Three months it had been since Locke saved Tamin from a snowstorm, one month it had been since he secured a wagon to get its contents back to its owners. But he couldn't tell you that himself, for even with his robust instincts and sense of time that comes with that, such a lifestyle of solitude will make the days seem to blend together for anyone.

Locke shifted around in his bed. His ears twitched from hearing noises near him and his head lifted up from it.

For once, he wasn't woken up by Niot or Espeon knocking on his door. Rather, It was a ruffle of voices and footsteps in the guildhouse that did the job unintentionally.

He blinked his eyes a few times as he slowly shifted towards being awake, each blink showing an eye that was less silted than the last. His sleepy-self gradually got replaced with a conscious awareness of reality.

He was lying awake in his bed. Just like the day before that, and the day before that, and so on. Locke got out of his bed, went over to his room door, slid the pin out of place, and opened the door to get out, investigating what the noise was about.

Now outside of his room, the shinx travelled down the hallway to get to the foyer. There he saw that nearly all the other guild members- nocturnal and diurnal alike- were up as well. All of them were curiously crowding around windows and doors to view the outside.

He searched for his own way to view the outside between all the bodies taller than him. During this time, he got to hear what they were saying clearer.

"It all just disappeared overnight?" one of the guild members said.

"This probably isn't going to last," another commented.

"So what kind of pokemon do you think caused this sporadic weather change? Dragonair?" Another guild member asked.

Locke found a small table in the foyer, which he carefully jumped up onto in order to get a better position. Now elevated, he was able to get a view of the outside through one of the windows. In doing so: he saw that the world outside had completely changed without his notice.

Outside was no longer the white blanket of snow that he had come to know. Most of it was now melted away, with only a pile of snow with black tops remaining here and there. The ground was revealed, although it was muddy and the grass wasn't green yet.

Although it was a far cry from the wilds he remembered from last autumn, it was still a look into a world that wasn't snowed in. It was no longer the white wasteland that the last few months had been.

Locke smiled as excitement coursed through him, his emotion mirrored those of many others in the guild. After an entire season of melancholy, seeing the actual ground was something of a spectacle and gave him more than just a speck of hope for freedom outside of the guildhouse.

"Well, everyone up and excited, aren't we?" Espeon was heard saying.

Everyone turned their heads to look at Espeon, and also Umbreon who was close behind him.

"I'm certainly not blaming any of you, tough explorer or not, I think we all missed being able to breathe in fresh air without feeling your throat get chilled," Espeon said. "Come on, let's take a closer look."

After hearing the guildmaster saying that, Armin quickly grabbed the handle on the door to open it up. He stepped outside and felt the slightly brisk air surround him, just as Espeon had described.

Once Armin entered the outside, he turned around to watch the crowd of other guild members rushing towards the outdoors. Locke was among them as he jumped off of the table he was on to join in the mad dash. Armin did not see an image of brave warriors marching out, he saw an image more akin to children being let out to play on a playground. It was a sight that would invoke nostalgia in even the most cold-hearted of individuals.

It wasn't any summer heat for sure. Fifteen degrees celsius was still enough to induce a shiver to those which lacked thick fur coats, a discovery it didn't take long for most of them to make. Some headed back inside to grab clothing to warm them, but most simply remained outside and bared through it, for it was still heaven in comparison to what came before.

When they could look completely around themselves while outside, they saw that the meltdown extended in all directions. The buildings in town were getting opened back up from the snow no longer clogging the streets and the forests were thawing out. The only thing that still had snow on it were the tops of the mountains, who had stubbornly refused the change of seasons.

Scampi was immensely happy with winter seeming to come to an end while Crystal actually had a part of her that was sad to see the snow go away. As for Locke, he was one of the happiest ones there. As he walked and jumped around on the outside, he willingly got himself dirty with all of the mud around, staining his fur and getting dirt under his harness. He didn't think about that form of staying sanitary; relishing in freedom was his priority.

"Aye, can't wait to start getting back to the real outdoor stuff," Dewott thought out loud.

"Well, looks like the due shedding season will start up again soon. Won't that be fun to take care of..." Niot said to himself as he went back inside the guildhouse, but spoke loud enough for his cynicism to be heard by others.

"We don't know whether or not this will last, guys." Mawile said, "The snow could come back. But I sure do hope it stays this way."

"Well, we can just send someone to ask the absol what is going to happen with the weather," Rustin said, directly replying to Mawile.

Whether they took the situation with maturity or acted like a kid being let out of recess, they enjoyed it together. .

Tamin was woken up later than most of the guild, it being the bustle from the rush to get outside to wake up.

She saw Locke out there, even if he was more brown than black and blue from all of the mud. She had a plan in mind on how she'd first capitalize on this new season, and she didn't wait for a second longer to start it.

She strategically walked across the land to avoid getting dirty and tried to avoid the mud being kicked around. Tamin got closer to Locke, but had to exercise every bit of caution she had to stay clean.

"Hey!" Tamin called out to Locke to try to get his attention.

"Coming!" Locke replied.

While Tamin was careful to not get herself covered in the mud, Locke had no such precautions. He sprinted over to Tamin and went through several puddles of mud and areas of loose dirt as he went over to her. Tamin had to take a step back from him to avoid any of the mud Locke was kicking up from hitting her.

"What is it?" Locke said once he stopped and got up to Tamin.

"Since we can comfortably be outside now, would it be alright if we went off to have a private talk?" Tamin asked, "It won't take long, I'm just wanting to go somewhere where no one could listen in on us."

"Umm," Locke spent a moment thinking about the proposal, comparing that with his desire to play around. "Mmm… sure. Let's do that."

Locke had his own questions to ask about Tamin, so he agreed to speak to her privately in order to ask those, with Tamin having similar reasons for bringing up the proposal.

"Thank you," Tamin said while pulling up her paw to point northward towards the mountains, "Mind if we talk over there? It will be a little more secluded."

"Uhh, sure I guess..."

Tamin paused for a moment to think about what she had said, and then began speaking again.

"Oh, I guess the way I said it kinda sounds like I'm baiting you into a trap or something."

"Well I mean it wouldn't be as bad as the trap of being stuck in a building with Hunter for three months if you did somehow make one, so sure," Locke joked around. "It could only make me more free from how I previously have been."

"Uhh. Well- well okay. Let's just head off now."

Tamin began walking towards a road that led to the mountains with Locke going to follow her. She still tried to avoid stepping in any mud while Locke walked a direct path, going through several puddles.

Seeing Locke have such little concern about his own cleanliness bothered Tamin and her instincts, prompting her to bring the subject up for talking about.

"Do you… Need any help cleaning yourself?" Tamin asked as they continued to walk.

Locke took a moment to check himself, seeing just how dirty his fur and harness had gotten in such a small amount of time.

"I didn't think I do," he said, "I can just shake myself off and then take a bath. Shouldn't be hard."

"Alright then (let boys be boys I guess), but don't be shaking yourself off right next to me," Tamin said.

"Relax, I'll wait until we head back to the guildhouse."

"Right."

Locke and Tamin got to the road and started going towards the mountains. As they walked, Tamin rehearsed a plan she had come up with in her head, preparing herself to begin executing it.

"I just need to get some evidence against Crystal. Something concrete, something I can show to someone else. Just something that shows she's up to bad things," Tamin thought while putting one foot in front of the other. "Because if I get that, then I can show it to Yuki. And if I show it to Yuki, then she'll blackmail Crystal with it. Crystal will then become Yuki's new plaything, and won't focus on me as much. She might even be thankful to me that I showed it to her, and leave me alone with that.

Dark, but if Crystal is doing what I think she is, then I am okay with sentencing her to what Yuki did to me."

As they entered the heightened region and the mountains loomed over them, Tamin reflected on the fact that she first encountered the snowstorm and winter along with it while in the mountains, and now she was going back there when the snow was melting away and winter was coming to an end. The same region served as both a starting point and ending point for her time in the cold winter.

Once they had gone a reasonable distance into the mountains, talking between them started to happen.

"This should be far enough," Locke said.

Tamin stopped at her own pace after hearing Locke and started to look around.

"Right, this should be good," Tamin said after judging the scenery for herself.

"So, anythin' in particular you wanted to talk about?" Locke asked while he sat down on the road.

Tamin let out a deep sigh, preparing herself for the conversion she was about to start.

"I held my tongue for a little while, one part because I wanted to stay as a bystander, one part because I didn't want to stop you if you were enjoying it, and one part because I didn't want to speak just to be eavesdropped on," Tamin explained. "But I can't just stay passive forever, I know well enough to know you won't be truly enjoying it, and I've made keenly sure there's no one that can be listening in on us.

Locke, I need to talk to you about Crystal."

Locke let out a sigh himself, knowing both that it wasn't a conversation he wanted to have, but Tamin had managed to set things up in just such a way that there was a palpable obligation urging him to remain.

"Look, I've gotten talks about Crystal before, and stuff, and I've thought about it. I know about this" Locke said, "I've noticed some of the stuff as well, and I'll admit it

But… I still think I want to be with her. She's made me happy in the past, and I'm sure she'll make me happy in the future. "

"...Now, are you absolutely sure with that?" Tamin asked, concerned, "I mean, I've seen you be marked after going away from her and being sleep deprived."

"Hey, marks build character, don't they?" Locke said. "You can't write a book without putting some marks on paper, and I feel l'd like a little more story on me."

"Please take this seriously, Locke," Tamin said.

"Sorry, her and I have been refining our sense of humor out together. I forgot you haven't gotten a good look into the void like we have. Hey, would you like if I gave you a look real quick?" Locke said, smiling and with a bit of electricity coming out of him.

Tamin was annoyed by Locke not taking the situation earnestly and sprinkling his dark jokes in. She thought about how to continue the conversation, when suddenly, an idea struck her head with how she could work around that.

"I'm just not so sure she's really beneficial to you," Tamin said.

"Look, you just don't see the nice things she does to me, only those marks and stuff."

"Really? I doubt that. I'm willing to bet that even when you first met her years ago she wasn't the best," Tamin said. "I think even back then she would have just been giving you colds and making you ill."

"I… why would you say that?" Locke asked, confused by Tamin's oddly specific accusation.

"Because back then she was a sneeze-al," Tamin said.

Locke let out a chuckle. It made her smile, not only because she managed to get someone to laugh at her puns for once, but it meant that she was getting on Locke's level.

"Nah, she was only good to me back then," Locke said. "And while I will admit I do reminisce on how she used to be- well- a lot, she still is a good girlfriend to me after all that time and she evolved."

"Really? Did she make that scarf you wear? Did she sew cloth to make the bags you use, the harness you wear? The coat you wore?" Tamin began asking. "Or has she made any piece of clothing for you?"

"Well, no. But I don't see how that's-"

"Then it sounds like she's not a very good weave-ile then," Tamin said, her smile peeking wider than she did with her last pun.

Locke let out another chuckle, slightly heavier than the last.

"Well listen, I can understand your concern and all. I've thought about it before. But just trust me, I'm okay with her."

"Hmm… well okay, but at the very I'd like it if you stopped going into her room."

"Why? Because that's where I get the marks and end up staying up?" Locke said, getting slightly more annoyed but still in a positive mood from Tamin's jokes. He also didn't realize how self-incriminating his words were, it was a slip of the tongue that went through his teeth before his mind.

"It's more than that. It's the room of Crystal, who is a girl. And it's on the second floor, well off of the ground."

"Wh-what are you going on about?" Locke said, absolutely stupefied. "You're a girl too,"

"What I'm saying is past the door to Crystal's room is no man's land," Tamin said while stepping forward and smiling widely.

Locke went from chuckling to properly laughing, taking a few seconds to get it out of their system as the two stood together on the mountain path.

"So yeah, all jokes aside, I think it's for your own safety that you put some distance between you and her," Tamin concluded. "I'm not saying this because it's what I want, I'm saying this because I think it's what's best for you."

"Alright, alright, alright," Locke said as he finished getting out the giggles. "I know what you're talking about, and I get what you're saying. But… it would just be awfully rude if I broke up with her, I don't think that's what's best. And as I said, there are good things she does as well."

"I can't control you. But if you won't stay away from her completely, can you at least promise to me that you'll keep your guard up around her more?"

"Yes. I can promise that," Locke spoke in earnest.

"Thanks. That's really good to hear," Tamin said, relieved. "I just don't want you getting hurt, be that from mystery dungeons, Hunter, or Crystal."

"Of course," Locke said. "Although… can I ask why you so concerned about me?"

Tamin shifted uncomfortably, Locke triggered a chord in her that he didn't mean to. Before she spoke, she raised one of her paws in front of her eyes and spread her fingers apart to look at it. The torn webbings between them serving as a permanent memento to less than savory memories.

"I've seen abuse before," Tamin said while lowering her paw to look Locke in the eyes, "and I never want you to go through it."

"...You've told me about your past before, but, can you tell me more about it?" Locke asked, "What...have your parents made you go through?

No one is around to hear us, so it's safe to tell me."

Tamin shifted uncomfortably again before she began answering earnestly.

"Really what I've told you, but to the nth degree." Tamin told Locke, "They never listened to what I wanted to do. Always dragged me along to whatever thing they were wanting no matter what I said. Dressed me up and forced me to smile to others to keep this illusion of a perfect family. And whenever I did anything to harm that illusion, they cut me and kept me away from everyone else. Sometimes taking away meals if I didn't behave 'right'.

Every night they would lock me in my room. Every morning they would force me awake so I would follow under whatever schedule they had for us."

Tamin stopped for a moment to look downwards, her thoughts continuing to grow darker as she recalled her past experiences. She pulled her paw back up to look at it, spreading it apart to look at the red areas where the webbings used to be.

"There was one time in particular. One time where I was insane from all of it.

And although I think that word has been used so liberally now-in-days, 'insanity' is really the only thing that properly describes what I went through. After all the abuse I had taken, something in my mind just gave out. I gave up on trying to better my situation and accepted my abuse with open arms; I acted like getting cut was nothing out of the ordinary. And well, I guess it's true that from your perspective, insanity is nothing out of the ordinary and you don't notice anything is off.

That must have lasted a month, I was gibbering insanely and they didn't do anything to help me. Aside from hiding me and my condition from the world, of course.

This all came down to… one day in particular.

I was locked in my room to get through my current fit of madness. While I was sporadically dancing around, I accidentally cut my paw on some loose thing in the room.

I naturally looked at the wound and blood that had been created. It was right at the webbings in my paw. But instead of being scared or disturbed by the blood, I instead got excited. Excited when I noticed that I could spread my paw apart just a little bit farther out because of the cut.

And so I did what my insanity-infested mind apparently saw best. I grabbed a knife they left in my room and placed it right at the base of the wounded webbings, and sliced upwards. With it mutilated open, I move on to the next webbing in between different fingers and the next. Once one paw was done and colored in blood, I grabbed the knife with the destroyed paw and moved onto my other paw. I committed self-harm in some twisted goal of making myself better and completly mutilated my paws in doing so. At least, that's the best I can do to make sense of it. I'm not sure I had any reasoning for it at all.

Once I was done, I put the knife down to just look at the bloodied pulps my paws became and… Arceus, why did that have to be the moment my sanity came back to me?"

Tamin took another pause in her story to straighten herself out and see how he was reacting. Locke was thoroughly disturbed at that point, he just starred on.

"I think the difference between dread and other fears is that with dread, there is no screaming or running. Only sitting there while you stare forth, the terrible implications of whatever you are looking at weaving its way into your mind. After all, it isn't like you can run from your own wounds. Or like there would be anyone who would help me if I screamed.

And when I saw there looking at my torn up paws, having clarity after a month of literal insanity, the only thing I could ask myself was why they never helped me. Why they left me mellow in my condition until it led to this.

That was the last straw. After that was a month of picking locks, taking things from them that I deserved and sticking my nose where it didn't belong.

At the end was my magnum opus. Gathered all the stuff I needed in bags while I waited for everyone to go asleep, picked my way out of my room, got to the right window in the hallway, climbed down the tree under it, and ran away from that house of horrors. And here I am now."

Tamin raised her head to look at Locke. Seeing him with his head taken back, being caught off guard by her story and more understanding of where Tamin was coming from.

"Oh, sorry. I suppose I rambled on with that story a bit."

"I am so sorry that happened," Locke apologized himself. "I… I never realized it was that bad…"

Tamin didn't respond verbally, she gave a slow, solemn nod.

Locke got up from sitting down and started walking off, going in the opposite direction of the guildhouse and deeper into the mountains instead of back towards where they came from.

"Anything else you want to mention?" Locke stopped and turned his head back to Tamin to say.

"Yeah. If I have to tell you one thing about Crystal: Don't just let her throw you around. Sometimes you need to say "no" and sometimes it will help to keep the relationship alright. Tell her if you're uncomfortable, don't let her constantly be making you so controlled."

"Alight. I'll remember that," Locke replied.

Locke turned his head back away from Tamin and began walking forward again.

"Uh, that's not the way the guildhouse is," Tamin stated.

"Yeah, I know," Locke stopped one more time to say. "I'm going to the absol colony to ask them when the next thunderstorm will be.

I've been wanting to challenge Hunter to a fight and get back at him for a long now, but couldn't because there's no place in the guildhouse for that. Now that the snow's gone, I'm going to figure out when the next thunderstorm will be so that I can challenge him on a day that I'll have the advantage in."

"Don't you think it is a little underhanded to take him on in a thunderstorm?" Tamin asked. "I know electric types get stronger in those."

"No more underhanded than what he usually does," Locke answered.

"Goodpoint," Tamin replied. "I'll tell the guild that you're gone and coming back then."

"Yeah. Thanks" Locke considered turning back around to walk away right there, but something else came to his mind and he wanted to ask it before they got seperated, "Oh, one more thing."

"What is it?" Tamin asked.

"Can I ask what's going on between you and Yuki?" He asked, "I heard that you were going into her room with her from someone else a little while back, and ever since then I have noticed you disappearing a few times throughout the day whenever you get with Yuki.

What are you doing with her?"

"Umm… I'd rather keep that to myself." Tamin said partly because of the blackmail Yuki had on her and knowing that telling Locke about the stuff would be breaking it. That, and the memories of what did happen in there were ones she'd rather forget and not recall.

"Uh, okay I guess," Locke replied, clearly suspicious. "Goodbye for now."

"Bye."

Locke turned back once more and began truthfully departing for the absol colony.

"Just what is she doing with Hunter's sister? Are they friends now?" Locke wondered to himself as he walked off.

"Well, I didn't get any leads like I wanted. I would certainly like to get some dirt on Crystal to get Yuki to blackmail her, but for Locke's sake, I hope she isn't doing what I think she is," Tamin thought to herself as she walked back towards the guildhouse.

She was alone on the way back. The sun had slightly dried the land making it more comfortable for Tamin to walk across, but the difference was minuscule in nature.

The land around the guildhouse didn't have as many pokemon playing around it as before, the initial thrill of getting to be outside having worn off with most heading back inside to prepare for the next meal.

While Tamin approached the guildhouse and got close, she noticed something new about it since she left. The outside part of the second floor that had previously been blocked off, had its doors weathered and buried in snow was not open and in the process of being dug out. The material was thankfully sturdy enough to not have any water be leaked into the main floor.

The weathering had been torn off while Tamin was talking with Locke and several guild members were working on shoveling the snow that remained off of it. However, not all the guild members could actually hold a shovel properly, so some just pushed the dirty snow off with their bodies.

As Tamin approached the guildhouse and got closer, she noticed Umbreon was up on one of the newly-cleared porches on the second floor. Ever since the day where Tamin attempted to sleep in and got to talk with her for a while, she had gotten a stronger trust for Umbreon than she did with Espeon. So she decided she'd meet with her.

After getting back inside, she hardly needed to think about navigating the place, as it had become second nature to her. The rooms containing the staircases to go up were connected foyer anyways, so it wasn't a complicated route.

Once she got upstairs, she opened the door to get to the balcony-like area on the outside. Once revealed, she saw that that side had already been dug out wholly- revealing damp and darkened wood, and that Umbreon sat there alone, looking off into the distance.

"Hey, Tamin said to call for the attention of Umbreon.

Umbreon turned her head ninety degrees to look at Tamin.

"Hey," She said to Tamin back.

"I have some things I need to tell you."

"Oh, come over here then," Umbreon said.

"Uh…" Tamin said, reluctant to go over.

She decided it would be more convenient to just go over to Umbreon than to try to call her over to her. So she stepped over to her on the darkened wood, uncomfortably getting her feet wet in the process.

Once over to the fence at the edge of the building, she was side by side with Umbreon once more.

"I just wanted to say that Locke is away for right now," Tamin told Umbreon. "He said he was going over to the absol colony to ask them about the weather from them."

"Ah, I see," Umbreon said as she turned her head back forward to look off into the distance. "Let him go and be free, I'm not going to force him back here. Let's just hope we don't end up having to put him up as the client for a rescue mission."

"Oh, okay then," Tamin said, "I like that about you, your good with letting others do what they want to do."

"Thanks. It's just a quality about me I like to reinforce," Umbreon replied, pleased. "Anyways, do you have anything else you want to tell me?"

Tamin stopped talking for a second to think on what to see. As she thought about Umbreon's personality, it suddenly struck her on what she needed to talk about.

But before she asked about it directly, she decided it to be wise to gather some information first and be safe.

"...So with this whole rule you have about letting others be free and be themselves, what would you say was the biggest time you went against that rule? The time you decided to break it for the greater good?"

Umbreon looked up to ponder for a moment on the proper answer.

"...Well, there are the times I had to punish Murkrow for constantly invading other people's rooms and stealing things, there's that. Then there's Hunter, who always got some idea to get himself in trouble in mind, but it is typically my brother that calls those on with me just respecting his rules. Same with him dealing with Venasaur when he tries to bully others.

But besides things like those, I make sure everyone has a fair chance to be those."

"I see, I see. Well, you do look after the guild well, right?" Tamin asked Umbreon. "You try to make sure everyone is alright? With the few times you've disciplined one of the guild members was to make the lives of everyone else better?"

"Well, yeah. Of course," Umbreon said. "They're my family. I take care of them."

"Huh, so I suppose I gave you a new person to take care of when I joined."

"Relax, you're no burden to me."

"Thanks. That's good to know."

Tamin paused herself. She knew exactly what she had to do and say, but still needed to build up the nerve to say it. Ultimately, Tamin decided to metaphorically rip off the bandage.

"There's... There's something I need to be honest to you about something." Tamin said to Umbreon.

"What is it?" Umbreon said while she turned her head to Tamin in curiosity.

"I… lied about how old I was when I joined here." Tamin admitted, "I'm still a kid."

Umbreon shifted her body to also face towards Tamin, her being intrigued by what she was saying.

"Is that the case then?" Umbreon asked to clarify.

"Yeah." Tamin said, "My family was abuseful and neglectful. I ran away from there to here, hoping that it would be harder for them to hunt me down and pull me back there if I lived in the guildhouse and had strong pokemon around me. I lied about how old I was to make it sound like I was mature enough to go off on my own.

I never told any of you because I was worried you would force me back there if I told about this."

Umbreon's eyes went away from Tamin as she deeply thought over what she had said. It did help explain her difficulty in staying awake during the night, but there were many other things to ponder over.

"Alright. Thanks for telling me." Umbreon said to Tamin.

"Are you going to-"

"No," Umbreon reassured, knowing what Tamin was going to say. "I'm not going to force you back over there. You're safe here."

"Really?" Tamin asked, beginning to light up.

"Yes," Umbreon reassured again. "How old do you think Scampi is?"

"A-... Umm…" Tamin said, instantly beginning to feel stupid. While her mouth was silent, her mind was screaming at itself for not thinking about that. "Well… acting young isn't always the same thing as being young."

"Well, I'm pretty sure she is younger than you are," Umbreon stated. "And from what I've heard and seen, she's a very nice part of the guild I don't believe it's right to get rid of."

"Well, a-alright. I'm just thankful that I'm safe here," Tamin said, more relieved than she had ever been. It was more than just being glad, it was a dark veil over her head that was lifted.

She felt as though several grams of weight on her back just evaporated into the air. For months she had been fearing being forced back, but now she knew that wasn't a problem. No longer did she have to hide her past, she knew she was safe now.

As she silently stood to think over how much of a burden had been lifted off of her, another thing occurred to her. The blackmailing she made with Tamin, another thing that was limiting and tormenting her, was entirely predicated on Yuki not telling others about her past. But now that that was no longer a concern, it dawned and Tamin that Yuki no longer held any power over her.

Tamin's smile shifted from one of joy to a grin of cunning and revenge. She then turned to Umbreon to speak to her again.

"Oh, there's a few more things I need to tell you about," Tamin said.

"What is it?" Umbreon said as she shifted her head back to Tamin, getting interested again.

"There are a few things about the vulpix Yuki that I am sure you would be very interested to hear about."

Umbreon's eyes widened in curiosity, the tiredness in her eyes went away, and the red eyes instead revealed a mind open to ideas and ready to be enlightened.

Tamin said all she was comfortable in saying, spilling the beans on everything she could. Even though she was not lying, she used all of the techniques she used for deception such as specificity and body language to ensure she would be believed with even seemingly absurd truths. She didn't hold back, for this one time she felt empowered as she spoke. And she made sure Umbreon understood her, every last bit...

Two days later.

Espeon sat in the guildmaster office while digging through a pile of paperwork, much more than he normally had to deal with due to recent changes in the guild and the floodgates of guild missions opening up fully. He'd spent so long in that the chair had marginally more loose pink fur in it than when he began and he was surrounded by pens, stamps, and papers.

In the midst of his work, he heard a knock on the office door.

"Who is it?" Espeon asked, his nose still pointed down at his work but his eyes shifted upwards to look at the door.

"Sylveon," the one on the other door said.

"Oh, come right in!" Espeon said as began closing some books and sliding papers directly in front of him to be diagonal of him, allowing for a clearer line of sight to the door.

Sylveon opened the door up and walked into the office. His face was off from how it normally was, it was disturbed with a stern expression forcefully being conjured to haphazardly cover it up, which gave off about the same effect as someone trying to cover up the scent of having not bathed in weeks by coating themselves in perfume.

"Do you have any updates?" Espeon inquired. It didn't take any psychic power for him to know the answer to that question already, but he asked out of courtesy.

"Yes. I have finished doing a deep search through Yuki's room as per your request," Sylveon answered as he used one of his feelers to shut the door behind himself.

"Excellent. Anything suspicious you found and can tell about?" Espeon asked. "I need a report of what you uncovered."

"I'll be honest, just about everything I found in there was suspicious," Sylveon said straightforwardly.

"Um, okay? Do tell,"

"I don't want to give every detail, but I will do what's necessary.

First thing I noticed was that she soundproofed the walls of her room, and seemed to do so quite thoroughly as well.

Aside from her bed and personal containers that she locked, the room was chock-full of various strange things. I found a few sets of full body clothing- many of which seeming to be humiliating in some way like a maid outfit- that were designed to fit braixen, minccino and zorua. I also found a few odd and unused pieces of clothing stored for other body shapes, and I'm not quite sure on those ones, but I'm guessing they're tailored to fit on mienfoo, dewott, and I think meowstic. It wasn't labeled and admittedly hard to tell. She also kept multiple sets of a lot of the outfits too, I counted.

Beyond those, there were a few other questionable objects. Such as hypnotism watches, a few different types of puzzles that I'm pretty sure were designed to be impossible to complete, a jar of sliced up onions and tissues coated in pepper too. Various odds and ends that seem to be for humiliating pokemon without causing direct physical harm."

"I-I see. I was expecting something bad, but this seems much worse than even I had anticipated. We should get the items-"

"I haven't gotten to the worst parts yet," Sylveon stated.

"Oh…" Espeon expressed.

"Most disturbingly is that I found various methods of restraint, ranging from handcuffs, to lock boxes with air holes, to chairs with ties beside them, and even stranger methods of holding a person in-place. What's strange about this is that she is blackmailing them to be in the room, which makes it entirely unnecessary to also restrain them inside of the room. So I can only assume she had other desires with them."

"Oh…" Espeon said as he stared on in horror, simultaneously trying to visualize what Sylveon was describing and stop himself from imagining it. "I… Thank you very much for doing that search, I will be sure to take account of all of that as we figure out what the full extent of Yuki's punishment should be."

"Yep," Sylveon said, not adding many more words as they had already been said by Espeon.

"Based on your examination results, I can understand why both Tamin and Braixen were refusing to give specific descriptions of what exactly went on in the vulpix's room," Espeon said.

"My personal theory is that she is making them feel as humiliated as possible in what she does, so that they won't want anyone to know what happened to them, and she can then in turn blackmail them with that information as well. So it's this loop of her constantly getting more things to hold against people," Sylveon elaborated.

"When I talked to them, both confirmed the blackmail practices and ways she'd exploit them that matched with what Tamin had initially told Umbreon. I could sense they felt uncomfortable throughout the conversation and I needed to frequently reassure them. I got what was necessary of course."

"So from all this, I think we can strongly conclude that Yuki is- and was- worse than even Hunter was," Sylveon said. "I feel bad for overlooking her for so long, I always saw her as the more tame one in that diabolical duo."

"Indeed," Espeon said, nodding a small amount. "Her actions go outside of merely violating the guild's rules as they straight up go against the laws of the land. So I have been in talks with Niot over what the exact extent of her punishment needs to be. Your reports on what you found, as well as my talks with both Braixen and Tamin will aid us tremendously in getting that figured out.

As of right now, I don't know how severe this discipline will have to be. But I can say that she's going to be down in that kennel for a very long time…"

"Glad you've got the guts to give her some solid discipline, then," Sylveon said. "Although… that does remind me of another topic."

"What would that be?" Espeon asked.

"Venusaur. We have had several reports of him bullying other guild members and harassing them, which he hasn't seem to have been improving on. So I must ask, why hasn't he gotten kicked from the guild yet?"

Espeon's ears dropped down and he looked down at the desk. His mouth opened to let out a sigh.

"He's a moral issue that I think about every single day. Yes, I know of every last report of his bullying. But, I also have multiple reports of him saving lives and doing other good deeds during missions. So as horrendous as his behavior is, I believe I am doing more good than harm to the world by keeping him in the guild, and am trying to look into ways to improve his behavior."

"Right. So just to clarify, you're giving him some kind of immunity to the rules just because of the things he does?" Sylveon asked.

Espeon looked down again, gears churning in his head as he thought of the best way to explain this situation. He narrowed it down to one way to explain it out of many, and opened his mouth to convey it.

"I'd like it if you imagined something for me," Espeon said. "Picture yourself as the guildmaster in my place. Now imagine out in the country, there's a family of pokemon. Say, a pachirisu family who live on the edge of plains at a humble two-story home.

Now imagine that the family's youngest child got stuck in a situation that only Venusaur had the skills to get him out of. However, you decided to kick him from the guild two weeks ago because he was bullying the newest guild member. As a result of him being gone, that pachirisu child dies as no one else has the specialty to save him. The child dies, the family is torn, the parents are absolutely heartbroken.

With that all in your mind, I want you to imagine trying to explain to those parents that their child died because you kicked the one person who was able to save him. That their child is dead because you didn't want your brave and tough guild members to deal with some bullying from him. Try and figure out what you would say to those heartbroken parents to explain the situation."

"I-..." Sylveon stuttered, not sure how to respond. But the eyes alone of the two eeveelutions could convey that they understood each other.

"Exactly," Espeon said. "I will admit, I'm not confident in this decision. I believe that it's a moral issue that has no correct answer to. It has plagued my mind endlessly, and you should know I consider him to be on ice so thin you can feel the water on your feet.

"I understand. And I believe that is all I wanted to discuss with you."

"Wonderful. Let's just hope there are brighter days ahead of us now..."

End of chapter 24.