanted to himself while rocking his new body back and forth.

Free pointed to Ayza while he wore an uncomfortable face. "You have to fix this whole thing. Go help him."

She cringed on the outside with a grin on the inside. I know he's right, but how can I fix this? A minute into my arrival in Reefly and I already broke someone's life! Then again… If I'm right… With a quick fist pump that Free almost scowled at, she sauntered over on her usual two feet towards the curled-up Drizzile, Free landing behind her as support.

"Hey um… hey there, buddy. You doing fine?" Ayza said as she reached out to console the Drizzile but flinched as he backed away in fear. From the small look he gave her, she could see the tears welling up in his face. "Oh boy, this is serious… Uhhh, look, I'm here to help! I don't wanna hurt you."

He sniffled and looked at her. He couldn't make right or left from this situation, but here he was, in a completely new body, in a place he didn't recognize, and a yellow lizard was trying to console him with a giant pelican behind her. None of it made sense, but he could recognize a concerned face when he saw it. "… H-How can you help me? You don't even know what's happening to me…"

She looked to the side with a small grimace. "I… don't really know. But I can be here for you. You've got a friendly face with me!" she said with a proud face and a small pose. She then gasped, facepalmed, and looked towards him. "Oh! I haven't even introduced myself! I'm Ayza! What's your name, buddy?"

… She seemed friendly enough, maybe he really could trust her to help him. It was a leap of faith for him, but that was about the only thing he had left right now in his limited sanity.

"… I'm Javier. Javier Wright."

"Alright, Javier! Now we're on a personal name basis!" Ayza cheered while clapping her… claws? Right, claws.

"Oh, right, the crotchety guy behind me is Free!" she said as she turned back to the pelican to which he responded with a small wave of his wing and an awkward smile. "So, tell me, what do you mean by 'Wh-What happened to me?!' You don't remember being a Pokémon? Could it be amnesia?" she said while twirling her claws for flair.

While he didn't appreciate her impression of his crisis, he still cleared the tears on his giant eyes. At the mention of those words, his mind immediately recalled the past few days and nights just to be sure, and… Yep, still clear, and still bad. It made him grimace in the real world for a moment. Even here, it was probably best to not think about his parents too much. "What? I don't have amnesia. No, I don't remember being a 'Pokémon' because I never was one. I'm supposed to be a human! But now I'm this weird lizard person!"

Javier didn't expect Ayza's eyes lighting up at the mention of being a human. With what he would call a crazed giggle, she pushed her snout in front of his. Ugh, my snout.

"Human, you say?! Oh, I had the sneaking suspicion, but it's good to have the confirmation! Do you know what this means?!" Javier was more focused on the weird sensation that was scale-on-scale touch, but the fact that this Ayza knew what humans were piqued his interest. Though, she cut him off before he could really answer her properly.

"The current crisis needs more help! That's the perfect catalyst for my adventuring career! This is so exciting! Lucky me!" Ayza was practically shouting at that point and Javier couldn't help feel that she'd warped the conversation to being about her in a few seconds. A wing planted itself on Ayza's shoulder, though, as Free came up with a confused expression.

"Sorry to ruin your second birthday this year, kid, but this can't be true. There can't be another human for a crisis. He's probably spoutin' nonsense for attention."

Free's interjection made her celebration die down as Javier looked at him with a confused, but immediately intrigued glance. "Wait, what do you mean, another human?" Javier inquired, uncurling himself a bit.

Free nodded. "Exactly what I said. You can't be a human because there's already a human who arrived a good number of months ago. Eight or nine months, if I'm correct."

Javier made a mental note about that other human that was supposedly here, but his first thought was what he blurted out. "But I am a human! I don't know what this world or this crisis is, but I'm a human! Or… at least I was…" Javier mumbled as he looked down at his body, seeing how much it really had changed. He hadn't noticed the scale pattern on his feet, almost making it look as if he had pink boots on, and the tail that was still curled around them. "Oh god, I have a tail…" he whined, burying his head again in embarrassment.

The facial journey for Ayza in this conversation had gone from concerned, to excited, to confused, to detached. But now, her face warped again into a big grin as she closed in on Javier's cheek. "Don't worry about him, I believe you…" she whispered into his head. A much-appreciated comment.

Free gave a loud sigh and turned away from them. "Look, you two, I'm really not for this. I just flew ya across the continent and I deserve a break. You should get him to see a doctor, he's gotta have some screws loose in that head there."

And with that, the Pelipper walked off, clearly tired of this shenaniganry. Though, as he flapped his wings to lift off the sand, he turned back to Ayza. "If you need me, just hang around the lighthouse… And please don't make a big fuss about ya. Lay low as much as possible and follow everythin' I told you to the teeth. Arceus knows smugglin' you in would get me in a world of trouble. Though, I guess there's no hiding it from my boss… Still, good luck, kid."

Javier watched as Free flew away from the beach into… actually, he didn't know where he flew off to, he had been too absorbed with Ayza and Free to notice the rest of his surroundings other than the clear water, sand, and dock.

Both of them stayed silent as Javier tried to regain his composure, but after a while, Ayza perked up. "Sooo, do you have any questions for me, or are you just going to sulk there for the rest of the day?"

As much as Javier wanted to do the latter, he figured Ayza wouldn't leave his side if he did, so he reluctantly turned his face to her. "Uh, s-sure… So, what is this 'Pokémon' you were talking about? I still don't know what that's about."

"That's an easy one," she beamed, throwing her arms out and exposing everything about her scaly body. "Pokémon are, well, what we are! Creatures that eventually grew to dominate and own this world. You know, like humans are to your world. Probably."

Okay, that was a bit more helpful. As much as Javier didn't know of this world, Ayza seemed like a reliable source of information and a constant source of energy and positivity. Truth be told, he was willing to trust her, but more questions were in order.

"Okay, so, what am I…? That big pelican called me a Drizzile, I think?" Trying to get more comfortable, he stood up and noted the slight height difference between him and Ayza. He was about a head taller than her, but he also noticed something else now that he was calmer and looked himself over.

He was completely naked.

And there went the calm.

"AHHH! Why am I so naked?!" he screamed in a higher pitch as he attempted to cover himself up with his mitten hands.

"Pfft, you goof, most Pokémon are naked! Even I am! We can get you something to wear later," Ayza casually said, ignoring his worry. "But back on topic. Yep, you're a Drizzile, one of the many species of Pokemon! For example, Free was a Pelipper, and I'm a Salandit, with a bit of Helioptile mixed in, but that's neither here nor there." Javier could very much retort to that but found no energy to and just plopped down to the sand with a sigh and his legs crossed, feeling them very different than as a human.

"Here, check this," Ayza said as she opened her backpack to pull a worn-down, thick book out of three in it, "Drizzile, Drizzile, Drizzile… ah ha! Found you!" she exclaimed as she turned the book around and Javier saw what looked to be a lizard creature like what he saw in his reflection, but it only had three protrusions from its head and all the colors were completely different to his. It also looked really bored for some reason and its posture was weird too.

There were also a bunch of weird shapes and symbols scrawled throughout the page, all unintelligible to Javier. There was no discernible language anywhere. Man, this was too confusing… He could also ask why Ayza had this well-timed of a book, but that was the least of his worries in this new world.

Ayza's snout poked out from the side to look at the drawing of the Drizzile again, "Man, looking at it now, Free meant it when he said you looked like a weird Drizzile. But that's pretty neat in my opinion! Honestly, you even look kinda cuter than a normal one, haha!"

Javier's cheeks burned at that. "O-Oh, um, thank you?" A bit embarrassed by the complement, he looked away from her and towards the other docks in the distance, seeing all sorts of Pokémon, one even flying out of the water and landing on one of the docks. It was a blue and white bird with what looked to be a squirming fish in its yellow beak and looking like it was about to eat the fish, before spitting it out into a basket and diving back into the water.

Wait, how could I see that so clearly? Are these new eyes just that much more potent? Two more questions to the unending pile.

"Curious, are we? Well, no point in staring when you can meet them yourself!" Ayza, once again, popped into view, wearing her sunhat this time, and hopped out of the dock and into the sun with an arm extended in invitation. "Come on! We're both new to this place and we won't gain anything staying here! I'll help you all the way through!" she said as she tried to give the best semblance of a thumbs-up she could with four-clawed hands. Well, it looked completely different, but still.

Still trying to cover himself, Javier edged himself a bit more to the outside. "I'd say one of us is newer to this place…" he said with a half chuckle until he was one step from leaving the shadow. Knowing a semblance of what was out there, he found it hard to take that extra step forward.

This is seemingly a completely new world with strange creatures inhabiting it and I was thrusted into it out of nowhere, even being turned into one of these creatures. It's entirely something out of fantasy… And unless I wake up from a bad dream, then this is real. I'm… I'm not in the human world anymore… How could this ever happen?

… Though, I guess I did wish for it before sleeping. But that was just desperation… I think.

Though, as he came to realize that fear, he remembered that he had just met someone who was too daring for her own good, and that same someone was now grabbing his arms and pulling him out of the closed off dock with a triumphant shout.

"Welcome to the world of Pokémon!"

Before he knew it, he felt the sunshine on his skin and he was now staring at a bustling, colorful city before the beach, a giant spire rising out of the middle and multiple more "Pokémon" roaming the streets, like a small crow Pokémon with a weird, feathered hat that squawked loudly, a light blue monkey with draping hair, and what looked like an almost-spherical blue mouse just bouncing with stubby legs, each one going through their day like nothing was happening on the beach next to them. There was even a stone sidewalk above their position dividing the city from the beach. The sky was a perfect blue, and the humid air was even clearer to feel on his adjusting scales- no, skin.

"… Ha… This is… a lot…"

"Yup, Reefly City! Like a flying reef, heh! The Jewel of the Ocean, as they say!" Ayza took his hand and pulled him some more, his two-toed feet giving way due to the shock and an anxious feeling welling up inside him as he was being guided towards the city by Ayza. Not a bad anxiousness, he felt, but he couldn't really process his emotions right now.

"First, let's go get you some clothes!" Ayza shouted with an infectious enthusiasm as evidenced by the small smile on Javier's face as they went into the hectic city.

---

The walls and gates of Reefly city were pretty big and definitely imposing depending on the Pokémon living inside. It was the only thing dividing the huge forest and its mystery dungeons and the city. They were many things, but they were lacking in one thing, guards. It wasn't necessarily empty, but it had very little surveillance in some parts. And that's where the cloaked purple figure with glowing blue eyes in the trees came in.

"Okay, okay, okay. You can do this. You can integrate into this city no problem! All you have to do is get over that wall," the cloaked figure said, preparing themselves. They watched carefully for any signs of guards and, lo and behold, an opening was found between two Golett that turned away from each other. With a push against the branch they were perched on, the cloaked figure flew as fast as they could across the walls, a spiked purple tail whipping past them in the wind.

"Come on, come on! This is my chance!" they grinned as they passed a Golett guard that was facing the wrong way at the right time. "Haha, sucker!" they cheered as they were finishing their flight.

And, with great speed, the figure eventually made it over the wall, immediately dipping down to hide wherever they could. Sure, it wasn't completely legal, but it was the city's fault that the walls had easily exploitable openings for some reason. They eventually found an empty alley and flew into it, hoping to hide between some loose crates and barrels in it.

"… All right! Now, uhhh… oh man, I wasn't expecting it would be that easy to cross the walls, haha!" the cloaked figure rested and laughed contently, the rush of their actions not fully leaving them. Still, even with the adrenaline, they couldn't help but peek out of their hiding spot.

They could see countless colors and Pokémon walking through the streets outside their hidden spot in the shaded alley. It was incredible to see all the drawings they had studied brought to life, and living in communal peace… They marveled at it all, relishing in their discovery and achievement. Though they didn't know how they'd react to an Ultra Being suddenly appearing in their city, the elation they felt at just seeing it all snuffed those worries, and all under the blue sky they always dreamed of… Whatever happened, there was no going back, and they were sure of their decision.

After everything… Oh, by The Arclight… I'm finally here. It's time to live my new life.

However, they felt like they weren't the only hidden figure looking out for opportunities in the alley, a fact made evident by the new voice that shouted behind them.

"Hey you! Did you just cross the walls? Illegally?!" a Pokémon shouted from the other side of the alley. It was a weird and almost lanky Scrafty with their hood up, but it was all smeared in blue and black paint, forming a "mask" of some sorts. They had what looked like black, knitted gloves covering their hands, and deep blue paint smattered bandages winding and covering their entire forearms past the gloves. The ends of their covered feet looked somewhat extended, as if there were claws, and there was a small and white spike that looked like it was made out of paper tied unto their chest, strapped on with a pale-yellow band. They looked like a Scrafty, but an incredibly odd one at that, and even their normal orange scales were slightly paler than what they had seen in their self-teaching.

All the cloaked figure could do was give a big sigh of regret, their smile fading.

"Oh crud…"

 

[GumPlum]

Chapter 2: Exposed and Sheltered

Traveling through the city was a very surreal experience, to say the least. True to what Ayza had said, there were many different types of Pokémon in this city alone. Javier saw a bug with giant scythes for hands, a nine-tailed fox, a group of purple blimps gently floating above the city, even a red and white Pokémon with massive claws and a bombastic hairstyle, and that was only around the second turn they took! Some were even swimming through the canals to avoid possible street traffic, oddly enough.

Needless to say, the whole time they were on the streets, Javier was staying as close to Ayza as possible. She was the only thing that seemed even remotely normal at that point, even if she constantly stopped by various places to just marvel at it all. Walking felt alien, the tail felt the same, and even his… well, his scales. While waiting for Azya to get back on track, he would poke and prod at his own body, and among all the weirdness, what stuck out to him was the constant moisture he could feel beneath it.

It wasn't sweat, that much was obvious to him… but the thin layer of water he could almost instinctually feel beneath the small scales was mind-boggling. He couldn't even see it, but he could feel it moving throughout him like a stream. There was no idea in his head of what it could be, but he did guess it was what kept him relatively comfortable in what he could recognize as strong sunlight in the air, but never felt smothering. He didn't even manage to question Ayza about it amidst all the other burning questions over the new world rushing past him.

They had gone through the streets looking for some kind of clothing store for Javier, which had gotten them lost very quickly. The combination of a skittish-at-best not-Pokémon and a very blunt Salandit was not very good for gathering directions, it seemed. Javier wanted to ask more questions about this world, but the overwhelming sense of dread the city was giving him quickly snuffed out that desire. Though, after what felt like an eternity of searching, they had been given directions to a tailor more towards the center of the city, with a shop named "The Silken Fantasy."

When they had arrived, they saw an intricate shop with many delicate bells and ribbons on the outside, and even more decorations on the pastel-colored inside. Though Javier was annoyed he couldn't read the sign with the shop's name, what with a completely different written language than Spanish or English, he trusted in Ayza as she assured him it was the right shop, and they entered the establishment.

And this tailor had everything. Anything you could want, they had it and it was the highest quality on the market, the duo's sources said. Javier could really find something in here that fit his fancy. Only one problem, though.

Boy, was it EXPENSIVE.

Ayza only had around 50 dollars, or poké as she said, to spare for clothes and the lowest priced item landed at around 10,000. Javier had seen some Pokémon with clothes walking around, but they were at most scarves and the like and they didn't seem from this place. Ayza mentioned those were usually adventurers as they all had similar designs with a badge on it.

He inquired more about what those adventurers could be, but she only said that was reserved for later. Which, okay, sure, he had plenty of time to worry over something else in this world.

Either way, the opulent shop was one thing, but the immediate glares they had received when entering was concerning. The shop was located much closer to the center of the city, as the castle in the middle seemed closer than ever and the trip to the shop was actually pretty long, a fact that only shook Javier the more steps they took.

The area around the shop looked weirdly modern too, with trimmed shrubbery, lampposts, and even metal benches laid around what looked like a money-filled environment. Even the fancily dressed Pokémon inside the area glared at them for some reason, but it all combined into one obvious fact as they saw the prices of the clothing.

They were certain at that point. They'd entered the elite section of the city and they did not belong, as evidenced by the owners, a Leavanny and a Sylveon as Ayza described them, pompously laughing at them when asking for help and recommending another tailor on the outskirts of the city owned by someone called Charon, mentioning that it was "suitable for peasants."

And with that, the door slammed shut behind them, a disgruntled Javier lowering his head and sighing as they stood in the middle of the street, Pokémon walking around the two. "… I'll never get clothes, will I?"

Ayza grinned at him. "Aww, don't look bluer than you already are, Javier! If this Charon guy is for the 'peasants', then they'll definitely have something at our budget!" she said with a posh accent on the peasant part.

Ignoring the blue comment, Javier looked at her with an embarrassed smile.

… How could somebody waste a day helping me, a total and useless stranger that had a panic attack when we met? It made no sense, but Ayza grabbing his arm to drag him off his feet was becoming a routine, so he didn't get much time to dwell on it.

It didn't take long to find Charon's shop, what with it being fairly close to the abandoned dock they had met in and it being a complete mess of a two-story shop from the outside. It looked more like a ransacked hut than a store, a lack of color being very evident in its mostly dark interior. Hopefully, it was open since the sun was coming down and they saw some places closing up before arriving here. Even peering through the dirty, glass sections of the wooden door, all Javier could see was relative darkness and some semblances of stands and shelves.

Standing at the front of the decrepit shop, Javier could hear a squawk somewhere, mixed in with all the general chatter of others in the street. It only stuck out to him because there were little Pokémon around, but he only found more unknown creatures, so he soon gave up on it and focused on the task at hand.

Javier narrowed his big eyes at the hanging sign with the name of the shop, but after a while sighed in defeat, only seeing squiggles and shapes instead of letters. Ayza noticed and gave him a pat on the scaly— ugh— back.

"I doubt you can understand feet script, but good try!"

"Wait… feet script? What does that mean?" Javier asked, almost knowing the answer, but was wanting to hear it from his most trusted and only source of information in this world.

"Uhhh, it's our written language, silly! We use different designs of feet to write, and specific Pokémon feet to refer to each species. It varies a bit from region to region, but it's pretty universal!" she said, looking proud of it.

Javier almost cringed, but held it together. "I have a few issues with that," he had many issues with that, "but what's this shop's name then? I at least want to know what we're getting into."

Ayza looked at the sign, trying to figure out the writing in between broken parts and smeared paint. "It's umm… it's either Nice Cloths or Vice Sloths. I'm gonna go for the first one, heh," she said, winking and poking her lavender tongue out.

"Well, hopefully we'll find something and then we can get on to my stuff!" Ayza cheered as she threw open the rickety door. Javier didn't know what her "stuff" entailed, but he supposed he owed her after all the support she's given him. Compared to her energy, he just cautiously entered the shop with small steps.

It was a surprisingly clean store, considering the outside. It seemed even cleaner and more orderly than the previous shop. No dust was present, nor any other kind of unsightly element, but the shop itself was just… eerie? There was just an ever-present silence, and the lack of any kind of activity made it look almost dead, but still weirdly pretty in frozen glamour.

Despite that, a few unlit candles stood in each corner of the store, so the only light source was coming from the slightly setting sun behind them. There was a door to the side, probably leading to a back room, but whatever laid behind that door was a complete mystery and the atmosphere the inside was giving off did not make the most pleasing of first impressions. Looking over to the counter, Javier saw what looked like a doll that was mostly a dark grey color, but it had multiple patches of blue, red and purple stitched on to various parts, maybe to fix any tears, and a measuring tape was around its head that was laid down onto the main counter, its face unknowable at the moment.

"Hello…? We're looking for a Charon, are they here?" Ayza questioned the air of the shop. There was no response for a bit, Ayza and Javier looking between themselves with doubtful faces, until they heard a moan come from the main counter.

"Ughhh… Yes? I'm Charon, what… what brings you to my shop?" the tired-sounding voice yawned out as the doll on the counter lifted itself, revealing its glowing crimson eyes and a mouth made of an open yellow zipper. Javier yelped in fear and unsuccessfully hid behind Ayza who had a mostly neutral face seeing the doll rise up.

I'm really not for this ordeal. I've already seen enough creatures to freak me out already, but a creepy possessed doll is starting to feel like the last straw. With a shaky voice he asked, "H-Hey, A-Ayza, what is it?"

"Them. I go by they and them, if you don't mind," Charon interjected with a tired expression alongside their tilted head resting on one of their plush hands.

"O-Oh… I'm s-sorry. I um… didn't know you had those in this world…" Javier was taken aback by the presence of somebody using gender neutral pronouns in this world. He had assumed the contrary, but felt all the butterflies in his stomach when he contemplated the possibilities of this and probably more existing in this world.

Maybe even I could…

"Don't know what you mean by 'this world,' but it's fine, you can't know everybody's pronouns just by looking. The important thing is to not repeat that mistake, okay?" Charon interrupted his train of thought as Javier's eyes went from terrified to slightly intrigued.

"See, Javier, they're a Pokémon known as a Banette. Banette are unique in that they're a Pokémon born out of a spiteful doll! Ain't that neat?" Ayza said in a salesman tone with smug eyes while leaning on an empty coat rack. Javier's attention wasn't lost at Ayza's clear correction. He supposed it was better to use them than it for someone he didn't know, but to actually be the preferred set…

"Uh-huh… O-Okay then… Um, so, do you have any clothes under 50… poké? Did I say that right?" Ayza gave an affirming nod and the Banette gave him a quizzical look.

"Under 50, huh? I'd have to see." They hopped down with little sound and pointed to Ayza. "Say, Salandit, I kinda like your hat, so could you light those candles in the corner while I check in the back?"

"Oh, thanks! A good friend got it for me!" Ayza giggled. "And I'll light it only if you pay me!"

"… Why would I do that?" Charon said with a deadpan face as they headed to the back.

"I had to at least try, haha!" Ayza said with a cheerful shrug.

Javier looked around the store seeing all sorts of products, some on par with the previous store even. He wondered about how this place could be "for the peasants" when the quality of the product felt about the same, if not better. He gave special notice to a short, translucent purple shawl and some simple, but very flowy dresses, before seeing Ayza jump up to a candle on the wall and spit fire into it— wait, fire?!

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Javier gasped, looking back and forth from the recently lit candle and Ayza's usual grin.

She cocked her head to the side, her sunhat almost falling with the motion. "Man, I'm going to have to sit down to teach you everything at this point," she chuckled. "Anyways, that was an example of what Pokémon can do! We all have different abilities depending on our species and type, both of which there are many."

"What do you mean by type? Does that mean I can do stuff like that?!" Javier asked with a pitch in his voice.

Ayza gave a playful shrug. "Well, there's a bunch of types, really! I'm considered a fire and electric type so I can do moves of that nature, but you're a Drizzile, and they're considered water types, so think on it."

It wasn't necessarily excitement that Javier was feeling, but it certainly wasn't a bad feeling, the rising beat in his chest all too apparent to him. "So… I can do crazy stuff with water?" he asked, thinking of all the possibilities that could come from this and glancing over his strange body. So that water underneath his skin… He could control that? What would that even mean, or look like for that matter?

"Pretty much!" Ayza agreed, but then narrowed her eyes slightly. "You know, it's weird to have to explain all of this to you. The humans that come to this world usually already know of Pokémon but have amnesia for everything else. You're the exact opposite! Maybe something went wrong when you came here...?"

Before he could really think about the ramifications of what Ayza said, a familiar voice interrupted them. "A human? That's an explanation for not knowing poké, or a Banette… Everything about you, really," Charon said with a plain face, holding a set of colored bow ties in a small wooden display while they stood next to Javier.

The human almost flung himself out the shop, but his new body instead opted to reel back in surprise. "A-Ah! Um, nooo! No humans here! You must have h-heard something different!" Javier shouted while bringing his mittens to his chest.

"… Look, Drizzile, I don't really care," they said, changing to a disinterested gaze. "Human or Pokémon, a customer is a customer. And, frankly, I need customers. I don't even know if it's true, but the outcome doesn't change anything for me. Anyways, here's what I could find in your range." Javier was shocked to see Charon not care about him being human. He had taken Free's warning as avoiding telling anybody that he was human, but maybe most people were like Charon and didn't care.

Charon had come up to both of them with a set of colored bowties and displayed each one. "They're mostly the same, but each one has their own personality to them," they said with a small smile, clearly proud of their own work.

"Just a bowtie?" Javier asked with a small pang of guilt.

"Money runs the world, human," Charon answered simply. Ayza giggled beside Javier, but he just sighed.

Well… anything's better than nothing… Javier shook his head of being stingy as he glanced to Charon's bored face. "S-Sorry, I'll take one of them. They already look great."

Charon's eyes and mouth widened in what looked like surprise, but they quickly closed as they pushed the display of bowties into Javier's chest and looked away. Somehow, there was a pinkish tint to the doll's cheeks. "S-Sure, just pick one already. Choose carefully what you think fits you best."

Javier just stared at the bowties with Ayza peeking in from the side. She grabbed a yellow one with an audible "ooh" escaping her grin. While he pondered about which one would look good on his new body, Javier was also looking at the rainbow of colors available. His eyes were immediately drawn to the light purple bowtie of the bunch, practically ignoring the rest. "I want this one," he said, almost shocked at his own speed.

Charon let out a stifled laugh. "Are you sure? I haven't even ex—"

A loud and somewhat metallic crash was heard close by that interrupted and caught the three's attention, startling only Javier. Shortly after, another cluster of sounds was heard travelling along the side of the establishment. Through the windows of the front of the shop they all saw a cloaked figure flying outside of the corner of an alley and looking at the various locked establishments and houses in the street before ending up at Charon's. Seeing people inside, they threw their floating body to open the door with a loud grunt that shook only Javier again. He couldn't see much about the figure aside from a pointed head and a blue glow near the opening of the cloak.

"Hah… hah… Can I hide in here?! I'm being chased by a lunatic!" the floating figure panted with a young, but clearly scared voice that sounded somewhat distorted, but even that was very faint.

Javier was stunned, Ayza had a progressively bigger grin, and Charon stared at the figure with half-closed eyes. "Yeah, sure, go hide in the back," the Banette said nonchalantly. The figure immediately darted towards the back, swung open the door, and slammed it shut as they flew in.

"… What just happened…?" Javier asked to the air before another figure swung the door open, making him yell again as Ayza giggled in glee. This one looked weird in that it seemed to have a flabby mask on and "pants" of the same material attached to their waist and covering their slightly lanky legs. Said mask seemed to be smeared with blue paint all over with black paint drawing a thick line through the eyes. Looking at the body, they seemed to have dark orange scales throughout most of the body and grey ones comprising the chest and belly, but even those had occasional blue paint splotches on them. There was a paper spike tied to their chest, with black gloves covering their hands, and even blue bandages covering their forearms as well. Pokémon or whatever, it was clearly a costume of sorts.

"Where did they go?! Charon! Did you see a cloaked figure fly by here?! It's urgent!" the new figure screamed at Charon's tired face with an aggressive tone and almost frantic face.

Charon blinked once and then pointed out of the shop. "Yep, they kept going towards the docks, but they were going fast."

"All right, thanks, Charon!" the Pokémon cheered and tried to leave before doubling back a bit. "Oh nice, you've got some customers. Keep up the good work dude, you deserve it," they said in a much calmer and friendlier voice and then left running.

The store was silent for a while. "… O-Okay so, seriously, what happened…?" Javier asked in a shaky tone to Ayza.

"I dunno, but it was exciting! A real chase scene! Though, I've never seen a Scrafty like that, what was up with him? What was up with the guy in the back? Ahh, so many questions!" she beamed. She was clearly enjoying the thrill of the mystery, but Javier was just stressing at her dismissing it all.

"That weird guy at the end was a guy named Aster. He's a good kid, if a bit delusional when he has that getup and becomes the 'Aura Guardian,'" Charon said while looking towards the back door.

That didn't really explain anything, Javier thought with a worsening grimace.

"Can you two check on our visitor in the back while I prepare the bowtie you chose?" Charon said, with Ayza nodding fervently immediately after.

"Come on, buddy, it'll be fun!" Ayza cheered as she grabbed onto Javier's shoulder.

"But I don't even know who they are! What if they're a criminal?!" Javier whined as Ayza started to pull him to the door.

"Then we bust 'em!" Ayza said definitively.

Javier just felt exasperated with a hanging mouth. From what he could tell, Ayza was just endless curiosity and excitement, but to be pulled into it… He knew the feeling, but he wasn't expecting it so soon in a new world.

Ayza dragged the unwilling and complaining Javier to the door, casually ignoring his worry while indulging in her curiosity. She gingerly opened the door to see a whole collection of cloth and drapery all around the room, and a set of stairs to the side. In the floor of the center was the mysterious individual that had entered, but now with their cloak off.

Now getting a good look, Javier saw a relatively small creature wearing a short, yellow neckerchief… Neckerchief? Whatever, scarf was easier anyways. They were mostly different shades of purple, with a head that looked like one big syringe, and two smaller needles on the side. They were resting with half-closed eyes and a long and pointed tail curled around them. Their glowing blue eyes with lines forming downwards into a curved design lit up when Javier and Ayza opened the door, and a smile formed on their face.

"Oh, thank you so much! Ever since I arrived, that guy wouldn't stop chasing me! I haven't been able to rest until now." The individual floated up towards the two, ignoring the laws of gravity. "How can I repay you guys?"

"How about your name, stranger? I'm Ayza," she said with a bright smile, "and this is Javier!" Javier just gave a small wave with an awkward smile.

"Of course, then, I'm…" They paused for a moment, but gave a light sigh with a smile. "… I'm Blight." Javier thought it was an odd name, but they seemed happy enough to say it. "It's a pleasure to meet you two. Might you have any food? I lost mine in the chase."

With a gleeful smile, Ayza opened up pockets in her backpack and pulled out some strange-looking fruits. There was a very round blue one, one that looked like a beige misshapen flute, and another that had a plump and yellow appearance. Javier guessed they were some kind of unique food, but his curiosity got the best of him.

"What are those? They look weird," Javier said quizzically.

"Pfft, how do you not know what berries are?" Blight said with a chuckle to the Javier.

"Oh, he's a human. Don't mind his ignorance," Ayza said plainly.

"Yeah, don't mind my- wait what?! Ayza! How could you say that?!" Javier countered.

Ayza grinned at his flustered face while Blight gave another smile. "Oh, cool! If that's true, then we're in similar situations, my friend!" they said while wrapping a pointed limb around his shoulders in a friendly manner.

"W-Wait, you're a human too?!" Could this be the one Free was talking about? An actual ally?

They waved their other limb dismissively with a chuckle. "Oh, by the Arclight's grace, no. I mean that we're both not Pokémon who've arrived in this city! You're a human and I'm an Ultra Being! Kindred spirits, I say." Javier's hopes were dashed, and at this point he was too tired of asking questions, so he let those unknown terms fly over his head.

"Ultra Being…" Ayza mumbled with a low laugh as she stuck her claw into a berry and dragged it down to create a slice. "I'll be honest, it's surprising to see one here. We're even more kindred spirits then, because we all came from far away to this city! How lucky!"

"You know about us?" Blight asked, floating closer to her with wide eyes. "That's… That's actually kind of comforting, heh. Definitely a better reception than that Scrafty."

"No problem! I've read about you guys, so I'm just happy to know a Poipole personally!"

Javier just looked at the two conversing with terms completely unknown to him. Though he was left out of the conversation, it was nice and calm within the back room of the shop. The smiles of the two were bright, though he didn't notice the one forming on him without control. For a moment, he just stood there… admiring the two of them, and feeling the aching craving to join in. Thankfully, the topic changed soon enough to open up before him.

"It's time for food!" Ayza shouted with her claws raised, revealing a little setup with the food in question being cut into several slices. Blight immediately shifted their gaze to the food and went for the yellow slices. Javier obliged and knelt down to pick up a blue slice.

He looked at it with a doubtful gaze. He didn't know what this berry was, but he was admittedly hungry. He felt his tongue go across the inside of his mouth, feeling the small teeth that adorned this new body. He closed his eyes and slowly bit into the slice…

… And it was good. Oh damn, this is REALLY good! His eyes lit up and he felt his cheeks flush red. "Wh-What is this, Ayza?! Why's it so good?!" he almost shouted as he started grabbing more slices.

"Pfft, that's just our food here!" she beamed. It really was something extraordinary and Javier felt like he could keep eating it forever. The freshness, the sweet and strong juices… Oh, this was so nice…

"Is it that much better than human food?" Blight asked, tilting their head.

"Mmhm! Ish reary good!" A genuine smile came from the usually scared human. Just this once, the persistent thought about being a lost human in a strange world didn't seem so important. Right now, he was just eating good food with friendly people, and that made him occasionally giggle under his breath.

Finally having a moment of rest, Ayza perked up. "So, Javier, how's this world been so far? Exciting? Give me the details!" Blight also looked interested in hearing a human talk about their experience as a Pokémon.

Javier swallowed the berry in his mouth as he thought about the complex question. "Um, I don't know. At the very least it's overwhelming," he mumbled with a slight tilt of his head.

"… Gotta say, I expected more~" Blight said in a playful tone while looking away and taking a bite out of a berry.

In a good mood and picking up on what they were putting down, Ayza smirked in the corner of Javier's sight. "Heh, what can I say? He wakes up in an unknown world, has a breakdown, and then spends the rest of the day shopping for clothes," she said with a smug face. Javier could very much debate her interpretation of how they met, but he was preoccupied with the berry in his mouth.

"Wait, the first thing a human did when he arrived in this world is look for clothes? Ridiculous!" Blight said, floating closer to Javier.

"O-Of course I did! I can't go around completely naked like this!" he said, outstretching his arms to show off his body.

"And, seeing how you look right now, how might that be faring out, hmm?" At this point, Blight was getting closer and was blowing their blue tongue out at Javier.

"It's been going horribly! We got rejected and thrown out of one store and we've found a singular bowtie here!" Javier stood up and attempted to do the same as Blight in response, but got wrapped up in the energy of the playful teasing so that when he tried, his whole long tongue spat out and smacked Blight in the face, sending them whirling in the air.

"Aaahh! Mah thang!" Javier exclaimed with his tongue on the floor.

"Pfft, HAHAHA! Oh gods, you two are too much! This is way too funny!" Ayza cackled her way into the argument.

The Drizzile with a tongue on the floor and the disoriented Poipole looked towards her, "This isn't funny!" they said in unison, one more garbled than the other. Ayza only snickered even more.

Javier and Blight looked at each other in annoyance… And they kept staring…

And then they burst into laughter at their situation. Javier in particular laughed enough to have his tongue quickly retract and send him to the ground. He stayed on the ground for a while, smiling. This was the first time he had enjoyed himself in this world and it was all because of the antics of Ayza and the quickly befriended Blight.

Oh… I needed this.

During it all, Charon stepped into the room with the purple bowtie in hand and looked at the small trio having their… moment. They went in and grabbed a few slices with a smile. "I'll take this as extra payment for your purchase," they said, and placed the purple bowtie on the giddy Javier's hand. "You're gonna look snazzy with this on. Here, stand up."

Javier stood up as Charon started dragging a mirror in the corner and placed it in front of Javier. This time, he saw himself standing in his new body in full. The tail, the eyes, the scales, the weird hair, everything… All of it combined to form the unfamiliar Drizzile that was staring back at him. It was an odd creature to stare at, mostly because it seemed wholly fantastical through his human lens. The Drizzile blinked the same time he did, and its snout trembled the same way his mouth did.

It's not me. It can't be. I want this to be a dream and for it to end already, because this… this lizard…

I'm human. I know I am… So, who am I looking at?

He saw tears form in the reflection's eyes. Those same tears ran down his cheeks. He gripped the bowtie as his breath went shallow with a tight chest.

"What… What the hell…" he sniffled and brought an arm to clean his eyes. The tears were completely uncontrollable, flowing down without rhyme or reason. It wasn't bad, and it didn't hurt, but just seeing that Drizzile move the same way he did…

"Woah, um, what's wrong, man?" Blight inquired with a worried face and Ayza sauntered up to Javier.

He kept gripping the bowtie in his hand as he tried to process his emotions. "I-I… I don't know… It's been a day," he chuckled with more tears streaming down. He curled up into a ball and unconsciously wrapped his tail around himself. "I just… I don't know anymore…"

Both Ayza and Blight looked at each other with concerned expressions.

"You mentioned he had a breakdown, is this…?"

"Oh, big time."

Charon examined the softly sobbing Drizzile and his concerned acquaintances while putting their berry slice in their mouth. They stared outside, looking at the sun coming down. "Ughh… You guys are annoying… The day's coming to a close, and it's painful to see this whole display." They looked back at the trio and sighed heavily, biting the edge of their mouth with their zippers. For how sudden it was, they couldn't ignore this nostalgic hold on their heart.

"… I'll let you three stay here for the night if you stop… this, and if you stop holding my bowtie like that."

Charon's voice was somewhat muffled, but Javier still heard him. It seemed like a great offer, but he was kind of preoccupied with his tears. Concentrating on pushing back his intrusive thoughts, he lifted his head and looked to his sides, seeing the concerned faces of his companions and gasping loudly to force everything out at once.

"God… Um… Thanks for the support. I'm fine… I think." He got up and brushed the tears off his face, taking a deep breath and looking at his reflection. Even though he didn't recognize himself, the human was still in there, somewhere. And right now, that human was going to try on a new bowtie to feel even somewhat covered. He looked at the bowtie in his hand and smiled at it. It was still very well made and even had some sparkling in it, somehow.

It is actually really good-looking… I want it. I really do.

"Here, I guarantee this will make you feel better," Charon said as they took it and assisted him in putting it on with a smile to their zippered mouth. After a bit, the plush hands released his neck as they finished putting it on and presented it with a careful flourish. "See? What did I tell you? Snazzy~"

Javier looked at the Drizzile in the mirror, lightly moving the body in different angles. Despite the new body, he genuinely liked how the accessory looked on it.

Do I feel… pretty? Is that the right word? Probably not, considering the lizard staring back at me. Knowing that this world used they and them pronouns felt nice and intriguing, but that didn't really account for his body. He could only dream of reaching a happy medium, but wishing this entire scenario was a dream came first.

Still… the tightness in his chest relieved somewhat. He was keenly aware of his slight elation, considering his mouth was quivering away from his rigid frown before and so did the Drizzile's.

"Looks like that day of shopping paid off!" Blight grinned at Javier, floating closer.

"Wowee wow, now you look even cuter! Show off that bowtie, baby!" Ayza almost shouted in enthusiastic support.

"D-Don't say it like that, haha!" A laugh escaped him immediately, with a wavy but elated smile forming on him at the same time as he batted away Ayza's incessant energy. It didn't work as she managed to slip through and slap his back with raucous laughter. It wasn't painful, but it made him compulsively follow along with the infectious laughing. To think he could smile so much after last night and all of today…

… Honestly, these two. I don't mind this feeling…

"Hey, Javier," Charon called out through the laughter, "don't take this the wrong way, but you don't seem like you're much of the type who shines in the spotlight. You wanna hide that you're a human, right?"

"A-Ah…" Javier mumbled, glancing between Ayza and Blight. "I mean… Y-Yeah, I don't do super well with that stuff. Why do you ask?"

"A bit of advice then since you bought my stuff. If you intend on laying low, it'd help to change your name," Charon said. "One for just helping adjust and blend into this world. Coupled with your odd appearance, posture, and attitude, you may have a target on your back. Clearly, we don't care, but there are some who are very concerned with that information and that's a spotlight that you probably wouldn't be comfortable with."

"Hmm, I agree," Ayza chimed in with a slight grin. "Though I wanna be a famous adventurer, I probably wouldn't like the entire city immediately looking my way either. Plus, changing names is pretty fun and common in this world! It'll just let you blend in better!"

"I-It is?" Javier asked back with a pitch in his voice. Even he was aware of the immediate rising beat in his heart as all of them nodded at his question. Changing names was normal here… The Drizzile in the mirror seemed to have a smile forming on its snout. "Then maybe… maybe I will…"

Blight smirked in Ayza's direction, but just nodded at Javier when he looked at them for an opinion. The needles on the sides of their head also moved like they were adjusting uncomfortably. "I mean… As long as the name's true to you. No point in adopting something you don't like." Their small smile was comforting, and their words even more so, but it looked a bit stilted for some reason.

Everyone's argument made sense to Javier, but he didn't know how willing he was to change his name on the fly. It definitely piqued his interest, but that didn't mean he could just slap a new name on himself without thought. He didn't even know what would fit in this world, much less a Drizzile. "Hmm, maybe something about my color…?" he asked, looking back to the mirror and then to everybody else for their input.

"That's a start, but I don't think you'd like being called Blue or Pink," Blight said, crossing their stubby limbs. "I mean, unless you wanna be a rainbow Drizzile~" they teased, sticking out a glowing tongue that Javier snickered at.

"Well, if it's about your color, then I thought you looked like a Corsola when I saw you, but I've never met any of those coral Pokémon, or any Drizziles, so I don't know what names they usually have." Ayza mumbled, swaying her body in deep thought.

The group stayed silent thinking about what name would fit the human.

Javier pondered about what his companions said. Yeah, having just a color for a name wouldn't be ideal, so that's a no-go. On the other hand, I have no idea what Drizziles are called, and I know even less about this supposed coral Pokémon, so that's also a lead to nowhere… Wait… a coral Pokémon…?

"… How about Coral?" Javier suddenly said out of the silence.

"Huh… that's not bad. Good one!" Charon exclaimed with wider eyes than normal.

Ayza cheered and leapt to hug Javier. His cheeks burned with embarrassment because of the sudden scale-to-scale contact. "I love it! Is Coral fine with you, Blight?" she beamed, looking back to Blight.

"Why are you asking me? I see no problem with it. It's short, sweet, and stylish~" Blight popped into view above Javier's head. Seeing how they floated was weird considering they looked somewhat weightless. He briefly wondered about how it must feel to fly, but quickly returned to the topic at hand and the mirror in front.

The Drizzile grinned back at him. "… Coral it is then…"

… He never really liked the name Javier. It was chosen by his mother, but he never felt particularly attached to it. It wasn't a bad name by any means, but the idea of changing his name in the human world had come across him a couple of times, though his parents probably wouldn't support it.

But my parents aren't here. I'm alone in this world.

Or so he thought for a second before Ayza squeezed him tighter in excitement and Blight plopped their needle head on his head, a gentle smile on their glowing face. The newly named Coral looked at the three of them in the mirror and smiled.

Maybe… Maybe it won't be so bad.

---

Night had fallen, and the streets of Reefly City were relatively empty- or, at least the streets in the slums where Charon's shop was located. Coral looked out of the window of the top floor of the shop and wondered about what the night life could be in this city. He shifted his sight to the side where he saw a tall and cloaked figure hold a black and red claw to their chest and then dash through the alleys. Yep, these are the slums.

It had been a few hours since Charon let them into their home. They had finished eating more berries a bit before, and they were now getting ready to sleep. Charon had an appropriately sized bed for a doll their size and the trio had a set of hay provided by Charon to sleep in. Coral wasn't particularly enthusiastic about sleeping on the floor with hay, but that was apparently the standard in this world as stated by Ayza.

He attempted to go back to join his companions, before hearing a loud buzzing sound coming from somewhere. He looked out the window to see a bright and pulsing light emanating from the domed tower in the center of the city. It buzzed even more until it burst in a flash and revealed a giant image of a Pokémon in the sky, Coral stepping back in shock.

This one was weirder than most of what he'd seen before. They looked like a small, anthropomorphic deer, but they had what looked to be a large bulb on their head with four antlers holding it tight and a ring of beads around their neck. They consistent mostly of green and silver fur and a diminutive frame with stubby arms, but very long and lithe legs. They had what looked to be a cape made of their own fur and connected to the arms flowing behind them as they looked out onto the city, their gaze giving Javier a gnawing sense of unnerve.

"My people… I hope today was a good day for you all. I welcome the night with you, but before we continue with the rest of our day, I have two announcements I deemed necessary to make." The figure had a booming and regal voice that reminded Coral of the voice he heard in his dream before waking up on the beach. He felt a familiar Ayza snake her way to his side to look out at the figure. She let out a gasp upon seeing it.

"Wow, it's the King! I've never seen him up close like this- well, as close as you can consider this!" she said excitedly.

"The King? Of the city?" Coral asked without looking at her. He had assumed the big tower in the center of the city belonged to the "leader" of the city, but he never thought there would be a king, and much less one that looked as weird as that.

"Yep, King Avenir the Calyrex! Apparently, it's said that he can see all past, present, and future of every Pokémon! He's probably the one doing that psychic projection of himself! Cool, right?"

Coral looked back to see a starry-eyed Ayza and a tired Charon looking outward as well. He felt a familiar head plop itself on his head, and the rest of a floating body draping over his back. "I hope you get used to this, it's really comfortable~" Blight mumbled with a yawn, and Coral responded with a light laugh.

The King continued speaking to the entire city. "My first announcement is that tomorrow will be the revelation of the special project that my son and next-in-line, Prince Hope, has been working on for plenty of months. Remember that this project will add a new branch to the Reefly City guild, so I hope you all wait patiently for tomorrow's important change," Avenir said in the same royal voice as before without a changing expression and there were a few murmurs through the streets.

"Now, my second announcement is one that I know all of you will be excited to hear. Our prized human, Felix, and his beloved partner, Newt, are returning to this city in a few—" he was cut off by a sea of cheering throughout the city. It completely drowned out the king's voice and he even smiled slightly when he heard the celebration. Though, from their position in the lower parts it was clear that most of the cheering was coming from closer to the center of the city.

"See? I told you this city gave a spotlight to humans," Charon chimed in with a bit of clear pride, "but as long as you lay low and avoid Pokémon like the king, you'll probably do fine." Coral understood that warning but wanted to know more. However, the king began speaking again before he could ask.

"I know, I know. We all have reverence for those two and we are all excited to get them back in a few days after their mission in the Magnus Canyon. It ended in, once again, a splendid success for the guild and we are preparing for a celebration when they arrive. I hope you will all prepare for that occasion," Avenir said as the city cheered even more than before. There was seemingly no end to the celebrating city's clamoring, but that didn't stope the King from continuing with his final words

"… And as such, that will be all for today, my people. Stay safe, and have a good night's rest," he said as the projection faded out of the sky and the city seemed to return to its usual energy, almost like an immediate switch.

"Huh… I guess we'll see what all the fuss about humans is in a few days," Blight said from atop of Coral's head.

Coral wanted to see who this Felix was so that maybe they could find a way back to the human world together, though how he'd go about meeting somebody so famous was completely nebulous to him. Before that, though, questions were needed as always.

"Hey, Charon, what did you mean by 'Pokémon like the king?' Is his species special or something?" he asked with genuine curiosity.

Charon smirked as their eyes glowed a stronger crimson for a moment. "Pfft, yeah he is. He's a Legendary Pokémon, which is about the same as a god to us. They can tell who's a human and who isn't just by looking because they're the only ones who can bring them to this world," they said as they walked back to their bed and sat on it.

"So, a Legendary Pokémon is responsible for me being here?" It made some sense to him, though hearing about the possibility of multiple gods was jarring to say the least.

Ayza, in complete contrast to the pensive Coral, threw herself on the hay pile set out for her. "Ahhh, today was fun!" Coral was inclined to disagree at some points, but let her continue. "So, do you two know what you're doing tomorrow, because I've got an idea!" she said, smiling and looking at the Poipole and Drizzile together.

"Mmm, I don't really know… Never planned this far ahead after coming to the city…" Blight said first with a clear drowsiness on their face. Coral followed up with a sufficient shrug.

"Okay then! Tomorrow, we're going to the Reefly Guild and we're signing up as explorers!" she beamed towards them with a toothy grin on her snout. A silence hung over the room for a while.

"Wait, what?!" Coral exclaimed, being the first one to speak up.

"Yeah, I came to this city to join the guild and become an explorer, but you need a team to join. I just kinda expected to find people who would join me eventually, but I found you two on my first day! And you can't say no! I mean, I did help you all day, bought you that bowtie with my money, and shared all of my food with you two. So, yeah, you owe me," she said in a cutesy tone, tilting her head with a bigger smile.

Coral was stunned at this sudden display of blackmail from Ayza. He glanced upwards to get a look at Blight's reaction, but they looked like they were about to pass out. He heard a snicker from Charon as he looked back to Ayza in disbelief. He intended to thank her for helping him all day, but this was something else entirely.

Her smile gave way to weird blushing. "Aww, don't look so weird! There's stuff in it for you too! Explorers seek out adventures and mysteries, so we're bound to find some answers to your situation! And as for Blight, well, I just like them, and they said they have nothing else to do, so we all win!" she said, grinning.

She… had a point there. With no real lead on where to go, a shot in the dark was still better than no shot at all. It was diving into another unknown aspect of this world, but, honestly, what wasn't?

Blight shifted on Coral's head and looked down at him. "… I'm in if you are. What do you say, Coral?"

It was a hard sell to refuse. It would be a lie to say he wasn't intrigued, but he was still unsure. Aside from the possible dangers that came with the words adventure and mystery, it really was a win for the three of them… That's it, I need answers, and this seems like the only way to get them.

"… All right, I'll do it."

Ayza immediately squealed and leapt to hug them both. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You won't regret it; I'll make sure of it!"

A groan came from Charon on the other side of the room. "Ugh, go to sleep already or I'll throw you out. Your mushiness is going to ruin me," the Banette said as they snuffed out a candle and zipped up their mouth, attempting to go to sleep.

Well, that was concerning, Coral thought with a shiver at the zipper noise. Ayza returned to her pile as Coral put down the sleepy Poipole on another pile of hay. He went over to his and gently lowered himself to rest. The hay wasn't very comfortable, but neither was his body, so he didn't think about it much. Before going to sleep, he turned to Ayza curled up form.

"Hey um… thanks for helping me today. It meant a lot to meet a friendly face with you and Blight…" He felt some embarrassment in saying that, but he didn't know why.

Somehow, she kept the eternal grinning smile even when barely holding on to consciousness. "Don't mention it. What are friends for?" were her final words before curling up in the hay and going to sleep.

Coral didn't know what to say about that. He stared up at the ceiling and thought about the whole day and his experience. It was completely insane, to be frank. Being dropped off in a world of talking creatures and monsters and being turned into one in the process. But, currently, his most intrusive thought was how he had managed to make friends with a gleeful, yellow lizard and a purple creature with a needle for a head. Well, they called themselves a Salandit and a Poipole, to be exact. And here he was, a "Drizzile" just staring at a ceiling. After finding some kind of comfortable sleeping position for his new body, he quickly drifted to sleep, his mind having exhausted itself.

---

Having finished his final announcement for the day, King Avenir returned from the balcony of the throne room and looked at his two sons. They were both Calyrex like him, but each had their own differences. The smaller one, Tempo, would've looked identical to Avenir were it not for his lighter colored fur, but that was likely because of his young age.

The other one however…well, if Tempo looked extremely similar, then Hope looked exactly like him, save for the size being slightly smaller than Avenir, but still bigger than Tempo. He already knew their appearances, but he always found himself comparing the two for the sake of aptitude.

Avenir looked towards Hope. "I sincerely hope you are ready for tomorrow. This is your last chance to show me you are worthy of the throne. Do not disappoint me," he commanded with a stern voice.

"I won't, Father. You can place your trust in me, I had just gotten back from my meditative trip to the hillsides and was finishing preparations until you summoned us," Hope said with a soft voice and small smile, bowing his head to his father. Tempo held a small smirk when he heard that.

"Tempo, to me, let us leave your brother to finish his project," Avenir said as he and the light-colored Calyrex floated to the center elevator behind the throne to leave for the day.

Avenir entered the elevator, but Tempo dragged behind and turned to his brother with a glare. "… Yes, good luck brother. Lest you want the throne to go to me…" he said as the glare turned into a sneer.

Avenir cleared his throat and Tempo's expression immediately returned to a stoic gaze as he followed into the elevator. Both of them held on to rails on the elevator walls as it went down, the two Calyrex going along with it.

The prince was left all alone in the throne room. Nothing but cold silence hung over the throne room as he stared at the chains grinding and moving the elevator to track its progress. Once he saw them stop and hold taut, he sighed and glanced up into the glass roof giving way to the sea of stars above.

"… Yep. Tomorrow's the day I die. Ough… How did I forget so easily?! What the hell's wrong with me?!" He started floating around the throne room aimlessly, slapping his cheeks as his mind panicked itself to near insanity at him having forgotten to recruit anyone for the project or even that tomorrow was the day of the reveal.

He narrowed his eyes and started sweating, multiple unfeasible ideas entering and leaving his head at the same speed. Guild people? No, too prideful. Normal people? No, that's too random… Hmm, there's that one weird guy, but I don't even know if he's in the city… But then, one final idea stuck in his head as he turned his head to look out towards the city, his mind made up and a desperate and anxious smile forming on his face. It was incredibly unlikely considering this city, but… He had to try.

"Alrighty, Hope, you have one last play in the book…"

 

[BestLizard]

Hell yeah Free Fiction

 

[GumPlum]

Chapter 3: Discovery

Morning had come for Reefly City, and of the little life currently out and about, a single figure stood out on the docks. The Cramorant in question ruffled his feathers and stretched every part of his body that he could. He accidentally kicked his wicker basket when he extended his webbed talons, which only made him sigh. He looked over his feathers, always noting his usual lighter blue hues and a larger smattering of white feathers than normal. The last step was extending his large wingspan that was hidden moments before, feeling the light and favorable morning breeze go through them. His eyes went beady and then back to vibrant for a moment as he eyed the glittering ocean from his solitary position at the docks.

"Okay, Iki… Let's see how many you can get today."

With that, he shot up into the sky and dived into the ocean below, letting his body take control.

The next thing Iki knew, the blue sky encompassed all as his mind got back in control, and he found himself standing in the docks with an Arrocuda squirming in his gullet. He blinked and shook his whole body free from the water before looking at the tower clock of the city, saying it was around midday. The sudden hustling and bustling of the docks and ports were even more evidence of that. So, all in all, he did good time on this run. Though, that was probably only because his day job didn't need him today, so he had the rare extra free time.

He walked over to his basket and spat out the Arrocuda that moved less and less, splattering across the rest of the Arrocuda that filled the basket almost to the brim. He sighed, but smiled at seeing the solid amount of food he was able to snag.

"Wow, good haul, Iki!" an extremely familiar voice cheered right beside the Cramorant. He jolted to the side, seeing a blue-masked Scrafty staring at him. It almost made him shout if it wasn't for the immediate recognition of who it was. After all, the supposed "Aura Guardian" was practically unmistakable to everyone who knew him, and especially Iki.

"Aster, don't sneak up on me like that…" Iki sighed, staring at the Scrafty's impossibly bright smile and countering it with his own exhaustion. "How long have you been there? You didn't even come home last night."

Aster scoffed, waving a gloved hand in dismissal. "Oh, don't worry about me! I can take care of myself plenty!" Once again, he leaned into the basket seeing just how many Arrocuda were inside. Now Iki could see the slight bags under his eyes through the rest of the hidden details his mask and attire were obscuring. "Oh man, you got lots today! When I was sitting here and watching you for a few hours, I could see you in the zone! Glad to see it paid off!"

Iki almost snorted. "Z-Zone? Aster, that's just the natural me. There's nothing special about it."

Within a quick instant, the Scrafty had already grabbed the ends of his long wings and pulled them open, hopping all the while. "Don't sell yourself short, man! You put in the work and get results! You gotta treat yourself once in a while too!"

Iki sighed while his body was moved around by Aster, unable to keep up with his energy. There wasn't any time for stuff like that for him, not with all of his responsibilities. Even with the free time he had today, he was using it to get food and supplies, and would then go to his evening job, then to his night job, and then rounding out the day with everything that needed help back home. Then, it would simply repeat the next day.

Really, there's no time or energy for me. Everybody else is much more important, he thought while lightly laughing with Aster, letting the Scrafty indulge in his endless enthusiasm. If being the Aura Guardian did anything for him, he definitely at least acted more confidently and happy in public.

Iki slid out of Aster's grasp, ruffling his messy feathers again. "Well, I appreciate you being here and not going crime-crazy on me, but I gotta go to the Kecleon Mart to get more food and then bring it all back to the orphanage."

Unsurprisingly, Aster's eyes lit up as he fixed his painted mask even closer. "Ah, then let me go with you! I don't have much to do now, and you just reminded me of something I gotta tell you! Please?"

The Cramorant's mind quickly calculated how much time walking through the city with Aster and not flying would take him, ending with a pleasant result of him probably having enough time to do everything else he needed. Plus, he doubted Aster would let him leave without him in tow. The Aura Guardian was persistent like that.

He let out a small smile as he straddled the basket onto his back. "Alright, Aster. Just try not to get too distracted, okay? And leave the hero business until after we're done. You know it annoys me."

"Gotcha, bro!" Aster cheered with clap, both of them joining the walk from the busy docks to the upper parts of the middle district.

Throughout the trek, Aster was always on the lookout for any kind of imaginary crime to bust, but he also began talking about how he was chasing a certain criminal through the lower district yesterday. That just sounded like a normal day for Aster, whether that criminal actually was one or not. It very much wasn't most of the time. Though, one detail did catch Iki off guard.

"… Wait, an Ultra Beast? Are you sure? They live pretty far away," Iki said, suddenly interested in what the Scrafty was saying.

"Yep, a really weird one too! It had some kind of needle for a head. Freaky~" Aster said, adding a bit of flair with his hands as he kept talking with Iki zoning him out of his thoughts.

Description aside, that was a weird situation, if true. Why would an Ultra Beast come to the city? Not only were they a closed-off civilization, but they also didn't have the best relationship with… well, the rest of the world, really. All Iki knew in general rumors were that they occasionally did trade with Blomoss City in the north, but that was about it— and he wasn't even there for the rumored start. Other than that, one could go years without hearing a sound from that society, if any.

At the same time, they weren't explicitly banned from the city, but there was no good reason for one to come here. It didn't make much sense to the Cramorant, but he did want to ask a question that he often had to ask when it came to Aster.

"… And you do know it isn't illegal for an Ultra Beast to be in the city, right?" Iki asked with narrowed eyes. The Scrafty stopped talking and had a blank expression towards the Cramorant. Ah ha. Another wrong judgment, just what I expected. He could see the gears turning in Aster's head as he tried to come up with a valid excuse as to why he was chasing down a person for half a day.

"… Uhhh… what if they… came illegally? You know, like— uh, flying over the walls when the guards weren't looking," Aster said with that same blank expression changing to one where his eyes squinted and darted around.

He had a point there. Arriving in the city through illegal means was one of the most punishable acts here, though it was virtually unheard of. "Hmm, I'll give you half a point for that," Iki responded, finally looking at him.

The smile immediately returned to the Scrafty. "ALRIGHT! I stopped crime! I'm a hero!" Aster shouted and posed as every Pokémon in the street turned to look at the display, had a look of recognition, and then went back to their own businesses. Iki groaned after seeing all the looks they received.

"Gods, you're exhausting. You didn't stop crime! You didn't even catch them! They escaped from you!" Iki shouted back at the posing Scrafty. Aster looked back at the Cramorant's flustered expression and frowned.

"Well… that's more reason to try again today! Hear that?! I'm going to catch you today, Ultra Beast!" he exclaimed, Iki's criticism seemingly bouncing off him.

"You don't even know where they are! A-And you can't just spend all day chasing people down! Don't you do anything else?!" Iki shouted, now being more frustrated than anything.

"Nope! When you're a hero like me, you can't sleep because crime doesn't sleep! Get it?"

Iki blinked in silence at connecting Aster's words to his baggy eyes.

"… YOU HAVEN'T SLEPT?! Aster, you need to take care of yourself and stop being infuriating!"

"Nah, ah, ah, I'm inspiring!"

The crowd continued walking, seemingly forgetting the two Pokémon having a shouting match in the middle of the road.

---

To be perfectly honest, Coral was disappointed when he woke up from his deep sleep and found he was still in Charon's dark and slightly decrepit home.

Still in an unknown world. Still in a weird lizard body. Just the way I wanted to wake up.

But now that he really knew that this wasn't some weird dream, he went with the motion of waking up with his new friends as best he could, trying to ignore every part of his body where he could. After all, he needed to make good on his promise with Ayza and her blackmail.

Soon enough, the trio was prepared to leave Charon's home and head towards the city's guild. The midday sun was about as strong as yesterday. They stood at the doorstep, saying goodbye to Charon. The Banette looked about as tired as they were yesterday, but they directed themselves to Coral with unusual energy in their movement.

"Okay, remember what I told you? Say it again to me," Charon said moving their hand from Coral to them.

Ayza interjected with a pout, "Come on, Charon! We've repeated it three times now! We get it!"

Charon gave a disapproving glance and Coral decided to ignore her just a bit. "First: Hide my human tendencies as much as possible. Second: Stay away from the higher-ups of the city. Third: Be as discreet as possible," Coral counted out with his hand, an awkward face appearing when he got to the mitten portion of it. He wasn't going to stop standing upright like a human, but he was following the rest to the teeth.

"Nice. You're a good one, Coral," the Banette said with a small smile. "Now scram, I have a business to run." They turned around and started to head back into the shop.

"U-Uh, wait! Why… Why did you help us like this? All we did was barge into your home. S-So why?" Coral stuttered, being shy about the whole approach. It didn't feel good to ask, but crippling doubt and curiosity compelled him.

Charon tilted their head back with a pleased expression across their zipper mouth. "Dunno. Just wanted to, I guess," Charon closed the door with that annoyingly simple answer leaving the trio alone on the paved roads. Even through the clear glass in the door, they could all see Charon somewhat skip away, when they usually dragged themselves across the floor.

"… Well, I guess that's that then. We should move on," Blight said from their heavily cloaked form as they were hovering close to the ground, the tip of their purple tail poking out. They had said that "Ultra Beings" weren't very well accepted here, so they were hiding for now. Coral didn't know what that meant, but it only took a glance to his right to find something new and overwhelming, so it wasn't much of a focus in his mind.

Ayza took the lead with Coral shuffling more in the back, both of them surrounding the hidden Blight as best as they could. Ayza led them through the streets, though she tended to stick to the shadows for some reason. She said that she needed to go to the "Kecleon Mart" before they went to the guild since they didn't have any food left. Knowing this was about food, Coral didn't question her decision.

As they walked throughout the city, Coral's mind wandered enough to circle back to their main objective. "H-Hey, Ayza, you said we were gonna join the guild, right? What is that exactly? What do we need to join?"

She twirled back with a customary grin, walking backwards while sticking to the edge of the street in the shadows. "Well, we get there, sign up as a team formed by the three of us, give 'em a team name, then we'll take a test— WAIT!" Her sudden stop almost made Blight bump into her and Coral bump into them.

Ayza slapped her yellow cheeks, almost looking comically frustrated with a pout. "Ah, damn it. I completely forgot we need a team name!" she groaned. Without much announcement, Ayza grabbed Blight and Coral's arms, darting out of the street and into an empty and shaded alley. It took about a moment for the sudden rush to die down for both of them, but Ayza seemed fine. "Gah, how could I forget about our name?"

Blight looked at her quizzically. "Team name? Is that a thing in what we're going to do? That shouldn't be too hard," they said with a slightly muffled voice from their cloak as they floated closer.

Ayza nodded like a madman. "Mmhm! Every team in a guild needs a name! It needs to be cool, and flashy— oh, and representing of who we are as a team! Got any ideas? Anything works, but it's gotta be something that'll look good in the history books for when we get famous, hehe!"

Coral pondered about what that could entail, while also actively ignoring the idea of becoming famous in this world. They had only met yesterday, and he was still wondering about himself and how he could ever fit in this world, much less in this trio of his. Nevertheless, his mind came up with the first similarity between them he could think of.

"How about… Team Scales? You know, because we've got, um, scales…" Coral cringed at himself hearing his own god-awful words, which was backed up by giggling from Blight.

"Hard pass, but I like the effort," Ayza said plainly with a claw pointed at him and then at her. "I was thinking something like Team Hydroflame Venomfriends! It's got every element we need!" she said with a proud grin and expecting applause.

"Ha! What kind of name is that?! That's too complicated! You gotta be more simple and sharp~" Blight blurted out from their obscured form, their glowing eyes brightening up even more in the small shade they were in.

She frowned and Coral giggled. "Okay then, smarty, what's your idea?" she sneered at them.

Blight's covered but still pointed head lolled back in thought. "Hmm… How about… Team Rogue. It's simple and it includes all of us, considering our not so legal arrival in the city and Coral being a human who didn't read the instructions right. None of us follow the rules, so we're all rogues. Team Rogue~" Blight said with a blank face at the part concerning the legality of their and Ayza's entrance to the city and a grin at the end of their reasoning.

While Coral could very much debate the commentary about his human situation and the reasoning behind him being a "rogue," he felt it was a name with a nice ring to it. He looked over from the satisfied Poipole over to the deep in thought Salandit. She had her eyes closed and was clasping her claws below her head.

But after only a few seconds, her head shot up, looking straight at Blight.

"I. Love. It." There was a clap between every word until she lit up in energetic enthusiasm. "I LOVE IT! I knew it was a good idea to rein you into this team!" she cheered with a bright smile, jumping all the while, but eventually stopping in front of Coral. "That's two votes for Team Rogue. Sorry, Coral, Team Scales is out."

"Oh, thank goodness…" Coral sighed at the confirmation that his name wasn't chosen. He felt himself give a low laugh considering scales and rogue. "Heh, I like it too. Team Rogue sounds pretty good."

"I'm taking credit, of course~" Blight added with a proud huff.

Seeing no objections present, Ayza brought all of them into a huddle. "Then it's decided! With this, the birth of Team Rogue has begun!" Ayza said, proudly smiling at Coral and Blight, a gesture they couldn't help but replicate alongside her. A few Pokémon in the streets turned to see the exuberant Salandit, the weird Drizzile and the heavily cloaked figure celebrating in the middle of the dark alley. They noticed the stares and instinctively turned to the other way of the alley, walking off.

"Right, discreet…" Ayza mumbled with clear annoyance.

They proceeded to keep moving through the city, searching for this guild and shop. Now that he was ever so slightly less anxious about the city because of his friends, Coral looked at the different kinds of buildings here. Most of them were made out of wood, but some were of more concrete and rock, and this was just the lower parts. He remembered much fancier buildings in the upper parts where the first tailor was. They weren't particularly tall if he were looking at the city from his human height, but that only made the bigger buildings even more noticeable.

Off to the distance he saw what looked to be a massive dojo-style building, a colorful building with a tarp resembling some kind of roundish yellow lizard with a dopey smile and a belltower near it, and a lighthouse over the other side of the docks he woke up in. According to Ayza, that dopey face was the site of the guild, so they were headed in that general direction, though they were still unaware of the layout of the city.

He also took notice of the humid air, no doubt because of the coastal area and the bright sun. It felt… nice on his scales, as weird as thinking that was. In fact, the more he walked around, the more he felt himself getting more accustomed to moving in the body. Slowly, the scales stopped feeling alien to him, rather as if they were never there at all, but he never forgot that he had them with a constant mental groan. The water beneath them never left either, the constant coursing within seeming endless.

Though it felt nice, it was simply another level of pure confusion to Coral.

The trio took a turn through the streets to end up in the middle districts and they happened upon one of the trademark canals of the city, the first one they saw since they left Charon's shop. As they walked beside it, Coral glanced to the canal and saw a multitude of Pokémon swimming through it. But more than the variety of Pokémon in it, he took notice of how close he was to the water. Each step involuntarily took him closer to the canal, like a pull that was calling to him. A previous conversation with Ayza sprang to his mind as he stopped in front of the canal and blankly stared into it.

"… Ayza, you said I was a 'water type' Pokémon, right? What does that mean?" he asked, entranced by the clear water. Ayza and Blight looked back at their frozen friend and went back to him.

"Well, it means you're a Pokémon that is associated with the water element and you can use moves with that element," she answered plainly.

"Then what does that mean I can do?" Coral asked without looking at her. Ayza perked up and started taking out a familiar worn-out book from her backpack. She looked for a newly bookmarked page and opened that same page on Drizzile. Blight gently floated next to her, seemingly interested in the book she suddenly took out.

"Hmm, it says here that Drizzile are primarily known for being able to create balloons of pure water in the palms of their hands," Ayza read out.

"Huh," was the only response from Blight.

Coral finally looked back at her, caught off guard by the balloon statement. "… That's… oddly specific, but okay." He walked back to them, a pensive look on his face as he brought up one of his mitten-hands. "Do you think I can do it? Actually, how would I even do it?"

"Maybe you just need to concentrate on the thought of it?" Blight added, still trying to figure out the specifics of the abilities of a Drizzile. Coral looked at his mitten-hands. He still hadn't gotten used to their form but nonetheless he tried his best to focus on it. Silence hung over the three as Coral stared intently at his hand.

… I have no idea what I'm doing, really.

Instead of focusing on water to form on his palm, his mind wandered off to the feeling of water on his human skin. Despite living in Puerto Rico for a time, he didn't go much to the beach. It was nice when he went, but the briny waters, raging sun and noisy crowds of the beach weren't very comfortable to him. He was in his room most of the time, anyways, never going out much, and talking to people even less.

But here I am.

That same thought again, here I am. I don't know of any other way to think about this situation. I'm just aimlessly wandering in this world and now I'm trying to make a water balloon in my palm. Hell, the weathers the same, but it's somehow not insufferable.

It was senseless in his mind. He grimaced as he felt frustration coming in. But throughout the spiraling thoughts, he noticed the only constants in this world. The freckled snout of Ayza curled into a supportive smile and Blight's glowing features did the same. His eyes softened as he sighed, looked to the blue clear sky, and took a deep breath.

"You can do this, Javier. You can do this, Coral," he whispered definitively.

Soon, he felt a rushing sensation in his arm, almost like a stream rising in power. The constant energy and flow coursed through him stronger than ever, but not in an uncomfortable way. Rather… It was actually a bit calming. Even though his heart said otherwise, his body and mind were telling him this was right.

In a few moments he felt that sensation come into a singular point in his palm, and he looked down to see a small blob of concentrated water inflating on his palm, the water beneath his scales squeezing through to the outside world. His eyes widened as the blob finished forming into a decently sized balloon made of clear water. It lightly wobbled in his hand when it stopped growing.

"… I-I did it! I really did it!" he shouted with a pitch in his voice. The thought of his achievement being that he made a simple water balloon crossed his mind, but he was too weirdly happy to focus on it. Coral looked at the balloon with a giddy grin and giggled as he moved it from hand to hand. Ever since he felt the rushing sensation, the whole process felt natural to him; hell, even the balloon felt great in his hands.

"Wow… I really did it…" he looked at his distorted reflection in the balloon and saw a proud Drizzile looking back at him. It looked weird, but that didn't matter right now.

"Hehe, now all you need to do is throw that at someone to deal some damage!" Ayza chuckled as she looked into her book.

"Damage? Like in a fight? Why would I be in a fight?" Coral asked with a bit of worry rising at the idea.

"Eh, less of why and more of when in this world, buddy," Blight's form shrugged. Well, that was concerning on multiple levels, but Ayza walked up soon after. She started to take off her belongings and her hat as she casted them to the side and stood completely naked in front of Coral, the human-turned-Drizzile backing up uncomfortably with the balloon in hand.

"Uhhh, wh-what are you doing…?"

Her grin was brighter than ever. "Drop it on me. You'll see something cool, I promise," she said confidently. Coral looked past her to see an equally confused Blight. "Don't worry! I'm not going to explode. Probably," she teased, poking her tongue out.

"… Alright then…" Coral said as he let go of the balloon and it collided with Ayza's head, bursting immediately. He watched as all the water flowed across her body as it slowly became more vibrant and colorful. He hadn't noticed how pale she had gotten, but seeing her scales go to a vibrant yellow and deep black showed him the stark difference. She sighed in content as she shook the water off, her frills swaying with her.

"Woah! What was that?" Blight inquired as he came up beside her.

She gave a big laugh. "Oh, that's nothing too special~ I have incredibly dry scales so I actually can't stay out in the sun too much or else my scales start stinging real bad and lose their color. A good dose of water fixes it all, though! It even heals me of injuries!"

Coral was glad he could help, but he was sad he had to give up his balloon for it. He tried to form another one after another minute of silent concentration. He saw Ayza and Blight snicker at the time it was taking him and couldn't resist a blush.

"… I'll get it again, you'll see."

---

The trio once again continued their way to the streets, casually talking amongst themselves. Ayza was focused on guiding them through the city while answering the many questions Coral had about Pokémon types and moves after his achievement. In fact, the majority of the time he was forming more and more balloons and Blight assisted in throwing them into the canals just for fun.

As they were getting close to the guild and the higher district, they happened upon an open space, almost like a plaza where Pokémon were crossing every which way. But in the end of the space was the main attraction. There sat a fairly eccentric, but very busy, green and purple shop that screamed an emporium of manic degrees, if the similar tarp wrapping the large building like the guild was any indication. Though, this one looked more like a comical chameleon that was green on one side and purple on the other. The actual entrance was the open mouth of the chameleon tarp, which was… Well, the multitude of Pokémon entering and exiting didn't seem to mind.

"There it is, lads! The Kecleon Mart!" Ayza shouted for everyone to hear and glance at them. "One stop and shop here, and then we can get to the guild! Ooh, so close, I can taste it!"

"Someone's excited," Blight snickered.

"There's a lot of people, though," Coral mumbled, pointing to the ever-moving crowd with the edge of his snout— no, his chin. Yeah. "Are you sure you'll be fine inside, Blight? You are kind of hiding from everyone right now."

The Poipole's head lolled to the side. "Mmm… Maybe. But I don't wanna just sit back and watch. I came to this city to live here, not hide." They turned to Coral, and he could see the glowing and bright smile beneath the cloak. "I'm not afraid of people looking at me the wrong way. Nobody's going to stop me from being happy, you know?"

Coral could feel somewhat of a blush coming on as his body went a bit rigid. "U-Um… Yeah. I do kinda get it. No doubt then." That smile was frankly inspiring. To see someone ready to fight through any possible scrutiny… He wished to have the same conviction.

Ayza glanced back with her tongue sticking out. "Plus, we'll probably have to leave the cloak when we get to the guild. It's not like we can sign you up as a Mimikyu, heh!"

"A Mimi- what?" Coral asked.

"I'll tell ya later," Ayza grinned, which just made Coral huff a bit. Nevertheless, she leaned in and pointed out to the shop. "But lookee there! There's someone interesting!" With that, she threw her arm and pointed out to a specific space of the bustling open space.

Almost in the center of it all and in front of the Kecleon Mart stood a tallish figure, but they were completely hidden beneath a brown cloak like Blight as well. They simply stood there without much movement, which would've let them blend in if it wasn't for the fact that there was a visibly empty ring around them where no people walked in. Everyone going through the plaza was simply avoiding them entirely.

"That's… kind of creepy," Coral mumbled. "Maybe we should just avoid them."

"Probably," Blight added.

"Whaat?" Ayza whined, almost deflating as she drooped. "This is a mystery! As future adventurers, it's our mission to figure this stuff out!" Almost like a switch was pulled, she stood back up with the grin she always had. "But yeah, we should get going anyways. The faster we get to the guild, the better. Plus, food. Always need more food."

Blight and Coral nodded at that last part. If it meant more of those berries from yesterday, he would do a lot.

Resolving to join the crowd, they marched forwards. They followed the flow as they circled around the frozen figure in the middle of everything. The three of them were ignoring the figure for the most part, but they couldn't stop their curiosity like everyone else as they glanced to see the figure beneath the cloak. It was harder than it looked, all that could be seen being a pointed and dark gray snout coming from the only opening at the top. That would've satisfied Coral, but his glance also let him see that Ayza had stopped and was leaning farther in with too much excitement, breaching the ring which none dared enter.

Which, of course, meant that Blight and Coral entered to get her out.

They did reach her as she was getting close to the figure with a low giggle, but that didn't matter much as one sound beat the clamoring of the moving crowd around them. It was… arguing? Somebody was arguing with someone else, and it sounded like it was behind the trio and the figure. They all looked back to see two people enter the plaza, one that was slightly tall and painted, and another that looked like a pale blue bird with a long neck. Coral even caught the slight tilt of the cloaked figure glancing in the same direction.

"I'm telling you, it's pointless to be a crime-fighting hero when there's no crime! We've even got the guard for that!"

"But what if there is crime? Then, I'm on the scene faster than anyone, and I can resolve the situation before any mess occurs! Neutralize the threat and help them along the way!"

Iki sighed at Aster's insistence. Today he decided to be especially dense and not listen to anything he said. What was going to be a simple trip to the Kecleon mart to buy cheap supplies turned into a long and grueling walk where he was arguing against a wall. Thankfully, the shop was coming into view, so he was going to shake off the Scrafty soon enough and he still had time to spare before work. Though, he did take notice of Aster finally stop talking as he looked onwards in silence.

"Aster…? Aster? Are you there or did you finally snap?" Iki watched as Aster's plain face slowly turned into a grin and then turn into a full, haunting smile. Oh no. Iki knew this face because Aster had missed his "criminals" so many times. This was the face of Aster re-encountering somebody who had escaped him. With a horrified face, Iki glanced at the direction Aster was staring at a yellow Salandit and an odd-looking Drizzile with two cloaked figures beside them, one of them fairly tall, and the other with a small blue glow and a purple tail peeking out of the cloak. His head darted back to Aster.

"Aster, don't you dare do this. This is NOT the place to-"

"ULTRA BEAST! THE AURA GUARDIAN HAS FOUND YOU AGAIN!" Aster screamed as he cut off Iki and went into a full sprint towards the cloaked figures.

"Oh gods, nonononono!" the Cramorant screamed in tandem as he chased after the Scrafty, forgetting the Arrocuda in his basket.

Coral didn't have much time to react to that big statement and look back at his companions in shock, before suddenly that same masked Pokémon came into view and launched into a kick that landed directly into Blight's side, the Poipole being sent flying off and crashing into the tall, cloaked figure, all of them falling to the ground. The cloak of the tall figure shifted and fell to reveal what looked like a bipedal, dark gray and black fox with thick black fur on the chest and a short, messy mane of crimson hair on its head, crimson fur also decorating its eyes and mouth.

"Blight!" Coral shouted as he and Ayza ran to his friend's crumpled form with sudden worry in response to the sudden DROPKICK.

They pushed past the masked Pokémon and the fox Pokémon to help their friend. As Coral threw back the cloak get a good look, they didn't seem to look very hurt, but they were certainly dazed from the flying kick. Blight waved their limbs in weird dismissal, shaking their head the same time. "I-I'm fine, but what the hell was that?"

Coral looked back at the masked Pokémon, finally recognizing them as the one who had been chasing Blight yesterday as they stood up and looked at both cloaked bodies on the ground.

"Oh, it feels great to get a good hit in! Now I've got an Ultra Beast to arrest and… a Zoroark?! What a find!" the "Aura Guardian" exclaimed with an unnerving smile. He looked back at Coral and Ayza and the smile grew. "What's this? An accomplice? Don't worry, all of you! I'll set you on the right way soon enough!" the Pokémon exclaimed as he launched himself at Coral with a raised fist.

"Watch out!" Ayza exclaimed as Coral saw, at the corner of his eyes, flames curling the edge of her snout.

In complete fear, Coral closed his eyes and raised his arms to protect himself from the incoming attack, feeling something click in his conscious. It was all he could do as he waited until the eventual fist would send him flying, not prepared in the slightest to fight or even defend himself.

… But that punch didn't arrive. Coral cautiously opened his eyes and saw the fist inches away from his face, an annoyed expression on the owner's face. He saw a shimmer go through between them and a confused expression took him.

What just happened…? Coral thought with a gasp escaping him.

The masked Pokémon jumped back in preparation for another strike. "Tch. Of course you'd put up a Reflect. Looks like I'm going to-" he tried to say before a small ball of fire burst into him. Coral looked over to see the ball had come from Ayza now in a four-legged position, eyes sharpened and much more serious than her usual attitude as flames curled outwards from her snout and tail, frills open and shaking.

"Leave us alone!" she hissed out. By this point, many Pokémon in the crowd were backing away and some were inching closer, probably to try and stop the sudden fight.

Coral's assailant tried to react to Ayza's warning, but was once again interrupted, this time by a stream of water that seemed to come from a bluish bird that had entered the scene. After finishing the stream, the bird shouted at the Aura Guardian who now had blue paint flowing off his mask, revealing the tangerine scales beneath.

"Aster! Stop this! You've gone too far!" he said in a shaky voice, but furious eyes as he looked to every participant in the battle. He rushed in front of the trio. "Are you okay?" he asked, looking back at them. Coral was still too stunned to answer, but Blight, having regained their senses, gave a quick nod as they held on to Coral.

"A-Ahh! The paint! Why would you do that Iki?! I was gonna help them!" Coral watched as Aster started to look around frantically, trying to hide his face all the while He noticed the "Zoroark" getting up with an annoyed face as they started to try and leave the scene. "W-Wait, don't go!" Aster shouted as he leapt towards the cloaked Zoroark, but suddenly stopped as a ring made of electricity surrounded him and the Zoroark.

Coral watched as new Pokémon entered the scene. These looked like Pokémon made entirely of metal and bolts, with magnets simulating hands. Most were just a ball with and eye and magnets, some were three of these balls stuck together, and there was a singular imposing figure that looked like a saucer with a single eye. The magnets started blaring blue and red. While Coral didn't know anything about these Pokémon, he could recognize that pattern of flashing colors anywhere.

Aster and the Zoroark were completely unable to move and were now being held by the biggest of the magnet Pokémon. One of the smaller ones floated over to Ayza and attempted to calm her down, to little success. Coral looked over to the direction of the struggling Aster and Zoroark. He noticed that previous shimmer between them was gone.

One of the joint three magnets hovered over them and spoke in an authoritative manner. "All four of you -bzzt- stay still as you are apprehended. Struggle -krzzt- will only make it worse," they said with a static buzz in their voice.

"W-Wait, Officer Magneton! Why are we being arrested?!" the blue bird pleaded.

"You have all taken part in -bzzt- disrupting the peace in the city. Additionally, Ultra Beasts are -bzzt- illegal in this city and you three have been found complicit in helping it," they said pointing a magnet to Blight.

If Coral was scared from the attack, he was terrified now, a horrible shiver filling him. He looked to his sides seeing an angry Ayza and an equal amount of sad Blight looking at the ground. The blue bird kept insisting to be let go and that Ultra Beasts were not illegal but was ultimately shut down when more of those magnet Pokémon surrounded them.

Coral did what he knew best to do in a moment of helplessness. He curled up into a useless ball and tried to shut the world out, the stress of the situation gnawing at his core…

---

"Okay, Hope, you've got this! It's only two in the afternoon and you just need to find volunteers for your project in a few hours. Sure, you overslept, and your volunteers are going to be prisoners, but what can go wrong?"

The first son of the king floated through the streets, using the jade bead he always carried around that let him disguise himself as any Pokémon, in this case a small Taillow. He was giving himself a whispered pep talk for his own nerves.

He had planned to pick up a bunch of prisoners as participants for his project, with plans to bribe them with the possibility of being pardoned if they did so. But he also reasoned that he didn't know if he even had that power and also those prisoners would HATE him for even trying that… But he had to at least try, what's the worst that could happen?

Nevertheless, he had overslept due to some late-night stressing and was now rushing to find anybody that would participate. Anybody was perfect, really, all he needed was somebody. He made his way through the city quickly, having memorized it throughout his many not-approved outings without telling his father. Hopefully, there were a decent amount of people in the prison as the city was not very known for criminality, rather its strict laws that people follow out of fear of the consequences that the Chief of the Guard imposed on criminals and the existence of Legendaries just being infinitely stronger.

But he never had to deal with that, so that was a big meh for him.

As he turned a corner to reach the jail, he saw a curious sight that he'd only seen a couple of times when he was people-watching. A crowd was watching a recent and uncommon arrest being made and the officials were currently entering the criminals into the bleak, stone building. Honestly, Hope was more surprised at there being an actual arrest with how little crime there was in the city, but pushed past it in favor of this situation being exactly what he desired.

At the front was a furious Zoroark with what looked to be an extremely short or sliced mane. Behind the Zoroark was… a Poipole? What was an Ultra Beast doing here? Now he was intrigued! Behind them was a Scrafty that looked to almost try hide themselves, and a Cramorant with some more white feathers than normal chastising him. Odd.

Behind those was a yellowish Salandit with a sunhat, no doubt a hybrid. They looked to be blowing raspberries at a Magneton next to her. They've got some spunk! However, what was behind the Salandit was the real attraction. They were a shiny Drizzile who seemed skittish with a weird posture, probably even a little taller than normal. They had a mess of protrusions on their head where there was only usually three. But most importantly, they had this… feel about them or something. Hope quickly linked it back to the feeling his father told him he got when he saw Felix the human.

Then that means… oh… OH! Now I have to intervene! I'm so lucky!

He quickly floated upwards until he was high in the sky and nobody could accurately see him. He fiddled with the illusory bead until he changed his current appearance to that of the eldest son of the king, Hope. He always thought this appearance was too on the nose with how much it looked like his father, but it was the one he was first presented to the city with, so he went along with it. He looked down to see the grand sight of Reefly City, a sight he'd seen many times. He sighed and mentally prepared himself, starting to lower himself.

He grinned from end to end, laughing to himself.

"Time for the prince to make his grand entrance."

---

The jail door clashed hard behind Coral as he entered his cell, a loud squawk coming from somewhere else entirely, but Coral was too focused on being sent to prison to care about some crow.

The cell itself was… not very good. The stone cell was dark and strangely dusty. It had a small patch of hay in one corner and a small tray to the other. Aside from that, it was completely empty and closed off, the only real change in scenery being the cell in front of his. Thankfully, it wasn't empty as Ayza had been placed there, though she was being very fidgety about her bag and books being taken away. As far as he knew, everybody in the incident was placed in different cells, but they were all still in the same corridor.

He tried his best to peer out of his cell and saw everybody else. The Aura Guardian and the blue bird were in front of each other and arguing with each other. He managed to see Blight in a cell by their lonesome as they looked back at him. Coral gave the best thumbs up he could, and Blight responded with a weak smile. At the end of the corridor was the "Zoroark," cross-legged and cross-armed, eyes staring out in pure anger. A quick glance to Coral sent him behind the bars with a yelp once again.

… This all felt really disheartening. He got arrested in his second day of being here and he couldn't do anything about it. Not that he'd knew what to do or how to resolve this situation, but still, he wanted to believe he wasn't so useless. And yet, it seemed his belief went only so far…

"Very well then, it seems that all of you are here for quite the conundrum you've caused, and so close to the High District too," said a new, imposing and suave voice as a new Pokémon wearing an intricate badge and pale-yellow neckerchief entered and stood in the middle of the corridor, arms behind his back.

He was a decently tall and lithe Pokémon. In fact, he looked vaguely human, were it not for the fuzzy and short white fur that flowed like wings on his cheeks and almost a skirt on his waist. The green fur and hair encompassing the rest of the body was fairly simple, but the multiple blue and red blades that stuck out of his body made Coral shudder, and his bladed arms in particular were even more worrying.

"Most of you may know me, but I will introduce myself for the beast in our midst," he said with a passing glare to Blight. "I am the Chief of the Guard of Reefly City, Agaya the Gallade. Let us get to business."

Coral seriously didn't like this guy and a quick glance throughout the cells told him everyone else felt the same way, even Aster sharing it.

Agaya slowly paced throughout the corridor looking at everyone in their cells, a clear look of disgust appearing when he looked at Blight and the Zoroark. As he walked, the short blades on his arms silently started extending backwards, reaching past his lithe frame. The growth only horrified Coral more.

Agaya stopped in front of Blight. "All right, beast, let's start with you," he said as Blight floated backwards slightly.

"What is your kind doing here, beast? Are you the only one? How did you get in? ... Do you even understand what I'm saying?" Agaya said. Now he was really getting on Coral's nerves. Blight stayed silent for a bit with an unimpressed face and then turned around to ignore him.

"Typical," he scoffed.

But then, Blight slightly tilted their head to point at Agaya, side needles also positioning themselves towards him. Coral managed to see from his angle a smirk on Blight's face as Agaya realized all too late what was happening. Blue, pink and orange goo shot out from Blight's head and splattered trhough the bars and all over Agaya's upper body.

"UGH! What is this?! It's disgusting!" Agaya exclaimed furiously as he tried to clean himself off and fail spectacularly, strands of goo forming wherever he touched. Blight floated there with a smirk while Ayza burst into laughter. Aster had a shocked face and the blue bird seemed to be holding in something. Even the Zoroark's expression softened slightly at the sight of the humiliation of Agaya. Personally, Coral was mortified at the possible consequences of this.

Agaya stormed out with a huff, probably to try and clean himself before punishing Blight worse than before. The door to the other parts of the Guard Station slammed shut as the group was left all alone.

Immediately, the blue bird burst out laughing as well, almost to a point of cackling. He looked towards Blight with a teary-eyed expression. "Oh, that was so good! Nice aim!" he shouted before descending back into laughter. Aster, however, had other thoughts.

"H-How could you say that, Iki? We're probably gonna be punished even more now that-"

"Oh, shut up, will you? You've been blabbering away ever since you kicked us to the ground. It's getting annoying," the Zoroark finally spoke up, glancing over to Aster and revealing a deep and feminine voice while she started flinging small rocks in the air.

Blight chimed in. "Plus, it's not even an attack. That's just colored goo that every Poipole can use, it's completely harmless. We mostly use it to paint!" they said proudly.

Coral couldn't help but check up on them. "But are you okay, Blight? That guy called you 'beast' a lot…" he said worriedly.

"Well, I'm extremely offended, yes, but I feel oh so much better after that!" they said happily before hearing some commotion outside. Coral recognized Agaya's voice arguing over someone's graceful and unerring voice. After a while of everybody listening to the argument, the door opened once again, but this time it wasn't Agaya.

Entering the hall was, as Coral recognized, the king of the city, Avenir, in all his weird anthropomorphic deer glory. The icy blue eyes drifted to him and instantly unnerving him to his core. Everybody else was left speechless in the room as Avenir floated through the corridor, exuding an aura of power and authority.

Great, the last person I needed to see right now.

The Calyrex glanced around to everyone. "… Do not be alarmed, I am not my father. I am his son, the eldest prince, Hope. My appearance may be that of extreme similarity to my father, but rest assured that I am not him," he spoke with clear and smooth voice, almost like glass. "It has come to my attention that you have all committed crimes against this great city and are awaiting punishment by Chief Agaya."

He gave a clear look towards Coral and smiled as he elegantly drifted closer to the end of the cells where the Zoroark was. His movements were of unequal grace. All eyes were on him and only him.

"Well, fear not. For I have selected-"

The Zoroark took a medium sized rock and flung it through the bars at Hope's head and it struck dead-on, interrupting him, and sending him reeling backwards. Everyone else screamed and gasped at the sudden act. Coral was absolutely stressing out over what the Zoroark just did, but everybody couldn't help but look back at Hope's floating body.

It shimmered for a moment, then seemed to almost glitch out for another until the appearance of Hope completely changed. Now floating before them was a Pokémon that still looked like a Calyrex but had more wild fur that was golden in color with some black tints here and there. The massive bulb on his head and its necklace disappeared, only leaving the now smaller four curved horns that held nothing and a jade bead tied to his diminutive frame. Instead of stubby paws, he had spindly and gangly arms and legs, both ending in small, hooked claws. His eyes opened for a moment, revealing a deep red color with many rings inside it. The mouth opened to say something, but paused as he closed it in pain, two fangs on the top of the mouth staying outside even when closed. The new figure brought up his long arms to caress the impact point of the rock.

"Owww! What the hell?! I was in the middle of a speech!" he said in an entirely new voice, this one sounding much younger and scrappy, not a hint of the previous voice in sight. He looked at the blood in his claw and hissed in pain as he flipped and started floating upside down. "Agh, I hate blood… Maybe this will draw it out…" he said in an almost juvenile way with a grimace.

… The room remained silent as they stared in complete shock and silence as the new figure let out measly amounts of blood from his injury on the stone floor, the bead flowing down due to his position.

Of the many things Coral didn't understand in this new world, this was at the top currently. It didn't seem like anyone else knew what to say at this current revelation, and even the Zoroark had wide eyes and stopped juggling rocks. Coral and Ayza looked to each other with her mouthing out a very clear "I don't know."

The figure then felt the blood stop dripping out and put a claw to the wound. A green glow enveloped his body, and everyone watched as the wound closed within moments, almost like it was never there at all. With the glow dying down, he opened his eyes to see everybody's surprised expressions. "… What?" he simply asked before turning his body upright and looked at the rest of his changed body, eyes widening just like everybody else.

"… Oh shit."

 

[GumPlum]

Chapter 4: The New Kids

Coral watched as the bleeding Calyrex flipped his body upwards again and looked at everyone in their cells with wide eyes. He then shifted backwards and floated that same direction but close to the ground. The Calyrex got up to the door and spoke up again. "Leave us, guard. None may hear what I am about to say to these criminals," he said once again in that same crystal and pristine voice that did not match any part of his current body.

"O-Of course, -bzzt- Your Highness!" the guards at the other side of the door said as they left without much sound, though there was an Agaya-sounding groan from afar. Once he couldn't hear them, the Calyrex quickly flew back to the center of the corridor with an end-to-end smile that showed off his fangs even more than before.

"Okay! First things first, yes, I am still Hope the Calyrex, first prince, heir to the throne, blah blah blibbity blah. This is just my true form. Second, you can't ask me about my appearance. Third, none of you can speak of what you are seeing as you have now been added to The List. Any questions?" he said with a cheery disposition and going back to that scrappy voice, clearly trying to ignore the awkwardness in the air.

Everyone stayed silent, still processing what just happened before the Zoroark spoke up. "The List? What does that mean?" she said with a slight glare.

Somehow, Hope whole frame brightened as he chuckled. "Oh, The List is just all the Pokémon who have seen this form of mine! It includes my family, the guildmaster, the portmaster, a few random Pokémon in the city, and now all of you! How does it feel to be part of an exclusive club, huh?" he mused, tilting his head.

Everyone stayed silent at the question. Coral wouldn't really call this an "exclusive club," even if they paid him. In a matter of seconds, they all just learned that the prince of the city was hiding his true appearance and had a completely different personality than what was probably expected of someone of his position. While he couldn't really criticize his changing of forms, it was still really weird, so the principle was there.

Hope nodded with that unmoving smile. "… Right! I get it, the shock is unbearable!" Hope said with a fanged grin and a shrug. "But wait until you hear what I'm going to do with you all, if I'm able to finish my speech!" he sneered at the Zoroark, floating closer with a twirl.

She cocked an eye at him. "Just get to the point, weirdo."

"So rude…" Hope mumbled, looking away and then shaking himself with a huff, seemingly preparing himself. "Well, are you all ready?" he asked to everyone with an excited smirk.

"… How can we be?" Coral answered, almost gasping from pure exasperation.

Hope looked at him with a sleazy grin. "Then just you wait, my secretive friend."

"Ay, Dios…" Coral gulped, covering his face. If he really was a Legendary, then his identity was on a ticking clock, and that'd make him the stressful center of attention, which was a giant no for him in a new world.

Hope nodded to himself before placing a claw on his chest. "Okay! All of you know the humans that come to this world when there's a crisis. Yes, they're strong. Yes, they're amazing. Yes, they save the world. But, what about the people?" Hope started saying with his voice changing to a more salesman tone.

"The people?" Ayza echoed with her eyes narrowing.

"YES! The people!" Hope shouted without looking at her and raising his gangly arms. "This applies to adventurers in the Guild too. They go off on adventures and bust criminals left and right. But when do they step back and just focus on the common people? Your average citizen and the friendly neighbor. Do they help our local businesses? No!"

"So, what are you getting at? That humans and the Guild don't care about us?" Aster said, sounding offended.

Hope shook his head with a chuckle. "No, no, no. I'm saying that humans are brought here to save the world and only that. And so, their entire time here they spend towards that goal and once they finish saving the world, they leave, or they stay and keep adventuring like nothing changed! Adventurers are the same. It's always a race to find the next Mystery Dungeon or bust the next outlaw outside the city, so they're constantly occupied in that, and only that. So, what's the point? How can we help ourselves if the ones supposed to help us are always gone?" Hope explained it all while floating throughout the cells.

Coral found some sense in what the Calyrex was saying. Though he didn't know much of the specifics, he understood the need for help on a smaller scale. Though, he was also stressing out over the possibility of "saving the world" having to fall on his shoulders. Though, there also was that other human, so was he brought here by mistake? Nothing seemed to stick in his mind as he gave up the circles of thought.

"And so, as my proposition to add a new section to the guild and to help with this problem, I have decided to recruit all six of you for…" he said as he started twirling in the air, much more active and bouncy than his previous appearance, until spiraling up to the roof and ending in a celebratory pose, all limbs outstretched and a big smile on his face.

"GAD!" he shouted, a bit of blood flying off his head because of his momentum.

The room stayed silent. Hope stayed in the exact same pose and expression.

"… GAD?" Blight said with a slight snicker from the sea of silence and unimpressed expressions.

"GAD!" Hope repeated with another shout, though smaller. "That's short for the General Assistance Department! All of you will be living and working together, taking requests directly from the people in this city and helping out other establishments of the city, all under the Reefly Guild banner!" Hope said proudly, small chest puffing out. The sea of unimpressed gazes grew even more.

"… It's a horrible name," Ayza said plainly.

"It's a work in progress!" Hope boldly retorted.

"What if we already have jobs?" Iki questioned Hope. "You can't expect me to work four jobs out of nowhere."

Hope grinned harder. "Don't worry about that! If you accept this offer, you'll need to leave your other job, but this one will pay you adequately every other week to support you, so it's a win-win!"

From what Coral could see, nobody else had really bought into this idea from Hope. For him, he was unsure as well. Disregarding the fact that he'd be working directly under the kind of Pokémon Charon told him to avoid, taking this offer would be going against his promise to Ayza and he would probably be stuck here without finding many answers as to why he was here. On the other hand, it was a stable way to survive in this world, whereas adventuring would've put him in constant danger. So, really, he was torn.

Hope perked up again with somehow even more new energy. "Oh, I forgot! If all of you don't accept this offer, I will leave you to the whims of that jerk, Agaya, and he's sure to charge you with all kinds of crimes, even ones that don't exist like what he said about Ultra Beasts. He'll make up anything to brand you as a criminal and ruin your life! So, the choice is yours!" he mentioned, clasping his claws and putting on a cutesy smile, completely aware of his own words.

… Well, that certainly cleared some of Coral's doubts. From what it seemed, he had little to no choices here. What's with this world and blackmailing? he thought with a grimace he couldn't stop from forming.

"I… I think I'll do it," Blight's voice rang out first. They seemed downtrodden and without energy. "I'm not too sure about it, but it's stable and… I really don't want to deal with that guy…"

Hope flew to Blight's cell and smashed his head and horns against the rails with a desperate smile, sending Blight back with a yelp. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! You'll love it, I promise!" he said excitedly and turned to everyone else. "Anyone else? How about you, Cramorant?"

Iki looked sort of pensive, which looked weird to Coral, considering he was a bird and birds usually didn't have a whole range of expressions in his world other than a blank stare. "… I think I can do it. I still have to take care of the orphanage, but I think I can manage. What about you, Aster?" he said, directing his sight to the Aura Guardian who was pouting.

"Hm… How can I join if I lose my current job? What if I can't be the Aura Guardian anymore? What if I can't help people anymore?" he said with arms crossed.

"Aster, you don't have a job, and this job is to help people. It's literally in the name," Iki said plainly.

Coral watched as Aster's face completely warped from an angry pout to an exuberant smile. "Oh! Then of course I'll do it!" he cheered with a small flex of his arms. What was with this erratic guy?

Hope did a silent celebration by throwing his long arms into the air, and then drifted backwards to Ayza and Coral. "What about you two? I've already got three out of six~"

Coral looked towards Ayza with a doubtful expression. "What do you think, Ayza? It doesn't sound too bad… I think." He knocked his head to the side, which Ayza replicated somewhat.

Ayza's own doubt-ridden snout shifted her gaze to Hope's cheery smile. "Mmm, I don't know… I mean, we were supposed to become an adventuring team! Explore the world! What's gonna happen to that dream if we join this?" Her doubt was certainly understandable from Coral's perspective. He knew the feeling of having a dream crushed because something else came along to overshadow it. He looked down while wondering what to do about his new friend's dream.

"That's not dead you know," Hope interjected with a softer voice than usual. "You can still go out and do your own thing, it's not like you're prisoners of my project. Heck, you'll maybe even be sent outside the city for some jobs, who really knows? Probably not, but still. The possibility exists," he finished with a twirl of his claws.

Ayza seemed to wonder about what the Calyrex said for a while. Coral worried about what this could mean for her since she looked pretty distressed about it. Even Blight seemed worried at the other side of the corridor. Though, she did eventually lift her head and gave a small smile.

"Even Blight's in… I… guess I can join, heh. But only if Coral joins too! Team Rogue never stays apart; we rise and stand together!" She said, pointing at him and returning to her usual grin. Feeling a weight lift from him, Coral gave a small grin back. There was a distant chuckle from what sounded like Blight.

"Yeah, I couldn't have said it better myself. I'm in," Coral said definitively, sure of his choice with his friends.

"You guys… That was really something!" Hope sniffled between and teary eyes. He shook his head, clearing the tears and started floating to the cross-legged and cross-armed Zoroark, the last in deciding to join "GAD." The Calyrex put on a grin as he drew closer to her.

"First, what's the guarantee that you won't throw more rocks at me? Second, will you join our illustrious GAD club?" he said with a flourish at the end by flicking his claw against his short and scruffy fur.

The Zoroark lifted her stern face and seemed to examine Hope, her eyes then drifting to examine everyone else.

"… First, I make no promises on the rocks. I'll throw them if I feel you deserve them. Second, I have a question before deciding. Why did you choose us? Clearly, you should know that the city is going to be in an uproar if a new section of the guild was being founded with a Zoroark and a Poipole at the helm, right?" she said, narrowing her eyes at Hope.

Hope drifted back, almost like he was rotating backwards in zero gravity. "Hum… Valid question… Fine, I'll come clean. I chose all of you for three reasons. First, I'm genuinely interested in all of you, no point in picking the most generic and jaded Pokémon just because they're trusted. I want to challenge the norm, not follow it!" he mused excitedly, his rotation reaching his head pointing down, which made blood lightly pour out. Coral couldn't help but tilt his head at that.

"The second reason would be for that guy," Hope said as he pointed backwards at Coral's cell, "He's real interesting and you'll all see why soon~" Everybody's head turned to look at Coral as he shrank back in fear, having a good guess as to what Hope was referring to. Both Ayza and Blight looked like they knew as well. At least they were unified in worry for each other.

"The third reason is… well, you see…" From floating calmly, he reoriented himself and shot to the floor in a pleading position with his head on the ground. "Everybody else rejected my offer and I had nobody to form this with, and the announcement is in an hour, and I overslept today, and I have nothing prepared, and my only chance was bribing prisoners that I didn't even know existed because this is a weird city in terms of criminals, and please— OH GODS— please join GAD, I really need this to succeed!" Hope shouted frantically as his face went red with embarrassment at the display.

The Zoroark's face did not change for a moment, but she did speak up with the same monotone voice and a shrug. "… Good enough for me. I'm in."

"O-Oh… Really? Really?! All right, I knew I could recruit you guys! Just you wait, you'll love what we're gonna do together!" Hope cheered as a celebration.

Coral looked to all of his companions. While he recognized Ayza and Blight, he acknowledged that he'd soon have to get to know all these other unknown Pokémon. Whether it be the hardhead Aster, the seemingly sensible Iki, the personally frightening Zoroark and the whole situation that was Hope, he measured all the possibilities this weird group could entail.

… What did I get myself into?

Hope drifted back excitedly to the center of the corridor, legs kicking the air. "Okay, so before we go out, let's introduce ourselves! We can't live and work closely together without knowing each other. Let's say name, age, and something about us! Like school, I think! Do they do that in school? I never went…" his voice trailed with mumbles about something school related.

Oh god, I haven't even thought about ages. Coral's mind quickly went reeling with how age could work with Pokémon and what age Ayza and Blight could be.

Hope puffed out his small chest again with a claw placed against it. "Alright, let's start with me! I'm Hope, as you can see and assuredly believe! I'm 24 years old and I love people-watching to a slightly obsessive degree! Pleased to meet you all!" Hope said with a content smile, fangs poking out still. "Now, let's continue with you!" he said, pointing to the Zoroark.

She shuffled and sighed, pulling herself up from the ground. "I'm Note. 30 years old. I throw rocks really well," she said slowly before sitting down again.

Hope looked at Note with a blank stare. "… Approachable! Alright, you're next Cramorant," he said with a side glance to Iki.

"Okay, hello, I'm Iki. I'm 24 years old as well, and I'm a pretty good fisher, though that should be obvious. I hope to get along with all of you," Iki said in an orderly fashion and a small bow as Hope pointed to the other cell to the side, keeping the momentum.

"Scrafty! You're up!"

"Oh! I'm Aster, 22 years old, and I'm the hero known as the Aura Guardian! Keeper of Justice, Defender of People! I hope to serve you all well!" he said, forming a heroic pose with an arm in the air. Coral watched as Blight's face warped into an annoyed expression.

"Alright, I like the energy, Aster!" the Calyrex winked at Aster. "Now, let's continue with the aforementioned Team Rogue! Let's start with you, Poipole!"

Blight floated up to the rails of the cell and looked around. "… Hello there, my name is Blight. I'm 19 years old and I am an Ultra Being. Not Beast, Being. I'd very much prefer all of you keep referring to me that way. I'm not some unknown beast that doesn't understand anything," they said calmly with a side glance to Aster at the end of their introduction. Coral was immediately relieved to hear that he was the same age as Blight.

"No problem, Blight!" Hope approved with the best thumbs up his gangly arms and claws could give. "Hear that everybody! If you don't comply with that, you'll get in serious trouble, courtesy of the prince of the city! Now, let's move on to you, Salandit!"

Ayza hopped up and gave a wave. "Hi! The name's Ayza, 20 years old, and as you can see, I'm a hybrid Salandit with some Helioptile in me!" she said while twirling her body. Her energy was infectious as Hope twirled in the air alongside her until ending looking at Coral, a grin on the Calyrex's face. Coral backed up a small bit.

"And now we end up with the last one… Ready for the surprise? Guys, meet our newest human~" Hope said playfully at the end. Coral's eyes widened as his suspicions were confirmed and he saw the other members in the cells widen their eyes as well. Ayza and Blight looked about as worried as he was.

"Wait, you're a human?! That's so cool!" Aster beamed, gripping the bars with his gloved hands, and bending them a bit, which obviously terrified Coral.

Iki looked at him with an intrigued expression. "Seriously? That's weird since there's already a human here, but… I guess I can't argue with what a Legendary Pokémon says," he said much more calmly. Note, however, didn't react, seemingly not caring about the revelation.

Hope drifted closer to Coral with an ever-present grin. "Well then, introduce yourself! Don't keep us waiting!" the Calyrex egged on.

He instinctively sat down to avoid eyesight. "A-Ah… H-Hi, I'm Coral, I'm 19 years old and… Y-Yes, I'm a human… But please don't make a big deal about it. I have no idea why I'm here and I barely know what a Pokémon even is. I-I'm… adjusting and laying low until I can figure this out, so just… I don't know… Just don't mention it," he shakily said as he shivered in anxiety and his tail unconsciously curled around him. He found himself slowly backing away from the front of the cell and covering himself with his arms by any means.

"Yeah, don't mess with Coral about his situation. You mess with him, then you mess with Blight and I!" Ayza added quickly with Blight crossing their stubby arms in compliance. A smile crept up on Coral's reddened face. Despite that, some still had annoying objections.

"But you're a human! This could mean so much, how could I not talk about it?!" Aster exclaimed excitedly while giving a straight look to Coral with starstruck eyes. Thankfully, he was interrupted before praising Coral more.

"Aster, stop it, please. If he doesn't want people to know he's a human, then we won't talk about him being a human. Simple as that," Iki said in a stern voice.

"But he's—"

"He's our coworker now, and we have to respect his wishes," Iki interrupted with a demanding voice and turned to Coral's fearful frame. "Don't worry, Coral, your secret is safe with us. Right, Aster?"

The Scrafty had a face of disbelief from what Coral could see behind the mask as they sighed and practically deflated. "… Yeah, I guess you're right. My bad," he admitted, but it didn't sound annoyed at all.

Coral gave an approving nod at Iki. It felt good to see someone defend his wishes, even if it was coming from a blue bird with a long neck and occasionally beady green eyes.

The disorderly prince clapped his claws to get everyone's attention. "Well then, with introductions out of the way, we should head out! We've got a presentation to improvise!" Hope ended the confrontation as he fiddled with the jade bead and within moments his form shimmered before being replaced the regal and orderly prince with a wave. Seeing the contrast again threw Coral off. It was still a lot to process how they had been entrusted to keep a very big lie about the heir to the throne.

Hope floated back to the door leading out and knocked on it. "Chief Agaya, come inside to let these prisoners out. I will deal with them personally," Hope said, going back to the royal glass voice. Everyone watched as Agaya walked back into the corridor, some goo still on his body and a grimace on his face when he passed by Hope and out of his vision.

"Of course, Your Majesty…" he said with a nod. Coral could see Agaya's eye drag to the small amount of drying blood on the floor, but ultimately ignored it for some reason.

Agaya then went in front of each cell grumbling under his breath and slowly opened each one with simple keys, though he saved Blight for last. Coral waited until his teammates were freed to exit his cell. As soon as they could, Team Rogue reunited outside of their cells, Ayza in particular giving both Blight and Coral a big hug.

"Okay, a bit different than before, but we're still Team Rogue, right guys?" she said excitedly.

Blight gave a big smile to both of them. "Of course! Like you said, we rise and stand together!" they said floating closer and closer to them.

Coral had a small chuckle and gave an honest smile. "Heh, maybe that should be our catchphrase…" he said offhandedly.

Ayza's pupils dilated like fire and her frills opened out of nowhere. "YES! That's perfect! You're perfect!" she cheered with a big hug to the blushing human. From the corner of his eye, Coral saw Iki walk up to them.

Now getting a good close look at Iki that wasn't mid traumatizing fight, Coral saw that he was very close in height, but mostly due to the long neck. He had a very messy mix of blue and white feathers throughout his body, with a concentration of white feathers on the chest area forming a scarf-like look, but with a small divide in the bottom middle. His wings were folded and a tall tuft of plumage on top of his head moved alongside him. His eyes were on each side of his head and were a strong green as they unnerved Coral when they shifted to direct themselves at Coral.

"Nice energy you three have there. It's good to meet you," Iki said with a slight bow and smile.

Coral turned to Iki with a blush. "H-Hey, um, thanks for defending me there… I appreciate it," Coral said shyly, his mitten-hands rubbing his arms to distract himself.

Iki's eyes softened as he finished bowing. "No problem. If Aster ever pesters you again, come to me. I'll get him back on track," Iki assured the nervous Coral.

"You seem to know a lot about him. How do you two know each other?" Blight inquired as the four of them looked over to Aster who was looking over what was seemingly his costume. Checking the bandages, resituating the slightly crumpled paper cone in his chest… It was still odd, though the blue paint missing from his mask gave way to small fangs poking through his mouth, now that Coral was seeing him without adrenaline blinding him to details.

Iki gave a long sigh. "Aster… Well, we're brothers. Not blood related, but still. He has good intentions, but he's always gone about it wrong ever since he evolved and became the Aura Guardian," Iki said in a dejected and disappointed voice. Despite processing the sheer difference between Iki and Aster, that last term struck a chord in Coral's mind.

"Evolve? What does that mean?" he asked as Iki turned his head towards him with wide eyes.

"Wow, you really aren't from-"

"Silence! You're all still in my jail, so don't go around getting buddy-buddy with each other. The prince will deal with all of you accordingly soon," Agaya interrupted the four of them and then walked off with a smug smile towards the door. "I sincerely wish all of you the best of fortunes. You're going to need it," he said before leaving.

Hope floated back to the corridor and looked at everyone free from their cells. "… What a dick, am I right?" Ayza couldn't help but snort at the sudden commentary.

"In high spirits, I like it!" the Calyrex exclaimed. He looked toward all of the future members of "GAD" and directed them to the door. Everyone followed him as instructed, but Coral imagined it was mostly because there was nothing else they could do.

"Well, are you all ready to shake up the city?" Hope said as he floated through the door and they headed outside, where the endless chatter awaited them.

---

The walk from the prison to wherever Hope was taking them was… hectic, to say the least. Discounting the constant stares they received, mostly directed at Blight and Note, the constant questions everybody received was overwhelming. They ranged from "What is going on, Your Highness?" to "Why do you stand weird, Drizzile?" so, really, it was all over the place. Hope instructed them to ignore the crowds for now because they didn't have time to lose.

Though, it did help having Hope guide them through the city. No offense to Ayza but having someone who actually knew their way around the streets made the trip a lot faster. Team Rogue for the most part stayed huddled together as they walked, while Aster seemed to stop sometimes to talk to the people, only for Iki to slap him with a wing to move along. Note was mostly walking nonchalantly, ignoring everybody, and simply following the other members of GAD.

Despite the general bustling rush of it all, Coral did laugh when they passed a familiar, but now stunned Sylveon and Leavanny, Ayza poking her tongue out to annoy them. Coral didn't have much time to process the sweet satisfaction before Hope stopped and he looked to the front, seeing a giant, white marble castle in front of them.

"Wow… It's so much bigger than I thought…" Coral gasped in the castle's splendor. He watched in awe as the massive marble gates started to part open, and one of those small crow Pokémon in front of it flew away with a distant squawk. Ayza and Blight seemingly had the same reaction of pure gawking.

Hope's head turned slightly to the trio. "It's cool, right?" he whispered in his real voice before returning to the royal voice. "Let us enter Vassaltis Castle. You will all meet my father soon."

The group stayed silent as the gate finished opening with a set of large and stony hands on each door, revealing an opulent interior with a silken crimson carpet outstretched from the entrance to the end, all of it leading to a set of stairs to what looked to be an open area. As they entered, Coral looked around to see that even the interior of the castle was made from pure marble; and so, everything was exceptionally pristine and shiny, save for its current visitors who had been walking through the streets all day. To the walls, he saw multiple giant, golem-like Pokémon with bandages across their chest standing in front of the two canals that went through the castle. They stood completely motionless as they walked across the first area of the castle, though the two at the very front did step back from opening the doors.

"Those are Golurks. They're pretty much big hulking machines that were made to protect royalty," Ayza whispered leaning in. Coral nodded slowly, his attention drifting slightly to the canals in the castle. Aside from the Golurks, the canals and the carpet, this room was completely empty, it seemed.

As they went up the stairs, the group found themselves in a large garden lush with a variety of flowers and large trees with big canopies, forming a scene of a majestic field with various rays of light poking through the leaves. Archways were placed at the entrance of each side of the square opening and a Golurk was placed at each corner as well, so there were three parts to the castle that the group were simply passing by and ignoring.

"Yep, this is definitely the castle. You can practically smell the money," Coral heard Iki mention from behind with a small laugh coming from Hope.

"Actually, this was made entirely by my dad's power," Hope said with a mix of his real and fake voice. Coral wondered about what kind of power the king could hold if he could produce something like this. But what caught Coral's attention even more was what appeared to be the beginning of the giant tower in the end of the other side of the garden, inside the far halls. From the direction they were going, it seemed they were headed for the tower.

Hope seemed to gesture to other Pokémon in the garden, but nonetheless continued to float gracefully into the hallway with the tower on the end. When he saw that nobody was looking at him, his face formed a big smile, and he enthusiastically invited the rest of the group over. Coral already felt somewhat exhausted simply being around Hope, so this wasn't helping in any way.

As they entered the tower, all Coral saw was a slightly small room with rails on the side and multiple gears and chains leading upwards where there was complete darkness, save for a small light at the end of the tall tower. Feeling his new feet meet the solid steel platform certainly felt weird, though.

"This'll take us to the throne room. Blight, you should hold on to the rails or something. It's just easier," Hope said as he wrapped a claw onto a rail.

Coral soon felt Blight plop themselves on his head once again. "I said get used to it~" they said softly. He already was to some degree.

"Welp, here we go! This is the beginning of GAD!" Hope shouted as he smashed his body into a button on the wall and it sunk all the way through, the elevator starting to groggily move with a loud creaking noise. And up they slowly went.

… Very slowly…

"… Yeah, this baby is desperately slow," Hope said with a small giggle.

Seeing nothing else to do and currently worrying about meeting the king, he looked to his teammates. Ayza looked to be tidying herself up while she was humming with bright eyes. "Are you excited, Ayza?" Coral asked.

She brightened up immediately. "Yep! I came here to set out on adventures and maybe meet the king. One may be on hold, but the other is going to happen soon! How could I not be excited?!" she mused to the air as she straightened her backpack.

"I wish I could say the same," Coral said a bit dejected.

"Why's that? I'm pretty excited to meet the king. It's a big step from Charon's house, heh," Blight said from the top of Coral's head. A small "I knew it" could be heard from Aster's direction and a snicker beside him.

Coral grimaced. "Well, you know, if this king is anything like Hope, he'll immediately be able to tell that I'm a human. Coupled with Blight and the big announcement we're a part of… I don't know, it's just a lot to think about," he said as he watched the light at the top slowly get closer.

"Nah, we'll get the announcement done and get out of there as fast as possible. He may question you, but don't let it get to you, okay?" Hope tried to reassure Coral. He appreciated the comment, but given Hope's record, he didn't know if that appreciation was on good foundation.

He looked to the side to see Note just staring above, the same stoic face on her since the prison. He took notice of her short mane looking choppy in some places, some strands just ending before others. His mind wandered to what he heard about Zoroarks. He didn't know why Agaya and the people had antagonized her so much, much less what a Zoroark was supposed to be.

I could ask Ayza, but Note'd hear and probably… well probably do nothing. Or maybe she'd attack me? I honestly don't know, she's kinda weird…

A singular eye from Note drifted to look at him directly, and he yelped as he turned away. Thanks to his new eyes, he could still see her from the corner of his sight shuffling her posture, her very well-toned muscles moving alongside her. He hadn't noticed at first, but she was kind of ripped. Well, he also didn't know if that was a Zoroark thing or not since he had seen a Pokémon that was just four arms of pure muscle and underpants when walking around with Ayza and Blight. Freaky.

His thoughts were cut short as he noticed the light getting very close at this point and Hope looking back at all of them. "We're just about there. Alright, just follow my lead, guys!" he said in attempt to hype the group up. As the light came up to them, Coral finished adjusting his bowtie and "hair" as his shivering came to an abrupt, but anxious halt.

The throne room opened up before them.

The first thing they saw was the back of a big and heavyset Pokémon that looked like the dopey face the guild had standing in front of the elevator, but behind the throne. They were orangish yellow in color and they had small wings attached to the large body. A lush, purple scarf adorned their neck with a beautifully intricate badge in the middle, similar draconic wings adorning that too. They turned around and had an exasperated face as they lumbered over to the group.

"Hope! You're late! Where have you—" the figure said before stopping and looking at everyone else, "— been… Hope, what have you done this time?" they sighed in a deep and stern voice.

Hope giggled with visible worry warping his face into a mess. "What do you mean? I just brought the founding members of GAD. No problem here," he said in his real voice before turning around. "Guys, meet Guildmaster Atlas. He's helped me a decent deal in this project."

Coral could feel the exuberant energy coming from Ayza at his side. She noticed too as her head shot to Coral. "He's a Dragonite, and the guildmaster of the city…! Doesn't he look so cool…?" she sharply whispered, barely containing herself from screaming.

He just nodded to let her excitement go unperturbed. If this was the guy who was supposed to be the guildmaster, then he was supposed to be their original boss had Aster not ruined everything. Hearing Hope's voice and choice of words already confirmed that Atlas knew about Hope's secret too.

Atlas crossed his short arms and looked disapprovingly at everyone, before giving another sigh. "I really hope you know what you're doing, Hope. Just… Just get up there, the king's waiting for you," he said before turning and rounding the corner of the throne in front of them.

Hope inhaled deeply, preparing himself. "Just be as discreet as possible, don't try to draw any attention yourselves," he said in a more serious tone of his real voice as he too rounded the corner.

The group followed closely with Team Rogue in the front. As Coral took a deep breath, Ayza slapped him on the back. "Let's just do it. What's the worst that could happen?" she said with a big smile. Coral responded as best he could by taking the first, but shaky, step.

Aside from the massive sprawling view of the city and the afternoon sky that came with the clear glass dome surrounding the room, Coral saw the lack of variety of Pokémon in the room. Hope and Atlas were currently talking to each other, while somebody else watched them from the throne. The king, as he assumed, looked exactly like Hope's alter ego but bigger and had a flowing, furred cape connected and draped from his stubby paws and not his back. Coral felt a sinking feeling just being in his presence and the other Pokémon in the room didn't help either.

To the king's side, he saw another Calyrex, this one smaller than Hope and the king and a lighter color as well. This one was simply looking at Hope with a smug grin. As the members of GAD rounded the corner and entered the room properly, the Pokémon looked at them with a passing glance that Coral was tracking the direction of.

And so, Coral watched as the king's glance turned to a stare as he got to Blight, to a concerned head turn as he got to Note, to a surprised and wide-eyed look as he doubled back to Coral.

Yep, he figured it out.

Hope saw them enter and instructed them to stand in a line facing the king. The King on the throne kept that same surprised stare at the six of them. Hope floated in front of them and outstretched his arms, introducing them with a very still smile.

"Father, these are the members of GAD. I will be working closely with them as the project progresses," he said calmly in his regal voice. The smaller Calyrex looked back and forth between Hope and the king with an exasperated face.

The king almost scowled. "… Hope. Is this truly what you have planned for this project? Bringing an Ultra Beast, a Zoroark, and a human?! Where did you even find them? What is all of this?" Avenir said in a sharp and elegant voice that pieced through the silence and pointing at every subject in question. Coral felt a deep and imposing pressure over him. Just the king's booming voice made him shake in fear and stare in awe at the king. In this moment, only Avenir mattered, and everyone else were simply bugs.

Hope visibly shook, even through the illusion. "It… It d-doesn't matter where I found them. What matters is that I've chosen them, and I trust them wholeheartedly with this project. It can't happen without them; they are the members and that's final," Hope said definitively, with his voice dipping in and out of his real voice and his alter ego voice. Coral could see a nervous smile from him and wide eyes from Atlas looking directly at the exposed human. Everybody else but Note seemed to be in some kind of nervousness.

A silence hung over the room for a solid minute as the king seemed to process what Hope defiantly said to him.

"… I will give you until Summer for this project. If I do not see any benefit by then, then I will shut this whole project down. You may go present it to the city," Avenir said with the smaller Calyrex looking at him in disbelief. Hope almost celebrated before the king interrupted him once again.

"But know this, Hope. I am getting tired of your antics. We will see what your stunt here does, but I do not expect it to go favorably. I've placed my trust in you countless times and you've let me down each and every time. This is your last opportunity to prove you were not a mistake. We will discuss about the human after the announcement," he boomed, resting his head on the throne. As he finished speaking, Coral felt a huge wave of anxiety as he realized he was going to be the center of attention soon with Avenir.

Coral saw Hope's form glitch and flicker out for a moment and noticed his claws clench themselves, his face seeming pained and desperate, but only for a second.

"… Of course, Father," he said in a calm voice before turning back to the members of GAD. Everybody looked to Hope's serene appearance as he huddled them together.

"Tough crowd," Note spoke up first. From what Coral could tell, she never changed her expression even as the king was speaking. Everybody else seemed to have at least a submissive attitude during the whole event, but she stayed completely the same. How could she not even be unnerved?

"Ah, that's just how he is. Tough love is his life…" Hope said despairingly. Even through the illusion, Coral could feel a solemn background to the Calyrex's voice. Though, he seemed to shake it off fairly quickly.

"Okay then, all that's left is to present you guys to the city. Are you all ready?" Hope said, staring out into the outer ring balcony of the top of the spire.

"As ready as I can be after that…" Iki said silently.

The Calyrex chuckled as he floated to the doors leading out and an uncomfortable-looking Atlas opened them. "Don't I know it…"

Coral made sure to check up on his teammates as they walked out into the balcony. Ayza looked to be anxiously smiling, still clearly excited, but he could note a sense of fear as well. Blight looked mainly calm, but also didn't respond much to conversation. Personally, he was about to burst from fear. The human tried his best to not ball up in the presence of the king.

For first impressions, he only had negative opinions of King Avenir.

As he walked out onto the balcony, he stood in that same line they formed inside the throne room. Coral felt his tail and the protrusions on his head whip around as sudden wind battered him, making him turn his head and— WOW that was really high up! He didn't have a fear of heights, but even he only felt fear at the sheer altitude they were in.

He felt a big hand pat his shoulders and looked to see Atlas with that trademark pleasant smile. "Don't mind the height, we're safe here! Just breathe in and out slowly and you should calm down… human?" he said sheepishly. Coral smiled at the encouragement and the intrusive question before he looked to hold Ayza's claw just to be sure.

Then he heard that same buzzing sound he heard the night before as a giant projection of Hope appeared before them. Multiple gasps and murmuring started to ring out in the city as the announcement of GAD started.

"Hello to all citizens of Reefly City. I, Hope, am here to announce the project I have been working on to add a new section to the Reefly City Guild," Hope said with a booming voice similar to yesterday's announcement.

"In my time in this city and in my preparation to inherit the throne, I have noticed that the smaller people in this city have gone ignored by those who should help us, humans and the guild. A crime may not be rewarded because the victim isn't famous, and the criminal isn't an outlaw, so it's left to be dealt with silently. The mail has been clogged up with adventuring supplies, but what about resources a small business needs? Simply put, people need help and the most qualified aren't providing it because there's no outstanding reward or raise in rank. This is the problem with the current guild system," he said, looking throughout the city as more rumbling and mutterings came from the streets.

Coral looked over to the rest of his colleagues and examined their faces. Aside from Note, everyone had some kind of pensive or anxious expression. He hadn't really thought how big this could be since his decision in jail was mostly based off of staying away from Agaya and staying close to Ayza and Blight. In short, they certainly didn't follow Charon's or Free's advice of laying low, but staying in jail probably would've been worse for his addled mind anyways.

"Concerning this, I went to Guildmaster Atlas and some others to resolve this issue and we started working on this project for a decent while. As such, we eventually came to decisive conclusion… and we are proud to announce the new division of the Reefly City Guild… GAD! Short for the General Assistance Department!" Hope said with his fake stubby paws outstretched. There were no signs of applause, before Aster tried to clap and Iki stopped him with a whack of his wing.

Hope continued. "GAD is a work-in-progress project that will develop as it goes from now, Fall, to Summer. As it stands now, GAD is there to help people on a smaller scale, be it helping on the dock or in the postal service, or be it personal requests made by you, the people. The members of GAD will help anyone in any way they can, and it's all under the guild banner, so they will be fully respected and qualified members of the Reefly City Guild. I will be overseeing this project closely and maybe even contributing from time to time— who knows, this is flexible!" Hope continued, parts of his real voice and attitude clearly poking through from excitement.

The city for the most part had some murmurs, but was still relatively silent.

Hope's illusory smile went vibrant and giant. "And now, we shall reveal the six members that start off GAD! More may be added, but only time will tell," Hope said as he looked back and nodded at the stern Avenir who raised a paw as the projection shifted with a slight glimmer. Now, projected as a large image on the top of the tower were the current images of all lined-up members of GAD.

The murmurs throughout the city quickly turned into loud gasps and very audible chatter and exclamations at the sight of the members. It seemed they had that kind of effect on people.

Coral instinctively shuffled back as he saw a giant version of his unfamiliar body projected across the city. Said projection followed in suit with the recoil. He tried to fix himself as soon as he could, but stage fright was slowly kicking in as he started shivering. A quick grip from Ayza's hand brought him back to sense, though. She, Blight and Aster had an anxious smile, while Iki had a nervous expression like Coral, and Note was… well, Note.

Hope's voice rang out again, despite his image not being projected. "I am so happy to introduce to you all the founding members of GAD! Coral the Drizzile, Ayza the Salandit, Blight the Poipole, Iki the Cramorant, Aster the Scrafty, and Note the Zoroark! Know their names, for they will all be helping you in any way they can starting on Monday!" he exclaimed excitedly.

Wait, Monday? This world has crazy creatures with powers and so much more, but they have normal human days? And Mondays in particular?! As Coral thought that, his face shifted to a very visible confused expression, both on his body and his projection.

"And so, we are very excited for this project to begin soon! We hope you all get accustomed to these faces, because they will usher in a new generation for the Reefly City Guild!" Hope exclaimed as he inhaled with a big smile on his face.

"Today, folks, is the birth of GAD!"

 

[BestLizard]

I love Hope

 

[Joshthewriter]

Catnip time! I’m not a huge PMD guy but I’ll refrain from mentioning it during your review.

As well, I’m available on discord if you’d like to discuss anything further.

Really, there was nothing all around. In the dark void that was the dreaming world, nothing was heard, nothing was felt, and nothing was seen. It was appreciated, in a way. Though there was nothing good, there was also nothing bad, so all in all, it was satisfying. And like any other dream, it could easily be filled with whatever the heart desired.

This almost seems like it’s from an Omnipotent being’s perspective here. Unsure if that’s intentional or a traditional start for this kind of story.

Amidst the silent dream was a rising light that only grew the longer nebulous time passed. It started out small, but it shone brighter and brighter until it encompassed all vision, and a voice came out of it.

Ah, there’s the god. is the character in God’s dream? Maybe I’m taking this bit too seriously here.

There was only one shot at this, so it had to be perfect.

"Hello? Is anybody there?"

The voice was deep and booming, distant even, given how it seemed to come out of nowhere, surprising itself. Eventually, after what felt like the longest second of anticipation, a second voice, small and shy, answered its call. No doubt the owner of this empty dream.

"… Y-Yes? Who's that? Mmm…"

It seemed apprehensive, but the first to answer was the first to be chosen. The strong light started undulating until it was composed of a myriad of colors as a sense of excitement belonging to the light surrounded the dreamer.

"Okay, I don't have much time to explain, but you've been selected to go to the world of Pokémon! But first, I'm going to have you take a quiz to determine key aspects of your personality!"

oooooor, it’s a PMD opening! I didn’t see that at all! But I’ve barely played them outside of the older ones.

Well, this was clearly a weird dream.

I’m of agreement at least lol.

"… Well then, I think we're done for the quiz. You did very well." It definitely didn't feel that way to the dreamer with the different reactions that the voice gave to his answers. Still, as weird as this dream was it seemed to be coming to a close with the voice continuing to speak. "Now, it's time for the verdict. You seem like a… a… oh, oh geez- wait, nonono!"

Goddamn it, I wanted to know who it was!

the voice certainly wasn't sounding so confident either.

"Uhh, I'm terribly sorry, hehe… but, uh, our time here is done! You'll be sent to the world of Pokémon now! Great trials and, uh- tribulations, yeah, are awaiting you, so do your best!"

So it’s almost like you were trying to have it sound like something caused the voice to lose control of the voice, but then it’s almost like the voice isn’t surprised by whatever’s happening and it might even be intentional?

"Seems like we're almost there, kid! Hope you're ready for landin'!" The Pelipper looked back to the small passenger on his back and then immediately felt her scampering onto the top of his head. The newly revealed yellow Salandit looked onwards with a fascinated expression, feeling her closed frills and sunhat flailing in the air as she stared at the coastal city coming into view.

1: I love Salandit and this is a great choice.

2: It feels slightly weird to refer to the salad it as “newly revealed”. We know that its newly revealed, you just revealed it was a Salandit. It seems almost like the narrative is presenting us a metadata on the story itself.

"Oh, let me have this, Free! I stayed inside your bill for the first few days after we left and it was the worst experience in my life!" she said as she went back down, held her sunhat to her head and assured nothing fell out of her backpack.

"You know damn well that was for your condition! Were it not for me, your scales woulda been burnin' real bad right now!" She knew it was true, her scales were even slightly stinging now, but she didn't want to admit defeat to Free so soon.

What condition? Why would she have been burning? I’m… unsure of what caused her to have to stay inside the pelliper’s bill.

Smuggling a Pokémon from a neighboring region wasn't exactly easy

WHOA WHAT??!!? Smuggling into the city? What a way to grab my attention lol.

Reefly City, The Jewel of the Ocean, as she read in her books. A coastal city next to a big forest famous for the canals that went throughout the city and out to the ocean. To one side, all Ayza could see was that immense ocean, a sight she had only dreamed of seeing until now, but to the other side was the vibrant city with a beach and docks serving to connect the two. She could see all kinds of Pokémon roaming the city

It sounds gorgeous!

Vassaltis Castle. It was an ornate, marble castle right in the middle of the city where all the canals met. By itself, it was a relatively small castle, but the main attraction was the tower to the back of the castle that rose a bit more than a hundred feet above the city with a giant clock in the center and the royal throne at the very top in its own glass dome room looking down at all of its subjects.

I’m really loving the scenery description! Very good work on them so far!

Still, that was it. That was the goal, the prime target that Ayza was aiming for.


"You'll see, Free, one day I'll make it to the very top of that castle and meet the king myself!" she shouted proudly just so that Free could really hear her conviction.

Her goal is to meet the king? Or see top of the castle? Slightly muddied on motivations here.

"But still, man oh man, I finally made it! My adventuring career starts today!" the Salandit cheered as she looked towards the glistening ocean for the first time in her life.

I’m kind of unsure of what’s going on in this story? She’s smuggling into a city to be an adventurer? Her goals haven’t really been stated and while I’m interested in the worldbuilding you’ve displayed so far, the characters aren’t grabbing me as hard.

That's weird… This definitely isn't the bridge I slept under… There aren't even beaches close there… What happened to me?

Did we just jump into the guy from the questionnaire’s head here?

Must be some giant docks if he stood up and wasn't hitting the top.

he’s not blind? He can see how tall they are, right?

He blinked. One more time. Why was a freckled yellow and black lizard with a sunhat and a backpack talking to him? He felt his eyes widen a lot more than usual, but that was the least of his worries.

Oh really? The talking lizard wearing a sun hat isn’t the biggest thing on your mind right now?

"… That's because animals aren't supposed to talk," he said as he felt a nervous grin creep up his face.

Why did he start grinning? He’s nervous and freaking out because animals are talking to him. I could see him grinning over something good but nervous, but this would be terrifying.

Now it went from nervous to panic. "Wh-What's a Drizzile, and why are you calling me that?"

He didn’t turn into the first stage? That’s relatively uncommon for PMD as far as I know.

A weird lizard thing that was mostly comprised of a pastel blue stared back at him. It had a weird face with big, gradient blue and pink colored eyes with sky blue dots below them and what looked to be that same sky blue and purple protrusions on its head, looking oddly similar to his previously messy hair. It had a snout. Oh god, did he have a snout?

Fairly effective body horror here. I like it, good job.

"This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real… You're still you… You have to be…" he chanted to himself while rocking his new body back and forth.

A completely sane reaction to learning you’re a lizard.

Free pointed to Ayza while he wore an uncomfortable face. "You have to fix this whole thing. Go help him."

Ah yes, the other lizard should definitely talk to him and make him feel better about his lizard-ness.

"Hey um… hey there, buddy. You doing fine?"

Lol, no he’s not.

"Human, you say?! Oh, I had the sneaking suspicion, but it's good to have the confirmation! Do you know what this means?!" Javier was more focused on the weird sensation that was scale-on-scale touch, but the fact that this Ayza knew what humans were piqued his interest. Though, she cut him off before he could really answer her properly.

Oh? She knows what humans are?

“The current crisis needs more help! That's the perfect catalyst for my adventuring career! This is so exciting! Lucky me!" Ayza was practically shouting at that point and Javier couldn't help feel that she'd warped the conversation to being about her in a few seconds. A wing planted itself on Ayza's shoulder, though, as Free came up with a confused expression.

wait wait wait, what about the humans?

”There can't be another human for a crisis.”

EXCUSE ME WHAT

"Wait, what do you mean, another human?"

Umm yeah what do you mean by that?

Free nodded. "Exactly what I said. You can't be a human because there's already a human who arrived a good number of months ago. Eight or nine months, if I'm correct."

What is even going on here? I really really want to know more!

”If you need me, just hang around the lighthouse… And please don't make a big fuss about ya. Lay low as much as possible and follow everythin' I told you to the teeth. Arceus knows smugglin' you in would get me in a world of trouble. Though, I guess there's no hiding it from my boss… Still, good luck, kid."

Why would them being smuggled in be a thing?

”That's an easy one," she beamed, throwing her arms out and exposing everything about her scaly body. "Pokémon are, well, what we are! Creatures that eventually grew to dominate and own this world. You know, like humans are to your world. Probably."

So, casual multiverse and the pokemon know what that is? I dig it! Please give me more of this world!

Ayza's snout poked out from the side to look at the drawing of the Drizzile again, "Man, looking at it now, Free meant it when he said you looked like a weird Drizzile. But that's pretty neat in my opinion! Honestly, you even look kinda cuter than a normal one, haha!"

Well this is a couple waiting to happen

Ultra Being

WHAT WHICH ONE

The Arclight…

This is probably very important. What’s the Arclight?

Overall, it’s a decent start! I think you could make some easy improvements to the chapter by expanding on Ayza’s motivations and why the city is seemingly cut off from the outside world and you need to be smuggled in.

I do think a major strength of yours was scenery description. I liked the picture you painted me and though it was a gorgeously described setting.

 

[GumPlum]

Thanks a lot for the review, it helps to get more insight. This first chapter is pretty bad comparatively to the rest of the story so I've wanted to fix it for a while, and you gave me insight on certain parts that I hadn't even noticed needed fixing, so thank you for that. I'll try and see if I can improve in that aspect.

I hope you enjoyed it, regardless. I know you don't typically read pmd, but hopefully it was to your satisfaction. I can't really talk to you through discord so I'm a bit sad that this is about as far as I can get to you in terms of responding. Still, thanks for taking the time to review it, I really do appreciate it.

 

[GumPlum]

Chapter 5: Rogues Rising

The city stayed murmuring as Hope's presentation seemingly came to a close, the projections disappearing with a flick of Avenir's paw. Immediately, Hope gave a loud sigh as his body dropped in front of the lined-up members of GAD, spindly legs splayed out weirdly on the floor.

"AHHH, that was so stressful!" he gasped out dramatically. "But… it's over! I can finally start this damn thing!"

"I'll say," Atlas chuckled, his large frame expanding for a bit. "It's been a while coming. It's nice to see the start, now I just hope it all goes well. Are you really ready, Hope? With all of these people?"

A few brows were raised, but none of that stopped Hope from springing up into the air, pumping his claws. "Of course! I'm going all the way to the end with these guys!" Hope cheered. He twirled back to everyone else with a bright smile plastered onto his fake appearance. "We're gonna have some real fun, guys! Shake up the system, ya know?"

Ayza giggled at his words, though Coral just looked at Hope weirdly. He certainly looked like a weight was lifted off of him. Coral wondered about how much time Hope was planning this whole… glorified community service project. It felt rushed, but Atlas said it had been a while… Well, at the very least, the founding members were a last-minute choice, though he did seem really trusting of the six of them.

Atlas sighed as he looked over everyone with crossed arms. "Well… I guess you're the one who knows what's best for you. I really hope you're making the right choice here."

"Don't say it like that!" Hope twirled back, pointing a claw to the lumbering dragon. "Don't be like all those geezers! Embrace the new stuff! I mean, that's what you've been doing with the guild, right? Recruiting the new generation honestly?"

Atlas' eyes snapped open and wavered for a moment, but resituated faster, which earned a gulp from Coral and a whistle from what sounded like Note. The guildmaster gave a light laugh, putting a claw behind his head. "I mean… Yeah, I guess…" He glanced back to everyone, wearing a small smile that matched that of the dopey tarp covering the guild in the distance. "You know what, yeah. I'll place my trust in all of you too. You've got my support if you need it!"

Ayza practically bumped into Coral from the sheer energy she had at hearing those words, though most of them stayed the same. To the human, the sudden shift in mood was all too clear for a people-watcher like him, but Atlas did seem well-meaning at least.

Though, it was all interrupted by the door to the throne room suddenly opening. Everyone turned to see Avenir on his throne, a paw outstretched as his eyes glowed a cold blue, and he looked straight at Coral. The human soon felt an unfamiliar tight grip on his entire body as he started floating towards the throne room.

"Wh-What's happening?! Guys?!" he stammered as he flailed in the air, a clear sign of fright in his eyes. Ayza and Blight tried to scamper up to him but failed as he started floating backwards faster. The spinning world soon corrected and placed forcefully in a kneeling position in front of the king. He had hoped the grip would leave but was promptly proved wrong as his gaze was forced up like a shove and he struggled to move any part of his body.

King Avenir and the other Calyrex stared at him from a distance with motionless eyes. "… So, human, you are quite the oddity here. I don't care how Hope found you, but I have three questions for you. Who summoned you here? What is your purpose in this world? Why have you stayed hidden from my omniscient sight?" the king said as the only focus in Coral's world.

Coral honestly didn't know the answers to any of those questions, so his mind raced trying to think of an excuse to answer them. Sadly, he came up with nothing, his fear of Avenir rocking his core as everything inside him sunk deeper. He felt the grip on his body loosen only around his mouth as he could suddenly move it again. He gasped in desperation for air.

The king leaned forward. "… I asked you three questions. I would appreciate it if you answered them," Avenir said with a glare as Coral felt the grip on his body tighten ever so slightly.

"I… I-I… I d-don't k-know…" the frightened human stammered. He could barely think, let alone speak. Everything in his vision narrowed into a tunnel where only Avenir was visible. His mind spiraled into finding anything to say to get him out of this crushing experience… But he only circled and circled, breathing growing more ragged.

"Maybe adding another question will motivate you," he said sternly as the grip increased to a painful degree that Coral almost coughed at, but his body couldn't move enough to let him.

"Just who are you?" Avenir demanded.

"He's a member of Team Rogue!" the familiar voice of Ayza rang out as the large draconic body of Atlas slammed in front of Coral, obscuring his sight of Avenir and opening up his world with a new gasp of fresh air.

"Now! Sorry, Your Highness!" Atlas shouted with a nervous laugh in between.

Coral soon felt a thick-furred arm wrap around his body and hoist him up quickly, the grip fading like nothing. He looked up to see Ayza running alongside whoever was carrying him wearing her usual grin. Above him was the now slightly smiling Note and flying body of Blight. "Don't worry," Note said plainly without looking at him.

His eyes caught a glimpse of Hope, Aster, and Iki running and flying behind them as well, though they looked to be saying different forms of sorry to the king.

"We're sorry, dad, but we have to set up GAD's base! This'll be great, just you watch okaybyeee!" Hope shouted before the seven of them rounded the corner of the throne and got into the elevator, away from it all/

The king stayed silent as he watched them leave. Truthfully, he could have stopped them, but his mind was still stuck on whatever that Drizzile human was, but everyone else stuck out too. All of them… They weren't in his sight. They weren't in the planned events…

His thoughts spiraled into every feasible plan on what to do with the sudden anomaly… But he just sighed, focusing his thoughts on the simpler subject of Atlas' sheepish grin.

"I hope you have an explanation for this, guildmaster…" he said sternly.

"Ahh… haha… I, um, certainly do, Your Highness…" Atlas mumbled with a chuckle.

Over in the elevator, Note had already let go of Coral and Hope smashed the button, activating the elevator. Ayza, Blight, and Iki went over to the disoriented human on the metal floor and Iki propped him up on his wings.

"What… What was that?" Coral panted, still reeling from the pressure he felt when Avenir questioned him.

Hope gave a dismissive laugh. "That's just how he interrogates people. He psychically holds them and tightens the hold whenever he doesn't get what he wants. A little more, and he probably would've forcefully probed into your mind… Or even changed it, heh! Good thing we pulled you out in time!"

Everyone in the elevator looked at Hope with the most incredulous face possible.

"Anyways… Why did he do that? Did he do that to the current human when he arrived?" Blight asked while lightly caressing Coral's protrusions with a stubby hand.

The prince cocked his head to the side. "Felix? Nah, he welcomed him with open arms. Hell, he's the one who summoned him to this world in the first place. If anything, he probably did that to you because you're such an oddity. Technically, you're not even supposed to be here," Hope mused.

"Not the first time I've heard that…" Coral retorted. He still felt his body slightly shaking, still perturbed by the whole experience. Though, he couldn't dwell on his thoughts for much before Aster spoke up.

"Did we just make enemies of the king? There's no way he isn't mad at what we just did," he said worriedly with clear worry in his voice.

Iki nodded. "Yeah, what's going to happen to us after that?"

Hope scratched the back of his head in slight annoyance. "I don't really know," he said with a grimace, "that's why I'm trying to get you all away from him. As it stands, he'll probably blame Atlas and I. Oh Atlas… what a trooper, and all because he was there for legality's sake," he said a bit dejectedly.

"Legality?" Blight echoed.

Hope nodded simply. "Yeah, guildmaster needs to be at the new guild thing, you know. He's helped in forming GAD, but he was just there for formality's sake."

Blight stuck a small tongue out. "Bleh. How boring."

"Agreed," Hope groaned lightly.

Having regained more of his senses and seeing the bottom of the spire approach, Coral let go of Iki's wing. "Thank you, um, Iki…" he mumbled to the blue bird. Iki responded in kind with a quick bow and smile. Coral looked to Ayza who seemed to be deep in thought. "Did… Did you plan that whole thing?"

The Salandit perked up. "Huh? Oh, yeah! Blight and Note did too!" she exclaimed happily.

He turned to look at everyone in the elevator and held his head down. "Um… thank you all… I don't know what I would have done if you didn't bail me out at your own expense. I don't know how I can repay you…" Coral said with a tightness in his chest.

Aster immediately smiled. "Ooh, maybe you can tell us about the human-"

"Aster. Please," Iki interrupted.

"Right, sorry, heh."

Coral smiled a bit. "Maybe another time, Aster."

Ayza came up and placed a claw on his shoulder. "No need to be so formal about it! It's what friends do for each other!" she insisted with a bright grin. Coral felt happy at the thought of them even bothering to help. Though, beneath that was a small sense of frustration. These people, particularly Ayza and Blight, had helped him so much already and he couldn't do anything in return.

His mitten-hands and tail unconsciously wrapped around his body.

It had already been around three times that Ayza and Blight alone had gotten him out of a problem. For all he knew, he was helpless in this world and had no way of repaying them for their seemingly unending support and help. There had to be a reason for them doing all of this.

So how? How can I prove myself to them? How can I prove valuable to Team Rogue if I don't even know anything?

How can I stop being so useless?

When… When can I just stop watching from the sidelines?

His thoughts were wild and scattered. So much so, that he didn't notice they had reached the bottom of the spire and Hope was leading them out until Blight caught his attention.

"You okay there?" they asked, concerned with dimly glowing eyes.

Coral shook his head and gave a reluctant smile. "I'm fine, just still processing it all."

As they headed out of the spire, Hope guided them to a side of the castle they didn't pass through before. He was flying fairly fast, seemingly trying to get them as far away from Avenir as he could as fast as possible. Most were running to keep up, but Note was simply lightly jogging, her comparatively much larger body certainly helping.

"Where are we going?!" Ayza shouted trying to keep up as she scampered on all fours.

Hope effortlessly looked back and kept flying without looking. "I'm taking you to your base! I know of a secret way to get there!"

The gilded halls were relatively empty of Pokémon for the most part, though they did sometimes pass what looked to be maid or server Pokémon who just put on confused faces as the group of seven ran and flew through the halls. Before long, they ended up in a hall that looked exactly like the rest, though Hope stopped and looked to the walls.

"It should… be here…" he mumbled as examined the plain marble walls until finding a small groove in them. "Ah ha! Found you!" he exclaimed as he looked to every side of the hallway to make sure nobody was there and then pushed the grooved section with a pained screech. The five other Pokémon and one human in the hall simply looked at the screeching Calyrex with narrowed eyes as nothing in the wall seemed to change.

More than anything, he probably just wasn't very physically strong, the gangly arms behind the illusion likely not helping much. His form glitched out for a bit, revealing his true form with a much more annoyed face and sweat coming down his forehead. Note sighed with a bored expression and walked over. She put a singular claw on the wall and gave a half-hearted push, the wall immediately splitting to reveal a hidden door into a tunnel, light dust falling off into the air.

Coral wondered if Note was just that strong, or Hope was just that weak… Probably both.

"That's… that's why I chose you…" Hope panted out as his illusion came back on. He quickly regained his composure with a huff and looked at everyone in the hall. "This will take us to your base of operations much faster than the city streets can. So, on we go, though the last one in has to close the door! Also, don't ask why this is here, not even I know," he said with a shrug as he floated into the tunnel.

Everybody looked at each other and the tunnel and had a collective shrug just like the odd prince. One by one they entered, Note coming in last and closing the entrance, leaving them in darkness. Coral noticed how he could still somewhat see in the dark, though in a black and white filter. Was it his new eyes?

Before long, flames came out of Ayza's form as she blew fire at pieces of wood in the entrance, turning them into torches and illuminating the room. "That should help!" she said as she passed around the torches. Getting a clearer look at the tunnel, Coral saw just how old or at least unused it was. Webs and dust covered various parts of the tunnel and the rock walls looked eroded to hell and back with drops of water peeking through from above and the sides, probably from the canals outside.

Hope pointed triumphantly to the dark ends of the tunnel. "Welp, at the end of this tunnel is your new home and base! Let's go!"

The trek through the tunnel was… largely uneventful. Aside from idle chatter between some of them, the journey through the dark and narrow tunnel was, more than anything, uncomfortable. Coral's scattered thoughts went back to how the Drizzile body felt. For the most part, he was still uncomfortable in his own skin, but the feeling diminished from time to time. It didn't help that he was now walking barefoot on dirty ground rather than the paved roads of the city. He found himself routinely producing water balloons and dropping them on his feet to clean them.

For that matter, he also wondered about these "moves" Pokémon could do. He knew how to make balloons, but he had done something Aster called a "Reflect" before in the street fight. If he could make water balloons and shimmering barriers, what else could he do? What was the range of things Pokémon could do?

Coral turned to his teammates. "Hey, Ayza, what other kind of moves can Pokémon do? What can I do as a…" His face instinctively cringed at his trailing words, to which he just shook his head at. "Y-You know… This," he mumbled, pointing to himself.

Her exuberant smile didn't match his lack of confidence. "Well, I don't know what you can do other than Water Pulse and Reflect, but we Pokémon can do all sorts of things. Look at this!" she exclaimed as she put her claws together and yellow sparks started appearing. She then slowly separated them and what seemed to be strands of pure electricity sprung out, connecting both ends.

With a quick laugh, she weaved the electric strands back and forth with no rhyme or reason, until she ended up with some kind of messy, but equally mesmerizing electric tapestry between her claws that lit up the dark tunnel. Coral only gawked at the display of pure fantasy happening right in front of him.

"This is Electroweb! Neat, right?" the Salandit mused as she let go of the strands and they fizzled out quickly into the dim air, briefly brushing past Aster behind them who slightly swatted at them. Coral was genuinely impressed by this "Electroweb." How could a small lizard like her make something like that? Was he capable of something that crazy?

Curiosity holding him tight, he turned his head to his gently floating Poipole teammate. "What can you do, Blight?"

They blinked before scratching behind their head and looking off with a distant stare. "Ahh… well, I can do some stuff, but they're mostly related to poison and shooting out explosive needles, so I don't think this is the best place to showcase my talents," they said with an awkward laugh.

Coral could only wonder what those concerning words meant.

Soon enough, the Calyrex in front of them stopped and looked up to a space in the roof that was made of wood and a bit of light was coming through. A ladder stood to the side and led into the wood opening, with the wall indicating the end of the tunnel at the end of it all. There were a few reddish lines crawling through the eroded stone, but Coral was pretty sure that was just heavy erosion from the water dripping down

"We're here!" Hope said as he raised a claw to the wooden trapdoor and stopped. "… Note, if you could…?

The Zoroark nodded and stepped up to the target, easily reaching the roof by standing normally. With a simple push, the wooden door flung open and revealed the dim interior of a room. Hope floated upwards into the room, inviting them in. One by one, the members of GAD scaled the ladder and entered the room, until only Coral and Iki were left. Both of them stared at the stairs with narrowed eyes and Aster's masked head peeked over the edge.

"What are you two Slowpokes waiting for?"

"The opening's too narrow for me to fly through and I'm not really built for scaling ladders," Iki retorted before looking at Coral.

He involuntarily brought up both mitten-hands to his chest. "A-Ah, I'm just pretty sure I'll slip if I try to climb it. You know, new body and all."

Aster ended up helping Iki get up by letting him latch onto his hand with his long beak. He lent his hand to Coral as well, but it took a few moments due to Coral's unwillingness to climb the ladder with his new proportions. As he got up, he finally saw the room everyone else had entered.

It was a spacious room made of rough, beige stone with various cracks around it all. For the most part, it was completely devoid of furniture or anything, really. Coral saw an open draw window beside a simple and rickety wooden door, showing what looked like the beach and docks at the edge of the city, so he assumed that was the main entrance. Aside from that, there was a door to every other side of the room, all of them closed. The interior was lit mostly by the now setting sun, the long day nearing the night.

… Oh god. It's still my second day here, Coral thought with a grimace.

He lazily moved to join his teammates as Hope floated to the middle of the room. "Okay then, this is your base of operations for GAD! It's right on the edge of the docks and the walls, so it should be easy to find if you ever get lost," he said while looking at Team Rogue. "Let me give you a simple rundown of the place," the Calyrex said as they floated backwards a bit.

"This is the main area where you can hang out in your free time and leads everywhere else, simple enough," he said, almost reading off a book. Hope floated to the left door and opened it with a full-body push.

Coral entered to see what looked to be a kitchen of some sorts. To one side was a large door and next to that were things that seemed to replicate a stove. They were cubes made of stone, with a rail on the top and an open space inside filled with wood. To the other side was a large table with around eight seats, a wide cupboard beside it. "Over to the left here is the kitchen and dining hall. There's food stocked already, but you're going to need to fill it again yourselves. Pretty self-explanatory," Hope explained.

"I can make use of this…" Coral heard Iki whisper with a grin. Quaint.

Hope floated outwards and into the door on the other side of the entrance. As he opened it, a courtyard was revealed. It wasn't huge, but it had its size to it. The center of it all had a rectangular outline in the dirt, though Coral had no idea as to why. The building seemed to extend a lot more to the right than to the left with the kitchen. There were even some stairs leading to the roof from what the human could see. On the other side of the courtyard were the walls of a neighboring single-story building, with practically no divide between them.

"This is the courtyard. You can use this for pretty much whatever, battling, training, resting, you do you, man," Hope explained calmly.

"I can make use of this…" Coral heard Aster whisper with a grin. Yeah, they were definitely brothers.

The Calyrex then twirled backwards and went over to the right door and opened it. Inside it was a hallway with multiple doors with wooden plates on them and a door at the end with a plate already marked with… something. Coral still couldn't read "feet script," which was still incredibly bothersome.

"These are your rooms! Coincidentally, there's six rooms, so pick whichever one you like! At the end is the bath. Only one person at a time, if you know what I mean~" Hope mused with a smug face. That could have meant many things, but Coral didn't want to dwell on it, though he did see a slight grin from Note.

Hope clasped his paws together and smiled as he floated back to the main room. "That should be all! I really should get going back to the castle, my dad's going to kill me if I'm not back soon and I have to thank Atlas," he said as he floated to the tunnel's entrance on the floor. "Just to end things, you start working for GAD on Monday. Now, today's Friday, so tomorrow we'll be preparing and getting you guys up to speed on what we'll do, and Sunday is a free day just to cool off before starting. For today, though, just relax, okay?" he instructed the group.

They all nodded silently without much thought.

Hope started vibrating with a wide grin. "… Oh, guys, I'm so excited for this! You'll love it too, I promise!" he laughed with a squeal as he placed a claw on the wooden door and started closing it with a slight groan as he disappeared into the tunnel.

Everybody was left there in the silent home. They all looked between each other before Ayza scampered up to the front door and opened it. She gasped and looked back at Coral, her lavender and teal eyes shining in the setting sun. "Coral! Look at this!" she said excitedly. Coral and Blight wandered over to indulge in her excitement.

From what Coral could see, it was just an empty dock with some rocks in the shallow water, another of those small crow Pokémon flying off the boardwalk when he peeked out. It seemed oddly familiar, though he couldn't recognize it. "What? Is this place special or something?" Blight asked, looking out.

Ayza gave a bright smile. "Yep! This is where I first arrived in the city and met Coral! We somehow ended up at the same place as we started!" she laughed.

Now Coral could see the resemblance. It really was the slightly broken dock he woke up under. His mind imagined the scene where he freaked out meeting Ayza again. Honestly, he still felt that twinge of fear, though more diminished. Though, it was sort of interesting to see how they essentially made a roundabout trip throughout the city.

Iki gave a grimace as he looked to realize something. "Oh, so this is that one building in the abandoned docks… They say some evil spirit inhabits this area, but there's no proof. Superstition still gets to people it seems…" he said as his head turned to the kitchen.

Oh, okay, let's just gloss over that, Coral thought with a plain face.

"Okay then, if we're going to live together, we better get used to eating together. I'll go and prepare dinner," Iki said as he walked over to the kitchen.

"Wait, you can cook?" Coral asked in disbelief.

In immediate response, Aster's head popped into view with a smile through the mask. "Can he cook? Ha- I mean- can he cook?! Oh man, can he cook!" he scoffed, pushing his face into the uncomfortable human. "You haven't lived until you've tasted his Arrocuda and Lum Berry salad!" he continued.

Oh nice, he could make a… salad.

"Yeah, I don't know if I have the energy for that. I think I'll just make roasted berries," Iki mumbled as he looked at the food storage he had managed to open with his beak. As everybody walked into the kitchen, they saw what the food storage had inside. From what Coral could understand, there were many of those berries Ayza had the day before, but it was also filled with much more recognizable food like apples, cabbages, and bread. He could appreciate some level of normality in this world.

Iki narrowed his eyes and smiled as he turned to Ayza. "Hey, can you help me start a fire?" he asked. She nodded and headed over as they started picking out berries and tried to figure out how to use the tools that were set up.

And for the next few minutes, Ayza and Iki were cooking together for the members of GAD, though Blight had joined them to see how they were cooking. Aster had preoccupied himself with setting up the table and doing a few air punches for training, much to Iki's dismay. Note had gone out to the Courtyard to do who-knows-what and Coral was simply staring out a window onto the docks in the main room, all alone.

Just yesterday he had been having a panic on those very same docks because he had been dropped into a new world transformed into one of its many creatures. The night before that wasn't much better, though. Running away from his home and parents and ending up sleeping on a dirty bridge… He couldn't even say goodbye to them, and much less his dear friend. She was the one who hurt the most.

… What would his parents think? They had always told him he could be anything he wanted to be, though their actions led him to not believe that much. Well, now he was in a new world where he was suddenly turned into a blue, pink, and purple lizard who had water powers and the ability to make shimmering barriers. By all accounts this was a fresh start, even though he wanted to go back to his old life. And he was even messing up his new life here! Needing to be saved and helped at every turn, and he couldn't pay it forward in any way.

… I thought them calling me a useless boy was just them being hateful towards me, but it seems they're right. Just a boy… Useless boy…

I don't want to be that.

He sighed, staring out at the evening waves and imagining the pale blond and tall figure of his friend that always comforted him. "Oh, Alice… What the hell is all of this…"

"Hey Coral! What's up?" the familiar soft voice of Blight rang out behind him.

Getting out of his head, Coral turned around with a smile to see Ayza and Blight standing and floating close. "Hmm? Oh, not much. Just thinking," he said with a quick fidget of his mitten-hands.

"Well, we were thinking about a proposition!" Ayza said excitedly. "See, there's six rooms, so there's one for each of us. But teams usually sleep together, and Team Rogue always sticks together, so…" she said in anticipation with her arms outstretched.

"… You want me to sleep with you two?" he asked with a tilted head.

Ayza blinked a few times before she shook her head. "Well, not necessarily sleep together, but share a room to not leave you alone! It's the least we could do to help a friend!" she said as she took his hand and Blight smiled behind her.

There it was again.

Coral's face warped into a confused expression. "… Why… Why are you helping me so much? What did I do to deserve it? A-All I do is get in your way…" he mumbled with his face turning red.

Blight stared at him with a doubtful face. "What do you mean? It's what friends do for-"

"Don't give me that answer! I want something concrete!" he interrupted Blight with a shout. The Poipole's face recoiled and turned into a frown. Coral stammered and stopped, putting a hand to his mouth. "… I-I'm sorry… I don't know where that came from…" he said with tears welling up. Why was he messing up so much and so fast?

"Hey, hey, it's fine! It's not a big deal!" Ayza pleaded, looking back and forth from her teammates.

Coral started hearing some kind of hard grating and shifting around him as he curled into a ball. "No, it is! I… I… shouldn't have done that… I don't know…" he whimpered as the grating grew a bit more.

Blight floated over to him and lifted his head, looking at it seriously. "Just tell us what's wrong. Whatever it is, we'll help you," they said definitively.

As Coral opened his eyes to look at Blight, he saw it.

A broken slab of rock that looked to be from the wall was floating behind the Poipole's head. Attached to it was what looked like black, spectral tendrils, one long one connecting it to the roof and several more on the front, forming a hand that was inching closer to Blight's head. Coral's eyes widened as some kind of instinct kicked in, taking over his body.

"W-Watch out!" he shouted as he lunged forward in a rush. Surprised, Blight drifted quickly to the side as the rocky hand, almost in reaction, lunged forward as well, but missed Blight. Instead, it collided with Coral's head, sending both back in recoil, a bit of blood coming out of the human's head. As he landed back on the ground, he hissed in pain and looked up alongside the other surprised members of Team Rogue.

The hand was now moving back and forth, almost as if it was in pain as well. An eerie and high-pitched, but gravelly voice rang out. "Ahh drat… You couldn't just let me eat the beastie, couldn't you?" the eerie voice said as the hand started moving upwards.

"What's happening over there?!" Aster's voice could be heard shouting from the kitchen. Before anybody could answer though, more rocks from the walls shifted with those same tendrils and quickly covered up each door from the base. Aster and Iki's muffled voices could still be heard from afar.

"There… Now, where were we, friends~?" the gravelly voice said as the hand retracted to a hole in the roof. Team Rogue watched as a crimson and glowing outline started to appear on the roof.

From what Coral could understand in his frightened state, the outline looked like some kind of winding and coiling snake design ending in a two-dimensional head with a large, toothy grin on its snout. A singular deep black eye with a glowing purple iris appeared on the head and moved around looking at all the members of Team Rogue. Multiple rocks split apart from the roof; each being connected by the spectral tendrils. Some formed hands and one formed the head as the mysterious entity grinned even harder. Coral felt frozen in fear but saw as flames started curling on Ayza's snout and Blight's needles adjusted, seemingly ready for a fight.

"Now… Let's feast!" the grinning entity screamed as its hands lunged forwards.

---

Hope managed to reach the end of the tunnel back to the castle fairly quickly. After all, he owed it to Atlas who so generously sacrificed himself for the cause of GAD. If anything, he was probably just scolded, but Hope's punishment was certainly going to be worse, that much was for sure. As he came up to the end of the tunnel, he sighed in realizing he had to pull it open by himself. He could pull a root from the garden, but that would take time and probably collapse the tunnel.

"Welp, here goes…" he sighed as he raised his arms.

With an embarrassing pained screech, he tried to pull apart the secret door. It took a few minutes, but suddenly, he felt it budge slightly. With more confidence, he pulled even harder, the focus on his illusory appearance disappearing, until it suddenly opened without much problem! It seemed today was a good day for his non-existent muscles!

Though, as he opened the door, he saw the worst sight possible. In front of him, there stood his dad and brother with serious faces, and Atlas with a nervous expression.

"Hello there, brother~" Tempo sneered.

Hope sighed, being found out. Atlas' outstretched arm gave away that he did not, in fact, open the door which was just an added insult to his incoming injury.

"This tunnel…" Avenir mumbled, looking off into the dark interior. "It has… been quite a while since I saw it last." Hope was only intrigued at whatever that meant, but Avenir turning his stern head on him shut him up. Oh boy, was he ready for his weekly punishment!

"… Forgive me, Hope," Avenir said as his face turned into an oddly warm smile. Hope, Tempo, and Atlas looked at the king with bewildered faces. "It seems… I took you for granted. Atlas here explained to me in detail what your project hopes to accomplish. I am… proud of you for this initiative," he said softly, his voice clearly shifting from what he used in the throne room with poor Coral.

"Uhh… What?" Hope asked, almost stammering. This… rarely ever happened before. Only the occasional three years did he ever say sorry and admit his mistakes. His dad was a very prideful individual and it was hard to get close to him, even as his first son. It looked like Tempo and Atlas had about the same thought as well.

Avenir glanced away. "… I am also sorry for the way I treated the human. I thought about it deeply, and it is clear that I went too far in questioning him. Tomorrow, I will go and… apologize personally," he said with a split-second twinge of annoyance from what Hope could tell from his voice.

"Wh-Where is this coming from?" Hope asked, exasperated.

The king looked to almost wince at his own words. "I… overreacted. It seems the shock of finding another human shook my core. We will investigate his situation carefully and privately. News like this could make this city go crazy and Arceus knows that your announcement already stirred them up," he said with soft eyes. Hope could do without that last part.

Avenir glanced back at Hope, but then turned cold again. "… Let us go, Hope. Dinner is almost ready, and we need to speak of this further," he said as he returned to his stern voice and floated away. Tempo looked back and forth from Hope and Avenir and scoffed as he followed the king.

Atlas turned to Hope, seemingly recovering from Avenir's apology. "Ahh, I'm sorry, Hope… He forced me to show him this secret tunnel," he said, clasping Hope's paws.

"I-It's fine, Atlas… I'm just… stunned is all," he said with a slight chuckle.

Atlas sighed happily and turned to face the hallway. "Well then, you should get to eating, just to be safe. I've got to get back to the guild; a Ledian and a Sliggoo apparently cleared the entrance test as a new rookie team, so I hope that none of the veterans acted out against them. Can't let things creep up on me like a ghost, haha!"

Hope glanced at the guildmaster joking about his own tired state. Atlas was one for constant self-deprecating jokes, but something… Something stayed ringing in Hope's head as the Dragonite said those last words.

Creep up on… Creep… Ghost… Oh.

Oh no. Oh, gods, how could I forget?! Hope's face turned into a horrified expression as he turned around and flew as fast as he could back into the tunnel.

"S-Sorry Atlas! Tell them I'll be late, I forgot something!" he shouted back as he disappeared into the tunnel. He flew as fast he could, hyping himself up to go faster as he produced an Energy Ball for light.

Hopefully he could make it in time…

---

Coral jumped back as one of the stone hands slammed in front of him. He didn't know what this frightening creature was, but he did not want to deal with it! He saw from the corner of his eyes as Ayza shot a ball of fire and hit the main face as it burst into smaller sparks.

The face recoiled in pain as it hissed. "Agh! You're annoying!" it complained.

Coral ran to a corner of the room and stopped, frozen in fear. What was this thing? Why was it attacking them? What was happening?! His mind was cluttered trying to make sense of the situation before he heard Blight's voice.

"Coral, watch out!" they said as the human snapped to attention and saw another set of the hands reaching for him. He put his hands together in fear as another Reflect was put up suddenly, the hands crashing into the barrier. Coral's eyes darted around seeing Blight flying around, avoiding those hands, and shooting a viscous liquid at the entity on the roof. Ayza was shooting more of those fireballs as well.

He felt himself kneel down, shivering. His tail curled around his legs and his teeth clattered. This… This was too much.

"What are you doing, Coral?! You've got the best moves against this guy! Help us!" Ayza shouted as she evaded one of the stone hands. That's right… He could help them! With this weird body, there was an out! Somehow!

He shakily got up on his pink feet as his mind darted back to his achievement beside the canal earlier in the day. Almost as if it were natural, water rushed out of his scales and concentrated into a balloon that formed in his palm. After a second of feeling it well, he swung hard, throwing it as best as he could to the head. "Come on!" he pleaded out with a shout.

It burst when it hit the face as the creature shrieked in pain. "WHY YOU LITTLE-" it screamed out before being interrupted as a series of needles hit it and they exploded, forming a thick cloud of smoke.

"Nice one, Coral! Keep it going!" Blight said as their needles stopped glowing and they floated back. All the limbs that were hanging returned to the roof, forming the original design on the roof. Its face grinned harder.

"Looks like I need something faster!" it cackled as all of its previous limbs came out suddenly and spun in a giant circle with some kind of deep black energy coming off them. Coral instinctively put up his arms again, unconsciously forming a Reflect, but was still knocked down by the sheer force it hit him with. Trying to regain his composure, he watched as Ayza and Blight weren't so lucky as they were hit directly, Blight in particular being launched and smashing against the wall. As the spinning stopped, one of the hands turned to Blight's crumpled body on the floor.

A silent breath escaped Coral at the sight.

Before he realized what he was doing, Coral was already in the air as he leapt to Blight, a weird kind of mist appearing in the corner of his eyes. All he could think about was reaching them in time.

As the hand came down with purple, spectral energy turning it into a claw, the human's body reached the Poipole first, a heavy mist forming from his hands. The claw came down and slashed at… something, the mist at this point was suddenly obscuring the whole room.

Coral howled in pain as he felt something slash at his back, scales peeling off and blood spouting as he bit his mouth and looked at Blight. They were still conscious, but there was some bluish blood coming out of their head. He also noticed some kind of mist obscuring the room, but he could see perfectly through it for some reason. Without much thought, he grabbed his friend's surprisingly light body and ran to an empty corner of the room, wincing as he felt his back's injury locking him up.

"Hah… A-Are you okay?" he panted as he let them down onto the floor. Blight could only respond with a weak groan as their body turned slightly. Coral saw at the corner of his eye a stony claw slowly making its way through the mist.

"Where are you, beastie~?" the creature's voice rang out.

Oh god, he didn't know what to do. What could he do? He could barely fight, he was in immense pain, his friend was hurt badly, he didn't know where Ayza was, and the snake creature's limbs were eventually going to find him.

His mind raced to find a solution as his hands suddenly came up to Blight's head, no control from his conscious mind. In his storm of confusion, he felt a familiar sense of rush in his arms as his eyes started unconsciously glowing and water started to seep out of the scales on his mitten hands.

But instead of a balloon, it suddenly started to warp and morph like it had life of its own. It continued until it shaped itself into what seemed like a big ring of water that floated off Coral and wrapped around Blight's head. It shimmered as it sprayed sparkling water onto them, and their wound started closing ever so slightly.

"Wh-What…?" the fear-stricken and confused Drizzile asked to himself as Blight stirred.

"Ugh… I didn't know you could heal…" they mumbled.

"I-I didn't know either!" Coral almost laughed. He didn't know what he did exactly, but as long as it helped Blight, he didn't care what it was. He was happy to take anything he could get.

A shadow loomed over them as a claw came down. "FOUND YOU!" the eerie voice screamed. Coral couldn't even turn in time to see a fireball burst on the claw as it was interrupted with a hiss. "Again?!" it screamed once more.

"That's because we don't fall easily! You're dealing with Team Rogue!" Ayza's voice exclaimed as her bruised body sprang up to Blight and Coral and posed heroically. She grinned at them like she was ready to perform some maniacal plan. "Sorry, it took me a bit to find you, but the mist seems to be clearing! Good decision on that, Coral!" she said in her usual cheery tone. Why was she praising him for the mist? Did he create it?

As the mist parted, Team Rogue saw the creature pull up its hands and its face warped to an annoyed expression. "Ahh, you all look so cute together. It'll be so pleasing to see you all on my walls~" it mused as the printed face turned into a cartoonishly pleasurable face. Coral didn't even want to think about what that meant.

"All right, I don't know how we're going to beat this Runerigus, but we'll solve it together!" Ayza exclaimed as her flames started to burn brighter.

Blight floated up next to Coral, the ring of water still healing their head. "Thanks for the support. Now let's beat this thing!" Blight smiled.

Coral stood up shaking, the pain in his back still very apparent and stinging. He was still filled with fear, hell he'd rather drop dead on the floor than keep fighting against this "Runerigus." But… he couldn't bring himself to do it. As he thought about it, his body was already standing in tandem with his teammates, hunched over and seemingly ready for battle.

That's right. We rise and stand together no matter what. That's the catchphrase we came up with for the team. It sounds pretty corny, but goddamn it's got my heart jittery!

In extreme pain, the Drizzile smiled as he stared down the Runerigus. A faint screech could be heard in the distance. As the Runerigus lunged forward with its detached claws, a loud crashing sound came from the side of the room.

"STOP! STOP STOP STOP!" the familiar scrappy voice of Hope came screaming out as the door to the tunnel smashed open with the Calyrex immediately flying up and smashing his head and antlers on the roof. Both parties stopped as they looked at Hope's true appearance recoiling in pain.

"Oww! My horns… That's two today…" Hope whined as he looked to both parties in the main room of the base. "AH! I mean, stop! Stop fighting! Especially you, Rune!" he shouted, correcting himself and pointing to the Runerigus.

Its face went from a malevolent grin to a cartoonish frown, the image of a tear appearing on the side of its face. "Aww, but whyyyyy, Hope? I haven't eaten in so long and these new guys looked so good!" the newly addressed and appropriately named Rune whined, almost forgetting the tension of the fight.

"… Do you know this guy?" Blight asked with a groan after a pause.

"Not a guy," Rune answered simply.

Hope pinched his forehead with a claw and groaned as he floated to Rune's head. "Yeah, yeah, I do… I'll explain after you let everyone out, Rune!" he commanded with a not-very-threatening tone.

"Alright, alright… sheesh," Rune complained in that same eerie and gravely, but high-pitched voice as it flicked its stone arms, and immediately all the stones blocking the doors floated back to their original place in the wall.

On cue, Aster's screaming could be heard as his body came in similarly as when he kicked Blight earlier in the day. Oh god, this was still the same day…

"What happened?! Is anybody in danger?!" he said as his head darted around, seeing the Runerigus and the beat-up Team Rogue. Iki came up beside him, also worried and frantic-looking. The door to the courtyard opened and in came the bored-looking Note with a yawn, nonchalantly walking in.

"Is food ready?" she asked plainly.

"Before you eat, I have something to say," Hope said somewhat sternly as he looked around and saw the bloodied Drizzile and gasped. "Oh gods, Coral!"

He was about ready to collapse anyways, so any help was appreciated. His dazed eyes looked towards his teammates as he started to sway. Soon enough and without warning, with a small smile, his world went black.

The ring of water around Blight dissipated and splashed around them as Coral's body fell forwards but was caught by the smaller Ayza. "Oh, he's a lot heavier than I expected…!" she said as she slowly let him down on the ground, fully exposing the three gashes left on his back. Most in the room gasped at the injury.

When Hope got to Coral's unconscious body, his eyes started glowing as he lowered himself to the ground and he put his two clawed paws over Coral's gashes. Everyone else watched as the peaking grass in the floor started glowing and growing all around the focused Hope, even flowers started forming around him. Ayza and Blight watched as the gashes on Coral's back started healing and closed at an unnatural rate. After a few moments, the gashes were completely gone, save for very faint lines where they had been.

Hope sighed as he lifted himself from the unconscious Drizzile. "… There. He's mostly exhausted, but he'll be just fine after some rest," Hope said in a calmer voice than usual. He looked up to see wide eyes from everybody, including Rune, and not including Note.

"Uh, what's wrong?" he asked cautiously to the crowd.

He wasn't ready for the barrage of questions to come from the excited bunch of GAD.

---

Blearily and with clear pain, Coral's eyes slowly opened as he woke from his dreamless slumber. The aching from his back was immediately apparent to him as he tried to move around. Eventually, with a loud groan, he sat up and looked at his surroundings.

He was in a small room and was sitting on the classic bed of hay. Despite the hay, he saw a somewhat big bed, mattress and all, to the side, but it was empty. To another side, he saw separate pieces of hay thrown around and Blight was just humming to themselves. Ayza was over at a small desk and chair reading one of her books, her sunhat and backpack slung on top of the seat. Moonlight shone through a small window in front of the desk.

"… Where am I?" he asked with half-closed eyes.

Ayza's head shot back like a bullet to look at Coral, an action that bothered him more than comforted. "Coral! You're awake! We're in our room!" she said as she sprang up and stared at him.

"Oh… Then, what happened to me?" the tired human inquired.

Ayza raised a claw as she started explaining. "Well, we were fighting Rune, you got badly injured, passed out, Hope healed you up easily, he explained that Rune is a Pokémon that possessed this building long ago and now we have to live with it because real estate is a bitch— oh, Rune also goes by it and its if you haven't noticed; we ate some, frankly, delicious food from Iki, and then we went to our separate rooms. I'm pretty sure that's all," she said in a breakneck pace.

Before Coral could even process most of what she said, a weird and pulsing sound rang out as he saw Rune's printed grinning face apparated beside Ayza. "She's right!" Rune said before its face disappeared and then reappeared right next to Coral as he recoiled in surprise. "Terribly sorry for the injury and the Ultra Beast comment, by the way. I get really hungry and cranky when I haven't consumed any souls for a while, but apparently, you guys living here lets me siphon enough energy for all of us to survive. So, thank you!" it exclaimed as Coral went into a deadpan face.

Giving up on processing information from their new roommate and landlord, Coral simply nodded at Rune. "… It's nice to meet you, Rune," he said plainly. A red thumbs up appeared in the wall as Rune's face slowly disappeared from the wall. Coral sighed heavily as Blight floated up to him and took one of his hands.

"How are you feeling? Tired, no?" they asked.

Coral looked at them with a slightly confused face. Their eyes always glowed, but it was especially apparent in the moonlight. It was… comforting in a way. His heart stirred as he blushed and looked down.

"I'm fine… But I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that earlier. I was just really frustrated…" Coral admitted as he avoided Blight's eyes.

A small sigh came from the Poipole. "… It's perfectly fine. It was more surprising than offending. But what got you so frustrated? I mean, if it's okay to ask," Blight inquired in a soft voice.

Coral looked to the side, still avoiding eye contact. It hurt to even think about.

"… I feel useless… I'm always in the way, I don't know anything, you guys always help and save me… I-I don't know, I guess it just doesn't feel like I deserve you guys…" the human mumbled, his heart beating faster. Ayza dropped down from her chair to join Blight's concerned expression.

The Poipole laughed a bit. "Useless? Far from it, you've already defended me twice and somehow healed me today alone. I think you're more than worth it," Blight said as they sat down in front of Coral's eyes, trying to look at them. His head darted to the side to avoid their eyes only to find Ayza's grinning snout poking at his. He flinched at the sudden contact and curled into a ball of embarrassment.

"S-Seriously! Why do you two care so much about me?!" he stammered without much thought. In his mind, these two were poking and prodding in all the places they shouldn't have, in all the places he was taught to neglect. His parents would surely be disappointed to see his display of weak acceptance, a voice in his head said.

"Hmm… I guess it's because you care so much about us. You probably wouldn't be so worried if it wasn't so~" Blight mused with a swaying voice. As obvious that point seemed, he felt a sense of familiarity with what they said, much to what the little voice said otherwise.

Coral felt two claws grip his head and lifted it up. He saw Ayza's bright smile. "Look, I don't know much about this situation or you for that matter. But now we're living together and we're a team together. We better get used to helping each other unconditionally, okay?" she said sternly.

A smile crept up on his face. Help each other unconditionally… That sounded like something his friend would bash his head in for forgetting. But here he was, in a team with Ayza and Blight… Trusting them wasn't even a question for his elated chest.

Coral giggled under his breath. "… Heh… that… that makes sense. I'm fine with that answer," he said with a soft voice. As embarrassing as it was to admit, it felt… good to have people support him. He could only hope he could support them equally for as long as he was still in this world. Though, an idea popped into his mind to help with that goal.

"… Maybe I can be less useless if you teach me about this world… Yeah, that could help! Teach me all there is to the Pokémon World!" he exclaimed somewhat excitedly at Ayza.

Blight popped into view with a smirk. "Only if you tell us all there is to the Human World!" they added onto his offer.

"Only if you tell us all there is to Ultra Being society! I've always wanted to learn about it!" Ayza pleaded excitedly, shaking her claws up and down. The trio looked at each other and chuckled amongst themselves.

"Okay then! We'll all teach each other! Just like our team motto!" Ayza said as she put a claw out to the middle of them. Blight got into the rhythm and put out a stubby limb beside her claw. The previous voice in the back of Coral's head told him to keep to himself, to stay hidden and put down his feelings, but his mitten-hand reaching out to finish the hand-stack was stronger. They all counted in unison.

"We're Team Rogue! We rise and stand together!" the trio shouted in happy celebration through the night sky, much to the dismay of their new neighbors and roommates.

 

[GumPlum]

Chapter 6: First Impressions

… Coral found himself on a beach. He didn't know what beach it was, but it was a pretty one, with clear skies and water, all lolling rhythmically in silence. He was sitting on the sand, the clear waters passing through his five-toed feet. Huh, he had human feet…

Javier looked to his hand. He saw his dark skin in the bright sun. It was nice to see it again after such a long and eventful day. For a good while, the human simply stared out to the bright-colored beach, admiring the warmth and calmness of it all.

I can do with a lot more of this, he thought, pleasantly smiling at it all and not wanting to budge an inch. If he could feel this beach forever, he would… There was no question about that.

His eyes drifted as he laid on the sand. Slowly, Javier's eyes fully shut, the beach disappearing through the comforting darkness…

---

"Wakey wakey, roomie!" the eerie and annoying voice of Rune rang out as Coral stirred in his sleep. It was such a nice dream, why did it have to be ruined by his cursed landlord? His eyes lazily opened as he saw the printed and glowing face of Rune crazily grinning straight at him. "Up and at 'em! Go and eat!" Rune said as Coral felt a pair of stone hands push him up from his bed of hay and to a standing position.

He wasn't much of a morning person already but getting dragged out of his sleep didn't make it any better, and much less after he stayed up late with his teammates learning about Pokémon ranging from the first generation discovered to the third, all a part in being more useful to Team Rogue. Learning of the sheer variety of Pokémon was overwhelming, to say the least. Odd names notwithstanding, just learning about what each of them could do was pure fantastical dreaming. Though, personally, he thought whoever in this world named an evolutionary line of Pokémon Abra, Kadabra, and Alakazam should've been punished, but that was the least of his worries as his mostly limp body was being pushed out of his room.

That was another thing, Ayza also explained evolution to him. In concept, it was cool and all, but he didn't like the idea of his body changing drastically after he already went through it two days ago. Nevertheless, his mind wandered as his groggy body slowly moved through the hall and into the kitchen, following a sweet smell that attracted him as he passed a weird patch of grass and flowers that weren't there yesterday.

"Morning, Coral! Did you sleep well?" Blight's voice came out of their hazy body from Coral's half-closed vision.

"Mmmrgrhgmm…" Coral grumbled as he stumbled into a chair and sat on it, laying his head on the dining table.

Ayza patted his head lightly from the chair next to his. "Aww, did Rune wake you up rudely?" she cooed with the drowsy human grumbling even more in response.

The sweet smell intensified as Iki walked up to the three, one plate between his beak and two others balanced on his wings. He placed each of the wooden plates in front of Team Rogue and gave a smile. "There, breakfast is ready! I hope you enjoy it, Coral, I know it's new food for you," he said as he flapped back to the makeshift stoves and kept cooking.

Coral had asked Ayza to teach him about his coworker's species, but they only got to Iki and Aster first before passing out entirely. From what he could tell, Iki was a weird case. He was a Cram… Cramorant? Cramorant.

Either way, from what he remembered in the later section of his study session, Cramorant were Pokémon that were mostly absent-minded and ate fish-aligned Pokémon obsessively. They were generally considered the best fishers for the most part because they'd just be stuck there, doing the same thing over and over again. But Iki clearly wasn't falling into any of that. Hell, he even looked different than a normal Cramorant, from the illustrations he saw. Not only did he have a smattering of white feathers where he shouldn't, but his wings were bigger and less chopped up, and had white on them as well. Then again, all of Iki was filled with messy feathers, with no rhyme, rhythm, or any semblance of tidiness.

But the weirdest part were especially the eyes. Cramorant had weird, beady eyes that seemed unfocused all the time, but Iki's were vibrant and deep, any sense of the absentmindedness leaving entirely. He looked as aware and vigilant as can be.

Though, wondering about his new coworker could wait because FOOD!

With renewed vigor, Coral looked at his plate. It was filled with more of those berries, though sliced in little pieces and had some kind of brownish coating and powder to them. Even a few apple slices were hidden there. It glistened with the morning light that had come through the windows. He found himself almost salivating at the thought of food, since the last he had gotten was simple breakfast at Charon's.

As this world had no utensils as far as Coral could see, he took one slice to the best of his mitten-hand abilities. As he bit into it… oh… oh wow... oh yeah! His head practically reeled back in bliss at the pure flavor and sweetness of Iki's cooking. He smiled as his morning troubles were instantly forgotten and he was left with the deliciously glazed fruits in front of him, fully awake.

"I see it's to your liking, that's nice!" Iki beamed as he flapped in the room, holding a pan with his webbed talons, and flipping more fruit in said pan while the quaint fire below simmered them. From what Coral could see yesterday and now, he really was deft in the kitchen, especially for having no hands.

"Mmhm! It's incredible! How did you learn to cook so good?!" the now very-awake human asked with his teammates enjoying their meal as well, joining in as their heads swiveled to the Cramorant.

He glanced back with a simple smile. "Necessity mostly. Though, I've had to learn how to make good food so that it goes down easy, hehe," he cheerfully answered, more focused on the food he was cooking which seemed to be done as he started tilting the pan with his beak and carefully poured out enough to fill three more plates that had been laid out. He spat a stream of water to take down the fire in the stove.

Iki narrowed his eyes at the plate and then to a wall. "Hmm, hey, Rune…? Can you take two of these plates to Aster and Note?" he asked as Rune's face appeared on the wall and eagerly nodded as two stone hands separated from the wall and took the plates across the wall and out of the room, cackling all the while as it left.

The Cramorant just gave a slight laugh. "It seems pretty handy, if a bit frightening at first," he admitted as he sat as best as a bird could on the table and chair, ready to eat alongside Team Rogue.

The four of them ate happily and satisfied as they talked amongst themselves. It really was good food, and more fulfilling than plain cereal or whatever back in the human world. This world so far having better food than his home was about the only point Coral was willing to give to it. That, and… Well, the company at the table was really nice.

He still didn't know how he managed to find two friends so quick in this world when it took so long back home. They treated him too well in their two days of knowing each other, and even Iki was similar. For just being a coworker, cooking with this quality for them all was boggling Coral's mind a bit.

"Hey, Iki? Why did you make this food for us? We just met…" Coral asked almost without control, cutting through the banter he was missing out on for being stuck in his head. He was well aware his rampant self-doubt was in control the moment he didn't understand Iki's affection.

Iki stopped pecking his food but smiled. "Mm, I've worked many jobs before, so I know how important it is to treat your coworkers with respect. I don't want this whole thing to crash and burn, so I'll treat you guys to the best of my abilities. That includes Aster and Note, of course, though I have my share of doubts with them," he said calmly while downing the remnants of his plate.

Coral supposed he was right. Though, he still felt weary about the whole GAD business. After all, they had only met yesterday after Aster assaulted them and now they were living together until Summer rolled around. By all means, they shouldn't have agreed so easily, but it seemed nobody wanted to deal with Agaya, and Hope's bribe seemed to be an unwinnable case. Though, if everybody was as nice as Iki… maybe they'd be all right in the end.

That did put a smile on his face.

"Ahhh… you're a master with cinnamon, Iki! Just as expected, haha!" Aster's voice rang out as he walked into the kitchen with an empty plate. He walked in excitedly and clearly hiding his panting, still wearing the mask he had yesterday. With a closer look and new knowledge backing him up, Coral noticed how much taller he seemed compared to normal Scrafty. It wasn't by a ton, but it was noticeable, and he wasn't even holding his "pants" like his species tended to do. Actually, his pants seemed more grafted onto his waist, like it was actually attached to him, the same way his mask was.

The odd Scrafty's head drifted to the members of Team Rogue and his smile grew even more. "Good morning, my fine colleagues!"

"… Were you training again? In the morning?" Iki asked with a disapproving gaze.

Aster's smile somehow raised even more through the mask. "Of course! You never know when you might need to arrest a criminal in the middle of the street!" he said with raised fists.

"Yeah, you never know…" Blight grumbled with narrowed eyes, but without looking at Aster. Coral glanced to them, but the Poipole noticed and just smiled back, leaning into him and Ayza. "Don't worry, you two are great."

Hearing that put a smile on his face as well, which just resonated with Ayza sticking out a playful tongue to them.

Coral would've focused more on how weirdly nice that all felt, but a loud and fast knocking rang for everyone to hear. They all turned around when they heard the frantic knocking break through Aster's entrance. Before anybody could get the door, it opened by itself and Rune's head and two hands came out clapping, the harsh sound of stone colliding with itself very audible in the morning. With a bit of grumbling all around, those in the kitchen made their way into the main room.

"IT'S HOPE!" Rune screamed with a gravely shrill as Hope floated into the room, wearing his disguise, and carrying a bag that seemed to be floating, but was probably just being held by his gangly arms behind the illusion.

"Hey, hey, hey! How's my favorite bunch of Pokémon!" he called out and twirled in the air.

"Not a Pokémon," Coral clarified as all of them stood in front of their floating boss.

"Right, sorry," Hope chuckled with a quick point. "How's the back by the way? I had to scold Rune as much as I could because of that." To the side, Rune just mimicked Hope's words with a whine.

"A-Ah, yeah, it's perfectly fine now, thanks a lot for that…" Coral said, rubbing his arm. He never saw Hope heal him, but it was amazing that he couldn't feel any pain in his back. He slightly remembered doing some minor healing on Blight, but it was nothing compared to what Hope did to him. How powerful was he?

Hope's head reeled back in clear pleasure and pride. "Don't mention it! Healing's about the only thing I'm good at, heh!"

Well, that answers that, Coral thought with a sigh escaping him.

The prince turned to Iki who was knocking away some loose food on his beak. "Oh, Iki, I delivered that message you gave me yesterday. Everything seems fine, from how they all receive it."

Iki gave a sudden giant sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness, I was worried about them, thank you so much," he quickly said with a deep bow and Aster beside him gave a quick laugh.

"It's the least I could do for you… Hey, where's Note?" Hope asked, looking around.

Rune's head turned to him with a frown. "I gave her breakfast in her room and then she punched me! Now I have a permanent crack in me…" it said, dropping its head a bit and a giant tear appeared on its eye.

"That's because you have no sense of privacy," Note's plain voice came out as she walked out of the room hallway. Her usual face slowly looked at everyone in the room, ending on Hope. "Morning, boss."

His fake paws clapped quickly as he rose in the air a bit. "Okay, everyone's here then! Now, all we gotta do today is meet one person and then some boring stuff. But before all that, I gotta give you guys something!" he said excitedly as he reached into the bag and pulled out what looked to be… a stack of hats?

As he handed one out to each member, Coral examined it with a confused face. It looked like a fairly normal, deep blue cadet cap, but it had some kind of gold-colored stitching throughout it that formed multiple triangles akin to the ones on the "necklace" that Calyrex had. In the front was a badge pinned to show itself off. The badge looked like some kind of oval divided into a light orange side and a white side, with a small button in the middle. To its side there were small, yellow, and leathery wings outstretched. It was kind of cute, but Ayza's shocked expression said otherwise.

"Th-This… this is the guild badge! I can't believe I'm actually holding one…!" she gasped excitedly. She turned to her teammates teary-eyed. "I finally got one… You guys, this is big for us!" she cheered as she brought them in for a big hug. Blight and Coral gave a strained smile as she squeezed them, laughing along with her sudden burst of excitement.

Hope floated down to them, smiling. "Yep, with this, you'll be identified as a member of GAD and honorary members of the Reefly City Guild! Don't lose it or you'll pay a hefty price to replace it!" the Calyrex teased them.

It was nice seeing Ayza so happy like this. Coral didn't know just how important being part of the guild was to Ayza, but it was clearly enough to move her to tears in the morning out of nowhere. Even though it was a bit different than her expectations, it seemed to be a dream come true for her. He wondered how that felt, to have his dream come true. To that end, he instinctively glanced and stared out the open window of the main room, finding the cloudless blue sky in the distance.

Dream… To be in the sky…

"Uhhh… this is a bit weird…" Blight piped up as everybody, even Coral, turned to them looking at the hat. They then connected the dots as they stared up at their needle head. There was a palpable sense of gears turning in everyone's heads.

Hope gave a jittery chuckle. "A-Ahhh, that's… um… J-Just break it in while I order one made for you specifically."

Blight raised the hat and brought it down on their head. It immediately ripped in the middle, but held together as they finished sliding it down their head. The Poipole pouted. "Not a great start, to be honest."

Most of them had no trouble putting on the hats. Though, they were all the same size, so there was bound to be some differences in result. It was relatively small on Note, it was relatively big on Iki, it looked weird on Aster's masked head, Ayza had to replace her sunhat, and it looked pretty good on Coral. Hope just sighed, realizing Blight's hat wasn't the only one that had to be remade.

With every member of GAD wearing their signature hats, Hope guided them out of Rune and onto the warm sun on top of the abandoned docks. "First objective for today, Portmaster Nacht!"

Iki's eyes widened immediately. "Nacht? You mean, like, that Nacht?!" he said anxiously. Coral opened his mouth to ask, but Iki's head swiveled to the members of Team Rogue before he could say anything. "Nacht is said to be the crimelord of the city! They operate out of the lighthouse, but nobody dares to confront them, and they never come out either. It's said they know everything that happens in the city!"

"O-Oh," was all Coral could react with, which made Blight snicker next to him. He instinctively glanced to Ayza as well, expecting a laugh from her, but he only found a confused stare for some reason.

"Ooh, so we're gonna bust 'em?" Aster asked with clear excitement as he threw a fist into the air. "Help them reform into an upstanding person?"

"That's a bit of a stretch," Note dryly added, to which Aster just slightly frowned at.

"Nah, nothing like that," Hope grimaced and tilted his head. "Crimelord is an exaggeration, but Nacht is… weird. You'll be fine, and it'll be a short meeting, they just wanna meet all of you," Hope said with a light groan as they all headed off towards the lighthouse on the other side of the docks.

"Bye, good friends!" Rune called out from behind with a massive grin and a waving stone hand. They all looked back for a moment, with all of them waving back at different speeds and energy, even Note, which surprised Coral more than anything.

The trip was calm, save for the constant looks and whispering they got from passerby Pokémon, many directed at Iki who was apparently very known around the docks. He tried to give the best explanations and bows he could as they walked on, an anxious look on his face as they got closer.

Coral mostly paid attention to the ocean next to them, the waters attracting him once again. It was exceedingly beautiful and clear, a large part of the water being shallow enough to stand and play in it almost like images one would see for a resort. He knew he was a water type, but he didn't know why being close to water made him so transfixed to it. When his gaze wasn't towards the water, he was watching all the different Pokémon now that he knew some of them.

The docks were a busy place, to say the least. It was filled with Pokémon of all kinds and most of them were working as well. Some were passing shipments on what looked to be wooden ships like he had seen in human history book, and some were examining said shipments and workers from the side. Whether it was fishing, or selling Magikarp and the occasional Arrocuda, as Iki called them, or simply other fish inclined Pokémon for consumption, everybody had a good reason to be there. The concept of eating Pokémon bothered Coral, but he also didn't know how much sapience they had so he pushed it out of his head.

Before long, they arrived at the large lighthouse in the middle of the docks. As per what Hope told them on the way there, it served as both the center hub for the postal service and the docks, with this Portmaster Nacht also being solely in charge of both. The lighthouse itself was on a solitary part of the docks and it towered over them. To the tope was the large part that contained the supposed light for the night, but Coral couldn't see much within. A few Pokémon walked around and into the lighthouse, doing miscellaneous things, but one familiar and tired-looking pelican came out of the front door of the lighthouse with bags full of items strapped around his body.

Coral felt Ayza grab his hand and rush off with him and Blight in tow. "Free! Hey, hey, Free!" she shouted as Blight looked to Coral quizzically and he responded with a nervous laugh. Free's tired eyes widened at the sight of Ayza and two companions behind her barreling towards him.

"Kid?! What're ya doin' here?!" he exclaimed, backing up a bit as Ayza got up to him and the whiplash of stopping sent Coral stumbling and Blight flying forward before correcting themselves.

"Did you see me yesterday?! I'm finally part of the Guild! I told you I'd make it!" she beamed, posing as she tipped her GAD hat with a sleazy grin. Free stammered and looked at the incoming rest of GAD, including Hope, and he took Ayza by the wing, turning away from them all.

"I told ya to stay low! What are ya doin' goin' around gettin' chummy with the prince?! And you're still around the Drizzile loonie and now a Poipole?! What did you do in just two days?!" he whispered sharply to Ayza.

Ayza looked at him with a smile, seemingly unfazed. "Hehe, I guess I'm just an overachiever~" she mused, but then sprang up as she looked back to Coral and Blight. "Ah! I haven't introduced my teammates yet!" She went back and pulled the mystified Blight and Coral to her and hugged them in presentation. "This is Coral— new name I know— and Blight! Together, we formed Team Rogue!" she said brightly, pulling them in tighter while they raised an arm each for hello.

From the corner of his eyes, Coral saw the rest of GAD walk up to them as Free immediately straightened up with a smile. "Ah, n-nothing to see here, Your Highness! I'm just starting my mail route!" he said in a dignified voice and stepped away. Though, he did glance back to Ayza quickly with clear worry all over his expression. "Please, stay safe, kid…" he mumbled, frantically flying off as everyone from GAD got closer.

"You guys know Free?" Iki asked, walking up with an anxious face as he watched Free fly away.

"Yep, he was the one who smuggled me into the city!" Ayza said, grinning.

There was a collective "Ah" from the group and then silence.

"… Well, we have no time to waste, let's go see Nacht…" Hope sighed and went into the still open door of the lighthouse, everybody else joining him soon after.

The moment they entered, every other Pokémon inside the lighthouse stayed frozen and silent. There were only a few workers, but the shift into suspicious energy was clear. Whether it be Hope, Blight, or Note, they had made an unexpected entrance, maybe even unwanted. Most of the Pokémon there were bird-inclined or could at least fly. Looking beside the stunned stares, the interior of the lighthouse was fairly spacious. At the end of the circular room was a wall full of holes with boxes and letters in them, though it looked almost too full. To the side and on the wall was a circular stair that went beyond the tall ceiling.

Hope looked around the stunned Pokémon and simply floated over to the stairs. "Follow me," he said in his regal voice. Everybody else followed awkwardly, trying not to make eye contact.

Was this going to be everybody's reaction to them?

They didn't stop for any of the floors, though stares and mumbling were heard in equal amounts as they passed. Each floor was the same in layout, but there wasn't much change in bundles of mail anywhere. Once they passed three floors, they stopped in front of a lavish and leather purple door that seemed to be its own large floor in the tower. Seeing nobody close to the door, Hope undid his illusion. Some concerned looks were tossed in his way immediately.

"It's fine… It's just that Nacht hates seeing me in any other appearance," he groaned before taking a deep breath. "… Let's just get this over with…" He knocked on the door lightly, and after a few seconds, it swung open by itself, revealing the inside.

Immediately, what they first saw was a whole slew of Murkrow that Coral had seen throughout the city turn and look at them, their red and sharp eyes filling the room. They all cried and squawked before flying up into the roof's wooden beams and they stared down from there. With them leaving, they revealed an office with a lush carpet and a few open holes leading out to the sky. There were even stairs that probably led to the top of the lighthouse. But in front of that sat an intricately carved desk and a larger figure standing behind it, their back turned to the members of GAD. Next to them was another Murkrow that didn't fly up, but this one was bigger than the rest, had white tips on their feather hat, and looked exceedingly bored as they stood on the desk, staring at everyone in silence.

"Welcome one, welcome all… I welcome these delinquents you found, dear Hope!" the large crow announced, turning with a sultry voice and Coral saw a bigger version of those Murkrow, but with a giant tuft of white feathers in the front, mimicking a sort of ascot. They had lush and vibrant red eyes with deep gold crescents decorating the in front. On their head was what looked like a wide fedora made out of feathers as well, with a golden brim to it and a velvet sash wrapped on the top.

"Oh, it's she and her today, guys…" Hope whispered to everyone else as they silently entered the spacious office. She and her today? Coral wondered what that meant before the figure turned to him with a smirk.

"Some days I'm a woman, some days I'm a man, some days I'm neither. I'm sure you've wondered it at some point, human~" she said with a devilishly sweet smile.

Coral immediately blushed and stood straight in surprise. "H-How do you know that…?" Coral stammered, slightly shrinking behind his teammates.

The large crow put a wing to their beak and snickered. "Dear, I know everything in this city. I know you're a human, I know your friend there was smuggled into the city by Free— hell, I even know that Note over there is the-"

A burst of wind shot up as, in the blink of an eye, Note suddenly had her claw to the figure's face, her fur standing on all edges and an overwhelming sense of dread and pressure consumed the air. It stunned everyone, but the figure didn't even flinch.

"Don't. Talk," Note commanded.

The white-tipped Murkrow just sighed as the larger crow Pokémon turned her head to look at everybody's surprised faces and then back to Note. "… Terribly sorry. I do get carried away every now and then~"

Note let go of her stiff position and returned to a corner of the room with a glare at the crow. Coral's eyes wondered to everyone else, gauging their reactions. Ayza and Blight were equally as surprised as him, Iki and Hope looked very terrified, and Aster looked strangely excited. As for Coral, he was just confused, but that was to be expected at this point.

The imposing crow clacked her beak and then faced everyone. "Anyways, where are my manners? I am Nacht, the Portmaster and Postmaster of this fine city, and this is my dear assistant, Quill," she said with an elaborate curtsy, also pointing to the Murkrow at her side, which seemed to frown slightly. "As Hope may have told you, we will be working closely together in the duration of the General Assistance Department~"

"Th-That's right! In your first week, you'll be almost exclusively working with Nacht here, just to test the waters," Hope explained as he floated to Nacht's side with a nervous smile.

Aster suddenly stepped up with a pout. "Wait, you expect us to work with a crimelord?! I can't do that!" he protested with Iki anxiously placing his wings on Aster.

"This isn't the place, Aster. You can refute it later…" the Cramorant whispered.

Nacht smiled and put up her wings like she was caught in a crime. "Oh, don't worry your tattletale heart, Aster." Aster's protesting stopped as he froze with a face of white fear, but Nacht continued without him. "All the work you'll do is honest delivery work. I wouldn't want to stain the Guild's supposed pristine record. You can trust me on that," she said, still smiling like any and all pressure bounced off her.

Hope floated to Aster worriedly. "Y-Yeah! Nacht came to me to help with the project! She means no harm, a-and if she ever does something bad, you have full permission to beat her up!" he winked at Aster. His fearful face left as he somewhat relaxed and reluctantly stepped back, scratching at his neck with his gloved hands for a moment.

Coral was practically without breath. How bad did this meeting go in so few moments?

"Very well, if all the drama is out of the way, let me explain your tasks," Nacht said as she stepped out of her desk and stood in front of them. Now that she was out, Coral could see pure gold bands with some kind of inscriptions right above both talons. She moved very gracefully, so much that Coral found himself entranced by her, until Blight lightly slapped his head with a teasing smile.

"Starting Monday, you will all be delivering the excess mail that has been left over, which I'm sure you saw, yes?" Her gaze turned to Hope. "I knew about it before, but Hope had a good point on the mail delivery being focused on adventurers and the higher districts. Coupled with the amount of stuff coming in, and lack of couriers, it seems we've… forgotten the backbone of this city. That's partly my fault, but I want to reestablish a balance here. Through all of you, this situation will hopefully be made right." A normal smile came to her face and Hope's.

Coral couldn't help feeling a genuine sense of familiarity in what she was saying. Was this GAD? Did the more common people of the city really need an entire section of a guild to help them? Then again, that familiarity was coupled with massive distrust of Nacht who knew so much and was actively flaunting that in front of them.

"Most of you should know this city well, but this is more for Team Rogue," Nacht added as the three members of Team Rogue stood in attention, Coral tripping slightly at the sudden movement before correcting himself with a nervous grin.

Nacht stopped for a moment and grinned. "… Anyways, I will be assigning Free with the three of you until you learn the city. He is already quite acquainted with you, so I doubt he will decline," she said with a pleased look.

"We get to work with Free?! Nice!" Ayza jumped up with a cheer.

Nacht glanced through everyone in the room. "… Do any of you have questions for me or are we done here?" The room stayed silent for a moment before Blight spoke up.

"… How do you know people will want our help? We're no strangers to the looks we constantly receive. Whether it be Note or… me, I haven't seen one person react positively to us." They were right, in all honesty. How could they help people if everybody hated them? To him, there was no real valid reason as to why Blight and Note were hated, but he personally knew that didn't matter.

Nacht gave a devious smile. "Just treat them well. As long as you do that, they'll come around. Everyone needs help," she said with a proud voice. "Sure, you'll make them uncomfortable. That's good. That breeds change. Gods know this city needs something to spice it up."

With a reinvigorated smile, Blight nodded and looked to their teammates. "Not entirely reassuring, but looks like we'll be fine."

Ayza raised a fist to the Poipole. "Even if we weren't we'll MAKE them like us!" she insisted with sheer determination.

"Ehhh…" Blight and Coral said in unison with narrowed eyes.

"Aww, come on guys!" Ayza whined.

A loud throat clearing came from Note leaning on the wall. Ayza giggled and rubbed her head. "Right sorry… heh…"

Iki stepped up with clear caution in his shivering wings. "Who are you, really? I only ask because you're more of a myth than anything else, and if you were so involved with GAD like Hope mentioned, then why weren't you at the throne room yesterday like Guildmaster Atlas?"

Nacht cocked her head to the side. "I like that perception of yours. To answer that, all I'll say is that I didn't come to this position in the most legal of ways, so believe what you want about who I am." She snickered to herself, but Quill looked away from her with another sigh. Once she was done, she continued. "And to the last part… Well, people like me and even Hope…" She gave another singular laugh with an outstretched wing as she eyed everyone with what felt like sadistic eyes.

"The world tends to forget and ignore our existence. And yet, here we are."

There was only uncomfortable silence at those words. To Coral, that felt more like a declaration that she took an innocent question as a chance to spout out. Plus, it didn't make any sense to him. Forgotten by the world… What did that even mean?

And why am I thinking about it so much? he thought, gently feeling his chest thump a bit faster. Just to avoid the endless grin of Nacht, Coral stared up at the beams on the ceiling again… But there were no Murkrow. The practical storm of Murkrow that fled up there when they arrived were just… gone. There wasn't even a moment of them leaving, or any sound for that matter…

Just to forget about that sudden weirdness, he regretfully settled on focusing back to Nacht.

The supposed crimelord tipped her hat up with one wing. "I expect great things from all of you. It may be slow, but something worthwhile will come out of this. Just know that you have the support of a crimelord~" she sang while flaunting a wing. "And with that, I call this short, but very eventful meeting over. Don't worry, though, we'll be seeing each other many more times," she said as the door behind them creaked open, but there was nothing pushing it.

Note immediately left the room, followed by Aster and a rushed Iki. Hope gently floated out the door, donning his illusion again and Team Rogue headed out before Nacht called out to them.

"Team Rogue."

They turned around, each having a different face ranging from curious, to concerned, to excited. Nacht was staring at them with no grin, and Quill seemed to not wear total boredom either for once. Coral could see her eyes drift past them for a moment, but they focused back quickly.

"… Keep each other in sight," she said. "All of you can stir the city up. If you ever find yourselves overwhelmed or targeted, know that you will always have each other's backs, and I'm willing to bet that your coworkers would do the same. None of you are alone. A human, a foreign stranger, and an Ultra Being… You're all unknowns to this city…" She walked back to her desk, and then stared back again, wearing a grin once more, but this one was noticeably more excited.

"So, alongside everyone, I say run wild. This is your city too now."

They all nodded slowly, leaving one by one, with Coral being the last, staring back as Nacht just nodded.

Coral… didn't know what to think about Nacht. She seemed equal parts terrifying, annoying, and supportive. It was certainly better to have her support than not, but he wasn't comfortable knowing so many secrets about the city after only spending two days here. She was enigmatic and sporadic, to the point that the human wanted to leave her sight immediately. Simply put, he'd rather not have to interact with her at all if he could, even if her words were rattling inside his head.

As he closed the door behind them all, they could see everyone waiting outside the office. Hope sighed and looked out a window. "Well, nothing majorly dangerous or embarrassing happened, so it went better than expected, honestly," he said with a chuckle and turned to the rest of GAD.

"I don't like her," Note spoke up with crossed arms and Aster nodded heavily in agreement.

Hope nodded too. "That's very valid. She's… many things, but likeable isn't exactly one of them. Still, she does mean well with GAD… Let's just return to Rune, I'm beat," he sighed. Without much question, everyone followed him out of the lighthouse and into the docks, ignoring all of the expected stares and whispers.

---

The rest of the day was spent inside Rune discussing all the logistics and official mumbo jumbo about guilds and departments that nobody wanted to do. Even Hope said it was "About the worst part of my day— like, it's just so boring, I'd rather just burn it in fire." Eventually, they all collectively agreed to throw it to the wayside and just relax with evening food made by Iki. Team Rogue decided to go to the courtyard to see what moves Coral could do, with the unwarranted assistance of Aster.

"Okay, so I've got this "Water Pulse" and "Reflect" down. I also did some mist thing and I healed Blight with some ring. What could those be?" Coral asked in the middle of the courtyard with everyone else sitting on the side.

"Those should be Mist and Aqua Ring! You've got quite the moveset there, buddy! Just one attacking move, though. I can help you change that!" Aster said with outstretched arms and a smirk through his mask.

"I… think I'm fine. I'm not planning on fighting any time soon," he hastily chuckled. "So, um… how do I do those?

"Maybe just think about using them? Like visualizing, and all," Blight said floating a noticeable distance from Aster.

With a nod, Coral raised his hands and pointed them forwards with a doubtful look in his face. How could he think about producing mist from his mitten-hands? He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, his mind going back to the beach in his dream as he envisioned producing mist from around him.

A similar rushing sense sprang up in his arms, but slightly different. More… airy? Hollow? Just like the balloons, he could feel the water within him seep out and between the scales on his mitten hands, but instead of the soft rush of water, this one was coming out like a quick hiss. Whatever it was, he opened his eyes reflexively to see it. The human looked on as a thick mist started coming out of his hands and a big smile appeared on his face.

"Nice one, Coral! I knew you could do it!" Ayza shouted as she ran up and launched her body into a diving hug, slamming into Coral and making him spread more mist everywhere, but he held his ground.

With Ayza's arms wrapped around his neck, he looked at her perfectly clear through the heavy mist. "H-How many times are you going to do that?"

"Whenever it's needed, and this is a celebration!" She let go and landed next to him, glancing about in the thick cloud and finding nothing. "Uhh, so what do we do with this mist?"

Coral's chest beat a bit faster at it all, and his mouth moved without his knowledge, though he didn't disagree with it. "I think it should fade out in a few moments. But look at this!" Coral said, still feeling the flow as he started to weave his hands randomly like Ayza's Electroweb and a small ring of water appeared around his hands. "If I just think about doing it, I can do it!"

He didn't really know what he was doing, to be fair. As far as he knew, all he did was think about doing those moves, and they just appeared. Granted, he'd rather not use them at all, but it was still really satisfying to know he had the ability to use them. After all, humans couldn't do anything like this back in his world.

He supposed that was another point to this place over the human world.

"But, you know, this is pretty weird," Ayza started with a curious and pensive face staring at Coral's ring of water, "Aqua Ring can only be used to heal the user of the move. So, how did you heal Blight?" Coral wondered if that was true and what that meant, but he noticed a faint, greenish glow on the side of Ayza's snout, and she seemed to notice something as well.

"Yes, that is very odd. We will have to look into it." A familiar imposing and dignified voice rang out from behind Coral and Ayza. As they turned around, that same green glow came from inside the mist as an odd wind pushed out all the mist without problem, revealing a regal and caped Calyrex, unlike the real Hope.

The ring of water immediately fell and splatted onto the ground.

… Why was the king here?!

Coral yelped and scrambled away towards the door into Rune, but tripped into the harsh dirt. As he raised his head from the ground, his adrenaline-filled gaze saw Avenir floating before him. "Wh-What do you want from me?!"

His cold eyes stared directly through the human. Coral feared for another moment like the one he had in the throne room. His mind raced at what he was going to do to get out of there. Maybe create more mist? No, he'd blow it away easily. Put up a Reflect? No, how could he even defend himself from the king? Maybe—

"Hey! Get away from Coral!" Blight shouted as they flew in between the two. Coral felt Ayza's heated claws lift him up from the ground as she stepped forwards with small flames curling the edge of her snout, her frills flaring open into shaking fans as well.

"Uhhh, guys? Are you gonna… fight the king?" Aster asked apprehensively from a distance. Silence remained in the tense situation as everybody stayed still.

"… Will you let me speak?" the king spoke up.

"Only if you back off of Coral," Blight said, getting closer to Coral.

"… Very well then. I will back away." Avenir started floating backwards, until he ended mid-way across the courtyard. "Is this enough?"

Blight and Ayza relaxed a bit as distance was gained. Aster at this point had come up to join Team Rogue, though he still looked anxious in the presence of the king, holding part of his mask for comfort.

Avenir put a paw to his chest as he directed his eyes to Coral. "I… have come to… apologize," Avenir said, almost mumbling. "Specifically, to you, Master Coral. It seems I took my questioning too far and I frightened you even more than you probably already were. For that, I humbly apologize."

"… What?" Coral finally broke the silence. Was the king apologizing to him? Did that happen often? It couldn't have. He tilted his head towards his colleagues, and they all had similar faces of bewilderment.

"I fear our first interaction may have given you the wrong impression of me. I wish to correct that and so I am… apologizing." The apologizing part sounded more like a grumble behind the regal voice. "For compensation, I have given you a present from myself. I sincerely hope you enjoy it," he said as a small bag floated from behind him and in front of Coral. It landed gently on his hands as he stayed staring at the king in silence.

A bit more silence passed, and the King seemed to move his head out of boredom.

"Well, we will reconvene to talk about your situation once Master Felix and Master Newt arrive. Until then, I bid you goodbye, and hope for the success of the General Assistance Department." Coral watched as Avenir then started floating upwards with the tiniest of blushes until he was out of sight in the vast, orange sky.

"Wh-What was that?" Aster asked in a shaky voice.

"How should we know?" Blight answered still in shock, but slightly annoyed.

Coral let out a big gasp for air as he let himself fall on the ground back-first. "An apology…? I-I mean, he still terrifies me, so I don't know how well I took that," he said, almost laughing in disbelief. Meeting a crimelord and receiving a personal apology from the king in a single day was just a lot.

"But what did he give you?" Ayza said before grabbing the bag in his hands and opening it. Coral stood up as they all closed in on Ayza. She dug her claws into the bag and pulled out what looked to be a simple necklace with a tear-shaped crystal on the end. Despite being very simple, it did look very nice and well crafted.

Ayza's eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh! This is a Mystic Water! This thing enhances your water capabilities, Coral! You'll be stronger with this on!" she exclaimed as she examined it.

"This world is starting to sound like a game…" he sighed as Ayza got closer to him. He reluctantly let Ayza tie the necklace on his neck and below his bowtie. Once finished, she patted his shoulders with a flourish.

"It looks good on you! Why don't you model it for us?" she asked excitedly.

"Why would I model for a necklace?" He felt a slight blush coming on, but also an arm wrapping around his shoulders.

"Oh, come on! It'll be fun to see you strut your stuff!" Aster said beside him with a giant grin. Coral could see a slightly miffed face from Blight.

"Wh-What do you mean by my stuff?"

Ayza's face turned serious. "You know damn well what that stuff is." Coral was starting to be at a loss for words. Did these people have no end to teasing him?

Thankfully, the door to the main room of Rune opened suddenly and out came a crazed-looking Hope in his real form. "Rune told me! Where is he?! His apologies are the worst! I need to see!" he shouted as a concerned Iki and a bored Note walked up behind him.

"You mean the king? He already left," Blight answered without much intonation.

Hope's face practically deflated at the revelation that he arrived late. "Oh, okay then…" He floated away very slowly while looking down.

"Also, dinner's ready!" Iki shouted after poking his head out the door.

"Nice," Note said, grinning slightly as she followed the Cramorant.

"Alright, cooking from Iki! Nothing better in the world!" Aster cheered as he ran towards the main room. Freed from the grasp of the odd Scrafty, Coral looked at the Mystic Water and then at the sky. He reviewed the day in his head quickly and sighed. From the edge of Rune's rooftop, he saw a normal Murkrow suddenly fly off with a squawk, which put a grimace on his face.

Each day is going to be as long as this one and the last one, won't they? As he thought that, Ayza bumped his shoulder and Blight laid their body on top of his head like always, pleasantly humming. Without words, Coral's grimace turned into slight laughter, and they all headed inside to eat, the sun starting to set down on the long day of many to come.

---

As the sun came down, a Grovyle stood on a cliff looking out over the larger-than-life forest next to Reefly City. A faint image of the tower on Vassaltis Castle could be seen in the distance. He was admiring the view as they were just ever so closer from leaving the Scaled Cliffs and the Magnus Tunnels below.

"Okay, fire's been started! I'll start cooking, Felix!" the Charmeleon behind him called out excitedly as he started pulling out equipment from their adventuring bag.

"So close to going home…" Felix mumbled to himself before looking to his partner, Newt, and then back at the massive view with a smile. They were so close to returning from helping the Dragon Chief root out the Parasite, and that meant he was one step closer to saving this world and getting back to the human world.

"Only a day's travel until we return to the city, huh? Can't wait to see what celebration they come up with this time!" Felix said, grinning at the thought. He adjusted his scarf and emerald band on his arm before returning to Newt for dinner and rest.

"You excited?" Felix asked the Charmeleon.

As he kept pulling out more materials, Newt just chuckled. "Anytime, but… You know me, Felix. I kinda prefer this over any big celebration." He stopped and smiled at the Grovyle, the fire on his tail burning bright. "Don't get me wrong, I love Reefly, but this is just as nice. It's not like we get to relax much these days."

Felix snickered in response. "You and your relaxing… But yeah, I get ya. The country was much calmer anyways, but I still like the attention~ What I'm not excited about is going back and seeing Fulgur again." He shivered in disgust at the thought and his mind producing the awful smirk of the Luxray in his head.

"Well, I'm sure Zeed will welcome us nicely, though," Newt chuckled in response. After a beat, he clapped his claws and his fire burned a bit brighter, the light reflecting off the ruby band on his tail. "Oh! I can't wait to see Welan and Juno too— and maybe we can meet up with Rhythm and Nikki again! It's gonna be fun to be back with them after all that happened these few days!"

To be perfectly honest, Felix could do well with a bit of Welan's lunacy right now, and he was already decided on trying to beat Rhythm again… But he also knew he wouldn't be getting much time of that anyways. With the Parasite escaping their grasp and growing ever stronger, he was sure Avenir and Guildmaster Atlas had missions and training to the brim prepared for them.

That was fine, though. If it meant getting back his memories, he would likely do anything. There was no rest for someone in his position. The hero that would save the world…

In the silence of his empty memories, he really hoped he could pull it off.

The Grovyle shook his head when he noticed Newt was staring at him with concern. "Ah, it's nothing. Just thinking a bit… We're closer every day… I can't wait."

Newt just smiled at his rising energy, and Felix responded to that by kicking the ground and sending himself to be standing back on his feet, pointing to the sky.

"Watch out, world! We're gonna save ya soon!"

"Alright, simmer down, heh," Newt cut in with a laugh.

Felix responded in kind, settling down next to Newt and putting an arm around his shoulders. Both of them beamed at each other, with Newt blushing slightly, but Felix knew the hidden meaning behind it. He was sure they both knew. For a moment, this was all the relaxation they would get. When they came back to Reefly City the next day, there would likely be a multitude of surprises waiting for them to deal with.

But if it meant saving the world… If it meant being whole again…

Well, whatever happened, they would be fine anyways.

 

[GumPlum]

Chapter 7: Leisurely Learning and Dreaming

With a heavy sigh— though he didn't know whether it was elated or tired— Coral stared at the wooden door in front of him, particularly at the sign it held that supposedly said it was the entrance to the bathhouse inside Rune. He leered at it because he couldn't do much else while he imagined what the inside could be.

With a free day, this was how he decided to spend the morning part, at least. All of GAD had something to do when free. Team Rogue had decided to stay in studying and relaxing, Note didn't really say anything, Iki had gone to "tend to the kids" and Aster had gone with him to "be reborn."

So, whatever that meant. He did leave somewhat stressed, though, which was just curious since he always seemed brimming with energy.

Coral for his own part had waited until nobody was using the bathhouse to use it for himself. In his three days of being in this world, he hadn't washed himself, mostly out of being overwhelmed the entire time and being dragged around everywhere. With his first moment of free will in this world, hygiene was quick to pop into his head.

Though, he hadn't seen much from the others. He occasionally saw Ayza swiftly lick part of her face, and Iki preened his feathers once in a while, but there wasn't much else. Only Note had gone to the bathhouse during the previous night. He didn't know if the lack of daily bathing was a subject of personal hygiene or Pokémon culture, but he wasn't too concerned about it getting in the way. Nobody would stop him from still being human in this world of monsters.

Either way, with another sigh, he pushed open the door to the bathhouse for the first time and looked around. It was a fairly simple room with openings in the higher parts to let light in, while what Ayza called "Luminous Orbs" sat unlit on a stand on the wall. To another side stood a tall, but misshapen mirror to the other. To the center of the room was a decently sized pool of clear water that didn't look very deep. On one edge of the room were various items that ranged from odd-colored rocks, to berries, and even what looked like rudimentary packaged lotions and soap bars.

Huh, this world has soap.

Coral walked around, passing by the mirror with not even a glance to it and he went towards the rack of products. Note being the only one who he'd seen use the bathhouse, she told him that he could smash the berries on the rocks and pass it along his body to have a more "pleasurable experience." Whatever she meant by that, soap was the obvious choice.

He left his bowtie and necklace to the side and stood at the edge of the pool, staring at the dirty beige bar of soap in his mitten-hands. His eyes narrowed and a huff escaped him.

"… What am I doing?" he mumbled to himself. He was a new water lizard, and he was about to take a bath before going back to his lizard and needle friends to continue on with their free day before starting to work in a department that was basically glorified community service just so they wouldn't be in jail.

And he was going to take a bath.

He gave a long sigh as he dipped his weird foot into the pool. As the water touched his foot, he felt a weirdly comforting sensation overcome him entirely. He shuddered at how sudden it was, but continued to enter. Soon, he was standing in the middle of the pool, which had gone up to his chest normally. The water on his scales— no, his skin felt… incredible, even if he internally hated admitting it.

He leaned against the edge of the pool with closed eyes, and an embarrassed smile. Was this how it felt to be in water, as a water-type? It felt like he was wrapped in the softest blanket possible, but it was all moving freely throughout him, coating and caressing every inch of him.

"Ahh…" he sighed contently. He needed this moment of simple calm after three days of insanity. It was all too much to process, looking back… But now, he could just clean himself and be a human by himself, even if for a moment. He opened his eyes and raised his hand with the soap to begin properly bathing. As he did, he saw nothing except a bar of soap floating where his hand should've been.

And there went the calm.

In sudden and silent panic, he looked at the rest of his body below the water and— once again— saw nothing but clear water shifting and rippling. He looked around with a cold sweat as the silence progressed. Trying to gain some sense of normality, Coral flexed his mittens. The soap shifted slightly in the air.

Okay… He could still feel his body, it was just… invisible? Was that a Drizzile thing? Could he make water balloons and turn invisible? Only more questions for Ayza's book it seemed…

With an uncomfortable face and a few missed strokes, he started passing the soap along his body. As good as the water and the soap felt, he was weirded out the whole way through. How couldn't he be? Especially when he realized he had to clean his largely ignored tail… The extra limb was never supposed to be there, and every time his mind registered its existence it was like a snap in his senses. The worst part was that, physically, it didn't feel off. The fact that he was usually unaware of it told him things he didn't want to hear, and much less from himself.

Before long, he had washed his whole body and finished by taking a full dip into the pool. The moment his head went under, that strange comfort on the rest of his body encompassed it as well. But this time, it was… numbing? Submersing himself completely felt incredibly right… but he couldn't shake the feeling of something being incredibly wrong at the same time. Something— like a weird buzzing in the back of his head— wanted the Drizzile to stay floating there forever. It would be so easy to forget the world around him and just stay inside the water. The thought and feeling were alien, and the moment he realized it, he practically scrambled out of the pool.

It only took a few seconds for Coral to notice his heart was racing and he was panting alongside every drop of water falling off him. Every idle sound came back into the world around him, even though he never realized any of it left in the first place. It didn't take him long to recover from the sudden rush of senses, but… What was it in the first place?

For a few seconds, he just sat there, regaining his composure. He gave a loud sigh after it all. Whatever that was… I don't know if I want to feel it again… Why can't I say that surely? he thought with a grimace forming.

Coral forcefully pushed it out of his head as he stood up and looked back at the bubble-ridden and slightly dirty water.

"Mmm… Rune probably cleans that up…" he mumbled. A small, red thumbs up appeared on the opposite wall and faded as fast as it came. Coral sighed with narrowed eyes. Was it just watching the entire time…? Agh, whatever. Trying to comprehend Rune was a bit much for the morning.

He wandered to the mirror with weary steps and looked at his reflection. Yep… now he was completely invisible. He deduced that whatever part of his body was wet was invisible, which if true, was simply yet another weird thing he could do now.

"Hmm… no towels…" He looked around just to be sure and gave a huff.

With an invisible blush and embarrassed vigor, he shook his body wildly like a dog would do to get all the water out of their fur. He felt his "hair" whip around and slap his head lightly, which tickled more than anything. As water progressively flew off him, his shaking came to a stop, and he stared as his body slowly returned to vision and grimaced. Safe to say, he didn't like looking at the Drizzile staring back at him.

There was supposed to be a human in the mirror, but… he never even liked how he looked as a human. He knew that well enough on his own. Whether it was his hair, his face, or his build… None of it ever felt right the more aware of it he became. Every change he went through in his life just… muddled things. He never knew who he looked at when he saw his reflection, but at least it was a human. One big and scaly change later, and he was a naked Drizzile in a bathhouse. He always wanted to change, but this was a bit drastic, and it didn't even feel bad. It was just more muddling.

After a moment of staring at the Drizzile in the mirror, he spun to look at every part of the lizard. After that, he raised a mitten to part the protrusions on his head, revealing the other slightly covered eye of the lizard staring back at him. He had to admit, the blue and pink gradient that was the interior of the big eyes was appealing. He intentionally blinked to see them move.

… What about the rest of this body?

He moved his mouth and jaw around, revealing every part within. The snout made it look weird. The small teeth didn't help… They felt weird too. What about his tongue? He let it loll out and it almost touched the floor, but even he knew that wasn't its full length.

… Yep, as uncomfortably long as it was when it smacked Blight.

He poked and prodded his scales closely in the mirror with the few fingers he had in his mittens… Not as bad as he thought. Kind of nice actually. They fit neatly into each other, and they were by no means physically uncomfortable…

The mitten-hands felt weird, but he had gotten somewhat used to them by now. At least he had two fingers. They were a nice pink too, just like his two-toed feet. Not too strong a hue, but soft enough. A few light bounces of his feet proved them to be pretty light too.

This body's kind of flexible, to be honest… Could be nice for sports… If only there was volleyball in this world…

… Oh right, my tail. It looked curled in the end, so maybe he could uncurl it? It felt odd to consciously acknowledge his tail to will the new limb to uncurl, but it happened relatively fast, and a deep blush came onto the Drizzile in the mirror.

Yep, that's also weird. Extremely weird… How about some twirls? He swayed his hips side to side and saw the tail move with the momentum, but it was only after staring directly at the tail in the mirror that he willed it to sway on its own.

… Heh, that looks funny—

No, he couldn't giggle at how his tail felt.

… Right? He could laugh at himself. Sure, it felt… kind of nice, but maybe the bath just put him in a good mood. Yeah, that must've been it.

Coral sighed at the same time the Drizzile did. That was enough weirdness. He put everything he used back where it was, put his bowtie and necklace back on, and walked up to the mirror to look at it again. The Drizzile staring back at him gave a clearly forced smile. It was weird to see and feel… His and the Drizzile's large eyes narrowed.

"… You're still you, Javier," he mumbled, reminiscing about the friend who taught him that. He wondered how she was so far away as he walked out of the bathhouse and into the main room, where he saw Ayza and Blight idly talking and Note looking out to the docks. His teammate's faces turned to him as their eyes widened.

"Wowee wow, Coral! You look great!" Ayza cheered with raised arms as Coral blushed at the immediate approval.

Blight floated over to Coral's side. "How was the bath? I've been thinking about taking one too, and you're positively glowing in my opinion~"

Coral scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "It was a lot nicer than I expected, honestly…" he responded in a slightly quiet voice. His eyes trailed to Ayza's usual cheery smile and lavender eyes. "Hey… um, can a Drizzile turn invisible?"

Her face stayed still for a moment before turning into a grin as she snickered. "Ahh, that would've been so fun to see! Pfft… stupid one person rule…" she happily said to herself as she walked up to her teammates.

Coral pouted slightly as she wrapped an arm over his shoulders. "Only one way to find out my friend! A thorough study session will do you some good! And lucky for you, I've enlisted some extra help for us!" Ayza explained and then twirled off him to end up pointing exaggeratedly at Note for presentation.

The Zoroark simply turned an eye to the group, her short and choppy crimson mane flowing slightly with the oceanside morning breeze.

"… Note's going to help us study?" Coral asked with a bit of surprise. That was… an interesting development to say the least.

Note finally turned her head fully to look at them while Ayza gave an enthusiastic nod. "It only took several minutes of her pleading in my face, but yeah," she said plainly as her eyes trailed Team Rogue.

Blight floated back to the middle of all of them and raised their stubby hand with an excited smile. "All right then! Let's get studying!" they cheered with Ayza celebrating in kind and Coral giving a small "woohoo" as well. Note simply raised an arm.

"Hooray."

---

In the relative silence of the hall to his office, Agaya walked through it while focusing on the nothing happening all around. It made him stop for a moment and stare at the dust visible in the air through the morning light peeking in. There really wasn't much to it, if anything. He knocked his head to the side just to move some part of his body.

He sighed. "Nothing's happening… as usual…"

"Ah, Chief!" a static voice said behind Agaya, making him instinctually snap his body back to fully erect and imposing. He turned around and saw one of the Magneton officers— he recognized them as the one that was gentle but got too close for comfort at times— holding a stack of papers in one of their various magnets. "We've got the guild's documents -bzzt- right here for you, they just came in."

Holding back a sigh, Agaya just walked to the Magneton and took the papers. "It's appreciated, officer. You may go now," he said with a nod that the Magneton returned threefold. As they left, Agaya raised a hand, pursing his lips for a moment. "A-Ah, officer?"

"Yes?" they said with a bit of an obvious pitch in their voice as they swiveled back.

The pitch probably meant they were excited to talk to him more than a few words of business. He considered it… unfortunate, that this wasn't what they hoped. This Magneton and a rambunctious Magnemite were about the only ones who ever tried to treat him with anything other than cold business.

"Tell the others that until I exit my office, I wish to not be disturbed," he said in a steeled voice. The Magneton floated still with blank eyes for a moment before simply nodding and floating away from Agaya. There was only more silence after that.

With papers in tow, Agaya crossed into his plain and normal office, closing the simple door behind. Once that was done, he gave a loud sigh and tossed the bundle of papers onto his desk. "At least there's something to do today…" he grumbled as he stepped over to the desk and let himself fall on his simple chair, his shoulders sagging down.

It took him about a minute until he forced his body to start working on officiating papers. Though, once he looked at it, his scowl was immediate.

"Tch… GAD, my ass… This won't last a week." Honestly, what was that damn Hope and Atlas thinking? A whole new section of the guild just to "help" people? It was just glorified community service. The guild was perfectly fine already helping the people while Team Honor were going around saving this world from the current crisis.

… Not that he or many others knew the extent of said crisis. Pokémon like him weren't privy to that kind of information. All that was publicly known was that a being called the Parasite had crawled their way into this world and were now threatening it. Advertising the end like that… It wasn't anything new. Though actual knowledge of what happened in past crises weren't recorded or known anywhere, everyone knew the routine when a human showed up.

Everybody was just waiting until that one day where the skies would go dark and the world would come seconds away from the end through whatever means, before the human and their partner would save the world just in the nick of time. Then, the celebrations and praise would come nonstop for them while Pokémon like him and normal adventurers were left in the dust. Agaya actually lived through the last one about 25 years ago, and thinking about the weird unfairness of the crises always made him compulsively reminisce about it.

The Frigid End… Reports from the continent where that crisis took place weren't clear on what The Frigid End was, but the whole world certainly got to know their effects and intentions. After all, waking up to your entire world being a frozen wasteland with everyone being frozen statues, and eventually becoming one yourself… Well, it stuck with a person. It didn't haunt Agaya, though. He never had the bad luck of waking up to a frozen wasteland. His fortunate result was sleeping through all of it. It didn't feel longer than usual sleep did, but it was more… numbing. Not feeling anything was peaceful, in a way.

Either way, once he did wake up, the world was suddenly back to being warm and fuzzy again, though it wasn't like knew any different. Like always, the usual happened after the crisis, and… That was it. Over the years, there was only less and less talk about it. For all he knew, this continent didn't even have any knowledge of who saved the world— and it wasn't like the different continents maintained constant communication, so eventually nobody cared to know anyways. Everyone just simply waited until the next crisis to occur… And, well, yeah. Here they were, the unlucky continent to suffer the new end of the world.

Agaya gave a long sigh. It wasn't healthy to be stuck on that endless subject.

"Let's just sign these damn papers…" he grumbled.

For the most part, they were just legal documents regarding this General Assistance Department. As the chief of the guard, he had to sign these papers for the project to continue— though, his opinion didn't matter. He had to agree on this, as per the king's will. He reluctantly signed off on everything until he got to the last page with all the names and drawings of the members of the project.

The Drizzile looked weird, the Salandit didn't seem to be from here, the Poipole was the most misplaced of them all… How was a Zoroark going to be a part of the Guild? Those tricksters were almost exclusively assassins from the Blood Claws Thieves Guild, so something had to be wrong with Hope for considering having one help people…

Not to mention the appearance was completely off. As far as the Gallade could tell, this "Note" wasn't a hybrid, but she lacked the giant mane and jade bead that Zoroarks lived and died on. If anything, she looked more disheveled, so maybe she was just a deadbeat? His officers did say she was found simply standing in front of the Kecleon store wearing a cloak, no doubt preparing to rob the place for food or something.

Disregarding the Zoroark, he gave a laugh as he looked at the rest. Considering all the participants were the exact people who were in his jail cells the other day, this was either a publicity stunt, or a very rushed job, and he leaned towards the latter. Whatever was going to happen with them, the city was already starting to have their conflicting opinions about them.

"H-Hey! You can't go in there…!" a static voice rang out from outside the office, though it was singular unlike the Magneton. Agaya raised a brow at what it could be, but the door to his office opened before he could do anything.

And his breath left in one swoop.

An impossibly pristine Lucario stood at the doorway, wearing a large and tidy brown coat that covered everything from his body but his head and some of his feet. Someone ignorant could say he looked like a vagabond, but Agaya knew better in anxious recognition.

It was Nova the Lucario, a hero regarded by all he came before. He had been staying in the city "solving crime," as he said, for multiple years. Though, there wasn't much to solve anyways, so that was just a deflection. In reality, he kept himself plenty busy hunting and harming whichever person he deemed necessary to hurt in the moment.

That's just what his life amounted to, from what it seemed. He wasn't part of the guild nor the guard, so he was a standalone agent with special permission from the king to do whatever he pleased, whenever he pleased, and however he pleased— and the condescending reason behind that?

Well, he was one of the few known past humans to be brought into this world to save it. Particularly of this continent too, though that was about the only detail of his crisis that wasn't lost to hidden history.

His painfully perfect and neutral demeanor was not lost on Agaya. Nova was fairly old just because his crisis was a long while ago, but he looked perfectly young and tough for some reason. Still, for how spry he looked, nobody could stand up to him, or even tried to. His strength coupled with his authority meant he always dominated wherever he went, even if he just stood there like a statue and now. It was a quality Agaya loathed greatly.

The Magnemite he heard protest before flew in with a rushed expression across their one eye. "Ch-Chief, I'm sorry! He didn't want to listen to anything I said!" Agaya recognized the Magnemite as the one officer that was too defiantly bold for their species. It was probably the reason they were the only one protesting against Nova. They had plenty of chipped and scraped steel all around them, but the aspect that always stuck out to Agaya was that they were the only other officer who even tried to treat him without strict coldness, like the Magneton from before. That made them easy to recognize.

Agaya raised a hand. "I-It's okay, officer. You may leave us; this is a special exception."

For a moment, the Magnemite stared at him in disbelief, but that soon shifted to glaring at Nova before floating away with a loud huff. The Lucario did nothing until the Magnemite disappeared, at which point he finally moved into the office with a nod.

"Agaya," he simply said.

"Nova… It's Chief Agaya, if you must know," Agaya said, trying to regain control as Nova entered and walked around his office. His deep blue fur barely moved as a single eye turned to the Gallade, seemingly studying him up and down.

His eye turned back as he continued walking around, examining the plain, stone walls. "… I returned yesterday from my mission, I trust everything is under control in the city, Agaya?"

"… Everything has been going swimmingly, Nova. There has been little to no crime while you were gone," the Gallade stated as if he were begrudgingly making an obvious mission report. In reality, the GAD people were the first crime in months. The Lucario nodded slowly as he finished his go around the office and stopped in front of Agaya's desk.

"Then what is this "GAD" I'm hearing so much about? Something about a Zoroark and an Ultra Beast in our midst?" he asked with barely any intonation. Nova never read the news so if he heard about them, then the talk about them really must have been everywhere.

Agaya looked towards the stack of documents that were about GAD and pointed to it. "Help yourself out. It's Prince Hope's new project."

Nova's eyes glowed a slight pink as the papers were wrapped in a psychic hold and floated up to him. He started reading in complete silence.

One by one.

Slowly.

… The uncomfortable silence with his dominating presence was enough to make any Pokémon sweat, but Agaya had interacted with Nova enough to know that he just needed to direct his attention elsewhere, so he just stared at a wall like usual.

"… Hm," Nova suddenly said as he finished with Agaya raising an eye in response out of his boredom. The Lucario seemed to have the slightest face of disgust through the muzzle, though none of the rest of his covered body reacted.

"What? Do you plan on arresting them? They're likely under the king's protection," Agaya warned him with his blade-arms crossed.

"No. Not yet," Nova mumbled with a hint of annoyance. Whenever Nova showed the slightest emotion, it was obvious to tell. Agaya didn't need the strong emotional reception of his evolutionary line to tell, though it wasn't like he had that skill anyways.

Nova let go of his psychic hold with the stack of papers gently falling down onto the desk again. "I have been arranged to welcome Team Honor as they come back today and celebrate, so it will have to be another time…" As hilarious as the image of Nova hosting a parade sounded, Agaya did nothing because that would end with his skull caved in.

Without much inclination of continuing the conversation, Nova turned and headed for the still-open door. Though, he did look back slightly. "… Keep a close eye on them. Especially that Note."

Agaya nodded without a word and the supposed heroic human turned around and headed off with his feelers slightly raised, soon disappearing through the halls of the guard station. The Gallade tapped a blade-arm to the table with a groan, mainly focused on how he was going to spend the rest of the mindless day.

"You could've at least closed the door…"

---

The sky was really nice today… The sun, little to no clouds, the vibrant blue… It was hard to believe it was supposedly close to winter.

Coral looked out to that beautiful sky and smiled. It felt so nice on him, especially now that he was resting. It was just so… open and free! Nothing to hold it back! Ahh… how it must feel to be in that sky… if only…

"Okay, break's over!" Ayza's voice interrupted his daydreaming and he pouted slightly. They were going at a pretty good pace with learning Pokémon, but breaks were needed for the brain to not overheat itself. Didn't last very long, though.

Turning back to see the dining table they were studying in, he saw his companions in various different states. Note looked to be absentmindedly munching on an apple, Blight was groaning in a corner, and Ayza was on top of the table, grinning with her Pokémon encyclopedia out in front of her, and Rune's head floating down from the ceiling beside her.

"You know, you could've asked me to keep track of your time," Rune said with its perpetual grin. "I happen to have a great sense of time~"

"Do you?" Ayza asked back.

"Nope! It's actually super bad, kaha!" Rune cackled back.

"Ugh… do we have to keep going? I already know these Pokémon…" Blight grumbled as they floated back to the table.

"Of course! This is for Coral! How do you expect him to live here if he doesn't even know the names of the people that live here?" Ayza crossed her arms with a huff and sat down in front of her book. Blight gave a weak nod with a side glance to Coral. He could tell they wanted payback for this.

"You know, I've been meaning to ashk," Note spoke up mid chewing, but soon swallowed and continued, "where did you get that book? Those kinds of books are pretty hard to come by and most aren't nearly as comprehensive as that."

Ayza laughed weakly as Coral sat down as well. "Ah, well, my parents are librarians, so, you know, I might've… uhhh, borrowed the books I have when I left," she said, looking away with a dismissive wave. Everyone narrowed their eyes at her clear attempt to lie.

"But anyways! Back to the book!" Ayza shouted with renewed confidence.

"We were on… Ma— Musho— no… Musherna? Is that right?" Coral tried to say the name of the last tapir-like Pokémon they talked about before going on the break. He had to get used to learning so many new Pokémon names. Though, truth be told, they had gone from the fourth generation to the fifth generation, and it was only midday, so some names had been blurred out in his mind trying to keep up. He knew them, though! That had to count for something.

"Oh, bless your unintended ignorance, Coral~" Ayza cooed with a grin. He didn't really know how to respond to that, but he wasn't even given the chance. "No, Munna and Musharna is a psychic-type Pokémon that has the ability to project the dreams and memories of other people through the misty smoke they produce! Pretty cool, right?"

"I-I guess?" Coral stammered. He had long since given up on trying to find the logistics of how Pokémon could do whatever they did.

"I've heard they can also figure out your deepest desires, or, you know, your actual dream," Note chimed in. Her commentary was welcome, if not weirdly suggestive at times. It was easily the most expressive she had been since they met, with the occasional grin or frown being a comforting confirmation that the coworker wasn't a cold and silent killer waiting to assassinate them in their sleep.

… He was kind of tired.

"That seems more like a breach of privacy, honestly," Blight mentioned with a dubious look to Note.

The Zoroark shrugged with her larger frame. "Only if you think of it like that."

Blight tilted their head at Note's words, but that was drowned out by Ayza starting to snicker to herself, a devious smile forming.

"Hehe, I know what we can do…" She threw a claw to the air with a massive smile. "Let's announce our dreams! Right here, and right now! Let's spice up this session like a story would!" she exclaimed passionately to the three.

Everybody looked amongst themselves in silence, the slight wind and waves from outside being the only sounds present. Even Rune's head appeared on the wall with its grin missing. It just made Ayza give a singular laugh.

"Okay then, I'll start!" Ayza complied with herself and struck a pose. "My dream… is to become a legendary adventurer renowned throughout the world! Try to top that!" She was brimming with confidence and infectious energy.

Blight floated up slightly with a smile, following that energy. "Oh yeah? My dream is to meet and befriend as many Pokémon as I can! That's much more selfless than yours!"

Ayza scoffed. "Selfless? Selfless?!"

Rune's head popped out of the wall next to Blight. "I'm with them. Making tons of friends sounds super fun!" The Poipole looked immensely proud to have the support of their house.

"I-I mean, yeah, having friends is fantastic!" Ayza agreed with a fast nod that soon turned into an equally energetic shaking. "But adventure! It's so grand and exciting! Hoho, wait until you hear it in detail!"

The three argued for a decent while over who had the better dream. With the shouting match behind them, Note grabbed another apple to slowly eat, and Coral went back to watching the sky from his seat. It passed by like normal, and his wandering eyes caught the occasional ship sail by the open waters and away. It was nothing but calming, which only meant his mind reeled back on itself.

… What was his dream? He had said many things as he grew up, but everyone did that. Firefighter, sports pro, doctor, dancer— his parents didn't like that one— and so many other jobs. Hell, even in online college, he hadn't decided on a direction for his life. He didn't actually want many things, but they always changed growing up, never ending on a solid answer.

Ayza gasped loudly and slapped her cheeks. "Fine! Fine… Let's just… continue!" Blight and Rune incessantly giggled in communal victory while Ayza looked towards Note with a long sigh. "Note, your dream, if you will…"

The Zoroark swallowed her berry with an audible gulp. Her neutral gaze drifted to all of them, and then to the open window to the docks.

"… To be free. That's all I'll say."

Coral felt what was like smack inside his head, and his eyes widened slightly at Note. Oh, right. I have that one dream. The only one that stays in all stages of my life. But… it's impossible, and much less here…

Ayza huffed and pointed to the human, which snapped him back to reality. "And you, Coral? Say your dream so we can go back to pure, factual, and unopinionated learning~"

"I um, d-don't really know…" he admitted, looking down. That's not true.

"Really? You must have something, right?" Blight asked while tilting their head, the needles on the side twitching.

He started fiddling his mitten-hands and blushed. "W-Well, there's one thing… B-But it's pretty ridiculous, so I doubt it'll ever happen!" Why am I saying that?

"Your whole situation is ridiculous, and it still happened. Out with it, I doubt we can judge you," Note said while leaning back on her chair.

"W-Well, um…" Just say it. He had known them for a few days, but it was enough to know they would probably support him and his childish dream.

So why? Why can't I say it? Ugh, this always happens! I always get too into my own head. Just say it. Just say it, Javier. Just say it, Coral!

"I-I… I… I want to fly!" the Drizzile shouted out loud, with a weird feeling rising behind him as his mind immediately imagined that vast and open space just outside. Silence permeated the dining room as Coral held his head down. His thoughts spiraled into all manner of rightful blaming himself for making a fun activity suddenly filled with uncomfortable tension. His enjoyment didn't warrant so much attention, and he would rather wrap himself into a ball like always.

"Heh, heh… Nice dream! You look pretty happy to say that~" Ayza spoke up and poked his head playfully. As he raised his head, Coral saw all of his companions looking at him with a smile, even Note, though much smaller.

"Wh-Why do you say that?" His blush was growing and that weird feeling behind him rose once more.

Ayza chuckled and uncomfortably pushed her snout close to his.

"Cuz your tail's wagging."

"Wha…" The Drizzile looked back swiftly to find the suspicions confirmed. His tail was indeed lightly moving side to side on its own, like a dog's tail would, and all out of his control. His whole body burst into frantic warmth as he looked to his companions and stammered, barely catching his tail swinging faster.

"I-I can e-explain! I-I don't enjoy— oof!" He was interrupted by Blight forcefully wrapping a stubby limb around his shoulder.

"If you're happy, then you're happy! No need to explain yourself!"

That… made some sense. He knew it did, but it meant admitting that the tail felt nice… Either way, it didn't help with the embarrassment.

The Poipole then smirked at him. "Though, I guess I got you beat at flying huh? Hehe…" They then gave a genuine smile as they nodded. "One day you'll catch up to me, no doubt about that."

Coral's chest tightened, and this time his tail swinging faster was a lot more conscious. With a reluctant smile and a blush, Coral looked to all of them. "Th-Thank you… I'm glad you didn't make fun of it," he chuckled.

Note crossed her arms. "But flying? Most Pokémon can't fly, so I'll guess humans don't either. If so, why is that your dream?" she asked with what sounded like genuine curiosity, the blandness from her voice falling away slightly.

Coral's smile grew a bit more as he looked to the window. "… I've always loved the sky and I've always wanted to be in it. That's the one dream that's stuck with me ever since I was a kid… It's just so open and beautiful…" He looked back at Note, a full-face smile now across his snout. "Like you said, I want to be free, and I think flying is exactly that!"

Note's fangs shone through her smirk as she chuckled. "Heh, nice answer," she whispered.

Coral looked at all his supportive companions. It was odd to feel comforted so easily for such a childish dream. It was like this with his friend too… It was embarrassing to feel like that in this one moment, but he certainly didn't mind it, and it seemed his odd body agreed. Though, if he could just stay here for a while, feeling this way… That would probably make him pretty happy, even among the monsters around him.

He couldn't let their support go without just compensation, and he knew just what would get them riled up. "I… I think I know how to repay you all… Why don't we stop this for today, and I'll tell you all you want to know about the human world?"

They all grew suddenly excited with Ayza's eyes dilated extremely fast as she visibly started shaking with excitement. Even Note started grinning at the suggestion as she leaned in and spoke. "All right then, I'll start. Hm, what kinds of food do humans eat?"

The Drizzile's tail started unconsciously wagging again. "Heh, where do I even start?"

---

"Wait, so human schools give out this 'homework' for what? It just sounds like they're just piling on stress!" Ayza complained as she floated across the shallow water in front of the abandoned docks. It was getting around the evening at this point and the study group had decided to go out for a change of scenery. A few Pokémon were staring at them, but they were a decent ways away, so it seemed the docks in front of Rune were their personal little pocket.

"I know, right? They're completely unnecessary!" Coral shouted from the edge of the docks where he was sat, Note beside him attempting to silently fish with a fishing pole she found in the back of the pantry. She… wasn't getting much of anything.

"Damn…" the Zoroark whispered and sighed as she drew in the fishing line with nothing on the end.

Blight shuffled a bit on top of Coral's messy-haired head. They had laid there as payback for an extended period of time for making them relearn a whole bunch of Pokémon. "Well, thank the Arclight that you don't have to deal with any of that now that you're here, right? That's a plus in you being brought here!"

He tilted his head. "I guess? I don't know if I'd thank this world for that, but I'm certainly not going to miss it," Coral responded while absentmindedly making a balloon and throwing it as far as he could out into the water. His distance was decent, but he was sitting down with his friend on top of his head, so it wasn't ideal.

"So, what, human schools are the worst? It doesn't sound like you had a good time there," Note spoke up while she pulled up the line again and found nothing. Again. "Damn it…"

"It… has its ups and downs, but I actually don't have too much experience with it. I was actually homeschooled most of my life." Homeschooling, too, had its ups and downs, but that was mainly based on his mother's treatment of him and his unwillingness to socialize anywhere… which was also very up and down.

Ayza's head splashed up from the water and she shook her head, her frills slapping her in the process. Once she was done, she beamed at Coral. "No way! I was homeschooled too! Who taught you? Mom? Dad? Other?!"

Coral cocked his head back for a moment before remembering about Blight in time with a chuckle. "Uh, just my mother. I didn't really know my father at that age." That wasn't the whole truth, but remembering more hurt somewhat, and this was a simple and nice time.

Ayza frowned a bit and looked down. "A-Ah, I'm sorry…" she mumbled in an uncharacteristically down voice.

Coral put up his mitten-hands, suddenly worried for her. "No, don't be sorry! I met him later on, so it's all fine, really!"

Her usual grin immediately returned to her face, almost as if it never left. "Okay! Thanks Cor—"

Before she could finish, a loud explosion rang out nearby, surprising all of the group, except Note who was still focused on catching nothing. As they turned to see where it came from, even more explosions rang out as fireworks erupted into the sky one after another. Soon after, a cacophony of cheers and clapping came through from the entire city.

"Uh, wh-what was that?" Coral asked shakily. The fireworks started going off faster and a weird sort of laughter started to rise from somewhere nearby.

Blight looked down at Coral from his head. "I don't really know, but if I had to—"

"ASTER!"

They were interrupted again by a very loud and desperate scream, belonging to a familiar bird companion. Soon after, a loud and mischievous laugh rang out, probably belonging to the aforementioned Aster.

"Oh boy…" Blight sighed with Note finally looking back at the direction of the sound.

From a street close to them came out a jumping Aster, but now his mask was back to having that blue and black paint he had when he kicked Blight and Note to the ground. Actually, every part of his costume seemed restored to how it was before, even the painted bandages, knitted gloves, and paper spike on his chest. Behind him appeared a frantically flapping and tired-looking Iki with disheveled feathers chasing him.

"HE HAS ARRIVED!" the newly painted Scrafty screamed as he got closer. Coral felt Blight hold his head tighter as they frowned heavily. As the two came closer, Ayza scampered up to the sand and made her way back to the docks, donning her sunhat mid-scampering. Eventually, Aster slid to a stop and ended on a heroic pose, grinning proudly.

"The Aura Guardian is back, baby! What do you think of my brand-new paintjob?" Aster asked the group while Iki was catching up. Looking at the colors and the pattern again, Coral linked it back to a Pokémon they studied about before in the day. Was he mimicking a… Lekerio? Yeah, that one felt right. The aura part of the name certainly connected the two.

And giving a better look with more knowledge on Scrafty, Coral also noticed that he seemingly didn't have the large mohawk crest his species usually had. Maybe it was smaller and hidden underneath his natural mask, but there was nothing to indicate he had that striking detail himself.

"Aster! Ha… hah… don't leave like that!" Iki managed to say as his frantic flaps came to a close and he stumbled onto the docks. His annoyed and panting face was directed straight at his brother, but he still took the time to bow to everyone else. "Hey guys…"

Coral had assumed the relationship between them was weird, especially since they considered themselves brothers, but it seemed that Iki was probably the more mature brother and Aster was a lot more energetic as the younger one. How tiring would it be if they were going live together for a while?

Aster pointed to Coral with determination clear on his face. "Hey, hey, Coral! Hear those fireworks? That's the start of the parade the city's throwing for Felix and Newt! Wanna go check it out?!" Wait, the other human was here already? He shuddered at the thought of meeting with Avenir again, though he knew it was inevitable.

He raised a mitten-hand to his chest. "Ehh, I'm supposed to meet with him later anyways, and seeing a parade seems like a lot right now so I'll pass…"

Ayza, however, pushed past him with fired-up eyes and stood next to Aster, straightening out her sunhat. "Well, Coral, I for one want to see him! It's gonna be fun! Let's go, Aster!" she cheered, posing alongside Aster. Coral was a bit surprised, but anytime the human topic came up she lit up like fire, so this was honestly to be expected.

"Alright, that's the spirit! Here, I'll guide you!" Aster said as they sped off running. Before they turned a corner, they waved back in unison and then disappeared.

Iki sighed and looked back at the rest of them. "He's insufferable…" Blight nodded uncomfortably on top of Coral. The Cramorant then looked to Note groaning at another empty line. "Are you… fishing?"

She nodded as she cast the line again. "Yeah, but I can't get anything to bite. It's annoying."

There was a brief silence amongst themselves while the fireworks roared in the distance.

Iki tilted his head. "… Do you want me to go catch some for you?"

"Yes please."

---

Thankfully, Aster made the way to the parade really quick and easy. Being the Aura Guardian really did pay off, though Ayza hoped he was a teensy bit slower. Within minutes, they got to what seemed to be one of the gates of the city, which was a much larger street than the usual ones in the great Reefly City, and as they rounded a corner, there it was…

Lights!

Confetti!

Screams!

You name it, they got it! It was the most energetic scene she had seen! Sure, Decerna City had its hectic celebrations, but they really went all out for this one!

She saw all kinds of Pokémon doing all sorts of things! Banging drums, dancing, singing, screaming for autographs, there was just about everything! Man, Coral and Blight would have loved this! Well… Coral would probably be pretty skittish and curl up into a ball here, but that was fine.

She was planning on whipping him into shape and helping him overcome his anxieties to become a proper human to save the world, after all; just like it was in her books!

"Where's Felix and Newt?!" she asked, looking around excitedly.

Aster also did the same but frowned at not being able to see much in the crowd. "I-I don't know! There's too many people here!" he screamed out.

"Yeah, this is a lot heh! Maybe we should—"

She felt a thin… something plant itself on her trusty sunhat. As she looked up, she saw a regular looking Taillow smiling at her. It flew up and looked at her and Aster.

"Follow me if you want to see this parade properly!" the Taillow shouted as it started to fly off towards some building to the side. Ayza and Aster looked between each other with doubt ridden faces… But nobody in her books gained anything from staying behind when a mysterious individual offered something they didn't know anything about. So off they went!

As they followed the mysterious Taillow, they were led to an alley behind some shops and houses, and they were now staring at a ladder going to a roof. Oh, this Taillow was good!

"Up here! The view is much better this way," the Taillow said in a normal voice which seemed familiarly youthful… Oh, okay! Now she was picking up what the Taillow was putting down! As they climbed the ladder, a giddy laugh escaped Ayza and Aster responded in kind with his own.

As they got up on the roof, Ayza saw a much broader and exciting view of the whole thing. This really expanded the entire big street in front of the gates! And in the very front of the gates…

"Yep, that's Team Honor!" The Taillow shouted as they landed next to the two of them. Wait for the reveal… For a second, the Taillow's form faded to reveal the true form of their boss, Hope, grinning at them, before going back to the Taillow. There it was, she got it right! "How'd you guys like the view I got us?"

"Hope!" the duo exclaimed in unison. It felt great to have the prince of the city personally look out for them!

"What are you doing here?" Aster said from behind Ayza.

Hope's Taillow form grinned and put a wing out in flair. "I wanted to see the parade! I'm not allowed to come here publicly, but an illusion is a nice loophole, don'tcha think?" He looked around them for a bit and then back to them. "Are the others with you? I can't see them!"

"Nah, they decided to stay behind while we party!" Ayza exclaimed with a slight pout. It kinda sucked because she wanted to have fun with the rest of Team Rogue, but nothing was going to stop her anyways Just being able to go out so much like this was wildly different from back in Decerna.

Hope frowned a bit. "Aww, that's too bad! I really wanted— Oh! Here they come! Look, look!" he squealed and pointed to the end of the gates as even more cheers erupted.

And there they were… In came a Grovyle with a smile that charmed everyone as he walked through the gates! She knew him beforehand from her book, but some merchandise she saw through the street told her that was Felix without a doubt. He had a white and long scarf around his neck and a leather band with an emerald gem on one arm. His head-leaf and arm-leaves that Grovyle were known for were long and had a few open and slightly tattered spaces. In other words, battle scars! Maybe even Coral could get some of those when they went adventuring! That'd really make him a proper hero!

Next to him was the slightly shorter Newt, a Charmeleon with a short cloak that parted in the middle that was wrapped around the top of his body, and he had a similar band like Felix on his tail, but his had a ruby gem on it. He had some odd orangish scales on the edges of his mouth, and even the large print on his belly was tipped like a flame pattern toward the top.

As they waved waved to some fans, Ayza saw the beautiful badges they had on their adventuring bags, from the guild no doubt! She already knew they were almost at the highest rank in the guild but seeing the badges even from afar was like a dream come true! Really, this whole scene had been that. Blight and Coral were the only things left, but they'd join her excitement soon enough!

As the trio shook in excitement together, a new figure walked up to Team Honor from the crowd. This one looked like a stone cold Lucario with a large cloak covering the majority of their body. He looked vaguely familiar to Ayza, but she didn't have to wait much for the confirmation as Hope spoke up.

"That Lucario is Nova! He's the human who saved the world from a crisis a long time ago!" Hope shouted out through the cheering.

Oh, she knew Nova alright! It was odd seeing him still alive after so long, but it just made her wonder how he was feeling after what he went through. And that wasn't even mentioning how his partner was nowhere to be seen… Either way, now this was getting interesting! She had to make sure Coral met Felix and Nova in action so he could get the right idea of what a human hero like him should be!

As Ayza peered even more, though, she made the faintest of connections. She imagined Aster's painted mask for a moment and solidified the thought. She swerved to look at him, but just found him staring at Nova's direction with a thousand-yard stare. He was holding his mask like he was pulling it for comfort, but the rest of him looked completely frozen with wide eyes. Because he was pulling it, she could see the edges of his mouth, where two fangs poked down from the top.

She snapped her claws in his face, and he jolted awake, shaking his head, and regaining his usual energy with a jittery laugh. "A-Ah… s-sorry, I was just stunned, haha!"

Ayza narrowed her eyes. "Is… are you…?" she started to ask while pointing back and forth from him to Nova.

Aster made the connection too with a surprisingly plain face. "Ah, yeah, Nova's the one who inspired me to become The Aura Guardian. A hero birthed another hero— wait, that didn't come out right…"

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Nova started speaking in a booming voice as his paws glowed in blue fire. Everyone in the street silenced and even the trio went quiet as the Lucario spoke in a modified voice.

"Back from their successful mission in the Magnus Mountains, I present to you…" he continued saying in a presenting way as he finally arrived to where Felix and Newt stood and he put his glowing paws on their shoulders, that blue fire surrounding them a bit without harm.

"… Team Honor! You know them, you love them, it's Felix and Newt!"

Just about everything in the parade immediately burst into a chorus of screams and cheers, and fireworks, and singing, and… just so much! THIS! This was what she looked for when she came to this city! This was her dream!

"Hello, Reefly City! I hope you've all been well without us! Let me tell you, it's great to be back!" Felix's voice boomed as he waved to the city.

Newt stepped up, "We're so happy to be back home, and don't worry, Team Honor won't be going anywhere for a while!"

"Wow…" Ayza gasped with starry eyes staring at them. This whole display was everything she wanted… One day, she'd reach this level with Blight and Coral! This was Team Rogue's future!

The three famous Pokémon at the gate raised their arms together in celebration and they screamed together.

"LET'S PARTY!"

 

[GumPlum]

Chapter 8: First Day on the Job

"Come on, Coral! We can't mess up our first day!" Ayza exclaimed as she shook the sleepy human, his GAD hat and newly acquired mailbag shaking with him.

"Alright, alright… You don't have to scream…" he mumbled as he yawned. They had been ordered to wake up early for their first day of work, which made sense, but it still wasn't very appreciated. It didn't help that Ayza had kept him up all night as she ranted and raved on about the parade she saw, though she mostly talked about this Felix and Newt. He knew she loved the subject of humans, but she really loved it, it seemed.

It was around seven in the morning, and they were gathered in front of the lighthouse, the general area still fairly empty, while Hope and Quill were lecturing them on their tasks. Upon moving more and speaking, there was a deep crack on one side of his beak that looked nasty, but it didn't seem to impede Quill from speaking in a very bored manner. Each member of GAD ranged in different levels of awake, but they all paid attention as best as they could.

"So, follow your individual routes closely, return if you run out of mail, ask for help if you need it, and everything should go fine. Did I make myself clear?" Quill explained carefully and seriously, with Hope behind him, an exuberant smile on his illusory appearance that was probably also there beneath.

"Aye aye, sir!" Aster exclaimed with a salute while everyone else gave much less enthusiastic approvals, Note in particular giving a very loud yawn.

"… Let's hope that yawn is a good luck charm," the Murkrow whispered as he flapped a few times and then flew off and back into one of the many windows of the lighthouse.

Hope floated closer to the six of them with outstretched paws. "Are you all ready? Just making sure before this project starts," he said excitedly while looking at all of them.

"Just to be sure," Free piped up behind Team Rogue, "I still get paid just showin' these guys around the city, right?" He looked moderately annoyed to be working with them, but complied because, in his words earlier, "You can never get away from Nacht…"

"Yep! Though, money should be the last thing to worry about when working with GAD!" Hope laughed with a grumbling response from Free.

Coral wondered how they had even gotten to this point, honestly. All of them were mostly doing it to stay away from jail, but here they were, in full mailman gear with a mailbag filled to the brim and even more still inside the lighthouse. It was… nonsensical in his mind, but he didn't have any purpose to refute it anyways.

He looked to all of his companions. Aster and Ayza seemed to be equally excited to deliver mail, Iki was studying his route on a sheet of old paper closely, Note was just staring at a ship in the distance, and Blight was staring right at him— wait, why were they staring at him?

"… You do know you look like you have perpetual bedhead, right?" the Poipole finally said after studying his body.

He grimaced with half-asleep eyes. "… Thanks for the encouragement," he mumbled with a pang of annoyance while Blight snickered and lightly slapped his shoulder.

"Ahh… l love messing with you…"

Good to see someone was happy to be his friend.

"Alright, are we ready?" Hope asked them all but turned around to face the city before anybody could answer. "Then, fine members of the General Assistance Department, onward!" he proudly declared as the celebratory beginning of their work. It would have been an epic declaration had most of them not opted to gently walk away to their routes, rather than the determined sprint Ayza and Aster gave.

Soon after, they had all split up and the members of Team Rogue were alone with Free walking alongside the docks.

"Alright, listen well, all of ya," the disheveled Pelipper said without facing them, "just follow my lead and y'all should be fine. Don't act outta order too, I'm lookin' at you, kid." With that, he pointed back to Ayza directly, and she just giggled at the targeted critique.

"So, where are we going first, Free?" Blight asked while looking at the map of the city containing their route. Getting a good look in, the city seemed almost a bit smaller than what Coral expected. It was still huge, no doubt, but different sections of the city he could identify that he had been to seemed closer than he thought. Maybe learning the city wouldn't be so hard…

Free glanced back to the map for a moment and then seemed to wince. "Well, it seems that you got… eugh, the eastern low district. That place's full of old and prideful mons. Won't be easy for the three of ya, they'll all probably think you're entitled to your positions," the Pelipper said with a sigh.

"Entitled? Because we're part of the guild?" Blight asked back.

The Pelipper nodded. "They're weird folk that don't like the high and mighty guild up in their proverbial business. Makes them feel small from what I can tell, but I don't know why that bothers them."

"Why would they not like the guild that way?" Coral asked, raising his head from the map to find Free staring at him with narrowed eyes.

"If you're fakin' your lack of knowledge, you're real good at it." Coral frowned at that, but found no early morning energy to counter it. "Either way, the guild's members are kinda the big shots of the city. They get access to pretty much everythin' they want, resources, support, and all. You made it there, you made it in life. Though, I think there was some kind of money rumors way back, but I never paid much attention."

"They're the best!" Ayza added with a cheer that was a bit too loud for the morning, even for the relatively empty dock roads. "Adventurers, rescuers, explorers! I can't not get excited about it, who cares about money controversies!"

"I've heard it plenty from you already," Free chuckled with a new grin that Coral was slightly surprised at. It looked extremely odd with his giant bill. "But yeah. Plenty of people rely on the guild for all their big problems, and they even save people from far-off outlaws. Most see 'em as heroes, little see 'em as a crutch. You're just unlucky you got the minority."

"Huh…" Blight mumbled, tilting their head. "That's kind of weird, but okay. I thought they were just your average explorers funded by the city. If they're hated by some, what does that make us? We were kind of recruited by accident."

Free's eyes seemed to trail for a moment. "Mmm… Those people— and probably the guild itself, now that I think about it— will probably see y'all as ridin' on the guild's coattails. The guildie's… They're prideful folk too, especially the older ones, which are most of them."

Blight just sighed and shrugged at Coral's direction. He replicated that confused disappointment for the sake of any kind of comfort to the Poipole. He reasoned that more unearned vitriol coming Blight's way wasn't something they were particularly looking for. For his own part, it just made him doubt the purpose of GAD at all. It seemed even more pointless, so why would the king allow it? Why did Hope create it? Why were Atlas and Nacht behind it?

Well… At the very least, I don't mind staying with Ayza and Blight. The others are nice enough, and having a house is cool too, even if it's possessed… Still, Team Rogue never splits apart.

With that thought, Coral glanced to Ayza's unending energy. She had mentioned the guild, adventuring, and some kind of crisis ever since they met, but she never mentioned any of that kind of public perception stuff. Then again… would she have known? She did come here with Free from somewhere…

"Is that why you smuggled Ayza into the city?" Coral asked, but it was more like blurting out loud.

It made Free stop in the middle of the dockside road, where he turned around with a wing rubbing the top of his head. "Ah… That's probably best left unsaid in public, even if it's unlikely I get punished for it," he mumbled, chuckling awkwardly.

"Entering the city illegally is extremely punishable by the law," Blight added with a droning tone, but they didn't look up from the map. "Trust me, I know it vividly."

"It was pretty fun, though," Ayza giggled, and then snapped into a shudder. "Not the bill, though. Anything but the bill…"

"W-Wait, why would you not be punished for that?" Coral asked the uncomfortable Free, trying to get back on track. "Doesn't the king watch over everything?"

"And Nacht does too," Free answered back quickly. He raised one webbed talon and then smacked it in place, hitting his shadow. After that odd movement, he just sighed. "I didn't want her knowin' I did it, but she did find out anyways. But even before that, I was expectin' her to know, so I know she'll defend me from the king if he does want to punish me."

"Why would she defend you?" Ayza asked, suddenly interested in the conversation, where she would previously just interject when not skipping through the streets.

Free grimaced immediately. "For some ungodly reason, she likes me— and not romantically or whatever! It's just favors and all. It's weird."

Coral raised his hand to question that, but he was interrupted by a loud squawk coming from the group's side. They all looked to see a normal Murkrow on a port tapping their little talons excitedly, before waving their wings everywhere like some kinds of signs. It all ended with them shaking their behind before spinning into a full flight upwards. For as weird as it was, Coral just stood stunned at a little bird doing a little dance.

They all watched it fly up until Free just sighed loudly. "See? Always watchin,' and me in particular. Can't really stop her."

Blight gave a low whistle, but they just watched the Murkrow circle the sky for a moment before leaving to the lighthouse in the distance. It was… a decent number of seconds of just no sounds but the calm waves in the empty docks. For a moment, Coral just treasured the light breeze in the silence, even if it was achieved by a Murkrow of Nacht doing… that.

"… I think we got sidetracked," Free said plainly, breaking the calm. Coral just nodded alongside Blight and Ayza.

Back on the walk, Free took the lead after a bit more explanation of their jobs, but Team Rogue hung behind him. Coral for his own part couldn't help but satiate his curiosity, which at least served in waking him up more than reading the map in his mitten-hands did.

"Ayza, is Free smuggling you in really not that serious?" he asked with a whisper to not let Free sidetrack them again.

The Salandit just shrugged, but her smile never left. "I guess not. I'd imagine it would be if it wasn't for Nacht. If she really is protecting Free, then I'd imagine we're somewhat included in that, and me doubly so since I'm his best friend."

"Still really weird," Blight added as they looked up from the map Coral held. "You told me you arrived with Free, crashed into Coral, and… Free just left you with him? No offense, Coral, but you were a total stranger at that point, so it doesn't sound exactly safe," they said with a smirk in Coral's direction. He would've been slightly miffed, if it wasn't for him actually agreeing with Blight.

Ayza's head lolled to the side as she chuckled. "Well… That was always the plan. I came here with him to become an adventurer, and my first one was gonna be exploring the city. But I found Coral, and I couldn't pass up the chance to befriend him, hehe!"

She skipped in front and walked backwards, facing Coral and Blight as she leaned in with her claws behind her. "Don't worry one bit, though! I'm plenty strong, so I could've defended myself against anything that might've come my way! You two, however, are just gonna have to catch up with me~"

"I'll accept that challenge!" Blight laughed, following in Ayza's energy.

Coral gave an exasperated sigh at that. "It's almost like you were expecting a fight…" To unnerve him even more, Ayza just stuck her lavender tongue out and ran back to excitedly join Free.

In relative silence as the city continued to wake up, Coral just focused on studying the layout of the map they were given. The city seemed to be divided into three imperfect circles, the low district, the middle district, and the high district, and the higher they went, the smaller the circles got. Meaning, if their task was to accelerate the mail between the two biggest districts of the three, then they had a mountain of stuff to deliver, as if the giant piles in the lighthouse weren't enough proof.

Truthfully, it still didn't make sense to him. Apparently, there was a shortage of couriers in the lighthouse, but for the mail to pile on that much for who knows how long, and all under the ever-watching eye of both Avenir and Nacht? Some of that mail probably didn't matter at this point, and it wasn't like Coral had lived here long enough to know if people actually complained about the postal service, or it was just another lie of Hope. It just seemed… inconsistent. Still, that weirdness wasn't going to solve itself at this early in the morning, so he just went back to his map.

With a clearer look at it, there was also a small drawing of trees to the side of the city, with its own name, but Coral didn't know anything about that. Actually, he didn't know anything about any of the script identifying different parts of the city. All he could somewhat guess was the feet script on a corner of the map where the title would probably go. Heh, it made no sense to him, but he at least knew that would probably say Reefly City. It even had the same number of characters!

… The same number…? Wait a minute…

Coral looked more closely at the feet that made up the title. There indeed was about— uhhh— six? Yeah, six characters, and there was a separation too before the next segment which had four characters… The first word had two repeating designs after the first foot. The last feet of each word were the same… Hmmm.

He grabbed a rudimentary notepad and pencil that he took from the lighthouse before leaving from his mailbag with newfound fervor and started to replicate the first four feet in the title.

… He grimaced at how terribly messy it looked, but he could blame it on his new mitten hands. If he was correct, though, what he wrote should've said reef… If that was the case, he could interchange it a bit…

"… Hey, Free?" Coral suddenly asked as they were traversing the morning streets. The Pelipper turned around with a simple look to his eyes. "I just wrote this… Do you know what it means?" Coral asked as he put out the paper he wrote in.

Free looked at the paper with narrowed eyes, Ayza and Blight joining him. After a second or two, his teammate's eyes widened while Free's grew annoyed. "This is just a crappy writin' of my name," Free plainly said, looking up.

A shaky smile crept up on his face as his chest tightened and Ayza stammered for a moment. "Since… Since when did you understand feet script?" she said as she got closer to him.

He gave a small chuckle, not believing it himself. "I-I don't! I just figured out how to read it right now, haha!"

This was a step forward— or at least that's what he told himself. He'd still need the whole list of characters, but he figured it out! Before he knew it, Ayza grabbed his hands and jumped up and down excitedly. Affirmation always helped steady his heart, and even in a world of monsters it seemed true.

"This is seriously great!" Ayza cheered as his arms went up and down with her body.

Blight as well was getting into the celebratory mood as they wrapped a stubby limb around his neck with a smirk. "Seems like an achievement to me~ How'd you do it?" they inquired.

Coral felt himself smile, fully woken up now. "Ah, it was kinda simple actually! I just substituted your different feet with English letters!" he exclaimed with a blush forming.

Ayza's eyes lit up even more somehow. "… You know English? The Lost Language?!"

"… Y-You don't?" he asked nervously. What, they didn't know English? He didn't want to assume that other humans that came to this world wrote and read in English, but that was what they were speaking now!

Maybe I should start speaking Spanish…

"Of course not!" she scoffed back and went into a whisper. "English is an ancient human language that even the humans who come to this world have it erased from their minds! I guess we just have to add it to the list of things that went wrong with you…"

Disregarding the concerning erasure of a language and the piling list that he didn't like the name of, he pressed on. "O-Oh… Then, what are we speaking now?"

"Common, silly," Blight responded quickly.

"Ah," was all Coral could say.

"Ahem!" The trio turned around to see a frowning Free with a tired gaze. "Need I remind y'all that we're on the clock and in public? Wrap up the confusin' talk, because we got responsibilities," he said as he turned around and kept walking, all with a quick huff.

"We'll continue this later, but I'm so proud of you!" Ayza shook his shoulders before running behind Free.

Coral sighed as Blight patted him on the hat. "Let's just learn as we go, okay?" they said reassuringly.

"That's the plan…"

---

It didn't take long to arrive at the first stop on their route. The entire way there Coral was silently trying to figure out feet script with a list Blight wrote him of all the feet he needed to memorize… Ugh, that phrase…

Anyways, it really did seem like feet script was simply English but with different symbols, which made translating much easier, but it was still really slow for him. He practiced writing different things in feet script and it was… interesting. His name looked weird, but he could say that about every word, and his mitten-hands didn't help either.

Still, the fact that this whole written language, and this world's form of "common" simply boiled down to English was just mind boggling. It wasn't like he expected every human thing to be in this world, but from Ayza's words, the language wasn't even considered a human thing until it was called English, and he'd even extend that to the fact that this world used human days and months… And even the Pokémon themselves didn't know that. The mere thought of how they'd react to Spanish confused him more, so he just focused on the current job laid before them.

"Alright, kid, you've got the first spot, good luck," Free said as he patted Ayza on the back. He was making them go to houses individually to deliver mail as he "wanted to test their mettle." Not to mention, Hope instructed them to interact with the recipients to build up trust. More Pokémon were out in the streets, and some were staring at them, but they mostly ignored it.

With a confident glare, Ayza sauntered off to the first house. It was a fairly pretty blue wooden house with some potted plants hanging from the roof by simple rope. The rest of them stood off to a corner of the street three houses down, watching from a corner. Coral felt some anxiousness over how it would go and Blight looked similar, but he was at least doing what he knew best, studying people from afar. Plus, if he knew anything about Ayza, it was that she would probably kill this.

Before long, the Salandit was in front of the door with three letters addressed to that house. She knocked excitedly and after a few moments, the door opened to reveal a… Quagsire… Yeah, that, but this one seemed to be a pinkish purple rather than the blue Coral saw in his studies, and there were larger splotches of deep purple all over their body too. The bags under their eyes contributed to Free's claim of the area being filled by geezers, and their simple brown apron made them look even more soft than they already did.

"Mmmm, yes…?" the Quagsire mumbled with a pleased look.

"Hiya! My name is Ayza and I'm with the new General Assistance Department! We're starting by accelerating the mail delivery in the lower districts!" she said excitedly while taking a peek at the letters and stretching them over to the Quagsire. "Here's your delayed mail, Mr. Muddy!"

What a name for a Quagsire.

Muddy smiled even more as they took the letters. "Mr. isn't necessary. I'm not even much of a boy. Just Muddy is fine… But thanks a lot, it's been a while since I received my mail~" Their voice was like if someone was in an eternal massage with how pleased and mellow they sounded.

"No problem! It's what GAD is here for!" Ayza said while tipping her hat. Coral never really noticed, but she really had a way with people. It was probably that unending confidence of hers… He was kind of jealous about that quality, even if he was used to it from Alice.

"Mhmm mhmm," Muddy nodded, "a fine objective you guys have there…" They suddenly turned their head directly to Coral, Blight, and Free and the smile grew even more. "Heeeeeeeeeeeey, nice hats~" they said in a raised but still dopey voice and waved.

Having been suddenly found out, Coral and Blight yelped a bit before awkwardly waving as well. How did this Muddy find them so easily? Ayza giggled and waved as well before turning back to the Quagsire. "Well, it's been great, Muddy! Whatever you need, just ask GAD and we'll help in any way we can!" Muddy nodded slowly and turned, closing the door behind them.

With her first delivery done, Ayza hopped and skipped back to the group. "That was pretty nice! I guess this job won't be so bad after all!" she laughed while Free sighed.

"You're lucky ya got Muddy. They're the shinin' example of mellow," Free mentioned while she celebrated, "Alright, Coral, you're up next. Whatcha got?"

He took out the first group of letters he was given in the lighthouse. He had translated the name on the way and found out the name of his target. "I've got… a Grapploct? That doesn't sound like a name," he said tilting his head at his translation.

"That's because that's the Pokémon and the person," Free corrected him and then pointed to the signs he translated. He had seen that letters addressed to a person had symbols that spelled out a name, but there was also a more complex design next to that one. In this case, it looked like a rounded octopus tentacle.

"Look, they happen to prefer their species name, so they put the name of their species alongside the species foot sign. Honestly, you claim to be human, you changed your name, and now you say you can't read, but suddenly found out how to? You're just plain cooky."

Deciding to ignore Free's jab, he looked over to the ramshackle of a house that was in front of Muddy's house, which Blight pointed him to. Okay, he had the script ready in his head, he felt some confidence due to his achievement before… This would be no problem.

He gently walked over to the house, ignoring literally everything else, and knocked on the door which felt weird on his mitten-hand, but he largely ignored that too. It didn't take much time for some rumbling to come through the door, so he started psyching himself up.

Okay, talk before they do. Hello, my name is Coral and I'm with the General Assistance Department. Okay, good, keep it up, Coral!

As the door creaked open, he began. "Hello, my name is Coral and I'm with the Generaaa—" As the door opened, he was caught off guard with trailing words by what looked to be a black and blue… octopus, squid, thing looking at him with comically large eyes. They were standing upright— which looked wrong— on many tentacles and there seemed to be one wrapped around the… waist? They didn't seem to have a mouth. Coral stood stunned at the new Pokémon.

"… What do you want?" they said, revealing their small mouth just beneath the eyes, and Coral considered it a lucky clarification.

Just stay on script, he thought with a quick and desperate chuckle leaving.

"H-Hi! I… have some stuff… to give to you, so here's your s-stuff— I mean mail!"

Great job.

Grapploct's narrowed eyes turned into a full glare. "… Oh, I get it, you're with that new GAD business. Well, looksee here, Drizzile, we don't need your help or want it! We common folk are perfectly fine as it is, no point in having the guild up in our business, and much less people who work with a Zoroark!"

Coral flinched back and stammered. What was with this guy?! He was screwing up on his end, but they didn't need to be so mean about it and call out Note for some reason too. He was expecting Free to be right, but this was just annoying.

The Grapploct kept glaring at him, but soon drifted to see the six or seven letters addressed to them in the human's mitten-hands. They grumbled and forcefully swiped them from his hand with a whispered "thank you" and then slammed the door closed.

Coral slowly looked back at his team who seemed to be nervously smiling at him, Ayza in particular giving a very small thumbs up with her claws. He gave a dejected huff and sigh before going back to them.

Blight patted him on the shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… it's more frustrating than embarrassing…" he sighed and smiled, putting a mitten-hand to his chest to appear innocent and also appease the annoyed pounding in his chest.

That Grapploct was such an ass! It was still somewhat early, and he kinda messed up his delivery but that seriously pissed him off! Like, who acts that way when they first meet a person? He was just doing his job to help, but noooo, Grapploct over there couldn't even be bothered to say a normal thanks!

Was this how these people hated the guild? Was this how the guild would hate GAD? It was simply frustrating to have someone snap at him for no reason… And Note too! Why were people so quick to be wary of her? Sure, she was kinda weird and looked occasionally menacing, but spending the day with her yesterday rid him of all those thoughts.

Coral just sighed again, waving his mitten-hands in dismissal. "S-Sorry… It's just… really, really frustrating, and just at the start no less."

"I get ya, but don't let it get to your head," Free said, rubbing his head with a wing. "It just complicates stuff if that escalates anywhere bad. These people're already stuck in mud as is, no point in makin' 'em fight as well."

Coral nodded, but mostly out of compulsion. The unfairness was still burning in his chest… But he doubted he could actually defend himself, or ever see that as worth it. He didn't matter enough to warrant that.

"Okay then… Blight, you're up. Show us what ya got," Free said, pointing to the Poipole. They fiddled with their stubby limbs a bit before looking up and nodding confidently. They flew away to another wooden house that wasn't even painted and knocked lightly on the door. Putting aside his frustration for a moment, Coral listened intently and hoped the best for his friend.

It took a moment, but the door slowly opened to reveal one of those muscley Pokémon, Machoke or something like that. Their rippling muscles bothered Coral, but they weren't enough to dissuade him from staring. The Machoke had a serious face as they looked to Blight.

But Blight just smiled. "Ah, hello there, Mr. Boro. My name is Blight and-"

"I know who you are," this Boro interrupted, "you're the Ultra Beast that's been the talk of the town."

Blight frowned a bit before continuing. "… Yes, that would be me, though we prefer to be called Ultra Beings, so it would be nice if you called me that. Or, you know, my name."

"Which is…?"

"… Blight, like I said already."

Boro gave a small grin. "Alright, cool. Honestly, it's pretty surprising to hear you have names. We're taught that you guys are weird ferals so hearing you speak is kind of a surprise too, heh!"

"E-Excuse me?!" Blight's tail whipped the air.

The Machoke put up his large hands with a chuckle. "W-Wait, you can't honestly get offended at that! Just because you're not like us Pokémon doesn't mean you should get mad at being called a feral, and much less when you're so shut off."

Blight's eyes glanced back to Coral and Ayza, but they soon turned into a glare at Boro. "And, pray tell, how would you know what we should and shouldn't be offended by?"

"Well," Boro started, scratching his chin, "it's not like you're exactly from here, you know? You can't just barge into our home and make up your own rules." After another light laugh, Boro grinned more as he put his hands on his hips. "Trust me, if being called a beast is enough to set you off, then you'd be better of going back to the hole where you came from."

It was probably his previous anger with Grapploct earlier, but Coral was already walking towards Blight and Boro, despite Free's vocal complaints behind him.

"Hey! Boro or whatever! You can't talk to Blight like that!" he shouted out in the streets. Multiple Pokémon turned to look at him, including Blight and Boro. He felt his chest tighten with anxiousness, but he needed to do this. The clear ignorance from Boro set him off, and he wasn't going to stand and let somebody who defended him so much get hurt without help and seeing Ayza scampering up as well only supported his anger.

Seemingly recognizing the hats, Boro spoke up. "Uhh, what do you mean? Who even are you?"

Before long, Coral arrived at the house and stood next to Blight with a huff and crossed arms. "My name is Coral and I'm also with the General Assistance Department! And you heard me correctly, you can't call Blight that. They're an Ultra Being, plain and simple." Truth be told he didn't even know what that term meant or what the difference was between them and a Pokémon, but that never really mattered.

The Machoke looked around for a bit. "But… Why would I change how we're taught to say it? Just because we're different doesn't mean I should restrict myself for your sake," he tried to explain, but Coral was not having it.

"Can't you see it's clearly offensive to them? You can't expect to call someone a beast and have them be fine with it! What are you thinking?!" he exclaimed as whispers and murmurs started surrounding the scene.

Ayza finally came up to the as well with sharp eyes. "Yeah, don't you ever think that's fine! Say sorry to Blight!" she shouted as she stood to Blight's side as well. The Poipole just seemed stunned at their partners coming up to tell Boro off.

The Machoke stuttered and stepped back, seemingly getting more frustrated. "Wh-What is this…? Why are you ganging up on me? Who even are you guys?!" His voice was getting increasingly more flustered, but there was a clear attempt at retaining control.

The trio all looked amongst each other quickly. Blight's frown disappeared as they looked at their teammates and Coral smiled at them and Ayza's growing grin, knowing the exact plan each one had in mind. They all turned to the Machoke and spoke in unison, each one doing a ridiculous pose.

"We're Team Rogue! We rise and stand together!" they all shouted.

God, that felt good, Coral thought with a defiant smile creeping up his face.

There were a few stifled laughs around them, but they faded from their attention as fast as they came.

Boro's expression grew even more flustered and embarrassed as they came together. With a quick glance to the side Coral saw more and more Pokémon coming out of their homes to look at this debacle. And Boro knew this too.

"I-I don't need this! You're all… you're all so full of yourselves! Must be nice having the guild behind your back, well not me! I earn my work" Boro protested and turned to close the door but was suddenly stopped by a large and slimy pink hand planting itself firmly on his shoulders.

"Mmmm, I think you can say more than that…" the familiarly mellow voice of Muddy sounded out from behind Team Rogue, dragging all their eyes to the Quagsire that suddenly appeared. The Machoke put on a surprised face at their arrival and Coral felt similarly since they had only known their existence a few minutes ago.

"Muddy?! What are you doing here?!" Boro stammered.

They just knocked their head to the side, their smile dimming slightly. "… It would be really sad if these fine helpers got rejected at every turn, don't you think? All they want to do is help us, so why be a gatekeeper right? If we can learn from each other, then that's nice, no need to select how we want to treat others compared to how they want to be treated," Muddy gently said, while the hand's grip strengthened ever so slightly, but enough to see Boro's shoulder bending a bit. It was kinda freaky.

"… All right, fine! Fine! Just give me the damn mail…" Boro grumbled with a small yelp of pain. Blight complied and, with a clear smirk, handed over the copious amounts of letters addressed to Boro, who took them with a huff.

"See, that wasn't so bad~" Muddy smiled.

"Yeah, yeah… Thanks," the Machoke said quickly as he closed the door even quicker. As soon as that happened, Coral felt the tightness in his chest go loose as he gasped for air, all that hot-blooded confidence leaving him immediately.

"Haaa, that was so stressful!" he wheezed as he let himself down and sat on the street.

"Where did all that come from, Coral? Have you been hiding some alter ego below that skittish exterior?" Blight teased him while taking his mitten-hands and holding them up.

Coral glanced away with a huff. "N-No… it's not that. My… My friend back home told me I become extremely stubborn and crass when I get mad… Maybe it's that, heh," he chuckled while Ayza cheerily peeked into his frame of sight, and he could swear he saw a Murkrow a few ways away behind her fly off.

"But then why'd you get so mad? Aside from that guy offending Blight, that is. Also, gotta say, that was incredibly COOL!" she calmly said before switching to pure excitement, pumping her claws and jumping in the middle of the street.

He wracked his brain to find a good way to explain it to her, even shaking his head a bit. "Well, I've… experienced that before. Humans are the exact same, so when I recognized it here, I… I dunno, snapped, I guess. I'm sorry if I overstepped." He was never one to pick a fight, but he knew ignorance when he saw it. He wasn't about to let his friend go through it either.

"Sorry? For what, defending me?" Blight said with a chuckle as they leaned in and lightly bonked their head into his, both hats bending a bit in the collision. "Thank you, Coral. I'm glad to have someone like you supporting me," they said with a soft smile. He could practically feel his cheeks flush as he stared into the Poipole's glowing eyes.

Before he could really say anything, a pink dopey head belonging to Muddy leaned in between them.

"… So, you basically just said you were a human, hmm? Must be nice to have such supportive friends keeping your secret~" they whispered with a pleased face.

"Ah, damn it," Blight and Coral said together.

---

After a stern scolding from Free about what essentially boiled down to ignoring his advice— and even then, he agreed in Boro just being kind of icky— and a pleasant explanation about Coral and goodbye to Muddy, the members of GAD continued on their way delivering mail. It seemed news spread fast in this city as pretty much everybody else accepted their service without much trouble, though some had a clear dislike towards them.

It felt weird to Coral, having some kind of presence in this world. Human secret aside, he and his coworkers were certainly in the spotlight of judgment right now. Back in the human world, he was taught to stay low and never stand apart from people. That it would only get you judged and criticized, so it was better to just lay down your head and accept your place. Well, after the scene they caused in the morning, it was hard to imagine they'd lay down their heads anytime.

It had turned into a long day of running around the city with Free delivering mail. They'd even occasionally see one of their coworkers in the distance throughout the hectic back and forth from the lighthouse and the city streets. It didn't take long for them to get in the groove of the job and it certainly went faster now that they were more used to it and people weren't fighting back against them. It was… kinda fun to be honest— running around the city, that is! The mail and meeting people part was just complementary.

And after a solid day of work, their hours came to a close and the members of GAD reunited in the sunset filled lighthouse. Despite a full day of work, the pile of delayed mail didn't seem to lower very much at all… It was probably gonna take a while…

As they stood in front of the lighthouse, Coral sighed. "This whole day was exhausting… I'm glad it's done…"

"Well, don't go sounding so tired! You've got four more days of this, heh!" Hope laughed in his illusory appearance. He had joined them for the mission report as well, though he also looked exhausted after a day he said was "filled with paper and the existential dread of responsibility."

"Yeah, yeah! Put some energy into your soul, man! There's still plenty of the day left!" Aster cheered while shaking the tired human.

Coral uncomfortably shifted away with a huff. "That's easy to say…"

"Though it's nice just being done for the day, there's no point in complaining about it, work is work," Iki mentioned while preening his feathers. Overall, they all looked tired in some way or other, except for Note who looked about the same as she did in the morning. Even Blight was uncharacteristically resting on the ground and munching on a berry. Ayza for her part was idly chatting with Free, which seemed to oddly share a noticeable amount of energy, though still much less than hers.

It didn't take much time for the same Murkrow from the morning to come out of Nacht's lighthouse with a small stack of papers in his talons. Quill landed in front of the seven of them with a neutral expression and pulled up the papers.

"Alright then, before all of you head off, Nacht has some reviews for each one of you," he said calmly. As they stood in attention, the Murkrow started reading.

"Iki, you've had the best overall performance of all of you. You're quick, effective, and precise. Not to mention the people already know you so you're on their good side. Keep up the good work."

Iki smiled and bowed a bit before Quill shifted to another piece of paper. Coral wondered what Nacht would say about Team Rogue's performance. He'd like to think they did good, but the encounter with Boro may have strained that a bit.

"Aster, you also did very well, despite getting distracted constantly. Trust me, there wasn't any amount of crime in your route. I would know. I am a crimelord. You may have heard of me. A funny joke for you, hahahaha…" Quill read with a grimace on his beak.

Ayza chuckled after a solid second of silence.

Quill continued with a sigh, "Anyways, I will be assigning the… Murkrow that is talking to you now… to accompany you and help you identify what is and isn't crime… Yes, I mean you Quill, stop frowning…" the Murkrow read progressively slower and frowned even harder.

"Good to know! Nice to be with ya, Quill!" the blue-smeared Aster happily said, lending a hand out to the newly addressed Quill. "It's a privilege to work as the sidekick to the Aura Guardian, you know!"

… Geez, this Quill was gonna have a rough time soon.

Quill tried to correct himself before going to another piece of paper. "Note, a surprisingly good job, though you can learn to smile more. It's not that hard, just look at Quill smile." Quill looked down, before looking at Note with the saddest forced smile a bird could give.

"Hm," was all Note said.

Continuing to another paper, Quill looked at Free. "Free, also learn to smile more. I'm older than you and I don't look nearly as depressed as you do. Treat yourself some time."

Free simply blinked tiredly and said nothing.

"And finally, Team Rogue." Oh boy, here it was. To Coral, it almost felt like his few years of high school all over again. Blight held his mitten-hand a bit and Ayza grinned in anticipation.

"… Good job. It seems you've taken my advice to heart, that's nice. I like your energy Ayza, I commend how respectful you are Blight, and Coral… good on you for growing a spine. I'll be watching you closely to see how much you grow from here on out."

Before he could really say anything, Ayza jumped on Coral and Blight and drew them into a tight hug as she squealed. "Yay! Guys, we just completed our first successful day of guild work! I'm so happy!" she cheered while jumping up and down, dragging her teammates up and down with her.

"Th-That's great Ayza…! But… could you let go a bit, I'm pretty tired…!" Coral managed to say through the straining hug.

"Oh, sorry, heh," she stopped and poked her lavender tongue out.

Coral didn't really know what to think of Nacht's review. It was certainly better than a bad review, but he didn't like having Nacht put a spotlight on him specifically. There was nothing he could hide from Nacht, so he wondered what the Honchkrow wanted out of him.

Without another word, Quill lifted off the ground and flew back to the lighthouse, with a very clear grimace on his face. And with that, they parted ways with Free and headed silently over to Rune which didn't take much time now that the docks weren't very populated. As Hope entered Rune, he gasped out loud and his illusion dropped.

"BAH! So much work… So boring… Adulting sucks…" he mumbled through the two fangs on his snout as he slowly drifted to the hard floor with closed eyes. There was a very clear sense of tiredness within everyone, so nobody really minded the sight of the prince splayed out on the floor whining.

"I get you, man… I just wanna rest…" Blight yawned out and Coral couldn't agree more. Maybe he would take a bath after eating… Yeah, that sounded nice. A relaxing evening and night after a full day of work and standing up to Boro…

"I'll whip up something quick for all of you. Ayza, if you could…?" Iki inquired as he walked to the kitchen. Ayza perked up and scampered over to him cheerily.

So, they just sat there in the main room, resting amongst themselves. Aster went to help with dinner, so that left Coral, Blight, Hope and Note in the main room. Ayza did eventually return to them after the fire was lit properly.

"Wow, this Boro guy sounds like a total dick," Hope said casually as he stared at the ceiling from the floor.

"Mmhm," Ayza nodded, her tail swishing idly. "The guy really had something stuck inside him. I doubt he'd ever wanna see us again after we put on our show~"

"Yeah, but I had Coral so it's all fine," Blight said in a pleased manner as they leaned against the human.

"Ahh, it wasn't much… I just w-wanted to help you like you help me," he said with a blush of embarrassment and looked away. Blight chuckled and leaned in more. It wasn't even very comfortable, what with the three needles on their head. Honestly, what was their deal with embarrassing him?

"Hehe, you two seem really close, don't get lovey-dovey now…" Rune teased with a grin as its head came out of the wall.

"Wh-What?!" Coral practically shouted. The concept of a human and a Pokémon— or, well, an Ultra Being together like that never crossed his mind and he didn't want to start now.

"Yeah, let's not get ahead of ourselves, I mean… not after that head bump earlier," Blight said in an increasingly sneery voice.

Coral shakily glanced to their small grin. "Wh-What does that mean…?"

"Oh, nothing… it's just the Ultra Being equivalent of kissing, not much."

Note started lowly snickering in the corner of the room.

Hope's eyes lit up, almost starstruck.

Rune cackled out of nowhere while slapping its own walls.

Ayza just made dreamy coos as she twirled her claws.

Blight laughed and leaned in more to Coral.

And Coral? Well, he was curled into a blushing ball.

"Ahh… ha ha… I-I can't- mmm, I just… ha, um, uhh… hggsksjf," the nervous wreck of a human spoke from within the ball of safety he knew so well.

"Aww, you guys… that's so cute!" Hope squealed as he floated over and comforted Coral as well. Blight had a big smile knowing they just successfully wrecked their friend's composure. Coral was just making sure he was pushed against the wall enough to stop his tail from swaying like he felt it wanted to.

He didn't even know what to think. His mind spiraled into thoughts about potential romance in this world. How would that even work? Did his preferences even match with Blight's?! What were their preferences?!

… He wasn't even sure about the answer to some of those…

"Oh, come off it, I'm just messing with you, heh," Blight laughed and separated from Coral. Immediately, he put up his head and looked at Blight's with a blush-ridden face.

"Y-You mean it wasn't a kiss…?" he asked, his heart trying to thump its way out of his chest.

Blight flicked a stubby limb in dismissal with a smile. "Nah, we Ultra Beings do that as an intimate gesture at most, but it's usually the same as a hug. Y'know, just friends being friends, heh."

"O-Oh… okay then… Just f-friends being friends…" he mumbled while fiddling with his bowtie and necklace. He felt… weird. It was like a prickling that made him shiver in some kind of anxious excitement. It wasn't a feeling of disappointment or happiness, but he really didn't know what to call it anyways.

"I mean… unless you want to…?" Blight suddenly spoke up, as a rapid knocking came from the door.

"I-I'LL GET THAT!" Coral shouted out and leapt up to go open the door.

Hope snickered from behind him. "That wasn't a no~" he sang.

"I'm not listening!" Coral screamed back as he opened the door and Hope put on his illusory appearance. He threw the door open with a bit of frustration, finding and immediately trying to understand the figures waiting just outside.

Standing in front of Rune was a Grovyle with a long white scarf with a much more intricate badge than the one Coral had billowing behind them. The leaves that adorned their head and arms looked to have some holes to them, but they seemed to be more like scars than decorative, though the extra small leaf in the front of the head leaned more in the latter direction. Right on one of those arms they looked to be wearing a leather band with a deep green crystal embedded in it. They were a good head taller than Coral and they had a confident expression to their face as they looked to the side, seemingly bored.

Next to them was a slightly shorter Charmeleon with a brown cloak that parted down the middle and only reached to just above the shoulders. Where a normal, pale yellow belly would be, they instead had one where the scales drifted off into what looked like a natural flame pattern, and they had some on their cheeks as well. Their tail had a similar leather band to the Grovyle, but this one had a vibrant red crystal on it. They looked to be a lot happier to be here than the Grovyle. To be honest, both of them had an… air to them that told Coral that they were serious business. Maybe it was his "Drizzile instincts" or whatever, but he didn't really care. Though he did care about the last person in front of door…

King Avenir stared at him with those same cold and intense eyes as he did in the throne room, though they softened ever so slightly as he saw Coral and spoke. "Ah, Master Coral, precisely the human we were looking for."

He felt his chest tighten with fear, but he managed to hold his ground. Wait, human? Then these two were…

Before he could speak, the Grovyle's expression did a complete change to a cheery smile as they noticed Coral.

"Ah, so you're Coral! Nice to meet you!" the Grovyle exclaimed with a chipper voice and brought their head uncomfortably close to his. Their sharp eyes studied him carefully. "Hmm… you definitely don't look like a normal Drizzile, maybe that's the human in you." Coral just looked past the Grovyle to see the Charmeleon politely waving to say hello.

"Coral? Who's at the door?" Blight's voice came from inside Rune. Once again, before he could answer, the Grovyle slapped their head.

"Oh, doy! We haven't introduced ourselves!" They shifted back and posed, pointing to themselves, while the Charmeleon posed as well, pointing to the sky. They spoke in unison.

"I'm Felix the Human!"

"I'm Newt the Partner!"

"And we're Team Honor! Here at your service!"

 

[GumPlum]

Chapter 9: The Hero's Test

The members of GAD watched as the trio of Felix, Newt, and Avenir barged into their home without much asking or welcome, though Felix was the only one who actually entered like he was celebrating something. As they entered, Hope sighed and reached to his chest, but soon stopped and let his paw down.

"Oh boy… here we go…" Hope whispered, and Coral felt the same way. Not only did their sudden entrance completely ruin his plans for a relaxing evening, the prospect of that meeting happening now meant also mentally preparing for a dump truck of explanations to come soon.

Felix the Grovyle looked around and noticed the other individuals in the main room. He seemed to count them one by one with narrowed eyes. "Hmm… An Ultra Beast, Hope's true form, and a Zoroark…? What an interesting group, and with a fellow human as a bonus!" he laughed out while everyone else in the room frowned a bit. This guy was probably going to be a lot…

"WOW! Team Honor!" Ayza gasped with a starstruck look on her eyes, practically Iki and Aster as they curiously walked in from the kitchen. She bounded over to Coral and Blight, bringing them in and pointing back to Felix and Newt. "See, see?! They're the guys from the parade! The heroes of the crisis!" she exclaimed while Coral nodded tiredly.

Felix stepped up to the trio with a big smile, leaning down slightly. "So, Coral, be honest… Is that even your real name? Don't be shy, don't be shy, you're with a heroic human here!"

Coral stepped back uncomfortably with a grimace and looked to his companions. Blight had a similar face to him, but Ayza was enthusiastically nodding. "H-How did you know…?" he asked without looking at the Grovyle.

Felix's grin just grew. "I didn't! But I was given the same advice to blend in when I came here, and that's not right! We humans have to be proud of being who we are! So, I said no to Verdant and yes to Felix!" the Grovyle explained and leaned into Coral's face. "So, what's your human name?"

Mostly uncomfortable with being the center of attention, Coral looked around the room. All eyes were on him… Ugh, this was already exhausting…

"… J-Javier," he mumbled out.

Felix threw his head back excitedly. "I see! And man, it must be nice starting off in your middle stage… I came here as a small Treecko and had to evolve…" he dejectedly said. Ayza had taught him about Sobble and that was the first instance he was glad to have turned into a Drizzile, to say the least. At least mitten-hands were still… well, hands.

"Though, a Drizzile…? Gotta say, not the strongest Pokémon," Felix said in an almost casual, but condescending voice. Coral could somewhat agree there but he didn't even want to become a Pokémon, so he felt more offended than anything.

The Grovyle looked to the slightly opened courtyard door. "Hmm, let's move to a bigger space. I'm not getting any sun here!" he said as he sauntered off to the courtyard, waiting for nobody.

Avenir nodded as he floated to the door. "Yes, a bigger space would be better. Everyone, follow along. There is plenty to talk about."

There was a moment of just staring out the door, but everyone else eventually silently followed Avenir out, seeing as he was the king. Before going on his way, Coral felt a claw plant itself on his shoulder. He looked back to see Newt the Charmeleon smiling at him.

"I know he can be a lot, so don't worry, I'll move this along as fast as possible to get out of your scales soon, okay?" He sighed and looked out the door with a raised brow. "Honestly, this isn't how he acts usually. He's probably playing it up to look cool. Pfft, what a dummy," he said as he continued on his way out.

Coral only found the energy to sigh alongside Blight, but Ayza still had endless reserves, so she took them by the hands and jauntily went forwards with them in tow. It did make him laugh a bit, though.

Outside in the courtyard, Felix, Newt, and Avenir were standing in the middle of the area while the members of GAD stood to the side, almost like spectators. Iki was lowly mumbling on how the food was gonna go cold, but Avenir had commanded them to be there for the meeting as well, considering how they were living together. It was useless to try and hide information like this.

"Ah, it has been a while since I've seen this safehouse, but I did not know it was possessed," Avenir said idly, which made Rune's head pop out from a wall.

"You know me?" it asked simply and without its usual grin.

Avenir just stared at it before looking back to the rest of them. "Very well then," Avenir started while Rune just frowned, "this meeting is to clarify the odd situation with Master Javier's arrival in this world." He turned straight to Coral, which made him stifle a yelp. "Let us begin with Master Javier's experience coming to this world."

Something about what he said was off to Coral. He told himself it was something, but he knew what it was. The idea of correcting it only made him want to shrink back into his team's room and never come out again.

Coral slowly and shakily stood up and looked to everyone. "W-Well, first… Can you, um, not use my human name? I-I don't want to stand out, so I prefer you call me Coral…" His chest trying to burst told him it wasn't right to ask that, but a quick glance to Blight holding his mitten-hand for comfort made him feel slightly better.

Felix's face changed to a confused expression. "I mean, I guess we could. I don't get it, but whatever," he shrugged. Newt beside him gave him a slightly disapproving glance, but that quickly changed to warm smile to Coral.

Avenir smiled at Coral as well, which looked incredibly off. "Very well then, Master Coral. I have questions for you."

He gulped.

The king took the center of the courtyard. "… Humans are brought into this world through a summoning ritual that's only accessible when a crisis befalls this world. I won't go into the details of the ritual, but it does require the summoner to give the human a quiz before they're brought here. This process is what determines the Pokémon the human is transformed as, which is the species that most resembles them in both mind and spirit."

Coral sagged his shoulders at that. "Most resembles me? You mean I'm meant to be a Drizzile? That's… That's not right…" He wasn't a Drizzile. He couldn't be. Scales, snout, a tail, water… Every part of him that he explored was the result of a stroke of bad luck… He told himself that's all it was as he shook his head and refocused on the conversation, shoving those fluttery feelings down.

"That is what the ritual does, independent of any personal thought and opinion," Avenir explained, staring off slightly. "Still, all of this is done through a quiz to determine every aspect of the human. Tell me, did you go through the quiz?"

Ah right… that happened. It was still a bit hazy, and he hadn't thought about it much since he woke up in this world. "Y-Yeah… I took a quiz. I just thought it was a weird dream with my self-conscious asking me things. It was only three questions, though. It seemed pretty small for a quiz," he said with the most honesty he could muster.

Avenir narrowed his eyes. "Only three? The quiz has to be ten questions… How could that be?"

Though Coral knew less than him, he tried to explain. "A-Ah, well, the voice that gave me the quiz took a lot of time not saying anything and sounded… rushed when it did. Especially at the end…"

Everyone stayed silent for a moment. The trio in the center of the courtyard looked pensive, and Ayza and Hope did as well. Coral didn't know anything, and it seemed Blight, Aster, and Iki shared the sentiment with their confused expressions. It felt like they were left behind in the knowhow of this meeting. Rune and Note kept their constant expressions as always.

"… And you have all your memories, right?" Newt spoke up. Coral nodded slowly, the thought of having amnesia bothering him and making him involuntarily glance to the Grovyle beside Newt. Did that mean Felix lacked his memories? He couldn't even imagine what that felt like, but he didn't seem bothered by the conversation.

Ayza perked up a bit. "Then…"

"It was a botched summoning?" Note finished. It made some glance to her, but she shrugged. "What, like I'm not a part of this conversation?"

Avenir nodded with a slight grimace. "… Every human summoned here has their memories wiped and it's replaced by the necessary knowledge of this world. That's part of the ritual," he explained. "If Master Coral remembers everything, doesn't know anything about Pokémon, and the quiz seemed rushed, then the ritual wasn't done correctly… Most likely."

That… made some sense… He couldn't personally confirm it, but it all pointed to it being one big mistake. As offending as that seemed, there weren't many other explanations he could think of.

"If it was done incorrectly," Blight cut in, "then why was he still summoned? Sounds to me like it should've failed."

Avenir shook his head, and then stayed silent for a moment. After a sigh, he finally spoke. "No, once the ritual has commenced, the human is already being transported here. Everything else is to determine certain aspects, like the Pokémon they end up as, or their memories being wiped clean. It's more likely that Master Coral simply has some qualities of summoned humans and lacks others. The easiest one to tell is that he came here as a Drizzile, not a Sobble. Humans usually arrive as their species' base form, like Master Felix did."

"Wait a minute," Iki spoke up, looking overwhelmed, "if that's the case, then who summoned Coral? It's pretty weird to mess up something like that and I doubt many Legendary Pokémon are capable of that, right?"

Avenir looked at them all with a slight grimace, as if he was conflicted. "That's the main mystery. Any Pokémon with enough power can do the ritual, not just Legendary Pokémon, but I do agree that it likely was one of them. There aren't many who know it in the first place, so that narrows it down to the hardest to reach Pokémon in the world…"

Coral just breathed lightly on all the information. A Legendary Pokémon summoned him incorrectly, which was the reason why he had his memories? It compounded with the idea that there were different worlds, and people could just be plucked out of them and placed in another— which was… confusing, to say the least.

"Would Coral arriving in this city narrow it down?" Blight mentioned with clear doubt in their voice, but Newt shook his head.

"Nah, I don't think so. King Avenir summoned Felix, and he arrived in my home, Highland Village. That's kinda far from here."

"The summoner does determine where the human appear," Avenir added, "but if it was done incorrectly, then we don't know if the location was something established beforehand. We have little way to confirm that."

A palpable sense of disappointment fell on the whole meeting. It seemed almost impossible to figure out who summoned Coral. Did that mean… there was no way for him to return home? Coral felt a tightness in his chest that he didn't want to feel at this hour.

But after a few moments, Avenir perked up and turned to Hope, who was staring at a wall of Rune. "I have been wondering, Hope… How did you find Master Coral? That question extends to his partners too, of course."

Hope whirled back with a rickety smile. "A-Ah, I was just looking for people to join GAD, and… Well, Nacht told me about a Drizzile heading to the prison that was a human. So… I went there." All of those words were said with him being as stiff as a wooden plank, but his illusion kept the same appearance.

"Of course, that Nacht…" Avenir grumbled, rubbing his temple. "And the partners? How did you meet Master Coral?"

"Found him on a beach when I arrived on the city," Ayza chuckled, as if she wasn't talking to the highest power in the city. "Took him in after I recognized he was a classic human meeting partner situation!"

Blight shrugged. "I met Coral and Ayza when I was escaping from Aster," they said in a droning tone with a glance to their coworker, who just nervously looked away as he held his mask. "We agreed to make a team and enter the guild, but then we got arrested by Agaya. Hope found all of us later."

Avenir closed his eyes, floating a bit closer to the ground. "Hrm… None of that helps my thoughts…"

Before anybody could really say anything else, Felix finally moved again since the meeting started. "Coral… You said you had your memories?"

He just gave a simple nod. The Grovyle was wearing a serious stare at him, and that only made his thoughts spiral out of control of what could happen. But, even for all of Coral's rampant worrying, Felix just sighed, putting a claw on his head. "Well, you're lucky you're a mistake of a human. A proper human wouldn't be like you."

"Proper human…?" Coral echoed.

"A hero," Felix grinned, "that's what every human that comes here is, right? You gotta be proud of your special origin! We're supposed to be strong and confident, especially if you wanna save the world like me! Done correctly or not, you were still summoned for a reason, and you're gonna have to prove that someday!"

"What?" was all Coral could say as Felix stepped forwards. The Grovyle had a massive grin, but Coral was starting to grimace. To get any sense of reason, he looked around, finding most of them, even Newt, to be staring Felix all confused, but Ayza and Aster only seemed excited.

As he looked around, though, without him noticing, Felix grabbed Coral's hand and brought him up. With a yelp, he was slinged off into the center of the courtyard and Felix leapt back to one of the ends.

"This is depressing! Why don't you prove your human worth to me? So, let's battle!" the Grovyle cheered out, already pumping a balled-up claw.

"What?!" Coral spat out. What was wrong with this guy?! Confusing and frustrating human nonsense aside, couldn't he see that it was sunset? He couldn't even dream of fighting someone who was supposed to save the world. Thankfully, he had backup that rose out of the GAD corner.

"Why would he fight you? Can't you see he's tired? We all are," Blight spoke up, floating up with arms crossed.

Hope raised an arm as well. "Yeah, he's not very strong, there's not much to test out, honestly." A bit mean, but he took anything he could to not fight Felix.

"Come on, Felix, this is a bit far. He's clearly tired," Newt said, reaching the Grovyle and shaking his shoulder. "There's no point in fighting him," he added in a comforting voice and concerned glance at Coral.

Felix simply shook his head to say no.

"I say fight! This could help you become stronger, Coral!" Ayza exclaimed with Blight and him responding with slightly offended faces. Why did she want him to fight?

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Aster shouted as well.

Rune's face apparated besides Iki and grinned. "My money's on the Grovyle."

"You don't have any money…" Iki sighed, his form slacking.

All the voices around Coral crowded his entire mind. The meeting was stressful enough, and he already felt like he was nothing but a spectator watching from outside for his own situation… But fighting? What was Felix trying to prove? The more he thought about, the more his mitten-hands curled inwards, and his chest only beat faster.

Everyone continued arguing for a bit, before Avenir spoke up. "Silence. All of you," he commanded with glowing eyes and a booming voice that made everyone promptly stop talking. Within the tense silence, he floated to the middle and looked at Coral. He then felt an uncomfortably familiar hold on his body as he was dragged to the opposite end of the courtyard arena while he was still stiffly standing.

Avenir floated back to the middle of the courtyard, now between Felix and Coral as Newt got out of the way as well, though he was wearing an incredibly unenthused expression on his snout, and the flame on his tail was fairly small. "… I also want to see Master Coral's prowess, and a battle might clear our heads. The battle will commence. That is an order from the king."

Welp, no way to refute that…

The dominating glanced to his sides and nodded. "I will also be the referee. Now, the battle starts in…"

Oh god, just like that?! Coral already started gasping for breaths as Felix gave a big smile.

"Three…"

What was he going to do?! He didn't know how to fight, and he was at a type disadvantage or whatever Ayza said. All the while, Felix tightened the scarf around his neck.

"Two…"

This was the worst. Just the absolute worst. As Coral just shivered all over and stood like a statue, Felix just flexed his leaves and claws, the green gem on his band glimmering under the orange sky.

"One…"

Everyone else looked at Coral with excited or worried faces. He felt about as conflicted as they did. With a giant grin, Felix pointed to Coral.

"Human on human showdown! Grass versus water! The hero is on the scene!"

Coral gulped and every inch of him tensed.

"Fight!"

The Grovyle was already lunging in front of Coral, the leaves on his arm concentrating into a single blade on each arm. He barely registered the movement in time to move away as Felix slashed the air. The sheer speed and force of the slash sent Coral to the ground with a gasp.

He felt a trickle of blood fall down his cheek once the stinging registered.

"Aww, I just nicked ya," Felix whined with a pout.

He could barely process what happened before the familiar voice of Blight spoke out. "Uhh, I think we should limit Leaf Blade, that's a pretty lethal move and I don't want my friend dying." Multiple others nodded alongside them.

"Agreed. Master Felix, you are to not use Leaf Blade this fight," Avenir commanded.

"Yeah, yeah, that's fair. I got too into it…" Felix sighed.

"Hah… what?" Coral finally muttered with a heavy breath. The tall figure of Felix looked down at him on the floor with a cheery smile.

"Come on, a human has to do better than that, right?"

… What does being a human matter here?

With a weak chuckle escaping him, Coral shot out his arms, a heavy mist blasting out and around him as he started running. He didn't really care where he was going, he just needed distance from the now laughing Grovyle. As he reached a corner and turned to gain his breath, he saw a looming figure with a glowing yellow fist that crackled.

"You're pretty fast!" Felix exclaimed as he brought down an electric fist down at Coral, but it smashed against a shimmering wall between them.

Coral's eyes darted around for possibilities. He managed to block that attack, but what could he do after that? He couldn't keep up in speed or power, all he could do was stall. As he thought about it, Felix jumped back and brought his claws together.

"A Reflect? Nice… but how about this?!" he shouted as an orb of various shades of green formed between his claws and launched towards Coral. He stammered and put up another Reflect, but the orb just phased through it and burst right against his chest. He was sent flying back and tumbling through the ground before smashing against a wall of Rune with hot and stinging pain wracking his body. He could barely think, he could barely understand why his Reflect didn't work.

And the pain stabbed him all over so much. It was an awful feeling straining his whole body. Though… it started to feel somewhat better as he regained his faculties, also feeling a soft pitter patter on his form.

Every spectator watched as the smoke cleared from the direct-hit Energy Ball and saw a groaning Drizzile on the concrete floor with a glowing ring of water going around his chest, slowly healing him.

"WOO! You got this, Coral!" Ayza cheered seeing her human friend fine after such a strong attack, though Blight wasn't as excited, like the majority of them.

"He does not have this…" they mumbled.

Once Coral raised his head, his eyes glared at Felix and then he shook his head wildly. "Why… Why didn't the Reflect work?" he said, almost panting.

"Reflect only works for physical attacks, so projectiles go right through it!" Ayza shouted in support from the side.

"… Then why is it called Reflect?!" Coral screamed out in protest back to Ayza who could only give a playful shrug.

Felix laughed out loud and slapped his knee. "Ha! Man, you're great! I wouldn't be able to tell you're a human just by interacting with you! You're about as average as they come!"

… It was like a click in Coral. It was a silent snap that he knew all too well, even if there was no sound or visual to it. Boro, the whole day, Felix, the fight, humans, every single eye on him, expecting him to topple an impossible wall… He wanted to forget all of it. Well, he didn't have any way of doing that, so he just needed something to scream about. A way to vent without anybody stopping him… Any way was fine…

He stood up and took a deep breath. The whole day, the whole time he's been in this world piled up into this one moment and breath that wanted to be let loose already.

"… ¡YA ME CANSÉ! ¡Ya no puedo más con todo esto!" Coral shouted out and everybody's eyes widened with distant and surprised stares.

Coral pointed to Felix while he stomped around. "¡Humano eso, humano esto, ya para! ¡Qué importa que soy humano, carajo! ¡Todo lo que tú has hecho es tirarme por todo el lugar, criticándome por todo lo que hago! ¿Y si a mí me gusta el nombre Coral? ¿Y si Javier es un nombre que nunca quería? ¿Qué está mal con que me guste mi cuerpo nuevo? ¡YO NI SÉ SI ESO ES ALGO CORECTO! ¡CARAJO!"

The Drizzile kept ranting and raving, throwing his arms and legs everywhere in a fit of unintelligible language to everyone else. Ayza just stared in confused amazement, but as he did all of that, water was starting to form in his palms. It seemed to be more balloons, but they soon shifted and changed, wrapping around the Coral's hands and eventually enveloping them completely. That same event started to happen on his feet as well.

"Uhhh, is that…?" Aster tried to say before Iki came in.

"That's Liquidation… Did he know that before?" he asked Ayza and Blight who seemed to be equally stunned as both simply shook their heads in response. Where was this coming from?

Blight tried to call out to him. "Hey, Coral-"

"No me interrumpes! ¡Déjame tener esto!" Coral interrupted Blight with a direct point that faltered before continuing. "Que ya tú me has dado suficientes… pensamientos innecesarios! Ya no sé qué es arriba y abajo… Me siento feliz con ustedes, pero eso se siente mal…" He started to slow down and eventually sat down again with a sigh and tears started to form on his eyes.

"I'm just useless…"

"… So, are we gonna continue the fight or…?" Felix muttered before Newt shot him a death glare and he reeled back with his hands up. After a few moments, Blight floated to Coral and Ayza followed them. Noticing them, Coral sniffled and shuffled back.

"D-Don't look at me… All I'm good for is falling down when I feel a speck of a bad feeling… I hate having you guys help me." It sounded petty in his mind, but he was simply spent this time. He wanted to go to sleep and never wake up again.

Blight frowned a bit. "Yeah, it's getting a bit tiring too… But I think it's good. I mean, you breaking down every other day isn't good, but getting your feelings out is."

"Yeah, but… I keep promising you guys I'll improve, and this happens all over again. What's wrong with me?"

"But you did improve! Just look at your hands," Ayza said excitedly and pointed down. What was she talking about… Oh.

"What is this…?" he said while moving his mitten-hands, feeling the soft water simply attached to them like a glove. It looked weird, it felt good, and it was kind of pretty… Did he do this?

"It's Liquidation," Iki said as Coral turned around to see the rest of GAD, even Rune's head, standing beside Ayza and Blight. "It's one of the stronger water-type physical moves, and you just learned it."

Hope floated in with a somewhat crazed grin even on his fake appearance. "Who cares if this battle is to prove yourself to Felix? Screw him, just prove yourself to us by landing a hit on him! Let's make this a one-hit battle! Ready guys?! Just like our one practice!" The weird Calyrex then floated back to the rest of GAD and even Blight and Ayza followed him. Coral tilted his head at them all standing in a line.

"What…?" was all he could muster before they all raised a leg, which looked weird for Blight and Iki, and impossible for Rune, and spoke in unison.

"Go Go, Coral! Go Go, Coral! Hit that human and take him for a whirl!" they all chanted rhythmically with varying degrees of missed timing and ended by pointing at him, all of them with a giant smile, and a bigger than normal grin for Note. Iki and Ayza were visibly wobbling, their smiles breaking a bit, and Blight's tail whipped Aster's face. Whether that was intentional or not, Blight giggled at it.

"We're behind you, Coral! Now, go land a punch on that guy!" Blight and Ayza cheered together.

… It felt like another click, but this time in his chest, relieving all the tension and air built up almost in an instant.

A chance to stop watching and reacting… To finally act…

"… Honestly… I don't deserve you guys…" he whispered with a smile as he got up and turned to the seemingly bored Felix and the smiling Avenir in the battlefield. He brushed a liquid hand on his slashed cheek, wiping away the blood and only briefly noting the pain disappear with the wound closing completely. Coral felt himself hunch over and his muscles relax, a grin on his face. "… But I can prove to you guys that I'm not useless!"

Felix and Avenir smiled while Newt gently clapped. "Now that's more like it! One hit to win it is! Counts for me too!" the Grovyle exclaimed as he charged another orb and sent it flying towards Coral.

He quickly leapt out of the way without any problem, but Felix was already in front of him with another crackling fist that crashed down into a new Reflect as Coral sprinted away, finally gaining distance.

He felt pretty weightless with this "Liquidation" on his feet. And… he liked it. The sheer ease of movement reminded him of his volleyball days, and he didn't want the wind blowing against his face to stop.

For what felt like instants, but was actually about a solid minute, Coral leapt, dived, and ran around the courtyard, evading Felix's constant attacks. He really was relentless, never leaving an inch of an opening to counterattack. But if he never left an opening, then that just meant he had to force one open!

He didn't know how to do that, but that wasn't stopping him.

As Coral landed back after a jump, his mind raced to see what he could do as a fist of lightning came towards him. Felix had used that orb, and the punch the whole fight, and he had been reeling back to prepare for every attack, but it was still too fast! His timing had to be perfect! But even if he blocked it with a reflect, it was still too many steps to attack… Everything had to be perfect for him to land one hit.

That was a lot of work, though…

After another Reflect, Felix reeled back for another punch with a crazed smile on his face. Coral planned to avoid it, but what then? He couldn't attack in time, balloons take too long, avoiding stalls even more… He had nothing for the lunging punch except to avoid. But then, he saw a green glow from behind the Grovyle instead of the crackling electricity… Ah, that's right, that "Leaf Blade" was wide enough to hit him even if he backed away or stepped to the side.

Left, right, back, forward… Nothing could save him from the incoming cheating slash. Perfect performance to win, perfect performance to evade, it all felt restricting. He knew well how the chasm in difference of strength restricted him. He… He wanted to be free of it all…

To be free is to fly.

To fly is to be free.

That's what he believed. He felt pretty free when he was ranting before. Letting it all out… Building up all that weight and then setting it free. People told him that was unhealthy, but man did it feel good to explode like that. Building it all up to a single point until…

Burst.

Coral saw himself on top of Felix's head out of nowhere. But he knew. Somehow, his body knew. The built-up water in the Drizzile's feet due to Liquidation suddenly burst and sent him upwards. It wasn't very high, a few feet at most, but it was enough to completely go over the sudden Leaf Blade attack. Coral heard silence from some, gasps from others… but himself?

He just laughed.

With Felix stuck in the extra-long follow-through of Leaf Blade, he raised an eye to see the Drizzile bring up both hands infused with Liquidation, and with a crazed grin of his own, Coral brought down his fists. A resounding strike sounded out as Coral felt his fists connect onto Felix's head, and it made him cackle in the air.

Coral fell back on the ground with a pained grunt, the Liquidation dispelling and splattering back on the ground. He felt exhausted, completely spent… But the sight of Felix reeling a bit from his attack made him happy… Until he corrected himself quickly and rubbed his head with a curious glance. "Huh, didn't really hurt at all…"

Still felt good.

"… The battle has been decided. Due to the One-Hit-Win condition, the winner is Master Coral," Avenir the referee said, pointing to the tired Coral on the ground.

That felt better.

Before he could really sigh, the barreling bodies of Blight and Ayza crashed into him, both of them laughing very loud. "Y-You did it, Coral, you really did it!" Blight stammered out with an uncomfortable hug that felt crushing to his body. But it didn't matter, he was as happy as they were, as evidenced by his own loud laugh and swaying tail.

"How'd you do that?! You were jumpin' around everywhere and then your feet went like BOOM and then you went like WHAM in his head- it was amazing!" Ayza cheered while shaking his head. By now his coworkers arrived as well, with Hope wrapping his long arms around the Drizzile and hoisting him up, a healing energy flowing into Coral.

"A little pick-me-up for the star of the show~" Hope mused while Coral giggled. In moments, he felt better due to the healing, but the tiredness was still there, so he stumbled a bit after he stood. He looked to all of them with an excited wheeze. Aster and Iki were celebrating together, doing some kind of handshake, his teammates, Hope, and Rune were all smiling at him, and even Note grinned at him with a clawed thumbs up.

His heart stirred. He had promised them he'd stop being useless and he pulled it off! Truth be told, he wasn't sure how far this would take him or how long his usefulness would last, but he was fine with feeling happy in this moment.

"Thanks guys… Looks like I'm not dead weight after all, haha!" he laughed out loud and they all cheered in celebration.

To the side, Felix was looking at the whole scene with some sort of disbelief. It was only one hit that didn't even hurt, and they were celebrating this much? Weird, but it was kind of endearing.

"I know that face. Just let them have their fun, man," Newt sighed as he stood beside him.

"I know, I know… Though, that Coral clearly has some confidence issues." This was the human who barged in? Not to be rude, but he was just… nothing really. Though, if that meant the difference between him interfering with the projected future of Avenir and not… Then maybe it would be fine. He didn't get much time to think about it as King Avenir floated between the two.

"So, what are your thoughts on Master Coral? I think he has… potential deep within him. He certainly has good control over his water."

"I agree!" Newt nodded enthusiastically. "He doesn't seem like a bad person, and he's got all those guys supporting him. I'd love to learn more and more about him! What do you think, Felix?"

The Grovyle cracked his neck. "I mean, he's fast, but he's also kind of weak, so he shouldn't interfere with the prophecy in any meaningful way. I mean, I didn't even use my inherited ability against him…" he said dismissively as he watched a Murkrow leave the rooftop of the base.

That was right… If this Coral didn't matter, then nothing would go wrong. I fnothing went wrong, he'd get his memories back… Gods, he hoped.

King Avenir's eyes suddenly widened. "… That's it!" he said before turning around and flying towards the members of this "General Assistance Department."

As their celebrations died down, the members of GAD watched as the King arrived in front of them. Coral stayed as happy as he was before as Avenir looked to him with a smile. "Very well done, Master Coral. I have good news for you… I may have figured out a way to narrow down the culprit of your summoning."

"Really?!" he practically shouted. If he had to be honest, the culprit of summoning him here was the least of his worries now, but he played along.

"Yes, it may be linked to your inherited ability. Every human receives one from the Pokémon who summoned them. For example, I summoned Master Felix, and he inherited an ability to psychically control all kinds of flora," he explained calmly.

Oh, how nice of him to hold back. Now this world was starting to sound like a video game… Cool.

"So… I have one?" he asked with a bit of excitement in his head. Ayza looked pretty excited too, but Blight was still preoccupied hugging him.

"Theoretically, yes… But we have no way to confirm, especially since your summoning was done incorrectly, so you may not even have one." Avenir put a paw on his small chin. "Do you have any ideas? It may just be an odd skill that you discovered."

Not to be condescending, but that could apply to anything about him. Though, Ayza and Blight always had an answer for everything except one…

"… I can heal people, I think. Everybody's told me that's weird."

"Precisely! Can you show us an example?" Avenir said with a smile.

"Uhhh, that's gonna be a bit-"

A quick slicing sound came out of nowhere, interrupting Coral. As everyone turned to look at where the sound came from, they saw Note with one bloody claw raised, and her other arm currently starting to bleed out of a decent wound on it. Everybody screamed in surprise, worry, and fear, Hope in particular gagging at the amount of blood spilling out and Rune giving a loud "ooh."

She casually extended the wounded arm to Coral with a bored face. "Here, try healing this with a balloon of yours."

Immediately, Coral stammered and pulled out his hands to the wound. "Oh, god! Wh-Why'd you do this, Note?" She shrugged as he produced a balloon and pushed it into her wound, wishing for it to heal. The clear water in the balloon started to go red as the blood flowed into it. Out of disgust and the limited medical knowledge a shut-in could have, he dropped the balloon and produced a new, clean one. Though, as he put the new balloon, he noticed the wound was already smaller. It wasn't much, but it was noticeable.

The Zoroark smiled. "Yep, it's not just Aqua Ring. You can heal with any water you make." He was amazed by the revelation, but the giant bleeding wound still bothered him.

"Y-Yeah, cool! But never do this again, please!" All she did was wave dismissively with a grin.

Avenir gave a loud cough at the whole scene. "… Very well. If your inherited ability is to heal, then that certainly narrows down the list…" He thought for a moment before pointing to Felix and Newt. "Team Honor, Hope, we're leaving. I've gotten quite enough to ruminate about and it's getting late." He then started floating to the door leading into Rune's main room, Team Honor following closely behind, Newt waving goodbye to everyone else.

"Actually, I wanted to stay here for dinner…" Hope spoke up with a slight look of defiance, staying behind.

Avenir slowly looked back at him, and then at everyone else. "… Just don't be late," he said plainly and left through the door without another word, with Hope dancing in the air to celebrate. As the door closed, everybody looked to themselves, Hope's illusion falling away.

"… Well, who's ready to eat?" Iki spoke up from the silence. Everyone nodded eagerly.

Note raised her claw. "I can't wait to have some good food, to be honest."

Coral sighed and chuckled a bit. "Stop moving, Note. I'm still healing you, you ass."

---

As Master Newt closed the door to the base behind them, the three of them exchanged glances with complicated expressions, but Avenir just stared off to the forest next to the city. The people in GAD were worrying enough, but just imagining his suspicions made his heart tighten. A legendary that could heal and would have the intention of messing with the prophecy from afar…

He grimaced as he stared at the treetops in the distance. Pan… Please, of all the people… Please, don't let it be you… I can't deal with you getting in trouble again…

"Alright, now that we're out of there… Felix, what the hell was that?" Master Newt pressed, standing against the Grovyle. "You're not like that! You were on Coral's case the whole time, and then you fought him. What's wrong with you?"

Master Felix's head-leaf crinkled as he glanced away. "D-Don't say it like that… I just don't want him doing anything intrusive. If he does, then he could derail all of Avenir's future sight. That… That means not getting my memories."

"Felix…" Master Newt mumbled, and then brought Master Felix into a small embrace, the flame on his tail growing suddenly. "I get ya, but that's no excuse to be like that. My dear partner isn't some vengeful guy. So, maybe rest a bit on Coral? I promise, we'll be fine."

After a moment, Master Felix's face lit up and managed to chuckle at Master Newt. "Always ready to help. You're the best, Newt, I'm lucky to have you." He bumped his shoulder against the blushing Charmeleon's and they both shared a laugh. It was after that when Master Felix glanced to Avenir.

"… So, what now? We met the new human that suddenly barged in, he's nothing spectacular, and what? Where do we go from here?" Master Felix said, almost complaining, but that might've just been evening crankiness. Avenir's visual attention snapped back to Team Honor with the same grimace.

"I… do not know…" he admitted silently, looking away to the rest of the docks.

"What? But you always know the next course of action!" Felix almost spat out, but Newt placed a claw on his shoulders just in time. Regaining a bit of composure, he continued. "Don't you have omniscient sight or whatever?"

Avenir knew he looked visibly disturbed to say the least. He was always stoic and slightly emotive at best, but this was probably a completely new sight for Team Honor. Thankfully, this side of the docks was plenty empty at this hour, so nobody else saw it.

"… Yes, I do have the ability to gaze into the past, present, and future of this world, individual Pokémon even more so…" he said with a small bead of sweat coming off his brow. The mere sight of it seemed to unnerve the two heroes. "But that is precisely what I am worried about… When I look at the seven of them… Hope included…" At this point his eyes dilated a bit, which was more than ever, and he turned to Team Honor.

"… I see nothing. They just… have no future. All I see is pitch black…"

A silence overcame the three of them. Avenir's sight had hinted them many times to the right path. It was reassuring, it was the guarantee that something bad was going to happen, or good times were coming soon. To say the least, the outcome of the prophecy and the current crisis heavily depended on his omniscient sight. He knew that Master Felix put a lot of stock into it as well, as the only guarantee that he would regain his memories. The concept that it would fail without warning against an unforeseen new element… It shook Avenir to his core.

"… I think we just need to calmly think this over," Master Newt suddenly spoke up with his usual and admirable positivity, a trait that was widely appreciated by many throughout their adventures.

"Yes… I believe that would be best," Avenir said trying to regain his composure. "We shouldn't be hasty… I will keep a close eye on the seven of them. As wary as I am, I want to believe that their presence will not be harmful." The actual truth was that he didn't know what to do with them. It wasn't like they were actively seeking to derail everything, and Avenir wanted to trust them rather than not… but if Arceus ever found out about them…

"Well, either way, we should keep moving, unless you want them to hear us," Master Felix said, with Master Newt and Avenir nodding alongside him. As they left, they kept discussing the situation amongst themselves, with equal parts of worry and confusion.

But, once out of earshot, the eighth Pokémon in the base apparated on the wall. Rune looked at the three of them in the distance with a grimace on its face.

"Well, that's a doozy…"

---

Coral stepped out of the heavenly bath and looked at himself in the mirror, his figure visible in the night thanks to the Luminous Orbs on the wall. It wasn't the worst look in the world… Though he somewhat admitted it during his rant, he wasn't ready to fully admit it in words his friends could understand. He didn't even understand it, so he just jotted it down as something to focus on later. Maybe it was good. Probably not… but maybe.

He smiled and left the bathhouse, heading to his team's room. As he opened the door, he saw Blight and Ayza snickering on their desk, seemingly reading something together. Hearing the door open, they looked back with grins at Coral.

"Uhhh…" was all he could manage before Ayza's face turned into a full devilish sneer and then burst into laughter, Blight continuing soon after. It felt like a good half-minute before their laughter died down and Coral could speak again.

"… Yeah, so what was that?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"You've got fanmail!" Ayza shouted. Still snickering a bit, she flung out what looked to be a yellowish sheet of paper with some writing on it. He got closer and saw a weirdly familiar, but cartoonish drawing in the corner of a big crow with a wide-brimmed hat giving out a winged thumbs-up… Oh no.

"… It's too late for me to translate that, can you just read it?" he asked with a sigh.

They both snickered some more as Ayza straightened herself and brought up the paper with a harrumph. It was fitting that she began speaking in a posh and dignified accent.

"Dear, Coral,

It seems that you have made my advice your top priority, seeing as how you keep improving even moments after my last congratulations. Honestly, it's pretty cute to see you struggle, you've got a very soft face for that.

Anyways, I commend you for beating Felix, that is no easy task. Every day you excite me more and more, so please, in the name of whatever human god you believe in or not…

Don't become boring.

Anywho, I'm proud to announce that all of you have been upgraded to my premium supervision, so be glad to be part of another exclusive club! You and your team are free to come to my office whenever you want to talk and learn from a crimelord. Tootles, my newest obsession, I'll be watching over you even more from now on~

From Nacht, your newest friend (Only if you want to, though I doubt you can decline my advances~ Now, actually say goodbye to your new aunt! Buh bye! Bye again!)"

Ayza lifted her head with a grin. "She continues like that for a while, so there you have it, hehe!" Ayza exclaimed and chuckled as she finished reading.

Ohhh… He was too tired to properly process the information, but he got it. And honestly? He kinda liked it. He never stood out when he was a human, nor did he really want to, as was taught by his mother. Hell, he still wanted to lay low in this world, but this felt… validating, even with the odd aunt comment. This was a night to feel good, it seemed.

Coral smiled again and, without a word, headed to his bed of hay, before being stopped by Blight's floating body. "Woah there, buddy. Tonight, you have the pleasure of the bed," they said with a smile.

His head snapped to the lustrous and normal bed. Did he deserve such privilege? It was only reserved for special days since nobody wanted to feel bigger than the other and take the bed for themselves. Ayza nominated him on the first night, but it was pretty much a standstill of disagreements. But… now he could have it…

He felt Blight push his body to the bed and he slowly climbed on top of it. It was relatively big for his size, but he didn't mind because— OH GOD— was it soft, and flat, and bouncy, and warm, and, and… Oh, who was he kidding?

Coral felt himself melt onto the soft mattress with a giddy smile and a lightly wagging tail. He didn't care how it looked, it was heaven…

Blight patted his head lightly and smiled. "We're all beat, so let's rest early, okay?" Coral nodded with closed eyes and Ayza followed with a loud yawn. As the Poipole and Salandit made their way to their bed of hays, they prepared themselves to go to sleep.

Coral, for one, was barely holding on. It felt like he had something that needed to get out before he lost consciousness. After a bit of tired focus on it, he managed to say one last thing before he went into a deep slumber.

"Mmm… Maybe this world isn't so bad…"

They all collectively went to sleep soon after, each with a smile on their faces…

…

…

… Okay, they should be asleep by now.

As silently as she could, Ayza got up from her bed. She looked to her teammates in the night light… Yep, completely fast asleep. They looked kinda cute, but she had something to do so she didn't focus on them much. She slowly and carefully opened her backpack next to her and searched her books.

Her Pokémon encyclopedia, no… Her favorite crisis story, no— but it would be nice to read… Ah, there it was.

As she took out the third and least damaged book in her backpack, she opened it as slowly as she could. As she did, the faint light that it always produced shone a bit and she backed into her corner of the room. After a bit of adjustment to the light, she looked to it…

Hehe… Looking good. The prophecy's changing~ she thought, having to hide a giddy laughter.

The Parasite shall infect All.

Strength is Lost and Regained.

Lightning shall Strike the Ones who matter most.

The Forest will flourish to burn.

Without its fuel, the Fire shall lose its life.

Memories are Tossed and Turned.

Never Forget the Land where One was Born.​

After today, she knew something had to change, and it still wasn't much, but it was there. Right where "The Forest" was, it looked to be disappearing and reappearing every second or so. Though she had delays in her plans, it looked like her team was sure gonna have an impact… Now she just had to get to work on Coral…

One day… She'd break this boring cycle… She was going to become a player in the crisis…

Genesis' story didn't have much time left with her in it now…

 

[Navar]

Merry Christmas! Here's a review for your story~

Chapter 1

Very big chapter, and full of things to comment about. Can’t say I was expecting Spanish, but at least I can understand it. A little bit, yeah. Anyway, this was a good introduction! I’m separating this into a few categories so as to not have a gigantic wall of text (though if I’m reviewing nine chapters it’ll probably be one anyway, oh well).

There wasn’t that much plot—other than the cloaked figure, but I imagine that will be expanded upon later. Javier being from the actual real-life world is fine, guess that makes him even more of a fish out of water. I do really like that the duo(assuming that they’re this lizard duo) is both new at… well, dungeon things. Or just in the city? Regardless, them both being new means they’ll likely learn from each other, which is something I really do enjoy.

I’m gonna get more in depth with the characters. There’s something very funny about a human already being summoned before Javier, which begs the question of why he was. Mistake? The world’s gonna end soon? Bit of both? I think what matters here is that this is fairly widespread. This makes Ayza accepting that as truth so easily make sense, at least to me. Javier, meanwhile, has no choice but to go with her. Makes sense, considering he doesn’t know what to do or where to go.

I should probably mention that while, yes, the chapter is long, I never felt like it dragged. That might be because I love long chapters, they’re great and always leave me wanting more. Which, yes, I will do. My point is that it worked really well for the chapter, and judging from what I heard on Union, all chapters are big. Meaning I’m gonna have a great time reading all of this.​

Chapter 2

Alrighty, finished this one already so my main thought is: I’d like to hug Coral/Javier. He’s already the best character so far, don’t @ me.

Anyway, this chapter was also really fun to read. Spending most of its runtime at the shop was an interesting choice, but I don’t mind it at all. Mostly because it meant I could get to know more about the world. Like I thought, humans are common enough that someone as relatively simple as a shopkeeper can know about them. It’s intriguing to say the least, and I kinda wonder if there’s any reason for that. Maybe I’ll find out later!

Also, just wanna point out that I thought it was adorable to see someone using gender-neutral pronouns! In my language, they don’t exist, so it’s always a treat to see them whenever possible. As for the two main characters, I think they work each other well, with the excited partner and fish out of water human. But also, Poipole! I love the lil gremlin, and I already love them. Seems like they can balance out the other two if this is the trio of main characters.

I’m also intrigued by the presence of Calyrex, a legendary. Granted, not a box legend like the dogs from gen 8, but honestly I do like Calyrex, I wanna see what he’s gonna do since Coral is a human and all. Maybe nothing will come of it? I’m also finding it out on the later chapters. Like I said before, I do love me some long chapters, and this story is keeping me hooked so far! Great work. I’m headed to chapter 3 right now, because honestly this is getting me really hyped.

Chapter 3

I really liked this one! First, BIRD! Second, Aura Guardian! Third, hijinks! Now that I got my hype out of the way, I can talk in more detail about this chapter.

First things first, I finally get to meet the bird! I LOVE Cramorant, it's such a silly Pokémon but I can't help myself, it's adorable! And this one is too! Especially when comparing to the eccentric Scrafty he has for a friend. That scene at the start with the two of them bickering a little was lovely to read, I thought it was pretty funny. Could definitely read more like that, and there's something just hilarious about overconfident hero types. I mean, I'm sure he has good intentions, it's just... he seems like he tries too hard, lol.

And it's only been three chapters, but the trio has been arrested. Congrats on that for them, I guess? I assume there's a reason why ultra beasts are illegal, but that also seems... a little unfair? Blight wasn't even doing anything wrong. But then again, they'd be fine if not for Aster doing his thing. I actually really like him. I only read this chapter with him but honestly the dude's won my heart already.
And yeah, they're in jail. Also interesting to see a prince going to meet them, his choice of Taillow for a disguise is very appreciated, that's a cool bird. He's also on my list of interesting characters because princes have a variety of ways you could write them. He also seems pompous, but... less so than Aster. Like I said before, this chapter was one I really enjoyed reading. It had a ton of great things going for it, and now I'm even more hyped to read the rest of this fic. Keep up the good work dude.

Chapter 4

...I also really liked this one! Starting right where chapter 3 left off, I am now a Hope fan. He's adorable! Very pompous and eccentric, as I suspected, but I feel like his heart is in the right place. Being a peoplle person, I assume he knows how to convince others, but even if he doesn't, he managed to convince the other six people to join his little ragtag project! Honestly I'm really liking him as a character, despite knowing him so little.

This chapter was also... smaller? I dunno if it was or if I was just so into it that I ended up reading really fast, but it doesn't matter. The contents were really good! I'm mostly excited about the team here, there's six of them, quite a lot, and out of them, Aster and Iki seem to be my favorites. I particularly enjoyed seeing Aster react to a human being. I figured he would be a big hype man for Coral, even if Coral... doesn't really care about this at all. Or he's just confused about the entire thing. Wouldn't blame him for it, tbh.

And the king is a complete opposite of his son! Figured that was the case, but it's nice to see that I got it right. They seem to clash a lot, judging by their little conversation. As a reader, I'm obviously rooting for Hope's project to work out well, and I'm sure it will! this chapter was GREAT to read! The team is formed, everything is fitting in nicely, and I honestly can't wait to get the next chapters. I'm really impressed, it's getting better with eahc chapter, that's incredible.

Anyhow... yeah, this was a nice read, and I can say for sure I'm invested in the story by now. I mentioned it before, but yeah, keep up the good work.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5! More fun stuff on this one, and I believe I should get in more detail about this, so bear with me for a second, this might be a bit of a doozy.

First, Coral. Oh god I know what kind of character he is. It feels super relatable to hear about someone wondering abou their self-worth, and it strikes me very deeply. I have those kinds of issues too, so reading that... was a litle rough. Not a complaint, it just resonated with me personally because I go through similar things. Asking why people care about me, wondering if they're just lying to make me feel better, all kinds of things I've felt before and that I read here. You did a wonderful job at it, I'll have to say. It's obviously not something you can just fix with a talk or two, so I expect more scenes like this over the next chapters, and I kinda knew it was coming, judging by a few bits of monologue from Coral in the previous chapters. I knew it was gonna happen but that doesn't really detract from my enjoyment, I always like this kind of main character, it's very relatable.

Secondly, this chapter was very sweet. Most of the runtime was spent with the characters interacting, and I really like that. Like I said, it's nice to see Coral's friends are there to help him through his issues, and it's also great to see the team bonding. Even the king seems like a better character! Though part of me is a little suspicious on why he suddenly changed, I don't trust him enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, lol. Although it is nice to see him support Hope's project. Hope remains a good boy and I'll die on this hill if I have to.

Very nice chapter overall.

Chapter 6

Another banger of a chapter! This one was very calm and focuses a lot on the characters, and there's nothing really wrong with that. I continue to believe they all work off each other well, and I still think Aster is the best one(sue me). Like before, I'm gonna talk about the specifics for this chapter.

This time they go visit an intriguing bird. And kudos for having a genderfluid character! I really like how you're introducing all these queer characters because it does feel very natural, and they're all people. Nacht fascinates me more because she(using the pronouns this chapter used, so hopefully this should be fine) and Hope are forgotten by the world. It intrigues me because Coral also had to stop and think about what she meant. It feels like a setup for a future plot revelation, and I'm all in for that. I'm also wondering how exactly she met Hope and the guild, but that isn't the most important thing for now. Seems she'll be an important part on these early chapters, since they're working with her. Thankfully, I quite like her so reading more won't be any issue at all! I'm excited to see how much team Rogue will help with the city.

As for the king... huh, I might be wrong and he's genuinely trying to be a nice guy here. I'll admit I didn't expect it, but that's fine, tbh. He seems like a good supporting character. As for the old human... a Grovyle! I love Grovyle, it's such a cute Pokémon :) and I wonder how him and Coral will interact, since they're bound to cross paths sooner or later. Probably sooner, I'd say. I imagine the two will have a few words to talk about, and that Coral will likely ask for his help, or at least to ask for some sort of guidance.

Good chapter once more.

Chapter 7

I might be repeating myself, but you're sending banger after banger of chapters. Seriously, all of them are really good! This one was chill and sweet, and I was able to read it in around ten minutes? I'm getting used to reading long chapters with this fic, and I need to say that I liked the new addition here! This Lucario character is interesting, especially since he's a former human. Like I thought, it's really common for them to show up, huh? I remember you saying you made him to be unlikeable but he seems fine so far? Nothing really wrong with him, other than wanting to arrest the GAD for... I dunno, reasons. Maybe his ego got inflated over the years, if he's that old. I also found it funny(and fitting) that Aster was inspired by him. I like this gremlin more with every scene he's in, he steals the entire spotlight for me, lol.

And it's nice to see Coral having a moment to relax, to think of how his life went to interesting places, even if he's, uh, not really thinking that way. It was cute seeing him be so confused about the tail, and about how good it felt. His body is weird, after all. It's also been a chapter that explored a little of his backstory. Although not directly shown, I think him explaining some of the things was well done, so there's no real complaint there.

I also quite enjoy knowing about the crisis this world has faced before, because I know more about the other humans. I wanna know more about what the current one is, because Coral will have to do something about it, whether he likes it or not. And I'm looking forward to seeing how this parade plays out. Chapter 7 was fun too, good job.

Chapter 8

Man this chapter had the best scene ever. Having Coral stand up for his friend when they were being discriminated against was definitely the highlight for me. Humans do that kind of stupid thing all the time, and just reading it was enough for my blood to start boiling. Thankfully, Coral did the right thing, and then everyone went to help him, it was really nice. This team has only been together for what, three days at most? A week? And they're already very close to one another, to the point they'll go to great lengths just to defend one another. A very reassuring kind of camaraderie, and it doesn't really feel out of nowhere. I think with how they're bonding over the chapters, it makes sense that they'd be protective of each member. It's also very wholesome that the Murkrow watched this and knew it was the right thing to do. And yes, that Machoke was an ass.

It's also very nice to see that Muddy helped them without much hesitation, if at all. The GAD are on the right way to being recognized, even if they're starting small. I'm sure that in the next chapters, this will only grow even more.

And like I wanted, seems like the two humans are finally meeting! I peeked at chapter nine and the title already gives me some ideas of what it'll be all about. Felix and Javier... I wonder if they'll be close or if this will shatter Coral's view of how humans are perceived. On the bright side, Felix doesn't sound like a bad guy at all, so I doubt this will end up with that much of a turmoil, more like a way for him to prove himself, I believe. Good chapter, like all the ones before. It's great.

Chapter 9

Whoa, this one was a doozy. I have many, many thoughts about it. Mostly about how much of a good protagonist Javier/Coral is. He's been pressured since the start of the story, and it finally came to a boiling point in this chapter. Thankfully, I understand a bit of spanish, so I had more or less an idea of what he was saying. I had the general idea. Anyway, his meeting with Felix went as well as I expected. Figured the grass lizard would want to fight, or to show off. Turns out, he did both. But in his defense, he has the strength to back it up. Also, Javier knows Liquidation! That's nice to see, it's a pretty strong move, and he has it, or rather, unlocked it through the fight. Makes sense, I guess. He was being pressured left and right, and he just snapped. I wouldn't blame him for it.

This is also where we learn more about what exactly happened with Coral. How the ritual was botched and etc. The final scene, the one with Nacht, does seem to imply she has something to do with it? Or at least that she knows more than she lets on. It's fascinating and I'm sure there'll be answers sooner or later. Overall, this chapter was great and you should feel proud of yourself, your fic is very easy to read and digest, the cast is fun and relatable, and the pacing, while slow, doesn't feel like it drags on and on. If anything, I think it works well enough for the story you want to tell. For now, things are very "chill", there isn't an immediate threat, so it's alright if there isn't that much plot going on. It's like you're taking your time to explore the characters before throwing them into the heroic things. I like it.

Good job :)

 

[Ambyssin]

Merry Blitzmas!
Disclaimer: My Blitz reviews tend to be stream of consciousness stuff. You're free to ignore or take it with grains of salt.

1: But I didn't depart anywhere 😭
-There is a lot of "was X" in the opening paragraphs here, which can, in such large quantities, make the prose read weaker and less impactful. Even if you are describing a void between worlds, I think you're better off going with a POV character and showing they see nothing and hear nothing, than the narrator being a sort of separate character at the start here.
-I see our human is from the real world. Not the most popular choice for human protags, so it's always nice to see someone else doing it.
-Appreciate the quizzer sounding... not good at their job. Like an inexperienced legend. Mew, maybe? Something going wrong at the end is different enough to make it stand out from the traditional quiz start many fics use.
-I hope the pelipper actually took flight breaks. If anything, Ayza's scales should do well in intense sun and heat, being a fire-type. Or is she supposed to be the equivalent of an albino? Yellow salandit sounds more like a helioptile who thinks they're a salandit.
-Interesting that Ayza needs to get smuggled in. Sounds like there's some political problems in the background.
-I think you could've done with a proper scene break marker when the POV switches to Drizzile. But also, hey, look, the human's a mid-stage and not a baby. And he also might've been homeless. Lot of possibilities there.
-[panic attack bit happens] Oh, maybe this is omniscient narrator, then? Perfectly fine, I guess, though to maintain that you need to have a good balance with the narrator character. I personally am not fond of the practice anymore due to my own writing. I'm not sure, there was a brief moment where we saw Ayza's thoughts, but then things get anchored back in Javier's perspective. If this is third limited, you have to stick with your POV character, even if they're blue screening.
-Unrelated, but in my immature teenage years I used to imagine a castanet fanfare playing every time I heard the name Javier and damn it that memory's resurfaced. I hear castanets. 🙃
-Not very wise of the Mystery Figure™ to be speaking to no one. Maybe he's just a fool? A fool of a poipole, going off the "Archlight" or whatever.

2: This season of "Naked & Afraid" is really weird, eh?
-Oh boy, classism. Complete with a pompous sylveon calling them peasants. But also, yea, 50 poke wouldn't even get you food in PMD land.
-A banette as a tailor is an amusing choice, ngl.
-Fire/electric salandit? So there's a much stronger genetic component to kids here, I see. She's like her own regional form. XD
-D'aww, tsundere Charon doesn't want you complimenting their bowties... baka.
-[squints] Is that Scrafty... cosplaying as a lucario?
-Eeyup, they're a poipole. Too bad Javier had no quips about how stupidly punny that species name is. Though it is different that someone like Ayza actually knows what a poipole is. So, this world's dealt with aliens already, then. Find it a bit surprising that Javier and Ayza are so quick to buddy up to Blight without, y'know, asking any serious questions considering he was supposedly on the run from a city guard. And the whole "being an alien" thing. They move onto the name changing stuff fairly quickly.
-A big psychic projection seems like a nice take on Calyrex's canonical ability to just... possess other people to speak through them. Coral comparing the king to the quiz voice has to be intentional. I don't think it was Avenir, though.
-Prince... Hope? Nagito Komaeda would like to know your location.
-Again, I'm still skeptical of the fact that Ayza has no qualms about recruiting two complete alien strangers for a guild that is managed by literal royal legends. I get the sense she's a bit on the impulsive side and that she's going to have to grapple with those tendencies as the fic progresses.
-Two sons, huh? At first I was tempted to think maybe Tempo brought Coral here, but then his opening line makes him sound like a total jackass... so maybe it was Hope? The scene does give me the impression that either Avenir is not entirely benevolent™ or perhaps his stern attitude is born of some misguided motivations, like Elizant II in Bug Fables.

3: Well, yeah, this is the network that hosts "Naked & Afraid."
-Oh, this wasn't a guard. Some sort of... honestly, I don't know if this is an official title or some overly-enthusiastic youngster. His attitude strikes me as similar to Ayza's and it's much different than I expected from the brief glimpses in the other two chapters. Wonder if a line or two alluding to his goofier nature could've been slipped in before this scene? Also, if I had a nickel for every PMD fic that had a childlike character named Aster, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't much, but it's weird that it happened twice.
-I suppose UBs being native to this world but isolationists would explain why someone like Ayza knows about them.
-Team Rogue? Oh, so we're just PMDnD, now.
-Ayza has Dry Skin, eh? Nifty. And handy to nullify a weakness even if a mud bomb could knock her into next Tuesday.
-Like with chapter 1, you really should've used a scene break when the market part switches briefly to Iki's POV, then back to Coral's. As it stands right now, it's a bit disorienting. There's also a part where you follow Aster's dialogue "I was gonna help them!" with Coral watching, which makes it seem like Coral's saying it, not Aster. And I'm a bit uncertain what this zoroark even has to do with any of this, so it's all a bit jumbled for me. 😅
-Wait, Coral's shiny? I must have missed that.
-"Jeez, Blight, at least take that gallade to dinner before you do something like that!" ~Ayza, probably
-If I had a nickel for every PMD fic with an edgy zoroark, I'd have... uh... probably enough change to use a vending machine.

4: Oh, we're replacing the protagonists already? RIP in spaghetti.
-Yeah, I am a lot more convinced Hope brought Coral here now.
-Getting, again, similar vibes to Ayza and Aster from Hope's real self. Though his logic is sound, in theory, considering this city apparently has a lot more to it than supporting exploration like the canon hubs. But someone should've told him that acronym also means Generalized Anxiety Disorder and I will always think of it that way.
-Well, I guess the best way to bring up zoroark speciesism is just to casually drop it into the middle of a blackmailingrecruitment drive. Hope's got that big used car salesman energy.
-Naming a zoroark Note is begging for all sorts of terrible puns. >:3
-I... wonder if pokémon mentally age differently in this universe, because I do not for a second believe Ayza and Aster are in their twenties.
-lol at Coral describing Note as "ripped." Someone's mind is in the right place, apparently. Even if a zoroark with shaved hair is a cursed mental image.
-I do not believe Hope is truly okay with Avenir's "tough love," whatever that implies. On the one hand you would think Avenir would try to hide the disdain toward his son in front of six strangers. I mean... they could just go start telling people what they saw and heard. But one could also interpret it as Avenir thinking that little of them (aside from Coral, maybe) that he doesn't care they see his visible disappointment in Hope.
-"A crime may not be rewarded" doesn't strike me as the correct phrase. I think you mean "A crime may not be investigated."
-Coral channeling his inner Garfield to end the chapter. Beautiful.

5: This makes it sound like the villains are about to be introduced. 😂
-Me thinks the king's been using Future Sight a few too many times. Though, again, things get a bit disjointed with the interrogation because a bunch of people burst in and suddenly we're in the king's POV before cutting back to Coral in the elevator. You've got to commit to the third-person limited prose and clearly denote the perspective changes.
-Hot damn they're really going from 50 poké to their name to a full-scale apartment. Talk about a glow up.
-Oh, huh, the place is actually haunted? Couldn't quite tell from the description if that's a pokémon or some sort of unique shadow creature. That can be the peril of going with a main POV that doesn't know anything about pokémon. Gotta find ways to try and describe the things to the audience and it tends to come off awkwardly.
-It's a runerigus? Yeah, I didn't get that from the description. Kind of wish someone mentioned the species name sooner, since it made the fight a bit hard to picture in my head. Though I guess it explains why Coral's attacks are most effective. And I see you're going with the anime's take of Reflect serving a nearly indistinguishable function from Protect. But with Coral being the POV character for the fight, it would've made sense for the scene to end when he blacked out, not to have it jump over to Hope's POV.
-Something about the team's first fight being a giant misunderstanding with a (technically) benevolent spirit is hilarious but also head-scratching since I'm not sure if it does all that much to advance the greater narrative. It feels like Coral's thoughts on his uselessness could've been addressed earlier— heck, I think they would've been if Rune hadn't shown up.

6: There better be a golisopod here or I'm complaining to the manager.
-Ayza's book really is just a national pokédex, huh. Or, like, a Legends-style dex since it's analogue. Still, if this at least brings Coral up to enough speed to be able to use species names, it's a welcome change.
-While I understand Team Rogue is more of a central trio, a group of seven is still surprisingly large for this early into a fic. Eight if we count Rune into the mix. I do wonder just how much attention the remaining GAD members beyond the main trio and Hope will get. Could be tough to juggle fleshing out that many folks... unless this is going to join the million+ word club.
-Hats as guild badges? What is this, Team Fortress 2?
-Ayza, you're not supposed to casually admit to getting smuggled into the city! ... Or are hybrids something that are only meant to be found in, like, the slums or something?
-Of course the pokémon rumored to be a crime lord is a honchkrow. The Don Pianta of this universe. Though I don't know if she's truly like that or if she just uses her lesion of birbs to eavesdrop on everything around the city because she's actually a tremendous gossip. Or maybe it's both.
-I'm glad the king showed up to derail the "training the newbie" sequence, since I'm personally of the opinion these kind of training things can happen "off screen." Maybe less so for trainer fics, but this is PMD.
-I don't have much to say about the ending scene. Felix and Newt have been alluded to already so I knew we'd see them eventually, but they drop a bunch of names that I'm getting the sense I'm supposed to remember but I doubt I will. Parasite makes me think Nihilego, but it could be the actual threat going on. And the "being whole" bit is too short and vague to make out anything. I don't think Coral and Felix are two halves of a whole.
-Also update: there were no golispod. 😞

7: Nothing leisurely about lea— oh
-This is an interesting take on a new water-type experiencing water for the first time. Actually, I don't really think I've read anything quite like it. Only think I'm unsure of is whether Coral can actually breath underwater or if he'd still need to surface. The prose doesn't make any suggestions one way or another, but it might have been worth bringing up. Oh well, I'm sure he'll go swimming again eventually.
-Kinda iffy on the Agaya scene because it feels like a big lore backdrop that could've found more organic ways into the story. As it is, it feels a bit detached from everything. Biggest takeaway is knowing why there's a zoroark bias in this place. Wouldn't be surprised if Agaya's theory about Note being a runt is accurate to some degree. The lack of the pearl must be significant somehow and Note has yet to use any illusions, either. Other big thing is Nova, who I'm guessing is a villain. Maybe of the well-intentioned extremist variety. Gee, that sounds familiar... But I think you might have been better off introducing him when Team Honor returns or something.
-Coral's dream is to fly? I'm pretty sure inteleon have arm membranes they can use for gliding, so there's that. Did that mean he wanted to be a pilot as a human? 🤔
-I can't help but feel like there's something strange in-universe about the whole city propping up Team Honor to the point of having a big parade and huge festivities just for them returning from some sort of guild expedition. It's "venting in electrical" levels of sus.

8: [sigh] I hate Mondays...
-"Old and prideful 'mons" that don't like authority in their business? So, it's Poké-Florida? :V
-[group encounters a murkrow] oh my god Nacht really does just use a legion of birbs like zygarde cells.
-If I'm reading this right, did Coral pick up on postal codes being a thing here? Not sure, but the mention of English makes me think this is one of those PMD worlds that humans used to inhabit, only to disappear for some mysterious reason. Could be an apocalypse, could be they got so scientifically advanced the peaced out. Who knows? You do.
-I can't believe Muddy predicted Clodsire with his poisonous color. And you can't convince me he's not referencing Gates' Quag.
-I get the impression Coral was a victim of racism back home and that's why he's so quick to jump Blight's aid and even quicker to lose his temper.
-Imagine the "crime lord" monicker is because Nacht's murkrow eyes and ears just see everything that is crime going on. Though I do appreciate the rest of the first mission was summarized. It would've gotten samey otherwise.
-Who introduces themselves as "X the partner?" Do these guys have the PMD script?

9: Nobody said anything about tests 😡
-Felix, your inner cocky showboating hero is showing. Golly, that seems familiar.
-The quiz is actually a summoning ritual? I'm not sure it necessarily needed an in-universe reason for existing, but it makes more sense than other explanations. It's also hilarious. We (outside the fic) knew things were botched by the way the voice (probably Hope) acted, particularly toward the end. I wasn't expecting Avenir to confirm, however, that humans seem to get summoned normally from the real world and have their memories wiped and replaced by the knowledge needed to survive. It's reasonable, but also deeply terrifying that this is straight up acknowledged as part of the ritual. It's basically Avenir confirming to Felix he's responsible for the memory wipe. Felix probably knew already, but it's still frightening to read.
-Wow, Felix just going full Bede and being a total dick. Part of me wants to say he's doing that to draw out Coral's strength in shonen-esque fashion and [rest of the battle proceeds] okay, no, maybe he is kind of is a showboaty jerk. Talking about some sort of prophecy I assume has something to do with him. Golly, that seems familiar. Again.
-Coral's hydro healing ability reminds me of Katara's from AtLA. Was that the inspiration?
-All right, so maybe Hope isn't the summoner. A healer legend, then? Cresselia and Zarude immediately spring to mind, though the latter is a mythic. Although most PMD writers don't distinguish between the two. Xerneas is another, maybe, but there's a lot of overlap with calyrex. At least I was correct in saying Avenir is drinking that Future Sight kool-aid. Probably relying too much on it.
-... What. What the hell was that ending? I was prepared to say that, even by PMD long fic standards, this felt like it was going quite slowly with no indicators to anything overarching but BY GAW IT'S THE ENDING SCENE WITH A STEEL CHAIR. I'm not even sure what to make of this prophecy thing at the end. Parasite could be a UB or Eternatus or something entirely original, but I think it's discussing this kingdom or continent entering some sort of period of peril that might be related to some dormant gods or whatever. Hard to say. It's very vague. Pretty sure Ayza's not, y'know, evil or anything. Just so full of main character syndrome she's trying to shoehorn herself into the crisis situation to become a hero. Golly, that seems familiar.

I know other chapters are on FFN already. Port them over here soon or I will steal your silverware. >:V

 

[GumPlum]

Chapter 10: An Ultra Way of Life

After such a long day yesterday, the second day of working for GAD had begun in an interesting way. They all awoke to news about King Avenir issuing an official order for explicitly everyone in the city to not incite conflict, aside from officially sanctioned battles, with the members of GAD… Particularly Blight and Note. The order was issued by the King, but the Chief of the Guard, Agaya, was also in support of it, according to the newspaper they were reading.

Blight thought it was a bit demeaning to be honest. Sure, it'd help them have an easier time in this city, but they wanted to believe that they could integrate into this new society without much outside help. They had hoped that the city would be more accepting of an Ultra Being like them, but people like Agaya, Aster, Boro… They dimmed that hope.

"Well, after your stunt yesterday, I think this is a bit unnecessary, but whatever," Free said as he read the newspaper on their way to their assigned mail route.

"I-I wouldn't call it a stunt, but I guess you have a point…" Coral mumbled.

Blight gave him a curious glance. He looked a lot less gloomy after he won against Felix. Good for him. To them, Coral was a nice sign of hope amidst the largely not-so-good reception the city gave them.

It was a bit mind-boggling to think they formed a team with a human that was seemingly accidentally summoned here, but he was nice enough for them to not care much. As far as the Poipole was concerned, Coral was simply a new friend that didn't outright reject them, like all the others back home. That had to count for something, right?

And for that, they showered him with all the positivity and teasing they could muster. It was how they treated everyone before they eventually left the Poipole, but Coral seemed to like it, oddly enough. Or, at least he put up with it a lot more than others did.

"Nah, don't worry about that stuff! If it ever happens again, we'll defend each other just like before, right?" Ayza said in her usual excitement as they turned a corner into their starting street for the day. The whole job was nice, but Blight couldn't help but feel a slight sense of wasting their time. Some Pokémon were grateful of their help, but the majority was just reluctantly accepting it at all. They could only wonder what other things they'd do in later weeks.

"Yeah, yeah, go off, kid…" Free said before turning to Blight, "Okay, Blight, no helpin' here, go deliver your first set just to see how you do."

That was about all they did, and Blight felt that Free was using this method to avoid the most work possible, but they complied, nonetheless. Work was work, and it wasn't bad anyways.

Blight pulled out the first thing they had prepared which was a very small and beat-up box addressed to a Shiinotic. Looking at the address and the series of buildings, it seemed to belong to a run-down house with a hole in the wooden roof. Oh boy…

They adjusted their ripped hat and turned to their teammates. "Wish me luck guys!" they said, to which Ayza grinned in response and Coral put his hands together to form a heart shape with a smile, before quickly correcting it to an awkward thumbs-up with a blush on his face. Gosh, he was a treasure trove of material. With new invigoration, Blight stuck their tongue out in tease and then flew over to the raggedy house.

A quick knock later and… nothing. No problem, try again… Nope, nothing. Well, maybe they just weren't home?

"Um, hello…? Is Shiinotic there? I have a package for you…" Blight asked to the air. Blight looked back to their team, finding them shrugging while Free stood still and signaled for them to continue knocking. Blight wanted to question that, but the slow creaking of the door behind them opening took up their attention.

As Blight turned and looked inside, they saw an incredibly plain and empty interior, save for the immense number of mushrooms sprawled and rooted around the room. In front of the odd garden was a normal looking Shiinotic with that silent and hollow smile they were known for.

Well, they looked mostly normal. Where they should've had sunken and void eyes, they were a bright golden, almost like a white fire. It was immediately striking, but Blight managed to steady their chest despite Shiinotic's eyes.

"Heeeey… You have something for me…?" Their voice was really drawn out and wavy, which was not the most comforting notion.

Blight brought the small package out while putting on a warm smile. "Y-Yes, my name is Blight and I'm from the General Assistance Department. Here's your delayed mail."

Their golden eyes widened very slowly. "Ahhhh… I've been waiting for this… Thanks… a lot." A low giggle came out of their swaying form, almost drunkenly so.

Ah… I can't wait to get out of here, Blight thought with a chuckle to imitate Shiinotic and seem nice. They're just plain uncomfortable. Those eyes… Why're they making me feel so jittery? They're so warm…

Why do they feel familiar?

Blight tipped their hat. "I-It's no problem at all. That's what GAD is here for." They motioned to leave, but Shiinotic reached a thin arm out.

"Heeey, you look… um, worried… Can I help?"

"What do you mean?" Blight asked back. They just wanted to get rid of the weird source of their uncomfortably strong-beating chest. Was it that obvious to see on them?

Shiinotic's smile grew, but their eyes dimmed. "You're worried… that this city won't accept you…"

Blight's tail whipped in the air. Another random person who thought they knew the Poipole. "Oh, that's it? Um… I guess so. My kind aren't exactly accepted here, you know."

Without anticipation, the Shiinotic opened the package to pull out a smaller, red and yellow mushroom, and then ate it. They chewed with the golden in their eyes dimming a bit more. "Agh… I wasn't expecting this taste…"

At that point, Blight would be sweating if they could. Weirdness was one thing, but this was just something else. And even then… they couldn't stop staring at the golden eyes. Something about them held Blight in place.

Shiinotic swallowed the mushroom, giving a long sigh as their bulbous head knocked to the side. "Well, don't worry… Plenty of people want… to learn from you… But you need to be open too…"

"… Why are you telling me this?" Blight asked.

Shiinotic raised a flimsy hand to the various mushrooms in the house. "Coexistence… is not a solitary job… it requires everyone…" They slowly spun to the mystified Blight. "Oh… but look at the time. I better… leave you be… I'm happy you listened to somebody who wanted to help…"

Blight couldn't help but be even more confused. "No, seriously, why are you telling me this?"

"Ah… that's right, one last thing…" Shiinotic knocked their head back straight, and their eyes went back to a vibrant golden. "Tell me, friend… I want to know what you call yourself."

Their mouth pursed. Shiinotic just wanted their name… That was easy. Say their name, and they could leave this weirdness behind. But it was almost like a pinpoint shot to their heart. It always happened. Say their name… The skittering from within started again. It prickled every inch of them, crawling up and down from their tail to their needles. It almost hurt when it got to their mouth, like a disgusting taste. It was wrong. They knew it was wrong.

But it had to be right.

"My name… is Blight. I'm Blight."

The gold in Shiinotic's eyes flickered, which came with a slight frown. "Ah… Blight… I see."

It was easy to see the visible disappointment in them, but Blight had no clue why. They were already weird enough as is, so… Maybe they were afraid? Blight was full of poison that would probably just melt them into mush.

"I'm sorry… to waste your time…" Shiinotic whispered, their thin finger curling around the edge of the door. They blinked a few times before closing the door, but they did stop right before it closed completely. There was just a tiny bit left of the gold in their sunken and downtrodden eyes.

"Goodbye… And… I hope you lead a good life here… You deserve it."

Somehow, Blight chuckled when the door shut on their face. They didn't know where it came from, but it was obvious it wasn't particularly ecstatic. A sigh escaped them as they straddled their torn cap even tighter. The thought alone of going back to Coral and Ayza lifted their tight chest already, so this weird encounter with Shiinotic was just that.

Just an odd person… Mmhm.

"Idle conversation always helps ya endear yourself to the people. Good job, Blight," Free said after Blight arrived at their group. The commendation was nice, but it was hard to ignore that Free didn't know what happened. It just made their curiosity shoot up.

"Hey, Free, do you know a Shiinotic in this area?" Blight asked.

He seemed to recognize the Pokémon as he sighed. "Oh, right, you got old Shiinotic. I assume they talked to you all weird and stuff. Don't let it get to your head too much, it's all nonsense anyways. Some people say they can read minds and feelin's, but I think they're just high on those mushrooms they grow. Still, they're nice enough, I guess."

Blight simply frowned. That wasn't reassuring at all…

Free continued with his work as he ordered Coral to make his first delivery of the day. Ayza hopped up and down to cheer him on, but Blight was stuck in their small silence amidst the bustling morning crowd.

… Coexistence, huh? They kinda understood what Shiinotic meant, as weird and sudden as it was. To live together with everyone else, they all needed to put their part in learning from each other. Blight had come to that conclusion before they left Ultra City. Though, they doubted many Pokémon wanted to learn about Ultra Beings right away.

Their attention snapped back to Coral when he pumped his fists for celebration at finishing a delivery. His tail swayed at the sight of Ayza celebrating with him. Blight instinctively followed suit with their own light clapping, but their mind never stopped whirring.

Well, everything came with time… Hopefully.

---

"Do you think I can control when I become invisible?" Coral asked, looking out into the water of the docks.

"Probably," Blight said without much thought.

"All you need is practice!" Ayza exclaimed with bits of Oran Berry flying out of her mouth.

Free sighed. "Pace yourself, kid."

They had continued their job without much trouble after the weird encounter with Shiinotic. It wasn't particularly interesting to Blight, but every so often they'd get somebody who treated them decently and that was always a ray of hope for their time in the city. Nevertheless, it was around midday now and they were on their break, resting on the edge of the docks and ports next to the lighthouse and eating from a bowl of berries one of Nacht's Murkrows brought them. Just receiving food like that from their boss was odd, but they weren't going to complain about free food. They personally didn't know what to make of the intrusive Nacht, but they did like seeing them mess with Coral. It was pretty cute.

"I can practice, but I could do with less fighting, to be honest," Coral mumbled as he crossed his legs, suddenly uncrossed them, and then grabbed a berry with a huff.

Blight grinned. This was a nice moment to strike.

"Why the sudden change in leg placement, dear Coral?" they asked in a haughty voice.

The Drizzile immediately blushed and stammered with the berry still in his throat. Once done with his struggle, he sighed. "Th-That's nothing… Crossing legs is a girl thing and I'm a guy so…" he said with narrowed eyes.

"What? Why would that be a girl thing? They're legs." They didn't know where this was coming from, so they pressed forward with a lean.

"N-Nothing… It's… It's a h-human thing so forget it…" Coral whispered to Blight. Now their friend looked genuinely disgruntled, so they dropped the teasing. They'd seen Coral get annoyed and mad, but right now he looked more… disoriented. Hmm.

"… And this is Reefly City's very own lighthouse! Can anyone tell me what the purpose of the lighthouse is?"

A soft voice came from behind the group, loud enough to break past the general chatter and lolling waves. They all looked back in curiosity to see a Togekiss wearing a yellow bowtie and long, intricate spectacles across their face and ending in front of their golden eyes. An obvious hybrid, they were also completely pink in feathers, but the tips on the top of the head were completely purple and fluffily curled at the end. Not to mention the usual blue and red markings were also a deep purple instead. In front of them was what looked like a small group of children consisting of an Azurill, a Chingling, a Mime Jr., a Torchic with yellow feathers, and a Rufflet with slightly bluer feathers than what Blight had studied.

The Rufflet raised their wing with a bright face. "Mmm, yes, Kreely?" the Togekiss called out eventually and the Rufflet celebrated a bit for being chosen by fluttering their small wings.

"Yeah! Umm, the lighthouse is for, uhh, mail! My mom picks up stuff for her clay and pottery sometimes!"

"Aww that's kinda cute…" Ayza whispered to the group. Blight agreed, but with a sour tinge, not being the biggest fan of schools when they lived in Ultra City. Maybe they did things differently here?

The Togekiss clapped with their wings. "Correct, Kreely! Aside from the normal purpose a lighthouse serves, it's also the central hub for the postal service in the city. Normal people get their mail from here, and the deliverers bring important resources for the guild and adventurers like Team Honor. It's a vital part of the city!" the Togekiss teacher explained with a cheery voice and Kreely hopped around in success, while the other children looked around, clearly more entranced by the sights of the city.

The Togekiss also looked around before noticing the members of GAD and Free staring. They put on a bright smile as they walked towards them. "Speaking of the guild, class… We're mighty lucky to have members of the newest General Assistance Department with us today!" Immediately, the children swiveled their heads in excitement at them and they all scampered up behind the Togekiss.

Blight just gulped.

The Togekiss separated a bit from the class and approached them alone, a sudden and sweet smell arriving in the air with them. "Hello there, my name is Mr. Melody and I'm here with my class on a field trip throughout the city." He put a wing to his chest. "Do you mind if they can ask you questions? They're curious little buttons and this would be great for them."

The group looked amongst themselves with doubtful faces. It was a harmless offer, but they were on break so…

"Sure, no problem!" Ayza exclaimed by herself and everyone looked to her with narrowed eyes.

As said, they were on break.

"Splendid!" Melody cheered and headed back to the curiously waiting children. "Okay, class, these fine people are going to answer any questions you have for them! Let's start with introductions," he said as he pointed to all of them.

Ayza went first with a pose, pointing to the sky. "I'm Ayza! A full-fledged member of Team Rogue! Charmed to meet all of you!" It was a vibrant introduction with flames curling her snout and her frills flaring out. The children all gave excited "oohs" and "aahhs."

Blight floated up a bit, feeling the slight prickle from within. "My name… is Blight, also a member of Team Rogue," they said calmly with a smile, though all the kids proceeded to swarm them excitedly. It was a bit uncomfortable, but they were kids, and Blight easily just floated higher above them, so whatever, really.

Melody waved his wings in slight panic. "Alright, settle down, class. Give our guest space to breath!"

Once the hectic curiosity was done, Coral stepped up while fiddling with his necklace. "Uh, hi… My name is Coral and I'm also a member of Team Rogue." The only one of the children who reacted much to him was Kreely the Rufflet with simple interest, but the Mime Jr. did raise an arm.

"Who's the leader in Team Rogue?"

… Huh. Blight hadn't even thought of that. A quick glance to Coral said the same about him, and one to Ayza showed she was already about to talk.

"Well, that would be Coral here!"

"… H-Huh?!" both Blight and Coral spat out at the same time, and Ayza brought them into a huddle away from everyone.

"Ayza! S-Since when was I the leader?!" Coral whispered almost with a hiss.

Ayza snickered and flashed a bright smile like usual. "Since the beginning, silly! And you know why too…"

"Is it because he's…?" Blight mumbled before Ayza enthusiastically nodded and Coral gave an exasperated sigh. They couldn't help but agree with the human. Sure, they didn't have an established leader since the… wow, five and a half days since their founding, but picking Coral because he was a human seemed… baseless?

He was a human, but how much did really matter aside from the crisis stuff? Not that he wasn't necessarily cut out for it, but still, consent mattered, and Blight didn't even have a say!

"Don't worry so much about it! Just improvise! Improvise!" With the dismissive reassurance, Ayza dismantled the huddle, ending on a presenter pose on Coral who was as stiff as a board. The kids and their teacher stared at him expectantly.

"U-Um… I'm the… leader, yeah… you b-betcha…" he stuttered with a slow wave and a rickety smile.

May the Arclight bless his shy soul. He had improved yesterday, but not in the social department… One day, Coral. One day.

The crowd stayed in silence for a few seconds before Melody lightly clapped a bit. "… Okay! Very nice introductions, all of you!"

Were they really done? What about Free— oh, yeah, he already left and was talking with some other Pokémon in the distance. What sudden speed…

Melody gave another hasty laugh. "Alright, class, any questions for them? One at a time, please!"

The Azurill bounced forwards first with a weird frown. "Uhhh… Mr. Blight? Are you an… ultra… uhh…?"

"An Ultra Being? Why, yes I am!" Blight cut in with a smile, taking the liberty to say it correctly before "beast" was thrown around. "Mr." was wrong too, but the Azurill just met them, so they let it slide.

The Azurill's frown turned to a very bright smile. "Y-Yeah, yeah! An Ultra Being!" they cheered, jumping excitedly on their tail.

Melody came up with a confused face. "Ultra Being? We've always been taught it was Ultra Beast. Is that… not what your people call themselves…?"

"Ha! Of course not! That's just what Pokémon started saying when they were afraid of us," Blight said while the kids looked to themselves with confused faces.

"Well, I suppose most Pokémon have no problem being called beasts, but would that apply to everyone…?" Melody muttered and looked down. He looked deep in thought for a bit, but then smiled. "Well, alright then! I'll have to bring that up to the other teachers when we get back. And here I thought I was the teacher, heh!"

Blight couldn't contain their smile. It was really nice to have somebody be so open to their people's preference. It felt… reaffirming? Was that it? Maybe it was, if the light grasp and smile of Coral to their side said anything.

Now the Chingling bounced forwards. "What's those spike thingies do, Mr. Blight?" they asked with a bell sound behind their voice.

Blight flexed them a bit for flair, moving side to side. "These lads? Well, we Poipole use these to shoot out poison in battles, and colorful goo when we want to paint! Pretty cool, huh?" they answered with a proud grin, a gesture the kids seemed to respond well to considering their endlessly starstruck expressions.

"Heh heh… You're pretty popular with them…" Ayza whispered with a lean to Blight. Well, the answer to why was obvious, but a simple smile in response was enough. It was still some of the most positive reactions to them in all their life, so it was appreciated either way.

But, finally, it wasn't Blight's turn to answer as the Rufflet came forwards to Coral with wide eyes, immediately unnerving the Drizzile. "If you're the leader, what cool stuff can you do?"

He stammered a bit at the question, and Blight could practically feel the gears turning in their friend's head. But after a few glances, a smile curled at the edge of his snout. "Oh… wait let me try this…" he said as he stepped away from them a bit and closed his eyes.

A couple of deep breaths later, he extended his arms and the smile came back. Water started to form around his hands, slowly enveloping them, until he completed a full Liquidation move. The children looked stunned and Melody looked pretty interested as well, but the loudest was Ayza almost screaming in support. As Coral opened his eyes, though, he pouted slightly.

"Aww, I only got the hands…"

The kids however, cheered and howled in excitement. They all surrounded him with starstruck eyes, all of them asking for more cool moves. He looked disoriented and skittish, but Blight and Ayza gave him reassuring looks of confidence. So, with much visible trepidation, Coral started to showcase the rest of his moves.

It was a nice sight, especially since he started smiling and laughing the more moves he showed off. To be honest, this was one of the few times Blight saw them comfortable in his own scales. Though, they had some gratitude to share, so they looked away from Coral and floated over to Melody.

"Hey, um… Thanks for understanding the whole Beast and Being situation. I haven't met many people as friendly as you," they said with a slight blush while the Togekiss smiled at them. They were never the best at admitting things or saying thanks for anything. It just… felt weird. To owe something to someone, even if they were just feelings… It wasn't like they were chained to anything back home anyways.

The pink Togekiss just smiled more. "No problem! If the kids can meet and accept new kinds of people from an early age, then that paves the road for a bright future, don't you think? There's no reason to be so narrowminded."

Almost like with Shiinotic, Blight chuckled, but they knew it to be a happy one. Yeah, I agree. That's the whole reason I left, after all. Nothing is gained by sheltering down. I wanted to see the world. I wanted to see this.

Blight glanced up to the blue sky above, bright but still filled with a few clouds. They could still remember how different it felt when they left… after living beneath a stone sky for so long… It was warm, and it changed colors throughout the day. It was a bit too sunny at times in Reefly, but that was fine. They welcomed the change.

"Ah, that happiness is radiant~" Melody mused, dragging Blight's attention back to the teacher. He had a wide smile on his beak as he stared up at the sky as well, but it felt almost familiar to Blight… It was on the tip of their tongue, but Melody seemed to notice Blight staring and yelped, snapping back to normal with a shaky laugh and wings waving in equal frantic energy.

"A-Ah, d-don't mind me, haha! I just um… I'm a bit emotional, heh!" Blight just tilted their head at his dismissal, but the Togekiss quickly regained some form of normality as his feathers died down.

"Anyways, thanks so much for interacting with the kids. I'm still a newish teacher so I was worried about how this field trip would go…" Melody said with a sigh. "But they're loving it, it seems. And all because of you three, so, truly, thank you!"

For such a nice moment, Blight could disregard the last bit of weirdness, so they just gave a bright smile and twirled a bit in the air. "Heh, don't mention it! After all, that's what GAD's for!" they cheered and tipped their hat. Melody nodded and looked to the scene before them, Blight following.

At this point Coral was attempting, and failing, to juggle balloons and they mostly ended up falling on the children while he apologized profusely. Ayza had also joined them, weaving around Electrowebs and spewing small breaths of fire into the air, cackling all the while. The kids, however, were eating it all up. They were laughing, cheering, playing… It was a cute, if not mildly concerning and chaotic scene.

Melody gave an awkward laugh. "I um… don't think this is the safest thing, right?"

Blight gave them a wave of their limbs. "Ah, let them have their fun, they're loving it!"

The two watched as Coral slipped on the excess water on the floor from the dropped balloons and fell on Ayza, the Electroweb she had in her claws entangling both and zapping them accordingly. Screams of both pain and hilarity rang out in the docks, officially making everyone in it look to the scene.

"… Okay, maybe you're right."

---

"Buh… ugh… was that the last one…?" Blight huffed out as they finished a delivery and weakly drifted over to their equally exhausted partners.

After their break ended and they said goodbye to Melody's class, they continued working for a good while. Now the sun was setting and the sky was a vibrant orange. They had occasionally seen other Pokémon even leave their shops and establishments for the day while they were still going through the streets.

"No… we still have one more package…" Coral sighed, holding up a small parcel he selected to practice his translating skills. It was nice to see him at least try to learn their language, as oddly uncomfortable as it seemed for him.

He looked back and forth from the package and his translation sheet he wrote out the previous day. Before long, he seemed to finish it as his eyes widened and he looked to Ayza and Blight's tired figures.

"Guys… if I'm right, this is for Charon!"

And the energy immediately shot back up.

"Really?!" Ayza practically shouted.

Free looked at her confused. "You guys know Charon?"

Blight rose to the air. "Of course! They gave us a roof to sleep under our first day here! Heck, I met these guys in Charon's shop, heh…"

Free sighed and put a wing to his head. "Of course, you three slept in my friend's home…"

Ayza swiveled her head around quickly. "… Hmm, I remember this area… I think I can take us to Charon!"

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's end the day with a bang!" Coral shouted, shaking his fists. They cheered in unison and went on their way with Ayza in the front. The whole trip was filled with chanting and cheering for their Banette friend. There were a few stares, but that didn't stop them, and it seemed to barely affect Free as well, the Pelipper keeping up pace— hell, he even had a small smile too! They were celebrating the eventual reunion with their friend! Smiles were broad and natural!

It didn't take long for them to arrive in the beaten shopfront of Nice Cloths. It was pretty nice that it was really close to their home and the docks, so they could make the delivery and head straight back to Rune.

Blight stared at the front for a moment, letting a sigh escape them. This was the first place to hide Blight when Aster was chasing them… It was the place they met Coral and Ayza… Where they started as a team… It was hard to believe that was only a few days ago.

But that only gave Blight more energy as they glanced to their partners, finding equal determination as they all readied themselves. They counted together and then Ayza kicked open the door and they all shouted at the same time.

"DELIVERY FOR CHARON!"

They stayed in their celebratory pose as they watched the patched-up body of Charon yelp and flinch horribly. Then, they turned around slowly with a groan from the shop counter where they were standing on. Their eyes looked as tired as usual, and their frown was a weirdly welcoming sight.

"… Oh, it's you guys…" they mumbled and Team Rogue took that as the okay to enter the establishment, Free coming in behind them with a weak chuckle. Ayza in particular ran up to them and hopped around, squealing with the parcel in hand.

"This is for you! Take it as a sort of present for what you did for us!" Charon sighed and took the package from the Salandit, lazily sitting back on the counter.

"I see that you guys completely disregarded my advice…" they grumbled as bits of a wispy, deep purple energy formed on the tip of their hand and they swiped down quickly, the parcel splitting open and revealing some simple fabrics from within.

Blight's head reeled back a bit in remembrance. Ah yeah… they kinda did do everything Charon advised them not to do in the same day…

"W-Well, that's actually because Aster attacked us in the streets… It wasn't our fault we got arrested," Coral tried to explain as Charon took out various pieces of different-colored cloth and materials.

"… And that conveniently got you this job?" Charon said in a monotone voice without looking at them, but the edges of their zipper mouth were curling upwards as they looked at the contents of the parcel.

"In a roundabout way, kinda," Blight plainly admitted.

The Bannette sighed. "… You guys are too weird… Thanks for this by the way," they said, raising the fabrics with the curled mouth turning into a small smile.

Ayza snickered and tipped her hat. "That's what we're here—"

Charon's head shot toward Ayza with narrowed eyes directed at her hat. It swiveled at the same speed to look at Coral and Blight's hats as well. "These hats… are disgusting. I'm disappointed in you guys…"

"Uhh, why…?" Blight tilted their head.

"Not you. You get points for ripping it." Charon waved to their hats with a disgusted face. "Those shams were made by the stuck-up pricks in the high district. Sure, they're fancy, but they have no soul or love put behind them… It's offensive, really, that you'd wear one in front of me," they said, crossing their arms.

Oh… That was it? It seemed petty to the Poipole but they kinda understood where they were coming from. Blight looked to their teammates. Ayza seemed to not care much with her usual grin and Coral looked worried, but his attention was split between Charon and a simple dress on a hanger. Free was just grinning somewhat, but was also staying silent. He seemed oddly transfixed to it. Looks like they had to diffuse the situation…

"W-Well, what if these hats were temporary…?" Blight mentioned with a smile. Charon's face softened a bit immediately. "Yeah, these are actually placeholders! They barely fit on us, so our boss is looking to have them remade to our liking."

Charon grinned, their crimson eyes flashing somewhat. "Heh… serves them right to do a bad job…"

Coral perked up. "Actually… what if we direct Hope to you? He needs to order new ones, so why don't you make them…?"

The grin faded from Charon's face, but their eyes widened. "A commission… from the Prince…" they whispered with a higher pitch. They visibly started to quiver a bit, but soon corrected themselves with a cough. "… Y-Yeah, that'd be nice. If you can arrange that, I'll certainly do it," they said, returning to their bored voice.

"Ooh, excited, aren't ya?" Free suddenly cut in with a sneer. His eyes looked somewhat like Ayza's were at all times.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Free…" Charon mumbled, turning their head away with a huff. It didn't last long as an eye drifted back to the Pelipper. "… Good to see you again. It's been a while."

"Blame the job," Free sighed. "Nacht's been having me doing more far-off deliveries lately. But…" He chuckled as he idly pointed to Ayza. "I can't complain that much. I could get the kid out because of it."

Charon's eyes narrowed. "Wait… She's the kid?"

"I'm 20 years old, thank you very much," she snapped back with her tongue sticking out.

Free nodded, but Ayza gave him a confused glance, so he just smiled at her. "I've got friends, you know. Remember your sunhat? I got Charon over here to make it for ya way back then."

Somehow, both Ayza and Charon's eyes widened in seemingly the same realization, but Ayza's was a loud gasp. She burst into impossibly more energy than usual, all of it directed between Free and Charon, her whole form practically shivering with excitement.

"Oh man oh man…" she mumbled before stretching a claw and waving it slowly, almost like she was in a show by herself, which Blight snickered at. "By the errant threads of fate, our lives converge into one… Nah! I'm just about the luckiest gal in the world, haha!"

"Lucky doesn't even begin to describe it," Free chuckled as he looked through the rest of Team Rogue and Charon. "You've met all these people already, and without breakin' a sweat. Kinda inspirin,' actually."

"You know me so well!" Ayza just beamed endlessly brighter, her frills flaring out somewhat too.

Blight was sort of astonished at Free, and a quick glance told them the same of Coral. In just a few words between him and his two friends, his demeanor completely loosened. He looked and sounded considerably younger, somehow. It was kind of off-putting.

"I still can't believe I didn't recognize the sunhat…" Charon mumbled with a distant and exasperated voice, their form sulking like an actual doll.

"Prolly just means you're gettin' better," Free said.

Charon's head lolled back, their mouth curling up and down. One eye moved over to Coral next to them, who just stiffened. "Better…" they whispered. Silence surrounded everything for a moment, but not for too long. "… Actually, c'mere Coral," they said after a pause, "I wanna see how much better I supposedly got."

He approached them slowly, still slightly attracted to the shawl on the wall, while Ayza looked to be staring at him intently with a smile. Charon pointed to the Drizzile's chest, where the glassy teardrop of Coral's necklace hung. "I noticed that Mystic Water on you. Do you mind if I can hold it for a bit?"

"Oh, uh… y-yeah, that's fine," he said as he slid it off into the Banette's plush hands.

They all stared as Charon looked it over carefully and then raised a single finger to the air. "Check this out," they said as that same wispy energy formed around the finger and then solidified into a dull nail. With a slight grunt, they brought it down to the necklace and the nail seemed to seamlessly flow off the finger and into the necklace, fading away as if it just disappeared into it. The necklace shimmered for a moment and then returned to normal.

"Wh-What did you do?" Coral almost gasped out. It was a pretty cool sight, Blight had to agree. It certainly wasn't anything one would see in a normal tailor.

Smiling, Charon wagged a finger. "Don't be impatient. Now, come closer." Coral complied, though his worried expression told otherwise. The Banette grabbed the Mystic Water with one hand and held Coral's bowtie in the other. They slowly brought the Mystic Water into contact with the bowtie, and both started to glow a deep purple.

As Charon concentrated, they all watched in awe as both items seemed to move on their own, the necklace wrapping around the bowtie. The teardrop of the Mystic Water somehow grew and matched the center of the bowtie, almost fusing with it, while the chain wrapped around the fabric melded into it, creating a silver inlay on the purple strap. The strap itself also grew a bit, forming a wavy design around Coral's neck.

Once the glow started to fade, the now fused item gently lowered itself. Now, instead of a bowtie and a necklace underneath, Coral was wearing a larger and more elaborate ribbon bowtie with the center of it being the Mystic Water from before, now much more apparent and beautiful.

"See? Wasn't that worth the wait? Take it as thanks for opening the possibility of working for the Prince," Charon said amidst the awestruck silence of the group. It looked very beautiful by itself, yes, but it really matched with Coral's pastel colors.

Man… if Charon could do cool stuff, they'd have to convince the Banette to do something like that to their generic, yellow scarf. It looked really bland next to Coral… Well, that's what they got for stealing the first thing they found.

"Wow… This is… beautiful…" Coral breathed out, still staring at his new accessory.

Ayza grinned harder than usual and hopped up to Charon's counter. "What did you do?! How did you do it?! PLEASE ANSWER!" she commanded.

Charon stepped back and narrowed their eyes. "… Since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you," they sneered. "That was an enchantment I placed that lets me mold the item to whatever I want. Some of my products have them," they said with a proud smile slowly coming over them.

"That's kinda new," Free said, "Since when did you start enchantin' stuff?"

"A while ago. Nobody's interested in 'em, though." Their smile went away as they sulked. "… Probably because, if you want to be specific, they're curses, not enchantments…"

"Ah," was all that came out of Blight. It wasn't the most surprising thing. Blight's independent studies had included the occasional mention of ghost Pokémon. From the old records, there were excerpts of ghosts having the ability to curse whatever they wanted, but the actual effect varied on the person and their species. It wasn't a widespread thing, though.

From what the Ultra Beings understood, curses stemmed from deep-seated hatred. If a ghost didn't have that, then there would be nothing. It was partly why Blacephalon's never had curses themselves. But if that was the case…

Blight wondered… What was Charon's hatred?

Ayza gasped. "Curses! That's so cool!"

Charon's bewildered face tracked all of them. "You… don't think it's weird? Creepy? Potentially deadly?"

Blight hummed a bit. "Mmm, probably not. Curses aren't exactly the nicest thing, but as long as they don't hurt you, then there's no problem, right?" Curses or not, what they did was pretty cool, so the Poipole didn't really care what it was called.

Coral nodding seemed to agree with them. "Y-Yeah… If it can make something this pretty, then I'm just happy it exists, no matter what it's technically called…" he said as he kept staring at his new cursed apparel.

"Plus," Free added, "I haven't seen ya hurt a speck of dust."

The Banette's mouth hung as their cheeks somehow turned a light pink. Their eyes narrowed, then widened, looked to the sides, and then back at them. And the end of it all, Charon chuckled and looked down. "… How is it that my best customers have only bought one item from my shop?"

Smiles crossed all their faces. Blight thought Charon probably didn't get many interactions like this, if their shop's conditions said anything. They also talked a lot about how they never had customers when they slept here. Though… with the concept of all these items being cursed…

"… Are your curses what drives people away from the shop?" Blight asked.

Charon's smile shot back into a frown. "Don't test me. I can literally turn you into a doll."

"Righto, boss," Blight saluted and snickered, and everyone else followed with similar laughs.

It was… just nice. Blight could recognize how light their chest felt in the moment, surrounded by elated laughter. They looked at everyone and the place they were in… Truly, this was a good place.

They could still remember the fear of finally arriving in the outside world. At every turn, it felt like someone was watching and waiting to strike. For how much they rejected it, they were falling into the same mentality as everyone else… Arriving here with Aster chasing them didn't help, but it did lead them here… to Ayza and Coral, even Charon… They could finally feel like they could trust somebody, place their hopes on them. The stares they lived with for so long stopped mattering for a moment.

It was the first time they felt safe. The first time they felt like they belonged, and nobody stared at them, expecting the worst. Lucky or not, finding their partners here felt like a blessing. Even if the majority of the city said otherwise, they could see a new home here, with everyone else. They wouldn't let go of the first time they felt worth anything.

The first time that I haven't been a blight…

They wanted to revel in the feeling and environment forever, but they couldn't as they and everyone else were interrupted by the door to the shop opening. They all turned to the entrance to find a completely cloaked Lucario standing in the doorway with a bored expression. Blight could hear Ayza squeal a bit from the side.

"… This shop is quite ugly…" the Lucario mumbled, looking around.

Blight felt a quick tapping behind them and found Ayza staring in awe at the Lucario. "Guys… that's Nova, one of the past humans…!" she whispered in a high pitch. "It's him…! Oh, we're so lucky, heehee…!"

Oh… that Nova. Aster's "inspiration" or whatever. They barely remembered her raving about the parade in the night, but she did talk about him…

Charon crossed their arms. "What brings you to my humble shop?" they said back to their monotone voice. Though Ayza was tapping her feet in excitement, Blight couldn't help but float back a bit, the same as Coral and Free stepping back with weary eyes. The way he arrived and carried himself in the few seconds alone were enough to snap away all the fun in the air, replacing it with tense stillness.

Nova kept looking around, and then started focusing on everyone in the room. He didn't pay much mind to Ayza, Charon, and Free, but stared with a grimace at Blight and Coral for a while. The silence was almost unbearable, but Blight desperately hoped Nova just came to look at the shop.

Too bad their hopes were thrown away as he turned to Coral.

"… So, you're the intruder Avenir told me about," he said. Coral yelped and stepped back even more. Blight didn't have a good feeling about this… Especially after Nova's head turned to them.

"… And you're the Ultra Beast." The feelers behind his head started to rise with a blue glow and all five of the other people in the shop suddenly felt a heavy weight on their entire beings.

They all dropped to the floor with pained grunts. Blight could barely understand what was going on… Their whole body felt crushed, and they couldn't budge. It was as if the air was holding them tight against the ground was squeezing them to pop. A painful glance to their teammates showed Coral with widened eyes, almost hyperventilating, while Ayza seemed more surprised than anything, but there was clear pain behind her as well. Blight couldn't even move enough to see Free and Charon, but they could hear their groaning.

Nova gave a deep chuckle at the five of them forcefully groveling beneath him. "Did you all know that I'm a human? A hero? That was a long time ago, but people still call me that. I find it all worthless…" he moved around them all with ease, completely free unlike everyone beneath him, unable to even interrupt.

"Of course, hearing about you all and your little group… I can't really let it go. Thinking you can just come into this city and own it, aliens, humans, and Zoroark… Well, I think it's better to just wipe you out and save everyone the trouble. Prevent the pain before it begins, you know?"

Blight only strained against the weight at everything he said. Where did this come from? They had no business or problem with Nova, so why was he even here? And what was he even saying? Did he just find them all… wrong? Mistakes? It all rang exceedingly familiar in Blight's head, but they were also going through a horrible headache, so who knew…

"Wh-Why… are you… d-doing this?" Blight managed to say.

Nova's sharp eyes looked away from them with a scoff. "Why? That's simple…" Nova walked over to them and planted a foot on the Poipole's head.

Then, he started to push down.

"… Because I can. And none of you come close to even touching me."

Blight immediately felt like their head was splitting. The weight… the pressure… it was too much… Why… Why was this happening?! They were having such happy moments ago… Couldn't they go one day without making enemies?

…

… It was cold… Right at the back of their head, it was cold enough to feel numb. They couldn't even hear much anymore… No doubt, their friends were trying to say something to help. That's what they hoped was real…

Blight managed to look up and there they saw the real face of Nova. A horrible and prideful smile stood above the Poipole. The smile of someone who knew they were in control and everyone else was dirt to them… Blight could only feel one thing as their hazy vision looked at Nova…

Terror.

Everything was closing in… sight was going too… senses were… leaving.

… Somebody…

… a-anybody…

…plea… se…

…

…

"THE AURA GUARDIAN IS HERE!"

 

[zion of arcadia]

Oh? A PMD story about being transgender, maybe? Even if not, there be queerness ahead... I'm intrigued! The transformation aspect lends itself well to identity themes, I'm honestly surprised I haven't seen it more often.

Really, there was nothing all around. In the dark void that was the dreaming world, nothing was heard, nothing was felt, and nothing was seen. It was appreciated, in a way. Though there was nothing good, there was also nothing bad, so all in all, it was satisfying. And like any other dream, it could easily be filled with whatever the heart desired. Clearly, and without question, the dream was lighter than the heavy real world. It was easy to stay here, without problems or concerns, completely free… Forever…​

This is a solid opening paragraph. Our protagonist is caught in a liminal state, where he seems to feel most comfortable. He could fill the dreamscape, but will he? Why should he, really? It's an escape, a place to exist without needing to justify your existence. But in his current state, he's still hiding from himself. China Miéville once described it thus: "Jailers love escapism. What they hate is escape.” Perhaps our friend needs to learn the difference to find happiness.

Interesting that the Pelipper's name is Free in a story titled Free Fiction. The most obvious reason is because he can fly--more importantly, he can fly in and out of Reefly City, which appears to be closed off to most Pokémon. Free can cross between worlds at will. Birds in general often symbolize the mystical and the divine in occultism and mythology.

Edit: I forgot to mention this, but one other detail I enjoyed was when Javier realized his nakedness. Not only was it funny, but it made me think of nakedness in the biblical sense, as means to cover shame. And how that contrasts with Ayza's acceptance of his nakedness as well as her willingness to find clothes for him. I dunno, I've read similar scenes before, but this was the first time that really struck me.

Ayza seems fun, and will no doubt make a good foil to Javier given how energetic she is. I also just love the concept of a salazzle with helioptile coloration. It's a creative reinterpretation that makes sense.

Some of your prose could be a little repetitive. 'Weird' was frequently used as an adjective. The perspective seemed to shift and headhop once or twice. Otherwise thought it all worked well. Thanks for sharing, have a poem for your efforts:

Spoiler: The Language of Birds by Richard Siken

1

A man saw a bird and found him beautiful. The bird had a song inside him, and feathers. Sometimes the man felt like the bird and sometimes the man felt like a stone—solid, inevitable—but mostly he felt like a bird, or that there was a bird inside him, or that something inside him was like a bird fluttering. This went on for a long time.

2

A man saw a bird and wanted to paint it. The problem, if there was one, was simply a problem with the question. Why paint a bird? Why do anything at all? Not how, because hows are easy—series or sequence, one foot after the other—but existentially why bother, what does it solve?

And just because you want to paint a bird, do actually paint a bird, it doesn’t mean you’ve accomplished anything. Who gets to measure the distance between experience and its representation? Who controls the lines of inquiry? We do. Anyone can.

Blackbird, he says. So be it, indexed and normative. But it isn’t a bird, it’s a man in a bird suit, blue shoulders instead of feathers, because he isn’t looking at a bird, real bird, as he paints, he is looking at his heart, which is impossible.

Unless his heart is a metaphor for his heart, as everything is a metaphor for itself, so that looking at the paint is like looking at a bird that isn’t there, with a song in its throat that you don’t want to hear but you paint anyway.

The hand is a voice that can sing what the voice will not, and the hand wants to do something useful. Sometimes, at night, in bed, before I fall asleep, I think about a poem I might write, someday, about my heart, says the heart.

3

They looked at the animals. They looked at the walls of the cave. This is earlier, these are different men. They painted in torchlight: red mostly, sometimes black—mammoth, lion, horse, bear—things on a wall, in profile or superimposed, dynamic and alert.

They weren’t animals but they looked like animals, enough like animals to make it confusing, meant something but the meaning was slippery: it wasn’t there but it remained, looked like the thing but wasn’t the thing—was a second thing, following a second set of rules—and it was too late: their power over it was no longer absolute.

What is alive and what isn’t and what should we do about it? Theories: about the nature of the thing. And of the soul. Because people die. The fear: that nothing survives. The greater fear: that something does.

The night sky is vast and wide.

They huddled closer, shoulder to shoulder, painted themselves in herds, all together and apart from the rest. They looked at the sky, and at the mud, and at their hands in the mud, and their dead friends in the mud. This went on for a long time.

4

To be a bird, or a flock of birds doing something together, one or many, starling or murmuration. To be a man on a hill, or all the men on all the hills, or half a man shivering in the flock of himself. These are some choices.

The night sky is vast and wide.

A man had two birds in his head—not in his throat, not in his chest—and the birds would sing all day never stopping. The man thought to himself, One of these birds is not my bird. The birds agreed.

 

[GumPlum]

Chapter 11: Purpose of a Hero

With the sun beating down on his covered head, Aster crossed his arms and glanced around the busy street he was in. He kept a particularly sharp eye out for anybody doing something bad to hopefully help them, but there wasn't much anyways. That was good, in a way.

It was the second day for GAD, and he couldn't be any more excited! He had his new sidekick Quill with him, Iki was assigned a similar route as his, he was ahead of schedule— it was all going great, to be perfectly honest! Sure, GAD's public reputation probably dropped with the protection order from the king, but eh. If he cared about public perception, he would've stopped being the Aura Guardian a long time ago!

… He tilted his head at the sudden thought, almost knocking Quill off the perched spot on his head. The occasional idea like that appeared every now and then, making a small pit in his stomach. Not caring about how some saw him… That sounded a bit weird. A similar thought creeped in when he first saw Blight and Note in the streets.

Shaking his head slightly from the confusion, Aster ignored Quill's protests and watched as Iki bowed and waved goodbye to an Espeon and Umbreon couple in their house. A wing of his came up to fix the cap that always dangled on his head, which Aster always giggled at.

As he came back, he sighed and looked at his route on a sheet of paper to his side. "Twenty down, way too many to go…"

"Do you need to say that every time you make a delivery?" Aster huffed at the fun sucked out.

Iki shook his head and started walking. "You can never be too thorough."

"You can be really boring though…" Aster mumbled as he followed his brother.

Iki looked back with narrowed eyes, already starting his inspection of Aster's attitude, the Scrafty guessed. "Boring isn't a bad thing you know. Boring gets results."

Aster frowned. He didn't have to bring him down like that… "What happened to you, man? You were so fun and full of energy when we were kids. Where did that energy go?" he complained with raised arms, almost smacking his sidekick.

His brother smiled. "I grew up, Aster. Ever since I started working and earning money for the orphanage, I've seen how hard being an adult is. That's where my energy goes, into taking care of you and the kids."

Aster pursed his mouth and looked away. Bleh, he hated how Iki was always right. It was a bit inspiring, if very annoying as well.

"Orphanage? You mean the one outside the city?" Quill spoke up and flew down, now walking beside the other two.

Aster tilted his head and smiled. "Ah, I guess you wouldn't know… Yeah, we're brothers from the orphanage outside the city." Thinking about it, would that be his origin story? Hmm… nah, that wouldn't be it. Though, he would prefer it over the real thing.

Quill raised his hat. "I remember Nacht saying you are adoptive brothers. Who adopted you two, though? After a certain point, I stopped paying attention to her briefing."

"Nobody! Never even paid attention to!" Aster cheered, throwing a hand to the air, and making some of the civilians walking around him flinch away. It was the usual reaction, so it didn't surprise or stop him at least.

The white-tipped Murkrow stared at him with a hanging beak. After a few blinks, one wing rubbed that cracked beak as he glanced away. "How the hell can you say that so positively?"

Iki turned around and smiled. "It's not very hard. It was actually a lot rarer that somebody did get adopted from the orphanage. There's a reason why it's outside the city, barely anybody knows about it," he said with a small chuckle at the end.

"When you say it like that, even I get a bit sad," Aster added, sulking at Iki's bluntness. The Cramorant just gave him a raised brow, as if he was weirded out.

Quill fluttered up quickly and landed in front of both of them, with bewildered eyes. "And you two are just fine without a family? Doesn't bother you one bit?"

Aster's eyes widened and he saw Iki's sharpen into wild, beady ones. Family… That was always the gut punch for him, and he imagined for his brother too. Still, he thankfully knew how to deflect from experience. "Ah, heh, yeah. It's still sad, but we weren't alone, you know? We had each other as brothers, and the caretaker of the orphanage was kind of like our mother too. We have our own little family there."

It seemed to work as Iki's feathers fluttered down after a shiver, and his eyes shifted back from beady to vibrant, the obvious tell to Aster that his brother regained control of his body again. Quill, however, simply glanced away, hanging his hat low. "Mm, I get it. I shouldn't have asked… I'm sorry."

"N-No, you're fine," Iki waved a wing with a chuckle. "We just don't think about it much at this point." A small sigh escaped his beak, but it ended on a smile. "We're used to the feeling, but you're still fine. At the very least, you're not as pushy as that Nacht."

"Absolutely never," Quill snapped, his head shooting up. His dull red eyes shone a bit in the bright day, which was more than Aster had ever seen from him. Sure, he only knew the guy for, like, three days, but he always had a constant bored or annoyed expression. At all points, from how he didn't speak much unless he spoke first or was asked something, or how he shambled along without energy in his body and voice…

Tired was one thing, but Quill just seemed kinda lifeless all the time. Comparing him to Nacht was the first look of solid defiance Aster had seen in him, almost like a different mask had been put on, but it was an honest one, nonetheless. It made Aster compulsively grin with renewed energy.

"Well, hey! We agree on some things, after all!" Aster cheered, hopping closer to Quill and extending a gloved hand. "We're one step closer to becoming friends! Maybe even hero and sidekick, heh!"

From where there was bold defiance, Quill's eyes now had a plain stare in them as he turned away and kept walking through the crowded street. "You're weird. I don't get how you have so much energy and excitement for nothing."

Aster watched the Murkrow leave, though he did grin at the slight hop he had now. It looked almost like he was acting up the rejection, which only meant to Aster that he succeeded somewhat. He went along and followed with Iki beside him. His brother gave him a narrowed-eyed stare that was probably about Quill's words, if he had to guess.

He just shrugged. "Not the first or last time I'm called weird."

Iki just sighed and continued faster on the trek.

Eventually, they made it to a simple and sunlit alley where a separate road to the side gave way to one of the many canals of the city. From there, Iki stopped in front of a stone building with a wooden door in the alley. "Uhh, yeah, this is my last stop for this area, just wait here," he said.

As he flew a little to avoid scaling the small steps to the door, Aster and Quill waited close by. Aster in particular was looking past the alley and to the open and bisected road beside them, searching for crime to bust! "Any crime on your end, Quill?"

The Murkrow sighed and tipped their feathered hat low. "No, Aster… Barely anything illegal happens in this city. I don't even know why Nacht put me up to this…"

"Don't be so gloomy, partner! If there's no crime, then that's a reason to be happy!" Aster laughed uproariously, though he also knew it was mostly to alleviate his own chest.

"And what? If there's a random robbery, you bust it? Isn't that what the guard and people like Nova are supposed to do? Why are you getting involved in their work?" Quill questioned.

Aster's chest shook to a sinking pit within. Ah, he just had to bring up that name… It's fine, just power through, he thought, clenching his gloved hands tight and slightly feeling his claws dig into his palms.

"Ahh, w-well, it's better if I can stop crime before it happens, you know? That way, nobody else has to get involved!"

"That either avoids a mess or starts one. And looking at your position, it seems to make more messes than not…" Quill sneered, making Aster pout.

"Come on, give me some credit, Quill! I'm trying to help people here! Don't I at least get credit for the thought, huh? What about the thought?!" the Scrafty countered, throwing his hands out.

Quill looked away. "Trying isn't enough when dealing with something like that. When you act like authority, responsibility of the consequences is put on you. You have to know what you're doing, and you're just a dreamy kid who dresses weird."

Aster's fists clenched harder. His flushed cheeks beneath his mask told him the obvious fact that Quill was right. He was still just someone who dressed up as a Lucario and went around helping whoever wasn't weirded out. He wasn't blind to his own delusion. "I know that, Quill… But I don't have anything else."

"Eh?" Quill simply said, swerving his head back to Aster, who was now shivering from the pounding in his chest.

"I don't have anything to be proud of, because I wasn't born right," Aster mumbled as brought his hands together, twiddling them through the knitted ends. He could feel the sharp edges poking through. The descriptors flowed through his thoughts like always. Born in a body that was only harmful, poor, delusional, dumb… Hell, he wasn't even born a boy. No Lucario costume would hide that from himself.

He shook his head, deciding to put on a customary smile again. "When you're born wrong, you gotta make it up for something. If I have nothing… then I'll work so that people don't be like me."

"Like I said, dreamy," Quill grumbled, shifting his sight directly to Aster. He had that defiant stare again, like he was fighting something. "If you wanna help, then what's dropkicking your coworkers?"

A hand of Aster came up to scratch his neck as he grimaced. The memory of the rush he felt back then was still clear in his mind, and he was trying his best to not break into it again. Instead, he tried to figure out Quill. "Why are you so focused on putting me down? I just want to help people. Is it so wrong to dream?"

Quill's cracked beak opened, but kept hanging for a moment. With squinted eyes, he looked away to where Iki was speaking with a Watchog and sighed. "Look, you're not wrong for wanting to help… But if the end does more harm than good, then what's the point? Honestly, haven't you ever thought about helping people in any other way?"

One eye glanced to him, and considering the dull red was the only slightly vibrant part of Quill's body, it was easy to see that his eye softened.

Aster shrugged with a sigh. "… I mean, yeah, but I've always wanted to be a hero. It's been my dream ever since I hatched…" Aster admitted, looking down and touching the paint on his mask with a gloved hand. There was no feeling, which was somewhat comforting.

"A hero…" Quill echoed, turning his hat down. "Well, I've never seen an honest hero, for whatever that means in this world. All they want is to feel important."

Aster opened his mouth to counter Quill, to tell him he was wrong and to have some faith, but found no energy to do so as it closed back with a huff. Truthfully, Aster didn't know why Quill acted and talked the way he did, or why he was even trained on berating Aster for being the Aura Guardian. But it made sense to him. He didn't disagree with Quill.

"Ahh, the usual arguing against Aster being the Aura Guardian…" They turned to look at Iki who finished his delivery. He had a pleasant smile on his beak as he hopped down the steps of the house. "Yeah, yeah… It's pretty useless, Quill. No matter what you say, he won't stop. Trust me, I've been trying for two years."

"That's pretty harsh, man…" Aster sulked.

Iki motioned them to follow him, and they complied, but Quill did end up staring at Aster for a moment before going with Iki, practically deleting the tense air without a word. In a way, Aster appreciated it. The less criticism he faced, the easier his heart went through the day. He was all for forgetting it.

… There went another one of those careless thoughts.

As they walked back to the lighthouse to restock, Aster looked at his surroundings to distract himself. Despite the constant berating from his companions, he wasn't giving up! If he could spot any potential crime and prevent it, then that would prove them wrong!

Let's see… A Lilligant watering their plants— that's cute! There was a Buizel in the canals kissing two Floatzels on the street and then saying goodbye to them. As the Buizel swam away, the parents just looked on dreamily, signaling to Aster that it was probably an important day for them or something of the like. Those smiles and happy sighs… It was like a stinging memory right in the stomach.

"Aster, don't get left behind! Keep following us!" Iki called out from a noticeable distance.

Aster huffed and ran to them. "You guys don't have treat me like a kid, you know… I'm an adult just like you, Iki," he said as he caught up. Without skipping a beat, Iki and Quill turned around and continued walking, Aster following closely behind.

"I'll believe it once you stop playing hero…" Quill mumbled.

Aster scoffed. "That's rude! Being a hero isn't childish! Do you even know the purpose of a hero?"

Quill looked back with a sleazy grin and tipped his hat upwards. "Please, enlighten me."

Seemingly already tired, Iki sighed from the front.

Aster pumped his fists close to his chest with a slight squeal. Okay, this was a good chance to convince him! He just had to recite the words he lived by! "You see, Quill, a hero's purpose is to shoulder the burden of other people! To make their lives better by simply being in it, not being what detracts from it," he said with his hands to his hips and a proud grin. Just saying it made his chest lighter!

"Uh-huh." With droning eyes, Quill nodded a bit far for it to be normal, which was an obvious jab to Aster's heartfelt declaration.

"Aster, if that's what a hero is for, then answer honestly," Iki started with narrowed eyes as he closed in on Aster, "are the lives of Team Rogue and Note better with you in it? Please remember how your introduction was you attacking them in the middle of the street and how you've never apologized for that."

For how elated Aster felt a moment ago, those simple words rattled his chest again. His head dropped alongside his shoulders, his stare now focused on his own body. He could see every paint and cheap accessory that made him look like a Lucario— like the Aura Guardian. It was what everyone else saw in him daily.

… He knew. He knew the looks Blight gave him. He was aware of the trepidation they had with him. Truth be told, he had hoped it would all blow over, but it never felt like it would. Only Ayza really talked to him, but that was probably more due to her excitable nature.

Even for how little time they knew each other, he did still want the best for them as everyone else. But if there was always a wall separating them, then he couldn't help. And if he couldn't help, then he couldn't address the worrying excitement he felt when he attacked them for the first time. That aching wouldn't leave.

To them, he probably wasn't a hero. That rejection wasn't anything new. But it had never burned in his chest this much before…

How can I fix it…?

Apparently, he had stayed silent during the whole thought process since Iki planted a wing to his face with a concerned expression.

"A-Ah! Yeah, yeah! Don't put that in my face, I've got feathers in my mouth!" Aster flailed in front of him.

"Thank the gods, you just kinda blanked out there… So? Do you have an answer?" Iki asked, tilting his long neck forwards.

Aster sighed by himself, letting the pit in his stomach grow. He didn't know, really. An apology was in order, yes, but he doubted it would fix things. "I um… don't really know…" Aster admitted, looking down at his covered feet.

After a low huff, Iki placed a wing on his shoulder while Quill looked curiously from behind. "Aster… I'm… I'm not saying you should stop being a hero, I'm saying that you have to rethink why and how you're being a hero…" he softly said.

Aster stood silent, unable to raise his head.

Iki continued. "Look, we're brothers. I know when you're hurting and when you're hurting others… So, please, even if it requires a whole day of talking, resolve your situation with them."

Aster's fists clenched the same as his teeth. Gods, he really hated how Iki was always right.

"Please, Aster. If you can't do that, then—"

Iki was interrupted by a sudden shove and ripping sound coming from his side. Aster looked up but could barely make out Quill on the ground and two mailbags flowing in the air, being straddled along by a long muzzle biting it.

"HA, I got it!" the new figure shouted as it sprinted past the three of them with Iki's bag. Aster swung his head to look at the figure darting through the stunned crowd. It was a silver Thievul with patches of missing fur in some places. They tossed the bags in the air and immediately caught them with their long and bushy tail curling around them. They looked back with a wide grin.

"You GAD people don't belong here! We can take care of ourselves!" they said as they sped off into the streets, pushing past the surprised Pokémon.

In worry, Aster looked back to his companions to see if they were okay. Quill was getting up with loud groan and Iki spread his unnaturally long wings out.

"Was that…?" Aster mumbled, still processing what happened.

Quill lit up with energy as he flared his wings out with eyes wider and bolder than ever before. "YES, Aster! That's crime, they just stole our mailbags!"

… Time to get to work.

"Iki, Quill! Be my eyes in the sky! I'll chase them on the ground!" Aster shouted as he sprinted off behind the Thievul. Pushing back the previous conversation, he was now entirely focused on this thief!

Well, it wasn't that serious since those bags just had money and food at this point, but still!

Aster watched as Iki and Quill flapped above him, clearly faster in the air than the Scrafty was on the ground. That was true, even Thievul were pretty fast… Well, a dance was in order~

In the middle of running through the streets, Aster started hopping and skipping, waving his hands around in the air. There were occasional stomps interlaced throughout spins and weaves, with small reddish clouds kicking up beneath him.

Quill looked back and grimaced. "Wha… Why are you dancing?!" he shouted.

Iki turned mid-flight. "Don't worry about that, he'll catch up," he said calmly and continued flying. Aster could hear the frustrated grunt of Quill as he left as well, but he was focused on dancing like the public fool he probably looked like.

One hop… Three twirls… And one giant stomp!

With that final stomp, Aster spread his arms and gave a loud shout, startling all the Pokémon in the street and canal who weren't already. As he did that, the red clouds on his feet brightened and then dispersed, leaving his feet now glowing red.

"Dragon Dance completed!" Aster shouted and sped off.

With the boost to his energy and speed, it didn't take much time for him to reach Iki and Quill, the Scrafty waving from below. It also helped that the street crowds were already dividing because of the Thievul in front and the birds chasing above.

Quill stammered, but Iki just smiled. "Told you so, heh."

It took even less time for them to close in on the Thievul zipping through the streets and jumping over canals, Aster imitating their movement closely to avoid anyone as well. They were all hot on the Thievul's tail, and the thief looked back and spat on the ground, seeing them closer by the second.

"You don't know when to quit do you? Guess I'll make it more fun!" they said as they shot towards an alleyway to their side. The two flying types took a bit to adjust, but Aster swerved towards them without problem. Alley to alley… it wasn't particularly tiring, but the layout of the city being completely interconnected didn't help much with all the twisting and turning. Iki and Quill probably didn't have that problem, though, so Aster just groaned to himself.

After turning the corner into a long, but narrow alleyway with many crates lying about, Aster shouted, "Give it up! You can't outrun us!"

The Thievul looked back with a smirk. "Well try this, you 'hero!'" They turned and skidded to a stop, their eyes glowing a dull purple. They glanced away and then swung their head towards Aster, a nearby crate shooting into the air with that purple glow. Aster hopped to stop his momentum, but the crate was too big to avoid, and it crashed into him, shattering in some places and different berries spilled out.

"Gah!" It didn't hurt much, but it was STILL A CRATE. Nevertheless, Aster saw the Thievul laughing at him, but they were also finally standing still, so he looked to the sky. "Now's your chance, Iki!"

"Huh?" was all the Thievul could say before a stream of water blasted into them. They coughed and leapt out of the way after a moment, but were too late to notice a speeding Murkrow diving in straight into his tail. With a patch of fur now in the air, Quill was standing at the other side of the alley with both torn bags in his beak.

"Wh-What…?" the Thievul stammered as he looked from Quill on the ground to Iki in the sky. It was enough time for Aster to leap into them, tackling the Thievul into the ground. They struggled to break, but Aster's strength easily squandered that. Eventually, Iki landed next to them, and Quill walked up as well.

"Wow, oh wow, finally stopped crime, huh, Aster?" Quill sneered while getting up in the Thievul's wet face. The thief themselves just kept squirming through Aster's grasp, growing more frantic and strong by the second. Aster tried to just hold them down harder, but that just earned a yelp from the crazed Thievul, making Iki and Quill step back.

"N-NO! DON'T TAKE ME!" they shrieked before twisting their head and biting down onto Aster's hand hard, where fangs broke scales and sunk deep. Stinging pain aside, Aster's heart shot to worry as his eyes saw the Thievul's widen with pale purple veins coursing through. They were practically feral with panic, but Aster could see his source of worry seeping in.

"I-IKI!" Aster shouted, tightening around the panting Thievul. "The crate behind us! Find a Pecha in there and bring it, fast!" Quill questioned that, but he was ignored by Iki also knowing what happened. After a few seconds, Iki almost barreled into Aster's side with a fresh Pecha berry in his beak.

Still struggling to hold the Thievul, he shoved the berry into their snout. Surprisingly enough, they started crunching and chewing fast, with a familiar hunger that didn't care where the food came from. He let go— much to Quill's side protest— and the Thievul just kept biting down on the berry, as if they weren't just captured and surrounded.

And so, they watched the silver Thievul devour the berry without care or sense, the dull veins in his eyes clearing slowly. Seeing that the poison was leaving, Aster's heart steadied, and it let him process the assailant in full. They were gaunt, with patches of fur missing and exposing the skin beneath. Sunken eyes and weathered fur that ended in wiry tips only told Aster to help them.

"Feeling better?" Aster asked, holding his lightly bleeding hand. Even with the poison that did go through, he was glad it wasn't a deep wound, or else the Thievul would've been in horrible trouble.

They coughed from hastily finishing the berry, and they panted as they weakly glanced through the three of them. With claws still jutting slightly out, the apprehension was clear. They were still surrounded, after all.

"Don't worry, we won't hurt you," Aster assured with a smile. "I'm sorry for the chase and tackling you, but I'm here to help you."

"Help them?" Quill asked with a weary brow. "Shouldn't we take them to the guard? Have them actually do their job?"

"N-No, please!" the Thievul shouted back, curling inwards with a shiver into the wall of the alley.

"I won't do that, trust me," Aster said, turning to Quill. "What good is that going to do? Arrest them for a petty crime and then have Agaya punish them unfairly? None of that actually solves anything." He glanced from Quill's curiously open face to the cowering Thievul. He pulled on his mask a bit, smiling like before.

"Be honest with me, you don't actually hate GAD or anything, do you? You just needed the money and food I had in my bag."

After a few more fast glances, they sighed, slumping in defeat. "Y-Yeah… you're right. I needed it, and you three were easy picking, standing in the street." They shook their head and grumbled. "Me and my daughter came here from the wilds for safety… but I can't get a job because no one trusts a raggedy Thievul. No job means no money, and that means no food. We're hungry, that's all."

Aster pursed his mouth at that. They were suffering because of their species' reputation. Judged by how they were born and how they looked like… He knew it well, and it was wholly unfair. No matter the species, everyone deserved a fair chance.

And yet… I didn't even give that to Blight and Note,and for the same reason too. I'm no better. That made him clench his fists for a moment.

"Well, alright then," Aster said, putting on a smile to push his own thoughts out and to reassure the Thievul. "Quill, give me my bag, please."

The Murkrow stared at him for a bit, but then shrugged and passed the bag with a talon. Aster opened it and dropped everything out, which were about 500 poké and a few Oran berries. He held them close to the stunned Thievul's waterlogged tail.

"Here, take this, and promise me you won't steal again. You can probably take some berries from that crate while we're still alone here."

"Wh-What…?" the Thievul stammered, wild eyes still processing the food and money in front of them.

Iki came to Aster's side with a bewildered face. "A-Aster! That's all your money! You just got that, why give it away for nothing?"

"Because they need it," he answered. He tilted his head with a chuckle. "I keep telling you, I'm not looking to punish people. If I can help this Thievul along the way, that's enough for me. Plus, GAD gives us enough of both right? I don't need it as much as they do."

Iki narrowed his eyes, but then sighed softly into a small smile. "And here I thought you were delusional…" he mumbled.

Ah, that was more satisfying than anything else. He could barely remember the last time Iki smiled at him like that. It all made him blush and look back to the Thievul, feigning seriousness when his heart was actually exploding.

The thief stared at him with narrowed eyes, but, slowly, they stood back up and wrapped everything Aster gave them into their tail, even sifting through the broken crate without a word. Once they had enough, they turned away.

"… Thanks. I'm sorry for stealing from you."

"It's fine," Aster said, "I'm just happy I could help you without a problem. Just live good and look out for this, okay?" He pointed to his black and blue mask at that last warning. The Thievul nodded, then dashing out of the long alley and out of their sight.

Aster waved. "If you ever need help, GAD is here for you!"

"Okay," Quill started, stepping next to Aster, "I think I get you a bit better… You're not as bad as I thought." He looked to the Murkrow, finding a small grin and his eyes were a bit redder than before. It made him want to hug Quill, but the Murkrow snapped back to a serious face. "But if this is how you do things… Then what was Blight and Note? You were nothing like this."

Aster had to admit to himself, Quill had a way of inflating and deflating his energy in an instant. He just glanced down, finding the paper spike in his chest bent. Most of his costume was torn or messed up a bit from the scuffle. He worried about it back then, but now… That concern felt distant.

But he knew what he wanted to do now. It brought him to smile at Quill, who shared a similar one. "I want to apologize to them. I'll do that soon."

For the first time, Quill chuckled, and it sounded almost distant. "I can get behind that."

Iki planted a wing to Aster's shoulder, smiling as well. "I knew my brother was still in there." Without question or delay, Aster swung his arms around Iki into a full hug. It surprised the Cramorant, but Aster just squeezed tighter, and his brother followed soon. He was glad his gloves let him do this. Nothing felt better.

"Gods, what a good day!" Aster shouted after releasing Iki. His chest beat with reinvigorated excitement, almost like he could sprint for a whole day. Helping the Thievul was one thing, but getting Iki and Quill on his good side was even better! Appreciation and recognition were always worth it! He actually proved them wrong!

Ready to go on his way, he looked to their stolen bags. They were intact, but their straps had been torn apart… Nacht warned them when they started that they were responsible for each of their bags, so they'd have to fix it on their own. Eh, that could wait.

"So… we should get to the lighthouse!" Aster cheered after getting everything together. He turned to his companions with a smirk. "Hey… since our coordination there was top notch for our first time, we should form a team!

"No," they said together and walked off, leaving Aster behind.

"That's very fair!" he giggled and shouted alone before running to follow.

---

"Okay, you have one last meeting, and then you're done for the day… Let's just get this over with," Hope whispered to himself as he gently floated through the castle halls. Of course, he was in his disguise so that meant he had to go extra slooooow! Floating gently and slowly, just like the poised and proper prince should… Bleh, maybe Tempo, but not him.

It had been sunset for a decent while too, so it was just more annoying that he'd spent a whole day like this! Not to mention, he'd probably have to keep it to appease his father during dinner… Agh whatever! That time will come when it comes! All he had to do was get past this last meeting!

Too bad it was with a not-so-savory Pokémon…

As he turned the corner and ended up in the center garden, he saw Agaya looking at one of the trees, patiently waiting. Hope huffed by himself and approached him. The Gallade noticed him fairly fast, and he smiled at Hope when he did.

"I must say, Prince Hope, I'm very grateful for you taking the time out of your busy schedule to meet with me," he said with a gentler voice than he did in the jail cells.

"It is no problem, Chief Agaya, what did you want to ask me?" Hope said, reverting to his dignified voice. Gods, he hated using this voice, but Agaya didn't know about him, so presentation had to be kept up.

The Gallade looked back at one of the trees in the garden. "… This garden really is wonderful, isn't it? I love coming here whenever I'm allowed entry into Vassaltis Castle…" The warm, orange rays of the sunset were gleaming through the trees, moving as the wind blew and the tress shook with it. The shadows overcame Agaya for a moment as he looked back to Hope. "I came here with a question and a warning. And you can drop the act too. I know that's not your real voice."

Well, this started swell. At least it was just the voice…

"And…?" Hope said with narrowed eyes in his real, younger voice.

Agaya smiled. "First, the question. I'm curious, what is your goal with the Pokémon you chose for your General Assistance Department? I mean, a Zoroark, an Ultra Beast, and that weird kid from the lower districts? Are you trying to rile up the city? Not to mention, they were all my prisoners the day you announced your project…"

Hope rolled his eyes without concern. "First, it's Ultra Being, not beast. And to the actual question.… No reason in particular," Hope said plainly.

"What?"

Hope nodded, a grin forming at the thought of telling off Agaya. "You heard me. Sure, if the Pokémon of this city could come to accept new kinds of people, then that's great. But that's just a result," he said as he placed a paw on his chest. "The reason I chose them is because I like them, and I trust them. You'd do well with seeing past their bodies."

Agaya's eyes trailed him, studying him. He chuckled, but it didn't seem out of malice or ill-intent. "I'll keep that in mind. Now, I'm sure you don't trust me all that much, but know that my warning is honest and in good faith."

Oh? That was interesting… Yeah, he and the other members of GAD didn't really trust, or like him, but Agaya wasn't the kind of Pokémon to lie. At most, he'd just twist the truth, but it was obvious when he did it like with the notion of Ultra Beings being illegal in the city. But this… this wasn't it…

The Gallade's eyes sharpened, and he crossed his arms. "… You and your little gang should stay clear of Nova. He's got all of you on his sight."

Hope's eyes widened and his breath left him in one swing. We're Nova's targets? That's bad… Really, really bad…!

"I see you realize the gravity of that statement," Agaya started, "though, with the new order put by King Avenir, it may be fine… Either way, I wouldn't push your luck. You know how things with Nova can get… messy." Hope could see some sweat come off him as he spoke.

Hope nodded, but his floating faltered a bit from the worry racking him. "Why are you telling me this? I thought you didn't like us."

Agaya stood silent for a moment, but then strode closer to Hope and stopped fairly close to him. "… That's true. I don't particularly like you guys, but Nova is a different situation. I can place myself aside for someone like him. It's why I put my hand into the King's order as well."

Hope fully agreed, but moreso because of the clear enemy. Though, he didn't get much time to talk it over with Agaya as a Murkrow landed on a tree branch next to them with a squawk. They flaunted a wing as both turned their heads to the plain-looking Murkrow. Hope's chest sank at the familiar sight.

And, unsurprisingly for Hope, out came Nacht's voice.

"Sorry to interrupt your discussion, boys, but you're a bit late. Your guilty party's already taken action."

---

"Don't be such a drag about it!" Aster whined as he and Iki walked through the streets.

"All I'm saying is… had you not given that Thievul all of your money, then I wouldn't have to pay for all of this!" Iki retorted with extended wings. By now, sunset was beginning and both of them finished their jobs, Quill leaving them also, so they were going to Charon's shop to get their mailbags patched up.

Oddly enough, Team Rogue hadn't finished, but they were probably just slower than them, and Note apparently finished even faster than them. So, that was a thing. Anyways, she had gone to Rune long before them, so they just had to meet up later! Thankfully, Charon's shop was pretty close to Rune so it wasn't gonna be a long trip. All they had to do was leave the bags there, Charon would fix them overnight, and they'd pick it up in the morning! Simple!

Iki kept talking about the cost, but Aster was mostly drowning him out with his own happy thoughts. Soon enough, they could see Charon's shop in the not-too-far distance.

It was calm stroll. That was all it was… Those were the thoughts Aster missed as he took a step forward and suddenly felt the worst feeling he could ever have. It was like the world slapped him in the face for having a good day.

It was an immediate weight on his entire being which he grunted at. The world around him stopped mattering as everything closed in. That invisible pressure crowded every inch of his body and made him want to fall and writhe like nothing. That was the intention of the technique, after all.

It's him… Gods, not again, please…

"A-Aster?" Iki asked, looking over to him and finding his shivering body. His brother went to question him again, but Aster was already walking forwards in a hurry.

The pressure… It always had an epicenter, and it wasn't hard to trace it. There was an instinctive feel to it, but Aster could tell where the crushing sensation originated from. His head lolled at the pressure, feeling the area around him, and his feet moved by themselves in the direction he simply knew was right.

And the pit in his stomach went into an abyss at feeling it was coming from the small and decrepit house of Charon.

"S-Sorry, Iki, I gotta go! Stay here!" Aster strained as he ran deeper into the field. His focus was solely on getting to the shop, so he could only keep worrying because Iki was following him like nothing was happening. Of course, he didn't know. There was no visible change in the environment, nor was there any new sound… But Iki couldn't feel the field. It hadn't targeted him yet.

Each step was worse than the last, but by ignoring everything else Aster stumbled and arrived at the shop. He panted from the pressure on his being, his body trying to recompose itself and stand tall. Though, it faltered when he noticed the familiar Lucario within the shop from the windows outside. More horrifying were all the bodies on the ground, beneath him.

"Wh-What's happening? Who is that?" Iki asked over Aster's shoulders and looking in. It only took a second for him to gasp. "I-Is that everyone?! Aster, tell me!"

"S-Stay back…" Aster said, stepping in front of the door. Iki endlessly worrying was understandable, but it was distracting. He did his best to focus himself and steady his body, only managing to get his body shivering rather than doubling over. After so long, he was still afraid, but he needed to forego that.

Okay, just power through! You're a hero, this is what a hero is for! Help your friends! Stop Nova! With the mental invigoration and a deep breath, he grabbed the door handle and threw it open with all his strength!

"THE AURA GUARDIAN IS HERE!"

As he shouted his introduction, Nova's face slowly turned to him with a glare, but Aster could feel the field get stronger, and it was evidenced by the new pressure on his body and a pained squawk from behind him as Iki fell like everyone else. Despite the pain and worry, Aster managed to stay standing, thankfully.

"… You," was all Nova said.

Aster already saw Nova on top of Blight's crumpled body. The sight alone made him want to gag… Ayza, Coral, Free, and Charon were close by as well, each one similarly splayed on the floor. Coral had his arm out in Blight's direction, but that was futile. But Blight… Aster could see something thin and black in between their head and Nova's foot slightly shifting and spilling out. He had no idea what it was but there was no time to question or hesitate.

He was the last bastion between Nova and his coworkers. So, he started the performance.

"Hey, Nova! I see you've got some new prey, huh?" Aster asked with his friendliest voice. The Lucario took his foot off Blight's head and walked towards Aster without a change in dull expression. Despite the impending and horrifying confrontation, he was glad he managed to get Nova off Blight, and the gasp they made when Nova left was confirmation that they were still conscious at least…

But that black substance shifted and slipped off, disappearing behind them. Aster couldn't process it much, because Nova stood in front of him, making him gulp.

"Why are you here?" Nova asked, looking down at him.

With a clenched fist, Aster steeled himself. "I came here to warn you! I know how you like to do your business on the down-low, which is exactly why you shouldn't go for these guys!"

Nova tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "Stop? What, because they're your coworkers? Your friends?"

Aster put on his best sheepish look, rubbing the back of his head. "Ahh, well, it'd really suck because of that, but I'm more talking about the king's new order! You don't want to get in trouble!"

Nova's eyes flickered for a moment, and then the edges of his snout curled into a small snarl. "I don't care about that. Don't think you can fool me so easily. If you want to join these stains, I have no qualms about it. You should've anyways, like all the others."

The field only grew as Nova's feelers raised a bit more, and Aster almost crashed onto the ground, instead falling on one knee. But his focus was more on the louder and more painful groans around him. His heart raced with desperation kicking in. Talking wasn't going to work, and he wanted to gut himself for even trying.

The pressure strengthened once more, and Aster's breath left him with a gasp, with a throbbing headache forming. And yet, Nova just stood still, looking down. "I've let you imitate me, but now I'm seeing that was a waste of time. Tell me, why should I listen? You can never hope to do anything useful, but I do wish to see you struggle and writhe. Earn my respect by cementing your position now."

Aster bared his fangs, claws digging into his closed hands. Each word fueled a small spark, with a bloody memory following soon after. The scene was all too familiar. Seeing the people he cared about, and he wanted to treat well, keeled over and suffering like the air was crushing them…

His body felt like it was on fire. Every inch uncomfortably blazed with a nervous energy that he welcomed. If Nova wanted an answer now… Then he knew his decision! It was nothing but obvious!

I'm not going to stand and watch anymore… That's not what a hero does!

Slowly raising himself against the pressure, Aster looked up with his own fanged snarl and shivering fists. "I-I… I won't let you… hurt any more people… I'm a hero. I can't let that happen!"

Nova's eyes dulled again as an arm slid out from his large cloak, planting the paw against Aster's stiff head and hidden gem without resistance. Past the paw, Aster could see dry and old gashes littering his arm and beyond. It glowed a strong blue, and Aster already knew what was going to happen next in familiar fear that stunned him. "Well, I suppose the charade has lasted long enough. I'll get rid of this mistake of mine—"

He interrupted himself. He stopped and stared at Aster's stunned form with a blank stare. Aster panted and shivered all throughout the silence, barely trying to hide the fear streaked in his face as he stared back directly. For a moment, he swore Nova's eyes wavered, but that could've been his frantic mind being nonsensical.

Aster didn't know how long it lasted, but eventually Nova's feelers went down, and with it the field lifted in an instant. Air came back as pressure left, and Aster keeled over with a cough, much the same as everyone else. He could breathe again, but the adrenaline was still locking his body.

With a tiny push of his paw, Nova shoved Aster's head away and the momentum made the Scrafty fall back. Weak, panting, and on the floor, he could only stare up as Nova stepped over him and out of the shop. The Lucario glanced back with nothing but a dim and freakishly still face.

"Tch. What a waste."

And he just… walked away. Without a care in the world, he left all of them heaving and recoiling in the empty street and shop. Even for how confused Aster was at Nova leaving them suddenly, that lack of care was nothing new.

Okay… Okay.

After long seconds of winding down energy, Aster steadied his chest enough to pick himself back up and move. He looked inside the shop to see Blight coughing on the ground while Coral and Ayza were trying to comfort them, each of them looking incredibly weary on their own. Free looked to be almost passing out, were it not for Charon shaking him lightly as they wore a heavy scowl.

"ASTER!" Iki screamed out from behind he as barreled into the Scrafty. Both fell to the ground and Iki started to look him over. "A-Are you okay?! Are you hurt?! Did he hurt you?!"

"I-Iki— IKI!" he shouted and shook his brother. The Cramorant had tears coming down onto Aster's face. "I'm fine! But I need to check inside… the real victims are there…" he lightly pushed Iki off and entered the shop.

Looking at the victims from a distance, they'd probably be fine as long as they rested. Nova's field was crushing, but he didn't get to physically harm any of them. Though, emotionally, they looked wrecked as everyone did after Nova dealt with them.

He put on the best smile he could. "Hey y'all… are we all okay…?"

The five of them of them snapped their heads to him, though Blight and Free were slower. "A-Aster…" Coral mumbled. Oh, that was a nice accessory he had— no, focus.

"Are all of you okay…?" Charon panted with a flickering eye.

"What was that…?" Ayza asked with tears welling up. "H-He was never like that…"

"I… can explain…" Aster walked towards them and leaned down to Blight. They took labored breaths, and their eyes were half-closed. He slowly lent his hand to them. "But first, we need to take care of Bli—"

His hand was slapped away by Blight's. Their grimacing face glared at him.

"Wh-What… You're gonna… help me? You?!" they spat out and started shakily floating. Aster stuttered and stepped back. He knew this'd happen…

"That guy's… your inspiration?! What's wrong with you?!"

"Blight… I don't think you should—" Coral extended his hands but was interrupted.

"No!" They faltered a bit in their flying, but their eyes were trained on Aster. "No… I can't live and work with somebody like this…" Everyone's eyes were on Aster, expecting an answer he knew he had, but didn't hurt any less to know. The mask wasn't even helping anymore.

He put his hands to his chest, shivering. "I can explain everything, Blight, if you let me. I… know it's unreasonable to ask this, but please trust me on this."

The Poipole's eyes narrowed, and they started to slowly come down towards Coral. "No, I don't care about what you have to say… All I care about now is just resting with my friends, people that I can trust," they said as they lowered themselves onto Coral's head and huffed. "Let's… Let's just go…"

Ugh, he messed it up. Even though he got Nova off them before he harmed them, the damage was already done. They were hurt and afraid; broken, just like the rest in Aster's memory. Like always, he was too late to help, and now he was just a shameful imitator.

And that was… fair. He understood Blight's position, but he still needed to make this up to them. To find a way for them to trust him… Maybe it was useless, but he wasn't a hero for nothing.

Well, he didn't really feel like one now.

Aster sighed, his eyes watering. "Yeah, I think that's best…"

---

"How are they?" Aster asked as Hope closed the door to Team Rogue's room.

In his real appearance, Hope shrugged with his long arms. After they came back to Rune, Team Rogue had immediately shut themselves in their room to rest. Meanwhile, Charon was left to rest, and Nacht took a reluctant Free away to rest by himself as well. Hope came by moments later as Nacht had apparently told him about Nova. Even Note seemed slightly worried for the trio.

"They're mostly shaken and readjusting… but I doubt they'll be confident going out tomorrow to work, even with Rune comforting them. Even Ayza was pretty distraught…" he said with a side glance to the door. "It's only the second day and we've hit so many nets already…"

"Well, I have a simple question," Note spoke up from beside Iki. "Why did Nova even do this? Why single them out like that?"

Aster turned to her neutral stare, and looked down, unable to meet her eyes for long. "That's what he does… He tracks down people he doesn't like and… deals with them," he said with a grimace. "He never kills… but he does scar them pretty heavily."

The Zoroark sat down and put her head on her claw, leaning in. "That's all pretty specific. How'd you know?"

His chest tightened. "I um…"

"Aster," Iki started with a solid tone, "I know this isn't your fault, but Blight's reaction to you is. They fear you and you haven't given them any reason to the contrary. Not even to us, for that matter."

Aster didn't say anything.

"I knew you painted yourself to look like a Lucario, but I never knew you idolized that guy. He seriously hurt them, Aster! He hurt us! Me! And you just conveniently weren't affected by whatever he did as much as we were, huh? What's going on with you?! Please, for once, tell me!"

That wasn't entirely true, but he just kept his head down.

"I-I can explain… when everybody's ready…" Aster mumbled.

Iki scoffed and stepped back. "Yeah, I'll be anxiously waiting for the explanation of why you've been so messed up for two years," he said and walked off into his room, slamming the door shut and leaving Aster, Hope, and Note in the silent hall.

Hope sighed. "Well, I think we're all staying here tomorrow until this is sorted out… I hate it, but it's necessary for this mess. Now, we should… Aster?"

He didn't want to feel the tears, but they came without caring about what he wanted. To be realistic, what he wanted didn't matter to anyone. And it shouldn't…

Gods, he didn't even account for what Blight was feeling… He only thought of their opinion of him… How self-centered could he be? He wanted to fix things, but he ignored the actual cracks. That wouldn't work. It didn't work.

He let himself fall to his knees in the hall and he wiped a few tears, smearing his mask. This damn mask… Yeah, like he was a hero… He was just some street kid who liked strong things, like heroes… Helping people didn't matter. It was the feeling of being important that mattered… Yeah, he knew how stupid he was.

But still, everything else in the hall was drowned out as he laid himself on the floor. His tight chest didn't let him breathe, and the tears wouldn't stop… He knew he was sad, but what was he sad for?

Nova? Failure? His friends? No… they weren't his friends. They were good people who deserved better. He was… He was their enemy.

Yeah, that was definitely what this sorry excuse of a hero deserved.

 

[Namohysip]

Alright, time to give this one a look. This'll be for the first two chapters! We're opening with a somewhat standard quiz with the twist of something clearly going wrong in the process. Very clearly this is going to be important down the line, so I'm curious on where that will go.

One thing I noticed in some of the prose is that it used passive voice a lot. For example any time it's a "was verb" setup. More direct versions of the same sentence would be more effective. For example, "The curtains were drawn open to let in the light" would be stronger and more direct if you said "He drew open the curtains to let in the light." It's a small, subtle thing, but the latter directly attributes who is doing the action and is less distant.

Speaking of distance, it seems like you're mostly going for third person while sticking to one character, up until Ayza and Javier met. You briefly went into the thoughts of Javier before going right back to Ayza, which was a little disorienting. Remembering to stick directly to one perspective for a given scene can help keep the narrative cohesive if you're going to be sticking to one character for a while at all.

First impressions of Ayza is that she has a very go-getter attitude and wants to be legendary, while Javier, based on those quiz answers, is much more secluded and evasive. That much makes sense from a normal person perspective, and the chemistry is obvious on how Ayza might rope him into things. What has me a little confused is what that will mean based on the theme disclosed in the thread opener. Apparently, the focus is going to be on pokemon just trying to live their lives, so a more passive goal? I'd that's the case, is this more going to be Javier trying to calm Ayza down, something? To that I'm unsure.

The prose is oddly conversational despite otherwise being a little more flitting between perspectives, which also threw me off. Specifically, this would be when there are ellipses or "Anyway," in the narration rather than dialogue. The extended section in trying to get clothes was a little funny, and it helped to show the somewhat class system that the society seems to have, and also how crazy priced everything is to get something so basic.

Interesting... Lots of moving parts being introduced in the second chapter as well, now that I've finished that. We have mostly four major variables going on. We have Javier, now Coral... and all of his immediate allies. We have the king and the Legends, who seem to have their own motivations, and something that will apparently happen in day. We have the other humans, who seem to be going on their own adventures during some crisis we don't know the details of yet, and apparently humans are just commonplace enough that they're treated as mundane, yet also revered. It's an odd contrast to what's being said and how the react to Coral. And, lastly, we have Ultra Beings, which seems a little too important to ignore completely. It's all setup, but I'm curious to see where that goes and how the parts all move. Aside from those prose quirks and the meandering for slice of life, though, it was a good two chapters! Hopefully this sense of adventure will bear fruit.