How to be (a) snake,
Issue #1: Moving
"Dammit, I forgot to close the window again!"
A a freezing breeze stirred him awake, much to his annoyance. He groggily opened his eyes while shifting around slightly, feeling a coarse texture on his back. Once his eyelids finally lifted, he was met with the confusing sight of a clear sky, and realized this wasn't his room.
His back hurt like hell and felt like he had been sleeping on the floor. He decided to get up, but when trying to push himself off the ground, he couldn't feel his arms, like they weren't there anymore. Unnerved, he perked his head up and stared at his own body, coming face to face with the terrifying realization that his limbs were, in fact, gone. His body didn't even look human, instead, he was a long, white and pink serpent.
His eyes widened in horror, he couldn't believe the sight, "Oh, it's one of those nightmares again..." he thought, trying to calm himself down while smiling nervously, but something told him that this wasn't just a normal bad dream...
Soon after, he managed to roll over his belly and realized that he was on a path of sorts, in the middle of nowhere, leading somewhere he couldn't see. "A limbless nightmare, my mind surprises me more every day, lets see how this goes," He tried to move forwards, trying to picture how a snake slithered. After a few attempts at trying to make this weird new body move, he noticed that only his neck would freely move, as the rest of him felt unusually heavy. "Why only my head? Aren't snakes supposed to be a bunch of muscles in a long meat sack?"
The next few minutes were spent staring at nothing while lying motionless on the floor, murmuring at himself, "This feels too real to be a nightmare," a random thought crossed his mind and he stared back at himself, "Pink snake, weird orbs at the tail..." realization hit him rather quickly, "Did I turn into a fucking Dragonair?!" his breath quickened at the thought and his suspicions about this being a nightmare quickly vanished, "I became a Pokémon... Am I dead?" he looked around aimlessly, battling with his own mind, "No, I-I must have turned into some isekai protagonist!" even he felt like that was too delusional. "Yeah... That must be it."
What he didn't notice during his long thinking session were the footsteps quickly approaching from the same path he was lying on, snapping out of his trance, his eyes shrunk in despair. "Oh fuck, if I'm a pokemon, that must mean there's trainers! And those guys especialize on catching us!" He faced the road and started crawling with the lower part of his muzzle, using it to pull his long body forward, which proved to be very ineffective, as he looked less like a graceful meandering snake and more like a big slug slowly dragging itself along the path. Suddenly, something stopped him dead in his tracks, "Us?" but he quickly shook his head and continued his very slow escape, the panic growing bigger and bigger the closer the footsteps approached.
"Oh no, I'm gonna be stuffed into a ball and be forced to be a battle slave, I'm gonna live in the pod!" Before he could get very far, the sounds stopped right behind him. The snake turned his head while clenching his eyes tight, preparing himself for the worst, "N-No! Please! I don't want to eat the bugs!"
When he didn't feel himself being turned into a beam of energy and sucked into a ball, the Dragonair hesitantly opened his eyes again, being faced down by a Floragato with a bag on its shoulders and a Gible wearing a necktie.
"Bugs?" Asked the cat, turning her head to look around, "I don't see any... and no one eats them anyway." she said with a shrug.
"What are you even meant to be?" Asked the Gible, tilting his small body to the side while trying to get a better look at him, the snake's expression was one of pure surprise, not only because of the Pokémon standing in front of him, but also because they talked.
"Y-You can talk?" asked the Dragonair, realizing that he could do the same, "I don't remember Pokémon being able to speak... Why can't I just wake up already?" thought his troubled mind.
"Yeah, it's strange, right?" the small dragon interrupted his train of thought, "I didn't expect talking animals to be the first thing I'd see after waking up here," he continued with evident sarcasm, stepping closer to the snake and straightening his tie with his small paws, "You're a human, right?"
The snake squinted his eyes in confusion, "H- how do you know? I-I've barely said anything..." he muttered, a hint of panic lacing his tone.
"Well, lets just say this old dog knows a few tricks," said the Gible while patting himself on the chest with his small hands, "Locals don't react like that to the question, and I've asked everyone I met," he explained with a self-assured smirk.
Then the Floragato stepped closer, playing with a vine attached to a flower bud on the end with her paw, something that looked like a yo-yo made out of plants, "So he's like you, John? Another human?" She questioned while looking down at the Gible, then turned to face at the Dragonair, "What's your story? Did you just wake up? You looked like you were having a lot of trouble moving around!"
The snake, in response, ignored all of her questions and focused on the yo-yo hanging from her paw, "Is that... A noodle?" the two Pokémon in front of him glanced at each other for a moment, then looked back at him.
"N-No... it's clearly a vine..." she said while twirling it around her paw.
"You've probably hit your h—" Gible tried to comment but was interrupted by Dragonair.
"My name's Hans, pleased to meet you, Mister John."
"A-Ah, finally dropping the name, the pleasure is mine, Hans!" said the Gible while stretching out his short arm as if to give him a handshake, "Name's John, John Doe."
Hans frowned, both at his hand gesture and the name he just mentioned, "No it's not, no one has that name!" he snapped, staring into the eyes of the Gible, who quickly put a finger over his own mouth.
"Shhh, you're meant to play along, I can't say my real name," he whispered, looking over at the Floragato absently playing with the flower yo-yo. "Don't you understand? This isn't real! It's the feds trying to control us, this is MK-Ultra!"
Hans huffed and frowned, "That doesn't make any sense. If they're trying to control your mind, they probably already know your name," he replied, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, "If you don't want to use it, just call yourself Gible."
Gible scoffed in response, looking away from the Dragonair and closing his eyes, "You clearly know nothing about mind control... And that name is lame, add Mister at the start of it, i don't wear a necktie for nothing."
Hans stared at the Gible and fixated his eyes on the tie adorning his body, it didn't look like a normal one and it was very poorly bound, "Mr. Gible it is," Dragonair then looked at the Floragato, who was now sitting on the ground, staring at both dragons while they chatted.
Gible noticed this and spoke up again, "That dog over there doesn't have a name, just like me." the cat got up and walked up to them.
"Yeah, we Pokémon don't usually have names like you humans seem to do." she commented.
Hans stared up at her and tilted his head, unable to recognize what Pokémon she was. "Uh... Sorry, but what are you? Are you even a Pokémon?"
The cat scratched the back of her head in a confused response, then looked down at him. "Of course I am! I'm a Floragato!"
"Huh, must be one of the new gen mons," Hans quickly pointed out.
The Floragato tilted her head in confusion, "New... gen? What does that mean?"
Hans realized his mistake and quickly tried to fix it, even if very poorly, he wouldn't want to cause an existencial crisis on a Pokémon he just met by telling her that she's from a video game, "O-Oh, it's nothing! J-Just a human term we use when we learn something!" he muttered, then smiled nervously. "A-Anyways, Floragato is too long of a name, how about we call you... I don't know, Noodle?"
"It's not a noodle," she snapped back, unrolling the yo-yo in front of his face, "It's. A. Vine!" she seemed more than annoyed by something so mundane.
Hans smirked, "Yeah, but Vine is not a good name."
Floragato reeled back the flower bud and sighed, "Those names are more fitting for someone like you," she then looked around, glancing down at Mr. Gible and then back at Hans "Anyway, you didn't answer my questions."
"Oh yeah! I woke up minutes ago and I can't even move, I feel like every limb was stripped away from me," he quipped, looking up at them both with a nervous smile, "It's terrifying! If I'm stuck in this body then I don't know what I'll do. I can't walk anymore, I can't hold things with my hands and I'm confined inside this long and annoying pink meatbag. I don't even know how this body works! How am I supposed to move?! I've never been a snake before!"
Mr. Gible tilted his body again, surprised by the sudden rant of the other dragon, "Well yeah, no wonder you became pink if you're such a faggot," he commented, making a gesture as if he were to cross his arms, but their length made it impossible, "I used to be really tall and now I'm half as big as this dog, yet you don't see me crying like a pussy in the middle of the road." he added with closed eyes.
"What's a dog?" asked Noodle innocently, genuine curiosity in her tone.
"F-Faggot?" answered Hans, ignoring all of the obvious advice, then trying to be nonchalant, "So what do you two do anyway? I figured there's no humans in this world so this must be..."
"Mystery dungeon? Oh fuck, the only games of the franchise I've barely played, this nightmare only gets more ironi—" his thoughts were quickly interrupted by Noodle.
"You could say we're explorers, but we're not really affilliated to a guild. We simply go around exploring dungeons for treasure... You probably don't know what a dungeon is, right?"
Hans nodded, "I-I do... D-Don't ask why."
An awkward silence then fell upon the three and Hans took this opportunity to try and make friends, something he was not very good at, "So, can I go with you guys? I-I'm not strong... or stealthy... or brave..." he stopped, the two Pokémon in front of him shared another glance, "But please let me go with you! I-I'm sure that I can help!"
Mr. Gible was the first to reply, albeit conspirationally, "I see, they didn't sent their smartest agent after me."
"Sure! The more the merrier, especially if we're going into dungeons," said Noodle, already walking away from the two dragons. Mr. Gible quickly followed, leaving Hans behind.
"Uh, wait for me!" Hans shouted, slowly crawling towards them, struggling to catch up to their pace.
Noodle glanced back and sighed, "You aren't very good at moving either," she walked back to the snake and pulled out the vine tucked in her chest fluff, extending it enough to wrap it around his body so she could drag him along.
Hans was very embarrassed, everything about this new body made him hate it more, but having someone carry him was much better than being a slug. To take his mind off things, he tried to make small talk. "So, where are we going to?"
Mr. Gible glanced back momentarily, chuckling at the awkward sight of his partners, "We're going to," he paused for a moment, trying to recall something he had been told before, "Something like... Gaping Town, it's supposed to have a guild with humans from what we heard... You know what that means, right?"
Hans looked down defeatedly in response, "That I'm not an isekai protagonist?"
Mr. Gible glanced back once again, visibly confused this time, "What!? No! It means that the feds may be in there, so I HAVE to investigate them," he let out a short laugh, "You know Hans, I used to be one of them. I know their methods, I know the way their agents work and I know you're not one of them, that's why they want to get inside my mind! Last time, there was this lettuce looking thing that shot me a pink beam right between the eyes. I think it was trying to turn me into a faggot, like you Hans," he pointed at the Dragonair "That way I would spill the beans, but my mind and," he took a deep breath, "My will, are specially strong. So I cried for help and Noodle took it off me and then..." his loud ramblings kept going until they reached their destination: Capim Town.
Hans was fascinated by the place, being surrounded by Pokemon he recognized made him feel like he wasn't living in a nightmare, even if they were all casting weird looks at them, probably because a pokemon dragging another across the floor wasn't a usual sight. Hans looked up and became even more amazed by the town itself, with bridges hanging between trees, connecting some buildings located at the top. Though his partners didn't seem so interested by the scenery and instead opted to look around for a place to stay at.
They settled for the Blue Claw Inn, renting a single room for the three of them indefinitely until Mr. Gible finished his 'investigation.' Noodle paid for the rent and the food, which was nothing like Hans expected it to be; just a bunch of common berries stacked next to each other on top of a wooden plate. He was put up on a seat, and even though his head simply slumped down on the table, it was enough to reach the food. Once the team was done eating, the went up to their room without waiting for their new partner, who slowly and clumsily dragged himself up the stairs to their room.
When he made it inside, Mr. Gible stood at the middle of the room, adjusting his tie with an eager look, "Alright, here's the plan: I sneak into the guild and figure out if they're feds and all that, meanwhile, you two stay here and don't interrupt me," he smirked widely, if that was even possible as a Gible, "Easy enough, ain't it?"
To Gible's disgrace, simple orders were never enough for Hans, "Shouldn't we head to the guild and just... join in? They're humans like us after all."
Mr. Gible clicked his tongue, "Negative, it's too risky, only I know how to deal with them," he said the last part with a mockingly deep tone of voice.
"What's a fed?" Asked Noodle, all of these human mannerisms were still too new for her.
"Doesn't matter, just let me do my job and don't interact with anyone, they could be feds too," he walked towards the door with a confident stride and stopped right before pulling it open, "You know what to do if I don't come back, Noodle. It won't be necessary though, I'll be back," he chuckled again, then left to look for the human guild they had heard about.
"He'll get lost," Noodle said nonchalantly, then lied down on one of the hay beds, "Wake me up if he comes back."
Hans perked his head up and stared at his partner with a worried expression, "B- but what if he doesn't?"
Noodle let out a yawn and stretched, "Then don't wake me up, it's not like we have anything better to do." she then curled up into a ball and closed her eyes.
Hans didn't want to be left alone with his thoughts and lack of mobility, even if he was more than used to the former, "Can't we go do something? I-I'm sure that exploring a dungeon wouldn't hurt..."
Noodle quickly replied without even batting an eye. "It would, we have enough Poke to stay here for a while and I'm tired of carrying you around, besides, you wouldn't want to make a friend like Mr. Gible upset, would you?
"But it's boring to be holed up in here all day and I want to see if..." Hans whined, this time he didn't get a reaction from the Floragato, "Friend?" he thought about his partner's words, he'd only know them for a few hours, but they were willing to help him out since the beginning for nothing in return. He smiled and decided it was time to be alone with his mind once again.
Hans looked around the room, it was mostly empty, only a few hay beds and a small desk with a chair in front of it. He sluggishly crawled towards the pile of hay, his long body didn't even fit on it and lying down on dry grass was not something comfortable to be on, though after being dragged around coarse dirt and rocky paths all day long, it was good enough for resting.
"Who could ever sleep in something so uncomfortable? Are pokemon really used to this? Noodle is sleeping soundly on this thin pile of pointy stuff..." he thought while rolling around in the 'bed,' which made him realize that he could consistently roll from side to side, though moving forwards was still a problem.
With his partner seemingly asleep, Hans started thinking out loud, "I miss my PC already..." he sighed longingly, "There must be a way to go back, I can't possibly live like this for the rest of my life," he rolled over again, "This has to be a nightmare, this just can't be real," he rolled over once again, this time he ended up facing Noodle's bed, "But it feels too real, and I think I'm getting attached already," he stared up at the roof, looking concerned, "I wonder if anyone misses me... I'm sure that dissapearing didn't affect anyone," Hans hated his own mind, thinking too much often lead to his thoughts becoming more and more self-aware. "How fucking ironic, the only thing I did was sitting in front of a screen all day without even moving but NOW I miss my legs," he rolled again, facing the wall and away from Noodle, "I probably deserve being turned into a pink sack of meat and called a faggot, with the kind of things I'm thinking..."
Suddenly, he felt himself being lifted up by a vine and soon after wrapped by two arms, it was Noodle, she had heard the dragonair talking to himself and got up just for this. Hans was very flustered, the hug was too sudden and it felt really awkward, but also oddly comforting. She nuzzled into him for a moment before letting go and going back to her bed as if nothing had happened.
As soon as he landed on the hay, a very nervous snake turned around to look at his partner. "W-What was that for!?"
Noodle didn't even bother to look at him to answer. "So you stop talking nonsense and shut up for once."
"Ah, s-sorry for that..." Hans shifted in the bed abd faced the wall one again, having decided to take a nap even if he wasn't really tired, it was better than having to think.
He hoped to wake up back in the familiar human world to slide this off as just another nightmare, but part of him hoped he didn't, a part of him wanted to stay here, in this new body that he hated so much simply because of the people he had met. Luckily, he fell asleep before his mind had enough time to think about it.
Shortly after, the dragonair woke up by the sound of the door loudly slamming open, perking up his head, he found Mr. Gible pressing against it to try and hold it closed, though nothing seemed to try to get in from the other side. He was panting and visibly worried, also, his band was tied around his forehead instead of his chest.
"I fucked up!" he cried, looking over at his partner and clutching his head. "They saw me! I'm sure as hell they did! They're coming for us now, that blue thing is gonna put a bullet through my head and then they'll rip my brain out and then—"
"CALM THE FUCK DOWN!" snapped Hans, only to get quickly embarrassed a moment after, "...S-Sorry about that, what happened?"
Mr. Gible took a few deep breaths and went back to his usual calm demeanor, "What part of 'I fucked up' do you not understand, Hans?" he sighed, "I managed to get into the garden by digging under it, then tried to look through a window, but some blue thing with a smiley face came out of a pond and repeatedly said 'Chest Pain,' I think it was calling out to someone... It must be a codename!" he stated dramatically.
Hans gasped, "Codename!? But why would they use something like that?"
"I don't know, but if they have to, it means something strange is going on in there..." Mr. Gible paused to dust some dirt off his hands, "I made sure to cover my escape hole, but now that they saw me, they'll definitely be on high alert," he faked a cough before continuing, "I don't know if they're feds. Maybe an infiltration will be a better way to investigate them."
"What do you mean?" Asked Hans while looking around the room, noticing that Noodle was nowhere to be found.
"I'm going to join the guild and figure out what they're up to, simple as."
"What, why? What if they are feds? Why only you and not all three of us?"
"All three? And have you potentially screw up an important espionage operation?" he grinned, "I can't have you two fooling around while I do all the work, it's better if you just stay here."
"What a way to treat your friends... It sounds like you're trying to get rid of us!" Hand frowned, not wanting to spend the rest of his days in a crappy inn room.
"No, no, no..." Mr. Gible waved his hands in front of his face, "Well, kind of, but not in the way you think!" he pointed at the pink snake's forehead, "It's to ensure that the guild is safe for my friends!"
"If you join, we all do, I'm tired of being alone in a room away from everyone." Hans mentioned, remembering his old life and feeling like he lied to himself with those words.
Mr. Gible couldn't do anything else but sigh in frustration, "You're very stubborn, kid," he then sat on the floor, patting his belly, "I'm starving, where'd Noodle go? She's got all the money."
"I was wondering the same thing, she must have gone away while I was taking a nap," Hans felt his stomach rumbling, "I'm really hungry too..."
As if on cue, Noodle got inside the room through the window, setting down a pouch of poke on the desk and indifferently greeting the two dragons, Hans was the first to ask, "Noodle, where have you been?"
"I... I was exploring a dungeon, I didn't expect Mr. Gible to be back so soon," she awkwardly replied.
"And you didn't wake me up for it!?"
"We would have taken a lot of time to get there if I had to carry you, it wasn't worth it for just a few items."
Hans frowned and mumbled, "Could've just told me that from the beginning instead of pretending to sleep."
"Stop it you two! It's just a dungeon, you can go to one later, fag," Interrupted Mr. Gible, then stood up, "Now, lets go eat something!"
They walked down the stairs and sat down in one of the many tables inside the inn, the food was the same as before, simply a bunch of common berries on a plate, Hans wondered if this was all the food the Pokémon world had to offer. Mr. Gible on the other hand was more focused on satisfying his hunger, he downed the whole plate of berries down his mouth and chewed like a feral, spilling berry juice everywhere, then wiped with his Power Band and looked at his two partners with a toothy grin.
"The food in here is amazing! I'll never understand how they make fruits taste so good!" Mr. Gible paused for a moment to lick his fingers. "Anyway, I'll join the guild tomorrow morning!"
"Hm? Join so quickly?" Asked Noodle, "I thought you were suspicious of them."
"I'll tell you the details later, now i just wanna go to sleep in one of those comfy hay beds," he commented with a flick of his wrist.
Noodle shrugged and supposed that Mr. Gible had his motives, then got up and headed towards the owner—a mean-faced Crabrawler—to pay for their food.
"So, what did you do before this?" Asked Mr. Gible while leaning back on his seat, almost falling over in the process.
"Oh great, you just HAD to ask this to the most boring guy around" Hans internally thought, he sighed and took another bite out of a berry, "Do you really want to know?" he asked with a look of annoyance.
"Oh come on, it's just small talk, not like that life matters anymore," the blue dragon responded, mirroring his partner's expression.
"How do you know there's no way back? It does matter, and I'm not telling you."
"Why do you have to be such a fag? I'm just trying to talk with the only other human I've known since getting here but you do this all the time!" he started raising his voice.
Hans heard murmurs from the other patrons at the mention of the word human, he leaned forwards and whispered, "You're too loud for a spy, don't go telling everyone we're humans."
"What are you, my dad? Not even that fat fuck would scold me as much as you do!"
"K-Keep your voice down!"
Mr. Gible was about to snap back at his teammate, but was interrupted by someone knocking on the table–one of the Indeedee barmaids, visibly irritated, "Gentlemen, I must ask you to please leave this establishment, you're disturbing the other patrons."
"You can stick the other patrons up your ass," Mr. Gible shouted, throwing his arms up, "I'm just having a friendly talk with my partner over here, can't even do that in this damn town!"
If his abrupt outburst wasn't enough, a loud yell was heard from the bar where Noodle was, "YA' STEELIN BEE'ACH!" coming from Crabrawler, right after delivering a swift punch directly into the Floragato's face, sending her flying across the room, landing close to where Hans and Mr. Gible were sitting.
The Gible stared at the scene, mouth hanging agape before turning back to Hans, "We're done for, RUN!" he quickly hopped down his seat and bolted towards the door as fast as he could. Noodle rolled on the ground to get on all fours, then ran away after her partner, leaving Hans alone with the angry innkeepers.
"Pinky. Out. NOW!" demanded the Crabrawler. Hans threw himself on the floor and started sluggishly crawling towards the exit, the innkeeper's eye twitched and he picked up the dragonair with a single claw, then threw him out the door. Hans landed on his back and stared up at Crabrawler with wide panicked eyes, "Don't eva' show up'ere again, lad." he walked closer menacingly, accidentally stepping on the snake's tail.
Hans felt a large amount of energy coursing through his body, going up towards his head, he opened his mouth instinctively and shot a beam of bright light out of his mouth. It was the worst thing Hans had ever experienced, he felt as if his insides were coming out through his mouth, the beam didn't even hit the Crabrawler looming over him but the building behind him, destroying a portion of the inn's roof and causing some of the patrons inside to run out in fear. Hans stopped after a few seconds and laid back on the floor, feeling extrenely tired, meanwhile, Crabrawler turned around to see the small damage caused by the Hyperbeam, "OI, THAT'S ME' INN!" he turned back around to face Hans and prepared his claw, "YER' IN BIG TROUBLE NOW, LAD!" Hans clenched his eyes and teeth, preparing for the finishing blow.
Right before he could finish him, a vine wrapped around Crabrawler's claw and held him back, glaring over his shoulder, he saw Noodle barely holding back his strength. Crabrawler swung his arm in a wide arc, overpowering Noodle and flinging her over himself, making her land right in front of him. "I'LL MAKE SURE YE' PAY TOO, FILTHY ROBBA'!"
Noodle got off the ground with a grunt, scratching her head and staring back at Crabrawler, "I-I'd like to see you try..." she attempted to taunt him, but was clearly exhausted from the beating she'd taken.
"YOU'LL FEEL THE FURY OF ME' MIGHTY CLAWS!" yelled Crabrawler, dashing towards the Floragato.
Noodle barely managed to leap out of the way of his attack, she grabbed the vine of her yo-yo and made spikes pop out of the rounded end of it, then flung it towards Crabrawler, who effortlessly blocked it with one of his claws. He charged forwards again, Noodle reeled back the yo-yo and tried make him trip with the vine, but Crabrawler swiftly jumped over it, slamming his claw into the Floragato's stomach, sending her tumbling backwards.
"I LOVE beating dirty criminals into a BLOODY pulp with my own claws!" said Crabrawler while closing the distance between them, stopping just a few meters in front of her instead of taking the finishing blow, "Come on, eat a berry or sumn', it's boring when they go down so easily. Show me a good time, thief!" Crabrawler taunted with wide arms, then took on a boxing stance, waiting for her to get up and fight.
Noodle slowly stood up, grunting and clutching her stomach in pain, she reached into her bag and digged for an item, but instead of pulling out a berry like Crabrawler expected, she took out an orb and threw it to his feet. Before he could react, the orb was shattered and Crabrawler was completely petrified in place.
Noodle let out a long sigh of relief, reeled back her yo-yo and limped out of the place, eating an Oran Berry wasn't enough to calm her pain, but it was enough for now.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gible snuck up on Hans and dragged him away while Noodle fought, the Dragonair opened his eyes and was surprised to see Mr. Gible carrying him so easily. "How... How can you—?"
Mr. Gible smirked and set him down on the outskirts of Capim Town near some bushes, "I don't wear a tie with a muscle for nothing, kid!" the landshark gave Hans a few headpats which only made him more confused. "Noodle should be here soon, she stayed behind to kill the bartender or something."
Not only was he more and more disoriented by every word that came out of Mr. Gible's mouth, Hans was also extremely tired and could barely hold his eyes open, he barely even noticed that Noodle had catched up with them and stuffed an Oran Berry in his mouth, which revitalized him a bit.
Mr. Gible opened his mouth to talk to Noodle but she simply held her paw up and shook her head. They silently made their way towards the guild, after what just happened, they probably were banned from the Blue Claw Inn for life. They needed a place to sleep and it was getting dark, choices were running low and they had to take their chances. The team arrived at the guild, they took a moment to catch their breaths before stepping inside. They stood around the lounge, idly looking at the boards without knowing what to do.
After a few long minutes of standing around like fools, a Combusken wearing an eyepatch walked out of a hallway and stared at them. After an awkward moment of sharing glances, he finally talked, "Humans? I've never you all around here before, new to the guild?"
Mr. Gible was visibly shook by the Combusken's words, especially with the way he called them humans with just looking at them, "Y-Yeah, w-wwe want to join the guild!"
The Combusken nodded and climbed the stairs, motioning back for the group to follow, after moving up a few floors, he stopped in front of a door and turned to the three Pokémon behind him, "This is the guildmaster's office, he will tell you everything about the guild," with that, the Combusken headed back down.
Noodle lazily knocked on the door a few times, after a moment, a voice was heard from the other side, "Come in~" once they did so, they were met with a neatly decorated room, bookshelves adorning the walls and a big desk at the middle, behind which was a Meowstic with a black cloak leaning back against his seat, "So you've finally decided to join~!"
Mr. Gible wasn't even surprised anymore, he was straight up scared, fearing that mind-reading feds had discovered about his operation with how accurate their guesses had been, "Y-Yeah! W-We're here to... U-Uh, join t-the... Erm..."
Seeing that Mr. Gible could barely form a sentence, Noodle interrupted him and decided to do the talking, "We want to join the guild."
The Meowstic smirked at the Floragato, "Well, that's pretty obvious to me, but why should I let you in after the commotion you've caused at the Blue Claw Inn~? he squinted his eyes, examining the three Pokémon in front of him
Noodle was at a loss for words, wondering how did he know about something so recent and thinking they're being rejected.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gible took a step back out of fear, wondering how the news spread so quickly, given that they didn't see any other pokemon on their way to the guild...
"Kyukyukyukyu~ No need for the long faces." said the Meowstic while looking over at Hans, "Two of you are fellow humans who need help from the guild, and I can't let your partner behind. I'm sure there's a good reason for the fight, that innkeeper has always been... problematic~" he produced a paper out of a drawer.
"May i know your names, if you have?"
"The little guy is Mr. Gible and he's Hans," she mentioned, pointing at them both respectively, "And I'm..." she paused and sighed, "I'm Noodle."
The Guildmaster wrote down their names and set the paper away, "I'm Lliam," he pulled out a few badges from another drawer, setting them down in front of the new members, "Welcome to the guild~!"
Noodle took all of the badges and stuffed them in her bag for now, "You'll probably want something to pin that on, we have scarves at the storage room, along with some very comfy cotton for your beds," Lliam rose from his seat, "Speaking of, let me show you where your bedroom is."
They followed the guildmaster through the mostly empty halls of the guild, as it was very late already, only passing by a sleepwalking Smeargle wandering the place. They visited the storage room first, taking some bags with cotton and blankets in them, along with a few scarves, Lliam left once he lead them to their room.
Noodle set down the cotton and blankets on the three beds while a trembling Mr. Gible dragged Hans inside, "I'm loving this guild already—" mentioned the Dragonair, interrupted by a yawn, "I don't ever have to sleep on hay again!"
Despite his paranoia, Mr. Gible crashed on his bed once Noodle was done setting it up and almost instantly fell asleep. Hans crawled onto his own and looked up at the ceiling, his mind was racing with thoughts once again—mainly about Noodle. He wanted to ask her about what happened back at the inn, "Why was she attacked? What happened to Crabrawler? Is she alright?" he wanted to ask her a million things, but in this very moment, only one question got past his lips after remembering that he still was a limbless sack of Dragonair, "Noodle, can you cover me up?" the Floragato nodded and complied, draping the blanket over his body. "Thanks! Have a good night, Noodle."
She looked down at Hans and a tired smirk formed in her muzzle, "You too." after that, she limped over to her own bed for some much needed sleep.