.19

~\({O})/~

16.

The Clubhouse

~\({O})/~

Serenity Village ~ Morning

~Espurr~

It was morning. So early in the morning, Kecleon hadn't even properly set up shop yet. He had just finished putting everything on the shelves when the bell placed just outside his stall rang. He opened the shutters of his stall and quickly looked out the front window to see who was ringing it.

"Oh! Ha…" Kecleon quickly cleared his throat, discreetly setting a wayward jar of peachberries back on the stall shelves. "First customer of the day! Welcome to th—oh." He glanced over the stall counter, down at Espurr and Tricky. They were barely tall enough to see over the counter.

Had they been waiting there all morning?

"I don't normally sell to kids," he said, clearing his throat once more. Then he looked at Tricky. His eyes narrowed. "Hey… aren't you the one who st—"

Espurr set a bag of poke on the stall counter. "We want the lumber."

Walking up next in line, Fletchinder and Eevee glanced at the two pokemon in front of them uneasily.

Kecleon looked at the bag of poke thoughtfully. "…Well, all is forgiven, then! Still, lumber is very expensive—"

Espurr set another, equally sized sack of poke on the counter. "This should cover it."

Kecleon almost looked like he didn't want to know where all the poke had come from.

"…How much lumber are we talking?" he asked.

"How much do you have?" Espurr replied, nonchalant.

Moments later, Eevee and Fletchinder watched dumbfounded as Espurr and Tricky loaded up all the lumber onto a wagon and began to haul it off. Then Eevee came to her senses and began to pursue the pair of children.

"Hey—HEY! We'll buy some of that off you! It's for your classroom!"

Tricky immediately started pushing the wagon faster.

~\({O})/~

~Deerling~

Deerling usually wasn't up this early in… ever. Even if this was a schoolday, which it wasn't, because it was summer, she would have woken up about an hour later anyway. But today a sudden commotion from outside had jerked Deerling out of her beauty sleep, and she lazily trudged over to the window like a spinda to see what time it was and what was going on outside.

What she saw confused her: Espurr and Tricky running off with a wagon full of what looked like wood, followed by an eevee who was yelling all sorts of profane things at them as it chased them down the path. For a moment, Deerling stared at the entire scenario out her window as her brain tried to wake up. Then the absurdity of what she had just seen finally clicked into place.

…

…

…

What the m—

~\({O})/~

Serenity Village Outskirts

The wagon was hidden behind a tree. Espurr and Tricky waited in the underbrush, concealed beneath the forest's ferns. They both stayed as silent as they could while Eevee's distant shouts and pleas reverberated through the woods. Slowly, they became more and more distant, until finally Espurr and Tricky couldn't hear her cries at all. And only then did they sit up, both struggling to contain their laughter. Espurr fought it off much easier than Tricky could. Tricky was still trying not to laugh by the time that they began to move the wagon again.

"That was awesome," Tricky gasped, giving in completely to the laughter. As much as she tried to deny it, even Espurr was giddy on the same stuff she had been on in Wooloo Plains, and she even struggled to sit still as she coordinated the direction back to the treehouse site.

"I think—" she gasped, trying to calm down "—I think it's this way."

Tricky was too busy recovering from her spell of laughter to respond properly.

The cart of lumber went right next to the other odds and ends that Espurr and Tricky had collected from the missions they'd been taking (Which included the cart). A woobat had even given them a large tarp to cover all their supplies with in exchange for going gemstone-foraging in Glittering Mountain. It was almost enough supplies to start building their team base, bar a few things they still needed.

Espurr collapsed against the cart, catching her breath for the first time since they'd run off from Kecleon's stall with that crazy eevee nipping at their paws. "What do we still have to get?" she asked between breaths.

Tricky pinned a list down to the ground, looking at the contents. "We still need… nails… shingles… and that's it!" she looked up.

"And a manual to build the treehouse," Espurr replied. "We were lucky to get that list of supplies from Kangaskhan as is. I don't think she'll help us build it."

"That too." Tricky clutched the list in her mouth and brought it over to Espurr, who rolled it up and stuck it in the lumber cart. "So where do we start?"

Espurr looked up at the sun, which was still not quite high in the sky. They had gotten up very early just to reach Kecleon after they had overheard he was getting a shipment of lumber from a couple of pokemon in the square, and the entire day was still ahead of them.

"We split up," Espurr finally decided. "If you get the nails and shingles then I can get the manual."

"Sure!" Tricky hopped up, looking excited. A moment later, the two of them had booted up the expedition gadget and set it to project onto the tree trunk. Espurr and Tricky took turns hovering their paws over the connection orb, zooming in on missions that looked promising and had rewards including the things they needed. A few of the missions were offering shingles among all the other things they had dug out of their storage areas and offered as rewards (there were some ridiculous things being offered as bounties. One pokemon had even posted a cart full of rotting fruit as their reward, something that Espurr felt queasy just thinking about), but there were no missions with nails listed in the reward section. Let alone any that offered both. It seemed even for the pokemon of Serenity Village, nails were a bit too out there for rescue mission awards.

"Do you think we can get nails from Kecleon's?" Tricky asked after five straight minutes of searching. Espurr didn't know.

"Why don't we just ask?" she pointed out.

"What if we run into that crazy eevee again?" Tricky asked.

"We'll prosecute her, obviously," Espurr answered like it was a matter-of-fact thing. "We bought the lumber fair and square." Espurr had read the word 'prosecute' in one of Audino's book a few days ago and had been waiting forever to use it.

"Oh! You're back." Kecleon dusted off his apron methodically, looking down at Espurr and Tricky. He cleared his throat, this time just from habit. "Welcome to the Kecleon Sh—"

"Do you have nails?" Tricky interrupted. Kecleon stopped mid-sentence, his eyes veering over to Tricky. "Ah… not anymore," he said. "They were in stock this morning, but then a fletchinder and an eevee bought them all. Just between you and me…" Kecleon looked slightly uncomfortable all of the sudden, like he didn't gossip on his clients very often. His voice hushed. "What they wanted with so many nails, I'll never know, but Eevee was very adamant that they buy them all."

"This is bad." The three words were uttered by Espurr, who was – for once – at a loss for what to do. They stood in the middle of the Village Square, pondering their next line of action. "If we can't find nails, how are we going to build the treehouse?"

There was silence between Espurr and Tricky for a minute, as both pokemon thought on it.

"Maybe we'll find them tomorrow," Tricky helpfully offered. "Let's just get the other stuff and then we'll worry about nails."

That was fair.

Espurr and Tricky decided to split up. Tricky would be taking a mission solo to retrieve something for a diggersby who was offering roof shingles as a reward, while Espurr would go up to the library to pick out a manual and then see if anymon around was willing to sell nails. It was only after they split up and Espurr was left all alone in the square that she realized she had no idea where to find Watchog.

Kangaskhan at the Café Connection had overheard Watchog complaining about guard duty on Sundays and Thursdays. And today was Thursday, which meant that Watchog would be at the school. Espurr spent the next five minutes hiking up there.

"Don't think this is going to happen every day," Watchog grumbled, as he led Espurr up to the school grounds grumpily. "'Cause it's not. My job is to guard the school on Sundays and Thursdays, not play kit-sitter for children." He stopped outside the library, jerkily holding open the door for Espurr. "Go on. Pick your book. And then get out. Five minutes."

Espurr ducked under Watchog's looming figure, and then she entered the dusty environment of the library once more.

"I'll be counting!" Watchog yelled after her. Espurr did her best to ignore Watchog's cynical comments.

Now that she could read the signs on the shelves, Espurr could see that despite its messiness, the library had been perfectly arranged in alphabetical order, from 'A: "AAAAAGH!" to Z: "Zebstrika's Zealots". Espurr wasn't concerned with screaming at the top of one's lungs, zebstrika, or zealots, so she ignored those sections completely. She quickly made her way to T: "Targets and Training – the Proper Way to Battle". If Espurr was going to find it in five minutes, then she was going to find it under 'T', for 'Treehouse'.

"Time!" Watchog called out five minutes later. Espurr looked back from the shelf hurriedly- she still hadn't found the book! It clearly wasn't in this section—if it existed at all—but then where was it?! Maybe… May… M. M. Maybe it was under 'M', for 'Manual'!

"Don't make me come in there!" Watchog yelled once more, and then Espurr knew her time was up.

"Coming!" she called out. Watchog wasn't flexible, she knew. He wasn't going to give her another minute. But M came before T, so she'd pass the 'M' section before she walked out. It wouldn't hurt to give the shelves a quick check. Her eyes quickly skimmed the titles of all the books as she walked past it, and she spotted it at the very top of the shelf—'Manual for Treehouse Building'. Except she wasn't reaching that without a ladder. And the ladder was between her and Watchog; parked just around the 'G' section.

"Alright, I'm coming in!" Watchog yelled, and Espurr quickly hurried all the way back to the library entrance empty-pawed. Watchog marched her all the way down back to the village, and after sparing her a single annoyed glare he began the trudge back up towards the school. Espurr just dusted her fur off and began to walk back towards the square. There had to be some way to get that manual.

Maybe Tricky was faring better than her.

A small pebble flew by Espurr's ear, missing it by about an inch. Espurr's head snapped in the direction that the stone had come from, quickly scanning the environment to see who had shot it. Her eyes detected movement above the Café Connection—was that…

…It was Pancham. And Shelmet too, if Espurr's eyes didn't betray her. And then, an idea began to brew in her head.

~\({O})/~

~Pancham~

"You bored?" Pancham idly strung another rock up in his slingshot, laying on his belly on the roof of the Café Connection. He briefly glanced at Shelmet, who was lazily watching all the passing 'mon below. The sling shot and the pebble flew, flying over the head of a passerby pokemon. Pancham grunted in annoyance.

It was a moment before Shelmet answered: "Yeah."

"I've got something you two can do."

Both Pancham and Shelmet jumped. They looked behind themselves, where Espurr stood.

"Argh don't do that!" Pancham cried, quickly edging himself up near the edge of the roof. "How did you get up here?!"

Espurr looked back towards the other end of the roof. "The same way you did," she replied matter-of-factly. "I climbed the ladder around the back."

"That's not how I got up…" Shelmet grumbled under his breath, but he went ignored. Pancham quickly tried to look less startled out of his wits, relaxing against the café logo's backside instead of backing up against it. He folded his arms behind his head.

"Alright, we're bored anyway. Watchu got?"

"How would you fancy a trip back up to the library?" Espurr asked.

Pancham raised an eyebrow. He and Shelmet traded looks. Then he sat up and leaned forward.

"Go on."

~\({O})/~

~Tricky~

"…And here's the shingles. Pristine quality, none of them cracked. I checked." The diggersby held out the large cases of shingles in his large ears. "You, uh…. You have some kind of cart I can put this thing on, right?"

"We have a wagon." Tricky had to stare up at the diggersby just to see his face.

Diggersby looked around. "…Where's the wagon?" he asked. Tricky's ears suddenly shot up.

'Berry crackers,' she mouthed.

"I'll be back in just a sec." And before Diggersby knew it, Tricky had vanished down the path. "I'll be baaaaack!" she called out.

Diggersby watched her go with an open mouth, silent from having the words stolen away by the wind. He waited a minute, surrounded by silence. When Tricky still didn't show up, he sighed and then placed the shingles on the ground. She'd find them there when she got back for them.

~\({O})/~

~Goomy~

It was hot.

Goomy slimed into the village square, where many of the 'mon passing through parted for or walked around him as usual. Most everymon in Serenity Village knew how slow he was, so he didn't bother many 'mon at all.

That all changed when what could be best described as a very fast blur of orange and yellow sped through the village gate and into the square, accidently bumping into and knocking over a swadloon on the way in.

"Sorry!" Tricky yelled in apology, stumbling back to her paws and shaking the dust out of her fur.

"Watch it…" the swadloon muttered annoyedly as it righted itself. There was no change in its facial features (swadloon were very dull).

"Sorry!" Tricky apologized once again, and then started to run off towards the south entrance. Interested, Goomy quickly began to follow, but he just couldn't keep up with her and she was already a speck in the distance by the time that he had made it to the entrance. Goomy sighed. He was so slow. How would he ever catch up with anymon else?

He ended up milling around the square for the next five minutes, until suddenly he caught notice of Tricky running back towards the square from where she had come, dragging what looked like a large empty wagon along with her. She galloped on into the square and was about to pass him when Goomy decided he wasn't going to keep getting left behind like that anymore. He took a deep breath and spoke:

"H-hey! Can I c-come along?"

Tricky slowed to a stop in the middle of the square, looking at Goomy.

"Goomy?" she asked, backtracking. Goomy nodded. Tricky tilted her head, mostly out of confusion. "I… guess you can come along," she said. "You can ride in the wagon!"

Tricky helped Goomy climb up on into the wagon, and then she bit down onto the handle again and they were off so fast that for once Goomy was happy that his slime stuck to things.

~\({O})/~

~Espurr~

Espurr hated to do this to Watchog, but she needed that book. And if he wouldn't budge far enough for her to get it, then she was going pry a hole open into that library and collect it herself.

It was late into the afternoon, so the square was temporarily empty as everymon made an attempt to avoid the worst of the harsh summer heat. That was perfect for Espurr. No witnesses. She followed Pancham and Shelmet up towards the school on the hill in the distance.

Pancham and Shelmet made their way up the hill at a much faster pace than Espurr, making sure to put some distance between her and them before they started to talk.

"What do you think she wants out of this?" Shelmet asked.

"Don't know, don't care," Pancham said dismissively. "I'm just bored out of my mind. And hot. Doing something is better than nothing."

Shelmet looked reluctant to agree with that, but he didn't object. Then Espurr caught up with them, and there was no more secret conversation between them even though everymon was thinking it.

"Hey, Teach!" Pancham called out as Espurr darted into the underbrush outside the classroom. She glanced into the open yard where the desk and all the seats had once been. That fletchinder from last week had done a good job of cleaning out the yard. There was nothing to hide behind. Berry crackers. That meant she'd have to make a run for it. She cast a look back towards Pancham and Shelmet.

"What is it now?" Watchog asked, walking towards them. "Don't tell me you want to go to the library too."

Pancham and Shelmet traded a look. "Yeah, we wanna go to the library," Pancham said.

Espurr watched, concealed in a bush. Al part of the plan. She looked at the underbrush at Pancham, who followed Watchog up to the library. The coast was clear now. She quickly slipped in once they were out of sight, hiding behind the path that led up to the school clinic. She watched Watchog march Pancham and Shelmet up towards the library, lying in wait for her moment to strike.

A couple of moments later (Espurr wasn't keeping an exact count), Pancham and Shelmet emerged from the building, carrying a couple of books with them. They quickly walked ahead of Watchog, lugging the books along with them.

"See?" Pancham said in a hushed voice. "Look at our loot!"

"I get it, but…" Shelmet grimaced. "Books?"

"Wanna go back to crowd-watching?" Pancham asked. Shelmet went silent.

Pancham caught Espurr's eye as they walked down the path. He looked back up at Watchog, and for a moment Espurr's breath caught: Was he going to rat her out?

But instead, Pancham waved back up at him. "Thanks for the books, Teach!" he called out. Then he sent Espurr a hasty thumbs-up, and then they both began to walk out of the square.

"I better see you return them in good condition!" Watchog shouted after them, and he began to march down the stairs as well. Espurr quickly hid where Watchog couldn't see her. He marched down the steps, his feet dislodging some soil near where Espurr hid, and then he was back to patrolling the outside of the classroom. Espurr released her breath silently. That had been close.

Now for getting all the way up to the library. Espurr spent the next few minutes observing Watchog's guarding patterns: It seemed he was making a perimeter check of the school, looping around once and then heading up to the school clinic on the rooftop every once in a while to investigate. Espurr waited until he began to take his next loop of the school, and then she quickly scurried up the path to the school clinic.

The library was to the right of the deserted clinic, and the door had been left wide open (Apparently, Pancham and Shelmet didn't think much of closing doors behind them). Espurr ducked in through the door and wasted no time locating the ladder over by the G section like it had always been. She quickly began to move it as fast as she could, ignoring the heart-wrenching sound the squeaking of the ladder was making. What if Watchog heard?

Slowly but surely, the ladder slid all the way to the 'M' section without any impromptu interruptions from Watchog. Espurr quickly climbed up the rungs (which wasn't easy when each rung was placed up almost half Espurr's height), scanning the bookshelf for the book she wanted. Ah, there it was. 'Manual to Treehouse Building'. It was thin, and Espurr was able to pull it off the shelf and slowly climb down the ladder with it with no large difficulty.

She let out a sigh of relief after climbing down from the ladder. She had the book now. All she had to do was check the coast for Watchog and make sure it was clear—

—Footsteps.

Berry crackers. She was going to be caught! Espurr quickly dashed for a more obscure part of the library, but she didn't catch sight of all the books on the floor and accidently tripped on a few on her way behind the 'C' section. The pile of books clattered to the floor very loudly.

Espurr froze once she had gotten into place behind the shelves, barely daring to breathe.

"Hey! Is somemon in there?!" Watchog shouted from outside. Espurr stood stone-still with the book clutched tightly in her paws as Watchog entered the library.

"I don't know who you are but I know you're in here," he said, slowly stalking through the bookshelves. "best you come out before I find you."

There were a few shelves in front of where Espurr was standing. She could feel Watchog's presence on the other side of the bookshelf; she could sense his emotions. She wasn't going to fare well if he found her.

Then Espurr realized she was standing next to a source of light—A window! That was her ticket out of here.

The window was paned, so Espurr scanned it for a latch. There was one, at the very top where Espurr would never be able to reach. She instead channeled her mental power into throwing it open cleanly. She needed to make sure it was completely silent, and it almost was. It made a slight creaking noise upon finally being thrown, but Espurr didn't think that Watchog had noticed. She waited a moment in silence just in case he had, but then she realized he was still looking further into the library.

"Come on out," Watchog trilled. "Or it'll be a world of hurt for you."

He was still too close to the bookshelves. If she tried to climb out now, he'd catch her. She needed to make a distraction… Espurr turned her head over to the other bookcase, focusing her mental powers onto the top shelf. A random book—she didn't care which book—began to tremble. Slowly, it pulled itself out as if dragged by an invisible paw. Espurr watched it carefully through a crack in the bookshelf. And then gravity did its work, and the book toppled all the way to the floor. Espurr saw the way it had landed and she was sure the binding was history, but she didn't particularly care as long as it drew Watchog's attention away from her.

Watchog spun in place, glancing towards the area where the shelf had fallen, and that was when Espurr took her opening to flee. Using the unshelved books on the floor like a staircase, she hastily climbed out the window as silently as she could with the manual in hand. Watchog didn't notice a thing, until the window slammed shut behind her. Loudly.

Once Espurr landed firmly in the grass outside the library. She quickly scanned her surroundings for a possible way out. The path was right in front of her. She could quickly run down and be out of there—but no, she didn't have time for that. There had to be another way out. What she went around the back—

—Espurr suddenly dove behind the backside of the library's wall as Watchog stormed out of the library. She didn't see him, but she heard a paw push the swinging windowpane shut. No footsteps walking away, just complete silence.

He was waiting for her.

Espurr wanted to freeze, but she didn't. Watchog would catch her if she did that. Slowly, quietly, she began to edge towards the other end of the wall—the one that lead to the backside of the library.

Something went off in Espurr's head that told her to hide, and she quickly took cover in a bush right before Watchog's head suddenly whipped around the side of the wall and scanned the area for trespassers.

"Aha!" Watchog cried. "Found you, thie— …Oh."

To him, the place was empty. Espurr didn't dare breath. Watchog cleared his throat. He stood up straight.

"Stupid ghosts again," he muttered to himself. Then he quickly marched off. Espurr could feel the embarrassment off him. But now that he was gone, she wasted no time scurrying around the back of the library and rushing off towards the village.

~\({O})/~

Village Square

"Props to you, that was pretty sick," Pancham said from his seat next to the pile of still discarded logs in the Village Square. "You should hang with us more."

"No thank you," Espurr said, keeping that treehouse manual tucked firmly under her arm. "I've got other things to do."

She began to walk off, leaving Pancham and Shelmet in .

"Hey, actually," Shelmet began loudly. "Whatever you're doing, we want in."

"Wha—we do?" Pancham glanced up from the book he was lazily flipping through, looking at Shelmet.

"Yeah," Shelmet said casually. "Yeah, we do." Pancham shut his book with a snap, but didn't say anything.

"And what makes you think I'd do that?" Espurr asked. "The last time we talked you led me and Tricky into a death trap."

"Because otherwise we'll go up to the school and tell the teach that you just snuck in to steal that book," said Shelmet.

Espurr hissed under her breath, only loud enough for her to hear. Berry crackers. There was no way out of that! At least, not one that didn't involve trying to scare the two of them and hoping they would back down (and somehow, she didn't think they would). Better to just go along with it and hope they got bored, she thought.

"…Fine," she said, trying to keep up appearances and keep the conversation polite. "It's right this way."

~\({O})/~

~Deerling~

For the second time that day, Espurr walked by Deerling's house. Doing something weird. Deerling walked up to the living room window and squinted at Espurr through the windowpanes. This time she had a book in her paws, and… was that Pancham and Shelmet following her? And did they have books too?

Now Deerling was curious. Her distaste of Pancham's advances made her think twice about calling out and asking what they were doing, but that didn't mean she didn't intend to find out anyway.

"Hey Mom!" she called. "I'm going out!"

"It's about time," Mother called from another room of the house. "I don't know what you've been doing in here, holed up all da—"

The front door of Deerling's house closed behind Deerling, cutting Mother off. Deerling twitched her ears, then slowly began to follow the three pokemon as they continued south.

~\({O})/~

Serenity Village Outskirts

~Goomy~

"W-where's this going?" Goomy asked, riding in the wagon that Tricky was nonchalantly pulling along with her mouth. He was so light that she almost didn't even feel his added weight to the trolley.

"Goinff to pick uph fingles," Tricky said, her mouth full with the wagon's pull-along handle. "why foo 'ere?"

"I-I wanted something to do," Goomy said. Tricky hummed in acknowledgement, and then the next minute or so was silent in between them. Tricky couldn't talk much with the handle in her mouth.

Eventually, they reached the spot where the shingles lay next to the bush, and Tricky quickly spat out the handle of the cart and looked around for Diggersby. She only saw the cases of shingles on the ground.

"Huh…" Tricky muttered to herself. "I guess he left it." She picked up the cases of shingles one by one and stacked them on the cart next to Goomy. "Can you make sure those don't fall off?" she asked. Goomy nodded.

"What are a-all these for?" Goomy asked before Tricky could pick up the cart handle again.

"Oh right!" Tricky exclaimed. "You don't know! We're building a treehouse! Me and Espurr! You wanna join us?"

Goomy thought on it for a moment. He knew Deerling had said never to talk or play with Tricky, but a treehouse sounded fun and he had already gone out with Tricky all this way… how much more could it hurt? And so he nodded.

"Alright then!" Tricky exclaimed gleefully. "We're going straight there!"

She picked up the handle of the trolley in her mouth and began to sprint through the trees once again.

It was already almost sundown by the time that Tricky finally rolled the wagon back up to the wagons of other supplies that lay around the clearing. She finally spat out the handle, dramatically spitting the rest of her slobber into the soil beside her. Goomy slowly slimed himself off the wagon, looking around at all the tarped supplies.

"A-are we there?" he asked.

"Yep," Tricky replied. She yawned. "We're just waiting for Espurr now—"

"Present."

Both Tricky and Goomy looked towards the underbrush to their right. Espurr pushed a couple of ferns aside as she walked into the clearing. Tricky noticed the book that Espurr was holding under her arm. Her eyes bugged out, but not because of the book- but at Pancham and Shelmet, who stepped out from behind Espurr.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked, glaring at them.

Pancham leaned against a tree. "We're bored," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"They helped us get this," said Espurr, showing Tricky the treehouse manual.

"Some pretty neat stuff you've got here," Pancham said, peeking under the tarps that Espurr and Tricky had used to cover all their supplies. "What're you building with all this stuff—a treehouse?"

Silent nods and glares all directed at him accompanied the silence in the room.

"Alright," Pancham said, slapping the lumber he was next to idly. "Sick."

"What's all this about?" All five of the kids in the clearing looked in the same direction. Deerling brushed the ferns out of her face as she trotted into the clearing.

Tricky was fuming by now. "Why are you here?!" she half-asked, half-yelled. "This was supposed to be our place! Our team base! Not yours!"

Deerling scoffed. "I couldn't care less about your stupid team base. I just wanted to know what you were all up to." She looked at Goomy. "And you shouldn't be playing with them. Don't you know it's dangerous?"

Goomy said nothing. Deerling began to walk away. "Come on," she said. "I don't want you playing with them. You shouldn't be here."

And that was the point where Goomy decided: he didn't want to be pushed around by Deerling anymore.

"N-no," he said. "I-I don't want to."

"What?" Deerling stopped in her tracks, genuinely surprised. She turned around. "Goomy, it's dangerous. You're going to get hurt."

"N-no I won't," Goomy said.

"Yeah!" Tricky shouted after Deerling. "He can play with who he wants!"

Deerling scoffed. "He can, but he shouldn't. Not if it's dangerous for him. That's something you could stand to learn, 'Tricky'."

"You just can't move on from that, can you?!" Tricky yelled at Deerling.

"You killed a 'mon!" Deerling screamed back. "How could you expect anymon to trust you ever again?"

"Espurr does," Tricky retorted.

"Espurr doesn't count!"

No-mon knew what to say to that. There was a brief moment of silence between everymon in the area as they remembered Budew. Deerling fumed silently.

"I-I don't want to play with you," said Goomy, swallowing his stutter. "I want to play with Tricky. And you can't make me leave."

That was the last straw. Something in Deerling snapped. She took a deep breath, and then silently marched all the way back to Tricky, looking the most angered that Espurr had ever seen her in her life. "Alright, fine," she said, in a voice that sounded like it was barely keeping itself reigned in. "Artemis 'Tricky' Carracosta, I challenge you to a duel."

"I accept," Tricky said. "Bring it."

The next half-hour was spent clearing all the supplies back into the woods so that it wouldn't get destroyed.

"What's a duel?" Espurr asked Pancham as the two of them moved the lumber back into a safe spot behind some ferns.

"It's when a townymon battles another townymon," Pancham said. "First 'mon to faint or get pushed out of the ring loses. And the loser has to do whatever the winner says they do before the battle." He set the lumber down without warning, causing Espurr to struggle under the weight for a moment before she managed to set her end down. "Them's street rules. This'll be fun."

Espurr just kept her eyes trained on what was now the battlefield, as the four not-participating pokemon gathered outside the ring to watch. Deerling and Tricky slowly approached each other from opposite sides of the clearing, until they were so close to each other that they could have touched noses.

"If I win," Deerling said, keeping her voice level. "You'll never talk to me or Goomy ever again."

"And if I win," Tricky said. "Then… then…" for a moment she struggled to come up with any kind of victory claim. But then an idea occurred to her, and her eyes settled straight on Deerling's. "…If I win, then you have to be friends with both of us."

Deerling looked a bit surprised by Tricky's proposal, but she didn't comment on it. "Then it's settled. I hope you were paying attention in Dungeon Class."

And then she turned and walked to the other side of the battlefield. Tricky did the same. They began to circle each other slowly, each keeping a close eye on the other.

Tricky moved first. She dashed towards Deerling, her mouth alight with flame—

—But Deerling kicked her straight in the face. Tricky stumbled back. Immediately she got up again, leaping for Deering and making the same mistake that she had made just a few seconds earlier- Deerling spun around with an agility that didn't seem possible for a creature of her stature, using her hind legs to send Tricky flying back across the ring.

It took a moment for Tricky to gather her bearings after having been knocked against a tree. She tried to get up as quickly as possible—she was an explorer! She had fought dozens of dungeon 'mon off and lived to tell the tale! She couldn't lose to Deerling!

Tricky came to her senses just in time to avoid another kick from Deerling; this time to the face. Deerling ended up slashing the bark off the tree with her hind legs, while Tricky ducked under her and spit an ember in Deerling's face once she emerged out the other end. For a moment, Tricky felt like celebrating- that must have been it! Deerling had never been in a real battle, after al—

—Deerling headbutted Tricky right in the face like nothing had happened. Tricky fell on her back in the ground. She rolled over before Deerling could charge into her, getting to her feet and desperately looking for a place to hide so she could recuperate, but there were none. None that didn't involve her running off the battlefield and forfeiting. For the first time in her life, Tricky felt trapped—

—She narrowly avoided another kick from Deerling, who had somehow snuck up beside her without her noticing.

"You can't keep running!" Deerling yelled as Tricky ran. "This is going to end eventually!"

Tricky thought she could. Maybe Deerling would get tired! And then she could—

—Kick. Deerling galloped full force towards Tricky and managed to cut her off just as she swerved to avoid running off the battlefield. Tricky flew clean across the battlefield and landed in a heap on the other side. She wheezed. She didn't think she was going to get back up…

Espurr watched the entire thing, wincing. Several times she had contemplated intervening, but she wasn't stupid. Intervening probably meant that Tricky forfeited the duel. Besides, this was Tricky's fight, not hers.

Tricky panted. Her vision was blurry, either from the dust or because she felt like fainting. Maybe both. Even without perfect vision, she could tell that Deerling was walking towards her. How long did she have before Deerling finished her off?

Not long. Tricky was beginning to tremble all over. She was getting her tail kicked! How would Espurr win this! By… by…

…By thinking calmly and figuring out the best way to tackle the situation.

The clopping of hooves. Berry crackers—That was Deerling! She was going to—

"Are you down?" Deerling asked. Tricky didn't respond. Maybe…

"I can see you blinking," Deerling spat. "Are you down?"

Tricky suddenly rushed up, diving under Deerling and summoning an ember in her mouth. Before Deerling could move she spat it up into the air, searing the bottom of Deerling's chest. Deerling let out a loud cry, quickly moving away from where Tricky was laying. "You—" she started angrily. "You—"

Tricky released another ember that hit Deerling in the face. Enraged, Deerling screamed and began to charge straight at her. Tricky ran backwards all the way across the ring, and then jumped out of the way at the last second. Deerling headbutted a tree.

Both pokemon quickly returned to the opposite side of the battlefield. Deerling was glaring daggers at Tricky, but Tricky could see a new wariness in her eyes—it was a fair fight now.

Deerling made the next move. She charged forward, and Tricky prepared to sidestep her, but at the last moment, she opened her mouth, and a beam of bright green light shot out and clipped a largish branch off the tree above Tricky. It fell fast – When Tricky noticed she was barely able to dart out from under it in time – and Deerling met her with a painful kick to the face once she got out of it.

Tricky flew to the side, but managed to regain her bearings mid-air and land on her feet. Deerling was on the other side of the battlefield, looking almost as beat-up as Tricky was. Completely through with each other, both pokemon charged and met in the middle of the battlefield.

In the end, it never was clear who won the duel. By the time that Espurr and Pancham and the rest of them pulled the two apart, they were weakly batting at each other and not even using proper Moves anymore. Neither of them had the energy to object when they were pulled off each other.

~\({O})/~

"So who won?" Tricky limped alongside Espurr as the six of them continued on the path home. It was sundown already, and at the pace they were going it would likely be dark by the time all of them entered the village square.

"I don't know," Espurr replied. She honestly didn't. "What if neither of you did?"

"Well, then it's a draw," Tricky said. "And that means… both pokemon have to…" she went silent after that, her eyes wide open in an expression Espurr was reading as horror.

"…Both pokemon have to… what?" Espurr prompted.

"Both pokemon have to obey the other's claim," Tricky said.

~\({O})/~

Serenity Village Square

Just as Espurr had predicted, night had already fallen by the time that they entered the village again. Everymon went their separate ways: Goomy to the northwest, Deerling to the south, Pancham and Shelmet to a house just east of the square, and Tricky to the west. Tricky said nothing to Espurr, parting ways with her silently after all the other 'mon had already left.

Even Kecleon was packing up. He nodded politely in her direction as he stepped out of his shack; hobbling down towards the south portion of town. And then Espurr was left all alone in the square.

She was about to walk in the direction of Audino's house when suddenly, there was a rustling from behind one of the buildings. Espurr spun on her feet, glancing towards the building it had come from silently. Was somemon else here with her?

Espurr heard rustling once more, and then Eevee trotted out into the square; her fur looking ragged and full of sticks and dirt.

"I… have been looking all day… for you," she panted, looking straight at Espurr. She pointedly shook herself off, and the sack that was strapped to her back fell to the ground with a metallic clank.

Espurr looked Eevee up and down, taking in the dirtiness of her coat.

"Alright, here's the deal," said Eevee. "You need nails, right? Well, I've got. I'll trade you. All the nails in this sack—" she kicked the sack with a hind leg "—for half that lumber." Before Espurr could say a thing, she drew a raggedy breath: "Don't cross me, brat child."

The 'danger' vibes that Espurr was picking up off Eevee were high and strong, so she nodded as quickly as she could without making it look like she was frightened out of her wits.

"I'll take you there in the morning," she said, pronouncing the words slowly so that she didn't fumble them. Eevee stayed silent, flicking her muddy mane wordlessly and then trotting off into the shadows. She swiped the bag of nails up with her mouth and threw them onto her back fluidly as she went.

Espurr waited out there an entire minute before quickly diving into Audino's house, just to make sure Eevee didn't figure out where she was living and come back for her.

~\({O})/~

Serenity Village Outskirts ~ Morning

"Great. Thanks. Displeasure doing business with you," Eevee said, lugging half the load of lumber away with Espurr and Tricky's wagon. Espurr clutched the sack of what looked like more nails than they would ever need in their lifetime in her paw, glancing at Eevee trotting off in the distance. Granted, she probably should have followed to retrieve the wagon, but that felt like pushing her luck with a pokemon who was already off-the-wall-crazy and she didn't feel like doing that. The lumber they had left was more than enough to build the treehouse, anyway.

The manual was simple. And with the help of Pancham, who could easily haul and carry a lot things when the need suited him, the six of them had constructed half the treehouse by the time that the sun began to go down. Pancham stood back, looking at their hard work.

"Hope it doesn't rain tomorrow," he commented wryly.

"You just have the best comments for everything," Tricky shot back with a hint of annoyance.

Pancham shrugged. "What? It's my thing."

Deerling stayed silent the entire day. She didn't do much to help them, outside of move from place to place to make space for new supplies arrangements and carry the occasional thing, but at least she had shown up. No-mon talked to her either.

It was sundown, and everymon had already packed up and went home. Tricky took a seat next to Deerling, panting from all the work that she had been doing. Deerling didn't move.

For a moment, the both of them sat in silence, tolerating each other's presence but refusing to acknowledge it. Then, Tricky spoke: "I'm sorry. Even if you still hate me."

"'Sorry' doesn't replace a 'mon's life, Tricky," Deerling said. "I don't know how you can think that."

"I know." Tricky curled up on the ground, burying her snout in her tail. "I know, and I'm sorry anyway."

"So why do you keep doing it?"

"Doing what?"

"Going into mystery dungeons. Dragging your friends along, like it's some joyride. You of all pokemon should know it isn't. Do you want to see another pokemon die?"

"No," Tricky said. "Of course I don't. And… that's why Espurr and I formed a rescue team."

"And a "rescue team" is different from what you've been doing before how?"

"Because it's not a joyride," Tricky said. "Rescue Teams save pokemon. We go into dungeons to do the things that everymon else can't. And one day, I'm going to walk into a dungeon, and I'm going to save… not Budew…"

Never Budew.

"But—but another 'mon just like him. And then no-mon will ever have to go through what we did again."

"Unless you die first."

"I'm prepared for that. And so is everymon who goes with me."

Deerling had to understand. She had to understand that this was the only way Tricky could live with herself; she'd buried these memories for so long and now they were all coming back and she'd never be happy again unless she could make up somehow for Budew's life and this was the only way—

"Whatever." Deerling scoffed. "If you want to get yourself killed in a dungeon, then fine by me. Just don't drag other pokemon into it."

She got up and clopped towards the path back to town.

"Wait!" Tricky leapt up from her spot on the ground, running up before Deerling could disappear into the woods completely. "I'm not done yet!"

Deerling sighed, but she stopped.

"Fine. One minute. Say what you have to say." She kept her back to Tricky.

"I want you to stop telling other pokemon to avoid me," she said. "You can hate me all you want, and maybe I deserve it, but that doesn't mean you get to go around telling others they shouldn't be friends with me."

"Well, maybe they shouldn't," Deerling replied. "Not if it gets them killed."

"When did you decide pokemon just hanging out with me get killed?" Tricky raised her voice. She couldn't help it.

"When hanging out with you did!"

The exchange was followed by silence. It took a moment before Deerling said anything else.

"I just… I don't want to see Goomy get hurt," she continued. "Or Espurr, that new kid you've been pushing around for two weeks. She's getting reckless now. Or anymon else."

"I know." Tricky was calm and level. "I don't wanna see anymon else get hurt either."

"Then tell me," Deerling said. "Where does it stop?"

"With me."

Another bout of silence.

"I—I know I've done a lot of bad stuff," Tricky began with a stutter. "I got somemon killed. I put other pokemon in danger. I can't bring him back, and I'm really sorry, and I'm sad that he's gone too, and I still have nightmares about it, but I'm trying to get better anyway. I'm going to be better. So even if you can't stop hating me… please just let me get better in peace. That's all I want."

Deerling stood in place, completely silent. She didn't respond. Tricky could hear her grinding her teeth.

It was much longer than a minute.

"…Okay?" Tricky prompted uncertainly.

"It's a step in the right direction," Deerling finally said.

That was good enough.

~\({O})/~

From Wartortle's Guide to Dungeoneering: Pokemon Duel

Sometimes, a dispute between fellow explorers grows to a point where it can no longer be settled with words. When this happens, the conflict must be settled by other means: a duel.

Music of the Week!

Jaws: End Titles – John Williams