Pokémon Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Fortune Favors the Bold

[BlackHairedPsycho]

What happens when an incredibly lucky dragon meets a speedy, headstrong bunny and a dead inside owl? Various things. Follow Hatch, Ash, and Werth as they explore, adventure, and come across fame and fortune. Or, will the fortune come to them?

Chapter 1. The Lucky Dragon

The Axew found himself on the mountain path once again. It was a hot day, but he was a dragon. The heat was good. The sun beat down on the arid mountain pass. This was the farthest he'd ever gone… soon he'd be in the big city, join a guild, and have a grand adventure!

Hatch almost skipped at the thought, kicking a rock over the cliff. He watched the sediment fall into the canyon below, determined not to follow in its footsteps. He was almost halfway down now… just had to pass through the rock huckers territory and it was an easy way down. All he had to do was get past-

And then he saw it. The large boulder, stomping around on two legs, what looked like a mustache and beard displayed proudly on its front. The rock launcher it had on its back cracked with electricity. The feral Launcher Golem had claimed this part of the pass as its territory, and attacked anything that tried to pass through. Lucky for Hatch it seemed occupied with something at its feet.

Something small, red and orange… and judging by how it rose and fell, breathing.

And it was about to get stepped on.

"Hey!" Hatch Taunted, turning around and shaking his ass and stubby tail at it. It looked up at him, stomping away from the prone figure. Great!

And now it was grabbing a rock, placing it in the canon built into its back.

Oh no.

…

"You alright? That was almost really bad!"

"…"

"Yeah, I saved you! That bully won't be bothering anyone for a long time!"

"…"

"I'm Hatch! What's your name?"

"…"

"It's a small cut! Sure it's bleeding a lot, but I'll be fine. More tired than anything. Just gotta wait for this storm to pass and I'll take you back to Thalridge. Mama can help both of us!"

"…"

"Yeah, I was going down the mountain!"

"…"

"I was finally gonna go on a real adventure!"

"…"

"No, it's alright! I'm not just gonna ditch you. I'll get down another day."

"…"

"A reward?"

"…"

"W-what are you doing with that?"

"…"

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

…​

Hatch bolted awake, the pile of blankets sliding off his green scales. He clutched at his fin, it's base covered by a crimson headband. It burned, like fire danced across the top of his head. He breathed heavily, one gasp after another.

He took a look around, remembering where exactly he was. Merchandise, orbs, berries, scarves, all on one side of the large cart and stacked to the roof, and on the other lied the profits. Sacks of poke, gemstones, and even some gold ribbons were piled high on the other side. The gold pile grew with each day.

"Rough night Hatch?"

The curtain that blocked the exit parted, and a Simipour stepped inside. The blue and tan furred monkey had a comfortable looking, and expensive, red coat on. It's open front has gold buttons, and the pockets jingled with coins. He looked… nervous.

"Morning Mr. Andrews…" the small dragon yawned. "Just a nightmare…"

"I see… nervous about leaving?" He said, almost hopefully.

"Nah," Hatch yawned. "Just a reminder…" he rubbed at his fin as he got up from his pile.

"A-alright. Well, breakfast is ready, and you kept Danny waiting long enough. Come on."

"You guys waited for me?" Hatch tilted his head in confusion. That was weird… usually they just left him the scraps and told him to stay out of the customers way when he was done.

"Well, it's our last day together. Might as well make it special, right?" The Simipour grinned, but Hatch could tell something was wrong. Something in his voice…

"Alright!" Hatch hopped out of the pile and followed the water type out into the morning air.

They were parked alongside the cobblestone road, distant buildings in sight. Bladesborough, home of the Sapphires guild. It's been a long journey, but he was almost there…

He wondered how his mother was doing.

No… he couldn't go back. He tried. All he could do was keep pushing forward.

There was… quite a spread. Hatch's eyes bulged at the feast before him. Eggs and bacon sizzling over a fire and stacked in a pile to the side, toast and berry jam open and smelling sweet, dried berries piled up alongside the campfire, along with the oats and other random seeds and nuts that made trail mix.

Took ya long enough kid," The Mudsdale beside the fire said. The huge horse Pokemon laid down next to a pile of his own food, mainly berries and apples. His harness, still attached to the cart, was off to the side as he laid down Danny huffed as he looked down at his passengers, mainly the Axew, who tilted his head at the horse.

"Kid?" Hatch asked.

"Well, yeah!" Danny answered, looking back at his own breakfast. "You're a kid. What else would I call you?"

"Well, you usually say brat Mr. Danny…"

"Well… that wasn't really nice of me, and I'm sorry about that." he looked away, at his pile of food. "Now can we eat?"

"Let's dig in, yeah?" Andrews said, grabbing a plate and piling the freshly fried bacon and eggs, handing the plate to Hatch. He blinked, staring at the incredibly tempting plate of food before him. It'd been a while since he had any form of meat, Andrews always beat him to the punch there. Now he was willingly handing him so much… well, a gift was a gift! Hatch wasted no time in shoveling the food down his maw, savoring the taste. He didn't bother with a fork or knife, he just started munching. Soon his plate was empty, and he sighed. He was still hungry.

"Wow…" Andrews said still on his first plate himself. "You can really eat, huh?"

"Of course he does," Danny commented. "He might be small, but he's still a damn dragon. Those guys can eat when they want to!"

Hatch simply burped in response, eyeing some more food.

"...Can I?" he probed, stomach now rumbling. His appetite had come back full force, after a long time of being mostly stifled.

"...Help yourself Hatch." Andrews said after some time. "Seriously."

The small dragon needed no more prompting, quickly grabbing some toast, bacon, and eggs, and making himself a sandwich to rip into. He hummed at his culinary creation, nodding as he quickly polished it off.

This went on for a while, Hatch scarfing down anything he could get his hands on. Toast and jam, berries, bacon and eggs, all ended up going down. Soon he'd gotten through most of it on his own, the monkey and horse in awe at how much the tiny dragon could really pack away. Hatch burped appreciatively.

"Thanks!" he grinned at his companions. It was still weird, how generous they were, after months of travel with them, but he wasn't complaining. Still, they were never downright rotten to Hatch, at least compared to the mon in Ruconda…

"No problem…" Andrews said, glancing at Danny. The horse nodded at the monkey, and returned to eating his own meal.

"So Hatch… you're dead set on becoming an explorer?" the monkey asked casually, sipping on some coffee he Scalded into existence with a few beans.

"Yup!" he said cheerfully, taking another bite of toast.

"It's a pretty dangerous career," Andrews continued between sips. "Why, back in Lechas I heard an entire rookie team got torn apart by one of the mystery dungeons near there. Wasn't pretty…"

"I'll be ok!" Hatch insisted. "Thanks for the concern though!"

"Still, little guy," Danny jumped in. "We know you can handle yourself in a fight, but that'll only get you so far in dungeons. Traps, the constant changing, it's not all discoveries and glory, you know."

"Well duh! But I have to start somewhere!"

Silence, as Hatch finished off the last of the bacon. Then…

"You know," Andrews said, putting down his mug of coffee and leaning forward. "We don't mind having you around as much as we thought we would."

"Yeah, you're alright kid," Danny continued. "If you want, we'd be happy to keep you on. With all that we've made since you came along we could buy an actual store, a really nice place too. We'll pay you, and feed you as much as you want, just like today. With you there, we know it'll do great."

He caught that. 'With you there.' Oh no, please, not again…

"What do you mean?" Hatch asked, trying to hide the twitch, and failing miserably.

"I don't know if you noticed," Andrews went on. "But ever since you asked us to take you to Bladesborough, we've been selling like crazy."

"That's not even bringing up the gold ribbons sold at a deep discount!" Danny neighed. "I'll be honest, we were struggling right up until you came into our lives. It's like you're a walking good luck charm!"

There it was. It had taken them two months to notice… damn, and he was so close too. He didn't like his chances of outrunning a Mudsdale, and he knew for a fact that Mr. Andrews could be fast if he wanted. His best chance would be to get into the city, and run from there. His smaller size should allow him to slip into the crowd. If he couldn't, there's no telling what they might do to keep him there… best to go along with it for now…

"I'll… think about it." Hatch lied, looking away, and taking another bite of jammed toast. Just because he was ditching them didn't mean he was gonna waste food. Hatch didn't notice the nod that the two exchanged as he ate the last of the toast.

"Well," Andrews said, looking back at the tusk dragon. "Let us finish off our meal, and we'll get straight to Bladesborough. You can decide there."

"Thanks!" Hatch grinned, before darting back into the cart. He had to get his stuff ready, bag packed for a quick getaway…

He could almost feel their eyes on him…

…​

The Sapphire's guild hall really played into the theme. It was a huge, blue building in the center of town, the chiseled lapis lazuli pillars flanking the huge, oak doors that towered over the small Pokemon that looked up at them. The walls were also made of the blue stone, and rose a few stories into the blue sky. Bird Pokemon soared high above the glittering roof, cut like a gemstone and glittering in the sky.

Ash thought it was quaint. Pretty, but quaint.

Bag on her back, the Scorbunny stared up at what she hoped to be her new home. A place that would at least be the first step to her freedom. She tugged at her blue headband, tied just under her ears, thumping her foot in place.

"Are you nervous?" something her round and light perched on her head, flattening her ears. The Rowlet preened his wings as he asked his friend that simple question. A purple bandana was tied around his leg, blowing in the wind.

"No Werth," she responded. "I'm not you."

The Rowlet hopped off the Scorbunny, and looked up at her with his tired, bored eyes.

"Good. You're not a Ditto."

"And you're insufferable. Let's live some dreams!" With that, she pushed past the bird and marched up to the large building. After signing up, she'd be free. The guild wouldn't turn in one of its members for something that wasn't her fault, and with Werth they had a team! Yes, thing were looking up-

"What do you mean we need three mon?" Ash yelled, bouncing up at the Slakoth clerk.

"Weeeelllll…" he groaned, before slowly reaching for another cup of his coffee. Ash impatiently tapped as she waited for the caffeine to kick in. Werth, for his part, had perched atop her head once again to hear what was coming. The Slakoth took a long drink of the brew, before turning back to face the two.

"With the recent danger spiking in the nearby dungeons guildmaster Karamat has raised the minimum joining trainee team from two to three mon at a minimum. This went into effect last week and there are no exceptions. Have a good day." He said in a single breath.

"W-wait!" Ash said.

"Gooooodddd daaaaaaayyyyy."

"OK listen here you-"

"Thank you sir," Werth said, flapping up and grabbing Ash by the ears with his talons. "We'll be back."

"What? Ow! Hey, Werth!"

Werth lifted the light bunny into the air and flew right back outside, her struggling all the way.

"Werth put me down or so help me ARCEUS-"

As soon as they were clear of the doors the Rowlet let her ears go. Ash landed on her bounce feet, already racing to go back inside, but Werth landed in front of her to block her way., wings spread out.

"What are you doing?" she yelled.

"Stopping you from burning a bridge," he answered simply.

"I can't burn it if I can't even step inside, can I?"

"That's the idea."

"But-"

"Calm down Ash, and listen."

She made several strangeling motions, stomping her feet as she did so, miming out what she wanted to do with his 'stupid wings', but eventually managed to stop herself. She still tapped her foot impatiently.

"This isn't the end," Werth continued. "Just a setback."

"It's like they KNEW-" Ash yelled.

"Calm. Down."

The Scorbunny took a deep breath, and waited for her friend to go on.

"As I was saying, this is a setback, and nothing more. All we need to do is find a third mon, and we are in. You'll be free."

"So what, we just find a random mon our age, ask him to join us, no questions asked? No way we get that lucky!"

"…Let's check around the market. There's gotta be someone."

…​

"Hey Hatch, why don't you take it easy for today?"

Hatch was lifting a crate of orbs bigger than he was from the cart, and handing it to Andrews. While bigger than the dragon, the monkey struggled with its considerable weight. He huffed as he set it down.

"Damn I keep forgetting you're stronger than you look…" Andrews said. "What did you do before we came along anyway?"

"Uhhh, I fought a lotta ferals," Hatch said. "Had to, to get down the mountain."

"Sounds pretty scary…" Danny said, unlatching himself. "And you still wanna dungeon dive?"

"Yeah!" Hatch grinned, almost forgetting about what was probably about to happen. He took a look around at his surroundings. The Bladesborough market was already alive with activity. The smell of fried food from stands almost made him salivate, despite the fact he just ate enough for three different mon twice his size not an hour ago. Large buildings flanked the cobbled roads, more shops probably. An Aggron was juggling three Wooloo, all bathing at the crest of it.

Honestly, this probably would be the best time to get away…

"Still, seems like an unnecessary risk to me…" Andrews said, setting the crate down behind the stand they just set up. 'Dungeon Dives' on the front. A crowd was already forming, asking about items and berries. Hatch had darted back to his pile of blankets, grabbing his beat up bag, taking a last check. Two Orans, two Pechas, some Poke he found, a spikey Lob orb he swiped while Andrews wasn't looking, and just in case, a knife he took off that Monferno after the last attempt.

He did not like thinking about the last attempt. At least it was a nice knife. A silver blade, orange hilt with… familiar patterns drawn in. Sure, his tusks made it kinda redundant, but it helped make him feel better. Just in case…

He left the note in the pile, explaining how he appreciated the ride and food, but now it was time for him to move on. He walked back to the front of the cart, jumping out. Luckily (ugh) Andrews and Danny were busy with customers, so it was easy for Hatch to slink into the crowd.

Now… to find the guild hall…

"Wait, Hatch!"

Oh shit.

…​

Ash was gnawing on a carrot as she walked. Bladesburough was a lot nicer than Ruconda, but that was like saying a cough was better to have than cancer. The morning market crowd bustled and hustled, going about their business.

And no one wanted to join them.

"Get lost brats."

"Not interested, sorry."

"Two shrimps like you, join the Sapphires? HA!"

That Mankey got a flaming kick to his underside for his troubles, and Werth had to quickly flap them away as he suffered.

"This isn't going well…" Werth observes.

"Really?" Ash said, finishing off her treat. "What tipped you off?"

"Look, I know it's a long shot, but it's our-"

"My." Ash spat.

"Your only chance."

"I know that!" the bunny roared. "But seriously, how lucky would we have to be to find a mon willing to join two random strangers' new exploration team? Who would be that desperate?"

And that's when the Axew knocked her over.

The small dragon, could look Ash in the eyes, and she was tall for a Scorbunny, barreled into her as he ran through the crowds. She rolled and recovered, glaring at the still running dragon.

"Watch it!" she yelled, glowering.

"Sorry!" he turned to glance at the bunny before setting off once again. Something in Ash… snapped at that. Today had not gone how she wanted, how she needed it to go. Maybe it was an accident, but Ash didn't really care at the moment. She needed to blow off some steam, and unfortunately for the Axew, dragons were heat resistant. He had to take it, like it or not. She sprung back in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.

"Where's the fire you big lug?" she asked, annoyance and frustration finally shining though.

"Sorry, I just need to-" the Axew tried to get around her, but Ash wasn't gonna let him get away that easy. She easily stepped in his path once again. Her speed was something she was proud of after all.

"Oh, do what? Go bowling for more bunnies?" Ash was twitching now, hopping mad. "Like hell I'm gonna let you do that!"

"Ash…" Werth said, trying to calm her down.

"Shut up Werth!" she hissed at the bird.

"You're making a scene," the Rowlet responded, unphased.

"Look I'm sorry," the Axew said, looking around nervously. "I just need to-"

"What possible excuse could you have for bowling someone over like that!"

"Hatch!" A Simipour in a very nice coat pushed past the crowd, painting. The Axew, Hatch apparently, flinched away. "Where are you going? I told you to take it easy!"

"The guild…" he mumbled.

"You… you're still going on about that?" the Simipour shook his head. "After everything we offered you…

"Thanks, but no thanks…"

Ash and Werth looked from one, to the other. The Simipour was clenching his paws, before shooting out and grabbing Hatch's arm.

"Tried to be nice," he said, dragging the dragon back through the crowd. "But you had to make things difficult."

Oh.

Well, Ash knows when to make up for a mistake. Before Hatch could even begin to struggle the Scorbunny had ran up and slammed a Hi Jump Kick into the water type's stomach. He gasped, letting the Axew go and clutching his middle. Ash landed with practiced ease, turning to the surprised Axew and Rowlet already spreading his wings.

"Time to go!" she grinned, grabbing Hatch's arm and booking it down the street. She knew Werth would be flying right above them, keeping an eye on their pursuers.

"Wha-hey!" In the sudden confusion Hatch didn't fight getting pulled away. When she was satisfied the dragon was following she let go, focused on dodging and weaving through the confused crowds. The grunts of pain, probably from a running, clumsy dragon stomping on people's feet as he ran for his freedom.

"Get back here!" they heard the water type leap after them. As they got clear of the crowd, coming to a fork in the road, the Simipour landed in front of them, wheezing. Acrobatics.

"You little-" was all he could say before a barrage of Razor Leaves cut across his skin. The water type yelped in pain as the supereffective attack sliced, drawing blood from many new wounds. He kept charging though, spitting a Scald at the Rowlet above. It went wide, clearly this guy was not used to fighting, and Werth didn't stop pelting him with leaves, even as he used Acrobatics to try and mitigate the damage a little. He started to gain again.

"Get back here!" he huffed, powering through the pain and bleeding.

Ash led the small dragon down another alleyway, this one holding a small terraced garden for an apartment. Ash was sure it was nice, but there were more pressing matters to attend to. The footsteps were getting closer, and closer… she'd have to fight, Acrobatics was too quick. She'd have to learn it...

"Come on you-"

And then she heard something break above them.

"Move!" the Axew shouted, pushing Ash out of the way just in time for said hanging garden to miss the two tiny mon. Andrews looked up just in time to see a load of dirt, foliage, and pots land right on his head. Ash picked herself up and looked back in shock at the now buried Simipour, blinking.

Hatch was right behind her, sighing in relief, and looked back at his apparent former caretaker. One arm was reached out towards them, now having gone limp and falling to the cobblestones. Ash could hear groans of pain, so it didn't kill him. Hatch, the dragon that had saved her from the same fate, picked himself up soon after. They both just… stared at what just happened. Ash spoke up first.

"Well…" she started. "That was lucky…"

The Axew seemed to flinch at those words, but nodded. They stood in silence for a bit, until the familiar flapping of wings alerted her to Werth's return. He looked just as stunned as the both of them, landing on the mound and pecking at the hand to make sure he was out.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"It just fell!" Ash exclaimed.

"Things like that just don't fall!"

"Well that did!"

As the two bickered, Ash noticed the strange dragon start to walk away. She couldn't let that happen, she had things to say!

"Wait!" Ash called out. The Axew stopped in his tracks, and looked nervously at the two.

"My name's Ash, and this here's Werth." she pointed a thumb at the waving bird. "You said you were gonna join the guild? Alone?"

"Y-yeah…" the Axew mumbled. He was tense… made sense after what just happened. Ash gave him a reassuring smile.

"Hatch right? It's your lucky day…"

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

The guild building stood out to Hatch. He'd never seen such a blue place. It was usually rocky, or dreary, or dry. Everything was so different down the mountain.

And that thought really excited him. The small dragon was practically buzzing as he and his apparent new teammates walked up the steps.

"Seriously though," Ash went on, now far more relaxed. "It's stupid lucky you came along when you did! Wouldn't let us join without a third."

"I must agree," Werth went on, flapping just ahead of the two. "You coming along was good fortune."

Hatch took a deep breath, and scratched at his headband. They didn't know. They couldn't know. And according to them, he needed them to join the guild anyway. How much he could trust that was up in the air, but they did lead him here.

"Yeah…"

"Nervous?" Ash asked, patting him on the back. The affectionate blow bounced right off his scales and muscle. Ash looked surprised by that, but said nothing about it. "Don't get it myself, but all we gotta do is get in there, sign up as a team, and we're home free."

"Right…" Hatch said.

"It should go better than last time at least." Werth thought.

Werths's assessment was...debatable. Ash didn't immediately start kicking the Slakoth that shooed them out earlier. Mostly because he was coffee was drained, fallen over to show the trio its empty contents. They could even smell the sickly sweet scent of Chesto berries mixed in.

"Oh come on!" Ash yelled. The clerk didn't respond. "Wake up you lazy-"

"Ash, you're making another scene," Werth said softly, but Hatch could see his eye twitching in annoyance.

"This is ridiculous!" she went on, spinning to face Hatch. "Isn't this ridiculous?"

"I think he just needs his sleep…" the dragon managed to get out.

"Then why the hell is he working?" she hissed, throwing her arms in the air. "We need to sign up ASAP!"

"What is- oh Jirachi help me…" A light buzzing filled the room as a Volbeat came from the rightmost room. The bandanna wrapped around his head was adorned with yellow stars. Sighing, he buzzed over to the clerk.

"Teddy, you told me you could handle it…" the Volbeat groaned. "It hasn't been an hour…"

The Slakoth simply snored in response. The red bug pinched his nose, before turning to hover in front of the trio.

"I'm sorry about him, but you know Slakoth…"

"Why was he in charge of the help desk?" Ash asked. "Seems a bit short sighted, no?"

"It was his shift," the Volbeat answered. "That's how we do things in this guild, everyone helps out with everything."

He buzzed behind the counter, lifting the Slakoth with some effort and putting him to the side before taking a seat, looking down at the trio and giving a bright smile

"Even me, my name is Karamat, and I'm the guildmaster. How can I help you?"

Hatch blinked up at the Volbeat. That wasn't what he was expecting. A guildmaster was supposed to be big, strong, willing to trailblaze into new frontiers and delve into the deepest dungeons. Well, that's what dad's storybook said at least. This guy… did not look like that.

"You're the guildmaster?" Ash said, incredulous. She was much more obvious in her surprise. "Seriously?"

"Is that a problem?" Karamat said, turning to the fire bunny, eye cocked.

"Uhhhh-"

"We just weren't expecting to meet the guildmaster so soon," Werth butted in, cutting Ash off. "We're sorry if we offended you."

The guildmaster looked over the three with a serious expression. Almost glaring even. Hatch couldn't help but stand taller, this mon would decide his fate, and he didn't look-

He laughed after some time. It was light, joyful.

"Sorry…" he chuckled. "I love that reaction. You're all fine, I definitely don't look like a typical guildmaster, but I like to think I do a good job."

Ash couldn't keep in a laugh. "You're alright! Lot less stuck up than I thought. Sorry bout that."

"No problem! Should see those Reckoners to the east...anyway, what brings you in today?"

Before the bunny or bird could respond the dragon did for them.

"W-we wanna join!" Hatch said from behind the group. This was the first time he had spoken up since the guildmaster had gotten there.

"Oh, wonderful!" the Volbeat said, grabbing a clipboard from underneath the table. "And you got three mon! Sorry, that requirement's new, but there's safety in numbers. Your names?"

"Call me Ash!" the Scorbunny introduced herself first with a smile and in a much better mood.

"I am Werth," the Rowlet said, nodding politely to his new boss.

"H-Hatch," the Axew said nervously. "Nice to meet you Mr. Karamat…"

"Just call me Kara," the Volbeat said casually. "Now then, ages?"

"Sixteen!" Ash said proudly.

"Same as her," Werth said calmly.

"Fifteen…" Hatch answered honestly.

"Young…" Kara commented, writing the information down. "Do your parents know you're here?"

"Not in the picture," Ash huffed, good mood evaporated.

"I assure you," Werth said. "I have their blessing."

"...Mama said if I made it down the mountain…" Hatch answered.

"Well we're not on a mountain!" Kara said, moving on. "Now… hometowns?"

"Ruconda," Werth and Ash groaned.

"A charming city…" Karamat said, sarcasm dripping. "And what about you Hatch?"

"Thalridge…" the Axew answered.

"That's a new one," the Volbeat commented. "Where is it?"

"Small village… in the mountains…"

"That would do it! Welcome to the big city then!" he gave the dragon an encouraging smile. Hatch found himself returning it.

"Well, everything seems to be in order, unless something comes up. Welcome to the Sapphires!"

Hatch let out an audible sigh of relief. He made it. A place where he could live his dream.

A place he could be safe.

"Good timing too," Kara went on, holding out three sets of keys and pointing at the entrance he came out of.. "Another batch of recruits just moved into a new base they bought, so the warmest room's available. Near the forge. First floor, all the way down the hall. We'll see what you three can do tomorrow."

Ash grabbed her key in a flash as the Volbeat said that. She grinned back.

"A sneak peak," she said simply, hefting her back over her shoulder and walking towards their room. Werth quietly grabbed his as she went, giving the guildmaster one more polite nod.

"Thank you guildmaster," he said, before flapping after the bunny.

And so, Hatch was left alone with the guildmaster. His nerves were evident on his face as he fidgeted under the bug's gaze. Karamat buzzed over the counter, key still in hand and encouraging smile on his face.

"Nervous?" he asked. All Hatch could do was nod.

"I get that," the Volbeat went on. "It's a scary thing, being so far from home, joining a team of strangers."

He could tell? Hatch looked at him with surprise.

"They seemed comfy around each other, but that's not important." he put his free hand on the Axew, still holding the key with the other. "I came from a small town myself, in the desert. It was a bit of an adjustment, but it's great here. The guild is great. Then again, I'm a bit bias."

"...Yeah…" Hatch took the keys from the Volbeat, and gave him a genuine smile. "Thanks guildmaster."

"You don't have to be so formal…" Karamat sighed, scratching the back of his head with a now free hand. "Just call me Kara."

"...Ok. Thanks Kara."

"Anytime. Now go ahead and get some rest, we start bright and early tomorrow!"

"Yeah…" Hatch then turned to follow his new team to their room.

This was home now.

He wanted to enjoy it.

…​

When Hatch got to his room, Ash had already made herself at home. Claiming the top bunk she laid down, stretching comfortably. Werth had already made himself a nest from the extra bedding on the windowsill, overlooking the beautiful garden right outside their room. It was a small room, but it had the basics. A bunk bed stood in the corner, along with a closet for storage. A Luminous orb lamp stood on top of the wood table in the middle of the room, perfect for their sizes. A simple mirror hung from the wall.

"Better than I thought we were gonna get!" Ash exclaimed, jumping down from her bed.

"It is quite nice…" Werth commented. "Fortunate the new team just moved out, isn't it?"

"Y-yeah…" Hatch agreed, looking towards the mirror, before placing his own bag on his bottom bunk.

How lucky…

"Welp," Ash clapped from behind Hatch. "I'm gonna grab some grub! Running from crazy water types makes you hungry. You wanna tell us what that was all about?"

"W-we were traveling together… he didn't want to let me go." It wasn't a lie.

"Seems like a lot of trouble," Werth commented, flapping down. "Why go through all that hassle?"

"...I don't know. I worked for free…" There was the lie.

"Well that's literally slavery." Werth said, shaking his body, which was mostly head.

"Wish another garden dropped on him then…" Ash spat, putting a paw on the dragon's shoulder. "I'm glad we came along when we did! It'll be nice to get to know you better Hatch!"

"You too…" he offered a small smile to his new teammates. They seemed nice, nicer than most of the other mon he met so far anyway.

"Now," Ash said, moving on. "We can decide our team name over lunch! Free food always helps me think."

"I would like a peck myself…" Werth admitted.

"Sounds good," Hatch's stomach grumbled, but there was something he needed to do first. "I'll catch up, just want to go over what I have on me again."

"Sure! Just follow the smell of hot, and free, food!" With that, Ash and Werth left Hatch alone in their room. Hatch sighed in relief, closing the door, and facing the mirror.

He examined himself, the scar under his eye, his tusks in desperate need of sharpening, and the headband. His gaze lingered on the headband. He took a deep breath, glanced back at the door to make sure no one was there, and untied it to look at what it hid.

The brand was seared into his fin, the pain thankfully long faded. The symbol, whatever it meant, was complex. A harsh black against his soft green scales. There was at least one recognizable part, one thing that stood out in the mess of lines.

An intricate V.

Hatch traced a claw over the brand, almost feeling the burning from that day all over again. He could almost hear the voice…

Almost.

He shook the memory from his mind, tying his headband back on. He couldn't think about it, not right now.

Plus he could smell the free food, and his stomach rumbled. Running for his life made him hungry. Without one last tap at the brand, he left his bag in the room, locked the door, and went to find his new teammates.

His new life would be a good one he hoped.

…​

"He dropped a garden on you?"

Business wasn't booming for once, and both Danny and Andrews knew why. Hatch had gone, and taken the luck with him. Andrews had come back caked in dirt and leaves, probably not helping the sales. To his credit, the water monkey was trying to clean himself up.

"No Groudon rose from the depths and gave me a pep talk YES HE DROPPED A GARDEN ON ME!"

"Calm down," Danny urged, unmoved by the sudden burst of anger. It wouldn't get their fortune back.

Andrews opened his mouth to fire back, but stopped himself. His partner was right, this wasn't helpful.

"He won't trust us anymore," he hissed.

"I wonder who's fault that is…" Danny sighed, giving his smaller partner a look.

"You weren't exactly chummy with him either." Andrews glowered back.

"Least I didn't chase em down!"

"And now who needs to calm down?"

"...Touche." The Mudsdale relented. "Got a plan?"

"Get Hatch back, and get out of here. We can set up shop in another town, and keep raking in the cash."

"...maybe we could just cut our losses?" Danny suggested. "If he's apart of the Sapphires now-"

"Danny," Andrews stopped him right there. "We might have a lot now, but with him we won't have to worry about ANYTHING ever again. Money, food, customers, nothing."

"...what's the plan?"

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

"GET UP!"

Hatch shot out of his (thankfully) dreamless sleep, his fin just missing the top bunk. Ash didn't sound as lucky, as he heard her leap out of bed, hit the ceiling, and fall back on her mattress dazed and groaning. Werth had flapped into the air.

They all leapt out of bed, Hatch's tusks were glowing with Dual Chop, Werth's wings seemed extra sharp, and Ash, after shaking herself from her stupor, had taken a stance as they all started down, and up at the giant that just woke them up.

The Aggron was enormous, towering over the three smaller mon, giving each a grumpy glare. One of his horns was broken, and his hands were covered in coal, dust, and ash. His blue eyes pierced through the trio.

"You the new guys?" he asked in his gruff, rumbling voice. "Jumpy little tykes…"

Hatch nodded, just a tiny bit unnerved as he turned his tusks off. Werth landed next to his team, seemingly unphased by the giant. Ash, however…

"Maybe…" she yawned, calming down. "Who's asking?"

"Mercury," the Aggron responded. "One of your new bosses. Now get down to the guildhall. We got a job for you. Don't fuck it up."

With that, the steel giant stomped away, down the hall and towards the guildhall. Hatch blinked as he watched him go, then looked back at his companions.

"He seems charming," Werth commented, preening an out of place feather.

"Wonder what crawled up his ass and died," Ash yawned, rubbing at his head.

"Sounds important…" Hatch yawned, already starting for the door. The other two followed, awakened by the sudden shot of adrenaline.

When they got to the guildhall, Karamat and Mercury were huddled around a desk. The massive Aggron was whispering something to the smaller firefly, and he seemed agitated.

"Why couldn't Jessie do it? Or anyone who didn't just join?"

"We need all hands on that new site," Karamat explained, hovering right next to the giant's head. "They're good kids Mercury, it'll be fine."

The Aggron grumbled, but didn't argue any further. Now Hatch's curiosity was piqued. What site? Unfortunately, they couldn't hear anymore, as they had been spotted.

"Oh hey!" Karamat waved them over to the desk. The grumpy Aggron narrowed his eyes as the trio approached. Hatch looked away, still intimidated, Werth looked indifferent but Ash…

"What site?" Ash asked, zipping up before either of them, foot tapping. She was at complete ease. "You holding out on us?"

"Later Ash," Kara deflected. "You can go after we get a better idea of what you three can do."

"Doing this right's gonna be a good start," Mercury went on. "Should be easy. Don't mess it up."

"Well, what is it?" Werth asked, face still seemingly unmoved.

"Come and see!" Kara waved them behind the desk. It didn't take much prompting for Hatch to follow. He wasn't really expecting what was behind it.

It was an egg. Pitch black with red stripes swirling around the shell. It was just a little smaller than the Axew himself. He blinked at the sight, looking back up at his new superiors, confused.

"An egg?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Least you're not blind…" Mercury grumbled, grabbing two packs from next to the floor.

"Mercury here found it in a dungeon, and we've been keeping an eye on it." Karamat explained.

"You didn't take it to a nursery?" Ash asked, tapping the egg. That earned her a glare from Mercury, but Ash seemed unphased. "I know it's probably a feral egg, doesn't really make a difference when it's raised by us civil folk, but seriously?"

"Too many eggs," Karamat sighed. "Too busy with fresh hatchlings." he let out a small chuckle as he looked at Hatch when he said that. Hatch tilted his head at that, but said nothing.

"So," Mercury continued. "the guild's watching this one."

"It's been something Mercury's been taking to," Karamat continued, earning a bit of a glare from the large Aggron. "He's a bit hesitant to let it go."

"ANYWAY," Mercury cut him off. "All you three gotta do is watch it for a day or so. I'll be back about when the sun goes down. Probably sooner. Don't mess it up."

"Understood," Werth nodded the best he could with his spherical body.

"Y-yup!" Hatch nodded enthusiastically. First mission, don't mess it up…

"Waste of our skills," Ash started, but nodded right after. "Won't let ya down though. How hard can it be?"

…​

"I am so BORED."

Hatch heard his fiery teammate's groan of complaint, and frankly Hatch couldn't blame her. The trio had retreated to their new room to do the job, Ash staying close to keep the thing warm, while the other two watched. It was not thrilling, to be completely honest…

"We have to do it," Werth reminded her. "Just this task, and then we can do something you like."

"How long has it even been?"

Hatch took a peek outside the window, looking into the nice garden. What a nice day. He took a quick glance at the sun, noting its position in the sky.

"It's around noon…" he told the bunny, who groaned further.

"Halfway there, Ash…" Werth started.

"You know what?" she said, suddenly standing from the makeshift nest of blankets and pillows Hatch made for her and the egg. "What's stopping us from going outside, huh?"

"…the egg?" Hatch said. It IS an egg. Didn't really have legs…

"An egg we can move!"

"Ash…" Werth warned.

"Come on, it's a beautiful day! Babies need fresh air anyway!"

"It hasn't hatched yet."

"Werth, I'll be honest with ya. I'm going outside, I'm taking the egg, neither of you can stop me."

"Ash-" Werth warned, flapping over. "We cannot screw this up. Please."

"It'll be fine! Right, Hatch?" She gave the tusked dragon a big smile.

"Hatch please…" Werth pleaded.

"...It is a nice day…" Hatch took a peek outside. Warm day… good for eggs. It would probably be fine.

"See!" Ash said, hefting the egg up. "Even Hatch agrees! Come on!'

Without another word, she walked out the door. Werth groaned, and looked at Hatch, eyes narrowed.

"Let's hope you don't regret this." he said, before he flapped out. Hatch scratched at his fin, and followed. It would be fine..

…

The garden was nice. A communal effort, it was tended to constantly. Berry bushes grew in rows, water pooled next to them, flowing into a moat at the center. A Gazebo stood there, a nice place to look at the entire place in comforting shade. That, however, would defeat the purpose of going outside. In truth, every last one of these mon wanted to feel the warm rays of the sun, so they sat near the garden's edge, the egg sat before them. All was peaceful. Hatch sighed, laying down in the grass next to the egg. The sun felt great against his scales.

"See?" Ash teased, sitting up, basking in the light. "It's fine…"

"I suppose I can practice Synthesis like this…" Werth commented, having his wings spread out, trying to take in sunlight. They were softly glowing. "I still find this very irresponsible."

"Of course you do." Ash accused, turning to the bird. "Nothing's gonna happen, you big baby! We're just getting some fresh air!"

"We need to be careful. Eggs can be very fragile the further they are from hatching, and we have no idea what stage it's in. One stray anything may break it, and its life is in our wings and hands. Not to mention we will fail our first mission."

Hatch glanced back at the egg. It's black and red shell was now warm with sunlight. He wondered what could be inside. Maybe a Charmander, or even a Druddigon! Maybe something really rare, like a-

It hopped.

Hatch's eyes bulged at the egg, for lack of a better term, hopped. Just an inch, and just enough to notice. Hatch blinked.

"Uh, guys?" he called out, not taking his eyes away from the egg.

"All we have to do is make sure that doesn't happen!" Ash exclaimed, standing up and stomping her foot. "We can do that out here!"

"And what if a stray rock hits it, or Arceus forbid, someone scrambles it?" Werth went on. "We need a safe, private place."

"Guys…" Hatch went on. The egg bounced again, this time more notably. It was tipping over. What should he do?

"I'm not gonna sit in a cage all day, Werth!"

"It's not a cage, it's-"

"GUYS!"

They both turned to see the egg bounce once more, fall gently to the pavement next to the grass, and start to roll. Out of the garden, and into town. The three could only blink in awe at what just happened. They had ONE job, and they just bungled it.

Well, not quite yet.

"H-hey!" Hatch recovered first, running as fast as he could to catch up and save the unborn child. The garden was on a slight incline, so it had started to roll with moderate speed.

Werth simply gave Ash a look, and she returned it with her own glare.

"Not one word," was all she said before running after Hatch.

Werth shook his body, for it was mostly head, before flapping after them as well. At least the egg would be harder to break…

…​

"So what, we just wait for him to walk out?"

A certain Simipour and Mudsdale were making their way to the guildhall, this time without their cargo. They had closed up shop for the day, Arceus knows they can afford it…

"Can't stop us from looking, can they?" Andrews said, coat jingling with cash.

"They kinda can," Danny commented, looming over his partner.

"We haven't done shit!"

"And we'll look real suspect if we're just hanging around, doing nothing."

"What, do you have a better idea?"

"Yeah, and it's-"

Before Danny could lay out his brilliant Machiavellian scheme, they noticed something rolling down the street nearby. Black, red, and oval shaped. Both their eyes widened at the sight.

"...Danny, is that a fucking egg?" Andrews asked.

"I do believe it is, Andrews," Danny answered.

"W-wait!" A very familiar voice shouted. Both monkey and horse suddenly looked towards the source, and their quarry was running desperately after said egg. The headbanded Axew didn't even notice them, the distance not helping. They just watched, as their job became so much easier.

"...Well?" Danny said, nudging the monkey forward. "You're the fast one! Go get him!"

"Shit!" was all Andrews said, before he was off to the races. Danny shook his head, and followed at a much slower pace, keeping watch for any… unlucky surprises.

It will either be a very good, or very bad day.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

Why was this town built on a hill?

Hatch ran as fast as he could after the black and red egg and the few mon on this random road jumped out of the way as the mad dash continued. Why wasn't anyone helping? Dammit why wasn't he faster?

And then a white and orange blur zoomed past him. Hatch thought he saw a streak of blue too… Ash?

The blur zoomed past the egg, and put herself in front of the egg, stopping it in its tracks. A pinkish haze seemed to waft off the bunny as she rolled the egg back up the hill. Hatch breathed a sigh of relief and slowed down as he walked over.

"Nice catch…" Hatch sighed as the bunny popped her head from behind the egg.

"Just don't say I told you so," Ash told him, her Agility dissipating. "You roll it back-"

"Hatch!" Werth squawked. "Behind you!"

Hatch turned, only to take an Ice Punch to the gut. Andrews' attack stung like nothing else as he was knocked back, the ice creeping up his stomach as he wheezed. Cold…

"Shit!" Ash said, managing to jump in front of the egg before being bowled over by Hatch's weight. Hatch watched dazed as the oblong sphere continued to roll.

Need to get rid of the ice… too cold for Incinerate…

"Stay down kids," Andrews said, walking up to his prey. "Don't wanna hurt you more than I already-"

Healthy green leaves suddenly flew down, slicing into the water types back and arms.

"Fuck!" Andrews cried out, looking up at the Rowlet.

The Rowlet inquisition simply fired more leaves down at the water type assailant. The barrage was getting faster with every flap of his wings.

That was lucky… now get warm… deep breaths, like dad taught…

His backside… suddenly felt water. The ice was already starting to melt! That was nice… almost like he was sitting on a-

"Get OFF Hatch!"

"Sorry!" The Axew wasted no more time in rolling off the fiery, now annoyed bunny. Ash sprang to her feet, death glaring at the monkey leaping at the bird. Hatch thought it would have looked funny if not for the attempted kidnapping.

"Get the egg," she growled, Agility sparking to life. "We got this idiot."

"But-" Hatch protested. He couldn't leave them to face his problem alone!

"They're after you-" Ash poked him in the chest, and suddenly Hatch felt… faster. His heartbeat roared in his ears, blood pumping. He wanted to tap his feet, to run and run fast! "And I am not gonna mess up our first mission cuz of it. We'll be right behind you. Go!"

Ash pushed the dragon after the rolling egg, the passed on Agility already fading from the broken contact. Hatch was already off to the races, propelled by the speed boost. They were counting on him. Get the egg.

Get the egg!

...were those stomping hooves?

…​

Ash wasted no time in getting into the thick of battle, rushing up and Low Sweeping the monkey's legs the second he landed, her Agility flowing smoothly as she went.

"Woah!" The Simipour stumbled at the sudden sweep, managing to use Acrobatics to recover with a handstand, before trying to bring his foot down on the speedy bunny. Ash sidestepped, just in time for more of Werth's Razor Leaves to shred the Simipour further. His nice coat was shredded, strips of cloth and coins falling out in droves.

"Do you know how much this thing cost?" Andrews shrieked, before firing a Scald at his airborne enemy. The Rowlet, thanks to his raging warning, managed to avoid the worst of the hissing water. Still, a leg was drenched. It wasn't very effective, but the burn set in quite quickly. Werth gasped in pain, flapping weakly, but remaining airborne.

That's what you get, you-" was all Andrews managed to get out, before he took a kick to the gut, followed by another. Ash's Double Kick knocked the wind out of the water type, bringing him to his knees. Ash had a much easier time looking him in the eyes now.

"You talk too much," she added, before driving a point blank High Jump Kick straight into his chin. The force of the blow knocked him a few inches off the ground, before he crashed back to the stone pavement. Ash let out a breath, looking at the prone mon. Already snoring…

"Excellent job," Werth flapped down, landing on one talon. That burn was hurting him more than he wanted to let on, it seemed.

"Thanks for the cover," Ash said back, readjusting her headband. "Went down pretty easy all things considered…"

"Let's not look a gift-" Werth started, before being interrupted by the rumbling of the ground. Were those hooves? They were getting louder.

The massive Mudsdale stomped his way down the street, their species-wide tendency to be slow but strong being shoved to the side as he galloped. Ash stumbled and Werth had to flap back into the air. The titanic equine spared a glare, before stomping down the hill.

"Lost to kids…" her sensitive ears picked up, as he continued to dash.

Where Hatch was running.

"Shit!" Ash's Agility came surging back to life. But before she could do anything, she found her own legs being sweeped. The Simipour was up? She rolled to the side to avoid getting stomped.

The Simipour's eyes were closed, and he was still sleeping. His cuts and bruises suddenly didn't look as severe.

Rest and Sleep Talk, Ash realized, Of course...

"Go after him!" Werth shouted, as he fired more Razor Leaves at the sleepwalking Simipour. This really was serious… She had to go, now!

Fire wrapped around her body as Flame Charge sparked to life, her Agility only adding to the bunny turned fireball's speed. She left searing footsteps in her path as she dashed after the Mudsdale. With her speed she'd be able to catch up no-

She saw the wall rise up in front of her too late, and she ran into it full force. The Earth Powered rock wall was unyielding, and Ash fell, clinging to consciousness. That hurt…

Ash forced herself to her feet. Her nose was bleeding. Werth was squawking. He was never this loud…

He needed help. Raya would never forgive her if he...

Shit.

Hold on Hatch…

She spun back around, and her eyes widened at the sight that awaited her.

…​

"Gotcha!"

As the hill flattened out, Hatch managed to catch up to the egg, grabbing it and skidding to a stop. It was insanely lucky it wasn't even cracked!

Lucky…

And Andrews was still after him… he needed to get back and help.

Hatch huffed and puffed, looking around. The street was still empty, graffiti lined the dirty street, even the egg had picked up some of the filth. He could see more street further down the street, and actual mon walking there.

Get the egg somewhere safe first, Hatch thought, walking down towards the people, egg cradled in his claws. Then-

The ground started to shake. Hatch's attention was drawn back towards the source, up the hill, and his eyes widened at the charging Mudsdale. Danny looked focused as his hooves cracked the stone underneath him.

Hatch's panic spurred him to run the other way, egg still cradled, but the wall that rose in front of him put a stop to that. Hatch skidded to a stop, fear washing over him. There was nowhere else to run…

"I don't wanna hurt you kid," Danny said, now slowly trotting over. "Or that egg. Just leave it, come with me, and-"

The Dragon Rage that Hatch spat nailed Danny right in the eyes, the burst of draconic power detonating in his face.

"GAH!" Danny whined, shaking the remaining purple flames from his face. Hatch knew he didn't have much time, so he grabbed the egg and tried to book it past the horse. Blinded and naturally slow, Hatch hoped it would be enough-

It wasn't.

Danny's front leg shot to his side just as Hatch tried to pass him. Something gave in Hatch's side as he was sent flying into the wall, cracking that too. The egg dropped, but he thankfully didn't hear a crack from that at least. Pain… so much pain...

"I didn't wanna hurt you!" Danny bellowed, stomping over. Hatch clutched at his arm, glaring back The egg rolled and hopped a bit away. "Now look at what you made me do!"

It felt like his arm and back were dipped in lava. He could hear his own heartbeat, fast and strong, as he fell to his knees.

"Now you're coming with us. Don't struggle."

Don't struggle.

"Don't struggle, it'll be over before you know it."

Not again.

Never again.

His heartbeat suddenly spiked, blood roared in his earholes. Draconic energy started to shoot off his body. The deep violet light started in pulses around his chest, spreading to his arms, legs, tail, and head. His eyes, pupils and all, turned a deep, deep crimson. Hatch could feel the power welling within him.

It came with the rage of course.

Danny froze at the sudden display. "What the hell-"

And that was all he managed to get out before Hatch retaliated.

"GRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

…​

"Boss?"

To say that Ash was surprised to see Karamat so soon would be an understatement. They were supposed to be out for another half a day at least. Still, she gawked as the guildmaster's Infestation held the Sleep Talking Simipour in place. Mercury was there too, the steel giant glowering down at the three. Werth had his wings spread out, Synthesis undoing the damage to his talon. Ash's entire front was killing her. Nose bleeding, something didn't feel right in her chest…

"Are you two ok?" Karamat said, arms out to keep the buggy whisps up. The Simipour struggled, but was already slowing down.

"Where's the egg?" the Aggron grumbled. Ash could hear the shout he was repressing, but his tail slammed against the ground, cracking the street.

"Fine…" Werth managed. "Hatch went after it, but the-"

"Mudsdale," Ash huffed. "After Hatch. Need to go NOW."

"What?" the guildmaster's eyes bulged. "Hold on, you look pretty rough Ash. Calm down and-"

She wasn't waiting any longer. Ash leapt over the hastily made wall in an instant and dashing down the street.

"Ash!" Karamat called after her. She wasn't listening. Hatch needed help because she screwed up, and she'd fix it. No amount of aching was gonna help her there. And boy she did ache. The guilt and adrenaline let her surge another Agility, and the Blaze that followed made Flame Charge trivial as she sprinted down the street.

Please be ok please be ok please be-

When Ash reached the end of the street, she was thankful she didn't find a beaten dragon being dragged away by a mud horse.

What she did find was much more worrying in some ways. Hatch was breathing heavily, clutching at his heart, eyes spinning in confusion. Whisps of draconic energy flickered and died in the air around him. The egg was shaking like mad now. Was it about to hatch?

But that's not where Ash's attention was. Not on Hatch, or the hatching.

No, the giant hole in the wall was drawing every scrap of the Scorbunny's attention.

Shattered brick and stone littered the ground, the newly made entrance to the abandoned building jagged and sharp. Well, not completely abandoned. It'd be hard to ignore the groaning Mudsdale laying on its side.

Its front legs were bending in the wrong way. Something broke them… a MUDSDALE'S legs…

"...Hatch?" Ash said slowly, turning back to face the small dragon. His eyes focused on hers for a short time.

And then he collapsed, falling on his knees, and then flat on his face.

At the same time, a red and black head poked its way out of the cracking egg. The newly born Houndour yapped weakly, breaking the rest of the black and red shell.

That could wait. The bunny ran over to the dragon, as buzzing and stomps closed in behind her.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

"You alright? That was almost really bad!"

"…"

"Yeah, I saved you! That bully won't be bothering anyone for a long time!"

"…"

"I'm Hatch! What's your name?"

"…"

"It's a small cut! Sure it's bleeding a lot, but I'll be fine. More tired than anything. Just gotta wait for this storm to pass and I'll take you back to Thalridge. Mama can help both of us!"

"…"

"Yeah, I was going down the mountain!"

"…"

"I was finally gonna go on a real adventure!"

"…"

"No, it's alright! I'm not just gonna ditch you. I'll get down another day."

"…"

"A reward?"

"…"

"W-what are you doing with that?"

"Don't struggle, it'll be over before you know it."

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

…​

Hatch shot out of bed, breathing heavily. Where was he? Why was he in bed? Why did his everything hurt?

He was in a nice room. The sun was peeking through the window, and it was clean. Hatch himself was in a bed made for mon of his size, and it was comfy. Berries of all sorts were on a shelf organized in neat rows. And then Hatch noticed his stomach and arm was damaged. A healers wing…?

"Morning, sleepyhead…"

Hatch turned to see Ash laying in her own bed, staring up at the ceiling. Fading bruises were all over her face as she laid in bed. Next to her was a small Houndur, snoring in blissful sleep.

"Ash?" Hatch sat up, blinking. Everything hurt… "What happened?"

"You don't remember?" she looked at him, wide eyed. "You fucked that mudhorse up! Mercury had to literally lug him back and throw him in the cells cuz of what you did."

"I did?" Hatch's memories of that were fuzzy at best. Danny was looming over him… and then… angry…

"Yeah, you did! You don't remember? You gotta teach me whatever that was!" Ash gave him a smile, and Hatch weakly returned it.

"Guess I did…"

"That wasn't a y-"

The door suddenly creaked open, and two flying mon buzzed and flapped respectfully. The guildmaster and Werth. Karamat smiled as he noticed Hatch was up. Werth had his neutral expression up, but it was softer than his usual poker face.

"Oh you're awake!" the Volbeat exclaimed. "That's great!"

"Was that on purpose?" Ash groaned at the rhyme.

"Well now it is, miss fireball." Kara gave her a flat look. "Running off after a Mudsdale like that, what were you thinking?"

"I just…" Ash sighed. "I just wanted to help…"

"Please be more careful," was all Werth said on the subject. "I don't want to explain to Raya-"

"You won't," Ash said back, tone flat.

Hatch wasn't sure who Raya was, and his entire body ached too much to care at the moment. There were other things to worry about…

"What happened to the egg?" Hatch managed.

Just as he asked that, the little Houndour yapped in her sleep, before going back to snoozing.

"You just heard from her," Karamat smiled. "Say hello to Ember."

The Houndor rolled over in her sleep, before puffing some smoke and snuggling back in the bed.

"Hi…" Hatch let out a sigh of relief. The egg was ok… no one else had to suffer for his problems…

The dog yapped back, before falling asleep once more.

"Even though you took her out," Karamat continued, sitting at the foot of the small dragon's bed. "I don't think anyone was expecting a chase! I'd call the first mission of-"

The Volbeat blinked, looking around at the team, suddenly sheepish.

"What was your team name again? Must have forgotten…"

"We haven't settled on one yet." Werth explained.

"That's fine, take all the time you need." Karamat smiled. "Mercury said thanks too, and he's gonna be taking care of little Ember here. He'll stop by to see you all later for a reward."

Hatch grinned even wider, despite the aches. His first guild reward… something he earned…

"But Hatch," the guildmaster went on. "We did want to ask about what exactly happened."

Oh no. He turned to face the bug, a stern expression on his face.

"Werth told us you encountered these two before? You were traveling with them?"

"Y-yeah," Hatch answered honestly, his gaze wandering to the owl for a bit. "I needed a ride, and they needed an extra hand… so I worked for free until I got here."

"I see… so, why did they chase you? Did you steal something from them?"

"No!" Hatch shook his head. "I didn't take anything, I promise!" He wasn't lying, just not telling the whole truth.

"Then why were they after you?"

"...I don't know…" And there was the little white lie.

"...Alright, but next time something like this happens, please tell us everything, alright?" Karamat asked. "You're not alone."

"...ok…"

The bug buzzed back into the air. "Surtur should be back with Mercury soon, and you'll be good to go as soon as he gives you a little lecture on your move abuse-" he pointed at Hatch. "-And the effects on concussions. You're to stay put until then."

"Alright…" Hatch didn't want to move for a while either way. And what move abuse?

"Fine," Ash groaned.

"I'll stay with them until then," Werth added on, preening a bit as he said so.

"Good!" Karamat clapped. "Then get some rest team name pending, you earned it."

With that, the guildmaster buzzed out of the room. Hatch let out a breath he didn't know he was keeping in. That was close… if they found about the mark, he'd be back to square one. How long could he keep that up?

"So…" Ash asked, lounging back in her bed. "Sounds like we have some time to kill…"

"Apparently…" Werth went on.

"Yeah…" Hatch added on.

"...Any name ideas?" Ash asked. "I was thinking Firestar!"

"...A bit biased, don't you think Hatch?"

"...Yeah…"

"I can see my naming talents aren't appreciated!" the bunny huffed.

…​

Mercury glowered down at the Mudsdale lying on his stomach, as Sutur finished his casts. The little Clefairy worked hard for all his patients, attempted kidnappers or not. Mercury could respect that. How one little Axew managed to do that much damage was beyond him, but that wasn't important right now. They needed to ask a few questions.

Then he could check on Ember.

The Aggron towered over everyone in the cells, the next tallest person that wasn't lying down being the Lucario with a scar over his eye. Jessie yawned as he put the keys in the lock to let Surtur out, giving the Mudsdale his doctor's order as he went.

"Don't put any weight on them for a few weeks," the Clefiary ordered. "You were lucky those were clean breaks."

"Yeah… lucky," the Mudsdale grumbled. "...thanks doc."

"Of course. Now, I must check on my other patients. Good day to you all." With that, the fairy started back up the stairs, and towards the medical wing. Mercury and Jessie watched him go, before turning back to the massive mud horse. Danny was looking at his cell floor, sighing.

"Where's Andrews?" the Mudsdale asked.

"That Simipour?" Mercury grumbled. "In a cell all alone. Probably still out. I punched him pretty hard."

"He was asking for it…"

"So were you," Mercury slapped his tail against the floor, cracking the stone. "And look how that ended up."

"Wasn't expecting that out of Hatch…" Danny ficked his own tail as he sighed.

"Wait," Jessie blinked. "That AXEW did that to you?"

"Later Jessie," Mercury cut him off. "We're supposed to be asking HIM questions."

"Right…"

"Is that right?" Danny looked backup at the Aggron. "Then ask away. Can't lie to aura, right?"

"That's the idea…" Jessie mumbled.

"Just sense kid…" Mercury grumbled.

"Right…" Jessie closed his eyes, and the tassels dangling from the back of his head started to float. "Aright, go."

"Why were you after Hatch?" Mercury grumbled. That's the story Werth gave him, and it seemed to match with their actions.

"You won't believe me," Danny said simply.

"Try me," the Aggron's tail slapped against the stone once again, further cracking the stone.

"Fine… Hatch came to us first, looking for a ride. He looked terrible, clearly got into a few bad fights. Scales had some healing burns, had a bad headache, looked like he got tossed around like a ball."

"Sucks for him," It really did, he'd have to ask about that, maybe tell Kara… "but what the hell does that have to do with why you were after him?"

"I'm getting to that. Me and Andrews run a traveling shop, and we agreed to take him where he was going, as long as he worked for free."

"So he was just a great worker? That's it?" Mercury's voice got lower as his aggravation spiked.

"Course not," Danny shook his head. "I'm getting to it."

"Then get on with it." His tone grew even colder.

Danny sighed, and continued. "...We traveled together for two months, coming here. After a while, we started to notice."

"Notice what? You're not writing a novel, get to the point!"

"We really struggled to sell anything before Hatch came along. When he came on board, we made more money in two months than we did in our entire careers."

"...What?"

"He's the only reason we were doing so damn well… It's like he's a walking-"

"Are you telling me you were chasing a kid because you think he's a good luck charm?"

Danny didn't respond. That was what he was saying after all…

"And you expect me to BELIEVE-" Mercury started to roar.

"It's the truth."

Mercury nearly forgot Jessie was there. The Lucario opened his eyes, and his feelers fell back to their resting positions.

"...Seriously?" he looked incredulously at the shorter steel type.

"Well, I think that's what he feels." Jessie went on. "He doesn't think he's lying…"

"I know it sounds insane," Danny added on. "But I swear-"

"We're done here," Mercury started to stomp away. "You'll get one chance at a trial, and you sound mad enough for an insanity case. Good luck with that."

Danny opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. He just let the giant and dog go. No one would believe it…

At least not yet.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

"Outrage is an extremely dangerous move," Surtur droned on as he put an ear to the dragon's chest. "In addition to the confusion it inflicts, it puts a severe strain on the user's body, ESPECIALLY their heart. Do you understand?"

Hatch nodded, a little freaked out by the sudden contact. While his body was still sore, he felt loads better after a few more hours of rest.

"Even so, I'll make this clear." The Clefairy pointed a finger in Hatch's face. "Do NOT use that move again. You will need to heavily strengthen your body before you can even ATTEMPT to use it safely."

Hatch nodded, backing away a bit.

"You have a very good foundation," Surtur retracted his finger, stepping away from the bed. "I don't know what you did before you arrived here, but it seemed to be reckless at best."

"So…I should start training?" Hatch asked, probing.

"Not immediately, but yes." Surtur nodded. "The main factor will be to strengthen your body, but DO. NOT. PUSH. IT."

"I think he gets it, doc," Ash groaned from her bed, munching on a carrot Werth brought her.

"And as for YOU-" Surtur turned on the fiery bunny, who was suddenly coughing up carrot. He floated over to her, another finger pointing accusingly. "Using an Agility with a concussion, are you mad? That's a good way to give yourself a brain aneurysm!"

"But I didn't…" Ash got out, unconsciously shifting away from the fairy.

"Don't push your luck!" Surtur continued to scold. "Just… be more careful. BOTH of you."

"Yes sir…" Hatch answered.

"Yeah, alright…" Ash responded, sulking.

"Good." He nodded. "You should all be good to go, as long as you take it easy for a few days. Make sure they do that… Werth, was it?"

Surtur turned to face the bird perched on a nearby counter. The Rowlet nodded.

"I'll be sure to keep an eye on them, doctor." he reassured.

"Good. You're all free to go."

Hatch wasted no more time in jumping out of bed and heading towards the door. Of course Ash beat him to it as they quickly made their exits, a bird's wingbeats following them out.

"I said take it EASY!" Surtur shouted after them.

"Finally," Ash sighed, ears twitching at the angry voice. "Hate doctors…"

"It was alright," Hatch added, ignoring the sore feeling all around him. "Minus the lecture…"

"Let's aim to not make it a habit ending up in there," Werth chided.

"Yeah yeah…" Ash waved him off, before falling back to walk next to Hatch. The medical wing was through the mess hall. The large table that sat in the middle of the room was occupied by only two mon, while a spread of various foods laid all across it buffet style. A Ninjask hovered, wings buzzing as he ate next to a Servine juggling berries with her vines. The lunch eaters paid no attention to the three. "You seriously don't know why those guys were after you?"

"Nope…" Hatch grabbed a random fruit as he walked past. Why was lying about that so easy?

Maybe because it was kind of unbelievable? He took a bite out of the berry he grabbed.

Mmm! Mago. One of his favorites.

"Well when you feel like telling us," Werth said, flapping ahead. "then feel free to tell us. It may be relevant."

Hatch froze as the two walked past them, seemingly just shoving off what was said. Why… did they know? No… they would be all over him if he did. Then why weren't they pressing? What-

"You coming?" Ash called out from the next room over. "Or I could take your share of the loot…"

He could worry about it later. What loot? Hatch went to follow. When he got there, he found Mercury lifting a few massive crates of items and gold, followed by a Lucario he'd never seen, a large scar over his right eye. He was carrying a crate himself.

"Damn they had a lot…" the Lucario muttered. "The cash alone…"

"Vault first," Mercury muttered, before noting the newly formed team. "Oh, you're up."

"Yeah we didn't die," Ash shrugged as she and the other two walked up. "Thanks for… helping with that."

"Yeah… thanks for not letting Ember's egg get cracked, even through all of that." he looked the team up and down. Ash and Werth looked at him unflinching, but Hatch? He couldn't meet his eyes. That little problem of his almost got an innocent egg shattered! How could he-

"Especially you, Hatch."

That got his attention. He looked back to face the Aggron, tilting his head in confusion.

"Whatever the reason they were after you," Mercury went on. "you still did your job. You protected Ember."

"And stood up to a mon like five times your size…" the Lucario added. "So good job there."

"I… guess I did…" Hatch nodded.

"So here's your reward." Mercury set his crates down, ripping the lid off one. Inside were coins and items, and they all looked very familiar.

"These are…" Hatch said, looking over the former wares and profits of 'Dungeon Dives.' He never thought he'd see anything from there again. Ash whistled at the sight of the contents, and even Werth's usual neutral gaze widened at the wealth contained inside.

"Where'd you get this?" the flaming bunny asked, picking out a Bounce Band, dyed blue.

"The horse's cart," the Lucario shook his head. "Why risk something like a kidnapping if you had all this?"

"Fools," was all Werth added, eyes scanning.

"Let's see…" Mercury tapped his metal chin, making a clanging sound. "Why don't you three take five hundred from this, and one held item? A reward for your first mission."

"R-rea-" Hatch started, but Ash shoved an elbow into his stomach.

"Don't look a gift in the mouth!" Ash scolded, snapping the new band around her head and under his ears, and going for the handful of coins.

"Thank you," Werth said simply, reaching for a Pecha Scarf and his talonful.

"Right… thanks," Hatch peered into the box. What did he want? A Power Band would only help his blows, or maybe specks, or maybe this weird pink purple one?

Hmmmmmmm…

In the end, he decided to take the Power Band, slipping it on his forearm. He could use more power.

"Happy? Good." Mercury put the lid back on the crate. "Take it easy for a while, then keep up the good work. Come on, Jessie, help me with this." Mercury picked up the crates once again, and lumbered further inside the guild.

The Lucario nodded, giving one last look to the three, and grabbing his own crate to follow.

The three watched them go, before turning back to each other.

"...What are we supposed to do?" Hatch asked. He hadn't 'taken it easy' in a little under two years.

"Nothing strenuous," Werth insisted.

"Well," Ash tossed a coin in the air, catching it without looking. "We just got paid so…"

"...So?" Hatch asked, not getting it.

"So let's go shopping!"

…​

The Bladesbourough market was a bustle of activity. Stalls of various goods and foods littered the area. That Machamp juggling Wooloo had more space now, thanks to the now empty space next to his act. Hatch kind of felt bad for what happened to Mr. Andrews and Mr. Danny. They weren't THAT bad, minus the attempted kidnapping.

…

Ok, maybe they kind of deserved it.

"Alright!" Ash clapped her paws together, looking around. "Where do we wanna go? What's on the shopping list?"

"Supplies may be warranted," Werth said.

"I think the guild's got that covered," Ash waved that idea off. "What about something for the room?"

"Like what?"

"I dunno… a cabinet?"

"Why a cabinet?"

"To put our stuff."

"Yes but we have bags-"

As the bunny and bird bickered, Hatch found himself wandering over to a stand a bit out of the way. Various knick knacks stood on the stand, hanging from hooks and shelves. An armored Flygon doll, a pair of beat up goggles, some cheap looking pendant with some red stone in the middle, a Psyduckie, and a compass with a Kommo-o scale as its needle. It was spinning erratically. It looked like junk, but Hatch found himself drawn to it. The bored looking Salazzle vendor perked up at the sight of a customer, her large green sun hat flopping forward just a bit.

"Hey there, guy!" she beckons with a smile. "I see you've got an eye for quality!"

Hatch gave another item, a beat up barret, a look before turning back to the still smiling lizard. She didn't flinch.

"They're historically valuable!" she grabbed a random knick knack, a dull knife with a flaking gold grip. It had a noticeably thick hilt. "For example, did you know this knife was forged by Heatran itself?"

"Really?"

"Don't interrupt," she cut the small dragon off before he could think. "Now, Heatran forged this blade with a metal long forgotten to time, and in his personal forge. It's priceless!"

"Why is it dull then?" Hatch asked.

"I said don't interrupt," the Salazzle almost hissed, before smiling once more. "And I never said it was a good metal."

"Then why-"

"Look, what's your name, kid?"

"H-Hatch-"

"Nice to meet you, Hatch, I'm Vessara. Listen, it wouldn't make sense for me to sell you something so valuable, but in this rough condition. So I'll cut you a deal. Normally, something like this would cost at least five thousand poke, but since I like you and you noticed the condition, I'll give you ninety percent off. Five hundred."

Hatch found himself stymied. He already had a knife, and two tusks sharped to its edge attached to his face. And it looked like a bad knife!

But… something told him he wanted it. An itch? He scratched at his covered head fin as he found himself pulling out his money.

"A pleasure!" she snatched the coins from his hands, and held out the knife, which he took. It was heavier than it looked, and the grip was really wide. He started to walk away as he examined it, but he didn't get far before-

"That is a shit looking knife," Ash commented, staring at the dull blade as she and Werth came up to him.

"Won't your tusks suffice?" Werth asked.

"I dunno…" Hatch shrugged, still looking curiously at the hilt. Why was it so big?

"How much did it cost you?" Ash asked." Hope you didn't get-"

"Five hundred," Hatch answered, noting the bottom of the hilt was loose. That was weird…

"Wha- five hundred!?" she glared at Vessara, who was putting the money away.

"No refunds," she shook her head. "Sorry!"

"You-" The area around the bunny started to heat up, rising with her anger.

"Ash," Werth began, when all of a sudden…

POP

Hatch had removed the stopper on the hidden compartment of the knife, the simple painted rubber in between his claws as he tipped the side over. Small gemstones of red, green, and blue colors fell into his waiting claws. There were still more inside the hilt too! Everyone stared at Hatch's bounty, unblinking.

"Cool!" Hatch shoved the gemstones back in the knife hilt, stopping it once more and giving the Salazzle a smile. "Thanks!"

She didn't say anything, mouth still agape at what just happened. Werth recovered first, looking around for anyone that may have noticed and would try to rob the Axew, but no one seemed to be paying attention. Ash shook her head, joining Werth's glance, before turning to smile at her fellow fire type. It was a cruel smile.

"Nevermind!" she said innocently, before pushing Hatch away into the crowd. Werth gave her one last glance before following.

Vessara just watched them go, processing. Had the Axew known? No, it didn't look like it. Perhaps he was just more observant than he let on?

Or he was just lucky.

Lucky…

 

[Namohysip]

Heya, reading the first chapter for this one! It was short and sweet, and I thought it was a nice opening. Some commentary, and then I'll give my overall thoughts.

Calling an Alolan Golem a "Launcher Golem" is a clever one! I hadn't considered that sort of title before but it fits well where the Alola region wouldn't have been known.

The opening bits were a little hard to follow at first, and I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the ellipses dream would be. Is this person mute? Is this a sort of protagonist being interpreted kind of thing, or telepathy? I'm not really sure how it works out, or if it's some kind of scattered format for this dream. Even one extra line to clarify it would have been helpful.

Took ya long enough kid,"

Missing quotation mark, and you should also have a comma after 'enough' in this sentence, because it's addressing someone.

Andrews said, grabbing a plate and piling the freshly fried bacon and eggs, handing the plate to Hatch. He blinked, staring at the incredibly tempting plate of food before him.

Because there was no paragraph break here, it was briefly ambiguous who was blinking. Might be good to have a break there to denote not a new person speaking, but a new focus on the subject of the actions.

Interesting... Based on that opener, it seems like Hatch has some kind of 'good luck' following him, or something? Clearly not good enough to have to keep running from people who seek it out, though I'm not sure what exactly that means.

"Damn I keep forgetting you're stronger than you look…"

Another minor comma issue, but an exclamation of sorts, like at the beginning here, should also have a comma coming after it. So, "Damn, I keep forgetting . . . " would be where to place it. Commas in general are missing from a lot of dialogue where they normally would have them to separate clauses in a sentence.

Him escaping and being generally lucky is pretty interesting and a cute story overall! Though I do wonder as a minor concern whether or not this natural "luck" would wear out its gimmick over time, since that's basically begging for contrivances to just happen because it could, as the main character. Still, it's an interesting way to go about it, and I wonder what in-universe justification it has!

 

[Ambyssin]

Blitzy New Year!
Disclaimer: This is mostly stream-of-consciousness thoughts. Take it as you will.

1
-Launcher Golem is definitely a cooler alternative to Mustache Golem for the Alolan form. That said, this “mountain pass” could do with more description. Colors? Smells? Other terrain beyond rocks? What do the rocks feel like? That sort of stuff.
-Similarly the italicized dialogue feels a bit too… gamey for my tastes? Because there’s nothing else to go off of, I’m not really sure what’s actually happening.
-I have similar issues with the lack of descriptors that follow. You used “parked” to describe where this shop(?) is stationed, but I’m not sure that’s the best word choice to describe where the building is situated. It made me think they were in a vehicle of some sort. Or maybe their shop is a vehicle, in which case that should really be made clearer early on. Especially since that has big implications for the level of available tech in your story’s world. Similarly, you leave Bladesborough up to my imagination. “Buildings” could mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, so you really need to be more specific in describing them.
-To your credit, you led into the reveal about Hatch’s “caretakers” wanting him to stick around well, with multiple hints something was off. It has a sort of sitcom feel about it, with the extra food offerings and Hatch’s suspiciously nice treatment.
-Guild hall is described a little better, though you seem to leave Ash’s POV momentarily for the sitcom-esque cut off when learning about needing three team members.
-Similarly, if you’re cutting off mid-sentence, it’s better to use an em dash (—) instead of a hyphen (-). The latter is meant for connecting words together.
-That slakoth is just the DMV sloths from Zootopia, isn’t he?
-Why would Hatch feel better with a knife when the actual narration points out his tusks? And he presumably has other moves, too.
-Would Ash know what cancer is? Does that mean cancer exists in your PMD world? Because, uh, that’s a scary bit of worldbuilding for what might just be a throwaway line.
-You really are better off describing moves like High (not Hi) Jump Kick and Acrobatics rather than just naming them. It makes it hard for me to visualize what’s supposed to be happening. You don’t have the benefit of, say, a game console or TV screen to show off the moves on. You have to pick up the legwork.
-This idea of Hatch just being born lucky brings Danganronpa to mind and its “Ultimate Lucky Student” talents. The big thing is that the series does interesting takes on the idea of luck. Here, I have to wonder what your take on it will be.

2
-I’m with Ash, bro. How does a volbeat get to the rank of guildmaster? They’re not exactly the strongest ‘mons around.
-If there’s safety in numbers, why not make the requirement for a team four or more? :P
-I hate to harp on the lack of descriptions, but you have Volbeat point the new team to their room without mentioning anything about the guild’s interior other than a nondescript forge and hallway. As far as I’m concerned, they might as well be walking through a void or something.
-Lol no wonder Kara left his home. Electric-types in a desert seem like recipes for disaster.
-The description for the team’s room is better and more of what I’m looking for.
-Really can’t help but wonder if these obviously abusive caretakers actually kidnapped Hatch at some point along his journey down the mountain.

3
-Mommy, the aggron said a naughty word! D:
-Black egg with red stripes, huh? Sneasel? Zorua? First two that come to mind, anyway.
-Aww, the big, scary aggron has a soft side.
-Garden description is also decent. And the way the first scene went, you were pretty much setting everything up for the egg to hatch.
-I… don’t think Machiavelli exists in your PMD world, so it’s strange to have the narration bring that up, even if it’s not clear which thug’s POV we’re behind for this.
-It’s quite comical the egg manages to roll all the way through to the guild entrance like this. I feel like the egg would need to be perfectly spherical for that to happen. And I’m pretty sure it’d be too fragile to roll like a ball, anyway, but there’s probably no point in me applying further logic to this.

I believe you’re writing multiple stories? And publishing chapters regularly? (Possibly even weekly for one of the fics.) If I could offer any advice based on what I’ve read, it might be to slow the pace up a little bit and see if you can find someone to help you work on your descriptions, because they’re the big thing sucking me out of the fic as a whole. They offer too little for my tastes, I’m afraid. ^^;

 

[ShiniGojira]

Hiya! Hope you're having a lovely time!

I thought I'd take the time to read through this with its unique tags and title.

So, onto the review!

Spoiler

The first chapter starts off rather interesting, we get a dream (or memory) about an Alolan Golem (Which by the way, has a splendid name. Launcher Golem is such a great alternative for the Mustache Golem), and the implication that he may have lost someone. Then, we get introduced to him being extraordinarily lucky and that he had been used by other people before which makes him terrified of staying in one spot as well as making him distrustful of people. And then there's the problem with Hatch's dream which requires him to work with a team thus, he has no choice but to put his trust in strangers.

A lovely amount of potential character development is set up here, and I'm curious to how you will write about the situations that will require his unique luckiness. That and maybe we'll learn how he has such amazing fortune (I'm assuming his dream/memory in the beginning is about how he obtained his luck) in the future. Also what's the deal with Hatch's mom? Is she dead or does she just live in a very dangerous place? Did Hatch make some kind of mistake that made him exiled?

And well since I'm on the topic of characters, let's talk about the duo, Ash and Werth. I love their interactions! Opposite personalities relationship clashes are always a treat to read through. And the fact that they are the exact same age makes their dynamic lovely and fun as they represent two very different spectrum of characters.

Ash being the violent, immature and prone to anger type of character.

And Werth being the calm, mature person who can't believe they're still friends with such a troublemaking girl.

Their clashing personality complement each other nicely and I hope Hatch gets to join them and make their duo a wonderful trio.

We also have a cute interaction with an Aggron and their hidden maternal instincts, very adorable and lovely.

I'm curious to how a Slakoth could be working in this pretty prestige-sounding guild, I'm gonna assume that he might play a small role that'll surprise the trio with his hidden strength in the future.

The story is still rather slow going and we're not really introduced to much in terms of story. The characters, their interactions, the set-ups to potential drama and conflict, plus the events that had happened in these early chapters definitely keeps me hooked and wanting to read more.

I have spotted some mistakes during these three chapters that I'm not sure if you already know of. If other readers have told you of them then that's fine. It's just my own personal gripe when I spot things with simple spelling or grammar issues during my read. Hope they help!

Spoiler: Little Typos and Strange Wording

Took ya long enough kid,"

I think you're missing a quotation mark here.

something her round and light perched on her head, flattening her ears.

'something' should be captilized here and there's an extra 'her' between 'round' and 'something'

The small dragon, could look Ash in the eyes, and she was tall for a Scorbunny, barreled into her as he ran through the crowds.

The wording's a bit weird here, it doesn't read as nicely as it should.

'The small dragon who could look Ash in the eyes as she was quite tall for a Scorbunny, barreled into her as he ran through the crowds' should look and flow better.

And that's when the Axew knocked her over.

'the' should probably be replaced to an 'a' as the narrator is still in Ash's limited POV as it's not like she knew there's only one Axew around.

When she was satisfied the dragon was following she let go,

This sentence also has awkward wording.

'Satisfied that the dragon was following, she let go,' should flow better and look less awkward.

Mostly because he was coffee was drained, fallen over to show the trio its empty contents.

I'm , uh, not quite what this sentence is suppose to be saying. Was it suppose to show the Slakoth being drained of coffee? His cup of coffee dropping and spilling?

"You're the guildmaster?" Ash said, incredulous. She was much more obvious in her surprise. "Seriously?"

This isn't a mistake. I just like the fact that a Volbeat is the guildmaster here. A unique and often seen as weak, Pokémon is gonna be interesting for being the master of a guild.

Then again, I'm a bit bias

'Bias' should be in past tense here.

"No Groudon rose from the depths and gave me a pep talk YES HE DROPPED A GARDEN ON ME!"

I feel like you should show the cut between sarcasm and shouting with a hyphen or an em dash.

A Gazebo

'Gazebo' shouldn't be captilized here unless it has a name, it shouldn't be captilized.

Aside from a couple gripes and small issues with grammar and typos. This story has a lovely amount of potential and can go in so many ways. Curious to see more of these three and their world.

Keep enjoying what you love and take care!

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

"Hmmmm…" the Sableye tapped his chin examining the small gemstones the three recruits brought him. When Harak went shopping for a nice snack and the jeweler pointed him to the recruits, he humored it. What was the harm? The café was doing well, his employees basically ran the place now, and he had time to burn. The as of unnamed team sat across from him, watching. Like he'd try to make off with the goods in the middle of a guild hall, the gaul of trust…

Still, these gems looked absolutely delicious…

"Where did you find these?" he asked the three.

"Well-" the Axew with the band around his fin began.

"Unexpected purchase," the Rowlet cut him off. "We were buying exploration supplies, and we found a hidden compartment."

"That right?" Harak plucked one of the small rubies from the table, holding it to the light. It was pure, barely an imperfection… absolutely delicious. "And if I don't believe you?"

"Then don't buy it," the Scorbunny said simply. "We're guild recruits in the best guild in the region, you think we're gonna risk screwing that up for a few thousand poke and a criminal record?"

A good point…"How much for the entire batch?"

"Two and a half thousand." she said almost instantly.

"One and a half." Harak counter offered.

"Two thousand," the Rowlet countered the counter.

"Fine…" the Sableye conceded, digging into his wallet and taking out the required coins and sliding them over to the Axew. The dragon took them with a satisfied nod.

"Thanks!" he said politely.

"Thank you for the high quality snacks," Harak popped the gem he was holding in his mouth and crunched. Yup. Delicious. He scooped the rest in a bag and stood up. "Tell me if you find any more gems, I may be willing to buy more."

"You'll be the first to know!" Ash waved him off, and didn't take his eyes off him until he was out the doors. As soon as he was gone, she looked back at her male companions. "So, we've had a team for less than a week, and already made three thousand. And we STILL don't have a name."

"Guess so…" Hatch started at the bag of money in front of him. It happened again… he just hoped no one caught on.

"Does it matter?" Werth asked. "We're already a success, relatively speaking."

"And who's gonna hire a team without a cool name?" Ash shot back, looking over the coins in Hatch's claws. A smirk grew on her face as she looked her companions up and down. "...and I have an idea."

"Really?" Hatch blinked, snapping him out of his slight panic.

"I hope it's good…" Werth turned his entire body to face the smirking bunny. "Your last suggestions were quite… singular."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?"

"...you like fire." Hatch pointed out. "Like, all your names have something to do with it."

"No they-" Ash started, before Werth cut them off.

"Firestar, Flamewing, Blazing, Cauldron, do I go on?"

"I- You two- UGH!" Ash threw her paws up in the air. "Do you have any better ideas then?"

"I do not," Werth admitted, fixing his feathers absently.

"Nope," Hatch added on. Team names were pretty hard.

"Then unless someone comes through those doors-" Ash pointed at the doors of the guildhall. "-with the best name in the Arc damned world we go with one of mine. So-"

It was then that the doors opened once more, and a now familiar buzzing made itself known. The guildmaster buzzed his way inside, looking tired and holding some old looking scrolls. He yawned as he saw the three sitting around. It turned into a smile as he buzzed over.

"Hey you three." he said, setting his load down and taking the seat the Sableye had just gotten up from. "How are you feeling? What are you up to?"

"We're good!" Hatch nodded, smiling at the guildmaster. He honestly did feel a lot better. Like he could smash through another brick wall.

"More than good boss mon," Ash grinned at the Volbeat. "We just made some serious cash!"

"...how?" Karamat asked, not noticing the full wallet Hatch was holding, "You only took one job."

"We sold something Hatch came across on our shopping trip," Werth explained. "Some gems hidden away."

"Oh? A lucky buy?" he eyed Hatch with a curious eye. "Nice catch."

Hatch couldn't hide his flinch. He just nodded vigorously.

"Yup!"

Karamat stared at him for a few seconds, as if peering into his soul. Hatch unblinkingly stared back, trying his hardest to not give anything away. Had he caught on? Would he have to fight his way out? The door was right there… but Ash was much faster than him, and Werth could fly. Would they help track him down?

…he liked these guys too…

"You know, that reminds me of something we've been looking into," Karamat went on. "A few old stories with a bit of truth in them."

Oh good, a distraction!

"Have anything to do with that secret site?" Ash asked, leaning in.

"Eh, it's not much of a secret," Karamat confessed. "Some rookies stumbled on these old ruins in a dungeon."

"Inside," Werth started. "Or near?"

"Inside. It looks like whatever the place was, a dungeon formed on top of it. It's a strange one too. The difficulty seems… random."

"Weird…" Hatch had only been in a few dungeons, but this…

"Hmmmm…" Ash said in mock thinking. "Could this be the job for a few up and coming rookies?"

"We still have to see what you're really made of," Karamat shot back.

"Still? Me and Werth took that crazy Simipour down no problem, and Hatch wrestled a Mudsdale and WON."

Hatch scratched at his fin sheepishly at the praise. Honestly he didn't even remember much with that fight. It wasn't the first time something like that happened, he knew that much. The last time was… right before he met Andrews and Danny…

"And everyone, except for Werth, ended up in the hospital wing after," Karamat shot back, before turning to the Rowlet. "How's your leg?"

"The burn has long faded sir," Werth responded quickly and clearly.

Hatch wilted at the response. That… did happen, didn't it? He ended up useless…

"So?" Ash said. "We still did it!"

"Ash," Karamat groaned. "You nearly gave yourself an aneurysm. Never use an Agility with a concussion again, alright?"

"I promise to try!"

He sighed. "We'll see how well you three do in a regular dungeon." the Volbeat says after some time. "Then we'll see about getting you into those ruins."

"Better than nothing I guess…" the Scorbunny finally relented, her eyes wandering toward the scrolls the bug was carrying. "What are those?"

"Oh these?" Karamat lifted one of the scrolls to show the team. "Just some old scrolls we found in there. Working with this archeologist to get them translated. We can barely make some of these out.

Karamat unfurled the scroll to show the trio, and Hatch's heart nearly stopped. That was… no. No. It couldn't be. There was no way. There was no was in all of DISTORTION-

"Well that's certainly a deal. Still, you deserve some reward."

"Hatch?" Ash poked him in the arm, and the draconic power building around his body dispersed. He was breathing heavily as his breathing calmed down. "The hell is with you?"

Hatch didn't answer immediately. His eyes were glued to the scroll. The other gibberish n the page didn't matter. It was just the symbol at the center of the page.

The symbol seared into his fin.

"...are you alright Hatch?" Karamat asked.

"...I'm ok." he said finally. Had to play it off… "...I just… thought I saw one of those symbols somewhere else."

"Really?" Karamat looked at the dragon with suspicion. "Can you remember where?"

"Not… exactly," he lied. If he gave that away, there's no telling what they'd do to him. He couldn't risk it.

"Maybe… we can jog your memory,'' Karamat said after some thinking. The firefly buzzed up into the air, after putting the crates back in the box. "Hatch, do you mind following me to my office?

Oh no.

"S-sure!" Hatch managed, standing up. Crap crap crap, why did he say that?

"Ooh, you're in trouble…" Ash said jokingly, patting him on the back. Her tone suddenly got less jovial when she felt him shake. "…Hatch?"

"I'm ok!" he reassured a little too quickly, as Werth gave him a glance.

"Would you like us to come with-"

"I'll be fine!" he said to the bird. The less anyone knew about it the better… he just had to throw Karamat off the trail…

"…alright," Ash shrugged. "See you back in the room I guess."

With that, Ash and Werth were off, giving glances back at the bug and dragon. Karamat gave him a small pat on the back.

"Come on," he told the dragon. "Know any fire moves? We can put on tea if you do."

…

Hatch's Incinerate was weak. Most of his ranged attacks were. Dragon Rage took him an embarrassing amount of time to pick up, especially considering his typing. It should be trivial for any dragon to do that much. They got the job done, however. The kettle hissed in the corner of the room behind Karamat's desk.

His office was nice, and bigger than what a small firefly needed by far. A window overlooked the entire town, and the desk faced towards it. A painting of him, a Spinda, and an Illumese all smiling. Shelves of held items and orbs sat in their places, but the thing that stood out the most was the silvery shield right under the painting. It looked nice, but unremarkable at first glance. Thin too.

Hatch did his best to hide his nerves, but it wasn't going…well. He absently tapped his claws together, stubby tail curing as much as it could while the Volbeat buzzed over and poured the tea. It smelled… sweet.

"It's Mago," Karamat explained, taking a seat and taking a sip. "I like my sweets."

Hatch took his own sip, and couldn't hide his enjoyment of the liquid. Him hum approval was obvious.

"And I see we have something in common," Karamat smiled. "That's good. How have you been getting along? Has anyone been giving you a hard time?"

"...Ash is kinda pushy…" Hatch admitted. "But it's fine. She's… nice. So is Werth."

"That's great!" Karamat said enthusiastically. "They're good mon. Proved it with that wild egg chase!"

"Yeah… they saved me there…" Hatch quieted down, and took another sip of his tea.

"You know, those kidnappers told us something strange about you. The reason they were chasing you."

Oh no.

"It sounded crazy, and they probably hit their heads a little too hard. Mercury does like a good punch to the face, and you threw that Mudsdale through a wall…"

Please no. I'm not ready to go yet.

"They said something about you being a good luck charm."

Silence. Hatch had to swallow his panic. It sounded like Karamat didn't quite believe it, so he had to throw him off. Lean into the crazy.

"...that's crazy." Hatch said after a notable pause. "Doesn't… make sense."

"That's what I was thinking," Karamat took his answer in stride. "But… you do seem to have that effect."

Oh Groudon why?

"I received a report of something curious happening right before you joined the guild. A hanging garden fell and crashed into that Simipour. An Axew, a Scorbunny, and a Rowlet were all seen running and attacking the victim."

"...Yeah, that was us." Hatch admitted. No use in hiding that. "We don't know how it happened…"

"Seems one of the ropes holding it up was frayed. You're lucky none of you got hurt."

Lucky… Hatch had grown to hate that word.

"I guess we were…"

"And then there was your sudden fortune shopping. A lucky purchase for those gems, yes?"

"I guess…"

Do not give it away. Deny. Deny. Deny.

"You came along when it was perfect to join a team, and you recognized this." he showed the symbol once more. Hatch hid his flinch better this time. "That's one of the ones that looked kind of familiar. It's not an exact match, but…"

"...but?" Hatch couldn't hide his curiosity at that. "...what does it mean."

"In general?" Karamat asked, looking the dragon in the eyes. "Luck. Or fortune. Either or."

His stomach dropped. He took a long drink from his tea to hide the absolute panic growing on his face. He hadn't called him out yet, he was ok, he was ok.

…He was ok.

"Hatch, is there something you want to tell me?" Karamat asked, his tone calm, but firm, with a hint of caring. "Maybe I can help?"

Help? He wanted to help? No… he couldn't get help. Help just led to more pain…

More running.

"I'm ok!" he forced himself to say, somehow keeping his voice steady. "Just… thinking about where I saw that before."

"…maybe we can pick that up later." Karamat relented. "Thanks for your time Hatch."

"Yup!" he wasted no time in draining his tea, and scrambling for the door. The sooner he got out-

"Oh, one more thing."

The Axew froze, looking back at the still seated firefly.

"The Sapphires exist to help mon. Good mon. Do you understand that?"

"...yup." he said after some time. Couldn't trust it. Couldn't drag anyone else in.

"...alright. Have a good day Hatch."

"...you too Kara." Without another word, Hatch stepped through the door and sped off from the guildmasters office.

…he should leave.

…but what was the harm in a few more days? Plus, those ruins sounded like they might hold some answers.

It was worth sticking around. At least for a little while.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

The dungeon team "perpetually unnamed" found themselves outside of what seemed basic enough. Bladesbourough had a few dungeons within walking distance, and the Rolling Hills were probably the most straightforward in the area. With normal and grass ferals filling the fields the three young mon talked about their first real mission.

"We are looking for as many gummi's as we can," Werth reiterates, holding the request in his wing. "The dungeon is four floors, and two of us are incredibly mobile. We should have no trouble looking everywhere."

"We know," Ash groaned, tapping her feet and fiddling with her Bounce Band. "You've only gone over it five times since we started walking. It's simple, find berries and don't get too hurt to prove ourselves good enough to go into the special one. Right, Hatch?"

The Axew nodded. It was pretty simple, and it shouldn't be that hard… just as long as he doesn't draw attention to his… tendencies. Just get through…

"Fine, fine…" Werth stashed the parchment in his bag, and looked at the two. "I'll fly ahead to scout, Hatch should lead the charge due to his natural defenses while Ash sticks close by and attacks quickly. Any objections?"

"Nope," Hatch nodded, a little more enthusiastic. This would be fun… dungeons were fun… now that he wasn't running for his life.

"Let's get this done!" Ash smiled as she walked ahead of Hatch and into the dungeon.

"What did I just…" Werth groaned to himself, before spreading his wings to follow. He seemed to have given up. Hatch wasn't far behind, taking in that strange sensation of entering the shifting space. Every cell in his body shuddered as his surroundings shifted. The sky suddenly looked… off. Off color, the sun in the sky looked a little too close to the ground… Two grassy hills flanked the trio, making a kind of hallway leading further into the dungeon. A pretty standard first room.

"Grass gummis blend into grass well," Werth commented. "We won't find many unless we-"

"Found some!" Hatch said, picking up a bundle of three before he stepped on them. The candies were each as big as his longest claw. Werth blinked at that, while Ash just laughed.

"Won't find many, huh?" she giggled.

"...good work, Hatch…" was all Werth said before continuing on. Hatch simply put the gummis in his bag, and hoped it would be less obvious as they trekked.

Just… don't acknowledge it…

The three proceeded through the dungeon for about two rooms, stretching out in front of them before they ran into their first feral. The Wooloo seemed content with just rolling around at the speed of sheep. No places to go, it had to follow that rainbow. It couldn't stick around, had to keep moving on and guess what lies ahead. There was only one way to find out-

"I hate that song," Werth said to Ash as she started humming a strangely familiar tune.

"Bite me," Ash shot back, not noticing Hatch pocket another two gummis.

And on they continued. The first floor was very uneventful, and Hatch learned that Wooloo just… really liked to roll. Like, a lot… The second floor was at least more exciting.

This time they were rolling aggressively. The three Wooloo rolled down, one for each member of the team. They were Rolling Out pretty fast…

"Hostility," Werth noticed, before taking to the sky. He couldn't fire off Razor Leaf yet, he'd hit his teammates. Ash could move out of the way easily at least… but of course that's not what she did.

The Scorbunny waited for it to get closer… and closer… and closer… until she made her own move. Her knee was suddenly glowing with orange power as her High Jump Kick smashed into its thick wool. The sheep was quite Fluffy, but the attack accomplished what she wanted. The sheep was flung back, being launched a few feet in the air.

Hatch simply punched his Wooloo with a Dragon Claw. It kept rolling, but since Hatch managed to hit it in its less Fluffy face, the Wooloo too crumpled not long after.

The extra Wooloo was rolling back, until Werth started pelting it with a barrage of Razor Leaves. It turned on a dime, and barreled away at high speed. A Run Away. They watched it go, not bothering to chase it down.

"...that was easy," Ash noted, still looking around.

"Quite," Werth said from above, as he flapped on.

"Nice punch," Ash told Hatch as she followed. He scratched at his fin sheepishly, and went along.

Aside from a few more hostile sheep and finding a stun seed, the rest of the floor was uneventful. As was the third, Hatch picked out yet more gummis. It was on the last floor that his teammates started to take notice.

"Hey, Hatch?" Ash asked, setting another Wooloo on fire to take advantage of its Fluff.

"Y-yeah?" he asked, picking up yet another bundle of their goal. The flaming sheep proceeded to run around like a madmon as it burned, Werth keeping watch for any more enemies they had to deal with.

"How do you keep doing that?" she turned to stare at the dragon, confused.

"...doing what?"

"Finding all those gummis!" Ash said, waving at the bag. "They're supposed to be rare, right?" she asked Werth, who nodded.

"Bundles especially, but you've found four…" Werth noteds. "Quite the fortune…"

Hatch couldn't hide his flinch at that word in particular.

Oh no.

"I guess…" Hatch said, trying his best to keep calm. Ash wasn't helping. Far from it, in fact.

"And then there was that time with the knife," she went on. "That was a nice buy for such a shit blade. And you have tusks. Why'd you buy it?"

"I noticed the latch," he said calmly, simply. He had to focus to not give his true nerves away. Now PLEASE drop-

"That's not just it though! You're finding these gummis like they're nothing, that garden saved our asses the first time, and you were LITERALLY chased down because you're apparently a good luck charm."

Ash stopped, wheeling on Hatch even as the group entered the final room. There was a large mass of wool laying in the middle of the room, but the bunny ignored it to look the dragon dead in his eyes. Her burning defiance to his nervous shifting.

"Hatch," Ash asked, looking him dead in the eyes. "You haven't been honest with us. What are you not telling us?"

"I…" he trailed off, trying to think. He could NOT tell them. They saw too much already! It would just be another Andrews and Danny… he could NOT let them-

He blinked at the movement he just thought he saw from behind the bunny.

…did the wool just move?

"You what?" Ash pushed. "You have some way of messing with mon? Why were those guys really chasing you? Or was it actual luck?"

"Ash…" A warning growl emitted from his throat. His own anger suddenly spiked. Why now? Why couldn't he just live? Why did that yellow and red thing-

"MOVE!" Werth squawked, even as the mass barreled towards the arguing duo. Hatch, for once, reacted first, pushing the lighter rabbit out of the way as the Dubwool slammed into him with a Take Down. The heavier ram sent him flying back a few feet, dizzy. His entire front hurt as he gasped for breath, but he picked himself up. The natural resilience of a dragon in full effect. It still HURT though.

Ash didn't waste any more time, slamming a Blaze Kick into its side while it was distracted. It baaed in pain and rolled back as the wool caught alight. Werth encouraged this action by sending Razor sharp Leaves from above. With more fuel to burn, the sheep cried.

This gave Hatch the chance to stand, and keep laying in. After a few deep breaths, his Incinerate flew hot and fast. The Dubwool, in full panic, rolled over and over to try and put itself out, before it started spinning with a powerful blue energy coming right back at Hatch. The Reversal CRASHED into him, and sent him flying back. As he rolled, the last thing he saw was Ash's High Jump Kick crashing into its mass before his vision went for a moment.

Hatch saw stars for a while, intermittent with flashes of people he's met and hurt along the way here. The image of his mother… the much fuzzier image of his father, some of his old fiends up the mountain… and then that face. That orange and yellow face- he hated that face…

When it cleared, he found himself being helped to his feet by the bird and bunny, forcing an Oran into his mouth. He bit down, the soothing juices making his aches feel just a bit better.

"Not that lucky then?" Ash half joked, patting him on the back. That earned her a glare from the other two males.

She sighed. "...Sorry," she said after some time. "Probably shouldn't have had that talk in a dungeon…"

"A time for everything," Werth groaned.

"...I don't wanna talk about it," Hatch said, finally shaking off the ringing in his head. "It…never ends well."

"...fine." she groaned. "But we WILL talk about this again."

Hatch simply nodded, wondering how much of what just happened, her dropping it for now, was his little problem.

…

He hated this. So, so much.

 

[BlackHairedPsycho]

Ash was frustrated.

Hatch was keeping something big to himself, that much was so bloody obvious. But exactly what seemed… impossible. He's just… lucky? And people notice? That was the only reason? Kinda sounded like a story she heard from-

Her next Blazing Kick smashed into a dummy as that memory pushed itself to the surface. Her effort had borne fruit for a very beat up and scorched dummy standing above her. Her Blaze kicked in involuntarily and the dummy crashed into the dirt floor, very much on fire. Ash huffed, staring at the flames.

Can't blame him for keeping secrets… makes me a hypocrite…

"Did that dummy kill your parents or something?" said a vaguely familiar voice. Ash turned to see that scarred Lucario entering. What was his name… James? No, Jessie.

"I wish," she sighed. Jessie gave her a wide eyed look for a bit, and Ash frowned at him. "...what?"

"Pushing that to the side for now," he shook his head. "Something wrong? You seem… pissed."

"Oh good! I thought I was just depressed. Thanks for confirming!" Ash kicked the burning dummy once again, rekindling the tough fabric. She groaned and sat down next to it, rubbing her head.

"...why? You guys just got the biggest haul of gummi's I've ever seen. The client even let you keep a few, right?"

"Yeah, Werth's probably splitting them up for his own training… like he needs more of a reason to be a smartass…"

"And Hatch?"

"...napping." was all she said in response to that. He needed it after that monster sheep, true… didn't mean she liked having to wait. Still… a secret was a secret, and an uncomfortable one at that.

"Looked like he needed it with how beat up he was when he came back. A Dubwool did that?" Jessie joined her next to the burning dummy.

"Massive one, yeah, with… Reversal? I think it was Reversal."

"Ouch…"

"Yeah… at least it didn't last long after that."

"If it could floor a dragon like that? Yeah, it wouldn't."

"...so why're you here?" Ash asked, standing back up, lifting the dummy as she did so.

"...because you're not the only one that trains?" Jessie tilted his head.

"Impossible," she shot back with a small smile. "But seriously, the only other person I saw in here is that pie making Ninjask and his Shedinja. They seem close."

"They are," Jessie nodded, picking his own dummy out. "Really care for eachother."

"Neat. Hey, wanna spar?"

"...now where did that come from?"

"I'm bored and restless, now try and kick my ass!"

…​

"And we escaped safely, sir." Werth explained, in the guildmaster's office. The Volbeat sat calmly as he listened to the Rowlet's explanation. "More details can be found in the report I submitted right before you asked me here."

"Thank you Werth," Karamat nodded, looking the very report over. "You all did very well. I've never seen so many gummi's in one trip…"

"Yes, I thought it odd as well." Werth preened his feathers absently. "It was almost as if-"

"You all got very lucky." Karamat finished for him.

"...that is certainly one way to put it." Werth nodded. "Frankly, I do not put much stock into such things myself…"

"But you've noticed." Karamat notes, looking into the birds tired eyes.

"...yes, I've noticed how these things tend to happen around Hatch. It is difficult not to." Werth closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I have to wonder if that Simipour was some level of correct…"

"It still doesn't excuse their actions," Karamat said, offering Werth a cup of tea.

"I never claimed otherwise," Werth took the tea in a wing, taking a sip. Almost unbearably sweet. "...Mago?"

"Like it?" the guildmaster smiled genuinely, taking a long sip himself.

"...quite," Werth put the cup down. "Anyway, there is much Hatch isn't telling us. About this phenomenon, about why he was so beat up before those two took him in, and when anyone would take note of it, he would become nervous. It was why he took so much damage in the dungeon in the first place. Ash was asking…"

"I see… there's a time and place for everything…" the Volbeat went quiet as he thought.

"...if I may, sir." Werth spoke up after a while.

"Oh? Please, go ahead, Werth."

"...While I am admittedly curious about this twist of fortune, I do not think it worthwhile to look into it too deeply. My teammate is obviously uncomfortable with such a thing, and I must ask you to respect his, and by extension, our team's privacy."

Werth started into the Volbeat's eyes, unblinking. Karamat stared back, a surprised look on his face.

"Of course!" he said almost immediately. "...if it stays like this."

"...what do you mean, guildmaster?"

Karamat took a deep breath before continuing.

"You said yourself, Hatch was beat up before he came across those two."

"I did," Werth acknowledged.

"And do we know why?"

"...we do not," he relented. "This is the word of two criminals-"

"Who had their auras read while being questioned by our own resident Lucario. They were not lying, or exaggerating about the state of Hatch when he was found."

"...are you suggesting…?"

"It's possible there are more mon after him," Karamat nodded. "In that case, this problem is far from personal, and you are to come to me immediately. You'll all be in danger in that case."

Werth closed his eyes in thought. It… was an uncomfortable possibility…

And there was already Ash's situation…

"...Very well, guildmaster. I will inform you of any such change."

"That's all I ask," Karamat breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Werth. You may go."

Werth nodded, leaving the tea where it was and flapping out.

Karamat sighed, remembering his conversation with Hatch. The brief moment of utter panic he saw in his eyes when he saw that symbol…

What had happened to him?

…​

"You alright? That was almost really bad!"

"…"

"Yeah, I saved you! That bully won't be bothering anyone for a long time!"

"…"

"I'm Hatch! What's your name?"

"…"

"It's a small cut! Sure it's bleeding a lot, but I'll be fine. More tired than anything. Just gotta wait for this storm to pass and I'll take you back to Thalridge. Mama can help both of us!"

"Your mother? And you're just alone on such a treacherous path?"

"Yeah, I was going down the mountain!"

"…"

"I was finally gonna go on a real adventure!"

"…"

"No, it's alright! I'm not just gonna ditch you. I'll get down another day."

"…"

"A reward?"

"Well that's certainly a deal. Still, you deserve some reward."

"W-what are you doing with that?"

"Don't struggle, it'll be over before you know it."

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Hatch shot out of bed, clutching at his fin, his other aches and pains completely forgotten for now. The hazy memory of that day still haunted him…

That pain… and what it led to.

But… he didn't have to focus on it. Nothing had happened for a little bit now, at least nothing that told him he needed to run. He… liked it here. He really did. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to stick around, but he was living his dream. He was an adventurer… and he wanted to live that life.

Not just… keep running.

He sat up and stretched, readjusting his headband. That did NOT need to show. Now… something to eat. That always helped calm him down.

Helped drown out the dread too.

…​

The shiny Kirlia had just arrived in town. What a long, boring trip… still, he was here! He had to resist the urge to twirl as he finally got off that stupid cart.

"Thanks," he told the Rapidash pullers, leaving their payment in a coinbox in the cart. He was lucky to have hands…

He was lucky to be given this chance…

Gale wouldn't let the lady down! He had to find that guy. The last agents said the Axew was heading for Bladesbourogh, so here Gale was to find him. He'd prove himself. To the lady, to his family… and he'd earn that stone. Just had to bring the dragon in…

Now… the hotel. Suitcase in hand, he started daintily walking down the road, keeping to himself as he did so. Being shiny made him stand out a bit, but he learned to keep his head down after years of practice…

…great, now he missed Ash. Just get to the hotel, and look from there.

You can do this, Gale. You can…