Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Bluer Skies Chapter 3

Boralo Town

I dream of a future where I don't have nightmares - or are they visions now? In my dreams, I don't need to worry about the future as much, and no one expects anything of me… okay, maybe that last part isn't as good as I think it might be, but it's better than my current situation.

I wake up, ready to start the day… to see Roanthe snoozing in front of me. This isn't exactly what I expected from a Kommo-o, a fully evolved Pokémon who's so much stronger than me.

(I'll have to train more while he's asleep, otherwise I'll be wasting my time!)

It takes me longer than last time, as the sun's not even up yet, but I walk back over to where I was trying to learn Energy Ball last night. There's a small hole in one of the shorter trees now.

(Weird. That wasn't there last night; I would have noticed it.)

Oh well, I don't really need to care, right? It's a freaking tree.

"Time to try this again..." I'm tired, but I try to gather energy anyway. I hold out a vine. Who knows, maybe I can see more of the energy since it's so dark.

I get that tingly feeling again, followed by swirls of green energy forming a bit above my vine… but there's still no sphere, just energy floating there.

"Rotate, please." The energy doesn't respond, but I don't think it wants to do what I want it to do. It keeps turning into a blob or a stretched circle. What's going on?

(Why was it so easy for Roanthe to learn Aura Sphere if I can't even get this thing to form a sphere in the first place?! That's not including that I need to make this more powerful too!)

I hate this blob. This thing needs to just become a sphere already so I can move on with my day! I need to keep at it though, because if I don't keep trying, it won't form into a sphere.

"Comeoncomeoncomeon!" This time, I'm gonna try rotating it in two directions, like up-and-down and left-to-right. The energy turns, turns, turns... and forms into a slightly more sphere-shaped blob.

"Don't tell me I need to rotate this in every direction all at once to get it to form a sphere!"

Something taps me. "You don't."

"Who-" I swing my vine around to slam the blob into whoever it is… only to find it's been blocked, absorbed, destroyed, whatever, by a much larger, blue sphere…

It's Roanthe. Even when I'm trying to learn this move, he just has to show how far I need to go? I'm more pumped than ever, but still!

"I get that you need to train, but don't be so loud. I could hear you from all the way over there." He points to where we were sleeping yesterday. "I kept watch the whole night. Has anyone ever told you that you snore really loudly for a Chikorita?"

"Well, my parents, and my best friend, but that's about it. Who else do ya think would know?"

He waves a claw and scoffs. "I don't know. Either way, since we're both up, we might as well get going. I was planning on returning to the guild today and registering you as a guild member… then the rest of the day's yours to explore, or train, or whatever it is you want to do."

"Sounds good to me. Let's go!"

We're back on the road, which still has nothing interesting about - or around - it.

(Why can't there be a sign telling other Pokémon of nearby towns? Sounds like something that should've been made while the road was built.)

I don't wanna practice Energy Ball until we reach the guild, since I could lose too much of my energy and not even be able to make it there. It's a small price to pay for getting to the guild, and I don't wanna sleep on the ground again either.

"I was wanting to teach you another move… but I'll wait until you're accustomed to the guild and after you've gone on a few jobs."

I glare at him. Does he need me to do work for him? "Jobs? Do I need to get a job at the guild? I'm 10!"

"That's not what I meant… the guild'll have to explain that to you as well."

(With so many confusing terms they need to explain, why don't they hand out papers with the terms on them, huh? Geez, some Pokémon are just dumb!)

I don't like that the guild is so far away from my village, but if it's needed for me to get stronger… I'll make this journey a thousand times over.

I frown. "Can ya at least tell me what move you're going to teach me? It'd help if I got a bit of information about it before I start learning it."

Roanthe smirks, so I don't expect a good response. "No. I want to wait until you've at least done a few jobs and finished learning Energy Ball. If you do too much too quickly, you won't be able to really grasp what you can do and what your moves can do."

"Whyyyyy?! This feels like it's taking too long! If I can learn another move first, I won't need to worry about learning Energy Ball as much as I am now! Can't ya see that?!"

He stops and taps me, his smirk turning into a frown. "I get it. I've been in your position before. Believe me, it's not what you want to keep doing. Power and more moves are great, but you need something to stick to, a set of rules."

"Huh?" I stop walking and raise an eyebrow at him. "What do ya mean? I've never really known what I wanna do, or who to follow..."

He keeps looking right into my eyes… he's serious. "Well, you need to find it. I'll keep teaching you, but you have to promise me, you'll find something to follow. Whether it's a Pokémon or a value, find it. Do you understand?"

I exhale. "Yeah. I do. I promise I'll find something. If that needs to come first… I'll do it. I'll do whatever it takes."

He nods. "Let's keep going, then. No point in wasting time standing around when we could walk, right?"

"Yeah..." I stare at the road ahead of us as we keep walking.

(There's still so much I need to do… but I guess finding something to value comes first. What should I choose, though? It's not like I can just follow Roanthe forever, so I can't choose a Pokémon. At that point, what values should I choose?)

"We're almost there. We walked quite a bit yesterday, so you'll have a lot of free time when we get to the guild." He pulls out a map, probably to make sure we're still heading to it.

"That sounds good." I turn to look at the surrounding landscape, since I don't want to waste my energy on practicing any moves… but it's still just trees and fields that look nearly barren. Sure, there's different flowers and different rivers, but it's more of the same stuff! There's even a group of trees clustered just like the ones Roanthe and I slept at last night! I mean, we did pass by a few Pokémon yesterday, but I was so tired from trying to learn Energy Ball that I couldn't bother trying to remember what they were.

(I should probably make more of an effort to remember other Pokémon, otherwise I won't be able to get in touch with them if I need their support… and that'd suck.)

Roanthe taps me again. "Tell me more about that friend of yours. You mentioned her yesterday morning and earlier today, and I think getting to know who she is might help me learn who's attracted to you."

"Attracted? Ya think I love someone? Ew!"

Roanthe grumbles. "That's not what I meant. It's just… just to let me know what kinds of personalities work well with you so I can tell that to the guild. It'll help you later, I swear."

(Work well with me? Only one Pokémon ever worked well with me, and she's not my parents or my teacher!)

I frown just a little bit. "...I'm not sure I wanna answer this. Can we leave it for when we get to the guild?"

"Fine. It's up to you, I don't mind."

Good. The less I tell him about my life, the better. He doesn't need to know what I'm like around other Pokémon.

(There's no need to tell him what won't hurt him, I guess.)

...I know I'm not strong enough. Maybe I've never been strong enough to do what I want. Is that what I'm looking for? Is that why I have these visions? This is too complicated to think about… so I'll leave it for later. For now, I'll focus on what matters to me, and see what I can follow.

I look down at the road, which is straight and wide. "I'm not sure what values I can follow. I've never really thought about it before."

"Well, then think about this: What have you seen others do that you do or don't like?"

I look at Roanthe and have no idea what to say. "I, uh… I guess I don't like... other Pokémon who do bad things?"

He nods. "That's pretty generic, but it's a start."

"What's 'generic'? I dunno that word."

He taps a claw to his chin. "It… uh... means it's not specific. I suppose giving you examples of what I want would work better… how about peace, order, justice… things like those."

"What's justice? I get the other two, but they aren't really something I wanna work towards."

He sighs and blinks slowly. "Justice is… it's a complicated subject. Some Pokémon would say it's about bringing criminals to answer for their crimes. Others believe it's making sure those who are hurt are taken care of. It's up to you what justice means, just like it's up to you to decide what peace and order mean."

"So… like when a Pokémon steals from another Pokémon, punishing the thief would be justice?"

"Sort of. The act of punishing them would be justice, but the actual punishment itself… whether it's too soft or too hard on the thief could make others believe the punisher isn't exactly doing what's right. You get that?"

I squint, trying to figure out exactly what he's saying. "I guess… Can I keep thinking about this? I need a lot more time."

He places a claw on my head. I feel calmer for some reason as he keeps talking. "It's fine. This'll take time anyway, so you don't need to know exactly what you want to aim for first, but you should at least have a vague ideal to shoot for."

(Well, that's a relief. I might end up choosing peace, but justice sounds like something I want as well. I'll read up on it later at the guild, ask around, get a basic idea of what they are, then I'll make my decision.)

I turn to look out at the landscape again. It looks the same, but feels different, like something's been moving around in it. Does that mean we're almost at the guild?

(No, no, no! I should be thinking about what I want to follow first, so that I can spend more time looking them up at the guild later.)

I shake my head. I'm so annoyed! There's something I want to remember, but what was it? I know it's something related to justice. Either way, I'll need more time to think about this, time that I might not have at the guild. Who knows how long it'll take me to sign up to join the guild?

Oh, wait. I can just ask Roanthe. "How long will it take for me to be accepted into the guild?"

"It usually takes a year, a month if you work hard enough and other guild members see what you've done."

"A year?! Are ya talking about how long it'll take my application to be accepted or how long it'll take before other members of the guild don't treat me like a newbie?!"

"Oh, you meant to apply. Usually that takes less than half a day, so you shouldn't be worried about that part. We should be able to get to the guild by dusk at this pace, so I'd assume tomorrow your application should be accepted."

(Good. That means I can use that time to study up on what peace and justice mean, and any other moves I might want to learn.)

The landscape looks duller now that the sun's lower. The grass casts shadows, the trees look like clouds when sunlight passes through them… it's weird but also beautiful.

"Does it always look like this here?"

He also looks out at the landscape, slowing down just a bit. "It's always pretty peaceful along this route. Other roads are more bustling or more dangerous, after all. I've found this to be a great place to think and practice moves when I have the time to come here."

I stare up at the sky, now a brilliant violet and blue. It's almost dusk. If we keep walking at this rate, given what Roanthe said yesterday, it'd take at least a few more days to get to the guild… How far is it from my village?!

"I think I see something over there..." I squint and can make out a sign. "A sign, maybe? I can't read it, though. Can ya try and read it?"

Roanthe doesn't even bother looking over there, so I guess we're close to something that he recognizes. "It's the sign telling us the guild hall is just up ahead. We'll be there by the end of the day."

I glare at him again. "By the end of the - I thought ya said it'd take me about a week to enter the guild since we left that town yesterday!"

He shrugs, so I guess he was expecting me to say something like that. "I thought we were going to stay behind a few days at that coastal town and a few days outside of the guild, but since you want to join the guild so much, I figured that we could just cut those days out and immediately head for the guild hall."

(Why didn't he say that earlier?! I was worrying so much about lost time, too!)

I grumble a bit, because this is stupid. When we get to the guild hall, I need to register as early as possible. I can't afford to wait much longer to join if I want to sleep there and not on the streets tonight. ...I should probably ask Roanthe just in case.

I look at him nervously, cause I'm not sure how he's gonna answer. "If I'm not in the guild by the end of the night, will I need to sleep on the streets? I really don't wanna sleep there tonight."

He smiles at me, and I can feel my nervousness slip away as he talks to me. "You'll be fine, don't worry. The guildmaster will let you sleep at the guild hall, he just has to review your application tomorrow since it's bound to be pretty late by the time we get there."

"Whew. That's good to know."

"The guild is in Boralo Town, which has a lot more shops and Pokémon than your village, so it's bound to make you interested in something or someone there."

(I swear I've heard of Boralo Town somewhere, but I can't remember it right now… I'll ask Roanthe since he literally lives there.)

"I remember hearing that something happened in Boralo Town a while back… I was 6, I think?"

He glances away and I can see a deep frown on his face. "That's not really something I want to talk about. If you ask the guildmaster or my friends, they might be willing to tell you."

"Why? What's so special about it that ya can't tell me right now?"

"It's not something you need to know. All I'll say is that it's related to Legendary and Mythical Pokémon… which should be more than enough for you to understand that it's not something you want to get involved in."

(Legendaries? Mythicals? He's related to that? How? Is it something so secret that only a few Pokémon know?)

"Get involved in… it's still going on?"

"No, it's not, but it's still a touchy subject for some of the guild, including me and my friends. Just try not to ask too much about it and it'll be fine."

"If it's so important, shouldn't I look into it? If I can grow stronger and take care of it, won't that be better for the guild?"

His frown lessens just a bit. "You're not even in the guild yet. I'm sure you can help look into it later when you're stronger, but not now while you're not even a member of the guild."

"...Okay." I'm a bit bummed. I guess he doesn't trust me enough to reveal that yet, but I'm sure he'll get around to telling me eventually.

(Does it have something to do with his arm? Is having an arm that can go on fire is a bad thing? Oh, maybe I could ask him about the Braixen I saw in that last vision!)

"Do ya know any Braixens? I've heard they're pretty nice."

He looks confused." No, I don't know any Braixens? Do you?"

"No, just asking." I frown. If he doesn't know any Braixens, then he must not know the Braixen from my vision - so it must be someone he'll meet in the future - and that tells me the nightmares I've been having could be visions about the future! Well, I mean, earlier, I just thought they were, but this explains so much about them. I guess now I can talk to someone more experienced in these kinds of things, but I have no idea who to ask.

...I'd say I'm excited about that, but I'm scared of what the visions could really mean now.

"It's dark, but I can see Boralo Town just ahead. We're almost there, just keep walking." Roanthe's voice shakes me out of my thoughts, and I stare ahead at Boralo Town. It looks lively despite it being nighttime; back in my village, everything usually went quiet at nighttime. I'm more excited about this than I am about my visions, that's for sure!

I open my mouth as wide as it can go. "Whoa! Is it always this way here?"

He raises an eyebrow. "Way? I'm not really sure what you mean… like how the town's not that quiet, or how it's still bright at this time of night?"

"Both! Do the Pokémon here sleep late, are they not able to sleep, what else?"

"You could say that... they could also just be excited. There's a lot of reasons, really. Just know that if you wander out onto the streets at night, you'll be able to see almost everywhere in the town without needing to use moves."

"That's pretty cool! Is there anything else I might need to know?"

His face relaxes just a bit. I think he assumed I wasn't going to be this interested in Boralo Town. "You can find out for yourself. There's a lot of free time in the guild when you're not off doing jobs, so you'll be able to explore the town as much as you like."

"Cooool! Are the jobs easy?"

He grins, just enough that I can notice it. "It depends. If you take on a job that involves taking down one or more Pokémon, it could get messy, but otherwise it should be fine, at least for someone like you."

...I was just thinking that I should be doing jobs that only involve me beating up other Pokémon, but if Roanthe is telling me not to take those jobs, maybe I should get stronger and do other jobs first before I even try any of them.

"If I don't do jobs, will I be punished or anything? Seems like the guild really wants its members to do jobs if you're telling me to take on certain jobs before I'm even a member."

"Not at all. It's just that you won't be able to get any Poke if you're not doing jobs, since you don't seem like the type of Pokémon to do anything outside of jobs."

I blink a few times. Is that Boralo Town up ahead? If it is, we're really close to it now! "...Yeah, you're kinda right about that, but I'll work my hardest at completing jobs!"

"And… we're here!" Roanthe sounds glad. He's probably just as excited as me to be here, based off of that… has he not been back here in a while?

(Whatever. I should get to the guild as fast as possible so I can just get to sleep!)

We enter Boralo Town, and I can see there's no signs saying where anything is, not to mention no gates or walls around the town. The Pokémon who live here must feel pretty safe, considering that even my village had gates… "Where'stheguildIwannagothererightnow!"

Roanthe sighs. "Make a right at that first intersection there, then make a left past that fountain… You know what, just look at that big arch there and go to it. That's the entrance to the guild hall."

I can see an arch sticking just above a few houses and shops… there's a much larger building that looks like a palace of sorts behind it. Is that the guild? It looks way larger than I was expecting.

I wanna learn more about the guild, so I think asking now would be better than asking later, especially since I don't have anything to do while we're walking there. "Uh… how many Pokémon are in the guild?"

"I'd say at least a hundred? You don't have to be so shocked; your mouth's hanging wide open."

I didn't notice that… I awkwardly smile to cover that up. "I'm just excited, since this is my first time going somewhere other than my village. I'm also pretty scared… that's natural, right?"

Roanthe nods, though it's slower than before. "Maybe. You'll be fine, I'm sure of that."

My smile becomes less awkward and I feel calmer than before. "That makes me feel just a teeny bit better."

(I'm starting to like being with Roanthe! I guess training with him will be better the more I learn about him and how he acts… that can wait until tomorrow, obviously!)

The arch is huge. It's too large for me to really understand how large it is! The guild hall is even larger than that, and I can't help but say… "Uh… ya said at least a hundred Pokémon live here? Are ya sure that's not a couple hundred?"

"I haven't been back here in a while, so the guild might have gotten more members while I was gone. Still, the last time I was here, the guild hall was just as large as it is right now."

"So… what's all the space for? It can't all be bedrooms! Oh, do they have a training room?! What about a library?!"

We reach the doors of the guild hall; Roanthe opens them as I enter first. "The guild hall has both of those. First, though, I need to get you to the guildmaster as soon as possible, so follow me."

Roanthe leads me through the hall, and we pass by a few Pokémon - none of whom seem very tired despite it being pretty late - before knocking on a door to his left at the end of the hall. I can see there's a sign above it that says "Guildmaster's Office." On that note, I wonder what kind of Pokémon the Guildmaster is...

The door opens, and I can see a desk with a single candle and some papers on it. It looks stupid.

(Who'd put papers so close to a candle?! That's just common sense, for crying out loud!)

"Mmmmm? Who is it?" A Pikachu walks very slowly - just barely managing to not knock over the candle - and sits down at the desk. I can see there are bags under his eyes… he must be pretty tired. Maybe now's not a good time for this. "Oh, Roanthe. You're back, and with another Pokémon… is she a new member? The guild's been getting a lot of applications over the past few months…" The Pikachu pats a large stack of papers - which all have "Guild Member Application" on them - before passing a blank one to me.

It asks for my name, what kind of Pokémon I am… basic stuff like that. It doesn't take me long to finish the sheet, and I use a vine to hand it back to the Pikachu. "I finished it. Now, where am I supposed to sleep tonight?"

He yawns. "Uh… somewhere along the hall, there should be a staircase… walk up that and there should be a sign on the wall saying 'Second Floor - Bedrooms.' Before that, though, I need to explain a few things to you… like how this guild works."

(Well, I was expecting that...after all, I am a newbie...)

"...You don't look hurt, so the nurse won't have to look at you…" He mutters a bit before continuing. "...I'll start by giving you this." His voice is so sleepy I can barely make out what he's saying. He pulls open a drawer and places a light blue scarf along with 2 badges on the table. "This badge on the right is a basic Explorer badge, this one on the left is a Class badge. There's 25 Classes in total, you can move up through them the more jobs you complete, the less the Class number the higher rank a Pokémon is..." He sounds like he's rambling… how tired is he?

(Wait… what rank is Roanthe? If the guildmaster knows who he is, doesn't that mean he has a high rank?)

"...you'll be starting out as a 25th Class explorer. One last thing before you go… the 'explorer' badge doesn't really mean anything, the guild is forced to assign a specific kind of title to itself… that's why this is the Boralo Exploration Guild… we have more than enough members to where we can send members out on rescue or outlaw jobs… so don't think too much about it. Sorry if that's a lot of info… I'd usually have more energy than this, but I'm really tired... I swear I'm not trying to sound bored."

The Pikachu stares at me, as if he's waiting for me to reply before he goes back to sleep. "Um… okay. I'll do my best? What else am I supposed to do?"

"Put on the scarf, pin the Class badge on it… you can put the Explorer badge somewhere else on it, too… then go to sleep. Tomorrow you can pick a job from the job request board and all that stuff. We don't really have teams or partners here; you'll be put in a group of two to four Pokémon of similar Class ranking to you… that should be it."

The Class badge reads 25, but looks like "XXV," which is… not what I expected. The Explorer badge looks like a stylized ball thing… also not what I was expecting. I still put them on the scarf before I wrap it around my neck and tie it tight.

(Why can't these things just look simpler? I mean, it's cool and all, but this is weird!)

"I should probably show her where her bedroom is. See you tomorrow, Guildmaster." Roanthe walks away as I follow him.

"Goodnight, Roanthe... and welcome to the guild, Aikonita." The Pikachu closes the door as we exit the office.

Roanthe leads me up the stairs and to an empty bedroom, with a window and… well, there's a bed, obviously.

"Goodnight, Aikonita. I'll see you tomorrow." He nods before closing the door.

I guess that's it for today… Now, what will I do tomorrow? I guess I could pick out a job and go with a group, but I also wanna train or read up on some moves… or learn about peace and justice. Oh well, that can wait until tomorrow; I'm too tired to do anything other than sleep now.

I fall asleep on the soft bed, excited for the day to come.

Next Chapter: The First Job