"So, I've gotten somethin' done that I'm sure outta made me a beast in combat!" Locke said, a smile clearly on display.
"Oh you gotta tell me what you've got then!" Dewott replied.
"I'm not sure I like where this is going…" Tamin commented.
"Well it's simple! Bleedin's a problem and I gotta keep the blood in my body. So I just took some herbs and did some exercises and bam! I removed all the blood flow in my body so i can't be bleedin from most wounds!"
"But what if they puncture your arteries straight!?"
"Well I guess I'm just fricked then!"
"Won't you die from having no bloodflow?"
"I dunno, I might! My wrists feel like they're full of sand right now!"
"Oh, so that's where my special sand collection went to! I must have put it in ya when I were sleep walkin' or somefin!"
"Don't worry, that sorta stuff happens to all of us! I've had a thermostat that got accidentally got put in me like three years ago!"
"Huh, I think I might've noticed that. Does that mean you can use your thermostat to tell me how hot I am?"
"Wish I could, but it broke sometime during year two."
"I guess that explains your quick wit and silver tongue!"
"I 'spouse it does! Might not stay that way though, the quicksilver can't keep moving through my veins after I got rid o' my blood flow!"
Locke and Dewott continued wheezing at that exchange of jokes, whereas Tamin hanged back. It wasn't her place to tell them "no" and she did find it nice to see them happy, but it certainly wasn't her style of humor either.
Tamin leaned back on her seat, and took a glance down at her new cinccino body and her thighs she had two sheathed throwing knives. She'd been assuredly safe in this position inside of the guildhouse and thus had no need for them, yet she kept them at her sides. If not for protection, they were for confidence. They served well to remind her that she could now fight, and it felt good knowing she developed her own combat style with them.
"You doing alright over there, Tamin?" Dewott asked.
"Oh, yeah, I am. Just… lost in thought," she veered her head away from the holstered knives to look the otter in his eyes.
"Great ta hear!" He exclaimed. "How has your evolution been?"
"Pretty good. Didn't actually change as much as I thought it would, for better and for worse. Still getting used to everything seemingly being a different size now," Tamin said. "The oil that's on my fur now is… something I'll need to be getting used to. I'm sure it will feel nice once I do but right now it's kinda uncanny.
"Aye can understand that. Tooque me awhile to get used to being a dewott after I evolved too. I'm sure ya'll get used to it soon enough."
"Thanks, Dewott. I'm sure I'll just need a few days."
"Mhm~. Man, you two have really been getting a whole lot better recently. We should all go on a mission together sometime soon."
"Sounds like a plan to me. I'd certainly like to put to test some of what I've learned," Tamin replied. "Although I'd still rather not go head-first into a really hard mission. Still not feeling one-hundred percent, to be honest."
"Ah, that's alright with me. Tell ya what, let's do a mission with Mienshao on board as a fourth member, I can guarantee you'll be safe with her on board."
"Oh yeah. With how large she is now, she could carry the whole team quite easily."
"She cer'nly could! I bet she could carry just about the entire guild at once."
"Not sure I'd particularly like getting carried around like that."
"She could wear ya like a hat then."
"Do you think she could lift that arcanine up for a whole dungeon?" Locke asked.
"Hmm, maybe not. Although if she was mounting Max then the two of them could definitely carry the whole guild at once!"
"That'd be epic."
"Are you thinking we could somehow all just snap together like magnemite forming a magneton?"
"That's exactly I'm thinking right 'ere!" Dewott shouted.
"Yeppirino! We could charge down any legendary while that, they'd stand not the slightest no chance!"
The two boys in the room started wheezing again. Tamin smiled as well, though she didn't fully understand the humor of the situation. "I just noticed that their grammar seems to get worse while they are together," were the words that went through cinccino's head.
"Man, it's really fun to be out with you. We ought to do this more sometimes."
"Yeah, I think I agree," Locke replied.
"You aren't doing a whole lot with your room, are you? Maybe we could turn this into like a clubhouse or like that or somefin, yeah?"
"Sure! I've been thinking about getting rid of that dang desk as well anyways, and yeah this place is pretty empty."
"Don't forget that this is your room, though. It's your choice what gets put in here, no one else's," Tamin advised. "You can put something up in here that everyone else hates, and that'll be fine. Don't feel pressured by anyone."
"Tamin, just relax, man," Locke said. "It's really not a big deal, I'm fine with it."
"O-kay then," Tamin responded, looking away as she reminded herself that Locke didn't have the same experiences as her.
"So are ya up for a mission later today? Was joking about the Mienshao carrying part but not the offer."
"I'd love ta, but I was actually asked to not go out for another three or so days."
"Wait, really?" Dewott asked.
Tamin's attentioned also got snatched by that comment.
"Oh, since I acting off they gave me some medication to take. They told me to not go out for missions for a little while and to tell 'em how I felt," Locke calmly explained.
"Ah."
"Wait, what?" Tamin asked, tone now escalated.
"What?" Locke turned his head to the cinccino.
"What did they give you?!" Tamin's voice took on a serious and commanding tone.
"Just a pill?" Locke said, confused by Tamin's sudden shift in demeanor.
"Where? What did they say about it?"
"It was like pea-sized, and I took it in Audino's place just this morning."
"What's got you so worked up?" Dewott asked Tamin.
"You have got to stop taking those now," Tamin commanded. "Is it too late to possibly puke out the one you did take?"
"Woah, what? Why?" Locke responded.
"What's going on with you?" Dewott said. "Like, why don't you want him taking those?"
"My parents used to give me medication that made me more submissive. I needed to start putting them under my tongue and spitting them out in secret to be able to be free again," Tamin said. "If I was still on that stuff, I wouldn't be here today. You cannot take that stuff, I don't want that to happen to you."
"Oh gosh. Well, I'm so sorry that happened to you, but I really don't think they're wanting to do that for me? They just told me it's to help deal with the sadness and trauma and stuff from what I've been through. I'd say I'm feeling better with it."
"I'm serious, that stuff shouldn't be taken lightly. You can do the same trick I did if they try to give you another."
"Tamin, calm down, they probably were just to help him," Dewott said to her. "I mean I've taken some medicine before to try and help deal with my condition. Nothing really bad came from those."
"Well did anything good come from those?" Tamin turned to Dewott to ask.
"Well not really, they were for treating infections and sickness symptoms so they didn't do much when my condition turned out to be from a birth defect. But they didn't really do anything bad either."
"I guess it could've been different. But Locke, you've really got to stop taking that. You have no idea what they could do."
"What do you think they could be doing with it? Do you think Espeon is wanting to make me more submissive?"
"Isn't that basically what they wanted to do with the harness?" Tamin asked.
"I mean…"
"I'ma be honest, I straight up don't think you're right in this situation. Locke's gone through a lot, you both have. They're just wanting to give him some stuff that will help a little bit."
"Well I know what that 'stuff' is for and can do!"
A momentary standoff that overtook the room's atmosphere, eyes locked on each other, Tamin leaning forward, Locke turning concerned.
"I… don't want an argument," Locke admitted with a sad look on his face. Quite like the one he had the day after breaking up with Crystal.
The other two turned. They could feel Locke's remorse and pain as he uttered those words.
"Should we… leave you be?" Dewott offered.
"I think so, yeah," he said. "I'll think about what to do and ask them about it."
Locke and Dewott silently looked at each other. As the otter did, he noticed Tamin's paw moving away from the hilt of one of her knives. They looked into each other's eyes, making a silent agreement. Or rather- silent truce.
Dewott left the room, plus Tamin shortly after. They split up by taking different directions. Needless to say, their mood was gone.
Espeon, Sylveon, Niot the chatot, and Umbreon were gathered inside of Espeon's bedroom. What was once something they had only done in scarcity had become a familiar occurrence for all four of them.
"How has the nocturnal side of the guild been functioning, now that it's been a few days?" Espeon sasked, eyes drawn towards Umbreon.
"Worried, I'd say. And sad," she replied. "Things have become harder without her as well. She'd actually been helpful for missions, so we've been trying to find ways to change up our tactics to move on. Several members have been studying new moves to use and tricks they can do. We could really use a new member to replace Crystal, we were honestly under-maned before this happened."
"Sorry about that. Niot, could we get some advertising made for recruiting more nocturnal members?" Espeon's gaze shifted towards the chatot.
"Should be possible. How soon should I get on that? I'm already busy with other logistics and preparing for legal trouble that might come with Crystal."
"No hurry," Umbreon softly replied on Espeon's behalf.
"Anything I can help with regarding all this?" Sylveon asked no one in particular.
"I think you'd be best off if you kept patrolling the guild, watch out to make sure we don't have anymore Crystals or Olivias," Espeon told him.
"Can do."
"I'll admit, I can't get rid of the fear that there are some more manipulators in the guild aside from her…"
"I had reason to suspect Crystal for a little while, ever since Locke mentioned he was giving his earned money to her. I'll make sure to act on my instincts better now.
I can say that there's no one I really have the same suspicions for as of now, so I think we're in the clear for the moment," Sylveon elaborated, speaking like the voice you would imagine a tax report having if it could speak. "Well there is Venasaur, but you all know about him and he hasn't particularly gotten worse recently."
"Keep an eye on him, don't be subtle about it either. I think the feeling of being watched would keep him in check."
"I will do as much."
"Good."
"Speaking of instincts, how is that shinx Locke doing?" Umbreon softly asked.
"He's been put on some light medication now to help him, as Mawile recommended. No problems have seemed to crop up yet, and he won't be going on missions for a few days until we can be sure there's no side effects," Espeon elaborated. "We'll still need to be giving him extra attention to make sure he's okay."
"That sounds sweet," Umbreon said, just as softly and looking off to nothing in particular.
"Yes. Do you have more to say, or would now be a good time for me to bring up a different matter entirely?" Niot asked.
"Go ahead," Espeon gave confirmation.
"Alright. We've had a logistical problem crop up recently. Olivia helped Mawile with flares and was the one to do the final assembly. Now Mawile knows how to do the final assembly and can make an entire flare herself, but I worry that we'd be overburdening her if we put all the work on her," Niot explained. "We have a stockpile of flares built up so it isn't an immediate problem. But I did some quick math on how fast we go through them, and we're sure to start running out in a few weeks."
"I'm well aware of that, and did consider that with Olivia. We'll simply have to find a replacement for her in the time we have," Espeon said. "There are workshops in Rosiose, so we can start our look for someone from there. If things get worse I can tell our members to begin rationing the flares more."
"I can start looking out for recruitments for that as well then," Niot nodded.
"Okay…" Espeon paused for a second, looking up as he searched his mind for anything else to say. "Alright, I think we've discussed a fair bit today. Anything else before we close things up and get back to work?"
"Yes," Umbreon said. "How has mental health been for everyone? It sounds like Locke has been improving, but what about everyone else? I can't imagine they've been too good with all that has happened."
"Good question, let me think…" Espeon looked away from the others to collect his thoughts. He mentally went through a checklist of every member of the guild and if he could think of anything off about them. "Armin has definitely been getting more and more withdrawn from others, barely talking with anyone aside from Max. I'm also pretty sure he's been at the guildhouse less, but I've been a bit too busy to check. I've been meaning to reach out to him.
But mostly, I'd say Snivy has been worrying."
"Oh really? I've forgotten about him," Sylveon mentioned.
"Well… that's kind of the problem," Espeon mentioned. "He's been underperforming on missions and often coming back injured. He's actually good at patching himself up, but only physically. I can tell the losses are getting to him. And with the chaos in the guild right now with both Crystal and Olivia, those are ought to contribute to that. I think he needs help.
Call it 'instincts' or have you, but with everyone here, I can see a certain spark in them that makes me know they're either a great explorer, or could become one. I've seen them have motivation to get better, keep going out, and be happy with their victories (even if they had problems along the way). I haven't seen that in Snivy. He seems lost, confused, and just needing some help."
"I see. If I have the chance to, I'll talk to him," Umbreon said.
"Tamin also really struggled when she first joined the guild, but she's gotten much stronger recently and enthusiastic about it. Could be the same story with Snivy," Sylveon commented.
"Tamin originally joined the guild so she'd have a place to stay at which was separate from her abusive family, and was trying to hide from them, even when she didn't want to do missions. If it's 'the same story with Snivy' then that is deeply concerning and needs to be investigated immediately."
"Oh…" Sylveon verbally retreated as he realized what he meant.
"Mhm."
"I don't mean to shift responsibility, but I think out of the four of us, you'd be the best one to handle that," Niot told Espeon. "I'm best at managing paperwork, Sylveon's best at patrolling and not so much with social skills, and Umbreon handles the guild at night. If something's the matter with Snivy, I think you should be the one to talk to him about that."
"Sounds good to me," Espeon said. "So, I'll watch Locke and Snivy's mental states, Umbreon will watch over the nocturnal guild members as she has been and look into finding more to recruit, Niot will work on all the troubles with Crystal and Olivia, and then the problem with flares when that's fixed, and Sylveon will keep on doing what he has been. Sounds good to everyone?"
An identical nod came across the entire room.
"Good. Best of luck to everyone in these unfortunate times. I'll declare this meeting adjourned."
"I don't need to know all the details. I'd just like to know what exactly he's being given," Tamin asked.
"I'm not sure I can give you those details. There's patient confidentiality with this matter," Audino replied.
"I just want to make sure it's entirely safe," Tamin said, raising a paw for the extra persuasion factor it could bring. "I'm close to him so I don't want him taking anything that's potentially bad."
"I can assure you that it is safe. It was prescribed by an expert who took careful consideration for what Locke needed. So you shouldn't have anything to be worried about."
"Were you the one to prescribe it?"
"No, but I did approve of it. I know my medicine, but not enough of psychology to make a diagnosis with that," Audino calmly explained. "I can understand why you are scared, you want what's best for your friend and a mysterious remedy is suspicious. A lot of people are scared right now. But you can trust us, we know what we're doing."
That second part of what she said didn't reassure her, in actuality it annoyed her. People higher than her almost never treated her well, and truly never when it came to anything medical. As a result, she dismissed those words and turned her focus exclusively on the first part.
"So it wasn't you, but someone who knows more about psychology that decided what Locke needed?" Tamin asked.
"That is correct."
"Alright. Thanks anyways, even if you couldn't entirely help me."
"You are welcome, Tamin," Audino reassured. "Feel free to speak to me anytime you have concerns."
"Got it," she said as she turned around.
Tamin's head tilted upwards as she got herself lost in thought whilst leaving the infirmary room. "So it wasn't Audino who made that call, but apparently someone who knows more about psychology," she pondered. "Umbreon manages the nighttime guild members so I doubt she'd be the one to decide what's best for Locke. Niot told me he studied law awhile back so I doubt he's also studied psychology and medicine enough to do that. I don't believe Espeon's ever put time into studying that… yeah, he hasn't. I've seen both his office and his bedroom and he would've had some degree of education up on some wall if he did have a degree in that. Since he had nothing, I can pretty safely he doesn't have a great knowledge in that subject. Sylveon's also not a big decision maker, so I can rule him out as well.
If he or she is familiar with Locke, then they're probably in this guild too. So with a guildmember that the administration trusts and is acutely familiar with psychology, that would narrow it down to… Mawile. She's really the only one who ticks all the boxes."
Tamin was out in the halls of the basement now, and swiftly making her way back to the main floor. Didn't take great pathfinding skills when she was well familiar with the exact route back and it wasn't very far away.
"So what's the real motive here? Did the harness not make Locke what as submissive as she was hoping, so she's wanting to drug him instead? I should really figure out what's going on here, before an awful thing happens.
I beat Yuki awhile ago, she might be free now but she's not bothering me anymore and certainly got her time. I can do this again. In fact, right now I have the advantage where I suspect her but she doesn't suspect me.
Alright, so what's the first step? Well first of all, I should just get information on her. I can figure out where to go from there."
Tamin stepped upstairs with newfound conviction. Not once in her entire thought process did she entertain the idea that the medication Locke was on might just have a benign intention behind it. She decided that it could only be for malicious intent at the opportunity and anchored to that assumption.
Tamin debated with herself on what the best way to proceed would be. With a check at the clock, she noticed it had slipped to be forty-five minutes after noon. With just a moment of thought, it dawned on Tamin that this was about the time when she would normally depart on a mission, before all the madness started with Crystal pushing Locke too far. "Should I head out, or should I stay inside today to get some other things built up on? Well, the spotlight's probably already on me after I was nearly killed and spent time training, so trying to lay low right now isn't too effective. I shouldn't do anything suspicious if I want to find info on Mawile right now.
Plus, if I do go on a mission, that'd make the story in everyone's head be 'the cinccino that got attacked started training and has now made a grand recovery, doing missions again' or something to that effect. So yeah, that's definitely the better option here."
She made her way to the questboard and looked at the requests. It was the usual affair: a few requests for item retrivials, a couple of rescue missions- most of which already taken, and minor variations thereof. It was what she could expect, it's not like the requests coming in from outside of the guildhouse would get changed because of what happened from within.
Tamin was leaning on just taking a random mission with a difficulty within her acceptable range. That was until she noticed a perfectly square piece of paper that was in the upper-right corner. It was a fairly standard item retrieval mission to get a chalice back from a desert. Sounded fantastical with those things put together, and the mission paid fairly well. It would take a little while to get there and back, but not obscenely so. Dust and sand were much easier for her to clean off of herself than anything moist and sticky, so the environment rubbed her the right way as well. It even provided a picture that showed the dungeon having a few acacia trees that she could climb. All-in-all it simply seemed perfect for her. A step up from what she previously embarked on, not too far away, and gave opportunities to test out her new techniques.
She had to climb a bit to reach, but she tore the paper from its thumbtack and kept it with her. "Alright, this shouldn't take long. Now to get a team ready."
Now came time for gathering a team together. Nidorina was right beside Tamin in the room, so she first asked her. Tamin couldn't even finish her full question before Nidorina responded with an enthusiastic "Yes!". Tamin had figured she knew enough about Nidorino that should Nidorina wrap her up in a conversation along the way, then she could just hold a conversation about her brother.
Only a minute later, Tamin stumbled across Dewott as Nidorina was following her around. She hadn't forgotten about their interaction from earlier that day: neither how it started or how it ended. There wasn't any way around it, Tamin would have to be careful with her words.
"Hey Dewott…" Tamin sounded remorseful. "Want to call a truce?"
Dewott repositioned himself to look at her. Seeing her eyes made things more convincing than just hearing her words. He spent a second to figure out how to respond.
"Still caught up with that drug thing?" he asked.
"Well… yeah," she admitted.
He let out a sigh before responding. "Look man, I've thought more about it, and I still straight up do not think you are right about this."
"I know, and that's why I asked if we could call a truce," Tamin clarified. "I was just thinking that us fighting isn't going to be good for Locke. I mean, we're probably his closest friends, so I can't imagine it would be good for him to see his two best friends fight. Might make him feel guilty and that he has to take a side."
Dewott needed to think for a moment, gently moving his head left and right as he considered her words. "Aight, you do have a point. So do you just want to drop that subject all 'round?"
"I think that would be best, yes. It's for his sake."
"Can do that then."
"Thank you, Dewott."
"No problem. Just glad we didn't let that tear us apart."
"Yeah, I really appreciate it," the cinccino said. "If it's not too much, can I ask for something else from you?"
"Hmm?"
"I was just wondering if you could help me on a mission. It's going to a desert- but not one that's just pure sand, there's some trees here and there," she elaborated. "Doing a mission together would probably be good for us forming a good relationship. It's a time for bonding."
"Is this going on soon?"
"I'd like to be leaving within the hour."
"Umm… yeah I think I can make that. Can I take Mienshao with me?"
"Thanks. And sorry, but I actually had a full team planned out already. Just start getting your backpack ready, I'll meet with them."
"Oh, gotcha-"
Dewott was going to continue that conversation, but Tamin swiftly excused herself from the scene.
For the final member, Tamin initially planned to get Mienshao. But halfway on the walk to her room, as she was rehearsing her long-term plans in her head, she got a different idea. "What if I brought Mawile along with the mission, and got to observe her when she was alone like that?" she pondered. "I mean, we haven't really had any interactions before now, so I don't think she'd find this to be a suspicious change of heart. I also can't really stalk her inside of the guildhouse, so the only time I could watch her in practicality would be on a mutual mission. There's certainly a risk with this, but calculated, I think this adds up to a wise option."
Tamin turned her head to Nidorina and Dewott. "Would you two mind waiting for her for a minute? There's someone I'd like to fetch."
"Okay!" Nidorina said.
"Uh, sure there," Dewott said.
"Thanks. Should only be a few minutes," Tamin told them in return.
"Have some time, Mawile?" Tamin asked, adjusting her tone to a friendly and innocent one.
"Not really, to be honest."
"What's going on?" she feigned curiosity.
"Well, right now my time is split between making flares (since Olivia can't help me any longer) and working on psychology (because this guild doesn't have a proper therapist). So yeah, I've got a lot of work on my plate right now," she huffed to explain.
"Oh yeah, I remember you telling me about flares awhile back," Tamin replied. "Wasn't aware you were working on psychology though."
"Yeah, I've been working at that, mainly with helping Locke out," she said.
"I see. Well, thanks for that, then," Tamin said. "I knew it. Just need to carefully prod further."
"Thanks. Just trying to get this stuff done now."
"Are you still doing missions?"
"On occasion, yeah. I'm sort of a mix between an explorer and a staff member."
"When was the last time you went out?"
"It was… wow, like two weeks ago, now that I think about it," the realization could be heard in her voice as she spoke. "I've just been working on other stuff that whole time."
"Dang, sorry about that. Hope it hasn't been boring for you."
"No, it's alright."
"It is?"
"Yeah, I've got duties I'm happy to fulfill."
"Ah, gotcha. So, has Locke been getting better? I've noticed him seeming a bit more cheery."
"Seems to be, and I predict he'll stay this way. But I still need to watch how he develops. He won't be going on missions for a few days."
"Right, right, he actually told me about that," Tamin casually said. "Do you have a backup of flares at all?"
"Oh yeah, we've got dozens stashed up."
"Ah, good to know. Good to know… So I've got a mission I'm looking for another member on, so if Locke doesn't immediately need anything more, and you've got flares in storage, couldn't you take some time off to just do one mission? Mix things up for a few hours?" Tamin offered. "I'm not as knowledged on psychology as you are, but I'm pretty sure you've got to mix things up in life, since constantly doing the same things always gets tiring. This could be a break from that stuff: a fun little adventure before getting back to the same tedious flare making or psychology stuff."
"Huh… how long is that mission?"
"The location's only two hours away and it shouldn't take long when we get there," Tamin specified. "It's to a light desert. So there will be sand, but also a fair amount of trees from what I understand. We're hunting for a chalice."
"Let me think about that…" she turned away to look off, showing her back maw to Tamin. It made the cinccino step back.
Mawile's head bobbed around a bit, clearly in thinking through several factors with Tamin's proposal.
"...I think I'll take you up on that offer," she turned to look at the cinccino with one eye, and a slight smile peering through.
"Oh, really?" Tamin raised her voice slightly, but still not enough to warrant an exclamation mark.
"Yes. I think it will do me well. Should honestly boost my productivity to get my mind off of it for a spell and unwind."
"Well, that's perfect for me! Dewott and Nidorina already agreed to the mission, so we can head off any time."
"Sounds good to me. Just give me time to prepare."
"Same."
The four pokemon met together, and began getting ready. Backpacks with a flare attached, a canteen on its side, distilled water filling up the tin canister, healing supplies placed in the primary back, and the rest of the amenities for adventuring. Soon afterwards, they were out. With the afternoon sun and the fresh air of spring, the journey to the south was relaxing, like a glass of sparkling cola.
"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall! Ninety-nine bottles of beer! Ya take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of beer-"
"Can you not go through that entire song?" Tamin interrupted Nidorina.
"Oh, okay," Nidorina said. "I'm sorry, I'm just real thorsty right now and thinking of some real, real, real good beer. Mmm…"
"Hang on, are you even old enough to drink?" Tamin asked.
"Yeah. I'm just as old as my brother," she said.
"Oh, I see, I see. Sorry, I think I was thinking of Scampi," Tamin looked to the sky as she answered. "It's just that you act kinda similar to her and she's fairly young."
"Ah it's aight," she replied.
"It isn't exactly uncommon to confuse details about certain individuals, so I cannot say I blame you," Mawile told Tamin. "If you can't be right one hundred percent of the time, then being able to admit when you're wrong is a nice second best alternative."
"That is very true," Tamin told Mawile, seeing an opportunity to get on her good side.
"Now I can defin'ly second that as well there," Dewott added on.
Mawile saying that was a welcome reminder to Tamin on what she was trying to accomplish. She lowered her speed to fall to the back of the group in their march, but not too far. She figured out that she could always have her head be forward towards the horizon, but have her eyeballs veered to the left as an inconspicuous way to watch her. Combine that with looking at her no more than fifty percent of the time, it was a recipe for discrete observation.
An hour had passed, the four moving forward across all of it. As they neared the desert, the land became more arid with hills less green and plants more yellow. Despite that, the sky became somewhat overcast with a thin blanket of clouds rolling in overhead which casted the lands into a spotted shading. It gave incentive for them to accelerate their step, it was preferable to be inside of the dungeon when the inevitable precipitation. Aside from Dewott, he looked forward to refreshing rain before a mission, but he was overruled three-to-one.
The road curved and headed towards a pass between two hills. Tamin noticed the hills, and felt something sink within her stomach. Superficially there wasn't anything too off about them, they were just hills, there were hundreds of them in that area. Yet, she still had a bad feeling. Not strong enough for her to speak out, but it lingered all the same.
As they approached the hills, Tamin took her eyes off of Mawile to gaze around. Visually, nothing truly noteworthy could be seen. So instead, she raised her large ears up and tried to listen for something, anything that was out of place. The pre-storm winds became louder when moving through the pass, like breath being channeled through a whistle. It cloaked other sounds, like a ghost speaking over all else. Nevertheless, Tamin kept trying.
Wind, wind, and more wind. Shuffling leaves, the grounds of the skies, small footsteps of the team. So many sounds, yet effectively none at the same time. That was until Tamin was able to pick out a distinct voice from above.
"Finally, there she is. Everyone ready?"
It was so faint, yet it was clear, Tamin had no doubt she had heard it. It wasn't something her mind made up, she could make out each distinct syllable that was uttered.
"Guys, everyone stop for a second!" Tamin called out to the team, urgency in her voice.
With the sheer suddenness of it, they heeded the command, stopping in place and turning back towards her.
"What is it?" Dewott asked.
"I heard someone or something from the hills!" Tamin said. "I've got a really bad feeling about this place."
"What did you hear?"
"It was a voice saying something like 'finally, there she is. Is everyone ready?' I swear it was something."
"Uh… did anyone mutter something to themselves?" Dewott asked Nidorina and Mawile.
"No, I heard it come from the hills," Tamin pointed with her paw. "And it sounded male."
"She heard us. Move. Move. Move," the voice seemed to speak again. This time it was louder, and drew the attention of more than just Tamin.
All of them snapped their heads to the source of the voice. It only took one more second before the entire team saw a horde of houndoom rush down from the hill towards them, and one more second before they came down from the other hill.
These weren't just run of the mill wild houndoom though like the kinds they'd see in mystery dungeons. Each of them were far too coordinated for that to be the case. They had uniform suits which covered the tops of their bodies and dripped down. They were of a regiment.
The team did not scream in surprise, and no words needed to be spoken as they all understood what was happening: It was an ambush, and one they were not caught flat-footed to. While they were able to stop themselves from being surprised, it was far from an ideal situation. They were severely outnumbered, and their enemies came from two directions.
Dewott drew out both of his scalchops and the others did what they could to quickly prepare and fight against the attacking pokemon. They did not have time to question what the ambush was about, keeping themselves alive and uninjured was a far larger priority.
Moving towards the incoming attackers, one of the houndoom leaped into the air in an attempt to pounce on or tackle Dewott, but he thought quickly to avoid it. He put one of his scalchops in a defensive position to block attacks while he sidestepped the attack. He then slashed at its legs to put a deep cut in it with his other scalchop. The scalchop he put up to defend with blocked the attack of another houndoom, which he immediately countered using his other scalchop and slashed at it, opening up a wound directly in between its neck and shoulder.
The battle was fully on. Crowded and bloody, the team fought to the best of their ability, but found themselves getting overwhelmed from being flanked in both directions.
Tamin knew this was the time for her to prove her newfound skills, but keeping her composure in actual combat scenarios would make that harder. She opened the fight by tossing a throwing knife into a place where the crowd proved so thick, it was impossible to miss. Afterwards she leaped into the air and stiffened her tail to get in position to beat them with some tail swipe moves.
Although strangely enough, they didn't seem to be interested in harming her, even after she connected attacks on some of them. The houndoom only focused their attacks on her party members. She was confused by this, but didn't let the confusion get the best of her in this chaotic battlefield.
What did get the better of her, however, once one thing she heard be called out to her.
"Tamin!?" Someone shouted in the chaos.
It was not Dewott who said it, nor Mawile nor Nidorina, but it was still a voice that was all too familiar to Tamin. She could recognize who it was talking to in an instant, and it made her body turn cold with her heart skipping a beat when she knew who it was.
"D-Dad?" Tamin asked the voice as she turned to face it.
There, in the middle of the battlefield stood a lone, male cinccino. He stood calmly with an upright stance, a pillar of composure within the chaotic veil. His stature was stiff, with both of arms held together behind his body, and looking at Tamin with a stern gaze.
"I can tell that's you, Tamin." The cinccino said to her with his unbroken stature and gaze, seeming to ignore what he was standing in the middle of, "Evolution won't deceive me. I can tell it to you no matter how you go about corrupting your form."
At this point, Tamin's fear turned to anger. Her body was no longer frozen, but pumping red hot with rage.
"You hired a party just to attack us and force me back!?" Tamin accused him in a loud and impassioned voice.
"You ran away from our home and evolved without us?" he inquired and accused back, raising an eyebrow as he spoke.
Tamin knew that trying to talk her way out of what she was in would yield nothing except wasted time. As much as she would wish this to just be another nightmare, everything was all too real for it to be an illusion, it was the horrors of reality that surrounded her.
She continued to fight again, moving quickly to beat down the mercenary houndoom once more. This time she now had a flood of revenge to motivate her in the fight, making her attacks hit harder, making her move faster and making her ignore whatever pain might graze her so she might return the pain to the ones who inflicted it. All she wanted was to get a hit off in the other cinccino, even if it was just one hit, that was more important than keeping herself alive.
The fight only became bloodier and more chaotic as it continues. Knocked out and bleeding houndoom laid strewn about the gravel road, but it wasn't just the blood of houndoom that stained the ground. The fighting was shoulder to shoulder, both sides sustaining wound after wound, the main team fighting desperately to stay alive while Tamin herself pushed forward to try to reach her father and deliver a true strike to him.
Tamin had one throwing knife left on her thigh. It was far from an ideal position, but so long as she had a line of sight with her father, she knew this had to be her shot. She drew the knife out, held it by it's blade, pulled her arm back, and swung it forward.
Though before she could release her grip and claim her revenge true, she heard something that shook her. From across the valley, she heard the piercing sound of a visceral scream in pain, combined with the sound of bones snapping. It wasn't just any scream, like from a stranger. It was familiar, it was the voice of Mawile.
That scream broke her focus. Her paw gently shook and she released the knife a quarter of a second later than she intended. The knife went entirely off target, awkwardly spinning around in the air before it hit the dirt. Her father remained untouched.
Tamin snapped around to see what had caused the screaming, and soon regretted that. She saw Mawile's leg caught in the jaws of one of the houndoom and bitten down on, the limb getting instantly destroyed by its jaw strength and turned into something that certainly wasn't a leg anymore. It was also at that moment that Tamin looked at how the other members in the team were doing, seeing them all bloodied, damaged, outnumbered and flanked. She realized how serious the situation was, and knowing her own family, they wouldn't be reluctant to kill them as a means to an end.
It had become a life and death situation. Tamin knew she only had a split second to make a decision on what to do. Indecision was the worst possible thing at that time. Whatever decision her adrenaline filled made, she would have to stick with it. So to prevent what pain she could, she spurted out what first came to mind being wasting and time on this apex of choice.
"Stop!" Tamin loudly shouted with her head pointed upwards and eyes closed, trying her hardest to get the attention of everyone there.
Her initial command was successful, as it didn't take long for everyone to stop what they were doing, to stop fighting, and focus on Tamin. The other cinccino in particular was raising his paw to signal the others to stop.
"I'll go with you, just don't hurt the others," Tamin said solemnly, knowing exactly what he wanted and doubling down on her decision.
The other cinccino could only smile at this statement, pleased by the choice.
"Good," he stated. "Now come. We have plenty we need to make up for."
Tamin spent a moment still, trying to comprehend what was just happening. She was forced to act again when one of the houndoom pushed her forward, which was quickly followed by him grabbing Tamin's arm.
The other houndoom followed them, leaving Dewott, Nidorina And the crippled Mawile behind. Most of the remaining team were in too much pain to talk, and the others were still far too confused on what was going on to say anything. All of them were simply forced to watch Tamin be taken away in their defeated states.
Tamin was brought up the hill and towards the wooden wagon that Dewott had noticed, her being compliant as she was far past the point to change her decision and didn't want to be in more trouble than she already was in. Only when the wagon came fully in focus did Tamin force more words out of herself.
"So you came all the way and set up an ambush just to force me back?" Tamin asked her father.
"I am not going to let a runaway like you destroy our family's image," he responded, "I am none too happy with how you've been acting, and we will have plenty to talk about once we get you back home. Don't think for a second you're getting out of this unscathed after all you have done."
They got up to the wagon, which was already ready to escort them. He opened the door to it and went behind Tamin to make sure Tamin went inside, as she couldn't run away with him blocking her route.
They both went inside the wooden vehicle, with the father noticing something off about Tamin they were now isolated together inside of it.
"What's this?" He asked while grabbing onto Tamin's red guild scarf, him finding it particularly bizarre as she was also wearing her cinccino from like a scarf over it.
"That's my-" Tamin tries to explain what it was before she was interrupted.
"It's meaningless nonsense, that's what it is," he stated.
The scarf was untied and taken off of Tamin's neck. She turned around to look at what was happening, and saw her father throwing the scarf out of the wagon door indiscreetly, treating it like it had no value and was just trash to be discarded.
Tamin tried to reach forward towards the scarf, but was blocked by him. He then shut the door to the wagon, with it beginning to move only seconds after the sound of the door shutting was heard.
Seeing this, Tamin quickly ran over to the wagon window to look at the discarded red scarf again. She thought about how she had gotten it from the very first day she joined the guild and how she had worn it ever since. To her, it represented her time inside of the guild and all the experiences she had. It was one of the most sentimental things in the world to her, and it was now discarded into the dirt and dust with houndoom walking over it. She didn't know what she had until it was lost, and simply couldn't take her eyes off of it until it left her range of visibility entirely.
Now, Tamin was isolated with the person that abused her so thoroughly and the person she tries to run away from in this forced family reunion. While she was being taken away back to her old home, the place she thought of as a prison, only one question went through her mind.
"How did this day end up like this?" Tamin questioned herself, "How did everything crumble apart so quickly?…"
End of chapter 36