The Day Off

The fight had been going on all afternoon. Adrian rapidly sprinted towards his foe, trying to land a single hit on it. His mouth filled with fire as he prepared for a fire fang. Just as he was about to land his first blow, the combusken casually stepped to the side and kicked him in the stomach. Adrian fell onto his side and curled up, reeling from the pain.

KFC crossed his arms and looked down at the stunned flareon. “How many times do I have to do this for you to start changing tactics?”

“I just don’t get it!” Adrian yelled in frustration as he laid on the ground. “A regular attack like that never stopped me before.”

Vileplume, who had been watching from a safe distance with the rest of his team, called out to Adrian. “You’re not an umbreon anymore! Flareons can’t take physical attacks that well!”

KFC looked over at Vileplume and nodded before turning back to Adrian. “I know you’re not fast like a jolteon, but maybe you should focus a little more on dodging?”

Adrian rolled back onto his paws and slowly stood up. “One more go, and then I’ll call it a day.”

“Whatever you say.”

Adrian walked further away from KFC and got into his battle stance. KFC, entered his own defensive stance, although it was much more casual. He clearly wasn’t taking it as seriously as Adrian was.

Once more, Adrian sprinted towards his target. His mouth filled with fire again. Once he was at the perfect distance, he leaped right at KFC and tried to bite him.

As he got closer to landing his hit, the bird sidestepped the attack and swung his right hand down. The claws scratched Adrian’s face and flipped his body upside down.

The flareon skid across the ground. When he stood up, everyone got a good look at his wounds. His face had a deep cut around his eye that quickly started to bleed. Stones and pebbles were embedded in his back which made it difficult for Adrian to keep standing.

KFC walked over to a nearby bag and casually tossed a blue berry towards Adrian. Adrian picked it up and tried to swallow it, but he quickly spit the berry back out as a bitter taste filled his mouth.

“It’s one of those look-alikes!”

KFC’s eye widened. “Those are supposed to be separate. How’d it get mixed in with the regular berries?”

“They’re called look-alikes for a reason. Now toss me another one,” Adrian demanded.

The combusken looked inside the bag for a real oran berry. Unfortunately, it appeared they were out of berries. “Well, looks like we will be cutting it here.”

“We’re out?”

Bellossom approached Adrian and KFC along with the rest of her team. “Oh dear. Those cuts do look pretty bad. You should probably see Kina.”

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Adrian said with gritted teeth.

Adrian didn't want to admit it, but his face really did burn from the cuts KFC gave him. While it was most likely an accident, and a simple oran berry could heal it, a part of him was really pissed off at KFC for it. While he did try to give Adrian an oran berry, it didn't end up helping him. KFC fucked up. The cut on Adrian’s face wasn't healed and he couldn't forgive the combusken for that.

The group left the small clearing and headed back towards the guild. When KFC split off from the group and went off on his own, Vileplume thanked him for sparring with Adrian. KFC waved dismissively. “Anytime. And sorry for the cut.”

The group then went to the clinic to get Adrian’s cut treated. There were a few small areas sectioned off with a small waiting room. Sitting on a bench in that room was a horribly disfigured lucario who was visibly shaking. Adrian didn't recognize him, but Enny immediately perked up at the sight of him. “Hi Turkey!”

“DON'T CALL ME THAT!” The lucario yelled, clearly agitated.

“I’m sorry, I didn't mean to-”

“Jesus, what's got you pissed off?” Adrian asked, cutting off Enny.

The lucario immediately shifted to an apologetic tone. “I’m sorry! I didn't mean to come off that way! I'm just so fucked up man, I’m trying to stay calm and all. It's just so hard, you know?”

“Yeah, you and the rest of this guild,” Adrian scoffed.

Everyone suddenly heard more sniffling. The source of it turned out to be Enny who, for some reason, started crying too.

“Enny, you good?” Vileplume asked.

“No? I don't know! I’m just feeling bad now. I shouldn't be calling him names, it's not nice.”

“Oh, my god, I’m sorry!” Turk apologized again. “It’s just my aura, it gets difficult to control when I’m like this. Sometimes it does that to people.”

“Are you doing alright Turk?” Bellossom asked, unsure of what was going on. “You seem really tense,”

“I am VERY tense!” Turk shouted. “Someone stole my smoke mix and now I can't calm down!”

“They stole your what?” Adrian asked.

“MY WEED!” Turk exclaimed. “Well, not weed! It's a mix of all kinds of stuff, alright?!”

Adrian let out a low growl. “Another fucking junkie.”

“IT’S MEDICINAL! IT KEEPS MY AURA SENSORS WORKING! I’M ALMOST BLIND WITHOUT MY BLEND!”

Vileplume stepped in between the two. “Hey now! Let's all calm down!” He said, hoping to prevent a fight. “I'm really sorry about Adrian. He likes to say what's on his mind. He's not really a people person.”

“I'm sorry man, I didn't mean to yell!” Turk said, still talking with a raised voice.

Around that time, the nurse, Kina, entered the waiting room with a small bowl and handed it to Turk. “It's not as strong as your usual blend, but it should hold you over while you're waiting for your ingredients to get here.”

“THANK YOU SO MUCH!” Turk said ecstatically as he pulled out a pipe, filled it with the stuff from the bowl, and immediately tried to smoke it. “Flareon, could you light this thing?”

“Fuck no. Do it yourself.”

“Come on man! I need it!” Turk begged.

“I’m not enabling your addiction.”

“You're such an asshole!” Turk yelled before pulling out a makeshift lighter. Once his pipe was lit, he sucked in as much as he could and let out a huge cloud of smoke, and everyone suddenly felt a sense of ease fill the room.

Kina let out a sigh of relief as she felt Turk calm down. “Alright, now that that's settled-OH MY GOODNESS!” Kina exclaimed as she turned to see Adrian’s bloodied face.

“It's not nearly as bad as it looks,” Adrian said. “It just burns, and there's a bit of it in my mouth and eyes.”

“That's what she said,” Turk blurted out between another hit of his pipe.

“No, that's what YOU said!” Enny cut in.

Turk looked at Enny with a mortified look on his face. “Dude, that was supposed to stay between us!”

“Woah! Relax, I was just making a joke!”

An argument broke about between the two as Adrian was taken into a room by Kina. He couldn't care less about what they were bickering about. None of it would change his opinion on them.

Kina had him sit still while she grabbed a small wash cloth from a bucket of cold water. She then went over to Adrian and started cleaning off the blood, the water turning to steam from his body’s heat.

The total silence started to bother Adrian, so he tried to lighten the mood. “This is probably the easiest wound you’ve ever treated for me.”

“You don’t give me that much trouble,” Kina said as she prepared a Heal Pulse. “And you were right. This wound doesn't actually look too bad now that it's cleaned. Could you open your eye for me?”

Adrian forced his left eye open. It stings badly, but the cut also made his vision blurry. There were black spots covering his vision, and it was hard to focus on anything.

“There seems to be some damage on the pupil,” Kina said.

“What does that mean? Am I gonna lose my vision or something?” Adrian asked.

“No, I don’t think so. It’s a pretty bad scratch, but the deeper cuts were more towards your snout. The eye is only lightly scratched.”

Kina released her Heal Pulse on Adrian, and the cuts on his face disappeared. His eye still stung though.

Kina started packing up her supplies. “You should be fine now. Your vision will be a little blurry for a few days and it might sting for a while. There’s no permanent damage, though. An oran berry could've healed this honestly, although it’d probably be slower.”

“Thank you very much, Kina,” Adrian said.

“It’s what I’m here for,” the audino replied. “I need to check on a few other patients now. It’s looking like another long day.”

“You’re not usually that busy.”

“You’re not usually here in the afternoon,” Kina replied. “Your guildmates do a lot of stupid things that get themselves hurt.”

Adrian chuckled lightly and left the clinic. When he got out, he saw Vileplume was standing in the lobby, waiting for him. “That didn’t take too long,” he said.

“Where’s Bellossom and Enny?” Adrian asked, completely ignoring Vileplume’s statement.

“Bell said she wanted to help Kina out, so she’s staying in the clinic for a bit. Enny said he was gonna hit the town to see if he could get another date.”

Adrian groaned in disgust as he started walking towards the stairs. “If he thinks he’s gonna find true love with a man somewhere dressed as he is, Capim Town is probably the last place he’ll find it. He had better luck when he was asking out guild members.”

Vileplume ran up to walk beside him. “What’s your issue with everyone here?” He questioned. “You nearly started a fight with Turk in the waiting room.”

“Because he’s a fucking junkie.”

“Well yeah… that’s kind of true. You don’t need to say it to his face though.”

“Why not?” Adrian asked. “If I have an issue with someone, I don’t see a reason to keep it a secret.”

“Well you have issues with a lot of people here and that creates a lot of issues for us. Your attitude affects our reputation too in case you didn't know,” Vileplume pointed out.

“I don’t see how my behavior is the cause of all our problems. If there’s anyone giving our team a bad reputation, it’s Enny going around flirting with all the men he can find.”

“While Enny’s definitely annoying most of the guild, he’s a nice guy outside his act,” Vileplume pointed out. “And I don’t know if you realize this, but there are guild members and clients that don’t want to work with, or even talk to us because they’re scared of you.”

“And why’s that?”

Vileplume stopped at the second floor, genuinely stunned by Adrian’s obliviousness. “I-I don’t even know how to explain this to you. Normal people don’t start fights for making jokes at their expense.”

“Well there were plenty of people who actually thanked me for what I did to Cyndaquil,” Adrian said.

“Are you even listening to what I’m saying? You can’t just keep fighting everyone you have a disagreement with.”

“I haven't gotten into any physical altercations since Lliam threatened to put me on cleaning duty,” Adrian argued.

Vileplume sighed and continued up the stairs. “Just cool it with the remarks, We’d all appreciate it if you started making some friends around here.”

“I’ve got no interest in the people here,” Adrian said.

“Well maybe if you spent some time in one of the common rooms, you’d find a few people you actually like.”

“I'm happy with staying in our dorm.”

“Come on, that's gotta be boring sitting in there all day,” Vileplume said. “Besides, it's not good for you to be alone all the time. Why don't you come with me to the lounge?”

Adrian had no real desire to talk to anyone in the guild, but Vileplume had a point. Losing the ability to use Psychic severely limited the things he could do in his free time. It was still daytime too. He had to stay awake until the sun set to keep his sleep schedule on track and lying in bed would make that pretty difficult.

As much as Adrian didn't want to do it, he knew there was nothing else to do. “Fine. I’ll talk to some of the guild members.”

“Oh!” Vileplume said, surprised by the response. “I actually wasn't expecting you to say yes.”

“Let's just go before I change my mind,” Adrian said as he pushed past Vileplume and went to the lounge.

Adrian hadn’t spent much time on the second floor. He only went to the lounge once, and that was when he met his team. While not the cleanest area in the guild, the lounge was pretty comfortable. There were plenty of chairs and tables around the room. There weren’t many pokemon in the room as it was the middle of the day. Most of the teams were probably out doing missions.

The two noticed a sneasel sitting by a table. A small ribombee was sitting on the table having a conversation with her. The sneasel asked him “And these vendor machines, you’d just put coins in them and they’d give you food?”

“Yeah, drinks too,” the ribombee said. “They were pretty convenient,”

Vileplume casually approached the two. “Excuse me, are you talking about human stuff?” .

The sneasel looked over to Vileplume. “Yeah, we are. You’re from Team Moonshine right?”

“Yup. I’m Vileplume and this is Adrian,” Vileplume said, gesturing towards the flareon.

“Sneasel, and this is Booker.”

Booker looked down at the flareon with a confused look. “I thought you were an umbreon.”

“Well I used to be one,” Adrian said. “Then I got hit by a devolution orb.”

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that.”

Sneasel tilted her head. “So when you evolved again, you turned into a flareon instead of an umbreon?”

Adrian answered, “Against my better judgment.”

Adrian sat down on the wood floor while Vileplume grabbed a chair from a nearby table. The room was surprisingly pleasant in spite of some of the clutter.

“Why’d you do that?” Sneasel asked. “Something wrong with dark types?”

“It was better for my team,” Adrian replied with a light glare. “My dark typing wasn’t as useful for my team as fire. Also fire resists fairy so that reduces the consequences of friendly fire from Enny.”

Sneasel smiled. “I respect that. Putting your team’s needs before your own is a tough decision to make.”

“And a pretty stupid decision,” Adrian said. “Being a flareon is completely different. I can’t take hits as well as I used to. Something about this body just makes me less durable.”

“Well hey, that’s just a reason for you to train even harder,” Sneasel said. “Everyone who evolves has to relearn their skills. It’s natural for us.”

“It’s not natural to me.”

“Well hey, if you need someone to train with, I’m always looking for people to spar with. The type difference isn’t an issue.”

Adrian thought about it for a minute. “I guess it’d be safer than training with KFC,” he admitted. “That motherfucker put me in the clinic today.”

Booker seemed surprised to hear that. “KFC’s usually pretty good at holding back. I don’t think he'd hurt you on purpose,” Booker said.

“Eh, sounds about right to me,” Sneasel shrugged. “He doesn’t always hold back on people. Definitely roughed me up a couple times in sparring sessions.”

“He did apologize,” Adrian mumbled.

Vileplume awkwardly reentered the conversation. “What were you guys talking about before we showed up? Something about ‘vendor sheens’?”

The group then began to discuss more things from the human world. The conversation wasn't interesting to Adrian as he didn’t really have anything to add beyond the occasional affirmation that everything Booker mentioned was real. Adrian wasn’t a tech guy, he didn’t work a unique job, and, besides talking to people online, his favorite activity was disconnecting from society as a whole and going out in the woods.

Adrian got a bit lost in his memories for a bit. He hadn’t been alone since he got put in his team. The days of exploring his local forests were very nostalgic to him now. Being all alone and having to rely on himself and his own skills. He’d even gotten to experience that as a pokemon. Despite being on his own during those few weeks, he never felt as isolated as he did in the guild.

“Adrian!”

And he was immediately snapped out of his thoughts by Vileplume. “Wh-what’s up?”

Vileplume sighed. “Chespin just asked you a question. Have you been paying attention?”

Apparently Chespin and Wooper entered the room at some point and Adrian didn’t notice at all.

“No, I got a little distracted,” Adrian said as he looked over at Chespin. “What was your question?”

“I was just wondering why you chose flareon specifically,” he asked.

“It was a better choice for my team tactically,” Adrian answered. “I can cover more types Vileplume, Bell and Enny are weak to.”

“Couldn't you have done the same as a jolteon?” Chespin asked.

“I don't like jolteon as much as flareon,” Adrian said.

“Why?” Wooper asked. “Because it's not as fluffy as flareon?”

“What the fuck? I’m not fluffy!” Adrian snapped. “I’ve got a mane and a tail and a weird tuft of fur on my head. Plenty of pokemon do.”

Vileplume started chuckling. “Dude, all that stuff is fluff.”

Chespin started to laugh. “Yeah, you're fluffy, dude.”

“That neck fluff probably makes a good pillow!” Wooper suggested.

Adrian felt a burning rage grow. He stood up and yelled at the group. “It is not a pillow! It's my fucking biology! Quit calling it fluff!”

Sneasel smirked. “Why are you so defensive about it then?”

“It’s fucking weird!” Adrian shouted. “I’m not making comments on how tiny Booker is or asking how weird Chespin’s vines are.”

Chespin instinctively pulled out his vines. “People ask me these all the time.”

“And I hear jokes about how s-small I am a lot,” Booker added.

“Yeah, that’s not even exclusively a human thing,” Vileplume said. “Sometimes pokemon just ask each other what their species is like. We’re all different so it makes a good conversation topic.”

“Alright, I get the point,” Adrian said as he sat back down. “Just quit calling me fluffy. It's retarded.”

“Okay, man. We’ll change subjects,” Chespin said. “You guys were up pretty early today. Issues sleeping?”

“Well not exactly,” Vileplume said. “We’re trying to fix our sleep schedules now that Adrian can wake up earlier,”

“How's that going?” Chespin asked.

“Well it's been alright for Bell, Enny and I. Adrian's been having some issues with it though.”

Chespin turned to Adrian. “Are you not comfortable enough? What's your bed like?”

“My bed is fine! I’ve got plenty of pillows and blankets to sleep on.”

“That doesn't sound very firm. You’d just be sinking through everything. Might be why you're so on edge.”

“I am not on edge!” Adrian yelled as he stamped his paws on the ground.

Vileplume shrugged. “He is acting nicer than usual.”

Chespin chuckled. “It's way different from the timid eevee we saw in the mess hall.”

“That’s how eevees are by nature!” Adrian argued.

“Relax dude,” Vileplume said. “Nobody's making fun of you for that. We know it was rough for you.”

“It was the first time we really saw you,” Wooper said.

Sneasel tilted her head at Adrian. “You don’t really show yourself much outside of breakfast and dinner you know. Might do you some good.”

“I mean…the guild can be a little a-abrasive,” Booker mumbled.

“Still not a reason to hide from everyone all the time,” Sneasel pointed out. “The only thing people around here know about him is that he attacked Cyndaquil.”

“He had it coming,” Adrian said.

“He probably did,” Chespin shrugged. “Should've seen what I did to him after he started talking about Wooper and I.”

“So are you guys gonna change your name now?” Wooper asked. “You're not gonna be the nocturnal team anymore.”

Vileplume nodded. “We’re trying to figure that out. Bellossom suggested-”

“Something stupid we won't be using,” Adrian interrupted.

“What was it?” Booker asked.

“It wasn't good,” Adrian answered.

“What about Team Sunshine?” Wooper suggested. “That would be a good name!”

Chespin agreed. “That wouldn't be a bad name.”

“We are not using that!” Adrian yelled.

“Bell was right,” Vileplume said. “It's the obvious choice.”

Adrian took a deep breath. He knew he was supposed to keep his anger in check. He already slipped up twice. This wasn't something he needed to argue about. “Look, I’m not going through the paperwork needed to officially change the name. Besides, I like our name right now.”

Vileplume tilted his head. “You said that name was awful when we first told you about it.”

“It's better than Team Sunshine,” Adrian said. “That sounds like something an autistic child would come up with.”

“I-is this a b-bad t-time to i-interrupt?”

Startled by the sudden voice, Adrian turned around to see Toge floating behind him.

“Oh. Hey Toge,” Adrian said. “What’re you doing here?”

“I j-just wanted to s-see what everyone w-was t-talking about,” Toge stammered. “I h-hope I wasn't i-interrupting you g-guys.”

Sneasel raised her claw, dismissing his concerns. “It was nothing important. Booker and I were just talking to Vileplume and Adrian.”

“Oh, A-Adrian was here?”

“I'm still here,” Adrian said.

“What?! B-but you were an u-umbreon!”

“Well now I’m a flareon, and I’m not explaining a third time.”

“We’ll tell you about it later,” Chespin said. “Did you figure out where that missing cotton was?”

“O-oh, yeah. I-it got m-moved to another p-part of t-the storage r-room by a-accident.”

Chespin sighed in relief. “Thank god. I just got that resupplied.”

Adrian’s eyes narrowed. “Of all things, a missing stockpile of cotton is what worries you most?”

“Hey, it's my job to keep this guild as cozy as it can be.”

“‘Most important job in the guild’ I bet.” Adrian mocked.

“Hey, Team Cozy’s job is extremely important!” Toge exclaimed.

“Oh boy,” Sneasel said.

“Team Cozy keeps everyone's spirits up around here! They make sure all of us have a safe and comfortable space to call home so they can be even more motivated while doing guild work! If it weren't for them, you wouldn't have any cotton for your pillows! We wouldn't have any blankets! We’d all be stuck with filthy HAY! On top of all that responsibility, they're always there to help people in need, whether they're part of the guild or not! They’ve done so much important work around here and don't get nearly as much appreciation as they deserve! They are without a doubt THE hardest working team in the guild! I don't know how you could even THINK of calling them unimportant! You could learn a lot from Team Cozy if you really spent time with them! You need to take everything you said back and think long and hard about all the GOOD they've done for the guild!”

At the end of his long rant, Toge took a deep breath and his face turned bright red.

“Oh… I-I’m s-sorry,” Toge apologized.

“It's alright Toge!” Wooper said.

“Yeah, you're not wrong,” Chespin reassured him. “Having a place you can come back to and relax in is of the utmost importance!”

“And beyond all that weird worship,” Vileplume added. “Toge does bring up a good point. There are a few things you could learn from the people here.”

Adrian scoffed. “Like how to lounge around the guild better?”

“Dude, show a little respect,” Vileplume scolded. “They helped us when you were turned into an eevee.”

“I’ve been doing my best to show restraint,” Adrian growled. “You have no idea how many times I’ve had to bite my tongue here.”

Sneasel crossed her arms. “You remind me of some of the people in my old tribe.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

Booker spoke up. “Um… her tribe was pretty hostile at times. Especially towards any signs of weakness.”

Adrian puffed a small cloud of smoke from his nose. “I don't care about your strength. Just don't be so fucking weird. That's all I ask.”

“I don't know what your definition of weird is,” Vilepume said. “But I don't think it applies here.”

Chespin nodded. “None of us are really normal.”

“That much was obvious,” Adrian remarked.

Vileplume shook his head. “I have no idea why you feel the need to be so hostile.”

“Yeah!” Wooper said. “You’d feel better if you talked about things you liked!”

“Nobody would be interested,” Adrian replied.

“What makes you say that?” Sneasel asked.

“I've got no stories to tell,” Adrian explained. “No interesting memories. No knowledge of technology. Nothing important to say about myself.”

“You’ve got plenty to say about others…” Vileplume muttered under his breath.

“Come on! There must be something!” Wooper prodded. “What did you do for fun as a human?”

Adrian let out a sigh. He could tell Wooper wasn't gonna let up. What could he really talk about though? He didn’t do anything exciting. Well, there might’ve been one thing.

“I’d usually just go on backpacking trips in my free time.”

“What’s that?” Sneasel asked.

“Basically how people travel around here,” Adrian answered. “You get a map of the area, ask locals if there's anything you need to know about, and prepare supplies for the trip.”

“So you must be pretty familiar with the wilderness,” Sneasel said.

“What's it like in your world?” Wooper asked excitedly. “Most people here talk about the cities and towns but not the nature!”

“It's not like this world,” Adrian said. “Despite it being more… civilized, I’d say the outdoors are less peaceful there. We’ve sanitized nature and removed all the tranquility. Sounds of planes flying above, highways in the distance, boats in the rivers. No matter where you are in the world, if there are humans there, you can't escape all the noise.”

“You don't seem to miss home that much,” Vileplume noted.

“Not particularly,” Adrian said. “Don’t get me wrong, I miss my family. If I had the option to leave I wouldn’t hesitate. Hard to get across how different this place is though. My first three weeks here were spent traveling between villages and taking local rescue jobs. It wasn't a very fun experience, but I got to see what this world is really like outside the large towns and mystery dungeons.

“Despite all the danger and chaos, people enjoy life here. They're genuinely happy with what they have. They don't hide their depression through a mask of apathy. That's something we’ve lost in our world. I hope to god that never happens here.”

“Huh. So that's what they meant when they mentioned the revolution’s consequences,” Wooper said.

“What revolution?” Vileplume asked. “Did the humans go to war or something?”

“I don't know, but someone told me all about this ‘industrial revolution’ and how devastating it was.”

Adrian groaned. All that talk just to be sidelined by a meaningless joke. Yeah it was a little pretentious, but it was something he actually gave a fuck about. No matter how many native pokemon filled this guild, the most annoying parts of human life persisted.

“On that note, I’ll take my leave.” He then turned away from the group and started walking away.

“Where you going?” Vileplume asked. “Did we say something wrong?”

Adrian kept walking toward the stairs “We're taking a mission tomorrow. When you're done talking to people, start packing supplies.”

“Wait, what mission? Where are we going?” Vileplume called out.

“Somewhere far away.”