After saying his goodbyes, and after receiving a very big hug from the small Nickit, the Eevee closes the door and greets the waking morning with a determined smile. A chilly morning breeze brushes against his fur as the waking sun's gentle rays casts his shadow on the quiet cobblestone street he's walking on. Pokemon of differing species walk along the light traffic, with some gliding through the air, and many exchanging greetings as they pass others by.
His small smile disappears as the guild comes into view. He spots three familiar figures on the wide steps of the guild, with a fourth talking with them. Seeing no reason to bother them, he keeps on walking towards the eastern gate—
"Oh, hey! Dude!" the yellow Shinx calls, waving a paw at him. "Good morning!"
He stops and sighs, and half-heartedly returns the wave with a frown. "Morning, I guess," he says, his ears drooping as the four approaches him. "Aaand of course you all are gonna walk up to me."
"Better get used to it, mister," the Cyndaquil tells him with a grin.
"Oh, and let me introduce you to our other friend," the Shinx says as he turns to the Sentret.
"Do you have to?" the Eevee asks.
The Shinx ignores his comment as he introduces the two of them. "Linik, this is our friend who shall not be named."
Linik blinks at the electric-type. "Uh, what?"
"Just call him mister grumpy," the Cyndaquil says with a snicker.
The Eevee rolls his eyes as the electric-type turns to him. "This is Linik, our friend and Vixie's boyfriend."
The ice-type blushes as she nods and smiles, leaning her head on the smiling Sentret.
"Gratz, I guess," the Eevee says as he turns to the electric-type. "Anyway, I better get going."
"Are you going to be escorting someone, too?"
The Eevee blinks. "Ah, right. That's still a thing."
The Shinx smiles. "If you are, then the meeting place is here if you're waiting for your client."
The Eevee shakes his head. "No, I'm doing another mission." He can barely stand his ground against wilds, so what chance would he have against bandits?
The yellow Shinx's smile turns into a curious frown. "Is it in a dungeon?" he asks, and receives a nod from the Eevee.
"Good luck," the Cyndaquil says. "You need it. Like, seriously."
The Eevee rolls his eyes. "Right. Going now." He turns and starts walking towards the eastern gate, but stops when a thought hits him.
He turns back to look at them. They seem to be a good team, plus he already knows them somewhat anyway. He can pick their team to go with him in the expedition instead of a random team. That should reduce the chances of him making more connections.
But that's something he should think more later.
Noticing him from the corner of his eyes, the yellow Shinx breaks away from their conversation as he blinks at the Eevee. "Something wrong?" he asks, catching his other friends' attentions.
The Eevee closes his eyes and shakes his head. "Nothing."
Frowning, the Cyndaquil steps forward. "Spill. If you want to say something, just say it."
The Eevee frowns at her. "...later." He turns and walks away.
The Sentret scratches his head. "Well, he seems...pleasant to talk to."
"Yo! Linik!"
The four turn towards the voice and see a Snivy walking up to them with a small yellow Joltik on his head. "Our client's here." He smiles at the ice-type. "Sorry, but we're gonna be taking him away now."
The white Vulpix chuckles and nuzzles the blushing Sentret's neck. She pulls back and smiles at him. "Be careful, okay?"
Linik smiles back at her. "You too." After a quick kiss, he and his team head towards the eastern gate with their client, him waving a paw goodbye at her and her team.
At the eastern gate, the Eevee stops and blinks at the large crater meters away. "Was that always been there?"
"Yep," the Hitmonlee confirms, startling the normal-type. "We got lucky it didn't hit the city."
He was here before, teleporting from outside that forest after their investigation, but then again, he was facing the city, and not outside the gate, and he went straight to the guild after he got here the first time.
"You one of the escorts?" the guard asks.
The Eevee shakes his head. "No." With nothing else to say, he continues on his way, heading north.
The Hitmonlee scratches his head as he watches the Eevee leave. "Weird guy."
As the sun continues rising out from the horizon from behind him, the Eevee continues marching north on the grassy plain, walking away from the earthen path. "Just continue walking north, is what that Pangoro told me," he mumbles to himself, his voice being carried by a breeze drifting by, brushing against the blades of grass, creating a soft rustling noise to accompany his every pawsteps.
He soon spots rolling hills from the distance, making him smile a bit.
"Oh hey, there it is."
"Another day, another escort mission," the Cyndaquil says with a sigh as she and her two companions sit on the wide steps in front of the large guild building.
The yellow Shinx chuckles. "Hey, these are easy points." He winks at her. "After this, we're finally silver rank."
"There's that, at least," the fire-type says with a smile, which quickly vanishes with a sigh. "It's just sooo boring."
The white Vulpix chuckles and shakes her head. "Isn't that a good thing though?"
"Ugh..." the fire-type groans. "What I'd do to beat some bandits right about now."
The yellow Shinx rolls his eyes as the Cyndaquil leans on his shoulder with a huff. Smiling, he nuzzles her before turning to the ice-type. "So, Vixie, how are you and Linik?"
Vixie blinks at him, and smiles. "Well, my dear Shino, if you must know..." she says, her six curly tails wagging a bit. "We're going on a date in a few days."
"Whoa, really?" the Cyndaquil asks with a growing smile. "That's great to hear, Vixie! Where though?"
Vixie shrugs. "I have no clue. He said it'll be a surprise."
Shino rolls his eyes. "Of course it is. He loves surprises."
"Does he now?" Vixie asks as she mentally stores that information for later.
The Cyndaquil shoves the startled Shinx away. "How come you never give me surprises these days?"
He smirks at her. "Do you want a surprise later tonight?"
"I want you three to stop slacking off and start doing your job!"
Glaring at the trio, a Farfetch'd slaps his leek on the steps and quickly points it behind him, where two large Pokemon 'carefully' place his bags behind the glaring duck.
The Farfetch'd's eyes twitch. "Stop looking like dumb asses and get to work, you lazy good-for-nothing—"
The Cyndaquil angrily cuts him off: "Why don't you shove that stick of yours up your—"
The duck strikes her head with his leek in blinding speeds, knocking her back. "Do NOT talk unless I tell you to! Now then," he turns to the other two, ignoring their angry looks. "I hope you two have better manners than your...friend over there."
Rising back up on her feet, the fire-type growls at him—
—and gets knocked back once again. "I am starting to wonder if I hired rescuers or some sort of wild animal."
As the yellow Shinx helps the Cyndaquil rise back up on her feet, the Vulpix takes a breath to calm herself down...
...and apologizes for her friend's—
The leek stops mere centimeters from her startled face.
"Are rescuers these days daft or something?" the duck asks as he glares at the ice-type. "I will repeat this for the last time. Do NOT talk unless I tell you to." He withdraws his leek and nods at the trio. "Now then, time's a wasting." He looks back at his two 'bag carriers'. "You two, follow me to Pato Lawa." He turns back to the trio of rescuers. "You three shall escort us back." He slaps the steps once again with his leek. "Make haste!" he yells as he marches down the large steps, the two Pokemon carrying his bags following him close behind.
Biting their mouths shut, the trio share angry looks as they follow their client and his group, all the while ignoring a few rescuers around who are giving them sympathetic looks.
"Is it too late to back out?" the Cyndaquil whispers.
Shino sighs and shakes his head.
"Damn it."
Vixie sighs, her ears drooping. "Let's just get this over with."
"This is gonna be a long day," Shino grumbles under his breath as they catch up with their client.
Walking through the tall grass in the valley of rolling green hills, the Eevee stops for a moment to look around. Barely above his neck, the Eevee tries but fails to see anything else but the tall and swaying grass. Ears drooping, he closes his eyes and sighs, but then an idea suddenly comes to mind. Keeping his eyes closed, he lifts his ears up and concentrates on his hearing.
The quiet whistle of the constant breeze...
The noisy rustling noise of the tall grass and leafy trees...
...and the faint sounds of running water.
Reopening his eyes, he turns and walks toward the sounds of water until he reaches a river breaking through the green grassy earth. Smiling, he follows the direction of the water, until he spots a large and dark cave sitting right in the middle of the river, a few rocks poking above the water surface, as if they're steps leading to the dungeon's entryway.
"Strangely convenient," the Eevee comments as he steps on the first rock, hops on the next ones, and blinks at the dark entryway. He turns his attention to the wooden sign post by the entrance, and confirms that he has found the correct dungeon. "Two floors, for two rescue missions." He takes a deep breath, and exhales through his nostrils. "Welp," he mutters to himself as he turns to the darkness. "Here goes nothing."
He closes his eyes as he walks through the darkness, and quickly feels water all around him. Startled, he reopens his eyes and quickly finds himself in an underwater cavern...
...filled with water.
Eyes widening in shock, he quickly holds his breath and puts both front paws on his mouth and nose as he looks back in a panic.
There's no exit there. Nothing but an underwater cavern wall.
Frantically looking around, he spots a few fish Pokemon swimming by, a few taking notice of him, but he ignores them as he searches for a way out. He feels his lungs start to burn, his mind telling him he needs to breathe, but he can't. Not yet.
A Wishiwashi quickly swims toward him and tackles his back.
He barely notices the attacking wild as his lungs start screaming for air. He clenches his eyes shut; he can no longer hold his breath for long.
'Shit,' he mentally curses, 'I can't die like this!'
He reopens his eyes as the Wishiwashi tackles his chest, but he ignores it as he sweeps his gaze in his surroundings one last time until...
Wait! His badge! He can teleport himself out of this place?
Gritting his teeth, he frantically grabs his bag and opens-
He exhales, his hopeless and clear gaze on the opened flap of his bag, the bubbles rising towards the ceiling of the underwater cavern. '...sorry, sis,' he mentally weeps as he inhales, the cool air soothing his aching lungs, making him smile as he slowly closes his eyes. 'Here's to hoping the badge saves me once again...'
The Wishiwashi tackles his head, making him yelp.
"Damn it!" he yells as he throws a glare at the fish. "Go away!"
It attacks once again, tackling his chest, but he quickly grabs it with both paws before it can swim away, and slams it on the ground as hard as he can.
And he slams it again. And again. And again.
Red blood starts oozing out from the dead fish, drifting in the water as the Eevee angrily pants...
...and blinks.
"Wait a minute..." Taking a few steps back, he sits down as the realization finally hits him. "...I can breathe?" he asks no one in particular, ignoring another Wishiwashi repeatedly tackling his back. Glaring, he looks up with a frown. "Another bullshit game mechanic that doesn't make sense in real life!"
A blink...
"...is this even real life?"
He then looks down, a paw on his chin, ignoring the soft thuds of the Wishiwashi attacking his back.
"Hm... Or maybe it's because of the badge?"
He pulls out his badge from his bag and stares at it, but sees nothing out of the ordinary.
"It's not even shining." He closes his eyes and sighs as he returns his badge inside his bag. "So it's a bullshit game mechanic then."
Shaking his head, he stands back up on all four paws and frowns.
"Whatever. I'll just—"
His eyes grow wide as the Wishiwashi tackles him under his tail. He quickly turns around and slaps the fish with his paw, knocking it out.
He blinks and slowly looks at his paw. "...I can even move as if this water doesn't exist. No drag or anything..." He sighs and starts walking. "Whatever... Let's just get this over with," he says with a frown as another Wishiwashi spots him and starts swimming towards him.
He slaps the fish away, and the many more he encounters along the way until he sees the Pokemon he is searching for. After approaching the unconscious Magby with a frown, he fishes out his badge and taps it on the fire-type.
"I swear to god, if this is another sleeping wild..." He closes his eyes and sighs. "Return, rescue," he lamely says, and watches his shining badge engulf the Magby in light. A second or two later, a pillar of light surrounds the fire-type, teleporting the fire-type out of the dungeon. With that done, the Eevee puts his dimming badge back in his bag, swats another annoying fish away, and starts looking for the stairs.
Stashing three or so random items that he finds, he eventually finds the infamous out-of-place staircase and climbs down. He suddenly finds himself warped in a similar environment, with a number of Wishiwashis swimming around him. Rolling his eyes, he swats them away like flies as they start attacking him.
"Okay," he grumbles after swatting the last of the fishes. "How the fuck did these two end up here anyway, and got knocked unconscious?"
Shaking his head, he starts walking, searching for the Snorunt that he needs to rescue. After walking out of the hallway-like path, he spots yet another large number of Wishiwashis swimming all around the room. A few take notice of him, and start swimming towards him, with the others following a second later.
The Eevee lets out a frustrated sigh as he starts swatting the fishes swarming him. "This is getting ridicu—mmmrf!" He goes crosseyed, glaring at the fish that swam in his mouth, its scaly tail sticking out and slapping his cheeks. He growls, but stops himself from biting the thing in half. He instead spits it down on the ground and stomps on it.
He eventually knocks all of them in a minute or two, and he continues on his search, panting and grunting, his tired paws aching from the impromptu exercise. And after going through a few more rooms and collecting a few items and knocking out a few more fishes, he finally spots a hint of white in the next room. Smiling tiredly, he walks up to the unconscious ice-type. After swatting a fish away, he grabs his badge from his bag and taps it on the Snorunt.
"Return..." he trails off with a blink, staring at his shining badge. He squints his eyes at it. "Hm..." He closes his eyes and shakes his head as a dark shadow looms over him. "...rescue," he continues as he reopens his eyes, and watches the light surrounding the Snorunt's entire body. A pillar of light falls on the ice-type, teleporting the unconscious Pokemon out of the dungeon.
As the light disappears, the Eevee sighs in relief, but blinks when he notices how dark it has become. Looking up, his eyes grow wide as a large and monstrous creature looms above him, its large jaw open, swimming slowly but surely towards him.
"Shit!" he yelps as he raises his badge up. "Return, rescuers!"
His badge lights up, and a pillar of light falls down from above, through the gargantuan fish and onto the Eevee, teleporting him out of the dungeon, leaving the large creature behind.
Its prey gone, the creature stops its slow descent, and soon, tiny fishes swim out of its body until the school of Wishiwashi is no more.