"We're here," declared Aurealis bluntly, stopping in front of the formidable mouth of Tremolo Cave. Jagged stalagmites and stalactites protruded from the walls like a warning to those who dared to enter.

Grovyle squinted inside. "It's quite dark in there," he remarked, suddenly feeling a little jittery.

His partner, being able to sense auras, could easily notice. "If we stick together, what's the worst that could happen?"

The grass type grimaced. "Aurealis, you have just cursed our mission. iNever/i ask that again."

"As you like. Anyway, do you remember the paper saying which floor Taillow is on?"

"Which floor? I didn't know these dungeons have elevators."

"They don't…! They go deeper and deeper or higher and higher, depending on the dungeon."

"Seriously, these dungeons are getting weirder and weirder… Anyway, I think I do recall seeing 'BF4'. That's means the fourth floor, right?"

"If that's what it said, then yes. But we won't find out by standing here. Let's pass our first mission!"

"Right after you."

Rocky subterranean – that was all that came to mind as they entered the cave. The walls were a monotonic earthy bronze while the ground was jagged and occasionally pricked their feet. In addition to the murkiness inside, the air was bitter and damp. It was hard to intentionally enter such an unwelcoming place, but their mission required them to. So there they were; wandering around searching for the way down.

It was only on the second 'floor' that they encountered the first local. More specifically, he was a Wurmple, the tiny bug kind of Pokémon you see in forests, not hazardous caves such as this one. And much like Aurealis had said, he froze and immediately took on a hostile expression.

"Why is he staring at us like that?" demanded Grovyle, staring at the contemptuous bug with apprehension.

"You're not afraid of that little thing, are you?" jeered Aurealis, having another try at humor and jokingly pushing Grovyle towards the enemy. Grovyle could have sworn the Wurmple was chuckling right then.

"This isn't funny!" snapped the gecko, stepping back while keeping his eyes watchfully on him.

"It is, a little bit," argued the Lucario, the rare mischievous smile plastered annoyingly on his face, "You're acting serious about one little worm."

"For all I know, I've never fought before in my life! Even that worm has more experience than I do!"

"We'll have to do something about that," declared Aurealis suddenly, shoving his playfulness from earlier aside. "First and foremost, always look at your opponent. While you're looking at me, he could be preparing to knock you out with one blow… …Not likely. Anyway, by analyzing your foe's movements, you can predict what he'll do next."

"Just get to the part where I beat him up," muttered Grovyle, trying to hide his anxiety towards the situation.

"That may be slightly challenging as you don't know any moves, but all right. That Wurmple is small so you might as well defeat him by stomping on him. Otherwise, just slash at him. Either jump back or follow it up with another slash, but as long as your opponent is conscious, never just stand there afterwards to inspect the damage you've done. That gives him an opportunity to strike back."

"Okay, I'll give it a-" Before Grovyle could move, the Wurmple shot a silky, silver string from its mouth that started to stick to his feet, "What's he doing?" hissed Grovyle uneasily, trying to move his feet timidly.

Aurealis suppressed a grin. "That," he hinted cryptically, "is going to be your fall."

"This isn't the time for riddles," snapped Grovyle, gazing between the string and the Lucario, "I'm serious! Is this stuff dangerous?"

Meanwhile the Wurmple continued to shoot the string that began to glue the grass type's feet to the ground. "Wait," Grovyle exclaimed in realization, "Is this supposed to slow me down?"

"Yes."

"Are you kidding?" he scoffed, "This thin little web is supposed to have an effect?"

"It's strange, I know. Now, please go defeat that bug; let's not waste so much time."

"Right," declared Grovyle determinedly, lunging for the bug. Unfortunately, he had completely underestimated the stickiness of the string and let out a yelp as he tripped over it and fell flat onto his face. The Wurmple skipped over to him and started jabbing his face with the small stinger on his head, prompting Grovyle to groan and Aurealis to chuckle amusedly.

"You little f- Ugh!" cried the gecko, swatting the Wurmple away and rubbing his cheek, which was now a little red and slightly swollen, "What the hell? You're supposed to be teaching me how to fight, not how to embarrass myself!"

"You're right, I'm sorry… Are you going to be fine? Do you need to go back to the guild for treatment?" Aurealis almost chuckled at his own words of derision.

"Yeah, really funny! Just keep rubbing it in," he grumbled, "I thought you were actually going to try and teach me something, but apparently not."

At this, Aurealis appeared offended. He didn't know how to take it and looked down with shame. "You're right, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me; I suddenly had the urge to do it. I won't do anything like that again, I promise."

"It doesn't matter," the Grovyle huffed, still rubbing his cheek. Regaining his calm, he sat up and wrenched his foot out from the hardened web. He then looked around for the Wurmple but couldn't see it anywhere. "Hey, where'd the bug go?"

Aurealis shrugged. "He probably ran off after you swatted it. No matter. Let's not forget about our mission. You can try fighting when we run into locals but we should get going now."

"Agreed."

So, the two kept pressing on through the dungeon, as inhospitable and gloomy as it was. Every floor deeper, the ground seemed to get sharper and the air colder. Despite that, they reached the fourth floor without any more hassles. Sure, they encountered a few residents along the way, but Grovyle, with the occasional help from Aurealis, managed to fend them off. He was improving in his physical attacks quite quickly, giving the impression that he had in fact been an adept fighter sometime in his past. But there was still no indication of him remembering any moves.

Presently, however, they had to focus on finding the Taillow. It was proving to be surprisingly difficult, and not just because they couldn't find the Pokémon in question.

"Aurealis, when are we going to find that guy… or girl? This isn't fun anymore and I'm getting tired again. Not to mention hungry," complained Grovyle.

"Oh, that's another thing I didn't tell you," lectured his partner while ignoring the whining, "In mystery dungeons, you get tired and hungry relatively quickly. For some reason, the place drains your energy and if you reach zero, well, of course, you get teleported back to the entrance, unconscious."

"All right, but how come you don't seem to be feeling anything? I mean, I already feel as if I've been fasting for a day."

"I can think of two reasons for that. One, I'm both the fighting and steel type, both of which can endure a lot. Two, you've woken up only a few days ago from a long sleep, so it'll take time for you to get back into shape. With a lot of training, it shouldn't take as long."

"That's a relief… My situation is extremely frustrating."

"I know, but you will have to get through it."

"Yeah..."

With nothing more to say, the two kept walking onwards through the halls of the cave. Everything was progressively dimmer and the silence was unnerving. Grovyle was so lost in these senses he almost bumped into Aurealis, who had stopped abruptly and was staring intently into the darkness.

"Aurealis? What's wrong?"

"I can feel a positive aura nearby," he foreshadowed, "It's a female Taillow's. I presume she's in the next room."

"Oh, finally," yawned Grovyle, "I've been getting anxious to get back. It's getting really dark and cold in here, if you haven't noticed. And after what's been happening the past few days I prefer to avoid the darkness."

At the last part of that statement, Aurealis suddenly tensed and his aura sensors hovered into the air. He shook his head momentarily before expelling the apprehension on his face. It was too dark for Grovyle to notice. "Yes," the Lucario said slowly, "We can get out once we find Taillow."

The grass type nodded and the two continued to walk in silence, now scanning the surroundings for the Pokémon they were looking for. What a strange place for a Taillow to be, anyway. This cave didn't hold any treasures at all so there was nothing a non-explorer could gain from entering it. In fact, it bordered on bizarre – the ground was rocky to the point where it was easy to trip and get several stones embedded into your face; the air was cold and not comfortable to breathe; there was no comprehensible reason as of yet why a Pokémon, especially a Taillow, would enter such a cave.

However, neither Grovyle nor Aurealis gave it any thought as they entered the next room – or a small chamber, more accurately. The gecko strained his eyes to see three meters but Aurealis simply declared, "The Taillow is here, you'll be able to see her soon."

"Hello?" a young voice chirped waveringly, the prolonged echo making it hard to place, "Is… someone there? Oh, please… help me!"

"Don't worry, we're an exploration team," Aurealis placated with audible pride as he stepped towards the origin of the voice, "We were sent to rescue you."

"Thank goodness…" the character presumed as Taillow replied, "I was beginning to think… no one would help."

"That's okay; Team AuraBlade's here now!" declared Grovyle, finally reaching the Taillow with his partner. Any positive feelings they had, though, were wiped away when they saw her – the bird was battered and cut, her wing bent abnormally and her left eye black and puffy.

"Oh, Arceus," breathed Aurealis and Grovyle almost simultaneously, "What happened to you?"

The Taillow suddenly looked indifferent as if she was only on a walk in the park. "I'm fine," she insisted, puffing her feathers to appear more imposing, "Besides, you don't look topnotch either, um… What are your names?"

"I'm Aurealis."

"And I'm just Grovyle. For the time being, anyway. Long story short, I forgot my name."

"Interesting," evaluated the bird, "Not to rush you or anything but I do wish to get out of here now."

"That can be arranged," assured Aurealis, "Grovyle, you have the treasure bag, and the badge."

At that, the gecko's face turned as pale as chalk. "I… have the badge? You never gave it to me," he responded nervously, trying to avoid the daggers his partner glared at him consequently.

"You're joking!" the Lucario growled, quite furious but evidently appalled. "So now we have to walk all the way back?"

"Hey, you were in charge of preparing our items! I assumed you had the bag!"

Aurealis recoiled as if he had been hit with a brick. "I wasn't in charge of anything of such kind!"

"Yes you were! You were the one who received all the stuff from Mismagius, and you never gave anything to me!"

Aurealis couldn't find a response and his expression went glum. True, he couldn't remember who had the bag last. "You might be right… Perhaps I should pay more attention…"

Grovyle remained quiet for a bit but then began chuckling. He sneered, "You really are gullible, Aurealis. And I thought I was the one with a bad memor-."

Aurealis growled at the gecko's smug grin and smacked him lightly on the nose, but enough so that it hurt. The grass type cried out and gripped his muzzle in pain.

"I'm sorry, you were saying?" the Lucario derided, a smirk tugging at his cheek.

Grovyle kept clutching his nose and fighting the tears that came involuntarily. "Damn it," he hissed, shaking his head and collecting himself, "What the heck was that for?"

"Don't pull pranks on me like that."

"So, what? You get to make fun of me by taking advantage of my amnesia, and I can't have my revenge?"

"You can, but you have to expect another blow like that."

"How is that fair?"

"It's not."

Grovyle glared at him in disgust, giving his nose a final rub. "What is wrong with you? Why are you so mean to me since the start of this mission? You just promised you'd act normally a few minutes ago! What happened to that? And anyway, I'll get my vengeance one day, mark my words."

The Lucario returned the glare, unfazed. "I don't know what you're talking about but I think you'll need a lot more training before you try."

The two's eyes locked and they stared at each other for a long moment until a shrill voice cut in, "Ahem, excuse me? Can we go now? You're a weird exploration team."

Grovyle turned to the Taillow, a bit vexed. "Sorry for the holdup," he hissed, attempting to sound polite. He held up his badge and declared, "Okay, we'll be out of here in… Wait, how do you use this thing?"

Before anyone could move, the three were surrounded in an intense golden light. In the blink of an eye, the light was gone, and they found themselves at the familiar mouth of Tremolo Cave. They stood on a dirt path that snaked between the trees and eventually led, Grovyle and Aurealis knew, to Magnolia Village.

"Here we are," rejoiced the Taillow, "Out of the cave at last."

"Now there's the trip back to the guild," informed Aurealis, "but that will only be less than ten minutes of walking."

The Taillow shuffled uneasily but Aurealis took off. Grovyle looked from his partner to her, and back, and then followed. The bird huffed and hopped after them awkwardly. 'Some kind of team they are', she thought, 'What does an injured bird have to do to get help around here? Have they no respect? How pitiful.'

As if Grovyle had heard her, the gecko turned around and inspected the bird's step. Frowning, he stopped and knelt beside her. "You don't look too good," he asserted, "Can you keep going? And don't just say you're fine; that's just saying the opposite."

"What am I supposed to say, then?" the Taillow challenged, her ego trying to make a last stand.

"Well, maybe something like, 'My leg hurts'. I don't know. So how ido/i you feel?"

The bird sighed, submitting to herself. "I would appreciate a lift."

"Sure," grinned the grass type, picking up her small and light body in his hands, "I know just how you feel when you can't keep walking but nobody really cares."

The grass type started walking after Aurealis, who was already way ahead and out of earshot. "How would you know?" asked the Taillow, trying to keep her eyes on the path, "You two have each other to rely on."

"I'll have you know that we're a new exploration team – in fact, we were accepted this morning, and this is our first mission."

She squawked and flapped her healthy wing angrily. "They don't even bother sending iqualified/i teams after me, just because I'm lost in a small dungeon? What an iinsult/i!"

"Hey, I'm sorry. If you want, you can go back in there and wait for a better team."

"How rude!" snapped the bid, pecking his arm.

"Well excuse me; you're not being very nice, either."

As a response, she pecked him again, harder this time. Grovyle winced and muttered, "What is up with everyone's attitude today?"

"Anyway, you were saying?"

"Oh, right. As I said, we're a new exploration team. But the fact is I didn't really want to be an explorer; Aurealis kind of talked me into it. He's really happy now, I think; it was his dream to explore, and he never got the chance to visit the guild until I showed up. And now it's too late to quit, because if I do, he'll be crushed. I don't want to do that to him. I just have to go along with it and try to act like I care."

"…So, now that you're an explorer, you hate it?"

"Well, no, that's an exaggeration. I just… don't feel right in the guild. It's like I belong somewhere else."

"Is there something wrong with guild, or is it how you feel?"

"It's a little bit of both, really. Sure, most of the Pokémon there are nice, but the guildmaster's partner, a Manectric, is starting to get on my nerves. As for my feelings, as I said, something about that place doesn't seem right to me."

"Wait a minute… What guild do you work for?"

"Mismagius Guild. Does it matter?"

The bird shrank back in his arms with her beak wide open and eyes wide. "Yes it matters! Don't you know that Mismagius Guild is-"

A deep and resonating growl suddenly cut them short, causing them to flinch in surprise.

"W-What was that?" Taillow whispered, her feathers standing on end.

Grovyle grit his teeth and looked around nervously. "I don't know, but it's close, and I think it's been following us." Silently, he prayed it wasn't what he thought it was, and started sprinting down the path. "We need to catch up with Aurealis, right now."

"I can't see him! He was right ahead of us-"

"iThere/i you are!" shouted a familiarly low voice. A Lucario stepped out from behind a cluster of trees. Grovyle skidded to a stop, exhaling with relief. "Aurealis, I think the Mightyena are following us again."

"Calm down; nobody's following us. I don't feel any malevolent auras."

"Then what was that growl I heard moments ago?" the Taillow quickly protested.

"I don't know, but you must have imagined it. I don't feel any auras except for yours."

"I didn't imagine it!"

"Neither did I!" Grovyle put in.

"Listen, it doesn't matter. Whatever it is that you started running from, it's not following you. And either way, we should keep going. It's already afternoon."

The gecko sighed, turning back one last time to inspect the shadows. "All right, fine…" With that, the three continued walking, but the two of them, still a little edgy, fell behind again.

"You can't let this go, just like that!" hissed the bird, glaring at him with such intensity it felt like a slap in the face.

"Yeah, I, uh… What's the point in arguing? We're safe now anyway."

"This time you might be right, but you need to stand up for yourself once in a while!"

"Right… I-I've been thinking that, too. Oh, look – I can see the walls of the village. Speaking of which… What were you going to say about Mismagius Guild?"

For the first time, the Taillow's gaze faltered and she looked away. "Nothing… Just, um, forget what I said."

"Uh, okay, sure..."

"Aurealis and Grovyle, Aurealis and Grovyle, Aurealis and-"

"Please, you don't have to say that every time you see us," Grovyle interrupted, a bit moody after the mission.

"I do; it's my job," the Sentret persisted, proceeding to complete his third call of their names.

The three proceeded to walk through the purple doorway and down the stairs. The hall was still stuffed, unsurprisingly. After all, the day was drawing to a close, so most exploration teams were back already and sharing their stories.

The three had to push their way through the crowd; it was a good thing the small bird was in Grovyle's arms, otherwise she would have gotten either lost or stomped on.

The door to Mismagius' chamber was closed, as always. It appeared she savored her privacy. Either that or, more likely, she detested the noise outside. Even then it was becoming unbearable standing in the room, so the three were anxious to leave.

Aurealis knocked on the thick door, prompting a hollow noise and Manectric's routine bark, "Come in!"

The door flung open outwards, almost hitting them in the face. The Taillow trembled in fear and muttered incoherently, but the other two were already accustomed to the abrupt and awkward ways of the guildmaster and her right hand.

The three entered, and Grovyle couldn't help but immediately notice – again, the back door was ajar.

"Oh, it's you!" Mismagius cheered, greeting them with a bright smile as if she had been eagerly awaiting them all day, "You're back from your first mission, I presume! The fact that you two are back well and with a third implies that you succeeded, am I right?"

Aurealis nodded and smiled back. Grovyle stood there deep in thought, but the Taillow was shaking with apprehension and whimpering at the sight of Manectric, who sat imposingly like a gargoyle statue next to the guildmaster.

"What's wrong?" Grovyle whispered to the bird, cradling her while Mismagius foraged through her chest for an item.

"D-Don't look at me," she stammered, never averting her gaze from Manectric's gleaming red eyes.

"Why? What's going-"

"A-haa!" declared Mismagius, breaking the tension with her smooth, mesmeric voice, "Here it is! Your team's record!"

"Record?" Aurealis asked, probably being the only one who cared about what was being said.

"That's right, we keep a detailed record of the jobs you do! Depending on how many missions you successfully complete and how hard they were, you may rise to the Master rank, reserved for only the best explorers!"

"The best… explorers," Aurealis repeated, returning to his fantasies of exploring wonderful caves and establishing an unsaid promise that he would, one day, reach such a rank.

His partner, however, did not share his enthusiasm – the Grovyle was confusedly regarding the Taillow, who was constantly whining, as if something dreadful were about to happen.

"Right now, you have 10 so-called points," Mismagius lectured briefly, unknowing of Taillow's condition, "And that's the most you'll ever get out of an E-rank job. Naturally, harder jobs make you a better team and give you more points, so do try to push yourselves."

"Will do," affirmed the Lucario, eyes glistening with anticipation. Yet still, the other two were paying no attention.

"Now," the guildmaster finally said, "you two should go complete your mission and bring Taillow to your client. That is what the mission is, isn't it?" This was the first time Mismagius had addressed the Taillow, whom shrank back even farther into Grovyle's arms.

"Oh, yeah," replied the grass type, finally snapping out of his thoughts, "I almost forgot about that. Do you know where we might find Pidgey, the client?"

"He should be waiting at the billboard, if you can find him there. The hall is very busy today."

"Please don't take me, please don't take me," the Taillow whimpered, silent enough so only Grovyle could hear. The gecko type leaned over in worry.

"What's wrong?" he asked, drawing everyone's attention.

The Taillow's eyes were watering, and she looked back at everyone with utter terror written on her face. "I-I'm just… just traumatized a-after the experience…"

Manectric stared at her long and hard before Mismagius nodded knowingly. "You may visit the healing room first, if you'd like. But I think it would be best if you let Pidgey take care of you."

"I think that's a good idea," confirmed Aurealis, effectively ending the small talk. It was time to leave, but apparently the Taillow was increasingly upset as Team AuraBlade made their way towards the door.

"I'll be going for a walk," Manectric announced randomly, yet purposefully, and followed the team out the door. Mismagius nodded.

"All right. Bye, you two!"

"Bye!"

The moment the door closed behind them and Manectric vanished in the crowd, Taillow took a deep breath and pecked Grovyle to get his attention. "Listen," she whispered in a reserved, faltering voice, "I need to talk to you, alone. And quickly. I don't have much time left."

"Uh, sure," the wood gecko replied slowly as they made their way to the corner of the chamber, hidden by the crowd. Aurealis had gone to look for the Pidgey and had not noticed their detour.

The Taillow, her face fearful but dead serious, inhaled again. "This will be hard for you to believe, but please don't interrupt. And most importantly, idon't draw any attention to us/i. Any moment now, my life will be at its end and I need to warn you – Mismagius Guild is a bad place. Information shows that one of the members is a criminal mastermind. Whoever it is, they've got spies everywhere. They lurk in the shadows and brainwash other members, they say. And if anyone finds out the truth, they'll be caught, killed, and used for dinner. That's what's going to happen to me. But please, Grovyle, for your good, don't tell anyone; don't trust anyone, not even your partner. You could be next."

The Taillow stopped for effect, but she didn't need to. Grovyle's face grew pale as the words hit him one by one. Speechless, his mind, in instinctive denial, strung together a feeble argument. "You can't be serious, there's no way. This guild is famous and accomplished, so surely someone would have noticed-"

"There you are!" a voice interrupted, making them jump from their tense atmosphere. It was Aurealis, "You two keep disappearing. What are you doing over here? The billboard's way over there. Come on."

The Lucario waited while Grovyle and the Taillow stared at each other for a long moment. Finally, Grovyle shook his head and walked with Aurealis to the board. Taillow's wings drooped. She hoped the gecko believed her…

The two pushed through the slightly diminishing crowd. It was late afternoon so now the visitors, the majority of the population, were leaving the premises.

Owing to that, the small client they were looking for was easier to spot. Perched on the top wooden beam of the billboard, Pidgey noticed them and flew down to meet them.

"Taillow!" he exclaimed, fluttering by and landing on Grovyle's arm. The grass type set them down gently, and they embraced each other with their wings. "How are you?"

"I… I'm good," the blue bird responded, hiding her anxiety well, "A little shaken, but I'll be fine. Please… let's go home…"

"Of course. First thing you'll do is get a long rest," the Pidgey reassured, suspicious of his partner's weariness. He then turned to Aurealis. "Thank you for rescuing Taillow. She owes you her life. The least we can give in return is this…"

The Pidgey revealed an Oran Berry from a pouch slung across his shoulder and handed it to Aurealis. He then searched through it and gave Aurealis two 500 Poké coins.

Aurealis and Grovyle, despite Grovyle's thoughts being elsewhere, gaped at the Pidgey in disbelief. "You can't give us this much," Aurealis breathed, not expecting such a reward.

"Oh, of course I can. As I said, it's the least we could give for your rescuing my friend."

"Well, uh… Thank you, very much. We'll never forget your generosity."

"Likewise. It was nice meeting you."

With that, Pidgey turned to leave, but Taillow caught Grovyle's attention one last time with another peck, this time to his foot. "Remember," she murmured to him ominously, "Don't trust anyone. Make sure nobody finds out that you know. Good luck… Arceus help you. Oh, and… Watch out for dinner tonight."

And without another word, the two birds were on their way.

Grovyle stumbled back into his room. He didn't care where Aurealis was, or where anybody was for that matter. He needed to think. What Taillow had said came as a shock and he needed time to gather himself. Grovyle sat on his bed, holding his head in his claws.

'What she said can't be true,' he told himself firmly, 'This guild is famous. If there was a criminal in here, people would eventually notice. Especially since this guild is associated with the Exploration Federation… Besides, she said it was just a rumor.'

Feeling relieved by his own arguments, he continued, 'I'm pretty sure people made this up just because the staff here is a little awkward. And maybe Taillow was just worn out after that dungeon. After all, she could barely walk…'

'Yeah, that's it. You're reading too much into this, anyway. You and Aurealis are in an official exploration team now, and even though you've never wanted it, I'm sure you'll make a great one.'

'Wait, what? It's not like me to say that…' He sighed. 'I must be getting tired, too. I'll just wait for dinner; it ought to be soon. I'm pretty hungry…'

Dinner really was soon. After being separated for the rest of the day, Grovyle and Aurealis met in the hall and, after a brief conversation of where the other had been, made their way to the dinner table. It was difficult to find so they ended up asking a local. It turned out there was another flight of stairs below the one that led to the surface.

Descending the stairs, they found a room dedicated entirely to a large table surrounded by chairs, most of which were already occupied. Similarly, the table was already laden with meat, fruit, and berries, and the smell of it all made Grovyle's stomach growl and mouth water. He had all but forgotten about the Taillow's warning.

Team AuraBlade was greeted heartily as they sat down on two free chairs next to Zero and Dexter. Grovyle and Aurealis introduced themselves personally to the other members; there were a good many; there was a Pokémon of each type, it seemed.

Once the introductions were over, the delicious meal and jovial conversation followed. While munching on the food, everyone told stories of their day; of their missions and the adventures they had. Zero and Dexter enthusiastically described how they explored Diamond Pit, and how Zero mistook a Bronzor for a jewel and the result was not-so-happy family of Bronzong chasing them around.

Then, much to Grovyle's dismay, it was their turn to talk about their day. And of course, it was Aurealis who decided to talk. 'Oh, great,' grumbled Grovyle to himself while the Lucario began his narrative, 'I'm going to listen to Wurmple jokes for the rest of my life…'

Sure enough, soon came the part about Grovyle's first encounter with a hostile Pokémon. It didn't go well. Aurealis twisted the story for his benefit and everyone laughed. The wood gecko, glaring forward in anger and embarrassment, cried, "In my defense, it was the first time I'd fought with someone, and I didn't know anything about Pokémon moves!"

"Hey, Grovyle," sneered Zero, ignoring the previous argument completely, "Why's your face so red?"

The grass type's eyes widened as he felt himself blush, prompting another laugh out of the Pokémon. Taking a last bite out of the apple he was eating, he stood up and growled, "This isn't funny. Makes a good story, yes, but not funny." With that, he pushed in his chair [rather roughly] and added, "I'm off to bed, see you guys later."

Storming away from the idle laugh and chatter, he headed towards the stairs but stopped when he noticed Manectric chomping away silently on a piece of meat. Grovyle wondered why he was staring at it until a memory hit him:

i "…And if anyone finds out the truth, they'll be caught, killed, and used for dinner. That's what's going to happen to me…"/i

The gecko shook his head, dispelling the thought and taking another step. He cursed as his own doubt and uncertainty stopped him. 'Oh, come on!' his mind insisted, 'this is ridiculous! You just ate a bunch of meat for dinner and nothing was out of the ordinary. Forget that Taillow; she was being paranoid, and now, so are you. This guild is certified and famous. If there was something wrong with it, someone would have noticed by now.'

Still his curiosity wouldn't allow him to take one more step up the stairs. He sighed in exasperation and turned back to walk to the chef, a Marowak, who was sitting at the table. She was presently nibbling on a berry, but Grovyle tapped her shoulder, stopping her.

"I'm just curious," he asked, fumbling to find the right words while constantly telling himself it was ridiculous, "Do you usually have meat for dinner?"

"Um, no, we have it on very rare occasions," she replied, confused by the question.

"I see," he continued, a sense of dread accumulating but his mind still in denial, "So what was it that we had for dinner today?"

"Besides the usual fruit and berries; meat…? You should know this, you had dinner moments ago. Are you, perhaps, allergic to something?"

The Grovyle grew impatient. His heart-rate slowly accelerating, he demanded: "Meat from what?"

"Bird meat. From a Taillow, I heard."

Bird meat. It took a while to register, but the meaning hit like a physical blow. He shuddered and almost retched. Staggering to the wall for support, he doubled over, his breath coming ragged gasps. He felt sick. His vision dimming a bit, the last thing he saw before stumbling weakly up the stairs was Manectric's red eyes glaring at him watchfully.

But he was beyond stealth, beyond being secretive; it took all he had to crawl to his bed and not to throw up and yell in disgust.

And then, as he calmed himself down, tears welling in his eyes, one thought plagued his mind:

i'The Taillow was right…'/i