Two sets of paws gingerly stepped through the short, soft grass lining the ground. The pair of pokémon wandered forward with purpose.
The sun shone brightly down onto the scene, illuminating the wide-open field with a warm glow, and putting a striking shine into the few clouds in the sky.
The shinx looked to his left, to meet the gaze of the nickit beside him. The two smiled to each other.
The two soon found their pads leaving the grass, making their way onto a cold stone bridge. The gentle current of a flowing stream rushed below their forms, before they soon made their way down onto a sandy path.
They turned back to stare ahead as short wooden buildings came into view past the treeline.
It wasn't long before another individual came into view. A raichu came sprinting down the path, skidding to a halt just in front of them. A small cloud of sand was kicked up.
The two gave the newcomer a pair of grins, lifting their paws to wave.
"Hooowdy!" called the nickit.
The shinx stayed quiet, opting to let his gesture speak for him.
The raichu gave a polite bow.
"Sushinx, Biscuit. You are back early! I take it your latest mission went well?"
The nickit bounced in a circle around the electric-type, opting him to spin around to keep up.
"Oh, yes, yes! Turns out it was just a misunderstanding!"
The shinx gave a nod, before speaking.
"However, they did inform us that the item was of cultural significance to them. They did not steal from the museum out of any mal-intent; they merely wished to recover what was rightfully theirs."
Biscuit gave a sly grin, leaning over to nudge her friend.
"And, t'think; we wouldn't have known that if Mr. Taser here just rushed in and zapped em' like he wanted to."
Sushinx's face flushed a bit pink. He gave a small chuckle.
The raichu nodded slowly, putting a hand to his chin.
"Hmm... I don't think the museum will be too pleased by the news, but I'm certain they'll understand. Good work, you two."
"Your words of praise are much appreciated, sir," spoke the shinx.
"That's right! Would love to chat more, but we've gotta go file a report back at the guild."
"Of course; sorry to keep you waiting. You two take care, okay?"
"You bet! Bye bye!"
"That we will, sir. Thank you for your time."
The raichu smiled and waved to the two as they set off back on the road through town.
An umbreon carefully dusted at a corner, carefully balanced on her hind-legs. She had her forepaws rested upon the top of a bookshelf as she worked.
"Hey, Umami!"
The dark-type cried out at the sudden voice, stumbling backward and falling off from her stool. She fall down onto a nearby bean-bag, sprawled out on the ground. An oddish's face soon appeared in her vision, standing over her.
"Ah. What's up, Dish?"
The oddish hopped onto her chest, bouncing up and down frantically as he got in her face.
"It's urgent! We just got a call from the other guild!"
Umami sat up slowly, carefully moving the oddish back onto the ground. She raised back to her standing height, before dusting herself off quickly.
"Slow down, buddy. What was it about? And, which guild?"
The very animated vegetable continued to hop and pace around, sweating up a storm.
"It was the one over on Onya Minor! One of their strange-disappearance victims showed back up, and they're all the way over here!"
Umami paused, her ears perking up just slightly.
"Hum. This is an interesting development, in the best possible way, How far are they?"
"They're just over in Rootopia! We've been requested to get over there and provide assistance; immediately!"
The oddish continued to bounce up and down more and more violently. He soon felt a black paw carefully press down on his head, stilling his movements, and in turn and calming his energy.
"Of course, of course. We probably won't be able to get anyone too experienced to send so far on such short notice, with how busy everything has been."
The grass-type gave a small hum.
"Well, we could always go!"
"Dish, you know I'm more of the desk-work type. I don't think I could make it, or defend myself very well."
"Well, what if we took one of the rookie-teams? They may not be too experienced, either, but safety in numbers, you know? Come on, Umi! You need to get out more."
Dish reserved his previous pace of energetic bouncing as the umbreon took a pensive expression.
"That... Could work, I guess."
The grass-type smiled brightly, hopping around in frantic circles.
"Awesome! You won't regret it! Now all we need is to decide which team to take!" Dish suddenly skidded to a halt upon hearing the door swing open. He observed as a shinx and a nickit wandered inside, the weight of their paws creaking the old floorboards as they moved.
The new arrivals turned to both Umami and Dish, giving bright smiles.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Dish, Ms. Umami," greeted Sushinx.
The umbreon gave a small nod.
"Good to see you two made it back safely. Did your mission go well, Team Dandy?" She walked over to her large wooden desk, followed by Dish as she pulled out a few sheets of paper. Sushinx and Biscuit came as well, rounding on the other side.
"It went jus' peachy!" cheered Biscuit. "We even solved a mis... Miscomuming..." The nicket trailed off, stumbling over her speech.
"Miscommunication," offered the shinx, giving his friend a grin and a nudge.
Biscuit's face flushed red as she gave a small laugh.
"Yeah! That!"
Umami gave them an understanding nod, and a warm smile.
"That sounds wonderful. You two are advancing quite fast."
"Really? Is that truly so?" Sushinx leaned forward, with Biscuit following soon.
"Absolutely!" interjected Dish, hopping up onto the desk. "How would you two, though, like to try out a real mission?"
Team Dandy looked to each other briefly, with a mixture of surprise and intrigue, before giving their attention back to the oddish.
Fenini tossed a plate back with a bounce of her rump, another with a flick of her tail, and one more with a toss of her head. Shallot caught each of the oncoming saucers with precision, loading them onto the dish-washer tray. He stopped at one particularly dirty specimen, deciding to give it a pre-scrub-down to make sure it was adequately cleaned in the wash cycle.
The fennekin lifted up the machine's cover, pulling out the previous load of dishes. Just in time, his father, sister, and 'Pag came trotting over to carry them out for plating.
Shroom wiped a bead of sweat from her brow, before levitating an egg into the air. She split it down the middle with a thought, dropping its contents into the sizzling pan below.
Bean rushed in quickly to take a previously finished batch of eggs and hashed-browns, before skidding and speaking to the delphox.
"We're gonna need a Fenini Delight with sautéed peppers, hold the mustard,"
"Got it, sugar."
The ninetales nodded as he rushed out of the kitchen.
Oat began assembling the order as his mother instructed, before quickly placing it into the panini press. He looked up as a knife and a pepper floated into the air, beginning to slice the vegetable into thin segments.
Fenini wandered back in, tossing a volley of bowls to Shallot, who caught them all dutifully.
"You all are doing great!" praised the incredibly small fox. She scampered over to a cabinet, plucking out a styrofoam cup. "Keep up the good work!"
"Thank you, Ms. Fenini!" Oat replied, his tail giving a pleased swish.
"You're welcome, Mr. Oat!" Feneni gave the other fennekin a beaming smile as she bounced back out of the kitchen.
The family continued to work for a time, dutifully making sure the operation went smoothly.
Mustard wiped a droplet of sweat from her brow as she wandered into the kitchen.
"Shit," the jolteon mumbled, "does she really do this all by herself usually?"
"She's real swell!" Oat added, with his tail giving a small swish.
Stew wandered in a moment later, clearing his throat.
"Good news, folks! The guild called; they have two teams heading out to catch us! They should be here within three days!"
"All the way out here, and that fast?" Shroom gave a thoughtful hum.
"Probably the Major guild," Shallot offered.
"Ah, that would make sense. Thanks, sugar."
Umami carefully slipped on a loose pink hoodie, giving a small grunt as she did. She then set to work assisting Sushinx with a smaller gray jacket.
Dish, bundled in a white scarf, bounced up and down impatiently.
"Come on, Um'! It's like, spring! Why do we need this stuff?"
Biscuit tightened her own yellow scarf around her neck, giving a satisfied nod.
"Might get cold at night!" suggested the nickit. "Might rain, too."
"That's right." Umami gave a small nod, before patting Sushinx on the head. The feline gave a tiny purr before speaking.
"How far are we to travel, Ms. Umami?" He scratched at his chin with a contemplative gaze as he met the umbreon's eyes. "Are we to go all the way to Onya Minor with them?"
The umbreon nodded with a soft smile.
"Mmhm! You two have always wanted to visit, correct?"
"Absolutely!" interjected Biscuit. "Oh, so many purty sights, I betcha! I'd love ta' see the Scallion Mountains! Oh, or Membrane Falls!"
Dish bounced excitedly at the thought.
"Hey, most of my family lives at the falls!"
"Really?! That's so, so cool!"
Umami and Sushinx observed with reserved smiles as their partners gushed together. The shinx unzipped his bag, setting to work scanning the contents within.
"I think we have everything. How about you two, Ms. Umami?"
The umbreon gave a nod, slinging her bag over her shoulder.
"Triple-checked, and ready to go. Once Biscuit has planned our route for us, I am ready to depart."
The nickit leapt over excitedly, pulling a large map from her tail. She unrolled it across the floor. It seemed to be made of many low-quality black and white sheets of printed paper, all haphazardly taped together. She took out a highlighter, tracing a path along.
"It's a fairly straightforward path! I optimized it the best I could for un' even balance between speed and safety!"
Dish squinted at the map, then jutting a foot toward a specific point on the map.
"You sure this is safe? This takes us right through a level four mystery dungeon!"
Biscuit gave an eager nod, with her tail giving an excited swish.
"Yeah! There's a quicker path there, but that takes us through more dungeons for only a little bit of gained time. We could avoid the dungeons entirely, but that'd add a couple days to the trip."
"Okay!" chirped the oddish. "Seems reasonable to me!"
"I have the utmost faith in you, Bisccy," Sushinx added.
Umami gave a nod as well, though opting to stay quiet.
"Well... If you really do feel better, I suppose I can let you go..." The houndoom glanced down toward the eevee, baring an unreadable expression. "Just, take it easy, okay? You were really beaten up, and it was a bit difficult to heal some of the tissue damage."
The room had white tiled floor, contrasting the purple and blue hues of the wall. The ceiling hung low, with yellow lights shining down.
Sherbert gave an eager nod, raising a paw into a salute.
"I'll be fine, doc;! Ain't no measly hyper-beam gonna keep ya' gurl down, dawg."
The houndoom gave a nod, then turning to face the krokorok standing in the doorway.
"Hey, try to keep her out of trouble from now on, 'kay Broc'? You had one job, and it was to protect our inmate relations eevee."
Broccoli gave a huff, crossing his arms.
"My one job is to keep the prisoners in check, not to protect ol' Sherbsy. If anything, I SHOULDN'T have backed down."
Sherbert bounded forward, skipping then leaping up to chest-level with Broccoli. The krokorok caught her carefully in his arms.
The eevee gave a small purr as her friend's hand began to slowly stroke her fur.
"You'd totally do it again, though. Ya' just love me too much!" Sherbert yipped, nuzzling into his paw.
Broccoli gave a huff, turning away.
"You'd do the same FUCKING thing for me, if it came to it."
The houndoom tapped their paws impatiently.
"Truly, this is a touching reunion, but I have other patients that need peace and quiet. Take it easy out there."
The two gave nods in unison, before the krokorok carried his normal-type companion out of the room.
Shallot turned the knob of the fossette, allowing the water to cascade down from the shower-head. As steam filled the colorfully painted bathroom, he removed his cape, folding it up and setting it on the sink.
The fennekin felt his muscles all relax at once as he settled into the shower. A wistful sigh escaped his throat, his eyes falling shut.
Dear Diary,
As I let the warmth of the steady stream cascade over my body, I found myself in a rare (for me) moment of introspection.
I had taken many a shower in my life. For as long as I could remember, though, they had one key aspect that this most recent one seemed to lack.
I found myself thinking back to the last time I saw her. I told her that I loved her. Was it true? I found my feelings on the matter a bit mixed. Tart had always been there in my life. I saw her just about every day. Even in those strange few days we found ourselves locked up, we remained together through it.
We're good friend, maybe even closer than that, but was there truly any romantic feelings? Each time we... relieve stress together, so to speak, it just felt different. It's fairly normal for pokémon of my culture to have several sexual partners, but somehow, it always felt like something more with my dear minccino.
Things have gotten crazy recently. I look back fondly, longingly, perhaps nostalgically, on the simpler times we once spent together, despite hardly being more than a month or two ago. So much has changed so fast. I'm living my life-long dream, but it's far from the clean fantasy I once pictured.
As I await my return to the guild, I find myself wondering if I should even keep going. Without my dear Poptart, what's the point? Her, Salami, and I were meant to be an unstoppable trio. As two, we are incomplete. I can only imagine how that vulpix must have been feeling in our absence.
I missed Salami a lot, as well. He's always been a bit... closed off, but he's always been a great friend, and provided a good laugh. Whenever we had a problem to solve, he'd always be there to provide the computer smarts if needed. Of course, Tart provided the other stuff smarts.
I'm not particularly smart, personally, but I always prided myself on being brave. Optimistic. With a sense of unstoppable justice. Always looking to the future. Yet, I find myself sitting here. I'm scared, I'm steadily losing hope for the future, I'm seeing where justice can be stopped, and I'm dwelling on the past.
So many new, horrible feelings are opening up to me. I've only been out of my relatively sheltered upbringing for a month, and already my word view is being called into question. If it seems this bad already, do I want to know what remains to be seen in the future? Do I want to be beaten down and proven wrong more thoroughly than I already have been?
They say ignorance is bliss. Salami, however, has always insisted that bliss is not worth the price of stupidity. I just feel so small and insignificant, right now. I'm trying to accept reality, but I'm having a hard time handling what I'm seeing. Tart, Salami; they're both stronger than me. They've always been able to deal with the complexities of life that remained above my head for too long.
I want to go home. I want to run around the neighborhood playing pretend with my two best friends. I want to relax on a nice quiet evening with my family, playing board games with my siblings and my parents watching the news. I don't want to be a hero anymore. I don't think I can handle the sacrifices.
But, do I have a choice? I'm in too deep now. I've saved lives, I've fended off criminals, I'm likely going to be providing critical information to the authorities, and I've learned so much. It doesn't matter if I go back home now.
I can undo the damage, but I can't unlearn what I have learned. I'll never look at life the same way ever again. Things will never go back to how they were. Every moment I spend will be soured by the knowledge that my perfect little world isn't all that exists.
Regardless of what I choose, I'm a failure. I failed my very first mission at the guild. What kind of hero face-plants in their prologue? One might argue that it couldn't have been helped. We had two of the guild's finest explorers with us, yet it still wasn't enough to save us from this group.
I guess I should be thankful, though. If we weren't captured, my family would remain locked up, and Salami's sister would be there with them.
Despite that, I had to leave one of my best friends behind. Only a day have we been apart, and I already miss her so, so much. Those big, bright yellow eyes, the elegant flow of her angelic speech, the radiant sheen of her silver fur, the vast knowledge of that incredible brain...
And, the warmth that floods my soul each time we hold each other.
I no longer wish to be a hero. I'm burdened with what I once thought to be a privilege, but now understand to be a responsibility. I'm not sure where I'm going to go from here, but this isn't about me anymore.
Hero or not, Salami and I are going to save Tart. We're going to save everyone. Those pathetic, cowardly, heartless fucking monsters aren't going to keep any more innocent pokémon behind cold, steel bars.
My dear sister helped me put a name to the group. Put a name to my hatred. She overheard them calling themselves the "Verge Uprising". I hate them; I hate them all. They're causing so much pain. They've torn apart so many friends and family. They might even be the ones causing that endless storm back home. I will not forgive them for this. They will fall. I'm scared, but I have to be strong. For the world. For my family. For my friends. For the, maybe, love of my life.
I no longer wish to be a hero, but a hero is what I'll be. I don't care how much rain they pour on us; I will make sure their world burns.