Ah, the Clover Guild. Two years of “serving” the residents of Capim Town and the outlying areas. Two years of making the Wigglytuff Guild, which had the indomitable reputation of having saved the world from an ancient Crisis many centuries prior, somehow look even better. Two years of, dare I – the disembodied narrator of this small story – say: pure kino.
We arrive at the very outside of the Blue Claw Inn, where the echoes of Crabrawler, the owner, can be heard.
“And stay out!” Crabrawler said as the “eevees” were flung out of the front door.
The rest of Pirth’s teammates looked at him, and he could feel their gaze on his skin. He merely smiled and said, “What? All I did was say that this establishment should be burned down for not having a 'we don’t serve deerling' clause."
They walked away as Pirth’s teammates chastised him for hating deerling and the like, but unfortunately for them Pirth instead began to chat to the fragment of Arceus trapped within his mind on various philosophical subjects such as “total deerling death” and “super-leafeon supremacy.”
We now follow Crabrawler as he returns back inside the tavern, the door closing behind him. A splatter of purple drink splashed upon the floor, and Crabrawler looked up to see Toge, the Clover Guild’s foremost autist, somehow wrapped in the party streamers hastily strewn across the ceiling. Toge, black-out drunk, managed to the surprise of his fellow Guidlmates on the ground floor to speak coherently, but it took only a second drink and a handful of moments for Toge's stutterless speech to deolve into nonsenical gibberish which he contineud to spew to himself while in the precarious situation.
Hidden above in the banners watching the drunken togetic was Rasmus the Spinarak, a web of his creation already claiming a corner as an outpost for a potential future heist of the Blue Claw Inn, though at the moment he just enjoyed the ice-cold bottle of beer in his claws, watching the chaos below and looking back at Crabrawler, who walked away shaking his chitin head in amazement at himself for agreeing to host the Guild’s “celebration.” He failed to see Nida, Sunny, and dearest little Pochi engaged in a conversation about their hopes and dreams, smiles being shared across the table. If he had, though, the meta-narrative of Clover Guild being nothing more than a handful of degenerates would be ruined, and we can’t have that, now can we?
Indeed, what Crabrawler instead saw were Bill and Gill engaged in a bout of tomfoolery. He grumbled as he returned to his post, muttering that were another fight break out, he would kick everyone out and keep the security deposit. He failed to see Bill smile at the effort by his brother to surprise him, and he failed to see they shared a heartfelt and well deserved laugh at having time to enjoy one another and the Guild as a whole.
Next to them was Team Petal-Purr, the Clover Guild’s greatest hope at improving its rather shoddy reputation. As Heidi and Blossom shared their reasonably-sized drinks Shelby, ever the outgoing skitty, planted upon the table with a resounding thud a drink that could’ve been mistaken for her; it was almost her size and the color was a purr-fect match. As Shelby let out a smug smile, Blossom and Heidi shared a grin that they would likely have to make sure their teammate had some help getting back to the Guild.
An indeedee walked past them, one with a story that is not yet mine to tell, but a story nonetheless. He carried a dish of delectable and – in keeping with the infamously-well-adhered lore of the Guild – ethically-sourced slowpoke tail. The indeedee walked past Maxi and Maddie, who had a pleasant conversation about their janitorial duties and how they welcomed a reprieve from it.
The waiter also pretended not to notice the swift moving shadow known only as Solid Linoone taking cover behind the wall, seeking to avoid being spotted by his mark: the aforementioned Team Petal-Purr who seemed too far cozy for the Guild. He cursed under his breath that there was no cardboard to be found, but fortunately the wind blew just right against his fur to ensure that, were he to be seen, any observer would be awestruck by the moment of absolute cinema.
The indeede placed the dish at a table with a resounding thud that still couldn’t compare to that of Shelby’s, and presented the slowpoke tail to Cory the ever-handsome corvisquire that I, the disembodied narrator, most certainly have no biases towards. Cory was next to a shiny eevee by the name of Rain, who seemed to be enjoying her drink a bit too much after having to deal with Cory’s antics for much of the day. Cory, somewhat surprisingly, carefully and dashingly sipped his own drink, hoping that his joke of “lettuce eat in peas” when ordering moments before hadn’t pushed his dear friend over the edge; their other companion, Fern, was already out cold and splayed out on the floor.
Tropius, sharing their table, bore a rare smile of glee – perhaps because Rain was too busy drinking to ask him for a banana – sipped a soup with a bendy straw, delighted at the taste of the savory stew. Although he was forced to be outside, he was happy with the efforts his Guildmates made to ensure his inclusion, so much so that he had, for a moment, forgotten about his size and could simply revel in the celebration.
But an escape from the shenanigans of his Guildmates was an impossible feat for the towering giant, for up floated from the ground before him a drunken duskull by the name of Elm who bore a bottle of Salazzle Brand Beer. Elm let out a burp he floated further up, the green gastronic bubbles rising beside him, where he proceeded to utter an expletive that I, even as a narrator for the Clover Guild of all things, could not bear to repeat, for I kiss my mother with my mouth.
Unlike Solid Linoone, actually unnoticed by anyone save for myself were the Three Strangers in the midst of one of their convoluted schemes – Cassie hoisted Kiyo down the rafters in an attempt to “prevent” further drunkenness of Rain (how kind of them) while Bean perched himself atop the rope, serving as dutiful sentry for any potential interlopers. However, while they could try to save Rain, joining Elm and Fern in complete inebriation was Ross, who fell out of his chair and onto the floor, his bright evergreen tail flicking up paint towards the ceiling; indeed, it seemed there was no way the Guild was getting its security deposit back.
Watching this ordeal was Testa of Team Buckler , who saw the smeargle fall and couldn’t help but let out an involuntary gasp – although she had been here quite some time, she had to admit that much of the humans here were quite unlike her longtime companion, Cooper, who quietly looked beside him towards the stairs, seeing the Guild’s other torchic – Torhic of the aptly named Team Misfits – falling down the top of the stairs.
Phanpy, the leader of Team Misfits, would have normally helped her, but he had more pressing matters to worry over, as he was busy attempting to corral both Cyndaquil and Totodile as they dangled haphazardly from the chandelier. Well, it was more so Totodile who dangled, the realization of his predicament shining through his perpetual intoxication. Cyndaquil, on the other hand, was elated; he could now technically declare that he was atop everyone else in the Clover Guild, a statement only truly possible in the most delusional of fantasies.
Below Phanpy and Torhic on the stairs was Sierra, scratching the back of her head in confusion as she watched her partner, Santos, leap over the railing, failing to comprehend why he thought this would be easier than asking the duo below them to simply step aside. Nevertheless, Santos was successful in scaling the banister, but not so much in sticking the landing, falling with a resounding THUD and falling right in front of Gus, who sits by his lonesome, trying to enjoy the party in spite of his nonexistent partner.
Beast and his stove, Ronnie didn’t even bat an eye at the scene, for they were completely enjoying a moment of peace and quiet. It wasn’t every day that they could take a break from cooking for the rather ungrateful denizens of the Clover Guild, and by goodness gracious the pair were going to sit back, relax, and allow someone else to cook for them this once. Santos’ fall was merely one of countless incidents at the Clover Guild Beast had managed so somewhat acclimate to.
Looking at Beast and Ronnie, then scanning the rest of the scene, was Wooper of Team Cozy, Chespin not far behind him, trying to find their number one fan, not realizing he was far, far above them. Wooper’s eyes did, however, settle on Team Fangclaw who were enjoying a moment of small sanity, overlooking the scene from the relatively calm second floor.
Indeed, the second floor was in relative serenity to the bottom, and that is where Alphonse and Bethel both shared a nice brew, clinking the chilled mugs of beer imported straight from Grainfield together and taking a swig, both wreathed in not only the black cloth of Alphonse’s cloak and Bethel’s scarf, but also the presence of one another, two stalwart partners whose journey was barely beginning.
They failed to look up at the chicken perched at the rafters overlooking the Blue Claw Inn: KFC, the resident aura guardian. He was almost always on guard, watching out for his Guildmates against a threat many of them likely didn’t know lurked every which way, but here he let his guard down just a smidgen. He looked back and observed his pupil, Booker, who he fondly recalled having come so far from when he first met them.
KFC watched with as much of a smile a beak can produce as Booker and Sneasel, after a dare and a laugh, exchanged their party hats. The hat on Sneasel’s head was comically small, and of course the hat which Sneasel placed over her partner embroiled him in shadow. The ribombee lifted it up to see his partner having yet another hearty laugh at the scene. The pair, after catching their breath from laughing, shared a warm exchange of glances. Two years since they had first met, and many more of their adventures and growth together.
Behind them was Team Moonshine, Adrian under the table in protest at Enny, sitting above, once again infuriating him with his utterly homosexual remarks – well-above the Clover Guild standard of a 3.7 on the Voight-Kampff scale – and refusing to budge. Bellossom and Vilepume, try as they might, struggled to get the leader of Team Moonshine out from beneath the table. Perhaps there was more, perhaps Adrian wished to hide away for he was the first eevee of many, and by God did he find the others – Pirth especially – annoying. Indeed, the fact that he had momentarily thought of Pirth as an eevee nearly made him burst into flames.
Speaking of eevees, across the room he spotted Beau bearing a hair tuft that filled Adrian with envy and his partner, Mako, making their way to a table. Beau gleefully motioned for Mako how he was doing, looking back at him just in time to catch Mako's stomach answer on his behalf. "C'mon, let's grab a table to get you some food. Dav should be here any minute now." Indeed, from the door appeared Dav, with his girlfriend Charolette in tow. The fact that not one but two members of the Clover Guild were able to find partners showed that lightning could indeed defy all odds and strike twice in the same spot.
Outside, hurrying to the party were Nick and Amelia of Team Keystone, having just finished one of their expeditions and en route to join in on the festivities. Both of them paused for a moment beside the Blue Claw Inn, exchanging a look of confusion as to why the president of the Exploration Team Federation was peering through the window. Indeed, watching the entire scene was Alazakam, who was coping and seething like he had never done before, beside himself that the Clover Guild was able to continue its depraved existence for yet another year.
Ah, the Clover Guild. Two years since their shenanigans had begun, and an uncountable number more where their misadventures would persist. Despite all their misfits and degeneracy that is, if I am going to be perfectly honest, likely the cause for the rifts which are tearing the universe apart, they seem to have found a place where they could be themselves. Indeed, despite the unorthodox circumstances, world, and Guild they found themselves in, it is perhaps poetic that they, in spite of their differences, could make for themselves a place they can proudly call home.