Locke still stood beside Sylveon and in front of the team of three, humiliation coming over him like storm clouds blotching sunlight. He started by looking directly at Tamin's eyes, but as his cheeks turned red from the situation, he forced his head to look towards the ground.

Pain to the body was something he was well acquainted with just as someone is acquainted with their home, but embarrassment and pain to one's feelings was something that was foreign to him with his life as a rogue explorer. As for the others in the room, a cocktail of emotions was shared among them: confusion, second-hand embarrassment, empathy, but the feeling that this was inevitable given the shinx's history was another ingredient stirred into that emotion cocktail.

"Would you care to explain to us what you're doing?" Mienfoo asked as she stepped forward towards Locke and Sylveon.

"Niot and I will be explaining the exact specificities to everyone with one-on-one meetings, since that would be far easier than attempting to tell it to the chaos of a crowd," Sylveon said to her. "But know the harness is staying on him for the time being."

Mienfoo did not wish to argue further, she knew there were arguments that could not be won, and that could occur with people following the orders of others just as it could occur with fools. Mienfoo made a swift action with her paws, fast enough that Sylveon and others couldn't tell what she had just done. But the lease was no longer in Sylveon feelers, it was being held in Mienfoo's paw. She stared straight into Sylveon's eyes, witnessing his puzzled expression. Locke was slightly happier to have the leash being held by someone he could better trust, despite the fact that he was literally hooked on a leash.

Sylveon and Mienfoo held a brief and silent standoff as they looked into each other's eyes with stern gazes, but it was only a second long, a second which did not feel like an entire minute.

"Please refrain from taking the leash from me again, as that is not within the decided upon rules. I will be near the lounge for when you need me, I suggest you come," Sylveon spoke, speaking in straight forward responses like he usually did despite the situation's context.

Just like that, the eeveelution pokemon turned and walked off, not even bothering to retrieve Locke. The group was left behind- left to figure out what to do next.

The shinx's head immediately rose and his blush partly faded. Tamin walked up to him, placed her paw next to his neck and unclipped the leash. Freedom, at least partially. The ones around him didn't look down on him, but were stunned on what to do. Even unclipped, he was still embarrassed to the point of wanting to just sink into the floor.

"You two might as well go with Sylveon, I'll stay with him. He needs a companion right now," Tamin told the other two.

"Eh, alright," Dewott said. "Just don't be letting you get this down, Locke."

"...Thanks, I appreciate that," Locke said, his head and tail came up a bit more, but not much.

"Stay safe," Mienfoo said.

Dewott and Mienfoo walked off to follow after Sylveon, leaving it to just Locke and Tamin.

"Thanks, Tamin," Locke said. "I'm sorry about all of this, I-"

"You don't need to explain. I had my ear on the door and eavesdropped on the whole conversation."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Tamin did not use more words than necessary.

"Huh… I honestly don't know what to say to that to be frank," Locke replied, "I mean, I'm glad you done that out of worry for me but also embarrassed you heard ALL of that. So… yeah, I just don't know what to say."

"Cat got your tongue?"

"..."

"Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood a little."

"Your puns make it sound like we're both under bonds, because that is some really restrained humor," Locke joked, the slightest of grins forming on his saddened face.

Tamin's primary emotion went from empathy to surprise, taken aback by Locke's humor at her expense. "I don't quite think that's the case," she said awkwardly.

"Yeah, you're right. Humor actually tends to get better under restraints instead of worse, since you gotta be more creative to get around them restraints," he continued. "Seems you have none."

The blush moved from Locke's cheeks to Tamin's, going along with a nervous smile on her face. She wasn't comfortable with Locke's jokes (more so than the times before) as they were at her expense and she's been put down by others a significant amount in her past. However, she was capable of discerning that Locke was not meaning to be verbally abusive and only wanted to make the situation nicer with the only form of humor he knew. She could see the poetic irony of using dark humor to lighten things as well.

"Y-yeah," Tamin said with a drop of sweat coming down from her forehead.

If only for a brief moment, Locke forgot about the harness he was wearing and delighted himself with his jokes and the memories of what he told before.

"But going back, there is something I had wanted to tell you related to my eavesdropping," the minccino said as she recovered.

"Heheh- oh. Yeah?"

"I… I had actually overheard Hunter talking to his sister about wanting to pull some 'prank' on you yesterday, but I completely forgot to give you any warning about it," she admitted, regret coating her words.

"Wait, what?" Locke said.

"I'm so sorry! I overheard a lot of stuff that day that it all blended together in my head, I was so caught up talking to other people I didn't have a real opportunity to talk to you, I just don't like starting conversation and-... No, I'm not going to make excuses for myself. I'm so sorry, please don't be mad."

For a moment Locke tensed up, but that gave way to a simple sigh.

"It's okay, I can't get angry at you," Locke said. "I'm more mad at myself for all this, mad that I left on my own for this, and for all I care Hunter and Sylveon could get ha- no, I shouldn't say that."

"Mhm… what do you want to do now?"

"Be alone in my room for a while then go out for a mission into an M.D."

"Alright"

"I… just don't want to deal with the guild anymore today, I need to take a break and do some fighting to get my mind off of things."

"Can't blame you, I'm not the biggest fan of dealing with pokemon either."

The two fell silent for a moment, Locke feeling he couldn't do much aside from wallow and Tamin not knowing what words she could say that would make him feel better. But after that brief moment, Locke lifted his head up with a new idea on his mind.

"Oh, actually, there is a favor I would like if you did for me."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Sylveon said he was going to have some one-on-one discussions with the guild members. So, if you good at eavesdroppin', mind putting your ear on that?"

A cunning smile came onto the minccino's face.

"I'll be right on it. Anything else you would like of me?" Tamin said.

"Nah, that's all I need from you."

"Right on."

Locke and Tamin split up. Locke walked up the stairs to the main floor of the building while Tamin stayed downstairs.

Locke travelled straight to his room with the most efficient route possible and shut himself in, trying to give himself time alone and not be seen.

Locke had the door to his room locked from the inside before he proceeded to lay down in his bed. The harness proved uncomfortable with the cloth being an unnecessary barrier between his fur and the much softer bedding.

"Do I really have to wear this twenty-four seven?" Locke thought to himself, "I guess.

I mean, they are right about me hurting Sebastien. And hurting some other people today as well. I guess they're right, I just can't help myself with that stuff. I didn't think this would be a problem with me working with a guild, I didn't think I had this problem before I came here."

Locke stayed in his bed, laying down and setting his head on the bed sidings. His thoughts continued.

"Hunter, I swear to Arceus, you were the one who made me go through all this. Heh, I suppose the one upside of this is that I won't have to see you for a while. Although, would this have happened to me eventually either way?

I suppose no one in the guild would really make fun of me for this. Actually there was Venusaur who was bullying Tamin back during our first mission, so he might mess with me. I just hope he's the only one who makes fun of me for this..."

Tamin- on the other hand- stalked Sylveon to see where he went off to. Finding that he went into his office, Tamin snuck into a neighboring room and pressed her ear against the wall between the rooms. She executed the objective he bequeathed her, controlling her breathing to make as little sound as possible as she listened in.

One by one, pokemon were called into Sylveon's office. One by one, he explained what happened to Locke, and the rules regarding his harness. One by one, Tamin secretly listened in on every conversation that took place. In a way, the minccino could at least respect him as he did exactly what he said he would. Sylveon got progressively more tired with explaining the same thing over and over again, and having to explain the logic behind the decision to everyone. The fact that it wasn't his decision further complicated it as he was unable to answer all follow up questions. "you'll have to ask Niot or Espeon, " and "this wasn't my decision," became phrases he used more and more across the ordeal.

Though it was never the repetitive words of Sylveon that Tamin was interested in. Rather, she was there for the reactions of others. Everyone knew about Locke's stunt before Sylveon carried him away, but this was the first time they were hearing what exactly was being done to Locke.

Most were either neutral or skeptical of it, though there were the few that did agree with the idea. Tamin found a part of her feel sick at hearing how many weren't disagreeing with the bondage Locke was being put under. Nevertheless, Tamin remained silent as she listened in, clenching her fist in frustration. It was Mawile who gave the most intriguing, as she spoke to Sylveon like a friend and discussed psychology. It was from that conversation that Tamin had a revelation: it was from Mawile's psychological profiles that the entire harness idea was constructed from. The minccino's opinion of her quickly shifted, and she also got a spike of fear stabbed into her with the worrying thought of "what does she have planned for me if that's what she did for Locke?"

There were some that did speak out against the rules, arguing with Sylveon until he demanded they leave the room for him to move onto the next guild member, saying the decision was already made. These dissenters proved helpful to Tamin's composure as she thought of ways to defend the shinx she had met a week ago. Dewott and Mienfoo were both in this category, and Tamin figured that Crystal would be as well had she been awake at that time. However, it was Olivia that was the most vocal of all, practically yelling verbose arguments at Sylveon and speaking above the eeveelution for minutes on and until Sylveon needed to physically remove her from the room, but not without a struggle.

Tamin herself was called in by Sylveon about half-way through. It felt like more of an interrogation to her, but she maintained her bluffs with her smooth tongue and false expressions throughout the way. Sylveon was clueless that Tamin had already eavesdropped on all of it, and it gave Tamin some pride to be able to succeed at her deception. Afterwards, she went straight back to the neighboring room once Sylveon was done speaking to her directly. The whole process took just over an hour to tell every guild member. Tamin decided to wait in the room for another few minutes instead of leaving immediately as she felt that would garner less attention.

Once the whole process was finished, she waited for the perfect moment, and snuck out of the room and headed up the stairs to the main floor, taking the same route Locke took.

While Locke still laid on his bed, continuing to be mellow to himself, he heard knocking on his door.

"Hey Locke?" Tamin spoke through the door with a soft voice while she knocked, trying to be polite, "Do you want to still be alone or can I come in?"

Locke signed before replying, "Yeah. You can come in."

Tamin tried to open the door, but the attempt was stopped by the door's deadbolt. She tried a few times which made sounds to signal Locke.

With another large sigh, Locke got up from his bed, walked over and shifted the bolt to let Tamin enter.

Locke walked back to his bed and laid down on his bed again, with Tamin coming and sitting right next to him.

"I'm sorry this happened to you," Tamin said to Locke.

"You've said that already," He responded.

"Sorry. But I eavesdropped on the others like you asked." She said.

"Oh, how did that go?" Locke said, his face lighting up slightly.

"Olivia, Dewott, Mienfoo and apparently a Buizel were the most outspoken against this. I think this is actually Mawile's idea. As for everyone else kinda just found it off, but still justifiable."

"Of course that's the case..." Locke said.

Locke and Tamin continued to talk for a little while longer, going into greater detail with what Tamin heard. Locke eventually wanted to be alone again, and he respectfully asked Tamin to leave with her agreeing.

Locke's new solitude was cruelly short as only moments after Tamin left, the now painfully familiar meal bell was heard ringing from the mess hall core of the guildhouse.

"And there comes Inevitably knock-knocking on my door once more," Locke said to himself. "Really wish he would learn to respect boundaries."

He came to lunch and tried to have a normal meal, but that was rendered nigh impossible when there were so many eyes looking dead at him. But after the initial shock phase of the experience had faded, Locke had gotten his guard up against feeling embarrassed and at least partially block it out. Each set of eyes ruined his appetite just a little bit.

Once fed, he went to the quest board room. Going in-between the pokemon still looking at him and the red and black harness he wore, he got in front of the board and began looking for jobs.

"Hey, Locke," Dewott said to him calmly.

The shinx turned his head to check, and sure enough he saw his friend there. For a moment he wondered if it was Hunter he was looking at, but then he remembered that that zorua was still locked up in the blank room in the basement.

"Oh hey, I thought you were off on a mission with Tamin," Locke replied.

"I was, but I talked with Espeon and got myself taken off of the team, someone else took my spot on that mission now," Dewott explained. "I didn't want to leave you, so I managed to get things arranged so we can be together on a mission."

"Thanks man," the shinx said with another small smile managing to find its way on his low face.

They looked over the missions they could do together for a few minutes. He was up for anything as it was an escape from the guildhouse, but Dewott being a bit more picky as he didn't want to go on any mission that would require camping out for a night. After some mulling over, they chose a mission in a location named Plaag Caves that involved restoring some broken seals that were placed in the dungeon years ago.

Since Tamin and Mienfoo were off doing the mission that they originally signed up to do, they had to look towards bringing others along. This was complicated by the fact that most of the pokemon there did not want to go with Locke because of what happened. Unexpectedly for them, it was Rustin who was the first to come to them and offered to join the group. Locke got the gut feeling that it wasn't a good idea, but after waiting for several more minutes and only a Nidorino coming along to offer to join, they brought him along out of a lack of alternative options, against the shinx's gut instincts. They were aware it was Locke's instincts that got him into the mess he was in.

Preparing was made marginally easier thanks to the harness, as it had some additional pockets that Locke was able to make use of to store more items. A small advantage that obviously wouldn't make Locke suddenly like it, but it was something he could appreciate nonetheless. After getting their provisions, the four got back to the building's entryway once they were prepared. Dewott stood ahead of the group to artificially position himself like a leader would. "Alright, is everyone ready?"

"Before you go, you'll need this," Another voice said as a response to Dewott's question from deeper in the building.

They four all turned to the source of the voice and away from the door. They saw Sylveon standing there, stern as always, and holding a leash in his feelers. Just the sight of him made Locke clench his teeth, but he said nothing.

Dewott stepped forward with the intent to grab it from Syvleon, but before he got there, Rustin used telekinesis to grab the leash and pull it over to him.

"Really?" Locke asked while Rustin examined the leash in his paws.

"Yes. Really," Sylveon responded as he walked away.

"You don't know if we will 'need this'! You're just jumping to conclusions!" Locke proclaimed.

"Apologies if the choice of words I used was flawed. Either way, you're in their hands now."

Right after Sylveon said that, the leash could be heard being clicked by Rustin as he tested it, causing Locke to pause for a moment to hear the clicks.

"...Are you going to put that on me?" Locke asked in a sadder voice as his aggression quickly died down and while he turned to Rustin.

"We'll see," Rustin said facing Locke, wrapping the leash up and putting it over his arm like one would carry a spun of rope.

Locke growled in anger at Rustin. He stopped when he noticed Dewott and Nidorino walking out toward the guild foyer, prompting both Locke and Rustin to follow them out.

They journeyed across the land towards the caverns they were to tend to. Locke walked in the back of the group, the harness blocking some of the outdoor breeze. While it kept him warmer than he would be without it, it took away the feeling of the wind brushing against the individual strands of fur. While it wasn't something he really paid attention to before, it was something small he found missing.

Along the way Rustin curiously placed his paw on the back of his neck. Although it wasn't hooking him up to a leash, his intentions were obvious as he gently pushed Locke forward.

"I don't think that's necessary," Locke told Rustin, speaking in a manner more polite then he would usually produce.

"Listen, the first time I met you, you were attacking the people trying to rescue you and I had to work to get you calm. Them I heard about you clawing into my sister's neck, and now I heard about you going ballistic in the basement. Not to mention the times you went ferocious in-between those times," Rustin told Locke quietly, "So I'm sure even you could take a guess on whose side I'm taking right now."

Locke grumbled at him, but held himself out from making a scene.

"Just try to ignore him; he likes testing people," Nidorino interjected to Locke.

Dewott was at the head of the group during this interaction, focusing more on the map that guided them to their destination.

The shinx went silent for the journey from there. The trek to the location was mercifully short, not even totalling up to an hour. As they started to near their destination, purple miasma could be easily seen drifting up into the atmosphere like smoke from a factory, it might as well have been an active beacon to signal where they needed to go. Once they finally got there the miasma was so distinct that they avoided standing directly in front of the cavern's entrance.

"Alright men, here we are," Rustin said, speaking as though he was the leader.

"Alright, everyone wait for one second, there are some things with this mission that everyone needs to know about," Nidorino said as he slipped his large backpack off of his back. Once it was set onto ground he began delving inside, where he pulled out three filter masks and canisters of sealing clay. "These masks will allow us to breathe in the caverns. We need to stop the miasma from escaping the cavern, so we have to find some seals installed in there a while ago to repair them, that way no more miasma will leak through."

"Only three masks?" Rustin asked as he observed what was being pulled out.

"I'm a poison type myself, so I'll be fine with breathing in there," Nidoran said.

"How bad is the poison if we breathe it?" Dewott asked.

"Bad. Very bad. Extraordinarily bad," Nidoran said. "Umbreon entered it years ago without a mask back when she was an explorer, and she was left bedridden for days because of it. Very nearly died."

"Alright, alright. Let's get these on," Dewott replied.

Rustin and Dewott both grabbed the masks shaped for them and put them over their mouth and nose then strapped it together with the back of their head like a muzzle without a problem. Locke wasn't able to perform the same actions due to his quadrupedal build, so Rustin helped strap the mask onto him. They checked to make sure all of their masks were secure without gaps on its edges.

"Aight, let's find those seals," Dewott said, his voice being partially drowned out as it had to go through the mask.

Putting the clay canisters in their bags, the four journeyed inside, directly delving into the dense purple miasma. They all entered together, footsteps near-synchronized.

The area was three parts caverns and two parts weald. While hard and oppressive stone was everywhere, there were also large patches of dirt from which alien-like plants grew. They had adapted to the poison, but in the process stopped looking like natural flora. Many, many fungal structures that grew from the dead leaves and the plants that had seen their end. It wasn't pitch-black, as much of the fungus curiously glowed blue, green, and cyan to provide an uneasy light source.

The party immediately felt it get harder to breathe, as there was less oxygen for them once their marks filtered out the dense gas. Another property that became apparent to Locke, Rustin, and Dewott was they seemed to lose their sense of smell as any scent which arose from the dungeon was stopped dead in its tracks by the filters which covered their nose. Even though they didn't see a soul within, the true dangers of the dungeon were brazenly apparent, surrounding them from the north, south, east, and west alike.

"Oh- this should go without saying- but don't remove your mask for any reason. Not even for a second," Nidoran said as they continued searching around. "If you take it off, you're allowing some miasma to get on the inner side of the mask, and a pocket of bad air when you put it back on. So even if you hold your breath while it's off, you'll still end up taking in a breath of unfiltered poison."

"I appreciate your concern and I'll be followin' it, but my body does have great fortitude so I should be fine," Dewott said.

"Same with me," Locke followed up.

"Your bodies aren't as strong as you might think they are," Rustin stated.

"Nah, I think your body ain't strong, but ours are," Locke said. "I've taken on a fair few psychic types, and they're pretty squishy once you get up to them. Just don't have the brawn to match their brains."

"I mean, you are right to some extent, but you still should expect to take much of the poison in you," Rustin said with reluctance. "But yes, it is quite ironic how we have such great minds that are trapped in ever so fragile bodies." Even with the mask on, it could be seen that the meowstic cringed at the recollection of bad memories.

"Y'know, since I can breathe underwater then if my mask gets broken then I could sustain myself on canteen water for a minute," Dewott said.

"What?" Rustin asked.

"What?"

"I mean, I can think of like four different reasons on why that wouldn't be a good idea."

"It's only for a minute for buying time for me to get out," Dewott further tried to justify.

"Yo that actually reminds me, I haven't actually been to a dungeon with you before, Dewott," Locke commented.

"Yeah, I noticed that too,"

"What's your combat style like?"

"Oh!" Dewott grabbed his two scalchops and held them up to show them clearly, "I've mainly practiced with parrying for my style. It's a lot better to parry with an object then parry with your own arm, and these ol' babies being slightly curved makes them so much better on top o' that.."

"Ah, interesting. I was kind of wondering what you planned to do since you had the mask covering the place you shoot water out from."

"Nah, I'm mostly melee," he said.

"Gotcha."

They talked with one another for a moment longer as the group walked deeper into the dungeon. As they got deeper, they were able to hear more sounds emanating from the cavern. Skittering, breathing, and grunting. They raised their guard, and saw some foongus and amoonguss that were native to the dungeon, each adding a tiny bit to the poison around, and greeting the explorers unfavorably.

The fights were few and far between, nothing the explorers could not handle. Although they needed to be extra careful to ensure the masks weren't damaged, and had some scares with that.

The pervasive miasma on the other hand only became denser, making it harder to breathe and covering the area to limit the line of sight even more. Though by the nature of their mission, they knew that the denser it got, the closer they were to their goal.

"Well, as things are getting harder to see, I think this will be the ideal time to bring this out," Rustin said as he turned to his bags once more.

From his backpack, he pulled out the leash from earlier, and immediately went to step towards Locke with it. Locke twitched backwards out of reflex, but besides that he remained still as he knew he wasn't allowed to fight back.

"He's perfectly calm right now, Rustin. There's no point to that," Dewott stated.

Rustin clipped the leash on before replying. "This is also to keep him from wandering off from the team like he has done before, and when all of our vision is obscured, this is the last time we want him walking off to Arceus knows where."

"Still a dick move," Dewott said.

"No, I think what would constitute as a 'dick move' is attacking my sister in the middle of a fight," Rustin said, gaining a smug smile that was made impossible to see by the gas mask.

Rustin gave a tight pull at the lead just because he could and to send a message, but after that they continued walking forward again.

"Are you guys still able to see clearly? I'm starting to have trouble with all this fog," Rustin complained out loud.

"I think it's all of us," Dewott replied.

"Figured as much," Rustin said.

"We could create some more light. It's not as useful in what is essentially fog as normal darkness, but would still guide the way better," Nidorino said.

"Let's just use a stunstick then," Dewott said.

"A what?" Nidorino asked.

"Oh sorry, 'stunsticks' are just what I call flares," Dewott said as he quickly pulled his blue-striped flare that was attached underneath his backpack out for demonstration. "I mean, ya shove em up to a dungeon pokemon's face and activate it to stun them for a good few seconds, and they're shaped like sticks, so yeah. 'Stunsticks' are the perfect name for them."

"Please inform us when you are going to use made-up vocabulary like that," Rustin said, annoyed.

"But, isn't like all of vocabulary technically made up?" Dewott said, "I'm pretty sure that's how lingui-whatever works."

"Oh my gosh, this is not the time to go into philosophy. You're not even good at it, leave the philosophizing up to psychic types like me and just do your job. Fighting is your speciality, and we should all focus on our specialities."

"Can we not get into an argument?" Locke said while shooting a disdainful glare at Rustin while still being pulled by him.

"Right, let's stay focused," Rustin said, surprised that he found something to agree on with Locke for once. "This is probably as rare as winning the lottery," he thought.

"Anywaves, if we need some light, why don't you just use your own flare, Nidorino?" Dewott suggested.

"We could, but remember that my flare is purple to match my type color, it won't help that much to have purple-tinted light for us to get through purple miasma with, the colors would just blend together," Nidorino explained. "In fact, the smoke from the flare might make it harder to see than easier overall."

"Oh dang, you're right. And my flare is a normal (maybe a bit darkish) blue, so that's a bit better but it's still not going to construct very well in this place…"

"Mine is pink for psychics," Rustin stated. "And saying that out loud, I just realized how weird that sounds that I carry around bright pink with me on every mission."

"Mine's-" Locke began talking, but wasn't given full time to finish his thought as Rustin stopped and reached towards Locke to grab straight at the yellow-striped flare on top of his harness. Once he had a grip, he pulled it right out and got it in both of his paws.

"We'll use this, yellow will go against the purple here pretty well," the meowstic spoke as though it was entirely his idea and a quick moment of genius that he thought of it

"Hey! You could at least have asked!" Locke said.

"Take one for the team, Locke. If you're able to do that after being rogue for so long, that is," Rustin said without even giving the shinx a glance as his eyes were locked squarely on the flare.

He pointed it forward and away from his teammates, then ripped off the yellow stripe to activate the flare. It operated as normal, giving a contrail of yellow smoke along with yellow tinted light to lead the way down the natural tunnels.

"And just like that: we've got a way to see now," Rustin said boastfully.

"Still a dick…" Dewott quietly muttered to himself as they followed the now-luminous trail.

The pathway had become linear, which made navigation as easy as one would assume but they slowed down their pace anyways to keep up their guard for wild pokemon, of which a few did breach through the miasma to attack them. What few battles they did were start-and-stop, and their combined skills made it an inconsequential concern. Dewott did most of the work, parrying away various attacks to follow them up with devastating strikes. Locke tried to help in every encounter, but only found himself fighting against Rustin and the leash more than any wild pokemon. He was relegated to being a spectator with the one thing he found most fun in the dungeons. No damage dealt to his skin, but a light jab at his self-esteem.

After their fourth tussle in the yellow light, it went an entire minute without an encounter happening again. As predictable as the output of a clockwork machine, words began leaving their mouths once more.

"Alright, I think you can afford to take him off of the leash now, Rustin," Dewott said.

"Please," Locke added on, saying it like a statement with authority and not begging.

"I don't think that would be advisable right now," Rustin replied.

"And why the frick not?" Dewott said.

"Look at his eyes, they're red right now. That's what they seem to change to when he gets ferocious," Rustin argued.

"So are yours," Dewott pointed out.

Hearing this discussion, Nidorino turned to look at the other three. When he did, he saw that all of their eyes were strained into an unnatural red, affecting the white of the eyes just as much as the pupils and with visible veins. Dewott's eyes were the closest to their original color, but were far more watery as well.

"Oh gosh," Nidorino said as he saw them.

"What is it?" Locke asked.

"The poison is staining your eyes, we've got to find those seals fast," he explained.

"It's okay, I have a feeling we're close to the end of the line now," Locke replied.

"Please don't trust your instincts and random hunches, they do not come from rationality," Rustin said. "Although considering how dense it is right now, that is a good indication we're getting close."

"So it's wrong when I say it but right when you do?"

"What you said comes from instinct while when I speak I use careful analysis and dungeoneering."

"The difference being?"

"Please, don't talk so much," Nidorino interjected. "Your masks can only filter so much poison, and when we are in clouds this thick you are more than likely breathing in a little poison with every breath.

Dewott, give me your flare. Your blue one is the next best one we have."

Heeding to the explicit advice of not talking, Dewott silently pulled his flare out and handed it over. Nidorino then took it and aimed it forwards to create a contrail of blue. But instead of going its full length, the projectile hit a wall and had its explosion happen prematurely.

The four all squinted to look forward, attempting to see through the miasma and smoke clouds with their teary and strained eyes. After the dust settled, they could see glimpses of clay, a different shade of grey from the stone of the dungeon.

"That's got to be the old seals," Nidorino said.

"Let's go right in and finish this job up then," Dewott stated.

"Eh, I don't feel that's the best idea," Locke told the team.

"There's no chance the masks will block out all of the poison if you get that close. I'll patch up the seals myself," Nidorino replied.

"No, I have the best dexterity out of anyone here, so I'll be the best at repairing them. You two can stay back and make sure no one comes at us from behind, but I'm going to get those seals patched up," Dewott said.

There was a nod among them to signal an agreement. All of the canisters of sealing clay were handed to Dewott and Nidorino, which they took and walked deeper in while Locke stayed back with Rustin.

The original seal was several meters tall and wide to lock in the deadliest parts of the mystery dungeon. Close to the center of it was a hole about forty centimeters in wide, no doubt punctured by a wild pokemon who was unaware of the seal's purpose. The canisters were opened and the hard industrial clay was pulled out so they could begin patching the hole up. Locke and Rustin looked the other way for any wild pokemon to fight, but none revealed themselves.

Dewott was quick as he began the restoration process, but gradually slowed with every small whiff of poison that entered his lungs. Competitions to hold his breath for a long time as he could that he had done months prior served him well in allowing him to stay there, but that couldn't save him from toxicity levels comparable to smoking a handful of cigarettes all at the same time. Even Nidorino felt his lungs sting like insect bites from the poison, and it annoyed him so much he wished he got a filter mask for himself.

Despite all of that, with some persistence they kept at it with slapping clay on until the hole was fully prepared. After a few quick pats to flatten it down, they began going to turn back and walked towards the way they came.

"It's complete, let's get back," Nidorino said.

They all turned and began heading out. On the way back, Dewott was much weaker and rested part of himself on Nidorino so that he could keep up and ensure he was going the right direction. He didn't have the strength left to argue with Rustin, so the meowstic continued to hold Locke on the leash uncontested.

Mercifully, they weren't attacked on the way back out. The four each went through the flora and fungus filled cavern as the air became clearer and clearer. Before too long, they saw the sunlight seeping into the land again. With a final sprint to the boundless outdoors, they escaped the dungeon and ran behind the dungeon's entrance to escape the miasma that remained. They removed their masks and took in deep breaths of clean oxygen, enjoying the simple bliss of fresh air.

"We did it, the mission's over," Locke said.

"If we waited around for a few hours we could watch that smoke cloud go away. But let's focus on getting back," Rustin said while unclipping the leash from Locke.

Locke did enjoy having the leash taken off and masks removed, but was reminded of the fact that he wasn't allowed to remove the harness. The excursion as a whole didn't do the same thing to cheer Locke up as he had hoped it would.

Retracing the route through the lands, they returned back. Reward money was collected, successes were marked, and they settled down. The return from the mission was standard, even if nothing about the mission itself quite felt right to Locke.

He was heading back to his own room, trying to find solitude there. But before he could get there, he saw Tamin running up to him.

"Hey Locke, how did it go?" she asked innocently.

"Eh, better than I thought it would be. But you can- but I assume you can guess what happened with Rustin on the team," Locke replied.

"Yeah, I had an idea," Tamin said. She desired to say something negative about the meowstic Rustin out loud, but was worried about potential repercussions that saying those things aloud for others to hear could have.

"Hang on, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be off on your own mission?" Locke asked.

"Oh, I convinced them to let me get my daily work in through cleaning instead of a mission," Tamin explained.

"Okay, but aren't you keeping yourself from getting experience by doing that?"

"Don't worry, it'll be alright," she reassured. "Anyways, there's something else I wanted to bring up with you."

"What is it?"

"Scampi told me about an ice cream store that's in town. So I was thinking about going to it to cheer you up a little. It's about to close for the winter anyways."

"That sounds quite nice, thanks." Locke said.

"We have a plan then," Tamin said, "come with me, I think I remember the directions there."

"Got it,"

They left the building to return to the streets of the town again. Locke was exposed to civilians who could see him and his harness, but at that point he couldn't be much embarrassed anymore after hours of it. He just tried to ignore them as he mellowed. Tamin tried her best to find the place, but her navigation skills still left something to be desired.

"Let's see… I think it was this way there. No wait no- this was the way," Tamin said as she led the duo.

"Hey, when we get there could you pay for my cone?" Locke asked Tamin.

"Yeah, that's what I had planned. You've had a long day, so it's the right thing to do."

"Mhm. That, and I don't really have a lot of money to myself, to be perfectly honest," Locke replied.

"But wait, haven't you been doing more difficult missions than me?" Tamin asked. "How are you almost out of money?"

"I've been giving a lot of my money to Crystal," he said.

"What?"

"She says she needs it for her artwork supplies, and it would be best if I gave it to her," Locke clarified.

"And you're not keeping any for yourself?"

"Crystal usually pays for things for me, so it's fine. She also says that she'll handle the money better than me."

"Um, okay then. I'll cover you."

It took only one more minute of traveling through the town before they found the shop.

"Here it is, Tamin said.

"Thanks. I hope this is sweet," Locke stated.

"Of course it will be Locky!" A different voice altogether- but still familiar- said from above.

"Oh you have got to be kidding-" Locke began saying before he was interrupted.

Olivia landed right in-between the two of them from the air. She hit the ground safely on her small emolga feet by using her wings to slow her fall, her scarf falling down with her and rested well on her shoulders after the landing.

"So how has your day gone!?" Olivia said in her sporadic voice.

"Well, not the best. I'm sure you know all about what happened with me, Hunter and Sylveon before lunch. And on my mission I was constantly being yanked around by Rustin-"

"Oh that stupid meowistic!" Olivia said in an angry voice, "I am so sorry about what happened to you. Say, I heard you're going to this ice cream shop. So how about I pay for your food?"

"Really?" Tamin asked.

"NOT YOU!" Olivia said, suddenly going back to an angry voice, "I'm only paying on behalf of my B.F.!"

"Well I was already planning on paying for both of us so I'm not really sad about that," Tamin responded quietly.

"Whatever. Let's just go," Locke said.

The three walked up to the shop window. The window was low enough that Tamin and Olivia could simply stand up to see inside, with Locke getting onto his hind legs and placing his front paws on the window to support himself and gaze in as well.

They were greeted by a white ninetails with snow-like fur and tails that somehow looked both messy and smooth simultaneously. The mere presence of him brought forth a chill to them, not caused by any sort of intimidation but by a cold aura that accompanied him.

"Hello there!" He greeted them cheerfully while maintaining a hint of respect, since he recognized the scarves they wore that meant they worked for the guild.

The three ordered what they wanted. Locke asked for an ice cream sandwich, Tamin chose a vanilla ice cream cone with some toppings and Olivia went full out with a cone containing a hodgepodge of different flavors and toppings, pushing what the shop was willing to allow for orders.

"Okay, take a seat while we'll get it to you," the ninetails said to them.

The three walked over to one of the tables set outside of the shop, taking shade under a dimming arrangement set up on the table as they sat down on it.

"I can't believe what they did to you," Olivia commented.

"Yeah. I think I can eventually get used to it. I just need to make sure I always team with the right people."

"Well, you can always count on me! I won't put you on a leash or let anyone else do that."

"Thanks."

"Huh, they are actually agreeing with each other for once," Tamin thought to herself, "I'm just going to watch how this plays out."

They kept bickering for another minute, Tamin acting as a passive observer. But just as it began escalating, they were interrupted.

"Alright, I got your ice cream!" Another voice said while coming out.

Turning their heads to the other voice, they saw a female shinx coming out. She was wearing a special suit that held the ice cream they ordered on her back and side on cups attached to it.

The shinx came over the table they sat at, with the three grabbing their treats from her.

"I hope you like it!" The shinx happily said to them before she began to turn around and walk off.

"Hang on one second," Locke said to her.

"Yeah?" The female shinx said as she turned around to look at Locke.

"Sorry if this is an odd question, but wasn't your mother Valence?"

"Uh, yeah," she responded.

"Okay," Locke said, "I heard about her from Espeon at the guild. That ninetails would be your dad then, correct?"

"Yeah. He's my father," the shinx responded, with the others getting interested on this conversation, "Why are you asking?"

Locke spent a moment of thought before he responded, having to remind himself of what he was doing.

"Sorry for wasting your time," Locke said. "I think I know all I need about her. I suppose the only real reason I'm interested about her is because we're the same species."

"Yeah, I guess it is kind of neat to see another shinx," she said while looking at the ground and having her mood change, "My name is Elley by the way (and no, that's not short for anything).

"Well, nice to meet you. I'm sure you're a great person."

"Thanks..." Elley said as her head and tail lowered.

Elley spent a moment looking at the ground while she reminisced. Seeing another shinx had awoken some memories within her. It was a story she was well familiar with, but one she tried to repress. She was not always an only child, but was ever since her old house was lit on fire years ago and killed her siblings inside. It was a tale she tried to forget; absentmindedness was her go-to coping mechanism, but seeing another shinx served as her stark reminder that the lonely life of an only child was one she was so close to not having to live, and hearing the name of her mother was a stark reminder that she was left only with her dad.

"Are you okay?" Tamin asked Elley, noticing how she was looking at the ground.

"Huh? Oh right- yeah, I'm alright… Enjoy your ice cream, thank you for coming."

The female shinx went back towards the building, retreating to her abode to escape from social interaction again.

The three turned to look at each other, and then silently returned to their treats. The ice cream barely melted at all due to the temperature, which offered more time for them to be consumed in their ideal form instead of a liquid soup of flavor. There were also glasses of water present that they took to treat their chilled throats.

Although even if it wasn't melting much, Locke had limited dexterity with his quadruped build and had some blotches fall off from the cone onto his fur and harness. With permission, Tamin cleaned the blotches with her tail before the stains could get too deep, and that action led to an unarticulated but predictable spike of jealousy in Olivia.

Hours passed since they finished their ice cream and paid. Dinner was served and eaten, many eyes still stared at Locke, the nocturnal pokemon woke up, and the planet kept spinning. To Locke, It felt like the day was twice as long as it actually was whereupon the moon was several hours late to its shift. Yet instead of putting himself to bed in an attempt to end the cursed day early and gain sleep which he still very much needed, Locke opted instead to sit on the porch of the guildhouse's second story to sit alone and gaze at the moon.

The temperature was frigid- above freezing but still enough to cause shivers in those used to living in well-heated homes; and the wind complimented to create the small whisper of nature. He wasn't fully sure himself why he felt it was best to be there, perhaps the outdoors and canvas of stars overhead gave him that illusive feeling of freedom more than anything else. It was serene, for the first time that day Locke felt it actually could go on for hours longer and he would be fine.

As Locke continued to sit down and silently look up at the moon and around the land, Dewott quietly came up to where he was and looked at the shinx in his peace. Dewott didn't see a ferocious pokemon who got rightfully restrained like others had, he only saw a friend.

"Hey, Locke," he spoke to catch his attention.

"Huh? Oh hey, Dewott."

"Mind if I come?"

"Go ahead."

The water type pokemon walked up to the shinx and sat down with him, sitting on the edge with his legs dangling off.

"Sorry for how today has gone," Dewott said.

"I know… still freaking hate Hunter," Locke vented.

"I can understand that."

They fell silent for another second, their conversation getting as frigid and hollow as the temperature felt on their skin.

"Any particular reason you came here?" Locke asked.

"Yes, actually," Dewott replied. "I just wanted you to know that I've gone through some pretty humiliating stuff in this guild, we all have. So you're not alone with this."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"So… you've attacked other guild members and gotten restrained before as well?" Locke asked, his tone increasing greatly to indicate high confusion.

"Well, no. I'm not- that in specific hasn't happened to me, I'm referring to like, embarrassment in general," Dewott clarified.

"Oh, I see," Locke said, understanding. "So.. what have you gone through then?"

"Well…" he said with a nervous look and raising his arm to scratch the back of his head, "I've had a few times in the guildhouse where I needed to use the bathroom badly and- well- I couldn't hold in my bladder long enough."

"Oh… ick, sorry to hear that," Locke replied, having some second-hand embarrassment as he visualized what was being described.

"Yeah… it's some medical issues I was hatched with, not very fun to deal with."

"I can see why that would be pretty bad. Say, is there anything you need some help with?"

"Well, there are some errands in town I plan to do tomorrow. I hate shoppin' but I've delayed it longer than I should have already."

"I see. I can help you out with that if you want," Locke told him.

"Ya sure? It'll probably be a few hours (I've put way too much stuff off). You could just rest tomorrow away from everyone else," Dewott said, surprised that Locke would make the offer.

"Yea, if you need help then I can give that," he assured.

"Dude, no one's forcing you. You've gone through a lot today, you can take some time off to yourself."

"Don't worry about me, I'm always up to helpin' you out."

"Well… thank you then, I guess I'm just surprised you would still be willing to do that after all of this."

"Nah, it's alright. After thinking about it, I just don't see how this is worse than the near-death experiences that I've had in dungeons. That's something you should know about me: I can be bent without being broken."

"That's very fine to know then!" Dewott said with spirits brought up from the depths of melancholy, "I could try to think of some competitions we could do tomorrow after the errands are done."

"I mean we certainly could, but I think we both know who the stronger one is now."

"What do you mean?"

"There hasn't been any restraints put on you, meanwhile I'm the one who's so strong they had to put a harness on me to hold back my power! I'm literally too powerful for them to handle," Locke joked around, even though he knew full that wasn't the reason he had to wear the harness.

"Haha, yes of course! I bet you're so powerful you could one-'v'-one a legendary if you weren't held back," Dewott played along to the joke.

"Just watch, the moment this gets taken off there's going to be this burst of energy from me that destroys the guildhouse."

"They're gonna have to upgrade to some pressurized restraints soon enough."

"Ah, but will that be enough?"

The two shared more jokes and laughed with one another for minutes longer, enjoying one another's company.

"Man, it's great to see you're still fun to be with," Dewott said after getting through the jokes.

"Thanks. Hey, it's getting late, but do you want to be together tomorrow as well?" Locke asked.

"Not sure, I had some plans with Mienfoo we made a week ago that day," Dewott replied.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask, how are things going between you and her?"

"Great as always! She's a delight to be with."

"That's good to hear. Say, who's the dominant one in your relationship? I don't believe I've asked," Locke casually inquired.

"Wait, what?" Dewott responded in confusion.

"What do you mean 'what'?"

"I don't get what you mean by 'dominant'?"

"Crystal told me about that. To avoid getting into arguments, it's best that people in relationships just agree on one of them to be a dominant one. That way, the other can just follow what that person says and there will be no more arguing."

"Umm, no. Neither of us are, we're both equals," Dewott said, still confused.

"Really?"

"Yes. I'ma be frank, I've never heard of that 'dominant one' stuff you're talking about right now."

"You haven't? Huh… Do you get into arguments with Mienfoo?"

"Well yeah, but not anymore than a healthy amount."

"Hmm…"

"I'll be honest, I haven't heard of that kind relationship at all before. It actually sounds kind of- well, it's not what everyone does. I can say that much," Dewott said, correcting what he was saying to avoid coming across as rude.

"Huh, alright then. Anyways, anything else you want to chat about?"

They continued talking until they ran out of things to say on the top of their head and wanted to move inside to avoid the cold night.

End of chapter 13.