Team Moonshine: Troubled Sleep 1
It had been a few weeks since the official founding of team Moonshine. The group was moved into a new, bigger dorm room, much to their leader’s distaste. Adrian had preferred the ability to disappear into his room and avoid people, but that was no longer an option for him. Now, he had no escape from his fellow guild members..
His team tried to give Adrian his space most of the time, though. Most of them started taking up hobbies. Vileplume found himself fascinated by human culture, and would often talk to the humans about things from their world. He was slowly becoming an expert on the “means” humans would use to convey ideas and explain important parts of their history.
Bellossom, while holding about as much interest in humans as her brother, found her time occupied by a recent interest in medicine. This was sparked by some recent missions that had gone poorly for the team. Particularly their second mission, where Adrian had to explain to her how to tie a tourniquet so Enny wouldn’t bleed out from a gash on his hindleg. She spent a lot of late nights at the guild’s infirmary, assisting Kina with some of the less severe patients.
Enny just liked to fuck with people by making them think he was a girl. His guildmates would all react differently upon realizing he was a dude. Some of them got pissed off, while some were kind of into it. Cyndaquil, a well known nuisance at the guild, was very into it. He tried to flirt with Enny for a while. Enny didn't mind at first, even returning some of the compliments, but Cyndaquil quickly opened up on some of his more niche… interests. Enny cut contact with him very quickly after hearing what Cyndaquil wanted to do with his ribbons.
The group did try to make sure that Adrian was getting out more often, though. Threats of being dragged through the guild again by Enny were usually enough to get him out of his corner of the dorm. This didn’t necessarily mean they would get good results, though.
Adrian was very quickly building a negative reputation inside the guild. He was very prone to starting fights with people, especially the ones who told him about how popular umbreon “artwork” was in the human world. At first, he didn’t acknowledge the remarks and ignored them. Over time, however, his responses to these comments grew more and more aggressive. Eventually, he’d start entire arguments with people, and berate them for their degenerate interests.
One incident in particular solidified Adrian’s reputation, and set the precedent for anyone who would try aggravating him in the future. Team Moonshine found themselves sitting at a dinner one night next to the somewhat infamous Team “Misfits”. Cyndaquil was one of the members of this team, and he just so happened to be right beside Adrian that night.
“So, are you like most umbreons on the internet?” Cyndaquil asked.
“What?” Adrian replied, clearly confused.
“Oh, didn’t you know?” Cyndaquil said. “Contrary to popular belief, vaporeon is actually not the pokemon most suited for-”
“You finish that sentence, and you won’t be walking away from dinner tonight,” Adrian interrupted.
The rest of the table stopped their conversations and watched the two. Cyndaquil stared intently at Adrian with a smirk, while Adrian did his best to avoid eye contact.
“Oh, that's what I'm hoping for," Cyndaquil whispered to him.
Adrian started to growl viciously.
“Cyndaquil, cut it out,” Phanpy said.
“You really should. He’s not the joking type,” Vileplume warned.
“Come on, you can tell he’s enjoying it just as much as I am. Isn’t that right, little bre?” Cyndaquil said. He gave Adrian a playful nudge, which ended up being the last push Adrian needed.
The umbreon quickly turned and lunged at Cyndaquil, taking him to the ground and knocking their bench over. Glass shattered on the floor as Adrian began to maul Cyndaquil. The two teams scrambled up to pull the two apart. Totodile and Phanpy dragged Cyndaquil back while Bellossom and Vileplume used stun spores to paralyze him and pull him off.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Adrian! Have you gone feral?” Enny yelped.
In the short time the fight had gone on, Cyndaquil had several bite marks in his shoulder and scratches along his body. He was breathing very heavily, but he was also blushing just as hard, so it probably wasn’t a result of the pain. Adrian had a bit of blood in his mouth, and a savage glare in his eyes aimed directly at Cyndaquil.
Adrian had a private conversation with the guildmaster that night. There wasn’t any major punishment for either party, as both of the teams explained Cyndaquil had been pestering Adrian for a while and was warned to stop. Ultimately, he got a strong verbal warning and he was restricted from doing any jobs from the guild for a day.
People stopped cracking jokes at Adrian after that incident. Even Enny lowered his remarks towards Adrian for a while. The guild also made sure Cyndaquil and Adrian never sat anywhere near each other again during meals. Cyndaquil would try a few more times to flirt with Adrian, but someone would usually step in to break them up before anything started.
Adrian’s team started paying more attention to him after the mess hall incident. They noticed things were pretty off with him. He was sleeping in later, and yet he seemed more tired than usual. Occasionally, one of them would wake up in the middle of the day to see him shifting around violently in the mess of pillows and blankets he used for a bed. He would mutter incoherently in his sleep. Bellossom even heard him whimper at one point.
Whenever they asked him about it in the evening, he brushed them off, seemingly unaware of the problem.. They could all clearly tell something was wrong, though. Nobody was sure how to approach it, though, so they all just chose to ignore it. They decided it was probably best to focus on work than risk pissing him off.
The group awoke one afternoon and went over to the outlaw bulletin board. Their first mission had the unintended consequence of making them all love hunting outlaws. These jobs were usually local, meaning they would be quicker and they'd have to pack fewer supplies. Vileplume proposed that they focus on one, difficult job today. Everyone agreed, so they started looking at some of the higher tier jobs.
Enny’s eyes landed on an interesting task. “Clear out this gang of robots! Please!”. There wasn’t any explanation on who they’d be fighting, but the mission took place in a nearby dungeon called the Power Plant. It was rumored to have been built by humans eons ago. After their disappearance, it became a home to wild electric types who were able to power themselves up using the mysterious technology. In recent years, however, explorers of the region discovered the place had turned into a mystery dungeon.
“Wait, there are humans in this world? I thought it was supposed to be pokemon only,” Enny wondered aloud.
“There was also a power plant in Rescue Team that was built by humans, actually,” Adrian explained.
“What are you two talking about?” Vileplume asked.
“Nothing important. Let’s just take this job,” Adrian said.
“Are you sure?” Bellossom questioned. “It doesn’t even say what we’re fighting.”
“I don’t really care,” Adrian muttered. “They’re most likely electric or steel type, so just keep Enny out of the front line.”
“I hope for your sake, it’s a hoard of tinkatinks,” Enny remarked.
“What the fuck are those?” Adrian asked.
“The little pink robot from gen 9. It’s fairy and steel type,” Enny stated.
“I haven’t played any of the mainline games past X and Y,” Adrian shrugged.
Bellossom and Vileplume looked at each other with confusion. “What are you guys talking about?” Vileplume asked.
“Nothing,” Adrian and Enny answered simultaneously.
Team Moonshine split off into two separate groups. Adrian and Enny packed their gear up while Bellossom and Vileplume went to the market and purchased the supplies they needed. Bellossom was able to find the stuff she needed to assemble a first aid kit. She got a set of gauze, tape, and oran berry juice. The guild’s nurse, Kina, had explained to her that oran berry juice could be applied to bandages to aid the healing process.
The group reconvened at the stone bridge leading out of Capim town just before sunset. Vileplume and Bellossom noticed Adrian had a couple of scratches on his face when he approached them.
“By Arceus, what happened to you?” Vileplume asked.
Adrian didn’t answer, so Enny sighed and began to explain. “While we were leaving the guild, somebody called us ‘furfags’, so Adrian attacked them.”
“Dammit, Adrian. You’re gonna get yourself in trouble again,” Vileplume said, planting his face in his palms.
“Gotta send the message somehow,” Adrian asserted.
Vileplume groaned. “Let’s just go before you pick another fight.”
Adrian took the lead of the group and they all set out. Bellossom followed behind her brother, as usual. She kept glancing forward at Adrian, though. She hoped that this job wouldn’t have any complications, and they’d just go home afterwards. She also was aware that something was wrong with Adrian, though. She could only hope those scratches on his face weren’t a warning of things to come.