-Chapter VIII: Insecticide-

I wake up to the feel of a paw pushing at my shoulder. Groaning, I feign falling back asleep, only to get pushed around some more. Sighing, I get up, Charity's almost manic grin greeting me. I look over to the side, seeing that Riptide's still asleep.

"Mornin', Kai!"

"Morning…"

She looks over at Riptide herself. "Got another 'team-building' mission for ya! This one is simpler though; all you need to do is wake Riptide up. Considering you're the official leader of the team, you're the one who's supposed to keep track of all the members. That includes making sure that you wake up at a decent hour."

That's reasonable enough. I nod.

"Good. I'll be waiting by the bulletin board for the two of you, then."

I nod again, not watching her leave. I've done it before, shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

Padding over to the mudkip, I can't help but hear his mumblings about random stuff. "…Solar eclipse… falling sky… white trees…"

What the hell?

I back away a bit, trying to pick up anything else. I don't, but he's started shaking.

That can't be good… Then again, I do need to wake him up soon…

Making a quick decision, I nudge him awake carefully, only to get kicked right in the nose.

…

The mudkip sprints to the corner of the room, eyes wildly crisscrossing all around him. He doesn't seem to notice that I exist, too focused on… whatever that dream might've been.

I would have felt bad if I wasn't lying on the ground, just about knocked out from that hit on the nose.

Did a great job at numbing my other senses, at least.

The only sound that echoes throughout the room is Riptide's quick breathing, which gradually calms down.

I groan, prompting the mudkip to look towards me. He has the decency to wince. He still seems shaky though.

Numbness fading, I shake myself a bit as I get up, trying to reawaken my muscles. It works to little success.

At least I hadn't fully woken up in the first place…

The mudkip sits still in the corner of the room, watching me silently now. Once I finish stretching, I turn to him.

"…You good, dude?"

The mudkip nods quickly, mannerisms desperate.

"S-sorry for-"

I interrupt him. "-It's fine. Just… I guess I need to get to know you a bit better."

Plus, it's probably one of the most stable positions I could be in anyways. Even if I don't like him now, I'll have to at least get used to him for the team to actually work in the future.

"A-alright, um. Thanks for not being mad at me…?"

I sniff. "Sure. Charity's waiting for us, by the way."

"Oh."

With a quick beckoning head gesture, Kai leads Riptide out and up to the guild bulletin boards, where we spot Charity casually (more like reservedly) chatting with another member. I recognize that member as the furret from yesterday morning.

Noticing Charity's somewhat-hidden nervousness, I hold in a chuckle. She spots us, giving us a pleading look. The furret notices.

"Oh! The rest of Team Wayfarers is here as well! Haven't seen you three as a team up close before!"

Charity backs up in surprise, laughing nervously, backing away slowly towards us. I see a piece of paper stuck to her back. "Yeahhh… uhm-" she gulps, "-hey, it's been great getting to catch up with you and all, but-"

"Oh, you haven't met my new teammate either! Do you want to?"

"I-I wo-would, but I need to d-discuss our task with my mentees. Can I just… y'know."

The furret clicks her tongue. "D'aww. When can we talk next, then?"

Charity does her best to look like she's interested. "Weeeeeell… these next few days are gonna be rather busy for our team, but I'll let you know when I'm free. That alright with you?"

"Sure! Oh, you'll probably love Bail!" The furret walks away with the most innocent of grins plastered on her face. As she gets farther and farther away, Charity's mask of happiness rapidly fades into one of discontent.

"…"

"She talks a lot," I comment.

"Mhm. Moving on,-" she turns to us, "-let's go over- wait, Kai? What happened to your nose?" Her expression morphs to concern.

"We had… a mishap." I slowly report.

"What does that mean? Did the two of you fight or something?" her eyes narrow.

"No, no- I don't want to call him out or anything, but-"

Riptide interrupts me, much to my surprise. "I was having a nightmare. Kai took me out of it, and my fight-or-flight response kicked in."

I nod. "Yeah… I was kicked in the face and he threw himself to the corner of the room and calmed himself down with big breaths. I got him to come when he was ready."

She eyes me curiously. "I'm surprised you didn't get too mad at him for that."

I regard her with professionalism. "I'd rather not get into a fight with fellow team members this early into being a team. I'd rather not find myself in a situation where I'd constantly be uncomfortable, either." Gulping down some fresh air, I continue with a bit more care. "Even though… we haven't had the best of starts, nor do I have that great of a relationship with the two of you just yet, this is what I've got to work with. Things are getting a lot better, despite the random unfortunate happenings over the past few days."

"…I guess that's… understandable..."

Probably went a bit too harsh, but-

"…Either way! Today's our first official guild mission. We'll be going to…" she shakes the paper off of her back, prompting Kai and Riptide to watch as it floats to the ground.

"…Tiny Meadow! That's actually the hardest dungeon that we can do in normal rank, too. That means-"

"You three!"

Charity looks just about ready to blow up on the 'mon who'd walked up to us, only to sharply release her held-in air. Atari looks away sheepishly. "…was I interrupting something?"

Charity sighs, shaking her head. "No, no… I'm just… a bit tired of being interrupted today."

"Oh. Did Aria stop you?"

"Mhm."

She gives a knowing sympathetic smile.

"Regardless, I got the three of you because I listened to your conversation, and was wondering if you could test something for us in a dungeon. A group of guild members recently created an orb that, upon being broken, releases a gas poisonous to bugs and bug-types. Since Tiny Meadow's pretty much just a bug-infested dungeon, I was wondering if you all would be willing to test it. This is your second mission, right?"

The three of us nod. Charity says "Well, the mission two days ago wasn't necessarily official, just something that was thrown together on a whim. I consider this our first official mission."

"Nice. Glad you see it that way, cause once you complete this mission, the guild will have a little surprise for your team, provided by the guildmaster."

Charity seems to pick up on the hidden message. "Don't remember it being this fast!" She snickers at my confused expression.

Atari laughs. "These dungeons aren't hard to navigate through in the slightest. At least, compared to the higher-leveled ones. I heard Charity mention that it's the hardest dungeon of your rank, which is very true. Something that I didn't give her a chance to mention, however, is the difficulty. To put it into perspective, it's only two floors, and both floors are very open. The only factor that puts it above the rest is the sheer number of bugs flying about on the second floor. It gets annoying fast."

She hands the orb to me as I nod, clearing my throat. "What does this 'Bug Spray Orb' do, exactly?"

"Interesting name for it… Guess that works for what it does. It's more of a bomb of gas than a spray, though. What it does, pretty much, is fill the area with a toxin that is specifically great against bug-types. We did have an unfortunate accident with one of our guild members who happens to be a bug-type, but he was good after we gave him the proper berries. It's barely been tested though, but it has only worked on bug types. We just haven't gotten the chance to test it in a bug-infested dungeon like Tiny Meadow. Was waiting for the perfect opportunity, and you just happened to come upon it."

Charity pipes in. "So, you want us testing the orb on the bugs, see what it does n' stuff?"

"Mhm! I don't know what effect it'll have on the dungeon as a whole, though. Note to self: make sure no bug-type members of any guild enter Tiny Meadow until proven safe. Oh, and use your scarves, too! I don't remember if you mentioned this Charity, but they're both items for the two of you to test, and a way for the guild to give something back after you decided to join our ranks, in a way. They aren't as experimental as some of the others we've given out, though. Usually when a third partner joins we give them a more experimental scarf."

Charity nods. "I did mention them."

"Great! I'll be off then. Good luck on your first 'official' mission, as labeled by Charity. See ya!" She turns around, her tail giving us an almost mischievous smile.

Charity turns her attention back to us for a moment. "Okay! We've got two missions, as well as a new guild ranking on the line for this mission. Do you two think you're ready?" She directs her attention to Riptide first. Quickly respond with a quick "I'm good."

Riptide hesitates, but nonetheless says "C-can't wait!" I can't tell if he's scared, excited, or just not fully here at the moment. Charity gives him a reassuring smile, and I think back to yesterday when she'd held him back for a bit to talk.

Well, he seems comfortable around her, at least. Wonder what they talked about?'

I just shrug as Charity leads the way back to our room. We grab our stuff, emptying the bag of all but a few things, and heading out.

Compared to the last dungeon, this one's not nearly as far out. At the same time though, it's not nearly as obvious. If a sign weren't there (and Charity weren't there to point out said sign), I don't think I would've seen it.

Literally just looks like tall grass.

The leafeon turns to face us.

"Tiny Meadow… you pretty much know what this dungeon's about. Two floors, one pretty much empty and the other overflowing with bugs. Pretty sure you'll still find some bugs on the first floor, but they'll be rarer, at least. I think the ones on floor two are a bit smaller too; more annoying than actually dangerous. Considering I'm part grass-type, I'm probably the one in the most danger here. You two ready?- Oop, wait a minute… Kai, can I have the bag real quick?"

I lift the bag off my shoulder and place it in front of me. Charity rummages through it for a second, grabbing a piece of paper from in-

Ohhh… she never actually told us what our mission was. Heh.

She uncrumples the page. "Forgot about this, but we'll be looking for… a yellow scarf. Mission says that the owner is a grass-type who doesn't really have anyone he knows that can do it for him – ooh, tough luck – and just decided to ask the guilds. Eh, didn't think that it'd be much of a big thing anyways."

Riptide and I nod, and I pick up the bag. Charity puts the paper back in, recrinkling it in the process.

Letting out a quick breath of air, I follow Charity into the dungeon, far more confident in myself than last time.

I don't want to jinx myself, but… two floors doesn't really seem like much. Considering it's called 'Tiny Meadow' too, I'm going to assume it's a rather small dungeon, right…? …I'll find some wood to knock on when we get inside. I don't trust myself not to curse us with bad luck here.

Tiny Meadow F1

…I don't know why I expected to land on a soft platform. Diving through the grass wasn't necessarily the worst way I could've entered, but landing on my already-bruised face isn't the best way to enter a dungeon. Riptide jumps through just after me, landing even more clumsily.

"Y'know you two, there isn't just gonna be a sudden, random drop when you enter a dungeon. Usually, the transition between dungeon and non-dungeon is seamless – it's nearly impossible to tell unless you actually look closely at your environment. Or, in this case, the tall grass hinders our view of the actual dungeon."

"Alright." I ignore the stinging sensation.

I look over to my right, and see something glowing. I scrunch my eyes up.

"…Hey guys? I think that's the teleporter to the next floor."

Charity looks at where I'm gesturing.

"This dungeon is small, I guess," she responds, "Though I didn't expect it to be this easy to find the teleporter. Do you guys want to fight off a few bugs first, or do you just want to get this over with. The bugs on the next floor are easier to simply squish than to actually fight, plus they're annoying to deal with."

I look over to Riptide. He's looking at the bag.

"…Eh, I'm not a fan of annoying," I respond, "I'll just go with the quick method." I take the orb out of the bag. "Should I enter the second floor first and use it immediately, or should I wait?"

"Dungeon's gonna teleport all of us at the same time. Not all of 'em do it, but this one does."

"Ah. Alright." Still don't know what to make of mystery dungeons.

"Riptide," Charity gets the mudkip's attention, "Do you want to teleport us?"

"Sure."

He hesitates for a moment, but presses the glowing plant. My vision flashes black-

F2

-then promptly turning back on to the sight of large bugs surrounding us on all sides, annoying buzzing accompanying them.

Charity has to shout for me to hear her. "KAI! BREAK THE ORB!"

I quickly drop it, the orb not breaking. The bugs get closer. Frustrated, I stomp on it a few times, trying to quickly get it to break. Isn't a great idea – small shards of orb dig into my foot, much to my displeasure - but the orb does break open, exploding into a greenish smoke. I can't help but start coughing. Slowly but surely though, the buzzing comes to a stop.

"Why does it- *cough* -smell so *cough* goddamn sour-?" I manage, barely seeing Riptide through the fog.

Charity responds from elsewhere. "Don't- *cough* know, works- *cough* likeacharmthough! *cough*"

I cover my face with my scarf, and we wait for a while until the fog clears, coughs coming out every few seconds. When it does, I can't help but stare in awe.

"Holy shit…" Charity lets out, staring at the sheer number of bugs collapsed on the floor. "That worked very well, but like… don't think I expected it to actually be this effective."

Of the probably hundreds of bugs in the dungeon floor, I can't see a single one that is even kicking. Looks like a warzone.

"…"

"G-guys, found the scarf," Riptide calls lightly from our right.

"Oh? Nice! Then… we're pretty much done here then. You two ready to leave? I see the teleporter over there," she motions with a paw.

We both nod. She smiles, running over and touching it. With a flash, we're back where we started, just outside of the dungeon, scarf in tow.

Charity lets out a small laugh. "That… was probably the fastest I've been in and out of a dungeon before. That was probably… a minute or two…? At most five. I think outside the dungeon an hour might've passed, though."

"Wha-?" I give her a confused look.

"Well, it is a small dungeon…"

"Still, how would it be an hour? Wouldn't that mean that mean that if we, per se, got stuck fighting against the bugs and got stuck in there for an hour, we'd have been in the dungeon for multiple days?"

She closes her eyes and shakes her head, a smug grin forming. "Considering we're probably not gonna go in this dungeon again for a bit, I would say you probably don't have to worry about it, but I'll just say that the time difference is exponential, basically. The longer you're in the dungeon, the longer it takes for time to pass outside the dungeon. That's not the same for all dungeons, but that's how it works in this one specifically. Learned about that experiment of theirs a while back. Time dilation is weird, yeah, but usually not unreasonable. The unreasonable ones are given warnings, usually."

"…What's the worst example of 'time dilation' you've experienced in a dungeon?"

"Probably one of the Class-VII or something like that – it was a while ago. Think it was probably around the same as this dungeon, just without the exponential factor. A minute in the dungeon was an hour outside. It was a pretty long dungeon, too – I think we might've been in there for multiple days in regular non-dungeon time. There's no official term to differentiate times between inside and outside of dungeons, but yeah. Just… be aware of the warnings on some of the dungeon signs/mission signs."

"…Oh-kayyy."

The walk back to the guild is uneventful, and much less tiresome than the previous dungeon. I pause for a moment just outside of town.

"So, Charity?" She pauses as well, turning towards me.

"Hmm?"

"How do these guild missions work, anyways? Y'know, with returning the scarf n' stuff?"

"Ah, that's not too hard. There's a designated place for guild members to turn in completed tasks in the cafeteria area. Usually Atari or some other substitute guild member is in charge of that. A lot of the time you won't see the person you helped, but every so often they'll decide to come over to the guild to give you their thanks. I'd say that it probably happens for every fourth task, less so on the easier ones than the harder ones. Rescue missions are usually the same deal. We'll probably end up doing that as a job sometime during the apprenticeship. Boring? Yes. Good learning experience? Also probably yes. Also, there is a separate place for you to turn in missions that you are unable to complete. Usually you aren't faulted, though there is usually a mark on that mission saying that a team failed the mission, usually with their guild rank labelled on it. Got it?"

My head was swirling.

"Y-yeah…"

She frowns.

"Has the headache flared up again, by any chance? I know it's not really a common thing, but you didn't seem to think so."

I scratch the ground with a paw. "…Nah, I don't think so. There was a lot to what you said, but my head's been for the most part fine."

"That's good. Rather not have a permanent injury on an apprentice of mine, yeah?"

My back suddenly feels oddly cold. She notices my shiver, before looking at my back.

"Not… mentally, at least… um-" she gulps, "moving on from that, should we report our success to the guildmaster?"

I see her looking at my back, and I flinch in realization.

"Charity, I don't-"

"-I'm ready!" Riptide interrupts me, much to my surprise.

I clear my throat. "-Uhm… same! Though, we never really used our scarves, did we?"

Charity waves me off. "That'll be next mission probably. Not important right now – let's go! Honestly, I'm just excited to get to see my ma- I mean our possible rivals when they arrive sometime tonight."

"Yeah, that'll be interesting."

We enter the guild, time probably around afternoon or something similar. A couple members greet Charity, but otherwise we turn in our mission to Atari off to the side from the cafeteria counter.

Noticing the lack of an orb, she stops us. "So… how'd the orb work for you guys?"

Charity takes over. "It worked surprisingly well, actually. Every single bug in the second floor dropped dead within 5 seconds of the orb being used. Caused quite a bit of fog and produced a god-awful tangy smell, but we got out quick enough to where it didn't do any lasting damage… probably. At least to us. I have no idea how the dungeon will react, though."

"Oh! It worked that well? That's nice. Me or Maddox will probably send out some other team to check on the dungeon in the coming days. Because you've technically done three guild missions now though… I think it's time for a rank-up, dontcha think?"

"That fast?" I get their attention.

"Nobody said that you'd be in this guild for long. In fact, this is primarily just an introductory guild. I don't expect you guys to be here for more than two or three weeks, honestly. You'll also probably spend the majority of your time in the second stop; the "Strength" guild, where you'll learn how to better properly fight, defend yourself, etc. Our guild was just designated as the best introductory guild because we usually give a good laydown on how dungeons work without going too hard on ya."

"Ah."

"Alright. Give me a sec… Okay! Maddox is good to see the three of you."

I'm unconvinced- wait a minute… psychic… communication… damn. They probably use some sort of psychic signal to communicate between distances. They've been a team for a while, too…

My thoughtful expression fades, and I respond "Cool, thanks."

After a bit of a non-verbal eye-pointing argument ensues between me and Charity as to who will lead, I give in and guide the group down to Maddox's office.

…Can't help but notice that it's messier than the last time I was in there. I think I can even see a few areas where his office might've experienced an explosion/fire or two, with multiple charred pieces of paper and broken orbs.

Welp, not my problem.

"Team Wayfarers! Welcome back! It hasn't been too long, but it's great to see you guys again! Heart about the small misstep, but I'm glad the three of you were able to get through it pretty much unscathed!"

Charity and Riptide resist giving an aggressively neutral response. I struggle to, though. "…ehhh,- uhm, yeah, we're doing fine."

"That's… good." He clears his throat. "Considering you made it through a dungeon in probably record time, I'd have thought you guys would be more satisfied with yourselves."

Riptide's eyes widen. "That was- oh. Uh, yeah… that makes sense." He peters off at the end. I continue after.

"We did have some help in the form of the bug-killing orb, though."

"Either way, it's still easily a record. Be proud of yourselves for that, especially considering it was your second dungeon crawling experience as an official team. How long did it take for you guys?"

Charity responds. "It was about two minutes, I'd say."

"See? The fastest that we've seen is around four; That's pretty easily a record. Now, it might be beatable in the future when others adventure through that dungeon, but hey. A record's a record. In fact, I might just put it on a team resume for the next guilds to see…"

I lock eyes with Charity, before speaking up. "Well… we don't have the best coordination as of yet-"

"-And that's perfectly fine! That's true for over half the teams that started here, too! It takes a while to get used to everything that comes with working with the guilds, and for some it comes at a slower pace. It's a learning experience in all senses of the word. You'll learn about the world, about your teammates, about dungeons, and about whatever else you can think of. We're a growing foundation, after all. All knowledge is welcome!"

Damn… what did Vita do to get himself disassociated with the guild, then?

"So! Atari sent the three of you here for your first rank-up, from Normal to Bronze, rank level one to two. I'm assuming that you have your guild badges?"

I feel at the badge on my stomach, remembering that it was there. "Mhm."

The meowstic continues, "May I see them?"

I notice Riptide's eye twitching as well as a slight reluctancy, but we both hand him our badges.

"Okay… give me a couple of seconds to get things organized, and- hah! There they are! Your new badges!" He beams as he shows us them, one in each hand.

"The first few badges may look/seem a bit dull, but they'll only get better-looking as you rank up! Works quite well with the fact that we have a few metalworker fire-types in our guild; comes in handy for a lot of things."

Now that I think about it… the previous guild badges were just rocks pretty much, weren't they.

Looking closer, I can see that this one is somewhat dull as well, though it does have its own little metallic sheen, signifying that it is in fact (probably) bronze. I pick off a piece of dirt before sticking it on my fur with a little pinching feeling. I assume Riptide does the same.

"And I assume you're fine to keep your badge as is, Charity? Or do you want a bronze badge as well."

I look over to Charity, noticing the badge stuck on her chest. In all it's a far cleaner badge than my own, a silver color on the outside with a green 'M' carved into the front.

"I think that it'd probably be good for bonding, at least, to put me down on their level for this."

"Great! We always have extras of these things for that exact reason. And… here ya are!" He hands her a bronze badge of her own.

"Thank you!"

"Alright. Two more- actually, three more things before I let ya go. First is a question; did you guys get an opportunity to use your scarves yet?"

Charity answers for us. "We were only in the dungeon for two minutes, and the orb pretty much did all the work for us, so not really. Outside of that, I didn't see anything different about either of them."

"That's… reasonable. Next mission you guys take though, hopefully you get to test 'em. They'll do ya some good.

"Second, rewards for making it to the next rank. Now, since it's the first rank-up you aren't going to be getting much, but I think one oran berry per group member should suffice, don't you guys think?"

Charitys' and Riptides' eyes widen in glee, and I use their glee to hide my own lack of knowledge.

Charity says "Oh, that's more than enough, Guildmaster. Thanks!"

"Y'know, you can call me whatever ya want. As long as it's not purposefully degrading, I'm pretty much good with any nickname."

She smirks. "Alright, 'Dox."

"Attagirl. Alright. Final thing-" he turns to Riptide and I, "-, I'm assuming that Charity's told the two of you that there's another team joining the guilds?"

"Yup." I nod.

"Great! I'll just leave it for you to discover for yourselves, then – they should be arriving in aboutttt… thirty or so minutes? In the meantime, why don't you get yourselves something to eat to celebrate? I can even join ya, if you want. They are members of my guild, after all. I want to be one of the first few faces they see!"

Charity brings her attention back to Riptide and I. "What do you guys think? You good with eating lunch with the guildmaster?"

"You're just messing with me now, arentcha Charity?"

"Yup!"

I just shrug. "I'm fine with you joining us."

He looks over to the Mudkip behind us. "And you, Riptide?"

He shrugs. "I'm fine with you joining as well."

Doing better on that nervousness thing, at least. He did seem a little better about that today.

"Great! Let's head over, then."

Fakémon used: None. The dungeon dwellers were pretty much just larger-than-average bugs of an undefined species. Even without the orb Team Wayfarers likely would've been fine; it's less of a hard dungeon and more of an overwhelmingly annoying one. That'll change in the future (with the effects of the orb they used and all), but how it changes is tbd.