"Not gonna lie, part of me expected you'd back out of this at some point. But… you really have gone all the way with this. Packing up your stuff and everything now… wow."

"Sesha, I've been confident that this is what I have wanted to do for a long time now. I've done what I wanted in this mountain, I want to go out into the world now. I'm not making this decision lightly."

"Oh, I know you aren't. I'm just trying to look after my sis, that's all- heheh. Though I can tell I'm not going to be changing your mind if you've already gotten yourself packed… got just about all your life's belongings right there."

"Are you trying to guilt me at all?"

"Oh, no, that's not what I'm up to. Just… concerned, that's all."

"Understood then."

"Okay I do have to ask though. Do you have any- how should I put this- long term goals?"

"Aside from exploring, nothing at the moment… You're asking me if I want to get a boyfriend, aren't you?"

"Well that wasn't what I was saying in specific, I was being more general with my wording."

"You broke up with Saber just fifteen days ago, so I would assume that is what you have on your mind."

"Fair enough- wait, how do you know about that? I never told you."

"I think you made it fairly clear to understand. I noticed you at stores far more often across the last two weeks, browsing alone. This would be at times you once spent with Saber, suggesting some change in dynamic between you two. Furthermore, you quite suddenly stopped talking about him in conversations, and took down some decorations which had been given to you by him.

I could possibly be wrong with my fifteen days estimate, as that was more of an educated guess that took into consideration a few things both before and after- but it's still a guess all the same."

"Well… yes. I would ask you to not spread that around, but I suppose you won't be at the colony to say that anymore. "

"Not sure who you would be thinking I would share that with."

"Right. Well, I guess I'll see you then. Do you think you'll ever be coming back here after you leave?"

"I'm sure I'll be returning for holidays and such."

"That's good to hear. And hey, I could pay you visits sometimes. Besides that… just stay safe out there, and I hope you get to see some amazing things on your journeys. "

"Thank you, Sesha. It's appreciated."

…

Eno blinked a few times and became aware of reality again after that reminiscence. Even though she had been gazing at her brass pocket watch for a full minute, it was only then that she actually read what time it was: two hours before noon. Eno shut the watch's brass case and left it to dangle from her neck. She resumed a gentle walk on all four of her legs, in no hurry and taking in her surroundings.

The mountains at her rear looked just as they would for most times of the year. For Eno, they had all lost their charm and grown boring. The grass that had become the most green it would that year and had begun its slow process of becoming darker, the trees that had not quite begun losing its leaves, and the lands that had begun to experience waning temperatures. The road itself produced a small cloud of dust with every step Eno made.

Alone, Eno kept walking forward with only her thoughts and the redundant sights to accompany her.

Eventually, the mountains which surrounded her gave way to mildly hilly plains. At which point, it wasn't much longer until she saw a town come into sight, and a wide building at its edge. She watched her destination as it seemed to grow larger as she kept venturing closer.

A different feeling came across Eno as she got up to the guildhouse and began walking around to its main entrance: deja vu. The last time she had come was nearly three-fourths of a year ago when she came to warn them of an oncoming snow storm, right when autumn was coming to an end. She wondered if they would react to her the same way they did last time, she wondered if they would even remember her.

She walked around the timeless building to reach its front side, then walked into it. Along the way she saw several pokemon: a watchog, a despondent lucario, a dewott with an everstone around his neck like how she wore her pocket watch, a liepard, and a dwebble- all of which she did not recognize. Conversely, they didn't seem to recognize her either. All-in-all, they seemed indifferent as they neither acted like she wasn't there nor seemed surprised by her presence. Eno supposed it made sense, they probably got pokemon coming in every day to submit some mission request.

Although Eno had made it inside of the entryway, she needed some guidance on where to go next. "If it's not too much trouble, does anyone know where I could find the guildmaster?" Eno asked aloud, speaking to one one in particular.

"Oh, I can help with that," a female voice chirped up not too long after.

Eno was approached by a female meowstic. She noticed that as she walked forward, her hip and tail movements were exaggerated. Yet it didn't seem she had noticed, like that was what was natural for her.

"Would you?" Eno asked.

"Yes, he's just in his office. I can show you to him," Sebastien explained as she placed her meowstic paw onto Eno.

"Thanks," Eno replied as they began moving.

"One second, you're 'Eno', correct?" Sebastien asked, trying to be nice.

"Yes," Eno said, slightly surprised. "You remember me?"

"Well-"

Sebastien brought her other paw up to show off a thin golden ring on it. Embedded in it was a gemstone that was two-thirds white and one-third blue for its color.

"I got married to the guildmaster a month ago," Sebastien explained. "So in terms of the guild hierarchy, I've actually got a bit of power myself~ I've taken a look at what some of our common clients are."

"Oh, good for you then," Eno said. "So do you feel a need to show that off?"

"Uh, not really?" Sebastien answered, she hadn't expected such an accusation to be levied against her and had no proper response prepared.

"Was the reason you married only in love, or did you also do it for power?" Eno pushed further with her questions, being blunt and not knowing when to back down.

"Just- I'll get you to Espeon, okay?" Sebastien said, not wanting to continue the conversation as she was beginning to get offended.

"Understood."

It really wasn't a long walk at all to reach the office, whereupon Sebastien knocked on it; then immediately opened the door before hearing a response. Eno was gently pushed inside, without the meowstic following.

Espeon sat on his own chair while Niot was on a perch atop the desk's side. They had both been looking at an entire trove of papers on top of the desk, but just turned their heads up to see Eno coming in.

"Hello… oh Eno? Is that you?" Espeon asked.

"Yes," she replied simply.

"Is there something the absol colony needs help with? Or do we have another storm on the horizon we should know about?" Espeon haphazardly pushed some papers aside then leaned over the desk to get a slightly closer look, also making a wedding ring on his paw become visible.

"Regarding that, it's actually neither of those things," Eno walked closer to the desk.

"What is it then?" Espeon asked.

With an unnaturally little amount of trepidation, Eno opened her mouth, "I want to join this guild."

Both Espeon and Niot eyes opened wide with this statement. "Oh?" Espeon's voice raised.

"Ahh, so we have a new aspirant, I see," Niot spoke first. "You know there are a lot of pokemon who want to join guild like this-"

"Enough, Niot," Espeon interjected back. "No need to be all rehearsal about this. Let's just take this in like people, heh."

The room turned awkward for a spell as Niot looked around, not sure how to respond.

"Anyways, can I ask why you wanted to join our guild?" Eno asked.

"Primarily, to explore the world," Eno replied. "It's something I've wanted to do for a significant time now, getting rather tired of my home. Truthfully, I opted to be the one to deliver the message of the storm to you just to have a chance to stretch my legs, so to speak."

"Makes sense. If that's the case, I can promise to you that this is a perfect place to achieve that. We already have quite good relationships with the absol colony you're from, so that's a plus," Espeon said. "Do understand that there's more to being an explorer than just exploring. You'll also need to do a fair bit of fighting to get through."

"I'm aware of that fact. I will admit that I'm not versed in those skills as of yet. But I am willing to learn," Eno responded.

"Fair enough, you'll be training for those soon enough," Espeon began pulling drawers open to scrounge around. "I'm just going to find some papers you'll fill out so we can get started with this recruitment.

Niot, would you kindly get the yard tests ready for our guest?"

"I will get on that now."

"Tests I have to pass to join this guild?" Eno asked.

The chatot jumped up into the air and began flying towards the door to make his exit. Espeon held his tongue as he moved. Once the door clicked shut again, he spoke.

"...They're really just to gauge what your current skill is so we know how much training you'll need going forward," Espeon said as he passively left the earshot of Niot.

"Ah."

"If you have any questions, you can start asking them," Espeon said while grabbing some papers, careful to pick out exactly one full set.

The absol momentarily looked upwards in thought. Eno really had a whole pantheon of questions, there were so many minor intricacies that fascinated her about this world outside her mountain. Although Eno could also assume that many wouldn't be appropriate to ask in that given situation- and more importantly to her- many would likely get answered by other means if she were to just stay patient. Nevertheless, it didn't take long for her to figure out a good inquiry.

"How many pokemon are currently in this guild?"

"Well… more than what you could reasonably form relationships with," Espeon admitted. "We're at a few dozen members right now, including a pretty good amount of new members we got over the summer. Mostly nocturnals over the summer, though."

"I see. Well that also also answers my question on how often you recruit, so let me think some more," Eno said.

"No problaem-o," Espeon put a question sheet down on the wood desk. "Take your time."

"Oh yes, I do have another."

"Shoot."

"When I last interacted with this guild, there were seven members I joined with. Four who were lost in the storm, three that formed a retrieval mission for them," Eno explained. "What became of those? Are they still at this guild? Are they still alive?"

"Yes, just give me a moment, let me remember who all was there…" Espeon closed his eyes and thought. "There was Froslass, who you'll meet again with shortly as helps with the recruitment tests. There's Ludicolo and the rockruff, both have remained in the guild and the rockruff hasn't evolved yet. There's Yuki the vulpix who's… had a rather complicated history we can get into later. Then there was Locke the shinx and Tamin the minccino who have both evolved since you met them. Honestly they have had the most things happen to them out of everyone here, and rumor too. I think you'll just have to talk with them yourself.

Those two are currently at an ice cream store in town."

"I believe I understand," Eno said. She casted her sight onto the papers and the many questions written upon them. Though, her mind still largely dwelled on what Espeon had just said. What happened to those two? What were they doing as she was in that room?

Meanwhile,

"So how's the store been coming along, Elley?" Locke asked.

"Been going great, actually. We've gotten full boatloads of customers over the summer," Elley explained.

"That's nice, although I hope it hasn't been overwhelming to you," Locke said.

"Naaaah it's alright," Elley replied. "We've even managed to expand some more."

"It's nice that you have gotten bigger and all, but I'll admit that this is a tad… excessive," Tamin said, holding a massive waffle cone which held five scoops of ice cream on it.

"That was just a little extra that I added on for my bro and his girl," Elley said with a wide smile.

"It's appreciated," Locke said with a similar smile.

"Right, appreciated," Tamin said.

"Oh yeah, I was meaning to ask. What happened with your family, Tamin?" Elley asked.

"It's all been in the courts now," Tamin said. "First it didn't seem like it was going all that well as Vin's testimony took the side of my parents, and my younger brother Deater was too scared to speak up. But Stark messed up big time when instead of denying the abuse which happened, he admitted to all of it and was arguing that it was fine. Not only did that make Vin backtrack her claim, but it also gave Deater the courage to speak up as well. Then that snowballed into the house getting a complete top-to-bottom investigation.

My parents and Stark are all in custody now. Case isn't over because the courts are stupid slow, but it's not looking good for them at all. Vin's going to get ownership of the house when it's eventually over, and she's been trying to become the legal guardian of Deater as well. Although, I've spoken with him, and he wants to live somewhere else, so I've been looking for homes in this house he can use.

For me right now, I'm needing to go to the court for my testimonies every two weeks or so. It's gotten more tedious than anything."

"I see. Well, here's hoping that goes well," Elley said. "Besides all that chaos, how has your summer been?"

"Well…" Tamin leaned back in her seat, looking strained. "It was a fairly busy season for me," she said.

"What happened to you?" Elley asked.

"It was like a month ago, I recall. I was just traveling around by myself, not on any particular mission. Ironically I was out there to clear my head, but that's definitely not what I got in the long run.

I was in a nearby town when that happened. Wanted to play around with my new freedom some more, so another town was a fairly obvious way to do that.

I was walking around it at around noon, really just to see how the buildings looked. The town's plaza and key areas seemed very well designed with smooth staircases and hanging lights. But as I left those places to wander, I found the rest of it seemed neglected with dirty alleys, chipped bricks, and missing boards. Many might be pushed away from wandering such a place, but not me. Those places told the story of what the town was really like when it wasn't artificially touched up to look pristine. If you ask me, those places were more lively then the plaza ever was. It was subject to change, either natural or caused by pokemon, not kept in stasis.

I took caution in those alleys, of course. I kept my throwing knives with me in case some ruffian wanted to pick a fight, but I think my guild scarf deterred anyone from attacking me by itself. As I was wandering around, I saw a pikachu that was laying in a puddle, it definitely seemed injured. I quickly checked to make sure there were no ambushers lying in wait, then walked up to it.

Its tail had an indent in it, so I could tell this pikachu was a girl. I checked her pulse and called out to her. I was thankful when I felt a normal pulse, and she reacted.

As she woke up, I saw half of her body as filthy from the puddle she'd been in. The fur was so damp and darkened I honestly couldn't tell if there were any wounds or not. After she coughed a few times, we began talking.

'Evelyn' was what her name was. While I wasn't sure if she was physically hurt or not, I'm fairly certain that something was mentally off about her with the way she talked. After getting her name I asked if she was okay, where she came from, if she had any family, and so much more. Every answer she gave was confused, inconcise, and only went on for two sentences at best before she wandered off into some unrelated subject. Making things harder was that she was far more interested in me than herself, constantly asking me questions. Honestly felt like she'd never seen a pokemon before with how confused she was.

Must have been alcohol she was influenced by, or some other drug. That's what I assumed, at least. I knew I couldn't just leave her there given her current mental state. She asked me to take her back to the guild, but I wasn't so sure on if I could do that since I wasn't sent on a mission to retrieve her. After some back-and-forth, we agreed on the compromise that I'd buy her a night in an inn. Of course, I'd have to guide her there.

As we walked over there, her questions did not stop in the least. Just one thing after another with her. It actually got stressful, I was navigating around a foriegn town, relying only upon my memory, perception, and subpar pathfinding skills, all while being bombarded with an onslaught of questions from Evelyn. Questions which gradually got more personal, mind you. I also noticed that no matter where we went, her eyes would always be on me. Not her surroundings, not where we were going, not on the ground upon which she walked, on me. It got creepy.

It must've been a solid two hours when I finally got her to a motel, purchased a room (even bought a second night in hopes that'd help separate her from me) and got her inside. I was exhausted at that point. I just propped myself up on the side of the building, pulled my small journal out of my scarf's pocket, and started writing in it. I don't remember exactly what I wrote, it was less so a concise documentation of events and much more just a venting session. I scratched at the paper with my pen for a few minutes until I felt something was just… off. Worse yet, I was hit with a sudden spell of trepidation.

Slowly, I lowered the journal and turned my head, and that's when I saw it. I didn't know how, and I still don't. But Evelyn somehow managed to get out of the motel room and snuck up to me without making a single ounce of noise that my massive ears could pick up. Her eyes were fully open and she looked over my shoulder, directly at my journal. It was at that moment that I learned a hard lesson.

Always be cautious when helping a pikachu out, because it will always peak-at-chu."

Tamin watched both of them react as she said that punchline. Locke simultaneously looked annoyed and was surprised, whereas Elley seemed just shocked.

"Did… did you just tell that entire story to just lead up to a pun?!" Elley asked.

"I bet I did," Tamin said with a deeply satisfied grin.

"Did that story even happen?"

"No. Not a single word of it is actually true," Tamin said, still smiling ear-to-ear.

Through this all, Locke was semi-silently cracking up beside them. "That's just how she works sometimes," he said. "I'm good with dark humor, but she's gotten better at her own style."

"Yep~" Tamin's smile persisted.

"It's great when jokes don't involve humiliating others, unlike some people's humor," Locke said.

"Right…" Tamin said, though in her head all she could think was "seriously?"

Elley remained annoyed, leading her to let out a strong sigh to relieve herself. "So… to be honest I'm surprised I haven't evolved like you have, Locke. I did check this and we are twins."

"About that, I think my fighting accelerated that process to some extent," Locke explained to the best of his ability. "My evolution also came at a really tense moment in combat, so that probably helped too. I don't think you'll have many of those going forward."

"I suppose that makes sense," Elley said.

"I think you'll have plenty of intense moments where you can evolve. I mean you are often surrounded by screams."

"What?"

"Ice-scream."

"For eff's sake!," Elley said.

Locke and Tamin began cracking up again as their ice cream was melting. Elley wasn't even sure what she was going to say anymore. "Enjoy your treats, hope your jobs go well," Elley said, leaving them.

It took a few arduous minutes due to her insistence on getting every detail matched to perfection, but the entire sheet was filled out under the name "Eno Reiziger."

"There we go," Eno moved her ink-soaked claw over to some tissues to douse it.

"Lovely. I'll get this all looked over," Espeon carefully lifted the papers, not letting the ink become distorted as it hadn't dried yet. "You can meet Niot in the front yard to do some tests with him now, I'll get other arrangements for you prepared."

"Thank you for this, Espeon. Is that what I should call you?" Eno asked.

"Just 'Espeon' is fine for now, thanks. My real name is 'Herald', if you're wondering," he said. "Even the people who work here don't call me guildmaster all that often."

"I see, then," the absol arose from sitting down. "I'll meet with Niot then, if there's nothing else you have to say."

"Umm… no, I don't believe so," he said. "Just try your best at the tests and I'll see you again when it's done."

"Thank you for this."

Eno turned to leave the room, retracting the route she took when getting inside.

As promised, the chatot was easily visible from right outside the main doors, only being about five meters away diagonally and with a satchel of items. They approached each other.

"Hello there, Eno." Niot said. "I've got a series of tests for you today, meant to test your efficacy in speed, attack, and power of moves. We can get started right away if you're ready."

Eno took in her surroundings. She had to move partially to the side of the guildhouse to reach Niot, which made the mountains behind it become visible again. Her eyes locked on that range, while none of the ones visible were her home, it was still in the general vicinity of her home.

"Would it be okay if I just had a minute?" Eno said as she looked off in the distance.

"Sure. You can get your nerves ready and do the test once you're prepared," Niot said, though his tone spoke more of impatience.

"Thank you," Eno said, not turning to look at the chatot.

Even if she was taking her sweet time, things still felt like that had been going too quickly and too casually for her. She didn't know what exactly she expected, but it certainly had to be something which took more effort to get through. It all felt far too nonchalant, at least for her standards. "I think I'll just need a little time to reflect."

Locke and Tamin walked back into the guildhall with only a paw's distance between them. Tamin's fur and scarf were pristine; she wished the same was true for the one beside her.

"Next time we go there, I think I want to try the banana split. Although I think that might be too much food for me," Tamin said.

"Well, it would be lovely if the two of us could split that to share," Locke said, following along with what she was doing.

"Right on," Tamin smiled.

Locke reflected the smile on his own face for a moment, then proceeded to talk again.

"So anyways, there's something I wanted to talk to you about. Would've included Elley in the talk as well, but it's not something I think she likes talking about," the luxio said.

"Pray tell."

"So it's about my family, my old one," he began. "I've been reading whatever old articles on it I can find, and I actually found where the house was. Not a whole lot of it left, but it's there. Just been trying to know what it was like."

"I get it. I hope it's not depressing for you at all."

"It's not. But there's something about the case that has got me caught up right now."

"What is it?"

"According to the reports, the fire happened when it was sunny, and the fire started from the outside. It wasn't some natural disaster or an accident, the signs show it was an act of arson."

Tamin raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yes. The more I learn, the harder it's to doubt," Locke said. "So now, I wanna try to figure out who did it. My mom used to be a part of this guild, so I don't think it'll be impossible to do it from here."

"I wish you the best of luck with that. But why didn't you tell this to your sister? Wouldn't she like to know about this?"

"About that: on that day where we found we were siblings, I also found that she seemed to cope with the loss by just forgetting about her siblings. So I didn't want to bring that up to her."

"That doesn't sound like a healthy coping mechanism at all."

"I agree, but I don't really question her about it. But the point is that I'm looking into the case on what really did happen that day. Hoping the guild's resources will be enough for that."

"I hope you're able to find that as well, and I'll help you if I can. Didn't take you for the reading type, though."

"I really wish I was the reading type right now…"

End of chapter 40.