"But Chief, why'd you even bother helping that little chicken and her friend out? I thought we were saving that Perfect Apple for later, but you just gave it away like that... I know it was funny when that little blue pipsqueak mouthed off at us and got Chatot even madder at him, but seeing what Wigglytuff would have done to 'em would have been hilarious!"
"Yeah, that's what I thought we were gonna do too. It was pretty great to see that Riolu get knocked onto the ground, though. Whoa-ho-ho, just saying no like that when Chatot told him to show his respect to us... he deserved what he got!"
"Chaw-haw-haw! You two are thinking too much about those two rookies! Try and think strategically instead. Now why'd we come here in the first place? The expedition, remember? And since we had to stay here for this whole week to see about 'how we'd work with the guild' or whatever, we needed to win Wigglytuff's trust."
"Oh, I get it now. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense."
"Still... the Wigglytuff Guild's the big-name exploration guild here on the mainland, and it's a total joke. I was playing it cautious at first, but it's been ridiculously easy. Even Wigglytuff himself's just a big baby, he's clueless. I don't get why everyone's so terrified of him. Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. We're gonna be going on that expedition for sure now, so if we end up finding a nice treasure while we're out there..."
"We hit the guild's crew with our noxious gas combo..."
"Then we grab the treasure and skedaddle on out! He-he-he!"
"Whoa-ho-ho, this plan is a sure thing!"
"Chaw-haw-haw..."
A strong wind blew outside the window, carrying fresh air into the bedroom and blowing my aura tassels around a little bit, and I sighed, shifting around atop my pile of hay before flopping onto my side and groaning, anger and unhappiness coursing through my nerves. Small moonbeams shined through the dark clouds and landed on the guild's rocky walls, and I stared at the silvery light in an exhausted daze. "Ugh."
My ear flicked when I heard my partner sigh as well, and I looked over at the Vulpix, who was laying unusually still on her own bed, her six curly tails having uncurled completely behind her. I swallowed dryly, my heart sinking deeply into the pit of my stomach. The day's events played over and over inside my head, and an overwhelming sense of guilt fell over me – I'd let my anger get the best of me earlier, but Rose... she had to be feeling even worse about the whole situation. I rolled onto my knees and crawled over to the fox, but as I reached out to her, she spoke up. "I guess... Skuntank and his team got the better of us again, didn't he?"
"Rose..." I trailed off, trying my best to think of something to say. Chatot, blindly shouting us down in the middle of our report, popped into my head, and I curled my paw into a fist, growling in the back of my throat. I was so hungry and tired that it sounded more like my rumbling belly. "It wasn't our fault. We can go try and talk to the Guildmaster tomorrow morning-"
"No, Bill," Rose cut me off, and I scooted back somewhat when the fire type stood up and turned around, attempting to reassure me with a small smile. She still had a sad look in her large, hazel eyes, however, and all I could do was frown instead. "It's... it's okay. I'm just glad Wigglytuff didn't blow up at us."
We both jumped in place when a loud grumble rang out, rising even above the sound of the breeze outside, and I sucked in a breath when my partner slumped forward into the light, letting out a soft whine. I reached my arms out and caught the six-tailed fox before she hit the ground, resting her head on my shoulder and fluffing her little tuft of headfur instead.
"Urk- ugh-" She grunted, taking a few gulps of air, her breath warm against my neck. "Even if we didn't g-get to eat d-dinner... I-I'm so... I'm fa-famished."
A louder grumble answered her, and I tensed up, looking down at my lap when I felt my empty stomach churn. Rose broke our hug when she heard the noise, gasping quietly before ducking away in embarrassment, a blush rising to her cheeks. I let out a dry chuckle and folded my arms, inwardly wishing for something, anything, to eat. Heck, even just some of Spinda's apple juice... actually, thinking of that was probably a bad idea. "Heh... yeah, I know what you mean."
"Oh, Bill, I'm s-sorry." My partner sat down. "You must be just as h-hungry as I a-am-"
"No, Rose," I parroted her earlier words, slipping a paw under her chin and raising her head back up. The fox blinked in surprise, tilting her head slightly in confusion. "It's okay. We're both hungry, so... let's just get some sleep, so breakfast will come sooner. Right?"
Rose was silent for a moment, then let her head drop again, meekly nodding in agreement. "W-we probably should get some sleep, you're right. After today... a good night's sleep would be nice."
I crawled over to my bed and crumpled into a heap, my arms and legs splayed out on the pile of dry grass. Out of the corner of my vision, I saw my partner slip out of the moonlight, and a second later, I heard her own bed rustling underneath her footpaws. "Good night, Rose. Sleep well."
"You... haah, you too..." She replied, stifling a yawn. "Let's... do our best tomorrow."
The Vulpix yawned again, this time more openly, before settling in for the night, and soon enough, she drifted off to sleep. I closed my eyes and forced all of my thoughts of the days events to the back of my head, fighting to think of better, happier things, like discovering the cave behind the waterfall, or reuniting Marill and Azurill safe and sound, or how grateful and happy Rose was that day when we got her Relic Fragment back...
The image of the teary-faced, smiling fox, sitting on the beach at sunset, went dark, and I drifted off to sleep.