Chapter 16 - The Outside World

"Say, Ziggy? Something just occurred to me…"

Ziggy glanced up at Sparks with a questioning look. "What?"

"Do you know any Moves?"

"What do you mean?" Ziggy asked, tilting his head.

"Y'know, like…Pokémon Moves," Sparks answered, gesturing uselessly with his paws, "Like I have Thunder Wave, Thunder, Mega Punch…"

"Oh!" Ziggy exclaimed as a look of recognition appeared, "Oh, those things… I haven't seen those very often…Pokémon don't usually use them inside towns or cities."

"Right," Sparks said with a nod, "But I realize I never found out if you know any."

"Well, uh…" Ziggy said, scratching his head in thought, "I can yell really loud, does that count? Heh…"

"Not…exactly," Sparks said with a chuckle.

"Um, well I did learn how to do…the one where you spray water everywhere. Like, not really to attack, but to get everything around wet?"

"Water Sport," Sparks identified, "That's interesting… So you can spit water then?"

"Kinda…Just a little bit. It's really hard to do, and usually I can't even manage to do it."

"Still, that's interesting. Did you just teach yourself how to do Water Sport?"

"Pretty much."

Sparks nodded in thought. "You'll have to show me some time, and maybe I can help you learn some more. Actually, what am I talking about? You should show Kona. He'll be a lot more helpful than I would be…"

Ziggy looked up at him, discomfort clearly visible in his expression.

"No, no," Sparks said, "Not for, like, putting you in a Pokémon Battle or anything. I just thought it was neat, and it might be fun to learn more. And, you never know when stuff like that might be useful…"

Sparks then cleared his throat and decided to change topics. "So," he said, "Did you decide what you want to do today? Remember the choices I gave you?" In the past week, Sparks had taken to Ziggy's desire to better himself. Not everything was exactly going well so far, but Sparks could see a determination in the little Buizel where before there hadn't been.

Before Ziggy could answer, however, his attention was drawn elsewhere when another Pokémon approached the table. Sparks turned and saw that it was Dante, and he smiled in greeting.

"Good morning, friends," Dante said, "I am afraid it is time I take my leave again."

"Aw, so soon?" Sparks said, "Feels like you just got here."

"Isn't that always the way, though?" Dante said with a wink, "It was wonderful to see you again. I am always glad to return to this place. No matter where I roam, this will always be my home."

"We'll always welcome you," Sparks said with a nod.

Dante then turned to look at Ziggy and leaned down towards him. "It was fun spending time with you as well," he said with a chuckle, "Perhaps whenever I return, you will have more stories to tell?"

Ziggy looked up at him quietly. Dante was referring to the 'story' of Ziggy rescuing the Nidoran, which had been told to him later by Ziggy himself. "Where're you going…?" Ziggy asked him quietly.

"I am traveling south, to the desert lands," Dante said, "It has been an age since I have ventured there. I have many old friends I would like to see again."

Ziggy's eyes lit up just a little. Sparks figured that he was imagining the Lucario trudging through an endless desert, stalwart and determined in the face of harsh desert winds.

"Send us plenty of letters," Sparks said to him.

"Of course, of course," Dante said with a chuckle.

"Have you said goodbye to Carmen yet?"

"I have said goodbye to everyone. I saved you for last, old friend."

Sparks simply stood up from the table and gave the Lucario a quick hug, remaining mindful of his chest spike. "Goodbye Dante. Stay safe."

"Always, Sparks. Always." Once the hug was over, Dante reached down to pat Ziggy gently on the head. "Goodbye, Ziggy. Follow your dreams. I know you have grand ones, so never think you cannot reach them."

There were practically sparkles in Ziggy's eyes. Dante stated to walk away towards the guild's main hall, waving his paw farewell. Ziggy could only meekly lift his own paw to wave back. In no time at all, Dante disappeared through the door and was gone.

Sparks couldn't exactly blame Ziggy for looking up to Dante as much as he did. Dante was pretty much everything Ziggy wasn't. He was brave, fearless, outgoing, personable and proud of who he was. The only thing they really had in common was a friendly disposition. Sparks wondered if, subconsciously, Ziggy was yearning to one day become something like Dante.

"So?" Sparks pushed, as Ziggy hadn't answered his question yet.

"Huh?" Ziggy muttered once he was dragged from his reverie, "Oh, right! Um…"

"Remember what we talked about," Sparks said. He was referring to how he had been trying to teach Ziggy not to say 'no' so quickly, and to not immediately jump to thinking about what could happen.

"I guess…" Ziggy murmured, hesitation still in his voice. He paused for a moment, and then sighed. "Let's do the walk."

"The walk? Sure, we can do that. That's the one you want?"

"Not really, but…it's probably something I should do, right?"

Sparks nodded. The walk they were referring to was a walk through the quieter, less-populated parts of the city. This was something Ziggy was already doing from time to time, but this time would be different. The challenge for Ziggy was to spend some of the walk, though not all of it, with his hood off.

"I can still wear the hoodie the whole time, right?" Ziggy asked.

"Yes, for now you can keep the garment itself on. It's just the hood we're taking off for now."

Ziggy sighed despondently. "Okay…"

"I'll be with you the whole time, and if someone does cause a stink then you can put the hood back on for a bit."

"Okay…"

Sparks and Ziggy then got up and made preparations for the outing. It was still fairly early in the morning, and most of the team had just left the building. Ziggy made a quick visit to his room to pick up the hoodie, while Sparks grabbed a fanny pack from his room and filled it with a couple chocolate bars he had in his desk drawer. It was still a bit chilly out, so Sparks grabbed one of his lighter scarves and wrapped it around his neck.

"Ready, bud?" Sparks asked him after they were all prepared.

"I hope so…"

"You'll be fine, Ziggy."

The pair made their way back through the common room and exited into the main hallway. Once through the doorway, they were both surprised to see that the room was not unoccupied. Over by the main doorway, tucked into the corner, were Rico and Terry. The former was in the process of gleefully kissing the latter, who was giggling profusely.

"Rico!" Terry spoke in a muffled voice once he caught sight of the two new arrivals, "I told you someone was gonna walk in on us in here."

The Riolu just laughed. "Oh no, whatever shall I do?" he asked in a faux voice, "How shall I ever kiss the love of my life…in view of others?"

Terry pushed him away with a grin, nearly causing Rico to topple over backwards.

"What in the world are you two lovebirds doing?" Sparks asked.

"Procrastinating!" Rico answered gleefully, as if proud of the answer, "Don't tell Carmen!"

"It's his fault!" Terry retorted, "He makes it so easy!" He then leveled a more serious look at Rico and said, "C'mon, we really gotta get going. We're going on a date tonight, remember? We don't wanna be late for that!"

"Hey, is it still a 'date' if we're engaged now?"

"I have no idea," Terry answered with a short laugh.

"All right, fine, we'll go do work," Rico said in an exaggerated voice. He and Terry quickly waved goodbye to Sparks and Ziggy and then proceeded to run out the door together, laughing and hollering the whole way.

"They should be our mascots…" Sparks quipped.

"All right, Ziggy," Sparks said, "Whenever you feel ready."

The Raichu was sitting with Ziggy on a bench. They were on the side of the city directly opposite the guild, where there were more residential houses and less Pokémon on the streets. He had hired a Ponyta cart to take them over here and he had chosen a road at random. He wanted to have Ziggy take off his hood, and then the two of them would walk down the street to the opposite end.

Ziggy wasn't looking at him. His eyes were focused everywhere else. Though less populated than the city centre, there were still a number of Pokémon walking along the streets. Ziggy was eying each one as they passed, looking for potential threats. His paws were jammed into the pockets in the front of his hoodie and he had his hind paws curled back so they were under the bench. It didn't look like a very comfortable position.

"Would you rather take off the hood and just sit here with me for a few minutes?" Sparks asked.

"I…" Ziggy croaked softly.

"C'mon, Ziggy. Relax. These are all family Pokémon. Look, a lot of them are mothers and fathers out with their cubs."

Ziggy could certainly see that, and Sparks knew since Ziggy still wasn't looking at him.

"Remember what we talked about, right?" Sparks said, "Some of them are going to look at you. Some might even stare at you, but that's okay. Their eyes won't hurt you. And at the first sign of trouble I'll step in, right?"

"Wh-what…" Ziggy muttered, "What if they're…G-Ground type…?"

Sparks stiffened slightly. That was a question he hadn't been expecting. "I…really don't think there's going to be violence, Ziggy. That's not what I meant by 'trouble'. We're not in the marketplace or a back alley or something. What…happened there isn't going to happen here."

"Mnn…"

Seeing that the Buizel still wasn't calming down, Sparks sighed. "If we see one, we can pause the whole thing and you can put your hood back on, okay?"

"R-really…?" Ziggy asked, finally looking up at Sparks.

"That's not a good thing, Ziggy. That's a form of discrimination, and that's what we're trying to deal with in general here. But…if it'll make you feel better for now…"

A moment of silence passed between the two, and Ziggy cast his gaze downwards. He remained still for a few seconds, and then suddenly shook his head. "It's all right," he said, "I…I trust you…"

Sparks blinked for a moment, and then a smile snuck its way onto his face. "Thank you, buddy."

Ziggy then breathed in and let the air out slowly. Sparks saw him relax his hind legs, letting his hind paws dangle in the air beneath the bench. His yellow paws were still partially obscured by the oversized hoodie but could be seen by anybody looking closely. Ziggy then brought his paws out of his pockets and reached up with them, grabbing onto the fringe of the hood. Sparks saw his paws quiver for a moment. Then, without any further pomp or circumstance, Ziggy removed his hood.

Just like that, the golden fur of the Buizel's head was revealed. Ziggy was looking around nervously, his eyes darting to and fro, and Sparks could see his paws quivering. He definitely looked nervous, but that was to be expected. Sparks wouldn't blame him at the moment if he decided to just put the hood back on.

Sparks then lifted his head and took a calmer look at their surroundings. His spirits sank a little when he saw there was already a Pokémon openly staring at Ziggy. It was a Torracat wandering down the other side of the road, whose gait slowed to almost a crawl as he stared at the Buizel. Sparks didn't condone this behaviour, but as long as the Torracat did nothing further then things would be okay. Dealing with starers was the main point of this exercise.

Luckily, the Torracat's gaze shifted and he locked eyes with Sparks, who gave him a curt little wave of his paw. Apparently, this seemed to click something in the Fire-Type's brain enough for him to realize that he was doing something rude, because he immediately averted his gaze from the both of them and continued walking ahead at a brisk pace.

There was a quiet little whimper beside him. Sparks turned to look at Ziggy, and saw that the Buizel was frowning heavily and was clutching the fabric of his hoodie tightly from within the pockets.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Sparks asked.

Ziggy just softly whined again.

"Pokémon are going to do that. I'm sad to say it, but it's the truth…" Sparks then leaned in a little closer to Ziggy and asked, "But it didn't hurt, did it?"

"Huh…?"

"He didn't hurt you. He didn't do anything to you. He just stared."

"Uh…Y-yeah…"

Sparks just nodded and sat back up straight. He stretched his paws out and then leaned back slightly into the bench. A quiet minute passed, and then two more Pokémon passed by. Neither of them even looked at Ziggy. It was likely because 80% of Ziggy's body was still covered by the hoodie, but it was a positive nonetheless.

A few minutes later, a rather large Ursaring walked past with two Teddiursa cubs in tow. The Ursaring gave the pair of them a slightly-long gaze but nothing more. It was the two cubs who started staring. Sparks could see them whispering things to each other. One was giggling, while the other simply looked fascinated, as if he was looking at a creature from a science fiction book.

Sparks was admittedly worried that they would shout something hurtful, simply by nature of them being young cubs. Instead, the Ursaring noticed that they were starting to lag behind and ushered them to catch up. She used her two paws to hurry them along, moving past the bench and continuing on their way. Sparks recognized the possibility that she was trying to get her cubs 'away from the freak', but at least she didn't say or do anything.

"Let me know when you're ready to go for the walk," Sparks said.

Ziggy didn't respond. Sparks glanced down and saw that not much had changed in his behaviour.

"Remember," Sparks added, "We're just going down to the intersection over there, where the other bench is."

"I…" Ziggy squeaked softly. Sparks leaned in closer to hear him. "I…dunno if I…can…"

"What? Why not?"

Ziggy whined softly.

"Buddy, nothing's happened. Some Pokémon stared at you and that's it. Nothing bad has happened."

"I…"

"C'mon, buddy. You can do this. It's easy."

After a few more moments of silence, Ziggy sighed in defeat. He then stood up from the bench, still looking all around him in fear. There was a frown etched onto his face, and Sparks wondered if he was starting to push too hard again.

"Can…we at least do it fast?" Ziggy asked as Sparks stood up as well.

"Sure, sure! We'll just keep walking at a brisk pace. No need to stop."

"A-and you'll be beside me?"

"The whole time," Sparks confirmed with a nod.

Ziggy gulped, but then said, "Okay…Let's go…"

Sparks took a glance up the street to see if anyone particularly looked like trouble, but the streets were as quiet and peaceful as always. So, taking into account Ziggy's desire to get it over with quickly, Sparks immediately started walking.

He checked beside him to see if Ziggy was keeping up, and saw the unhooded Buizel next to him. Ziggy looked both miserable and determined. He did not look happy about what was going on, but Sparks could see a dim little fire behind his eyes. Sparks could tell that Ziggy was already imagining in his head a thousand things that could go wrong with each and every individual they passed. He was using the breathing techniques Sparks had taught him, but they could only do so much. Whether Ziggy was determined to succeed or determined to just get it over with, Sparks wasn't quite sure.

"And, done!"

Ziggy actually took a few more steps forward before Sparks' words registered in his brain, and he then turned back to see Sparks had stopped. "Wha?"

"We're done. We made it to the corner!" Sparks said with an encouraging smile, "See? Here's the bench."

Ziggy turned to look at the bench as if it had just magically appeared out of thin air. "We…?" he muttered.

Sparks chuckled. "You were so focused on everybody else that you weren't even looking where you were going. If I hadn't been walking beside you, then you might've walked right into something."

"…Oh."

The conflicted look on the Buizel's face made Sparks chuckle again. He walked over and sat down on the bench, and then patted it to invite the Buizel to do the same. Ziggy did so a moment later. Once they were both seated, Sparks saw Ziggy's eyes immediately dart back to the other pedestrians.

"You can put the hood back on if you want," Sparks said, "You've earned a break."

Ziggy glanced up at him questioningly, and then nodded and pulled the hood back over his head. He also immediately sunk his paws back into his pocket.

"See? That went just fine!" Sparks said. While it was true that pretty much every Pokémon they passed by looked at Ziggy, nothing noteworthy had happened at all. None of the doomsday scenarios that had been rattling around in Ziggy's head had come true. "How do you feel?" Sparks asked him.

"I…I dunno…"

"Not quite what you expected?"

"N-no…"

Sparks allowed himself to grin in victory. "I told ya. Pokémon might stare, but most of 'em won't do anything if you're just walkin' by!"

"I…" Ziggy murmured quietly, "I guess…"

"You just gotta ignore the small stuff," Sparks said, "Because most of the time, that's all that'll happen…"

Not too much later, Sparks and an unhooded Ziggy were walking down a different street. Their unhooding exercises so far had gone fairly well. One or two Pokémon might have said something hurtful as they passed by that was loud enough for Ziggy to hear, but no-one had directly confronted either of them.

"There's still a few pockets of snow here and there…" Sparks was saying, "I'm not sure if they'll dry up completely, or another snowfall will hit us." He was trying to keep a casual conversation going, to give Ziggy something to focus on besides the eyes of others.

"I dunno…" Ziggy replied. His tone was distracted, but Sparks had urged him to at least try to contribute to the conversation. "Do…you get snow storms here?"

"Sometimes. Rarely, I suppose. They usually happen at night anyway."

"Those were always really scary…"

The two continued slowly walking down the road, with Sparks trying to think of the next topic of conversation. To his surprise, though, it was Ziggy who picked one.

"H-hey, Sparks? Is Akash okay?"

"Hm? Akash?" Sparks replied, wondering why Ziggy had brought up the Deerling.

"He seems really…sad."

"Oh," Sparks said in understanding, "Oh, yeah. He's probably feeling a bit down. He always does this time of year."

"And his fur is all…dark."

"Yeah, that's what happens to Deerling. Their coats change colour with the seasons, and they become dull and brownish in the winter. For Akash, it seems to tie into his mood as well. He's always such a bright and happy Pokémon in the spring and summer, but in the cooler months he gets a little depressed."

Ziggy frowned, hanging his head a little. "That must suck…"

"Yeah, but he always gets through it. He just looks forward to when the pink comes back to his fur."

A moment of silence passed, and then Ziggy looked up at Sparks, still frowning. "Is…there anything I can do to help him?"

Sparks just looked down at the Buizel for a moment. There again was that little spark of altruism that Sparks had detected in him long ago. "Just talking to him helps. If he's at the dinner table, maybe sit next to him?"

"Okay…"

They continued down the street for a short while, passing by many houses. Ziggy didn't seem particularly interested in his surroundings, unlike when Sparks had first brought him into the city on that fateful day in the market. Maybe residential areas like this were where he used to stay when he was living on the streets over in Sunshine Village.

Sparks, however, always took an interest in the city he called home. He'd lived here for so many years, but it never got boring for him. There was always something new to see somewhere. Sparks took in a deep breath of the crisp winter air and slowly took in his surroundings. The higher buildings of the city centre could be seen off in the distance, but not so that they were dominating this smaller more residential area.

He glanced at the row of similar but not identical houses lining the streets. The dirt roads themselves ran in a parallel, concentric fashion around the edge of the city. There were parks here and there, and small alleyways between some of the houses that were too narrow for carts to travel through but could be used as a shortcut for pedestrians.

There weren't too many Pokémon out on a chilly day like today, but still a fair amount of Pokémon were out braving the cold. Many were playing with their cubs on the front lawn, and some were even working on things. He saw a Hitmonlee who was fixing a picket fence, and an Espeon taking down Christmas lights.

As he looked around, Sparks even noticed a Monferno working on something up on the roof of a house a block over. He frowned upon seeing this, thinking that winter was probably not the best time to be working up on a roof. After all, there were still pockets of snow on the ground showing that winter's icy grip was still somewhat strong.

Rather poetically, not two seconds after the thought entered Sparks' head, the Monferno slipped on something and fell. Sparks couldn't see if he had just tumbled, or had actually fallen off the roof. The loud, shrill cry of pain seemed to confirm the latter.

"Oh, shoot!" Sparks exclaimed, "That didn't look good. C'mon, Ziggy, we gotta go help 'em!"

There were now wails of pain ringing through the air. It sounded like the Monferno had really gotten hurt. Since the house in question was on the adjacent block and the Monferno had fallen onto the next street over, Sparks couldn't see anything else.

Sparks immediately broke out into a sprint, heading for the nearest intersection. He hoped the injury wasn't too bad, but he could still hear loud yelling and cursing. This Pokémon definitely needed help, so Sparks quickly rounded the corner once he reached it. He rounded one more corner, now on the proper street, and finally caught sight of the incident.

On the front lawn of one particular house lay the Monferno, crumpled up on the ground and writhing around slightly. A nearby ladder had been knocked over and was now laying haphazardly across the property's fence. As Sparks drew closer, he saw a small amount of blood that had painted a clump of snow next to where the Monferno had fallen. A few concerned neighbours were exiting their houses and starting to approach, but Sparks was faster than all of them.

He effortlessly leapt over the property's fence and approached the injured Pokémon. "Hey! Are you okay? Do you need help?"

"Augh…!" the Monferno moaned in a deep male voice, "Arceus above, that hurts real bad!"

Sparks got down on all fours and moved in closer. He could see the Monferno clutching his hands to his knee.

"Hey, relax," Sparks said, "I'm here to help, okay? I'm an RSGA. Can you let me have a look at it, please?"

The Monferno finally looked up and directly acknowledged Sparks. "Wha…? Who're- Oh! Oh, yeah. Yes, please."

Sparks reached out and gently tried to ease the Monferno onto his back, but already he could see that his leg was likely broken. His patient winced in pain whenever he moved it even slightly and was reluctant to move his hands away from it.

"Just relax and try to keep breathing, okay? What's your name?" Sparks asked.

"Ngh… Mauricio…"

"Hi, Mauricio. I'm Sparks. Now, let me see." Sparks leaned in close to Mauricio's legs and examined where he was holding his hands. Like all members of the Rescue Society, Sparks was trained in basic first aid. He gently eased Mauricio's hands away from the area, and Sparks began to gingerly touch the leg with his own paws. Mauricio winced upon his touch, and yelped in pain when Sparks felt a few specific spots.

"It looks like it's probably broken," he remarked. He realized that he had seen blood earlier, but Mauricio's leg wasn't bleeding. Sparks glanced up and saw that the Monferno had a nasty scrape on the side of his head as well. "You're pretty lucky that's all that happened to you."

"No kiddin'…" Mauricio replied glibly, "Nghhh, that hurts so bad…!" He went right back to clutching his leg.

"Try not to do that too hard. You don't wanna do any more damage. All right, just sit there and try not to move." Sparks then reached up and tapped his badge. "RSGA calling, requiring urgent medical assistance on, uh…"

"Quartz Street," Mauricio supplied.

"On Quartz Street…" Sparks said, his voice trailing off slightly.

"Message received. Medical responders contacted and en route," the mechanical voice replied from the badge.

The badge then dimmed, but Sparks didn't say anything else. He was looking off into the distance. When he had made the call, he had turned to look down the street to see if he could spot a street sign that would identify his location. He hadn't seen one, and thankfully Mauricio had filled in the gap for him, but that was not the only thing Sparks hadn't seen. Some Pokémon were gathering nearby to see what was going on.

None of them were a Buizel.

The anguished wails of the Monferno briefly recaptured Sparks' attention. "Okay, calm down," he said, "Medics are on their way. They'll take you to the hospital to get patched up."

"Rrrghh…" Mauricio moaned, "Thank Arecus you were here…"

"Yeah…" Sparks murmured. His gaze drifted back to the street again. Where was Ziggy? Was he hiding somewhere nearby? Sparks immediately started to worry and scolded himself for basically deserting Ziggy. He shook away that thought, reminding himself that he had made the right choice. He was a guild alumnus, after all, and it was his duty to help others. Seeing the Monferno fall off the roof had switched gears in his brain instantly, and his paws had carried him to the accident scene pretty much on their own.

He was glad he had been there to help Mauricio, but now he was worried about what had happened to Ziggy. With a crowd drawing like this, it made sense that Ziggy would want to hide. Sparks only hoped he was hiding somewhere close by. He wanted to go out and look for him, but Sparks knew he had to stay with the injured Monferno to make sure he would be okay.

A few minutes passed, with Sparks doing his best to talk to Mauricio and keep him calm. In Radiant City, first responders were usually Flying-Types that could get to any location quickly, so he hoped he wouldn't have to wait much longer.

"Marucio!" a voice suddenly exclaimed, "Dear heavens, what happened?"

Sparks and Mauricio both glanced up to see a concerned Breloom running towards the property. Like Sparks had done so before, the Breloom gracefully leapt over the fence and onto the lawn.

"Ngh…Hey, Sahil. I tripped and fell off the roof," Mauricio groaned.

The Breloom, apparently named Sahil, was quickly at Mauricio's side and looking down in concern. "Are you okay?"

"Do you know him?" Sparks asked to Mauricio.

"He's my next door neighbour," Mauricio answered, "We've been friends for years."

"Okay, okay…" Sparks said, nodding in thought as he glanced around once more. "First responders should be here within a few minutes. Are you comfortable staying here with Sahil until they get here?"

"What?" Mauricio asked in confusion.

"I have something…urgent I need to attend to," Sparks admitted, "though yours is urgent as well. I'm not trained in anything beyond first aid so there's nothing more I can do for you besides keep you company until the first responders get here."

"Oh…Right," Mauricio replied, "They're definitely comin', though? You're sure."

"They are absolutely on their way," Sparks affirmed, "I highly doubt they will have trouble finding you, but if they do they will contact me and I can still direct them."

"Yeah, all right then. I'll be fine," Mauricio said with a nod, "Thanks for your help, mister. I certainly appreciate it."

"Yes, thank you!" Sahil agreed.

"Okay," Sparks then said with a nod, standing up straight, "You'll be fine. Just stay still, don't move until they get here." Sparks then turned and dashed off, perhaps a bit too eagerly. For the third time, the fence was surmounted. Sparks hit the road and quickly dashed back to the intersection where he had turned onto the street, hoping that Ziggy was just hiding around the corner.

"Ziggy?" he called out once he reached the corner, not seeing his companion anywhere on the street itself. "Ziggy, where'd you go?" Sparks half-ran down the road, looking for nooks and crannies where the Buizel might have hidden himself, but this particular block didn't have much besides houses. "Ziggy? You can come out now!"

Sparks rounded the corner and returned to the street where he had initially seen Mauricio fall off the roof. Maybe Ziggy hadn't followed him at all, and had chosen instead to go into hiding immediately. Sparks looked near the bench that was close to the Buizel's last known position, calling out his name some more. He spied a few pathways between houses, which he figured would be a good spot for him to hide since they resembled alleyways. He walked over to each one and called Ziggy's name down them.

There was no response besides a few strange looks from passers-by. Sparks started shouting Ziggy's name louder. He started moving back and forth between the two streets he had run down. Still, no response.

A familiar feeling of dread started to settle in the pit of Sparks' stomach. Ziggy was gone again. Like many times before, the Buizel had run off and was out on the streets by himself again. Sparks closed his eyes and shook his head, reminding himself that this wasn't the same thing. Ziggy hadn't run away from him. There were a couple possibilities as to what had happened. Maybe he had gotten turned around on the streets somehow, or maybe he had tripped and then lost sight of Sparks. Maybe while following, something else entirely spooked him and caused him to run off in the opposite direction.

But where was he? Where had he gone? Why hadn't he stayed close by, even if he did want to hide? Despite Sparks' efforts to calm himself down, worry started to creep in steadily. Sparks had lost track of him. He had lost track of the scared, xenophobic, agoraphobic Buizel that he was supposed to be looking after and caring for.

"…Crud…"

"Sparks?"

He didn't answer.

"Sparks?"

Grumbling, Sparks turned around and said, "What?"

Jules stood nearby and gave him a serious look, which looked quite out of place on the usually-smarmy Sylveon. "Sparks," he said, "We've been out here for like an hour. We're freaking out the residents. He's not here."

Sparks just looked at Jules silently, a heavy pit rolling around in his stomach. He knew the Sylveon was only trying to help. Once it had become clear that Ziggy had gone missing, he'd contacted his fellow guildmembers for help. Jules had been in the next neighbourhood over and had coincidentally just finished a job, so he'd agreed to come over and help Sparks search.

"C'mon, big guy," Jules said, "Let's go back to the Rescue Society. We'll figure it out from there."

"But I…" Sparks protested.

"Sparky, would you relax? He didn't run away, he got lost. He's not gonna be out there lookin' for trouble like before. He's changed. He trusts you, and I'm sure he wants to find you just as much as you want to find him. But we gotta be smart about this."

Sparks wanted to retort, but eventually hung his ears in defeat. He felt utterly awful about what had happened. He was kicking himself really hard for running off so quickly without even looking back to see if Ziggy was following him. His brain had just flipped so quickly to 'rescue-mode' that he had run off without thinking. Taking a few seconds to make sure Ziggy was okay would not have caused Mauricio's leg to fall off. Sparks knew he had acted a bit rashly.

He sighed walked over to where Jules was standing. "I can't believe I did this…" he bemoaned, "I'm such an Arceus-damned idiot."

"Sparks, you were doing your job," Jules remarked, calmly but firmly, "A dude fell off a roof. Helping a Pokémon like that is what your job is about."

"Looking after Ziggy is also what my job is about," Sparks shot back.

Jules held his mouth open wordlessly for a moment before replying. "…Okay, fair point," he admitted, "But, you made a decision to help somebody who was in trouble. Nobody's gonna fault you for that. So stop feeling sorry for yourself, and let's head back to the guild."

Sparks looked over at Jules silently again, and then nodded after a moment of thought. "You're right…" he said, "I dunno what he ended up doing, but he isn't in this neighbourhood anymore."

"Maybe he tried to find his own way back to the guild?" Jules offered.

"I guess that's possible…"

"Right. So c'mon, old timer. It's past your bedtime." Jules walked past Sparks, heading in the general direction of the guild, and bumped his hip against Sparks' as if to say 'get moving'.

Sparks had a bad stomachache.

He was sitting on the couch in the common room, leaning against the armrest and clutching his paws against his belly. Sparks knew that it was because he was stressed out about Ziggy; he was quite familiar with stress-induced stomachaches.

Carmen was nearby, helping to coordinate a search party. The idea was to send out multiple members of the active team to different areas of the city. If Ziggy caught sight of just one Pokémon that he trusted, he would reveal himself. It was still early in the afternoon, a couple hours before dinnertime, so some active team members were still out on jobs. So far, Carmen had managed to recruit Terry, Rico, Jules and Lupe for the job.

Sparks was still kicking himself. Ziggy was still his responsibility, even these months later. He knew that Ziggy wasn't comfortable outside of the guild. He knew he should've slowed down just a little bit, but he hadn't. Now Ziggy was lost somewhere, and Sparks could only hope he was okay.

"All right," Carmen said, "I think you can all head out now. You all have your assigned locations. Just call out his name and keep a sharp eye out. Sparks, how 'bout you?"

"Huh?" Sparks perked up upon being called, now noticing that everyone's eyes were on him.

"You ready to go look for him, or you gonna sulk on the couch some more?" Carmen asked. Sparks winced at her usage of 'tough love', though he knew she was right.

"I might…grab something to settle my stomach first," he admitted, wincing again for a different reason as he sat up.

"Don't worry, Sparks," Terry said, "I'm sure he's fine." The Eevee walked over towards the couch, a sympathetic smile on his muzzle.

Rico followed close behind. "He's got Pokémon here who care about him. He'll find his way back one way or another. I'm sure one of us will find him."

Sparks nodded, trying not to look grim. "Thank you guys for helping find him…"

"We all care about Ziggy, Sparks," Lupe said, "Nobody wants to see him get hurt."

"He's…kind of like family at this point," Rico remarked.

"I know…" Sparks said, "He's been out there for two hours now, though…"

Terry shook his head. "He knows how to survive on the streets. He did it for years. And since he's not stealing anything now, he'll stay out of trouble until we find him."

"Mhm…" Sparks mumbled. He then finally stood up off the couch, still holding a paw to his stomach. "Okay, I'll be right behind you. Just gonna pop back into my room for a second. I think I still have a bottle of Pecha Juice in there somewhere for my stomach."

"Right!" Rico said encouragingly, "We'll find him in no time! C'mon, honey!"

Terry blushed at the term of endearment but grinned excitedly, "Right behind you! We'll head to city hall and then we'll split up there."

"I'll head out too," Lupe said, "Try not to worry, Sparks. He'll be fine, and we'll find him."

"Thanks, Lupe…"

Carmen nodded at the proceedings. "I'll send out anybody else that's willing to join the cause if you don't find him soon. Everybody keep in contact with your badges, okay?"

Everybody gave each other an affirmative nod and all prepared to head off in their respective directions; Sparks to his room and the others out the front door. However, before any Pokémon could even lift a paw off the ground, a sound suddenly rang out through the common room.

The sound of somebody knocking.

Everyone's eyes focused on the alumni-only side door that connected the common room to the front lawn. Then, almost in unison, everyone turned back and gave each other surprised looks. There was a moment of silence, and then Sparks quickly ran over to the door. He opened it up and gazed downward, where he found a welcome sight.

"Ziggy!" he exclaimed.

The gold-coloured Buizel, still wearing his hoodie, was looking up at Sparks. Relief could be clearly seen in the young Pokémon's wide eyes. "Sparks…" he uttered, sounding a little worn out but relieved nonetheless.

Sparks immediately pounced forward and wrapped the Buizel into a warm hug. Ziggy let out a startled gasp, but Sparks could feel his body relax once he was in the embrace. "Oh, merciful Arceus," Sparks proclaimed, "I'm so glad to see you! Are you all right?"

"I…I'm fine," Ziggy said.

"Oh my goodness!" Sparks said, finally releasing Ziggy. He held the Buizel by his shoulders and looked down at him intently. "What happened? Where were you? I was worried sick about you! We all were!"

Ziggy wilted slightly. "I-I'm sorry…"

Sparks softened his expression a little. "No. No need to be sorry. I'm just glad you're safe, but please tell us what happened." He stepped to the side and gestured for Ziggy to enter, where he saw all the relieved faces of the other alumni. They all gathered around, giving short platitudes to him.

"Well…" Ziggy said, looking to Sparks, "When you ran off…I tried to run after you but I tripped… When I got back up, I couldn't see you anymore. I didn't know which way you ran. I tried to follow the sound of the Pokémon shouting, but…I got lost."

"I thought that's what might've happened…" Sparks said, holding a paw to his forehead.

"I dunno, I've never been to that part of the city before," Ziggy said, "I got turned around and I didn't know where I was before long. The Pokémon stopped shouting and…I-I got scared…"

Sparks sighed and shook his head. "Oh, Zig, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I ran off without thinking and just left you behind…"

Ziggy looked up at him, his expression unchanged. "Um…You were going to help someone that got hurt, right?"

"Yeah, but I-"

"Are they okay?"

Sparks paused for a moment, blinking a few times. "Uh, yeah…I did first aid and called for help."

Ziggy nodded softly. "That's good. It's okay, Sparks. I know he needed help."

"Buddy…" Sparks looked silently at the Buizel for a moment. It looked and sounded as if Ziggy didn't hold a single grudge against him for any of this. Sparks wouldn't have blamed him if he was even just a little bit mad for being abandoned like that, but there was no anger in the young Pokémon's eyes. A strange mix of emotions flooded through Sparks' head. Ziggy forgave him, but he still felt so guilty.

"Still," Sparks said, "I should have slowed down just a little bit. I'm so sorry I lost track of you, especially out there in public with your hood down…It won't happen again, I promise."

"We're just glad you're here. We were about to go out and look for you," Rico said, approaching Ziggy with Terry following him.

"What happened after that? Were you lost in the city?"

Ziggy frowned. "I figured I'd lost Sparks, so I had to find my way back here…I wanted to run right back here but…Well, I got scared. I was hiding and keeping to the shadows."

"Oh, that's why you took so long?" Sparks asked, "You were gone for quite a while..."

Ziggy nodded.

Sparks sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Well, I'm glad that's over…"

"I-I'm sorry I made you all worry," Ziggy said, looking ashamed.

"No, don't be ridiculous. It wasn't your fault, it was all my fault. I really hope nothing bad happened while you were out there on your own. I'm so sorry if it did…"

"Actually…" Ziggy said slowly, "No…"

"No?" Sparks tilted his head in confusion.

"No…Nothing happened. Nothing bad happened…"

"Really?" Rico asked.

"Well, that's good news!" Terry said.

"Yeah, I mean…" Ziggy continued, "I was scared and hiding, and sometimes I took the hood off so I could see better so…some Pokémon saw me, but…nothing happened. Even though it took me a while, I just…came back here."

"That's…good to hear," Sparks said. He looked at the Buizel silently for a moment. Ziggy seemed hesitant to be happy about what he'd just said, as if he didn't believe his own words. In essence, this was the message he had been trying to get across. Even though there are bad Pokémon out there, not everyone is waiting to grab a pitchfork and run him out of town, even if they do see his fur.

After a moment, Sparks said, "Ziggy…You just traveled halfway across the city all by yourself. You should be proud of that."

Ziggy stared ahead for a moment in thought, and then said, "I…guess I did, huh?"

Sparks nodded, finally able to smile again. "You sure did, buddy. You sure did…"

And thus, as winter moved into its final month, Ziggy started his true journey towards self-improvement.

Over the next week and a half, Sparks took Ziggy outside of the guild every single day. For now, they simply focused on leaving the hood off. Sparks planned to have Ziggy remove the hoodie entirely, but that could wait until springtime when the weather got a bit warmer. With each passing day, Ziggy hesitated for less time before pulling the hood down.

Sparks kept to the quieter residential areas, though he moved to a different one each day. There were always Pokémon staring, sometimes Pokémon whispering to each other, but for the most part that was it. Sparks could see Ziggy slowly learning to just ignore the small things that didn't hurt him and to just continue on his own way.

There were a couple hurdles. One Pokémon yelled a derogatory term from a distance, so that Sparks couldn't even tell who had yelled it. It looked as if his words had literally stabbed Ziggy in the chest, because he immediately hunched forward a little into a defensive pose, stopped walking, and let out a quiet whimper. His paws had started reaching back for the hood, but Sparks just encouraged him to keep walking.

Nothing much beyond that sort of stuff happened. Though, pessimistically, Sparks knew that was partially because they weren't interacting with others in the public yet.

Sparks was slowly starting to see a positive transformation in the little Buizel. As he started to get more comfortable on their walks, he became even more comfortable within the walls of the guild and among the Pokémon he was friends with there. He was still diligently performing his chores without any complaint. Sometimes it seemed like there was more of a pep in his step when he was doing said chores.

Ziggy started talking more, and engaging more with his friends on the active team. He opened up a bit more about his past and started talking to certain Pokémon, including Sparks and Kona, about his past life as a thief on the streets. There almost seemed to be a bit of pride in his voice whenever he talked about managing to give someone the slip thanks to his fast running speed.

He still never smiled. Not once had Sparks seen his muzzle display even a tiny smile, and that was still troubling to the Raichu. He seemed to be in better spirits than ever before, but even when things were going well he still mostly wore that perpetual frown.

The important thing was that Ziggy seemed to have finally found his drive to succeed. Sparks had plans for the future already in place. They would practice going to slightly more crowded places, some exercises where Ziggy would be left alone for a short time in a quiet, safe place, and eventually they could move on to interacting with local residents. One day soon, Sparks hoped that Ziggy would be able to stop someone on the street and ask what time it was.

The present day found Sparks and an unhooded Ziggy walking through a new neighbourhood they hadn't been to before. It was more of a working-class neighbourhood, with more single Pokémon residents than couples and families. Perhaps a bit less of a friendly environment than before, but Ziggy seemed to be handling it okay. He still kept his eyes moving, on the lookout for danger, but he at least no longer looked paranoid. He also still stayed within a forelimb's length of Sparks, but that was okay for now.

"Where did you go yesterday, Sparks?" Ziggy asked, his voice still characteristically quiet.

He was referring to the previous day when Sparks hadn't been able to do a walking exercise, due to him joining some other alumni on a mission. "Terry and Rico wanted my help on a job they'd taken off the request board. A very sweet old Ampharos wanted her gutters cleaned and they wanted me to hold the ladder and help with cleanup afterwards."

"How'd it go?"

Sparks chuckled. "We were paid in cookies."

Ziggy looked up at him wide-eyed. "No way…!"

"Oh, they were delicious. I wanted to save one for you, but Terry and Rico ate them all before I had a chance."

After a moment, Ziggy nodded and said, "That sounds…nice."

"It was a neat way to spend the afternoon. Terry and Rico showed off their great teamwork skills again, and I chatted with the Ampharos while they worked. She was just as sweet as her cookies. Very nice Pokémon."

"Yeah…"

"Sorry we couldn't walk that day. I don't usually get called out on jobs now that I'm working with you, but sometimes it does happen. I'd suggest you take a walk with somebody else that you trust…but they're usually working even more than I am."

"I…was kinda bored, honestly," Ziggy admitted.

"Aw, sorry. I didn't have enough time to plan something for you to do while I was gone."

The two continued down the street, passing by a Machoke who was walking the other way and holding a briefcase. Sparks waved to him, and he waved back. After a short moment, Ziggy shyly waved as well.

A few moments after the Machoke had gone on his way, Ziggy spoke up again. "Um…Do you think maybe…I mean, I was just wondering…"

"What?" Sparks said, "Just spit it out, bud."

"D'you think…I could've come?"

Sparks slowed down slightly as he turned to look down at Ziggy. "What? You mean on Terry and Rico's job?"

"I-I dunno, maybe…" Ziggy mumbled indecisively.

"Really? Is that something you'd want to do?"

"Well…You said she was friendly, and I could still wear my hoodie right?" After a quick moment of silence, he added, "I- I, y'know, I've…always thought what you guys do is really cool. I kinda…want to see what it's like? And maybe help out, i-if I can…?"

Sparks had now stopped walking entirely. "Well gee, Ziggy, I don't know," he replied, "I'd have to check to see if that's all right with Carmen."

"I-i-i-i-it depends on w-what it is, though," Ziggy hurriedly added, "I can't, like, go with you on, like, bodyguard stuff or…d-dangerous stuff."

"No, no, of course not. We'd never ask that of you…" Sparks said, pondering the proposal, "Well…You have already explored a Mystery Dungeon with us, and even before that Carmen was willing to let you help out aboveground on that job…"

"It was just a thought…" Ziggy said, "If I can't, I don't mind. I don't wanna do way too much too quickly…I'd still want to keep the hood on if I do it right now, y'know…"

"It's possible," Sparks said, resuming his walk, "It's certainly possible. I'll discuss it with Carmen and the others and we'll see if anything suitable comes up."

"Thanks…" Ziggy said with a nod.

Sparks glanced down as the Buizel began to scan his surroundings again now that their conversation was over. Ziggy always seemed to find new ways to surprise him, one way or another. Sparks appreciated his determination, but he was worried that tagging along on a job might be too much. Like Ziggy had said, it really would depend on what the job was.

Thoughts for another day, in any case.

"So," Sparks asked, "Have you two set a date?"

Terry giggled and blushed. "W-well, uh…I kinda want to have the ceremony in the middle of spring…"

Rico, sitting cozied up next to him, shrugged and said, "I don't really care, I just wanna do it! Heh…But if spring's what you want, we can do spring."

"Really?"

"Sure! Whatever you want, love!"

"Oh gosh, Rico…" Terry murmured, holding his paws up to try and hide the blush on his cheeks.

The three Pokémon were eating a late dinner together, having each come back from a job that went late into the evening. The table was empty besides them, but Sparks certainly enjoyed the company.

Soon after, though, someone else came and sat down at the common room table next to them. Sparks glanced up from his food to see who it was. "Hey, Danika! What's up?"

"Not much. For the record, I'm available for table scraps."

Sparks chuckled at her wry humour. "How's the big project coming?"

The Sneasel brightened up a little. "Actually, believe it or not, I might get to see the outside world not too long from now."

"Really?"

Danika nodded, and then offered a quick thank you when Rico handed her a slice of apple. "Ziggy's been a big help," she said, "He's like a little tool that sits on the floor and sorts things for me…but he seems to enjoy it, at least. I think he likes the quiet."

Sparks nodded. "He doesn't really say, but I think he looks forward to whenever we give him 'Danika chores' to do." He took a bite of his toast and then added, "You know, he wants to tag along on some missions now."

"For real?" Danika asked in surprise.

"Mhm! I tried to see if he could join these two on their mission today, but the logistics didn't quite work out," Sparks said, indicating the young couple sitting across from him.

"Wow!" Danika marveled, "I'd heard he was making strides, but that's surprising to hear. Won't that…freak him out too much?"

Sparks took another bite of toast, and then leaned in a little closer. "You know," he said, resting his chin on his paw, "I really think Ziggy's got a big, altruistic soul buried under all his stresses and problems. I think he really, genuinely likes helping Pokémon. He's just got too much baggage to even really think about it…"

"That's not an unfair assessment," Danika commented and nodded.

"You know, if circumstances were different…" Sparks mused.

"Mhm," Rico agreed, "Who knows where his life could have ended up?"

"He's really nice and friendly," Terry said, "He doesn't ever get mad at the Pokémon who are mean to him, they just scare him…"

A moment of thoughtful silence passed while the group continued to pick away at their respective meals.

"How about you, Sparks?" Danika asked, "How've you been doing? You've been back on your meds for a while, right?"

Sparks glanced over at her. It was no secret around the guild that he took medication and he didn't mind discussing it with friends. "Yeah…I'll really have to think harder about if and when to stop it next time."

"It was just bad luck…" Terry said with a frown.

"It's fine. I'll be fine. I won't be taking him back to the marketplace for a long, long time, so there's less chance of something like that happening again."

"…Are you gonna tell him what happened?"

Sparks had taken another bite of his toast, and froze halfway through the bite with the bread still in his mouth. He slowly turned to look at Danika, who had asked the question.

She immediately wilted under his gaze. "Sorry," she apologized, "I shouldn't have…"

Sparks finished taking his bite, slowly chewed and swallowed, and then was quiet for almost a full minute.

"Someday I will…" he finally answered quietly, "Someday…"