When the Petals Wither
A Non-canon Clover Guild Story
By Meowstic-anon

You are a Sandshrew
You were sent by the Federation to investigate the Clover Guild of Capim Town
You are a native in this world, and you are dealing with people who came from different worlds

03/14/XXXX
Today is the day! I'm off to visit a place where I've never been before, Capim Town. A couple days ago, Alakazam summoned me to his office, and he told me that he felt something bad was gonna happen to the Clover Guild in the future, and he trusted me to be the one to spy on that guild and see it through. Preventing it would be preferable, but the future he saw is absolute. But I'll do my best to prevent it to impress him; watch me!

"I think that should do it for now," I closed the book and put it on my sack.

I hopped off of Lapras and she stamped my Lapras Travel Pass, which the Federation had given me right before I embarked on my travel. Speaking of which, they also provided me with a daily allowance if I talked to Cofagrigus in town, and all I had to do was say the 'password', but they all look so creepy, so no thank you! I had my own money anyway.

At the port, there's a dark blue creature with pointed ears and white at the fold that has light blue eyes with light blue sclerae. I believe this is a male Meowstic. Quite an uncommon species of pokémon to find around these parts. He is wearing a white summer hat, and he seems to be waiting for someone. I was about to quietly walk past him until he approached me.

"Are you... Miss Dahlia?" he asks me.

"Ye-yes," I answered, "Why?"

"Kyukyukyu!" he smiles, "you must be the new arrival I heard 'bout!"

I shouldn't have expected less from a psychic type, but that doesn't mean my cover is blown, "Then you're the Guildmaster Lliam of the Clover Guild!"

"Yes, yes!" He clapped his hands once. "Let me hold your application and bag; I'll guide you around the place!"

Capim Town, it has quite a spectacular infrastructure. Unlike other towns I've been to, this town built their buildings on these mounds things and turned it into some sort of monolith. Pokémon that have a fear of heights must beware that this town isn't for the faint of heart!

"...And here we are at the Clover Guild!" Lliam turns around to me and asks, "Any questions?"

I shake my head, "No, none at all!"

He told me to wait around in the lounge while he gets my room ready. He should have prepared it beforehand, but then again, I left Baram Town quite earlier than usual, so I suppose that's understandable.

Looking through the window, a calm breeze had a faint scent to it, fragrance of flowers! My name is actually based on a flower, a Dahlia, and a red one in particular. My mother had that idea because she loves to read the old story about a hero pokémon and his fox partner saving the world from a ferocious beast. I forgot their names since it's such a long time ago, but I do know their names are also based on flowers!

After some time, Lliam returns, "Oh Dahlia, Welcome! I'll show you your room~."

...

03/15/XXXX
Today is my first day as a member of the guild (secretly spying, tehe!). Yesterday, Lliam gave me some orientations and rules for the guild. They're quite easy to follow, but some rules are really strange, like one rule he talked about that I must stay away from members if it gets a bit suspicious. Like, what does that even mean!?

Anyhow, I'm roommates with this Oshawott guy, 'Augustus' or he just prefers to be called as 'Gus'. He's a weird and quiet character. There were supposed to be more roommates, Sotto the Mawile and a Raboot named Casey, but they seem to be away on an expedition with some other members, so the guild has fewer people roaming around.

Our room is on the dormitory floor of the guildhall. Our neighbors after our room are a Shinx named Amalia and a Vulpix named Nick. They're alright, are they a couple? They're quite close. I might need to do some "studying" when I have free time, fufufu~. The neighbors before our room are a Mareep named Macom, an Audino doctor named Kina and a Combusken named KFC. I've heard about that Combusken from colleagues; normally I would be panicking, but thankfully we've never met, so I'm in the clear.

Anyways, right now, I'm getting ready for my first Mystery Dungeon job! Though, honestly, I've never been to a Mystery Dungeon before, but I've done a lot of research on them, so I think I should do just fine. I'm paired with Gus, a Ribombee named Booker, and a Sneasel that has no nickname for whatever reason. Are their parents that lazy?

I stopped writing at this point, "Maybe that sounds a bit too mea-"

"What are you doing?" Gus approached me from behind and tried to peek at my diary, I shut it in his face.

"None of your business!!" I yelled.

"Oh, umm..." he scratches his head, "sorry about that."

"No, no. I'm sorry I lashed out," I put my diary down. "It's my diary, and I don't like anyone peeking, okay, Gus?"

"Yes, I understand..." he says, before running off the room.

I should be making friends, not enemies! I'll make it up to him when we are at the Mystery Dungeon.

...

The next day...

"Good morning, Dahlia," Gus greeted me as I woke up. "I hope we do better today."

"Good morning, Gus," I greeted back and yawned, "...yeah, likewise..."

I then open my diary and get my ink and quill ready.

03/16/XXXX
The exploration yesterday, it went okay, I think. I know how a Mystery Dungeon works, but I totally lack the experience in fighting, so I had to make Sneasel do some overtime for me; this is so embarrassing... Anyway, we still did a job well done according to the client, who gave us the rewards: a bunch of Gummies and 1500 Poké. We each get 500 Poké for the split. After what I did such a poor job, I couldn't possibly accept this, but Booker keeps insisting on keeping it as he points out the things I've done, like providing Oran berry to Sneasel that one time. I was forced to accept it, but I get that they're trying to be nice, but it still feels wrong to me...

Later today, I'm assigned with Gus again and two new guys, Chespin and Wooper. I remembered Chespin because at the library there's a section labeled "Adventure Logs", which tells the story of the members of the guild. I saw that he published a lot of his adventures, the most out of everyone!

Last night, I woke up and went to the toilet. It's a bit dark to see, but I can manage to find where to go. On my way back, however, I saw a figure, red eyes with yellow sclera staring back at me. I can't make out who they are, but I can hear their voice clearly: "The Red one has entered the board; the game shall commence." I still can't understand what that means, but it does make me feel uneasy, also, they

"Dahlia!" KFC suddenly calls out my name, "Guildmaster wants to see you."
"Huh?" I quickly hid my diary inside my pillow and went to Lliam's office.

The Guildhall has 5 floors. The ground floor has the lounge, guest's room, and Skiddo's room. The first floor has a library, a dining hall, and the kitchen. The second floor has the doctor's office and facilities provided by the guild members for other guild members. The third floor is the dorm space for guild members who don't have a home in the area. The final floor is the guildmaster's office. There's also a door leading to the basement, but it's locked for whatever reason.

Upon arriving at the guildmaster's office doorstep, I knocked, and he said to come in in a calming voice. It doesn't help that I'm frantically wondering what I've done.

"Come, take a seat~." he smiles, "...why so tense? I have an offer for you~."

Oh, I suppose I was worried for nothing. I thought I had my cover blown. "...What offer?" I asked.

"I want you to give me some gummies you find in the Mystery Dungeons," he gives me a list. "See here, I needed some gold, red, and orange gummies. I'll pay you personally, of course~!"

"Okay, sure, but..." I read through the list, "is this some sort of party plan?"

"Ah, yes, hold on." Lliam takes away the list and tells me a story.

I actually heard about this before, but I pretend that it's the first time hearing it. Basically, they had trouble with the Federation in the past, and they did some test, which they passed. This is some sort of small feast on their achievement. While I joined after that, I'm still invited to the event. It's going to be held in a few days.

I tried to press for more information, but he isn't budging in. Quite a tough one to crack, that's for sure. I'm about to take my leave until...

"One more thing." Lliam calls me back to my seat.

"Y-yes?" I gulped. What more could he possibly want?

His attitude changes from bubbly to something serious. "You were sent by Alakazam, right?"

W-what is this person!? How did he know about that? That should not be possible! Wait, did he read my mind? No, that can't be right because Alakazam gave me an amulet that blocks any mind reading abilities, so how? Did I leave a hint in my application, or did the Federation mess up the letter? Did he read my diary? I should have hidden it better, right? I must of... wait, no, I must keep my cool. Come on, Dahlia, you can do this.

Thinking about it, it's better to speak honestly than to lie since I can't determine how much he knows and he might call me out if he knows more. This is quite dangerous, but if I say it honestly, I might have a clue... "Yes. I'm indeed sent here by him."

I can see that Lliam was taken back by that answer, "O-oh... I didn't expect an honest answer, honestly, hehe. That's unexpected, yup, yup. Well, umm..."

He clears his throat, "I know because a certain Mailmon friend of mine had his big ears open and told me some stuff, and I do recall seeing your name when we're at the Federation at some point. But really, I was shooting in the dark, and it seems I hit a bullseye, lucky me~."

I bit my lip; I made the wrong move, haven't I... Well, there's no turning back now, I'm cooked for real. "W-what are you going to do with me...?"

"Oh, nothing. I'll keep it a secret," he quickly answers, "I don't know what he is planning, but you don't seem to be here with any ill intent, so it's better to leave a good impression with the Federation. It's a win-win after all; oh, but don't tell them about that, please!"

What on earth is this guy... "Th-thank you so much, G-guildmaster Lliam. I'll be heading off with Gus now."

"Hold on..." Lliam speaks solemnly, "How do you know who Augustus is? He disappeared days before you arrived."

I look at Lliam, and he looks dead serious. "...Huh?"

[Chapter 1 End]