Chapter 38 - Looking Ahead

Ziggy yawned loudly, and then gingerly sat up in his bed. He stretched out his forelimbs and neck, giving a satisfied grunt and sigh. The rays of the early morning sunrise were shining in through his window, waking up right alongside him as it always did.

It was another day at the Rescue Society. Ziggy only spent a few more blissful moments halfway under the covers before he finally pushed himself out of bed. He got down on all fours and stretched again, getting the lingering kinks out of his joints. Then, as he stood back up, he immediately reached over to his bedside dresser.

He picked up the bronze-coloured badge and clipped it onto his fur.

Ziggy spent the next couple of minutes waking up and getting himself ready, which included brushing his fur with the brush he had been so generously gifted from Jules. It always amazed him how much work it was keeping a coat of fur tamed, even with short fur like his. He recalled that on his first day Rico had commented positively on the appearance of his 'messy' fur, and he sometimes wondered if he should go back to looking like that. Sparks would probably disapprove.

When everything was done, Ziggy stepped in front of the mirror that was hung in his room. He noticed the Buizel behind the glass, looking back at him with a pleasant smile on his muzzle. Not so long ago, Ziggy would have thought this was another shiny Buizel and certainly not him.

How the times have changed.

His stomach growled, reminding Ziggy that it was time for breakfast. Before heading out of his room, though, he paused and took a look up high on one of the walls. He gazed for a moment at the brilliant sword hanging up there, catching and reflecting the morning light off of its polished blade. The sight of Dante's sword always filled him with a great mix of emotions, and yet he never left his room without taking a look.

The fact that the sword was hanging in his room meant a lot of things. One particularly important thing that it meant was that Dante believed in him. Somebody believed in him, and in fact a lot of Pokémon did. If nobody believed in him, the sword wouldn't be there.

It was the sight of the sword that had helped get him out of his room when he had been stricken with grief from the death of his parents.

"Hope you're doing well, Dante…" Ziggy spoke softly.

He paused for a moment.

"…You too, Riya."

Ziggy then exited his room, visited the bathroom, and strode into the common room with as much confidence as he could muster. He was a member of this guild, gosh darn it, and it never hurt to remind himself of this whenever he could.

As he expected, the common room was empty. Ziggy chuckled softly to himself. Empty and still rather dim. He was the first one awake. It was lonely and quiet in the big room, while everyone else was still snoozing in their beds. Even though Ziggy almost always woke up at the crack of dawn, there were usually at least a couple of early risers who were out of bed before him and in this room.

Or, at least, that's how it had been. Javier had sometimes been the first to wake up, for reasons nobody really knew, and Shay was so hyperactive that he was usually awake by this time as well. Sometimes Tora was up as well because she had an early morning delivery to make.

Now, though, all of them were gone.

Ziggy mentally slapped himself and shook his head. They weren't gone, they just weren't living in the dorms anymore and wouldn't be here to eat breakfast. Because they were on this new recon squad, and had been for about a week, Ziggy was now almost guaranteed to be the first one to wake up.

The little Buizel sat himself at the long, oversized table. Even when alongside the others who were still here, this table felt too large now. There was more empty space with less Pokémon at each breakfast. Ziggy started to wonder if maybe there were other Pokémon working elsewhere in the guild who could come and join them for breakfast. It wouldn't be so weird, considering he was still invited to every breakfast despite his lowly bronze badge.

Such thoughts were commonplace. At this hour, before anyone else was up, Ziggy really didn't have much to do. So, this usually tended to be time for deep thinking. Ziggy usually remained lost in thought until the next Pokémon woke up and joined him.

The new recon squad with Javier and the others hadn't reported anything yet. Still, though, Ziggy worried for them. They were obviously qualified for the job, but those weird portal Pokémon were terrifying. Ziggy's blood ran cold at the mere thought of them.

Especially now that he knew just how much they had affected his own life.

Ziggy let out a soft sigh, his heart feeling empty for a moment. Thoughts of his wonderful, loving parents making him feel melancholy again. He was mostly numb to the pain by now, but it still hurt pretty bad. He was often thinking by this point about how his life might have been different if his parents had lived. Where would his simple life of being bullied but not much worse have led him?

There was a little spike in his gut when he realized at that moment that he never would have met Sparks and all of his new friends. He doubted he would have ever even set paws in Radiant City, much less try to steal something from the guild's senior alumnus and get 'adopted' because of it.

To this day, Ziggy still had no idea what he had tried to steal from Sparks.

Ziggy silently hoped that Sparks' sleep had been peaceful and free from his recurring nightmares. Ziggy knew that he was taking medication of some kind again. The Raichu had stopped taking it at some point, but now he was taking it again. Ziggy didn't really understand exactly what it was for, but Kandice had recommended it. All he knew was that they sort of helped with the nightmares.

He wouldn't know for a while. Ziggy was always the first one awake, while Sparks was almost guaranteed to be the last one.

Finally, Ziggy's head perked up as he heard the dorm doorway open up. He glanced over to see a very tired, wobbly-kneed Braixen stumble out, and he suppressed a snicker. Carmen looked like a slouching zombie who could barely keep her eyes open, with a miserable expression that made her look like she was just done with the whole world. She always looked like that before her first cup of coffee, and it was the only time of the day she looked anything other than professional.

Carmen always tried to get up bright and early every single day, so as to set a good example for the Pokémon working under her. She rarely succeeded. Today was an unusual surprise.

"Good morning, guildmaster!" Ziggy chirped cheerfully.

"Mrngh…?" Carmen grunted in displeasure, but her expression softened when she saw Ziggy. She blinked tiredly a few times, and then a small smile graced her muzzle. "Wunnuv these days I'm gonna beat you…" she said which, despite the apparent connotations, referred to 'beating' him by waking up earlier than him.

"I'm sure you will, guildmaster!"

Carmen briefly disappeared out the door to the main hall and returned a few minutes later with a cup of coffee in one paw. She already looked leagues better than before. "Y'know," she commented as she approached the table, "there's not much point in getting up before the cook is awake unless you're a guildmaster like me. You can sleep in a little bit."

Ziggy just shrugged. "I can't help it," he said, "It's just what I've always done."

For a moment, Carmen just silently gazed at him with a contemplative look. She then walked over and sat across from him at the table, carefully cradling her cup of coffee between her paws. Ziggy had no cup to cradle, but he held his paws together in a similar way.

"Um…" he spoke, "Miss g- Uh…Carmen? I was just wondering if…" He swallowed before continuing. "If anybody ever asks why I get to eat here…"

Carmen raised an eyebrow at him at first, then shook her head. "Sure they do," she said, "I just tell 'em 'None of your business'."

Ziggy started in surprise. "R-really?"

"Mhm…" Carmen took a sip and let out a short but satisfied sigh. "I'm in charge of these rooms; this whole part of the building. I decide who eats here."

"And…you don't mind?"

"Ziggy, if any of our guildmembers just randomly came up and asked, 'Hey can I eat with the bigwigs at the active team breakfast?' I'd tell 'em to stop bothering me and go do their work. But you didn't ask, you just ended up here through circumstance. And I'm fine with that. It's not causing a problem and it doesn't make sense to say 'Hey, for no reason at all, you go eat in the mess hall now.'"

The Buizel put a paw to his chin in thought for a moment. "I…guess that makes sense." He then chuckled a little. "I'm glad we're friends, because you can be scary sometimes…"

"Ya gotta be. Sometimes when some idiot at the government offices is being…well, an idiot, they gotta be scared of you if they're gonna listen to you."

"I could never do what you do…"

Carmen allowed herself a brief little vain grin. "Not many can!" she boasted. Her grin then melted away to be replaced by a melancholy look. "I didn't think I could. When I was a young Fennekin I thought for sure that Sparks was gonna be the next guildmaster. Or, if not him, then Dante. Of course, fate had other ideas for both of them…"

Ziggy just listened quietly, giving Carmen big curious eyes.

"I actually turned it down at first," she continued, "I said no way in hell was I cut out to be a guildmaster… Apparently they expect Pokémon to say that, because they just asked me again a week later. Told me all the reasons why they thought I was the perfect fit and…Well, sometimes it's hard to see how great you are and you need someone else to smack you in the face with it."

"Yeah…" Ziggy said, nodding in agreement.

Carmen then chuckled and shook her head again. "It's a good thing I evolved before they made me guildmaster. Imagine a tiny little Fennekin running around barking orders at everybody. I dunno, it might have worked. You shoulda seen me when I was a Fennekin. Tiny little firecracker who could knock you down a peg."

"I have!" Ziggy spoke up, "Sparks showed me some pictures of you from when you were a Fennekin."

"Did he now?" Carmen said, raising her eyebrows.

"And I saw him as a Pikachu and Dante as a Riolu. It's weird, but I could just see right away that they were you, even though you all looked so different."

Carmen sighed softly. "Sometimes I think pictures are the only nice thing we have from that time…"

"And he also showed me this other picture from after you evolved. This one kinda funny one."

"He what?!"

Ziggy flinched from her sudden outburst. "Aah! Uhh…H-he…"

"Which one?" Carmen demanded.

"Huh?" Ziggy murmured, wilting under her intense gaze, "Uhh…I-it was you in the dunk tank. Sparks took the picture right as you were falling in…"

Carmen blinked a few times. "Oh," she eventually said in a much calmer tone, "That one…Right." She then cleared her throat and took another sip from her cup of coffee. "Sorry about that, Ziggy. I didn't mean to yell at you."

Ziggy was relieved to see she wasn't angry anymore, but this just left him incredibly confused. "Uhh…It's okay…"

After a moment of awkward silence, Carmen finally explained herself succinctly without looking at Ziggy. "There are photographs of me that exist which are frankly…unflattering, and if anyone working here still has copies of them then they'll be in deeeeeep trouble."

"Umm…" Ziggy just looked at the Braixen, totally bewildered.

"Don't worry about it, Ziggy," she said, "It doesn't concern you."

Ziggy cleared his throat. "If you say so…"

Her ear then twitched, and she briefly glanced over towards the dorms. "That'll be Liz," she said, "Breakfast soon…"

"Liz?" Ziggy asked, "How can you tell?"

Carmen gave him a little smirk. She picked the stick from out of her tail and held it up, pointing it to one of her large ears. "These big girls aren't just for decoration," she said, "A Braixen's gifts are her nose and her ears, so we can tell perfectly what's going on around us. Since my nose is occupied with coffee at the moment, the ears pick up the slack. I hear distinctly deep pawsteps that could only come from a relatively heavier Pokémon. Since I don't think Sparks is up yet, it's Liz."

Ziggy just gawked at the door to the dorms for a moment. He couldn't hear anything, much less a specific Pokémon's specific pawsteps. But, to his surprise, the door opened a moment later to reveal the exact Pokémon that Carmen had predicted.

"Mornin', y'all!" Liz greeted them. The Miltank was wearing a warm smile. "Who's hungry?"

Breakfasts were quieter now. It was to be expected with four of their team absent, but it still felt strange every time. Sure, the conversations were there like they always were, and nobody had stopped laughing, but it was definitely a lot quieter.

What hadn't changed was how delicious Liz's cooking was. It was the silver lining of having part of the guild absent from breakfast; extra helpings!

Ziggy now had a belly full of warm breakfast snacks and was ready to start the day. As he always did, he sat by patiently while Carmen went over the morning briefing with the active team. As a bronze member, he still had to receive daily instructions from his guildmaster, who happened to be Carmen. Sometimes it was open-ended, like 'Go see what you can find on the requests board', but oftentimes it was a more specific assignment. Sparks was usually around during this part of the morning, and would either see him off or come with him on the assignment at Carmen's instruction. Today, though, he was already off doing another job somewhere else in the building.

"Glad you're all on board," Carmen was saying to her assembled group, "We're stretched thin, obviously, so thank you all for your dedication. Anything else?" After a moment, someone raised a paw. "Yes, Rico?"

"Are we going to get…uh…new active team members? To boost the numbers?"

Carmen was silent for a moment before she answered. "Wasn't immediately planning on it," she explained, "We always have the option to pull in volunteers from elsewhere in the guild if we're overwhelmed. I am looking for a replacement for Akash, since he's leaving the team permanently, but beyond that I'm not looking."

"Okay. Makes sense," Rico replied. The Deerling in question remained silent.

Then, after giving their daily morning cheer, Carmen sent them off and they all scurried away. Carmen picked up her clipboard, overstuffed with papers as it always was, and glanced at a few of the top pages for a moment. Ziggy simply waited patiently until he was addressed.

"Hang tight here for a minute," she eventually said as she looked up at him, "I've got to go check something that's apparently urgent. I'll have your assignment when I return."

Ziggy nodded. "Yes, guildmaster."

Carmen smirked at him before leaving. Over his brief tenure as a member of the guild, he had heard conflicting information about how Carmen preferred to be addressed. Kona had told him that it was respectful to call her 'ma'am', while Jules had warned him to never call her that. He eventually decided on just 'guildmaster', though he could see her face twitch slightly whenever she heard that as well.

He couldn't just call her 'Carmen' all the time now, could he? She was his boss!

While he waited for the Braixen to return, Ziggy quietly wondered what was in store for him today. Would he be going outside or staying in? Being a bronze-level guildmember meant he spent about an equal amount of time doing either. One day he could be doing a job for a client just like any other guildmember, though only easier jobs of course, while the next he could be running errands or assisting another guild member here within the guild.

It wasn't always easy, especially for a Pokémon like him, but Ziggy always just tried his best. He had started pushing himself to try, try, try and never give up. Just because his life had been topsy-turvy lately didn't mean that he should try any less. Every day he worked here, he was helping Pokémon. In whatever way, he was giving someone the help they needed, and that was worth working hard for.

It's probably what his mom and dad would have wanted.

Ziggy bit his lip at the thought of his parents, briefly enduring the painful swirl in the pit of his chest. Now that he knew the truth about his parents, he knew they were watching him from somewhere. He couldn't give up now. He had to keep trying. He wanted to become good enough that he could be proud and confident whenever he ultimately went to visit their final resting spot.

He just quietly hoped that they didn't mind waiting just a little bit longer.

Soon after, Carmen burst back into the room looking much more energized than before. "Ziggy! Listen up! I've got a job that's perfect for you."

Ziggy immediately got up off the couch and stood up straight, looking up at her respectfully. "Yes, guildmaster?"

"I just got word from one of our guildmembers, just a few moments ago," she explained, "There's a sick Lumineon in the water at the east beach, probably poisoned with something. The guildmember in question is a Slugma, so he can't go into the water to help. We called paramedics already, but the guild is a lot closer to the beach than the hospital is."

Carmen then approached and held something out towards Ziggy. "Here's a shot of Wonder P. You're fast, so you can run it down there and give it to him quickly before his symptoms get bad. You might also have to swim out to him."

Ziggy took the cylindrical object from Carmen. It was clear, like glass, and there was a pink liquid inside. He knew that this was a medical product that was filled with processed berry juice; in this case, Pecha. He'd been given some Wonder R before when he'd burned his paws helping Liz in the kitchen. The liquid could either be squirted onto the tongue or, in extreme cases, be directly injected using a syringe on the opposite end.

He perked up a moment later when he realized what Carmen had asked of him. "Yes!" he chirped, "Yes, I can do that! Absolutely!" He then quickly reached over and grabbed his fanny pack and attached it around his waist. He carefully stowed the Wonder P in the front pocket. "East beach, you said?"

"Correct."

"So that's not the beach where I washed off the mud. This is the one on the other side," Ziggy said, mostly to himself, "Okay! All right, I'm off! Here I go!"

"Take care, Ziggy," Carmen called after him.

Ziggy barely heard her as he rushed out of the room and then right out the guild's front door. As soon as his paws hit the pavement outside, he took off like a bolt of lightning. He dashed across the pathway down the front lawn and through the open gates, practically leaping forward with his paws as he poured on the speed.

The familiar feeling of running so fast invigorated the young Buizel. His paws barely touched the ground as he zipped down the hill and made a quick turn onto the perimeter road. Other Pokémon whizzed by him in a blur. Some of them cried out in surprise; not because of his fur colour, but simply because of how fast he ran.

It took him back to his past, in more ways than one. He could remember running this fast to get away from Pokémon who wanted to hurt him, from Pokémon he had stolen from, from a particular Raichu who would one day become his best friend. Now, though, to his delight, it also brought him back to his days as a free-spirited cub. Days spent running about here and there, faster than anyone around him, earning him his nickname in the first place.

Living in Radiant City hadn't afforded him many opportunities to actually use his speed. So, of course, Ziggy was elated that Carmen had given him this job. It was a chance to show off one of the few skills he was actually very proud of.

Barely any time had passed before Ziggy reached the street that would lead down to the eastern beach. It was a set of switchback roads that were built into part of the cliffs that weren't quite as steep. Ziggy truly lived up to his name as he darted back and forth repeatedly down the turns until he reached the bottom.

The east beach was only such in name, as it wasn't much like the west beach that Ziggy was more familiar with. There was no sand. It was a rocky beach that few Pokémon tended to visit. The only reason most Pokémon came down here was because of the docks that were built nearby.

Ziggy spotted a Slugma standing on a rock nearby and quickly ran over to him.

"Guildmember!" he called out, "He's out there lying at the bottom of the water." The Slugma gestured outwards with his head. "You can just barely see him."

The deft Buizel hopped onto a rock next to the Slugma and looked out. He could see a blackish lump that just barely stood out from the surrounding waters. Then, without wasting another second, he hopped off the rock and ran towards the water. His paws splashed in the shallow water until he was up to his chest, then he took in a breath and swiftly dove underwater.

Ziggy deflated his ring and looked around for a bit before again spotting the Lumineon. He was laying on his side on the ground and he had a dazed look in his eyes. Ziggy didn't hesitate and quickly pawed his way through the water. He knew that both his badge and his fanny pack were waterproof, so he didn't have to worry.

The Lumineon was actually further out than he had expected, but this didn't deter him at all. Now that he had his memories back, Ziggy knew that he had been swimming before he'd even learned to walk. It was something that just came naturally to him, along with being able to hold his breath for a really long time. By the time he reached the downed Pokémon, he figured he had to be at least 15 feet below the surface.

Ziggy sunk down and settled on the sea floor next to the Lumineon. He looked up at the Buizel in confusion, though Ziggy did see his eyes focus on his badge. Unfortunately, as Buizel were a terrestrial Water-type species, Ziggy couldn't talk clearly underwater like fully aquatic Pokémon could. So, he simply unzipped the front pouch of his fanny pack and took out the shot of Wonder P.

He held it out in front of the Lumineon's face, hoping that he would see and recognize the product. Ziggy then uncapped the end meant for oral administration and pointed it towards the Lumineon's mouth, which was helpfully hanging open slightly. For a moment, Ziggy was unsure if this would work properly if the Lumineon couldn't close his mouth, in which case he'd have to use the injection.

However, thankfully, the Lumineon lethargically closed his mouth around the tip of the shot. Ziggy grinned gratefully and squeezed the button on the side of the capsule. He watched as the pink liquid drained from inside, disappearing into the poor Pokémon's mouth. He kept his paw firmly squeezing the button until he was sure it was all gone.

Ziggy gave the Lumineon a pleasant smile. He knew that it would take a couple of minutes before the effects of the Pecha would become apparent. For now, the Lumineon simply continued to lay there. Now that he took a look, Ziggy could see a purple hue to the scales around the Lumineon's face. He certainly did look poisoned. How in the world had that Slugma guildmember noticed that and known what was happening? Ziggy was definitely impressed.

About two and a half minutes passed before fresh life started to return to the Lumineon's eyes. He started looking more alert and energized. The purple hue didn't disappear, but Ziggy could tell that he was feeling a lot better. He remained laying on his side, but gave Ziggy a wide-eyed look.

Ziggy smiled again and then held up his paws in a 'wait here' motion. He then used his hind paws to launch himself from the sea floor directly up to the surface. He breached the surface seconds later, taking in a fresh breath of air. He looked over to the shore and spotted the Slugma, still waiting and watching.

"He's doing better!" Ziggy called out.

"Oh, good!" the Slugma replied, "The paramedics are on their way. I didn't think anybody'd be down this quickly!"

Ziggy allowed himself to wear a proud grin for a moment, and then dove back down to tend to the Lumineon until help arrived.

Ziggy watched the Primarina swim off into the sea and then disappear below the surface a moment later. He was an official transport Pokémon for the healthcare system and was taking the sick Lumineon to an underwater hospital that wasn't far away. It still sometimes caught Ziggy by surprise that, yes indeed, there were Pokémon living in small villages at the bottom of the sea. Not every Pokémon could walk on land.

The Slugma had just left to go return to the guild, leaving Ziggy sitting alone with his thoughts on a rock on the beach. He'd done it. Another successful mission to add to the books. He glanced down briefly at his badge, seeing its bronze surface reflect the early morning sunlight.

What a wonderful start to the day. Carmen had selected him specifically for this job. It was a chance to show off not only his speed, but his ability to swim and hold his breath as well. This wasn't a token easy job given to the weird shiny mutt. This had been a job for Ziggy.

And it felt good. It felt so good to help out the Lumineon, and it felt good to have successfully completed the mission. There was a warm sense of satisfaction filling him up, the likes of which he had never once felt while living as a thief on the streets.

This was the reason he had accepted a position at the guild, even though he had still been so nervous about the outside world at the time. Helping other Pokémon gave him a feeling that was unlike anything else in the world. And it felt even better to do something that he, and he alone, was so good at.

It felt nice to be wanted.

Finally, Ziggy stood up and hopped off of the rock. When he had contacted Carmen with his badge to give his report on the mission, she'd told him to take a quick break before coming back for another assignment. He knew she was very loose with terms like that, but he figured he had taken enough time off and should be heading back.

As he made his way over to the winding road that would take him back up to the city proper, he ended up walking past the beach's dock. He hadn't been paying attention to it on the way down, but his curious eyes wandered over now. He saw a couple of large boats moored to the dock, each with plenty of seats. This dock was the only reason there was even a road down here in the first place. It certainly looked sturdy and well-maintained.

He stopped in mid-step, one of his paws halfway above the ground. He thought back to something that someone had told him once. Ziggy stood there for a moment, silently looking over at the dock. He then changed direction and dashed over towards the dock, running out onto its length soon after.

"Uh…Excuse me!" the young Buizel called out as he approached the only Pokémon who was on the dock. The Charmeleon had been looking down at a clipboard, but glanced up in confusion upon being called. He regarded Ziggy with a wide-eyed, somewhat standoffish look that Ziggy had gotten used to by this point.

"This is…the ferry dock, isn't it?" Ziggy asked.

The worker regarded him wordlessly for a moment, which was to be expected. Ziggy figured that to him, seeing a freak with a guild badge was just about the same as seeing a Charmander with an ice cube on their tail. "Erm…" he said, whatever minor amount of professionalism he had bubbling over, "Yes. Yes it is."

Ziggy glanced over at some of the boats moored to the docks. "So…one of these will take you to…Dewdrop Island?"

"Yeah. That one," the Charmelon said, and pointed over his shoulder to one of the boats. He then gave Ziggy a skeptical look and said, "You tellin' me you're a passenger?"

"No," Ziggy said, shaking his head respectfully, "Sorry. I was just looking for information."

The Charmelon raised an eyebrow and regarded Ziggy for a moment. Eventually he scoffed under his breath, shrugged, and turned around to continue doing whatever he had been doing before.

Ziggy ignored him and turned to look at the boat that had been pointed out to him. That was the boat to Dewdrop Island. The boat that would take him to where he had been born and raised. Ziggy was standing somewhere he would be soon in the future. This is where he had to come once he was ready to see his parents again.

A shiver ran up his spine. It was such a plain-looking boat on a plain-looking dock. Nobody would pay a spot like this much mind, but to Ziggy it was something special.

Special, and terrifying.

After a few more moments just standing there, looking at the unassuming boat, he sighed quietly. "Not just yet…" he whispered, "Sorry…" Another couple of moments later, though, Ziggy realized that his own words had invigorated him. He wasn't ready to take that boat back, but the only one who could make him ready was himself.

Helping that Lumineon was great, but it was ultimately just one job and it had barely taken any time. The day was still very, very young, and there were plenty of Pokémon out there who needed help. A confident grin spread across his muzzle, and he turned around on the spot. Now facing the winding road that led back up to the tops of the cliffs, Ziggy punched his paws together. "Wonder how fast I can get back up there…"

The end of the day brought a slightly weary Buizel back to the guild about an hour before dinnertime. Usually the other members of the active team didn't get back until closer to dinnertime, and often arrived late to the start of it. Now, with four members of the active team absent, Ziggy fully expected the common room to be completely empty when he returned.

Instead, he found Rico and Terry sitting at the table excitedly talking to each other. There were a few pieces of paper spread out before them on the tabletop.

"Hi Ziggy!" Terry greeted cheerfully.

Ziggy smiled as he waved to the Eevee. It still warmed his heart to see Terry smiling and happy again.

"What's up?" Rico asked.

"I got three jobs done today!" Ziggy proclaimed proudly, "That's a new personal record!"

"Whoa! Way to go, Ziggy!" Terry replied happily.

"No problems?" Rico asked.

Ziggy shrugged. "Eh, nothing big. Nobody refused service or anything." He then approached the table and curiously asked, "What are you two so excited about?"

"Our ceremony!" Terry loudly proclaimed.

"Eh?"

"To become mates," Rico clarified, "The thing I gave him the engagement bangle for." Terry punctuated this by eagerly holding up his paw and showing off the bangle.

"Oh, right. Yeah, I guess all that's back on now, huh?"

"We're pushing it forward," Rico explained, "We're trying to figure out how soon we can have it while still making it a wonderful, memorable event."

"Really?" Ziggy remarked, "How soon are you thinking?"

"We're shooting for next week," Terry said.

"Next week? I didn't think you meant that soon."

"Yeah!" Terry cheered.

"The sooner the better, if we can make it work," Rico replied more level-headedly.

Ziggy held a paw to his chin and gave the pair a confused look. "But…Well, Sparks told me this ceremony is a big, big thing that takes a lot of planning and…stuff. When you guys were planning it before, wasn't it like a month or two away?"

Rico gave Ziggy a more serious look, while Terry's enthusiasm simmered a little. "Zig," the former said, "We don't care about a big, expensive, fancy ceremony anymore. We're putting in effort to make it at least a little bit more than just signing papers at city hall, but we want to get this done soon."

"Why so soon, though?" Ziggy asked.

"So we can become mates before anything else happens," Terry said, and a sobering atmosphere quickly enveloped the room.

"Oh…" Ziggy replied softly.

"Mhm…" Rico said with a nod, "We love each other. That's the most important thing, and no big fancy ceremony is gonna change that. What's important to us now is to make it official. I want Terry to be my mate."

"I want Rico to be my mate," Terry echoed.

Ziggy simply nodded. "I see…" he said, "That makes sense."

Rico continued, saying, "We're not gonna have it out on the cliffs, or in Edwards Memorial Park, or up in the spot I proposed, or whatever picturesque location we were originally planning. We're just gonna have it right here in the guild. In the courtyard."

This brought a smile back to Ziggy's muzzle. "Oh, that's a great place. I love the courtyard."

"It'd be neat if we could get, like, a Zoroark or something to make the back wall of the courtyard invisible," Rico remarked, "Then we could see the ocean."

"Zoroark…?" Ziggy murmured in confusion. Then he suddenly shook his head and blurted out, "Wait, you guys were planning to have the ceremony in the place where the Nihilego attacked you?"

"What?" Terry replied defensively while laughing, "It's a pretty park!"

"And c'mon, how badass would that be?" Rico added before joining in on Terry's laughter.

Ziggy just shook his head. "Becoming mates sounds complicated…"

"Oh, you don't even know the half of it," Rico remarked offhandedly.

"Hey Ziggy, where's Sparks?" Terry spoke up, "We've got some questions he might be able to answer about all of this."

"Uh, I dunno actually. I haven't seen him all day. Carmen sent him off to do something somewhere this morning, and then…no clue."

"You been doing okay without him around so much?"

Ziggy's brow furrowed. "Huh? I mean…I dunno, I guess so."

Terry immediately backpedaled. "I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that he's been such an…anchor for you for a long while. The fact that you don't need him around so much is definitely really good."

"Honestly," Ziggy said, "I kinda wish I could form a team with him, like you guys did. But he's not a 'normal' member of the guild, so that isn't gonna work."

Terry scoffed. "I dunno about that. I don't see why his fancy badge means he can't be your partner."

"It's because he's not reliable," Rico said in a somewhat distracted voice. He had gone back to looking over some of the papers.

"What?" Terry said in shock, "What's that s'posed to mean?"

Rico looked up in surprise at Terry's tone. "Oh…No, I didn't mean-" He cleared his throat and started over. "I'm just repeating what he told me. He can't be a 'normal' member of the guild because 'normal' members of the guild like you and I have standards we're expected to meet. We have to do jobs daily and work hard to make the world a better place. Sparks is a wonderful Pokémon but the hard truth is that the dude's got problems. He can't 100% reliably be expected to complete a job each and every day."

Terry's incensed look sobered a little. "Mmm…"

"He still gets nightmares almost every night," Rico said solemnly, "He can be surprisingly productive even if he doesn't get a good night's sleep, but that lost sleep catches up with him sometimes. Not to mention the fact that he's still on meds and there's the possibility he might have another episode."

Ziggy frowned and glanced away. He knew quite well that Sparks still suffered from frequent nightmares. Ziggy would often knock on Sparks' door to wake him up, but sometimes he would simply hear Sparks whimpering, crying or even shouting on the other side. There were times where Sparks wandered into breakfast looking like he hadn't gotten any sleep at all, which was likely because he hadn't.

"Look, don't get the wrong idea," Rico continued, "It's clear that Carmen still really values him as a member of the guild, not to mention his old guildmaster from before Carmen. Either one of them could have just kicked him out and told him to find a job more suited to him, but they kept him. Carmen invented an entire new rank just for him, and now he's the only one who gets to wear a badge with yellow accents on it.

"But being able to do what other members of the guild do on a daily basis? It's just not safe to expect that of him."

Terry sighed softly. "I guess you're right. It sucks, but that's just how it is. He's still a very awesome Pokémon."

Ziggy didn't reply, though. He sighed as well and bit his lip.

"I'm sorry if I upset you, Zig," Rico spoke up, "I was just being pragmatic and wasn't trying to demean him or anything."

"No, it's not that…" Ziggy said as he gently shook his head.

"Then, what's up?"

"Well…" Ziggy trailed off for a moment before he found the words he was trying to say. "Sometimes…I worry that I'm the same."

Both of the others fixed him with an incredulous look. "Wha…?" Terry replied in a befuddled tone, "What do you mean? You don't have PTSD…"

Ziggy chuckled dryly. "Well, let's not write that one off just yet, considering the memories I got back…" He then cleared his throat and shook his head. "But no, I mean I worry that I'm…not reliable."

"Aw, Ziggy," Terry said with a sympathetic smile, "You're plenty reliable! Especially now with how far you've come!"

"I know, but…Well I mean, as you put it, 'the dude's got problems'…I've got problems too…"

Rico and Terry shared a glance for a moment. "I guess that's true, to an extent," Rico said, "but it is different. You've got some problems you're working through, yeah, but…in a lot of ways, Sparks has it much worse. He's been working through his problems for years, way before Terry and I even met him, and he's still not much more than halfway out of the woods."

"You, though," Terry continued, "You've come a long way since we first met you. When you were in trouble, there was a special kind of help you needed. Luckily, we here at the Rescue Society were just that help that you needed."

"You've got a strong spirit and a powerful desire to help others," Rico concluded, "Sparks and Carmen won't shut up about it! And that's what pushes you forward. Sparks has that drive too, but his PTSD is so powerful that it overwhelms it sometimes."

Ziggy stared in silence at the two for a few seconds, a little bit in awe after hearing their words of wisdom. He gave what they'd said some thought, but then bit his lip a moment later. "I still don't know about that…" he said, "Sparks has been plenty reliable to me…"

A new voice suddenly appeared within the room. "He has been doing really well lately…"

Everyone turned around and saw that the one who had spoken was Danika, who was standing next to the doorway with a clipboard in her claws.

She walked over to them and finished what she was saying. "…but he can relapse. It's happened before, and more than once." Once she reached the table, she noted the surprised look on the fiancées faces and shot them an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I overheard your conversation. Didn't want to interrupt at first, but felt like I needed to hop in here."

"What's 'relapse'?" Ziggy asked.

Danika gave him a serious look as she explained. "Well, Ziggy, you've had it yourself but on a smaller scale. Remember how you were really brave and going out in public, but then there was the incident with that new creature and you went back to being scared of going outside for a while?"

Ziggy stiffened and shuddered at the memory of the event that had changed Dante's life.

"PTSD is like a beast that lives in Sparks," Danika continued, "An unpredictable beast. It doesn't follow logic or reason. Sparks works hard every day to better himself and keep himself from succumbing to those horrible memories, and he's gotten really good at it. Most days you'd just think he was a perfectly normal Pokémon. But sometimes…the beast wakes up. And I don't mean like when he has an episode, I mean it takes him out of commission for weeks. Maybe even months. He relapses and suddenly, for a time, it's like that incident with the Zoroark just happened yesterday…"

The other three Pokémon were all looking at Danika with big, wide eyes. Ziggy in particular was struck silent, almost staring right through Danika with a look of shock.

"Wow," Rico spoke up, "You told us about his relapses, but never in such…detail…"

"Well…to tell you the truth, I'm worried," Danika admitted, "With all this craziness going on out there with the Nihilego and stuff, I'm scared he's going to relapse any day now. Hard."

"Gosh," Terry murmured, "I hadn't thought of that." He then turned to Ziggy and added, "Yeah, Zig, you should be talking to Danika about this and not us. We were just repeating what we've been told. We haven't known Sparks for as long as the others around here…"

Ziggy looked over at the Sneasel, but just frowned and didn't say anything.

"Sorry, Ziggy. You know pretty well that reality isn't pleasant sometimes," she said to him kindly.

"I'd definitely want to help him out a lot if it gets bad," Ziggy said, "I'm just not sure how…"

"How'd this topic come up in the first place?" Danika asked the group as a whole.

Rico knitted his brow and said, "How did it come up?"

"I was just sayin' I'd like it if I could make a team with Sparks," Ziggy explained.

"Ohh, I see," Danika said as a look of understanding appeared on her face, "Yeah, sadly that can't happen. I'm sure Sparks would've loved it if he could." She then brightened up and said, "But hey! You've been doing so well just on your own lately! I can count the number of times you needed to call back here for help on one claw! You're becoming a stronger, braver little Buizel."

"He did three jobs today!" Terry proclaimed.

Ziggy blushed and looked away.

"Great job, Ziggy! That's fantastic!" Danika praised him. She reached over and gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Sparks can't become your official partner, but he's still happy to join you for a job whenever he can. And you know that you can ask any of us to team up with you for the day if we're able. Anyone in the guild, in fact! If you just hang out by the requests board, there's usually someone there looking for a temporary partner."

For a moment, Ziggy just thought about her words and the idea of just how much support was surrounding him. Eventually, it did bring back his smile. "Thanks, Dani."

"Even if one day you're not here anymore eating breakfast with us…Still, come and find us. We'll be happy to help."

Terry gave him a big toothy grin and said, "It'd be an honour to help out Ziggy, brand newest holder of a shining platinum badge!"

Ziggy's eyes nearly bugged right out. "Wh-!? D-don't be ridiculous. I could never be shining platinum. I couldn't even be regular platinum…"

"Hey, don't talk like that," Rico said, "You sound like Lupe. She's been stuck at gold for a long time. She doesn't think she can do it, but she totally can. Have you seen her in action?"

"No…" Ziggy then tilted his head. "Where is she? Wasn't she supposed to be back by now?"

Rico and Terry shared a quick, almost furtive glance before the Riolu answered. "Carmen gave her an extended mission to do over in Emberglow Town."

"She'll be back sometime next week," Terry added.

"Oh, okay," Ziggy replied, "I miss her. I always have such a nice talk with her at breakfast."

"She's a sweetheart, isn't she?" Rico said with a quiet chuckle.

Ziggy then perked up a little. "Oh gosh, I hope she's back in time for your ceremony."

"Oh she will be, don't worry."

"Ceremony…?" Danika suddenly butted in, "Wait. Hang on a minute…'Back in time for…'" Her eyes went wide suddenly. "It's next week?"

"We're trying to, anyway," Terry replied.

"So soon?"

"The sooner the better," Rico said, repeating what he'd said earlier.

Terry giggled at Danika's shocked reaction, and then looked over at Ziggy. "Hey Zig! Wanna be my best 'mon?"

"Your what…?"