Induced Demand
My first day at the Clover Guild starts, as I’m awakened by the subtle noise of a door being slammed shut somewhere in the hallway. A brief reminder that I’m no longer sleeping out in the wilderness. My forelegs are greeted by the soft texture of the cotton bed I had to get myself the night before. My hind legs, on the other hand, are instead touching the much harder wooden floor. They must have slipped out, given how I didn’t get to make my bed as big as I wanted.
Opening my eyes, I find that my room is not as bright as I would have imagined. (Must be earlier than I thought). The light level is still high enough to see the messy state that I left my room at, with wooden chunks and pieces of cotton along all four walls. The only thing in the room that doesn’t look like it was struck by a tornado is that vile, disgusting doll I cluelessly snatched for myself. Seeing it laying down on its back, unassumingly, maintaining that stitched grin fills me so much disgust that I immediately avert my eyes from it.
What lies to its side, however, is in no way more pleasant. The stain I caught glimpse of before snoozing is still there, having been absorbed and now looking like a dark spot on the floor. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it will come out any time soon.
(The last thing I want is a permanent memento of my first time using that doll. If I can’t remove it, the best thing I can do is cover it with something so that I don’t have to see it every time I’m here. And given the current state of my room, that something has to be the bed.)
At last, I rise up, as ready as I’ll be to face the coming day. After stepping off of the cotton, I bite the edge of it and drag it slightly until it covers the unwanted mark. Having the bed be off centered like that is certainly not ideal, but it’s likely not the first thing that will jump at whoever first comes in. Hopefully it won't be long until I forget what lies below.
Before I leave my room, I consider if I should take the doll with me. Filthy as it might be, I cannot deny how effective it was at keeping my anger in line. The problem comes from how to carry it. So far, I’ve been moving stuff, including the plush, using my maw, since I lack hands. That, however, was before I knew exactly what the plush contained. Although it’d be possible for some of the parts not to be filled with grime, I really don’t want to take a risk when putting something in my mouth.
What other options do I’ve got? I guess I could stab it, but that would put my horn in direct contact with its insides, on top of the fact that it’s inevitably gonna end up tearing it apart. To make things worse, it might be hard to get the doll off of me for a beating at moment’s notice if I pierce it too deep.
Out of options, I bite one of the legs of the plushie, thankfully not noticing anything out of the ordinary, and lift it over my shoulder. After a couple of tries, I get it to stay. I’ve got no way of checking how it looks on me, but going off of feel, I can tell that it’s right behind where my mane ends, and that it is sitting. The whole thing probably looks like it’s riding me, which I imagine likely looks ridiculous, but I’ll take it over coming in direct contact with that accursed item.
I shake a bit from side to side, and the doll remains in place remarkably well. Needing to test how I’d get it to the ground for when I need to vent my rage, I quickly lower the upper part of my body and thrust it forward. The plush comes off cleanly, as it lays on its back ready to be mashed. As much as I’d like to, given its stupidly punchable face, my room doesn't need yet another stain. Instead, I mount the doll on me, following the same song and dance as before. This time I need a few less tries than before for it to stay. On cue, my belly rumbles, reminding me that I should get something to eat.
In short, I take the door and exit to the hallway. Being extra careful with my horns, fearing that a strong enough bump against the door frame might be enough to toss the substitute doll to the ground. Soon enough, I have to decide what direction to take. For most Pokémon, this shouldn’t matter at all, both paths circle around to the big, common area the contains the stairs, after all. For me, though, I don’t have a pleasant track record when dealing with hallways, so I’d really like to take the shortest path possible. Thankfully, the night before, when coming back from the storage room, I realized that taking the right is a whole lot faster than following the directions the Guildmaster took yesterday. Knowing that lets me traverse the first floor quickly, getting me to the spiral staircase I’ve already grown to hate. I begrudgingly take it to the ground level, as it’s where I assume the mess hall would be. After all, the kitchen seems to also be located there.
If the main hall appeared empty when I first came here, this is in another level. Seems like most people in this guild aren’t early risers. That’s not to say that no one's here, since there’s a group of three talking to each other by the mission board. Those being a Woobat, a Solosis and a Mimikyu. At first, I think they must be discussing what job to go after, after all, being up so early probably means you get to pick and choose from wide pool of requests. That assumption is dashed the moment I see the Woobat set the sack he was balancing on his head to the ground. Said sack quickly gets snacked by the Mimikyu, uning a freakishly long claw that emerges from below its costume. Given that the bat Pokémon leaves the pair shortly after, that can only mean that he was a client, and the Mimikyu and Solosis are only members out of the three. (Did they finish a job this early in the day? Talk about fast. If that’s the case, maybe the reason the guild is so empty is because most member are already out doing missions by now.)
As the two explorers turn to address each other, another member enters the lobby from a big door to my right. The Pokémon in question is a determined looking Combusken, sporting a raged red and white scarf, somewhat reminiscent of Christmas attire, and an eyepatch adorned with a mystic looking, tricolor gemstone. By the time I’ve gotten a good look at him, he’s already heading for the guild’s exit, acting as if neither me or the two by the job board here. (What an asshole.)
Still needing to find where breakfast gets served, I think to look first where that emo looking bird came from, and to my delight, it turns out to be the mess hall! (Heh, I was right in the money.)
The room contains an assortment of differently sized tables. Amusingly enough, they are for the most part shorted from shortest to tallest, with the tall ones, AKA the only ones I care about, at the end of the instance. For how many tables are present, they are all scarcely populated. Seems like not many Clover Guild members choose to have breakfast at this time.
Out of the few Pokémon in here, the standout are a pair of Growlithes, each with a plate of pancakes. (Huh? They have that in here?). The orange Growlithe is taking it slow, choosing to use a fork and a knife to eat the pancakes at small chunks at a time. His clumsy use of cutlery would be laughable were it not for the fact that he has paws instead of hands. Looks like some people here will try their hardest to follow old human habits. The other Growlithe on the other hand, has chosen to forgo all sorts of mannerisms, and he’s instead downing a huge stack raw dog, for lack of a better term. His silver mane is drenched in syrup as a result.
As much as it’s commendable how the first Growlithe is capable of using cutlery at all, there’s no way in hell that I’m pulling off anything like that using hooves. Guess I have no choice other than to guzzle it down like the second one, hopefully without making as much of a mess as him.
I walk further into the mess hall, stopping right by where there are ready-to-take plates, with two pancakes each. There’s another Pokémon also there, a Duskull with a fork in one hand and an empty plate in the other. That doesn’t last, as he stabs one of the pancakes with the fork and plops it on his plate, then another one, and another one, and another one…
Plate after plate is left completely empty before me. (He’s going to leave some, right?). Before long, there are only three plates remaining, then two, and finally, it drops down to one, as the comically large stack of pancakes becomes too tall to handle with easy for the Ghost type.
(Phew, cutting it close there, but it looks like I’ll get my breakfast after all). With my eyes on the prize, I approach the plate that had been spared. But before I can think of a way to carry it… That stupid Duskull puts its syrup mired fork trough my breakfast!
(What!? Does this fat sack of ectoplasm not have enough pancakes already!? Is this some sort of prank!? Like the sort of shit that they pull on newbies at college campuses and what not!? Well I bet he’s not going to find it that funny when I trample his tower and force him to eat his breakfast off of the ground! Get ready, you son of a…)
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t see you there. You can have these pancakes if you want.” The Duskull speaks to me, scratching the side of his skull with the same appendage he’s holding the fork in.
(He’s just… Going to give them to me? AHHHHHGGGG! But he’s done nothing but toy with me! The gall of him to make himself look nice at the last second. He must pay! Harshly! I won’t stop until he’s…)
(Fuck, shit, not again! Quick! The plush!)
Snaping back from my tirade. I find myself with both my forelegs raised in the air, about to charge straight at my guildmate. Taking the reigns for a brief second, I trust my upper body downwards instead of forward, with the intent of getting the substitute doll down to the floor for an emergency pummeling.
Not measuring my strength, I end up sending the plush flying straight into the Duskull! He shutters, before moving his stack well out of the way of the projectile and shutting his single, red eye. As impact is about to occur… The plush just phases through him! Which means that… (Oh no! I’ll have to get through him to reach the doll!)
“Hey, what was that about?” The Duskull is quick to question.
(That fucker better get out of my way… Here goes nothing.)
Putting my attention solely on the plush doll, it’s as if the rest of the world had vanished from view. I briefly lowered my head, tips of my horns pointed outwards, and immediately break into a sprint.
With the plush at striking distance, I trust it with my horn towards a wall, off of which it very slightly bounces off of. Chasing after it, I move my head down until it nearly touches the ground and use it to push it back against the wall it had just collided with.
Pinning the substitute against the wall with all my might, I drag it up the wall, to a point where I can more easily apply my full weight against the object. I’m eventually forced to stop when I feel my skull about to give in. The doll plummeting back to the ground as I pull back…
…And immediately start pummeling relentlessly with my forelegs again, and again, and again, until I’m finally able to stop myself.
(Shit!) It’s the only thing that crosses my mind, as I ended up doing the very same thing I wanted to avoid doing in front of other guild members: having an anger attack.
Despite not wanting to, I eventually have to turn around from facing the wall. The reaction from what few guild mates there are is not exactly what I was expecting. While it is true that I managed to get the attention of everyone present, they don’t seem to be all that surprised or scared. In fact, some of them are just kinna miffed that I distracted them from their meal. The only one showing a morsel of fear is the Duskull, who appears to have avoided the full-blown collision with my cranium by taking to the ceiling, dropping some pancakes in the process.
The fact that it took someone having their life flash before their eye in order to react the slightest bit afraid is worrisome, to say the least. (Is this kind of behavior nothing out of the ordinary here? What kind of place did I end up in?)
The situation dies down, as the Duskull sits as far as he can from the tall tables, and everyone else just goes back to eating.
(The sooner I finish, the sooner I can leave this place…) To that end, I diligently mount the doll onto my back, being extra careful to grab it by the very end of the legs, bite the plate of pancakes that started this whole kerfuffle, and choose a table far from other members.
As I’m about to take the first bite, I can hardly believe that I have cooked food right in front of me. A part of me was afraid that I’d be forever stuck roaming the wilderness, eating grass and sleeping in the open, striped of any commodities from the modern world. But between the beds and the human cuisine, I must say that here at the Clover Guild, they know how to evoke feelings of home…
(Enough of that, the pancakes will get cold if I keep staring into the ether.) I take my bite, and the taste is as good as I expected! They're a bit too thick for my liking, but the syrup complements it really well. After savoring it well, I gulp it all in one go and go for more. But as I feel the food reach the end of my esophagus… My stomach starts twisting like crazy, the pain making me recoil.
(Ugggh… I need to get out of here.)
Leaving my half-eaten breakfast on the table, I run as fast as my stomachache lets me. Soon enough I make it to the main hall, and after a sharp turn to the left that makes me slide and nearly fall, I’m headed for the exterior.
Just off the beaten path, I stop in the middle of a field, and I can already feel the food traveling up my throat. I prepare for something nasty, but after a few coughs, only a half-digested ball of dough comes out. I can at least breath easily now that that’s out of my system.
Looking at the ball amidst the grass, it makes me question how something so small could have caused such a ruckus inside of my belly. (Oh, don’t tell me… I can't eat pancakes...) The more I look at the grass around me, my stomach growls more and more. (They didn’t have anything other than pancakes at the mess hall, so I guess I have no other option other than to once again turn to grass. But, there’s got to be other dishes I can eat, right? I’ll have to test it at another time…)
With that, I start mowing down the area around me. The lack of taste that grass has is now painfully apparent, after having delected that single bite. I even tried licking my lips, thinking that they could have some droplets of syrup. Alas, there’s not even a hit of sweet to be found in them.
Once I’m satiated, I ponder what to do for the day. I remember the Guildmaster telling me that I should use these first few days to get acclimated with the surroundings. Mostly talking about the town and guild building if I had to guess. (The guild doesn’t seem to have that many more rooms I should know about, whereas the town’s probably full of facilities meant for explorers. I imagine there’ll at least be a Kecleon shop, or something analogous. How useful that’d be for me, that’s a bit of a toss up. Any apples or healing berries they’d have for sell would of course be really important for expeditions, but seeds and wands, I can’t even imagine how I’d go about using them. They could also have held items on offer, even if I can’t put them on myself, I’d just need to get someone to put it on me and they would work just fine.)
(What else could they have? Exclusive items? Probably too rare. Even if they do sell them, there’s a fat chance that I find whichever one works on Tauros. Orbs? Well duh. I need to think something more specific, something that’d truly help me. What if they sold… That’s right! Substitute dolls! If there’s a place that sells them, it’s got to be there!)
With the idea of getting a decoy doll free of filth imbuing my mind with optimism, I set off to Capim Town. The plush I wish to rid myself of riding atop me in what I strongly wish it’ll be its last outing.
Soon enough, the road leads me to Capim Town, and I’m met plenty more giant tree stumps, reminiscent of the Guild building, although none of them match its sheer size. The bark of each tree is dotted with carved windows, either circular or rectangular, that show how these stumps have also been hollowed out and are being used for housing.
Surprisingly enough, the top of the buildings are connected trough a web of bridges that seem to bend down ever so slightly with the weight of the passerby Pokémon. They look sturdy enough to support a Pokémon like me, but I have some reservations about taking them.
Looking at how the net of bridges branches out from tree stump to tree stump, I catch a glimpse at the way up to that higher level. It seems to just be a bunch of wooden beams jetting out of the side of a building. (It’s the darn spiral staircase all over again! Only now with the risk of a several stories tall drop. Hopefully there’s another way to get there…)
Walking further into town, many Pokémon can be found, despite the early hour. All of different shapes and sizes. Some of them are about my size, if not taler, due to my quadrupedal condition. But more that I'd like are in the small side, and I could trip into them if I’m not careful. If that doesn’t hurt them, the frenzy that would send me into certainly would. (Good thing that I have the doll.)
Or maybe not, walking around as if I was giving the pile of fluff and God knows what else a ride is attracting more eyes than I’d like. All of them gaze over my head, where the passenger sits.
Aside from the occasional chuckle, the reactions from most passersby come across as judgmental. (Don’t tell me that they can see how filthy this thing is! AHHHH! Stupid doll, you’re making me look bad!)
In cue, I drop the doll to the ground and start smacking it. I even ended up stabbing it, which then took some head shakes to get the thing off of my horn.
The lash out wasn’t as long as the one I had at the cafeteria, but it certainly startled the Pokémon that were here to witness it far more, prompting them to hurry past me.
(Goddamit… Can’t there be someone who won’t stare at me as if I had walked out of a special aids school?)
Just as I think that, a group of Pokémon I’ve already seen before come out of a more standard looking building. They're those Pokémon from yesterday that stared at me weird: the Sandshrew, the Fletchling, and specially that icy Vulpix. They’re once again, busy with their own things, but I fear that even if I just turn my head towards them, we will have a repeat of that distressing staring contest, and I don’t fancy my chances against the Vulpix…
I take a deep breath, and procced to walk past them, trying my hardest to ignore them, even going as far as to prolong my blinks to keep my eyes shut. The situation has me so on edge that I instinctively hold my breath once I’m on spitting distance of the group, as if that’d make a big bull walking down the street harder to notice.
Even once I’m sure I’m past them, I keep moving forward, taking care not to look behind me. (Who’s to say that they haven't started to stare me down? Heck, they might even go as far as to stalk me!) My heart races as I follow the street, unable to shake the feeling that those strangers are trailing me, the town fading into the background.
Almost without noticing, I end up arriving at a plaza. To the end of it, there’s what looks like a giant reptilian head atop of a tent-like building. Its bright greens alongside its yellow accents stand out from the soft browns behind it. (No doubt, that is a Kecleon shop.)
It’s only once I’m at the counter that I feel brave enough to check if the Vulpix and his lackies went trough with following me. Nothing in the plaza, and what few crowd and hiding spots they’d have available appear to be clear. (Phew…)
Turning back to the store, a shopkeeper approaches from the back of the establishment and addresses me with a customer facing smile. “Good morning! Welcome to the Kecleon Shop!”
“Uh… Hi.” Is all I can mutter, as I question if I should inspect the wares before I make a stupid question, something I should have done in the window of time I wasn’t being served.
The counter just contains some scarves, one grey with a black dot pattern, and a mostly orange one, a vast array of seeds with peculiar shapes and colors, some I’ve already found in dungeons, and a stack of glistering apples of a rather impressive size. No sign that they sell decoys. The interior doesn’t fare much better. Although for most things I’m only able to make out their shapes, none feature the stubby limbs a substitute doll would have.
Having made the shopkeeper wait for long enough, I can now confidently shoot my question, knowing that it won’t make him want to roll his eyes. “Do you sell decoy dolls?”
“Ah, I’m afraid that’s something we don’t have on offer.” The Kecleon sounds genuinely sad, most likely at the though of missing out on a sale. “For that, the local tailor should have you covered.” He conveys to me as he leans over the counter and points me down the street I’m to follow.
“Thanks for the directions.” I tell him drily.
“Is there any other way I might serve you?” The clerk interrupts me before I’m able to leave.
“…No, sorry.” I relay to him, taking my opportunity to leave before he strong arms me into buying something.
The path to the tailor takes me pass a bunch of food stands. The smell of food being cooked in anticipation for midday lingers in the air. In particular, the smell and sound of mushrooms being grilled I find delightful. Turning to see what’s being sold, it appears that by now, there are serving mostly sweets. Cakes, cookies... They all make me want to have a proper breakfast. Although, if I were to eat any of this, it’s likely than my body will reject it again… (Best to leave this place as fast as possible).
It's only once I'm out of the street food market that I come across a building that appears to be the tailor I was told off, at least going off of what's behind the display window. There is quite the assortment of mannequins all lined up, all of different shapes, though only two are quadrupedal. Of the pair, the one by the door way too small to wear any clothing that would fit me. Also hurting it is the fact that the outfit itself is far too garish, to the point that it wouldn't look out of place on a purse puppy. The other mannequin, while closer to my size, is far less bulky than I am. I feel like I would end up tearing any clothes that it has if I where to try them on. That is, if it had any clothes on, since aside from a black top hat and bow, the maniquin is entirely baren, a trait shared with the stand ins for more esoteric body types, like slithers.
(Well, it seems like I won't be buying that many outfits from here, though that's not what I'm here for. I simply need to ask if they sell decoys.)
Approaching the entrance, I shove the door open with my forehead as I've done with other doors so far. This time, the chime of a small bell can be heard the moment there is the smallest of gaps between the door and the door frame, notifying my presence to apparently no one, as the counter at the end of the shop sits unmanned.
Careful with my horns, I enter, only to be greeted by a narrow walk to the counter I just saw, trough a corridor that spans vertically with a myriad of cabinets than it does side to side. Surveying the contents of the corridor fails to show me if there are plushes for sell, but it makes me aware of the rows of accessories and the fancy cloth patterns that dangerously lie at the same level as my horns.
I contemplate if I should just wait where I am to be noticed. I quickly realize, however, that anyone who walks by would get to see rear peeking trough the door if I stand my ground. I'm left with no other option than to walk to the counter.
Thing go quite well at first, but it's not long before I'm startled by a loud, sudden, "Careful there!" The voice coming from above.
Before I'm able to look up to find who said that, she drops in front of me, the Ariados standing less than a meter away from my face.
Despite towering over her, her size is greater than what I could have imagined for a spider. That compounded by the swift movements of her many legs as she recovers from the drop makes me recoil a little bit. Though just enough for the blunt of my right horn to bump into a roll of cloth, that then drops on top of my head, obscuring my vision.
I walk backwards to get me out of the bind, leaning my head down and to the side to get the the roll off of me. Once I'm able to see, I face up to find that, while I was retreating, my left horn had been knocking off accessories! They all now lay on the ground, in what vaguely resembles a row, with the Ariados tailor looking horrified at the end of it. "Wait outside, I beg of you." Is all she says.
Doing as I'm ordered, I move to the exit, needing to walk backwards, as there's not enough room in the corridor for me to turn around. Needing to be extra careful, given that I can't see where I'm going, my pace slows down considerably, and I'm forced to rely on my memories from moments ago to know where there are goods I need to watch out for. Despite this, I fail to account for the doorframe, and I end up ramming the back of my horn against it when I'm almost out. (Hopefully that didn't leave a dent on it...)
Having arrived back at the street, it’s only a matter of time before the tailor addresses me from just behind the door frame. “Wait here, I’ll be with you shortly,” she says before slamming the door shut. With nothing to do, I move over to in front of the display window and start biding my time.
As I stand there doing nothing, I pick up on the noises coming from inside the shop. Various soft things are being picked up and place on top of a wooden surface. Must the accessories I dropped. That’s soon followed by the sound of the roll of cloth being rolled back and stored in a drawer.
Gaging by the noise, it appears that she finished cleaning my mess. However, instead of heading out to attend me, she starts opening drawer door after drawer door, the noise coming from all around the establishment. (What’s taking so long!? Has this woman forgotten that she’s got me waiting outside like a fucking dog!? Is this how she treats her customers!? By ignoring them and going about her shit!?)
With no questions about it, I fling the plush in front of me and start mashing the shit out of it, not caring in the sightless what someone might say. Despite not intending to stop any time soon, the sudden ring of a bell forces me to. At long last, She’s back from doing whatever the fuck she was doing, and ready to attend me. Or she would be, were she not in shock from seeing me go ham with the plush doll.
“Hey… I was told that you sell Decoy dolls, and I wanted to check if that was true…” I awkwardly break the silence, seeing how she’s likely not going to do that.
“Yes, I do. Any tailor worth their medal could make one of those with their eyes closed,” she replied to me, still with a feeling of disbelief. “But why do you need one anyway? That one you have there looks like it can still take hits for days.”
“Oh, that… (Fuck.) Well, it never hurts to have a second one in reserve just in case something happens to the first one. A substitute for the substitute, if you will. He he…”
“I see.” She’s not at all amused by my pun, as am I. “Hold just a minute, I should have a handful lying around.” She goes back inside, and before I can take a single step, she reemerges just to state the obvious. “Please, wait right where you are.”
Her time estimation is on point, as just as I put the plush back in its spot, she comes carrying a shiny new substitute doll. The stupid grin on that one filling me not with dread, but with a desire to tear it until there’s nothing left of it. Knowing that the process will be gunk free. (Finally! I can rid myself of this accursed thing! Hahahaha…)
“It’ll run you 500 poké.”
In all my hope and excitement to get a replacement doll, I entirely forgot that I don't have a single coin to my name, nor anything someone who isn't a degenerate would like to buy.
"Sorry, I left all my money at home..." I lie trough my teeth to not look like a complete hobo.
"I see," she says before picking up the substitute and going back inside, turning only to close the door. "Then come back when you have it," is all I hear before she leaves me. Her delivery being as dry as it was goes to show how fed up she was with me.
(Great, now what? Turns out I wont be saying goodbye to this thing until I get my han- hooves... in some cash. How should I go about earning it? I remember seeing the rare stack of coins here and there inside dungeons, though I didn't pay them that much attention, since I had, and still have, no way to take them. For all I know, those stacks of coins could amount to mere pennies. Maybe I should just take on a job that I know for sure pays the required amount. Although the Guildmaster told me that I shouldn't start doing missions right away, if he's unfaced by me fucking up my room the moment I get there, he'll likely not get mad at someone who's just eagered to start working right away. Only problem is that I'd have to successfully clear the job, otherwise I wouldn't earn a dime. Knowing me, I can already see myself stubbornly trying to clear the same job that's out of my league and failing each and every time...)
"Mommy, look!"
A cheery voice interrupts my thinking. Turning to see white it came from, I find two short, green, humanoid beings.
The smaller of the two, barely a foot tall, is pointing at me with a bright red rose at the end of one of his arms (Great, more people pointing out how much I look like a retard.) The Roselia is much shorter than I would have imagined playing the games.
The other Pokémon at his side, a Roserade, doesn't share the excitement that who I assume is her son has. Just from the look in her eyes, she appears cold and demands respect. It clashes with how delicate and well kept her flower bouquets look.
Without as much as looking at her kid, the Roserade approaches me. Not knowing what her intentions might be, my heart beat quickens.
"You, my darling wants a ride. Get moving," she says in the most pompous and self centric voice I've ever heared.
(Huh? Rides? Where's that even coming from? What gives her the idea that I give...)
(It's the plush, isn't it?)
"Don't just stand there! Our time's been plenty wasted by those buffons at the travel liner. We'll discuss fares latter."
(Fares? She's gonna pay me? I guess it'd be weird if she didn't, but this couldn't have comed at a better time! From what she said, it sounds like I'll only have to carry the Roselia. He's so small that I'll probably not notice she's there. The only thing that has me worried is for how long I'll have to carry her. If I had to guess, it's probably to some near by town just some hours away from here, and I've walked a whole lot more than that this past few day...)
"Ahem. Will you let my darling take his seat already? Or do you expect him to reach you from so far up?" Her tone is growing more annoyed by the minute.
“R-Right away, ma’am…” It takes me a second or so to process what exactly I replied to, and when it all clicks, I waste no more time and lower my body all the way to the ground. It’s only once I’m down there that I turn my head to see the Roselia in the process of climbing onto my back. Though he struggles at first, he eventually makes it up with a small hop all on his own.
Though he’s quite light, I can feel him moving towards my upper back. At first, I think nothing off it, but then, I felt him tilt something to the side and then put it back where it was once he’s made it almost on top of my head. Given his proximity, he has to be using the plush as the back of his seat…
I strongly consider letting him know about that doll’s foul secret, but I end up deciding that bringing attention to it would be for the worse. He thankfully doesn’t notice it, if his little giggle is something to go off of.
I quickly rise up once the kid is settled in his seat and before the mother has the chance to yell at me. With that, the march starts unceremoniously, with her leading.
We soon enough arrive at the edge of town. As much as the Roserade appears to be in a hurry, her pace is not all that fast. Still, every time I stop briefly, she’s quick to scold me. Her comments are more passive aggressive than anything, but still, the frequence with that she notices that I fall behind by just the smallest margins is insane! Doesn’t help that her voice is annoying as shit. (At least her son is more well behaved…)
As I think that, Roselia leans forward from his position and poses his flowers over my horns, as if they where the handles of a bike. A good few of his petals end up touching the back of my head. With how soft they are, they give me a tickling sensation that rather than make me chuckle, it sends a chill down my spine. (Uhhhhh… Get them off of there…)
The chills make me freeze up in place, and of course, the Roserade is quick to notice. “What are you doing? Get moving, you slacker! If this keeps up, we won’t make it to the event next week!”
(Next week!? This bitch wants me to carry her worthless son for an entire week!? When was she going to say that!? Is she so far up her own ass that she thinks I don’t deserve to know I’ll be stuck with her for that long!? Ah, but when it comes to complains, those have to be uttered the moment something inconveniences her in the slightest. Well I had it with her!)
Right then and there, I take off, leaving Roserade in the dust where she belongs. “What!? Just where do you think you’re going? Come back! You’re taking my-” I’m outside the range of her voice before she finishes bitching.
Despite being free from that wrench, having the vast ocean to my right, and the wind blowing moderately strong, I’m still fuming. There’s only one thing that can make me calm down. (Those ferals better be prepared for an ass whopping!)
(Ough, my head…) I regain my senses after hitting my head hard. Looking in front of me, all I see is a tall, orange colored stone wall. The only feature that jumps at me is a shallow hole right in front of me, at eye level. Considering the rubble right below it, it’s safe to assume that that’s the reason behind the headache.
After shaking my head to ease the pain, I inspecting the environment a bit more. I appear to be boxed by those same stone walls, with some corridors here and there leading out. The surface, although rocky, is relatively even. Some puddles of water have formed here and there. Their low number means they won’t hinder movement all that much. Looking up, The sky is completely blanketed by gray clouds. That combined with how humid the air feels, gives the feeling that it could start raining at any time.
(No doubt about it, I’ve once again run straight into a dungeon. Man… A part of me thought I wouldn’t have to deal with this now that I was at a guild. I guess it’s not the end of the world, though. I’ve been in this situation way to many times, I just need to find the way out.)
There are two ways out of this instance: one right behind me, and the other one to my right. Given that I ended up running straight into a wall, it's safe to assume that the path behind me is the one I took, and thus, I should procceed through the right one.
Just before I do that, I feel that I lack the plush on my back. (Don't tell me that it fell of on the way here! I may hate it with a passion, but without something to replace it, I'm beyond screwed!) Glancing back at the room, I'm somewhat relived to find it laying on its side by a corner. Rather unfortunately, it landed on the edge of a puddle, and it's getting all soaked as a result. Though being honest, that thing desperately needed a wash.
Getting closer to it, I notice that it has two colorful things just peeking from behind it. Being a bit warry, I move to inspect it, and it's there that I find him, hiding behind the substitute. "Eeeek! Don't hurt me!" The Roselia shouts from the bottom of his lungs.
(Oh, oh no! I took the kid right into the heart of a dungeon! To say that I messed up is putting it lightly... What's his mother going to say? If she jumps at the chance to complain about the lightest of things, she'll probably want to make my head roll for this! What do I do? what do I do?)
(Calm yourself, the first order of business is getting myself of here, and same goes for this kid.)
"Hey, what's got you so scared?" I attempt to calm him down.
"Get away from me! I saw how you ran over all those Pokémon! You're going to do the same to me!" Hhe's just as on edge as before I said a word.
"You saw all of that? I'm sorry if that scared you. But I only went as hard on them because they were ferals. Of course I know better than to hurt a kid like you!" (I wished that wasn't a lie...)
"Wh-Where are we? Where's Mommy?" He asks in between tears
"This is in no doubt a dungeon. As for you mom, if I had to guess, she's still in town, worried sick about you."
"A dungeon!? But those places are really scary! There's one time that I got lost in one, and it took an entire day before a Rescue Team sent by my mom found me. I was so cold and hungry... it was the worst! Tell me, are we gonna have to wait for a rescue?"
(Shit! His mother is totally the kind of person that would spend a pretty penny on anything her kid needs. And if she gives a request to an exploration team, she'll probably have them beat the shit out of me and arrest me! And I don't want to imagine if she sends a team from the Clover Guild after me. Even in the best case scenario, they'll kick me out and I'll be back to the wilderness. Awaiting rescue is not an option.)
"Wait? Why would we do that when we can just get out by ourselves?" I tell him with a small chuckle.
"But the dungeon Pokémon are dangerous! And I don't really know how to fight... Mommy says that fighting is not something that suits a proper gentleman."
(Real classy of him to say that.) "Leave the fighting to me, then. Just, make sure that you stay safely behind me." (That'll be best to prove my word that I won't hurt him.)
"You'll do that?" The cheeriness in his voice slowly returns.
"Of course! Didn't you say that I ran over sone ferals earlier? They'll pose no problem!" Now that he's beginning to open up, it's time to reassure him. "Also, do you see this badge I'm wearing?" I lower my head to my left, where yesterday, the Guildmaster placed my explorer badge for me.
"Uh... Yeah?"
"This badge is proof that I'm a member of an explorers guild. So, think I've got what it takes to get us out of here?"
"You're an explorer? I thought you were just a transporter…” He can see that something’s amiss.
“Ah, that… It doesn’t hurt to have multiple sources of income, you know?” (Dang, why is he so hard to convince? Does he want to stay here doing nothing or what?)
“I see… You appear to be far from the kind of high class rescuer my mother would hire, but since you’re already here, I guess I shouldn’t turn you down.” At last, he reluctantly accepts. Not that I’ll complain, this is by far better than if he had decided to stay behind.
“Glad you came around. No, if you just let me get that plush, we’ll start looking for the exit.” Following my instructions, he stops hiding behind the substitute and it falls head first in the center of the puddle. Turning it around such that I can grab it by a leg end up drenching the doll in its entirety.
Once I land the plush on my back, which took more attempts than ideal, given how wet it is, both me and the Roselia take the right hallway out of our starting room. The kid does as I told him and follows me from a distance. I don’t really want to look back at him to see how far away from me he is, mostly because I’d have to turn my body a bit to the side, something easier said than done in some of the narrower corridors.
Unwilling to see it for myself, I turn to the sound of splashing in puddles to gauge the distance. Once we come across a puddle he can’t wade around, I start counting mentally the moment I exit the water, and don’t stop until I hear him do the same. Overall, he appears to be lagging five seconds behind me.
Trying to visualize how much of a distance those five seconds acuate to proves surprisingly hard, especially with how short he is. I bet that if I were to look at him from five seconds ahead and twenty seconds ahead, he’d just be a tiny spec of green in both. Regardless, five seconds of difference between our distances seems save enough for him to not wind up as the target of my rampage.
The dungeon proves to have way more corridors that I’m used to. Rooms are sparce, and even more so are the enemies. Despite walking for what feels like hours, we’ve only found Poliwag, Shellos and Dewpider in the single digits. All of them are either big enough or slow enough that I don’t have much problem landing my Horn Attacks. Still, my technique leads a bit to be desired, as the odd swing here and there still manages to miss its target.
After taking what appeared to be the longest stretch of corridors so far, we wind up in a room with no items to speak of at first glance. The puddles here are big and numerous, so it’s not out of the question that some small items like berries or coins could be fully submerged in them. Whatever it is, it’s probably not worth the hassle of looking for it.
With nothing of interest in the room, we take to the only exit present, which just so happens to be behind a rather large pond. Not thinking much about it, I cut trough it, and eventually...
ZAAAAAAAAAAP!
“Ahhhgg! What was that!?” A surge of electricity circulates through my body, causing me excruciating pain. Looking over to my right foreleg, the last one I’ve moved, I can just barely make out a yellow exclamation mark surrounded by brown at the bottom of the puddle. Raising that same foreleg, I find that it was covering a face that’s looking at me with anger.
(Why are you looking at me like that, you jerk!? You’re the one who chose to hide, and the one who zapped me! How was I supposed to know that some idiot would be in the fucking way, in a puddle of all places!?)
“Are you alright? What was that?” I hear a voice from behind me, but I have more important thing to do than replying to a spoiled brat. Ready to make that thing’s face even uglier than it already is, I retaliate with a stomp, using my already raised foreleg.
ZAAAAAAAAAAP!
“Ohhhhh! You bastard! Don’t you know something other than that? Or are you so much of a pussy that you’ll only attack when someone hits you!” I quickly raise my foot back up before another discharge can go off. I can feel my hair stand on its end, as well a bit of electrical current still flowing through my body.
As if taunted by my insults, the creature jumps out of the water, affirming that it is a Stunfisk. (Ew, the water ripples were making it look a heck of a lot less ugly than it actually is. Get that fucker out of my sight!)
From his airborne position, he lands onto my face, gripping me as best as it can with his stubby fins and unleashing a series of repeated zaps.
"Uoooogh! Get off of me, you incel looking pancake!" I flail my head around, having my movements halted every time the electricity hits me.
Eventually, his fins slip and I send him flying, his flat body spinning evey which way and eventually landing in the middle of the corridor, folded along his belly.
I pause for a second to catch my breath. His attacks stung way more than anything that's been thrown my way so far, and I'm having trouble just standing up. (Enough of this, that stupid Stunkfisk is right open to an attack. I can't let this window go to waste!)
I go after the Stunkfisk with my head low to the ground. My rage making me push through the pain. As I do this, the Stunkfisk flops helplessly, trying in vain to get his ass out of his face.
It looks like he's about to get up, but with a swing of my horn, I send him tumbling further down the hallway.
Not letting up, I chase after him and assert him another horn swing, followed by another and another. Eventually, his body turns to dust as he spins through the air, making me the victor.
The dust soon enough lands on the surface of a puddle, scattered every which way. In the calm of the moment, I notice that I left the kid alone! (I need to go back for her!)
I try to turn around, but my horns end up bumping against the side of the corridor's wall. (Just my luck. I'm gonna have to find a room to maneuver like I'm a fucking car...)
Walking through the corridor, feeling sore due to just having overextended myself, I find a fork in the road. I can either continue straight or turn to the right.
(This path doesn’t seem like it’s going to end any time soon. I'll take the turn.)
The side path is the narrowest I've seen so far. The slightest move to either side makes my horn meet the stone. For my efforts, I'm met with another bifurcation. This time, to the left and to the right.
(Seriously? Is this some kind of joke? I guess I'll go to the left, it should loop around to the first hallway.)
The new path widens a bit, but as a tradeoff, it features many puddles. Although they don't slow me down that much, it makes me feel a bit more fed up.
It all hits a boiling point when I see that the path curves slightly to the right, instead of looping around.
(You're kidding me! This entire place is playing me for a fool! Why did I even take that first turn? I could have maneuvered there instead! I need to get back to that Kid wherever he is! And this corridor is gonna take me there!)
No longer feeling hurt, I start dashing trough the corridors, taking turns with no rime or reason. When a room dares to show up long after I started looking for one, I'm so fed up that I just run past it.
My bullheadedness is rewarded when soon enough, I end up looping back to the room where I had the altercation with that Stunkfisk. Inside, three ferals are surrounding the Roselia! Or are they four?
(Of course, the moment I leave him he manages to get surrounded by the largest group of ferals so far! Though that means I've got more targets to thrash.)
Without hesitation, I burst into the room and collide with a Totodile. The impact makes him roll through the floor a long distance, from which he doesn’t rise up.
“Totodile!” A female voice shouts from behind me.
I turn and see Roselia, who’s now cowering in fear. I also see group that was surrounding him is. It consist of a Torchic, a Phanpy and a Cyndaquil who are now bickering with each other. (Huh!? What kind of loony place is this!? How come there are two fire types somewhere so damp!? This makes no sense!)
When I turn my attention back to them, I see that the Cyndaquil has detached from the group, and is running away from me, carrying a bag. As for the other two, the Torchic climbs on the back of the Phanpy, who charges at me.
(Look at them, all tiny like that! Imma show them what a real charge looks like!)
Our heads collide, and although I send the pair back, the Phanpy doesn’t look all that hurt from the attack. Me, on other hand, I feel my head hurting after that one exchange. (Whoa! How’s this feral so strong!?)
Once the Torchic finds her balance, they move in for another attack. I charge again anticipating them to do the same, but the Phanpy moves to the side, followed by the Torchic spewing out flames that hit my side.
My heart skips a beat as I see the flames, but once they land on me, they don’t hurt nearly as much as I had anticipated. As such, once the fire dies down, I turn to them and…
BONK
(Aghhhh! My head again! What was that!?)
By franticly looking around I find that it was the Cyndaquil who hurt me, seeing how he had puled out a bunch of rocks from his bag.
(You coward! Just wait until I get my horns on-)
The Phanpy lands a devastating tackle on my side that makes me meet the floor. Before I can rise up, the Torchic dismounts and stats pecking at me repeatedly. She’s soon joined by the Phanpy, whose strikes go far beyond the mild annoyance that are the chick’s pecks.
No longer capable of enduring the beatdown, I brace for the worst, closing my eye in anticipation of a rock from the Cyndaquil that will knock me cold. But Instead of a rock, what I’m hit by is a squeaky voice from across the room.
“Guys, stop!”
"Cyndaquil! I swear if you start hitting on the outlaw," the Torchic stops pecking to intervene.
"It's not that. Look, over there!" He brings their attention to something behind me, before running towards it.
"Could it be?" I'm unable to see him, as I'm still laying on the floor, but I'm able to hear him grab something soft and give it a quick whiff. "It is! My substitute! Oh, I got so worried when I couldn't locate you in storage room. But to find you now at the hands of an outlaw, it's a miracle!"
"Wait, it's that why you took so long to pack the supplies!?" The Phanpy yells at the Cyndaquil.
"Yeah, I wanted to get in some practice just in case I net myself some alone time with our gourgeous client. But when I saw that it wasn't at the same corner I left it, I paniced and look all over the place for any traces of it."
"Are you saying that he stole it from the guild?" The Torchick asks him. "But he doesn't have anything else on him! Why would an outlaw rob a guild's storage and only take THAT?"
(Oh, I need to show them that I'm guild member!) Despite it hurting like hell, I shift my upper body up in hopes of giving them a better view of my mane.
"Oh, that thing he's wearing. Isn't that a guild badge?" The Phanpy notices.
"Really? Could it be there that you're a new member?" The Cyndaquil runs around me to meet with his teammates, entering my sight line.
I attempt to answer it verbally, but the pain disways me from doing so. Instead, I just give him an affirmative nod.
"And the first thing you do is take the substitute for a spin?" The Cyndaquil says, brimming with excitement. "Could it be that I've finally found someone who gets me? This is amazing! I'll need to give the sub a try while your milk is still fresh in ther-"
(Alright, that's enough of that!)
Still laying down, I reach for the doll with my mouth and yank it away from the Cyndaquil's embrace. With it out of reach of my legs for pummeling, I instead flail it around by shaking my head side to side. The whole thing resembling how a dog would play with a toy.
"Phew.. So that's why he took it," the Phanpy breaths a sigh of relief.
Once I've had my fix flailing the thing, I open my mouth wide for it to fall down the moment I remember its filth. I try to return my upper body to its prior position, but my neck screams at me and I freeze in pain.
"If you're a guild member, then we probably shouldn't leave you hurting in here. Cyndaquil, get him an oran berry from the bag," the Phanpy commands.
"Yeah, and look for if we have any reviver seeds left for Totodile. He still hasn't moved," the Torchic adds.
"Let's see, reviver seeds? Hhmm, I think I used the last one. But on the other hand!" He takes a blue berry out of his bag and thrusts it up before approaching me.
"Here's an oran berry for mr beefcake!" He nudges my mouth open and shoves the berry in. Right as he makes me chew it, I can feel the pain in my body star to numb, and I regain enough energy to stand up on my own.
"What did you just call me?" I ask with genuine worry, now that I've regained the strength to talk.
"Don't give too much credence to what he says. He just likes to flirt, and takes every shot that he gets," the Phanpy explains.
"As you should!" The Cyndaquil is quick to chime in.
"I-Is he calmed down?" The Roselia, who had stayed away from the brawl up to now asks, still keeping a safe distance.
"He looks pretty calmed to me, don't you think?" The Cyndaquil quips.
"Thank goodness. He was acting just like when he brought me here, and I was scared that he would hurt us all," The kid says, holding back tears.
"Let me ask you," the Torchic turns her attention to me. "If you just joined our guild, then why did you accept to work as a transporter for that woman? And why did you run off here with her kid?"
Knowing that the only way I'll get a convincing response is by being fully honest about my anger issues, I sigh deeply before opening to them. "You see, ever since I t-" I catch myself before I imply that I use to be human, seeing how the Roselia is listening. "Ever since I've remembered, just about anything that could be seen the slightest bit annoying or inconvenient has cause my ire to spike, and for me to go into a frenzy that only stops trough violence. For most of my life, I took it all on feral Pokémon. This meant that any time I'd get mad, I'd be dragged into a dungeon I'd then have to find the way out.
That was until yesterday, when after joining the guild, I found the substitute tucked in a corner and realized that I could use it to vent without breaking anything or hurting anyone. The only problem being that... Well, you don't need me to tell you what's wrong with it. For that reason, I tried to buy a decoy of my own, but I had no cash for it. It was right at that moment that this child's mother mistook me for a transporter, and when she mentioned payment, I took the offer in a heart beat. But her constant bitching, and the fact she withheld from me how long the trip was caused me to snap, which ended up leading me and this Roselia here."
"So you blew it on your first day at work, eh? We know a thing or two about that," the Phanpy scratches his head with his trunk. "We should bail you out of this one."
"Can we get moving? We found our rescue target, which means that we should meet with our client as soon as possible!" The Cyndaquil drools about getting to see Roselia again.
"I guess you're not wrong," says the Torchic half-heartedly. "Too bad that we're down a member. Someone's gonna have to carry Totodile back to Capim..."
"But we're also up a member! And with his sheer mass, he's gonna have no trouble carrying anyone!" Cyndaquil shouts, before turning to face me with a perverted smiled.
"Right, there's not enough room on my back for both Torchic and Totodile, and Cyndaquil would have to place him on the floor to use items. You don't mind, do you?" The Phanpy asks me.
(I guess it's no me for knocking out the guy.) "Sure, I can do that."
After some deliberation, we all approach the spot where Totodile's laying belly up. Seeing the Phanpy lift his companion with his trunk, I pick up on what's he's doing and get down to the ground so he can place him on my back. With him so close to my face, I'm assaulted by how much he reeks of alcohol. Just as I raise up, the Torchic, riding atop the Phanpy, are already out of the room. Cyndaquil rushes after them, hugging the substitute doll with one arm.
Before I join them, I look behind me to see the Roselia keeping some distance from me. "You go ahead..." His tone shows that he's back to having reservations about me.
Catching back up to the exploration team, I find them in the first intersection I came across when looking for somewhere I could maneuver.
"Hey! I already checked the right, and it ended up looping around. Should we keep going forward?" (I really don't want to have to squish trough there again.)
"Sure," the Phanpy agrees with no pushback.
As the corridor stretches on and on, the sound of everyone's footsteps as we cross trough the puddles prevents me from gauging the distance at that the Roselia trails me, or if he's doing so at all. After a long time of trekking, the path curves to the left, and a sharp turn is in sight.
Expecting a dungeon room at last, I'm instead pleasantly greeted by the way out of the dungeon! Beyond me and the other guild members, lies a small patch of fresh grass that quickly leads to a white sand beach. The whole area is surrounded by tall cliffs of the same stone as the dungeon walls, and the high tide makes it impossible to reach the adjacent shores. The fully clouded sky tops off the scene, and gives it a feeling of stillness and tranquility.
"Hey, is this the end of the dungeon?" I ask my guildmates.
"It is, but unless we wait for the tide to go down, we'll have to do the dungeon in reverse to reach Capim," the Phanpy explains to me.
"Seriously? We have to get back trough there?"
"Well, there are dungeons where you always need to retrace your steps," the Torchic poinst out, now dismounted.
"Can we wait in here for a bit? I don't like it in the dungeon..." The roselia ask the exploration team shyly as he walks by me.
"Well, we haven't seen any combat ever since we left the room you were in. But we're not gonna get a chance like this one to get our bearings, the Phanpy relays to the kid.
"B-B-B-But Roserade!!!"
"Cyndaquil! If you want to meet with our client so badly, then you do the fighting!" The Torchic yells at her partner.
"Ahhhhh..."
Having decided to take a break at the beach, everyone goes their way. The Roselia gets the furthest away from the dungeon exit, choosing to sit close to where the waves stop. The Cyndaquil is not far off, he can be seen digging a hole, with the sand he extracts going into a big pile. He's being watches by his team mates from a distance. Those two are talking to each other at either sides of the unconscious Totodile, who I handed to the Phanpy now that the Torchic's not on top of him.
As for me, I've chosen to stay in the patch of grass and help myself to a meal. It was as bland as ever, but I won't complain, since I haven't eaten a thing since breakfast, and if I had to guess, it won't be long until dusk. (Man, not having clocks really makes cloudy days stink a whole lot. Up until now, I've been doing just fine relying on the position of the Sun in the sky, but, how am I'm supposed to tell the time if it gets covered? I guess one could go off of the luminosity to see if it's getting dark or not. I wonder, is it possible to tell midday apart from the afternoon based on luminosity alone? Maybe it's something that comes with time.)
With my lunch finished, I'm left with not much else to do other than to observe the sea. As the water ebbs and flows bellow the grey sky, and the sounds of the waves hit my ears, I can’t help but be reminded of home, and my relationship with the sea.
As a kid, I used to despise the beach. Some of the reasons for that are that I’ve lived my entire life near the ocean, so I’ve never saw it as something rare, and that they tend to get too crowded during summer season. But the biggest by far is that there isn’t much you could do there: you can go for a swim, walk alongside the shore, fiddle around with the sand and that’s about it. I guess you could also lay on a towel, but that's basically doing nothing. In about two to three hours at most, you’d run out of stuff to do. What exacerbated things is that my mother didn’t see things that way, and was adamant about expending whole days there, packing meals and all. It makes me a bit sad to think that I grew to loath beaches because of her.
Once I grew older, and gained more agency, I was thankfully spared from her day long excursions, and my feeling towards beaches softened. I could take them in as much or as little as I wanted and then leave. no need to linger. I began to appreciate just staring into the vastness of the sea, namely in off season days, without that much people around. Specially in cold, cloudy days, where the sea is uninviting, and the cold wind can be felt in every pore of your skin. The ever expanding horizon, and ever shifting waves, coupled by the sound of said waves breaking and the howls of the winds, all the while your entire body feels the low temperature, it makes it a treat for the senses…
All of a sudden, a chill runs trough my body. Taking in my surroundings, there’s only the sea in front of me, with no beach or grass patch before it. As I take a look down, a wave hits my forelegs and gives me the same chilling sensation. (I must have walked over here during my inner monologue without noticing.)
I consider backing off a bit to stay clear of any waves, but… There’s something that’s urging me to stay… (What’s this? Am I feeling… Nostalgia? This does evoke memories of home, but, that’s not all. It’s like, something’s calling me…)
I take a small step forward, not covering too much ground. That’s is followed by another one, a brief moment later. Slowly, I’m inching my way further into the sea. As I descend a sandy slope, the water creeps up my legs, reaches my belly, and before my head gets submerged, the sand disappears from under my hooves. I’m floating gracefully along the water’s surface, and my mind finds itself at complete ease. It’s as if the world itself had brightened up, as if I was now able to sense something that was there all along. This calm that I’m feeling, it’s like nothing that I’ve felt ever since I became a Tauros. Only now I realize that, by comparison, I’ve always felt on edge.) No wonder that I’d snap over the smallest of thing!)
As I indulge in this zen like state, I find that there’s a nagging sensation in my body that I can’t shake off. It is both intense, and localized in my rear. Dumbfounded, I flail my hindlegs a bit, but the sensation persists. Taking a look back, I find my tails all coiled up, taking a form that resembles a propellor. I decide to tense my tails a bit and…
(Whoa!)
With just a short tail rotation, I’m propelled forward an incredible distance. The sudden burst catches me off guard, causing me to relax my tails and slowly decelerate back to an idle float.
After processing what just happened, I decide to give it another go. This time knowing what will happen. I start with a slow swim moving my legs around, that then speeds up tremendously the moment I start rotating my tails. (This is amazing! It’s as if I’m gliding trough the water! This must be what jet skiing feels like.)
In the excitement of the moment, I ignore that I’m rapidly getting away from the shore! (Ahhh! What do I do! What do I… Why am I worrying so much? I just need to work out how to turn.)
Putting my attention back at my tails, I try to get them to turn in a direction. Sadly, all I’m able to accomplice is getting them to spin more or less quickly. I can feel worry start to creep in, but it quickly dies down. (Relax, there’s got to be another way.)
The next thing I try is leaning my body in the direction I want to turn. Shifting my body to the left slightly, I find that my trajectory has changed from a straight line to a large circumference. (There it is.)
Wanting to complete the turn faster, I lean more to the same direction, but end up end up over shooting. To that, I instinctively lean to the opposite direction, managing to course correct my trajectory. (Looks like I’m getting the hang of this.)
In the blink of an eye, I arrive by the shore, still soaking in water. The Roselia, and well as both the Torchic and the Phanpy are looking at me, appearing widely impressed. The Cyndaquil on the other hand pays no mind to me. He’s instead half buried in the sand, with his head poking out next to a big, phallic shaped pile of sand. The accursed substitute doll has been placed next to it, with its arms and legs touching the pile…
Upon seeing that last thing, I turn to only see the other Pokémon. Then, something hits my mind. (If I’m able to carry everyone, then we can make it back to Capim by sea!)
Ecstatic, I emerge out of the water, and tell the group my idea. “Everyone, what do you say? Should I swim you all back to Capim?”
“Really?” The Roselia asks, surprised. “That sounds cool! But… Is it going to be scary? You were going pretty fast.”
“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine!” (Or at least I hope it’ll be.)
“You’ll let us ride you!? Count me in! Count me in!” Shouts from the Cyndaqui’s burring spot can be heard.
(Did he had to phrase it that way…)
“Uhmmm… Phaanpy? Care to dig me out?”
“Uggh… Coming…”
The Roselia is the first to climb to my back, all on his own again. He takes the same spot as during this morning, now without the substitute as a backrest. The Torchic is next in line. Before getting up, she approaches my head and whispers to me.
“So… have you done this before?”
“To be frank with you… No, that right there was my first time swimming like this.” I reply her bluntly.
“What? Are you sure this is going to go well?” She tries her hardest to not raise her voice.
“Eh… Probably, It all came pretty naturally to me.”
“You better not mess this up…” The Torchic says, before walking over to her partner, the Phanpy, who lets her use his head as a stool to better reach my back. She seats behind the Roselia.
Following that, Phanpy places the knocked out Totodile behind the Torchic before climbing on top of me himself.
Unlike the first two, and to a lesser extent, the Totodile, the weight of the Phanpy was pretty noticeable. To the point that I was having some trouble breathing. The situation worsens when he moves to right on top of my hind legs.
“Hey, no fair! I wanted to seat in the back!” The Cyndaquil squeals.
“You know that I can’t let you sit there! Just come on up already,” the Phanpy replies.
Before he does, the pain in my hind legs is so great, that I feel the need to intervene. “Actually, can you let him sit there? You’re weigh down my legs so much that I don’t know if I’ll be able to stand up…”
The Phanpy remains in silence for a while, probably not amused that I brough up weight. “Fine… But don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”
Once the Phanpy moves, the Cyndaquil jumps right on top of my rear. He's holding the substitute instead of placing it down. And from the placement of his feet, I can tell he’s sitting backwards…”
With quite the load on my back, mostly coming from the Phanpy, getting up it’s a bit of a struggle. I end up doing it, however, and all it takes is some walking before I’m back in the sea, floating away.
(When I ran off from town, I remember that the sea was to my right. That means that to get back to Capim…)
“Why aren't you moving? Need directions to Capim?” The Torchick questions.
(…It’s to the right as well!)
Having deduced the way back, I immediately take off and turn at high speed.
“Waaaaaa!” The group at large is surprised by the sudden acceleration, but none of them shift so much from where they’re sited to the point that they may fall off.
“Slow down! Slow down!” The Roselia is shouting desperately.
(Oh god, don’t tell me this is how he felt when I took him away to the dungeon…)
Wanting to apiece him badly, I do as he says and adopt a gentler speed.
“Sorry about that… I didn’t mean to scare you…”
Roselia just sighs and doesn’t say much in return. “I thought it was gonna happen again…”
The trip is completely silent, aside from the sound my tails make when they hit the water. Even then, going as slow as I am, the sound is a far cry from what I got to hear when I was propelling around. The Roselia obviously doesn’t have much to say to me or the exploration team. Far more surprising is that the team isn’t talking to each other either. In the case of the Cyndaquil, there’s a reason he chose to seat facing the other way. The fact that he’s tapping his feet while he looks at my tails spin means that they amuse them, for lack of a better term. In the case of the Torchic, she’s probably worried about falling into the water, if what she asked me before mounting was anything to go by. As for the Totodile, It’d be a surprise if he started talking. In turn, that means that the Phanpy doesn’t really have anyone to talk to.
The trip stretches into the sunset, during which, the blowing of the wind is the only company that I get. As Capim Town finally comes into view, something more surprising happens: the Phanpy speaks up.
“You aren’t gonna land at the docks, are you?”
“Huh? Why wouldn't I?” I’m caught of guard by his question.
“Have you not through this trough? If we just walk into town and Roserade sees us alongside the supposed outlaw, what are we supposed to do?”
“Ah… You’re right. But How do we get to the guild, then?”
“Just stop in any nearby shore. We’ll circumnavigate Capim and sneak you into the guild trough the storage room’s ramp.” The Phanpy explains his plan.
“Oh, the ramp! I didn’t think of that. I remember seeing it yesterday, but I thought nothing of it. In fact, it was to the side of the ramp that I found the substitute, for better or for worse...”
Reaching land a kilometer or so away from Capim Town, I’m finally able to get my passengers off of my back. Both the Roselia and the Torchic are glad that the trip is over, whereas Cyndaquil feels the complete opposite.
Phanpy leads the way, taking us through the less walked paths. The Cyndaquil and Torchick walk by his side, and the Totodile is on his back, with his head legs and tail sticking out. Seeing how he can just barely carry his teammate, It makes me feel stupid for not offering to take him.At the same time, it was Phanpy who decided to carry Totodile, it’s his teammate, after all.
For once, the Roselia is walking in front of me, closely following the exploration team. I decided to give him some distance, seeing how he’s scared of me to an extent. But seeing all five of them walking in a group, I can't help but feel left out...
Soon enough, we intercept the main road that passes by the Clover Guild. As we approach it, the group suddenly stops. The issue becomes apparent once I’m caught up with them: the Roserade is standing right at the entrance to the guild.
“Has she not moved from there since she forced us to take her job?” The Torchic points out.
“Well, that’s something we foretold could happen.” The Phanpy doesn’t give much weight to the situation. “Cyndaquil, show him the way to the basement ramp. We will hive her Roselia back.”
“Aye Aye, Phanpy!” the Cyndaquil replies with excitement.
(Huh? I could have sworn that he wanted to meet up with Roserade above all else…)
We part ways from the rest of the group, and Cyndaquil brings me behind a small garden and towards a ground mound. The back of said mound hides the entrance down into the basement.
“Here it is, our secret passage into the guild!” The Cyndaquil points out. “Now why don’t you go first?”
The Cyndaquil’s invitation is just what I would have expected out of him. I choose not to argue with him to get things moving, although I choose to descend down the ramp as fast as I can without breaking into a full on run. While it’s true that the ramp curves around, it’s nowhere near as bad as the spiral staircase, not to mention that I have more room horizontally. This tunnel was bult for carts, after all, I’d be troubling if I was unable to take it.
Finally inside, there’s no one to greet us. Whoever would have normally been hare, it’s likely that they’ve gone up for dinner.
“Just you wait here until Roserade leaves, ok? She may see you if you step into the lobby,” the Cyndaquil tells me once he has descended the ramp. Not wasting a second, he runs towards the corridor I didn’t get to inspect yesterday, and trough one of the doors.
(Since I’m going to be spending some time here, I might as well see what’s in there.)
Approaching the dimly lit corridor, I’m surprised by how short it is, there are only three or so doors in there. One of them looks like it hasn’t been opened in a very long time. Turning to see the room the Cyndaquil went into, I find that it has no label.
Shoving the door open to see what’s he doing, I find a bright spot in the ceiling. It’s from a grate that leads outside, tough with it being so high up, all I can see is the Roserade’s bottom, as she’s giving an earful to the two members of the team. Following the light down, the Cyndaquil is sitting on the floor, with his back to me. He’s holding the plush with one arm, and doing… something with the other.
I freeze in place, but that doesn’t stop the Cyndaquil from noticing me. He turns his head and asks me: “Care to join me?”
(Oh shit I need to get out of here!)
(So that was why he was so happy to take me here!? Ugggh, I don’t want to see him… Lord knows what he’s gonna do to the substitute…)
Looking for a place I could hide from him, I find that all of the big crates that could cover him are all next to the walls. That only leaves me with the spot near the ramp where the Cyndaquil last placed his doll. But if he leaves it there once he’s finished… (God, I don’t even want to think about that.)
Instead, I take to the ramp once again and hide behind its curvature. I stand there, awaiting with dread the moment that vile creature will step out. Standing there, it’s as if time isn’t passing. That notion quickly fades as I hear the Cyndaquil close the door and exhale, sounding pleased.
“That was lovely. Now where do I put this?” He takes steps all over the room, steps that end up getting closer and closer to my location.
Before he enters my field of view, I go further up the ramp, until I can no longer see the storage room.
“Here should do it.” He says, followed by him presumably placing the doll in the spot from yesterday and then taking the stairs.
I’m mortified at the thought of seeing how he has left the substitute. I even consider getting to the main hall via the main door, but there’s a non zero chance that the Roserade is still there and she sees me. My decision ends up being to cross the storage room with my eyes closed and feel my way close to the staircase. I end up bumping my horn against the side of the tunnel a couple of times, but once I reach the room, nothing gets in my path. Once I’m sure I’m past the substitute, I open my eyes and volt to the stairs and head straight to my room.
(I’m not even going to try my luck with dinner, my stomach is already twisted from what I saw…)
Greeted once again by the absolute mess that it’s my room. I’m so battered from being out all day and getting thrashed by the exploration team that I head straight to bed. Bend my legs to better fit in the bed and shut my eyes. Sadly, the image of that Cyndaquil looking up at the Roserade’s bum keeps me awake, so rather than doze off, I merely lay there, while nothing happens.
After what feels like hours, the silence is broken by knocks on the door. “Uh… Hello? Someone in here?”
“Come on in.”
From behind the door, the team from earlier enters. This time, it’s the Phanpy who’s carrying the substitute in his back, to my surprise.
“We came to- Huh? What happened here?” The Torchic is surprised by the state of my room.
“Damn bitch, you live like this?” The Cyndaquil adds.
“Ermm… Yeah, don’t mind the rubble.”
“Right…” The Phanpy states. “At any rate, we came to give you this.” He comes closer and puts the plush in front of me.
I’m a bit confused at first, but on closer inspection, this plush lacks the small tears the first one had, and it appears to be a little bigger as well.
“Did you buy this?”
“Of course! Roserade paid us a huge sum for getting her child back to her.” The Cyndaquil explains.
"We thought I'd be better for everyone if you had one of your own, and you don't have to share it with Cyndaquil." The Torchic follows, drily.
“But why are you doing this for me? I hurt your teammate so hard that he dropped unconscious…” I express with some guilt.
“And then we beat you up in return, so an eye for an eye. We're neutral now.” The Phanpy acts dismissive.
“He’s in the infirmary now, by the way.” The Torchic points out. “Kina was surprised that he wasn’t blackout drunk for once.”
“That’s not to say that he wasn’t drunk…” The Phanpy adds.
“Oh, uh… Thanks for the generosity, uhh…”
“We’re Team Misfits. You can call me Phanpy. As for the rests of us, Torchic, Cyndaquil and Totodile will do.”
“Well, thanks Team Misfits. I don’t think I would have been able to use Cyndaquil’s plush after hearing more about it. This couldn’t have come at a better time. Ah, and you can call me Cachopo.”
“Alright,” Phanpy nods. “Well be going to get dinner now before the mess hall closes.”
“Oh! Care to join us, Cachopo!” Cyndaquil asks.
"Cyndaquil, I don't think he'd fit in our table," Phanpy shut downs his teammate
(I’m not making a fool of myself by sitting at the kiddy table, let alone by sitting next to this degenerate.) “I think I’ll pass. I’m not that hungry."
“Ahh, bummer…”
“We’ll be leaving then.” Torchic bids farewell in behalf of Team Misfits.
Left alone, I don't feel all that different from how I did moments ago. The talk with the misfits was mere transactional, they got me a plush, and they came to give it to me. I don't even think they had my best interest in mind when getting it. (Maybe they just gave it to me so that I wouldn't end up doing some other stupid thing, or maybe it was to let Cyndaquil have his plush all for himself.)
(Same applies to our team up. I feel like the only reason they didn't defeat me and turn me to the police is out of a sense of duty spurned from me being a fellow guildmate of theirs...)
(But I can't say I didn't deserved to be treated like that... Roserade probably told them nothing but despicable things about me when giving them the assignment. They also got to talk with the Roselia, who I massively screwed over, and also had his fair share of negative things to say about me... Then there's the sea trip... What was I even thinking there? Things could have gone so wrong if any one of them fell to the water. And then... Ahhhh! For crying out loud, I beat the shit out of their teammate! He was cold as a knob the entire time because I'm an idiot who can't control himself! It's all my fault!!!)
My eyes are fixated in my newly gifted doll. With no better time to give it a spin, I press my forelegs against it relentlessly. The only moment of reprise the doll get is when I end up kicking it against a wall, when it gets a few seconds of sitting in the rubble before I make my way to it and continue to beat it. My room becomes an even greater mess, as chips of wood get sent to the center of the room in my mad chase behind the substitute. This all eventually ends when a kick sends the substitute flying towards the window and it narrowly avoids going trough it.
I may not feel so mad now, and this plush doesn't seem to have left stains in the walls or floor, but the feeling of having been treated coldly still lingers in me. I collect myself and try not to let that get to me, tough, as I try to at the very least, leave my room how it was this morning. The wood bits get piled up once again. And in taking the plush, this mere item given to me out of necessity, from the spot it ended up and trying to place it somewhere where it looks like room decor, its closed eyes, and dumb smirk inevitably makes me think of Cyndaquil...
The uncanny resemblance disgusts me at first, given what I've seen him say and do. But it's by looking back at those interactions that I realize that he actually didn't treat me with ambivalence. Quite the opposite, in fact. He acted all static when he saw I was a guild member, was enthralled by my idea of a sea trip, and even when I caught him taking in all of Rosesare's features, he asked if I wanted to join him.
Most important for me, he was able to overlook that I hurt his friend when I didn't mean to. Sure, his intentions weren't the cleanest, but it's not like he was secretive about it. I'd be lying if I said I didn't appreciate his honesty and attitude.
(It may be hard to believe I'm about to say this, and the image of him at that basement room is going to keep me awake at night. But for everything else...)
"...thanks for the substitute, Cyndaquil."