Chapter 9 - Agate Guild

Our first steps into the basement gave us a sprawling view of the guild's main area. The layout was pretty simple and open, but very little space seemed to be wasted. The wall to our right was lined with small windows, which seemed to be the only sources of light in the room, the far wall led to another hallway, and nearby on the left, a few doorways were integrated into the wall. The back left corner seemed to have some sort of area that was decorated jarringly formally. The only pokemon in the room was a blue-white catlike pokemon, sitting, staring into the nearby hole in the close-left corner. She seemed bored.

Before I even got close to her, she broke her concentration and glanced right up at me. "I see you got in. You may call me Meowstic. So, Commander Furret drafted me into being the tour guide again?" My shock must have been drawn all over my face, because after a second's pause, she gave a small laugh. "What? I told you I have good hearing, didn't I?" She hopped, or briefly floated, off her chair.

Maple tilted her head. "Wait, so you're the one we heard?" The last thing I saw before Meowstic's voice once again boomed in my head was her ears twitching a little.

(The one and only!)

My partner winced and moved a little closer to me. "I… see."

"This is sentry duty. Most guilds fill this role with one digging pokemon and one who can speak very loudly, but we decided to be proactive and get one who can 'talk' directly to the visitors! It's a super boring job, though, sorry if I was a bit testy when I talked to you."

"N-no, it's all fine."

She smiled at the chikorita, who still seemed to be staggered by the latest telepathy. She nodded and went on with the tour, moving to the dark-wooded corner wall that could be seen from a mile away. Beyond the wall seemed to be a tiny separate area, with a serving area carved into the wall behind a counter, and quite a few tables.

"This is the Agate branch of Spinda Cafe. Usually only those connected to the guild are walking around here, but this is an exception. It's a nice place to unwind after the day's over. Adventuring's stressful work, you know? It opens after people start coming back to the guild, so it will be a while, unfortunately."

"I wasn't thirsty, so it's alright."

"Good." Our guide walked past us to gesture toward the many doorways on the wall. "Left to right, archaeologist's office, mechanist's office, medic's office, and the last one is the stairway down to the mess hall." Acknowledging our nods, she gestured to the last wall: the wall with the single large hallway. "The dorms are that way, though I don't know how that arrangement will work…"

"Isn't it obvious? They'll take the room vacated by Team Zeal." When we turned to face the origin of the voice, we were met with Commander Furret descending the steps to the entrance.

"Um… Sir, are you sure that's a good idea? A young boy and girl…"

Furret's returned expression was somewhere between disgust and annoyance. "Celeste, I know it's been a while since we've seen a team like this, but they're travel partners, I think we can trust them on this. Besides, I don't believe gender has any bearing on that. You don't remember?"

She nodded. "I suppose, but still…"

After a surprising amount of time on this topic, Maple spoke up. "Um, if it means anything, I don't think anything like… that would happen. We definitely wouldn't try anything, I assure you."

"I don't even like her in that way, so it's definitely fine."

"Wow!"

"See? They're just kids traveling, no need to think about that."

"Alright, sorry. You just need to be sure in situations like these."

"Anyway, your dorm will be the last door on your right. Go get comfortable, we'll continue once the teams get back later."

"Yes sir!"

It had been a few hours since we got settled in our rooms, silently waiting to be called back out. I took this time to look at the room I would be sleeping in for now. There were a few shelves for personal items, but all I needed was the hanger near the door to hold my new treasure bag. There were a few oddity furnishings through the room: a house plant and a strange effigy of a ducklett. There was certainly some sort of power within it, and I could see some gears inside it. This thing has to have some sort of function.

"Henry, I am begging you, please stop staring at the Ducklett."

(Meowstic to Team Wishmaker. Please come to the main room. Over.)

Maple seemed to shut down, shouting into the straw bed she was lying on. "Please don't tell me this is how she's gonna communicate with us…"

I stood up stretching and moved toward the door. "On the bright side, I think this'll be the last thing to happen today."

When we arrived back in the main room, it was much more lively. All sorts of strong-looking pokemon roamed the lobby, moving from place to place or talking to each other, healing up, or drinking things from cups with a spinda-shaped emblem on them. Some were even meditating through the craziness.

Near the stairs to the exit, Commander Furret was standing with Braixen and Eevee, beckoning us over. "There you are! I know it's late, but there's just one more thing I need from you. Could you four please come with me?

Shrugging, we all followed out of the main exit of the guild. In the evening, the main Agate streets were far less flooded. I could even see the street side shops clearly, not as if any were open. Even so, we kept going, leaving the main city on the opposite side that me and my partner came in, moving through the outskirts to find a dirt field among the grass.

"As your last act on your first day here, I wish for you to fight Team Serenity."

We were both taken aback, but our seniors didn't seem surprised at all. "Wait, you want us to fight them? But aren't they weakened from rescuing?"

"You don't need to worry about that, the resident cleric healed us up nicely."

"Yeah! Mira fixed us up nice and now we're at top power!" The braixen's demeanor definitely let off an aura of excess strength.

I sighed. "Alright then, let's do this. I don't think we'll win but it'll be fun."

"This will just be to see how much I have to teach you," Furret interjected. "You don't need to worry about winning or losing here."

"Even better."

We took the field, me and Maple on one side, Eevee and Braixen on the other. When the whistle was blown, there were already several projectiles en route to me. I had to quickly half-stumble half-strafe closer to Maple as the ground behind me started bursting.

"Are you trying to kill me?"

"Are you trying to die? C'mon, keep up!"

When I turned to Maple's starting point, she was in a struggle with Eevee, each trading light hits. Before I even thought about my actions, I had already butted into the skirmish, batting Eevee away with the handle of my lance. I may have hit much harder than I meant to, however, because by the time I came back to, she was already a few feet from us.

"Gods, Henry! Look out!"

I had only taken my eye off the other combatant for a second, and she took the mile. While our attention was turned, the five-pronged blaze was already upon us. The only thing I could do was grab Maple and duck down. I got lucky, though. It passed right over us.

The bad news was that the eevee's stagger was over, and she was on us, too. I tried to stop the tackle with a heavy swing, but I only succeeded in throwing myself between the assailant and Maple.

We had to retreat to the back corner of the battlefield. We had to think of a plan, and quickly.

"Hey, Henry, I think I have something. You notice how Eevee seems to focus her attention on one person?"

I had to use a water sport to incompletely block an incoming blaze. Where did my edge go? "Yeah, why?"

"Well, when we stay still, Braixen does a super heavy attack, right?"

Suddenly, it clicked. "Got it. I'll take Eevee's attention, you ready the vines."

And just like that, we split. It was like we didn't need to tell each other our plans. I dashed up to Eevee while Maple took the side flank. I didn't need to do much to take her aggro. I did next to nothing before she leapt at me with a tail slap and immediately followed it up with a small tackle, both deftly avoided. It was clear she was charging up a take down while I backpedaled far away.

Cautioning a glance at the other attacker, she was already about to throw another fire blast at me. Perfect timing. Right on the queue of her lunging at me, vines wrapped around Eevee's forepaws, sending her tumbling from the incomplete bound. The tumbling eventually stopped in my arms, where I gathered all my strength to throw her into the fire blast and pray.

Unfortunately, instead of a deafening blast, I heard but a crackle. When I opened my eyes, Eevee was perfectly fine and already standing back up. "She can dissipate her spells. You should really question it when everything goes well for you."

"And not loudly discuss your plans on the battlefield!" Braixen's addition felt unnecessary. "Well? Wanna do that finisher we were talking about, Aria?"

"Fine, but I'm not saying it."

"You have to say it or it won't work!"

"I told you I'm not saying it, let's just do it."

"Promise to say it or I'm not going to start it."

"I swear-"

I wanted to take advantage of their infighting, but my body was far too weakened from the setup of that plan; I could hardly even move.

"FINE!"

"Yes! Alright, let's do this!"

I could only watch in awe as the braixen charged up her infernal fire longer than when my life was on the line. After what felt like an eternity, she sent a flame blast directly into the sky, where it stayed.

In a single motion, the eevee leapt into her partner's hand and was launched into the sky, charging up a monstrous shadow ball in the process. Once she and the floating blaze aligned with us, she let it go.

I do not know what I was expecting, but certainly not that. When the ball collided with the blast, the fire wrapped around it, creating a half-fiery, half-black concentrated ball of energy straight toward us. I heard one last thing before I blacked out to the pain.

"FALLEN SUN!"
"FALLEN SUN!"

How often I end up in an infirmary was starting to become concerning. I came to in a room I'd never seen before, but it certainly had the aesthetic of the guild. I tried to sit up, resulting almost immediately with a hand pressing on my chest and pushing me to lie back down. I don't remember being hit in the chest, but it hurt like hell.

"Please, rest. You took a nasty hit." Before I realized what was happening, the voice soothed me into lying back down. Locating the person talking to me, I jumped at the sight of the bluish face gazing at my injuries. I'd never expect to see such a softspoken lucario. "I'm sure you're surprised. You're one of the new recruits, right?"

I tried to get my bearings, but yes, I was surprised and confused. I was lucky to be well and awake enough to be confused, at least. I tried to ease up a bit. "Yeah… aren't lucario supposed to be peerless explorers?"

The lucario chuckled. "Yep. That's my family, alright. I can't stand fighting, though; I tried to distance myself from that and heal with my aura. Speaking of, how are you feeling now?"

It was a bit awkward to mention, but I was already feeling much better. It was beginning to feel like I'd never gone into that fight to begin with. Was her simply touching my injuries alleviating my pain? "I'm… alright."

"Thank goodness! It was reckless enough for them to even fight you, and then to concentrate their attacks..."

That reminded me and my chest sunk. I was in the only bed in the room. "Ah! Where's Maple?"

Her paw stopped me from sitting up again. "Buizel, please. When you were brought here, she was already awake again. One heal pulse and she was good as new. You, on the other hand, were still knocked out. Not to mention the prolonged bruising and possible breakage you might have."

Despite the bad omen, I somehow relaxed a bit more. At least she was safe.

"Speaking of, it seems you're fine. No internal bleeding, I didn't feel any broken bones, and you clearly have your energy back. I guess you didn't get hit as bad as I had thought."

With that, I was back at ease as I let the medic do her job. At least, I tried, but the silence was deafening; I couldn't not talk. "By the way, my name is Henry. You don't need to bother with formality if you don't want to."

She smiled. "Oh, thanks. My name is Mira." She produced one of her hands to shake, but considering the large spike protruding out of it… perhaps it wouldn't be the best idea.

Fortunately, I was saved by time. There was an abrupt knock on the door, whose origin didn't wait for an answer before casually walking in. "Hey, Mira, just wanted to- wait, you're…" The small pink pokemon at the door seemed a little frazzled.

"I am with a patient. What do you need, Mime Jr?" Mira sternly stood to face the guest.

"My, this is embarrassing, I thought the new kid got released already." The young-seeming Mime Jr mostly recovered, but was still a bit abashed. "I just wanted to let you know Robin called us for dinner."

I stupidly attempted to sit up to join him before being interrupted again. Thankfully, this time it was verbal. "Do you really want to push your luck?" After watching me slowly lie back down, she turned back to the visitor. "Could you bring his meal up, please? He still needs to recover."

"No, no, really, I am feeling better. Besides, I wouldn't want Maple to be alone; I'll-"

"Buizel, er, Henry. I cannot allow that. You just recently took a massive hit. I will not let you hurt yourself even more just because you feel the need to go everywhere." I could feel the borderline murderous intent until she directed a softer demeanor back to Mime Jr. "Could you also bring mine? Clearly I can't leave him alone here."

The infantilization hurt me a bit, but I couldn't say I didn't deserve it from her perspective. At least I would have someone to talk to, I suppose.

"So that settles it…" Mime Jr had that same surprised look as when he walked in. "You really are a buizel?" I wasn't exactly sure how to answer that. Were buizel really that rare? Does this have something to do with the eighty other mysteries I got myself wrapped in? Either way, one more thing to think about. "I'm sorry for being so direct, it's just, you never really see buizel around here. At least, not sapient ones. Most of them live near the great lakes further north." He scratched his head, perhaps noticing me staring off. "Well, it's not that big a deal. I'll go get your food."

When Mime Jr ran out of the door, Mira sighed. "Sorry if I was rude, I was just doing that for his sake. With so many people, large gatherings like that can become a loud mess. I just didn't want to tell him that. Although, you really do need to focus on your recovery; I can't legally let you leave yet, so please calm down."

"Um, yeah, I'm sorry. So who was that?"

"That's Mime Jr, our resident archaeologist. He pretty much just showed up a month or so ago, but he was really knowledgeable about history so he quickly became an attachment to the guild." While talking, she risked a glance at the door. "But he really is the shining example of intelligence not being wisdom. Can't keep a secret for anything, either, even if it means nothing."

As the time since Mime Jr left grew longer, we started phasing him out of our conversation topics until the door opened again, to him holding two plates. "Here you go. By the way, Chikorita is going to be coming up either as soon as she's done or... right now."

By this point, Mira was already gripping the bridge of her snout, a pained expression on the rest of her face. "Would it have been so hard to just talk to Spritzee?"

"I just wanted to let the commander know that I was taking them up, and then Chikorita asked, and-"

"Commander Furret has told us he doesn't even care, he just keeps everyone in the dining hall because that's what Guildmaster Vivillon did… You know what? Nevermind. Please just go and enjoy your meal."

Mime Jr. nodded and turned to leave, but stopped himself. "Hey, Henry, you said your name was? Where did you say you were from?"

"Eris. Why?"

"Ah, I didn't even know they had a lake there. Perhaps I'll go visit at some point!" He gave a wide, friendly grin.

"Well… it's complicated."

"I'm sure. Well, I'll leave you two to it. Good luck! I know how it is with rowdy patients." With that, he turned on his heel and left.

She sighed again. "Do you see what I mean? Here, you're probably hungry." When she gave me the tray, it became clear what was being served: a few slices of bread that served as a garnish to the thickest soup I'd ever seen. Although, as I thought about it, there wasn't much competition. "Looks like you picked a good day to join. This is Spritzee's specialty. It's a bunch of Moomoo Cheese formed into a stew with some savory berries in it. Just, uh, don't expect everything else to be as good as that."

I picked at the bowl for a bit, hardly even listening. "...Are sapient Buizel really that rare around here?"

Mira sighed. Clearly this wasn't a conversation she was keen on having. "Yes. It would seem that most of the major buizel societies live way up north. You must've been a good explorer to come all the way down here."

"It's not all that, I'm pretty sure my coming here had some other circumstances."

"I was afraid of that. Is there some sort of problem in the north?"

I tensed up, just realizing how that sounded. "Oh, no, no. I just sort of woke up near Eris with no memories. I don't remember getting there at all."

"That's quite troubling…"

I sunk back. Did my past really matter? I opted to simply start eating. It was delicious and all. "Well, there's no use thinking about it; all it'll do is make me overthink things. I'm here with Maple now, so that's what matters."

"Oh, alright…" My dismissal didn't seem to make her any less concerned, but she went forward in the conversation anyway. "Um… if you don't mind talking about it, what is it with you and your partner?"

The sudden shift concerned me. Of all the places for the conversation to go… "What do you mean?"

The doctor sighed and picked up a piece of paper, replacing the bowl she was already carrying. Did she really eat that fast? "You came in with possible major injuries that even Auric healing couldn't fix, and your partner is comparatively unhurt. Furthermore, no matter how brash Serenity can be, they're not stupid; they wouldn't use their strongest attack directly on someone in a training spar. Would you mind telling me why, in a casual fight with ZERO stakes, you would throw yourself directly into a powerful attack?"

And there was the deep set shock in my stomach. I was hoping that wasn't where this was about to go, mostly because I didn't remember doing that at all. I had a feeling that was what happened, though.

"Well, it was a giant fireball. I would've gotten out of that far easier than Maple would. That's all!" I tried to keep casual conversation, but the twinge of dread in my soul threw me well off my game.

The medic said nothing, just continuing to watch me, motionless, as if she were goading me into saying something else.

"Um, it's just, Maple..." I tried to mumble off and stay reticent, but she seemed so concerned about me, ready to listen to me about this. "...I just don't want to see her get hurt, I guess."

"Hm, and I'm sure she'll love it when you put yourself in front of an attack she can already take and die?" Her anger startled me. She almost seemed like a different person from the softspoken Lucario that healed me. "Mark my words, keep that up and she'll be a lot more hurt down the line."

I was dejected. She was right, well, she was supposed to be right, but I couldn't just stop. Maple deserves to live. Even if it was a sparring match. But of course, I couldn't tell her any of that. "You're right, I'm sorry."

The room was filled with silence as I finished eating in my sickbed. At least now I could focus on how good the meal is, even if it's to distract myself. The thickness of the liquid lends itself well to the savory of the contents. Eating did make me feel less tense about everything, but not by much.

After I finished my meal, the room was still soundless for another eternity, until a sudden knock at the medbay door jolted me back to earth. Upon being let in, Maple rushed in and got… uncomfortably close to where I was lying. "Are you okay? I was really worried..."

As she sat at my bed, I couldn't help but feel awkward. I looked to the lucario, who wasn't even looking back. She could only face away with a concerned expression. Eventually, she stood up to speak to us. "Well, he's free to go. The recovery went surprisingly well. Just remember to get a lot of rest before your mission tomorrow."

"Wait, tomorrow?"

"Like I said, you recovered surprisingly well. Somehow, there was no breakage or anything permanent. As long as you have your strength tomorrow, you can go and do your job!"

Her kind wishes caught me by surprise. We were a team now, we needed to get ready for what that entailed, but I couldn't feel less ready.

I was probably supposed to be asleep hours prior, but I had gotten in my own head, lying awake in total darkness, wondering what I was supposed to do.

An unexpected noise brought me out of my stirrings. "Hey, Henry, are you still up?" My partner's tired voice came from the other side of the room.

"Y-yeah."

"Today was a big day, huh? We get accepted into the guild, then you get hurt. I'm glad you're okay, though. I don't know what I would've done if I had lost you." She wasn't making my decision easier. Mira was right, she had to be, but I couldn't just stop. I couldn't let Maple get hurt.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be! Serenity already said they were aiming indirectly, so you just got hurt by a rogue attack."

Her optimism stunned me. I could have died because of my stupid actions and I shouldn't be sorry? Was I overthinking this? I don't know…

Though, I couldn't keep this conversation up. That fact was made clear to me through the seconds of silence before she started a new one entirely. "Henry, I know I said it before, but I'm glad we're a team. I feel safer when we're together."

My gut twisted. Maple… "I'm glad. I hope I can keep you safe."

"Thanks, Henry…" A sigh came from the darkness on her side of the room. "It's getting late, let's get some rest before our first mission."

Silence filled the air again, but this time I felt as if I could sleep. Perhaps I had found my answer…