Clanga-clanga-clang!

A loud metallic banging sound rang from outside as I wearily opened my eyes. The sun was just beginning to show through our windows as the murmur of nearby teams waking up drifted in. Groaning, I cursed my tail for making comfortably sleeping such a chore and rolled out of my straw bed. I quickly noticed that Rye had done the same, although there wasn't any indication that his tail was cramped. Maybe proper positioning in this case was an instinct thing I just hadn't figured out yet?

"Urgh... m-morning, Beck...", Rye mumbled groggily, pushing himself off the floor.

I got on my feet just in time to see a Bronzong lazily floating down the pathway outside, a Farfetch'd repeatedly hitting it with its stalk to produce the clanging that had woken us up. Rye finished stretching behind me and dusted himself off, turning to face me.

"Y-you ready for today?", he asked. "If what Nidoran's saying is right, we'll be heading out tomorrow. Let's make today worth it!"

We walked out the door to find a steady stream of Pokémon ambling towards the mess hall.

"Come on, breakfast lasts till mid-morning.", Rye told me as we headed out to follow them.

As expected, a long line awaited us at the mess hall, so it was maybe half an hour before we found ourselves at the window looking Raticate in the face. He grinned, exposing his stained buck-teeth.

"Hey-hey, it's the newbies! How've things been for you?", he beamed.

"Uh, th-they've been good.", Rye replied. Raticate pulled out two slabs of wood and waddled over to a set of shelves.

"You didn't tell me that you whitewatered the Serperior for your first trip! Why don't I ever hear 'bout these things till they're old news?", he chortled. We both cocked our heads in confusion.

"Shwaa?", I asked. No one but us and Bert could have been nearby to tell anyone about that, right?

"Er, where'd you hear that?", Rye asked concernedly.

"Well, Team Assail over there says they met you after the fact.", Raticate responded, pointing behind us. We turned to find that, indeed, a bruised and beaten Team Assail were sitting a little ways away, Mustie and Gold both shooting us a steely glare before returning to their breakfast. We swallowed nervously and turned back to Raticate.

"Wh-what happened to them?", Rye asked.

"Apparently, they tried to go through Bewilder Forest and ran into a monster house. They only made it back here last night.", Raticate responded. He looked around a bit before leaning towards us.

"Personally, I think that's bullshit. You see those burn marks? Methinks they got into another fight with Apex. Now that I think about it, you were there to see it, weren't you?", he muttered.

We hesitantly nodded as Raticate chuckled, now holding two full trays of fruits and... was that meat in there?

"Ah, don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I can call myself many things, but a snitch ain't one of them. Besides, beating up fellow guildmates happens to be against Guild rules, we'd all get fucked over if I said I was hidin' it, you know?", he said nonchalantly.

As he finished, he plopped the trays down on the counter. Examining the trays to confirm my suspicions about the strange food in the mix, I quickly noticed that one of them had almost twice as much on it as the other. I gestured to said tray confusedly, prompting Raticate to grin proudly.

"Well, they say you're a feral, right? I heard some ferals eat like it's nobody's business out in the wild, so I figured I'd give ya extra just in case!", he beamed.

Feeling a forced smile creep onto my face, I awkwardly gave a small cry of thanks before we took our trays and scurried off to an empty table. Upon sitting down, I stared blankly at my large pile of food, seeing nothing but the implications behind it. As Rye joined me at the table, he gave me a sympathetic look.

"Hey, don't worry about it, Beck. Sure, that might have been a little... er, insensitive, but he meant well. We'll just have to explain it later, I guess. B-besides, extra food, right? I'll help if you don't want to finish it.", he reasoned.

"...sh-shyah.", I replied, resigning myself to eating my food. Chewing on one of the smaller apples on the tray, I eyed the suspicious chunks of food I had noted, and as suspected, they did appear to be some kind of cooked meat. Noticing my fixation on this morbid discovery, Rye cocked his head.

"What's the matter?", he asked. I held up one of the pieces, gesturing to it, which only seemed to confuse him further. Glancing around, he leaned in closer.

"Uh, did humans not eat meat, or...?", he whispered.

'What? All I want to know is if eating other Pokémon is alright here or... agh!'

Now in a state of mild moral panic, I exasperatedly started flapping my arm back and forth between myself and the meat. At this point, we were getting some strange looks from the other Pokémon in the mess hall, much to Rye's anxiety.

"Th-there's nothing wrong with eating meat, Beck. Um, M-Mr. Raticate didn't murder anyone, if that's what you're worried about, I think it's all from fer..."

Rye paled a bit as he suddenly trailed off.

"...er... oh..."

Needless to say, we decided not to push the topic any further after that.

As we headed out of the small forest between the Guild and its training grounds, I couldn't help but gaze up at what seemed to be the entrance. Framing the path leading in were two stone pillars adorned with torches and carved images of battle. I gulped a bit as we walked through.

"H-hey, don't worry, Master Greninja's a bit on the tough end from what I've heard, but he's the best Water-type master this side of Gray Proper. He's trained some of the best Water-types in the continent, and I've heard he fights other masters just for the fun of it! You'll learn a lot, I think!", Rye reassured me.

'...wow, he gets other Pokémon to fight him for sport? Huh, reminds me of a gym leader... wait, what? The fuck's a gym lead-'

My thoughts were cut short as I caught sight of the training grounds. Maybe fifteen structures of varying shapes and sizes, each presumably dedicated to a certain type, stood along the sides of the path, the loud sounds of powerful techniques filling the air. As a Trapinch flew over us, having been launched by a Stone Edge, I found myself becoming excited. If the trainers here were that powerful, what could this Master Greninja teach me?

We approached what looked to be the Water-type training area, which consisted of a small stone arena built over a nearby stream. However, no Pokémon were in sight anywhere near the area, in stark contrast to the others. All that awaited us was a posted notice, which Rye started silently reading. As he did so, his eyes widened with shock.

"...wh-what?! Master Greninja retired?!", he gasped.

Quickly looking around, he frantically dragged me over to the nearby Ground-type grounds, tugging at a Gliscor's wing.

"S-sir! What happened to Master Greninja?", he asked.

"...um, he quit a week ago and swam back where he came from. Thought that was common knowledge by now, but eh. What's it to a grassie like you?", the Gliscor replied.

"Uh... I-I wanted to find someone to train my friend here...", Rye said, gesturing to me.

"I can't help you there. Ask someone else, I guess.", the Gliscor replied before returning to his exercises. Unsure of what else to do, I followed Rye as he started asking any Water-type he could find for help, a Floatzel in this case.

"D-do you know anyone who could train my friend here?", he asked. The Floatzel looked me over before scoffing.

"Kid, anyone I do know has standards. They would prefer not to have their shit stolen out of their bags.", he said.

"Wh-what?", Rye responded.

"Ask again when you aren't dragging along a feral.", the Floatzel told Rye before moving along. As he disappeared into the crowd, Rye gave me an unsure look.

"I-I guess we keep trying...", he said. "Don't worry, someone's bound to take you up!"

"Is this a joke?"

"I ain't wasting my time on that thing."

"He can't even speak and you want someone to train it?"

"Sorry, but I don't think anyone would let me live it down if I did..."

"Hah, get a load of this, fellas!"

Such responses graced the hour we spent running around the training grounds. Of course, we had no luck in finding anyone who could give me anything other than tips or vague encouragement. When noon came, we trudged out of the grounds, nothing but low spirits to reward our efforts.

As we headed back to the Guild, I noticed that I wasn't as sad as I had expected from not getting the training I had hoped; I was more angry than anything. I was angry at Pike, at Raticate, at that Floatzel, and at everyone who had made a joke at my expense or given me that odd look. But more than anything, I was angry at whatever had sent me here.

'Is this a sick joke to you? What could have possibly justified you making me like this? You couldn't even give me the basic privilege of speaking, damn it! Was everyone avoiding me like fucking Slateport flu part of your grand scheme?!'

"B-Beck? Are you...?", Rye hesitantly asked.

"Shya.", I snapped back, quickly returning to my internal seething.

'I'm going to go off a limb here and say you aren't sending me back. Why would you leave me like this? Even if I'm supposed to do something big like you said, everyone's just going to see me as the feral in residence no matter what I do, aren't they? This is never going to end...

…

FUCKING...!'

With a loud cry of rage, I tore my scalchop off my chest and swung it into the nearest tree. Splinters flew everywhere as I clutched my scalchop tighter, pessimistic thoughts continuing to bubble up. As Rye watched in what I could only guess was shock, I struck the tree again, then again, and continued doing so, screaming and swearing in my animalistic tongue all the while, until it keeled over, landing with a loud crash in the woods. With that, I dropped to the ground, quietly sobbing. As I laid there hugging my tail, I felt a hand rest on my side.

"...h-hey... I-I'm right here, Beck, I'm right here... w-we'll get through this. I promise.", Rye whispered. I turned to face him, my bloodshot eyes looking into his. Choking out a small cry, I hesitantly nodded as Rye pulled me into a comforting embrace.

'...I just hope you're right this time.'

After maybe ten minutes of staying at the spot of my meltdown, we silently finished the short walk back to the Guild. Upon arriving at our hut, we noticed an envelope tucked in the mailbox just beside the door. Rye picked it up to examine it, only to brighten up.

"It's from Nidoran!", he said before tearing the letter open and beginning to read.

"F-forwarded from Officer Magnezone's office... subjects Poliwrath and Vigoroth were last spotted by local authorities at noon in Bassa Village. Suspected to be preparing to go through nearby mystery dungeon. Swift action is needed from any potential pursuers.", he read. As I looked on, he cursed quietly.

"Bassa Village? That's a week's walk away and in the middle of the desert! We don't have any money, we can't afford a flight there!", he groaned. As he started mumbling plans to himself, I tried to think of a solution.

'Surely we've built favor with at least one Flying-type, right? Maybe... wait!'

Perking up, I grabbed Rye's hand, and with a yelp from the Treecko, I led him down the pathway towards the Guild's entrance. Once we reached the gates, I insistently pointed down the road, much to Rye's confusion.

"Uh, what? Th-that's the road to the harbor, right? We can't take a boat...", he said.

I nodded expectantly, waiting for him to get it. After a minute, his eyes lit up.

"Wait... Cap'n Brine!", he exclaimed. Without any further hesitation, we started down the road to begin our next adventure. However, we quickly found ourselves stopping abruptly as Rye felt the empty space by his side, his face turning red with embarrassment.

"Oh. Uh... I-I didn't bring the bag to the training grounds...", he groaned.

...okay, then, our next adventure could start another time, I guess.