Ran blew a gust of ice-cold wind into the stream, long and steady. As the waters froze over and created a progressively thicker chunk of ice she beckoned Stone, Outrider and Valor over. She got to work cutting the ice free from the bed of the stream and hefted it, then set about carving it into a bowl.

"Pretty useful skill to have," said Stone, looking grateful.

"Can you make anything else?" asked Valor, his eyes shining.

"Probably not, sorry," said Ran, shaking her head all the while. "Bowls are easy enough because you're just carving an indentation into something." She filled it with water from the stream and then handed it to Valor.

When the chespin had drunk his fill, she refilled the bowl and then handed it to Stone. The lycanroc downed it in record time and handed the bowl back with a deep sigh. "Delicious, thank you."

Ran nodded and filled the bowl once more to offer it to Outrider. The lucario took it and drank deeply, then handed it back to the weavile and asked for more. She refilled it and again he finished it and asked for still more. As she handed him the bowl yet again she said, "Thirsty?"

"Like you could not believe. This trek has not been pleasant," he replied between gulps. "At the very least, the trail has been uneventful. Did not expect it to be. Especially at night. That fire we built concerned me. I expected we'd have drawn attention with it."

As Ran took the bowl back from Outrider, she frowned and considered what he said. "Well, Jasper said he was on a trek to Treasure Town. The roads must be… safe enough?" She filled the bowl with water and took a sip of cool water. "Or maybe he was lucky?"

Stone dug around in the brush by the trail they were following and emerged clutching a few berries and tossed them each one. "Trails are a coin toss." She bit into the pecha berry in her hands and chewed it for a moment before continuing, "When I was with the Runewright, we didn't really get bothered by anything maybe nine times out of ten. But when we did…" She shook her head. "Never just a couple of pebbles, always gotta be boulders, you know?"

"We better keep up the pace then," said Outrider, looking grim. He ate his berry in two bites and then pointed down the trail and beckoned them to follow. Ran refilled her bowl and did so - she could simply toss it aside when he was done.

"At least the trail hasn't broken up too much," said Ran, smacking her lips after a long gulp. "Been pretty easy to follow, right?"

"Yes. It gives me… a glimmer of hope at least. Hard though that is to have right now." Outrider looked to his left and peered into the woods before facing forward again and giving a start. "Look!"

A long slope downwards spanned out before them, and on either side of the trail the forest began to die, giving way instead to rolling grasslands. The endless swaying green was broken up rarely by a defiant oak or maple tree and nothing else. But further in the distance, just large enough to be visible, was a squat grey structure.

Stone caught up to Outrider and squinted. "That has to be Crag. Never thought it would be four days away."

Ran looked over at Stone and frowned. "Why's that? Did you expect it to be closer?" she asked.

The lycanroc shook her head. "I expected it to be much further away."

"We been walking forever, though! You wanted to walk even more?" asked Valor, jumping up and down indignantly. "How much walking did you wanna put us through, huh?" The chespin stopped hopping around and crossed his arms, pouting. "My feet hurt!"

Stone chuckled. "I'm not too happy about all the walking either, Valor. Look at me, I got a hunch in my back." At this she stood up straight and pushed on the small of her back and groaned. "That's better. Gotta stop slouching all the time."

"Let's get going then! I'm tired of walking so much!" said Valor, rushing ahead of them. He stopped and turned around to beckon to them. "Come on!"

The walls of Crag rivaled the height of some of the trees from the forests they had been wandering through for the last four days. But they were different. Unusual. These were walls that none of them recognized. Smooth and shaped, purpose built and expertly crafted.

They had moved far, far beyond that which Outrider had ever seen, or could ever hope to see. These unfamiliar stone behemoths loomed above them. They seemed impossible. Who could have built them?

The path beneath their feet cut through the tall grasses on either side of them, and bore standing torches now and again. Every dozen or two dozen paces a torch stood, flickering in the dimming light of the afternoon sun. But then the path beneath them curved sharply towards the walls.

The four of them saw a massive set of stone doors, maybe half the size of the walls. On either side of the door were two smaller stone security posts, each with a large brazier sitting atop the structure, beside it, and lining the wide, cobblestone pathway that led up to them. Two machoke stood outside the doors to the posts, each wearing what appeared to be rough leather cuirasses. One of them had several javelins strapped to his back, while the other, locked in a conversation with a braixen, bore massive iron gauntlets that covered its already sizable fists.

As they drew closer, the machoke bearing the javelins barked at them, "STOP!" and drew opne from his back as he did. The other machoke and the braixen immediately dropped their conversation and turned to look at the four, raising fists and wand, respectively.

The braixen's face became a piercing stare and a thin frown as she stepped forward once and then stopped, her wand drifting from Ran, to Valor, to Outrider, briefly to Stone, and then back to Ran once more. Her skirt of fur had been styled - much longer on one side than the other, giving the impression of a single-slit dress. She took a step forward, revealing a thigh bearing three puncture marks in it.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" she called out to them. She sounded young.

Outrider stepped forward, his hands raised and said, "We are the… remnants of a village named Nomad."

The braixen cocked her head. "Never heard of it. Where is it?"

"Where was it, is probably the better question…" replied Outrider, his ears flattening. "Nomad was destroyed by a wildling attack several days ago. We've been looking for a place named Crag ever since." He gestured to Stone who waved and smiled. "Stone said it had tall, thick walls. Something Nomad didn't. And what stands before us now seems to fit her description."

Valor jumped twice and said excitedly, "How did you make them!? They're so huge!"

The braixen's eyes softened for a moment as she watched the chespin bounce about, then became hard once more when she focused on Outrider again. "And you have no intention of returning to it?" she asked.

"No one wants to live in rubble and bad memories," said Ran miserably. "It's why we struck out to find Crag. It was that or Treasure Town."

The braixen regarded the weavile for a moment before turning her attention back to Outrider and frowning. "What can you all do? Crag is not in the business of accepting any wayward soul that comes upon hard times if they cannot contribute."

Outrider nodded. "I can fight. And scout. I'm well versed in both." He pointed to Valor and said, "Valor is a little one. He's got heart but… I trust I don't have to vouch for why you'd accept him if you accept us?"

The braixen stowed her wand and crossed her arms, tapping her foot all the while. "I suppose so. But he's under your watch and your responsibility if he's let in."

Outrider nodded again and then turned to point at Ran, who opened her mouth but was cut off, "Ran can fight. And rather effectively at that. She's also familiar with accompanying me for scouting expeditions." He turned to Stone and gestured at the lycanroc. "Stone is excellent at cutting and processing stonework. And she can track down rune-anchors."

The braixen's eyes widened. "She can track down rune-anchors?" she repeated, staring at the wolf.

Stone beamed. "You bet your ass I can. I'm not amazing at it, can't do it as fast as the Runewright did but you know, better than nothing."

"You know the Runewright?" asked the braixen, still looking incredulous.

"Traveled with him for a while. Stayed in Nomad 'cos I liked it there and he went off to do, uh, whatever." She shrugged. "Didn't matter much to me. I take it he stopped by here?"

"Last time he did was two seasons ago. He mentioned having a traveling companion for a while before she decided to settle down." She shook her head. "Never expected to meet her."

Stone frowned. "We never expected to lose our village either."

With a sigh, the braixen pointed to herself and said reluctantly, "I'm Thea. And I guess all of you at least claim to have useful skills for Crag. If you can prove them, you'll be permitted to remain. For now, however, you'll be relegated to the provisional area. Follow me and stay close."

She turned about and marched towards the stone doors, and the party followed.

From the gate, down a bare dirt path, and onto cobbled roads that wound between massive farms and rows upon rows of berry bushes. The fields were primarily filled with tropius, tangrowth, ludicolo and gigalith.

"If you're going to live here, you might as well understand the history of the place," explained Thea. Her tone shifted dramatically, as if she was recounting something she'd been told or read many, many times. "Crag came into existence in a sort of spur of the moment. It used to be a village that eventually grew to be a town. Back then, it didn't use walls, but instead moats, and they were inadequate for defense.

"Ditches with water in them were poor wards against attackers, especially given that many could fly or leap right across them. The Council was born from this failure of planning, and the first iteration bore one member each from the four tribes that founded the village: a gigalith, a tropius, a tangrowth, and a ludicolo. They each had a lifetime of worries, fears and battles behind them. And it was the gigalith that created the new way to defend Crag - the walls. It's how the city got its name."

As Ran listened, she took in the sights around her as they walked through the fields. She watched as gigalith broke up soil and tropius sowed seeds. Meanwhile, newly planted seeds, growing bushes and nearly mature crops were watered by ludicolo, while tangrowth stalked the long lines in the fields and pulled ripe produce from plants and tossed them into the many baskets their vines held aloft.

"They were crude at first. Slabs of roughly cut stones from nearby quarries, cliffsides and more. The mismatched stones were driven into the soil by mercenaries. A bunch of machoke and eventually some other fighters as well. They're sort of the Guard here, too. Their strength lent itself naturally to aligning, placing, retrieving - whatever it was that needed heavy lifting. A nearby tribe of bibarel were offered a steady supply of food in exchange for their services - pressurized jets of water and rough stonecutting. And that was the first era of Crag's wall."

Ran noticed few other pokemon besides those four, and Thea must have noticed, because she paused her explanation long enough to explain, "The Council works with different sub-councils beneath it to fill needs. It sounds official and important and difficult, but really it's just a bunch of old geezers telling younger pokemon that are still older than you or I what needs to be done, and then that group tells more pokemon beneath them what needs to be done. And that's usually us."

The weavile cocked her head. "So, what do you do?" she asked.

"Defense. Sometimes I scout," replied Thea. She gestured to the puncture marks on her thigh and then pulled the long skirt of fur that covered her other leg aside and revealed several criss-crossing scars upon it as well. She covered the limb up again and shrugged. "Some of the pokemon get squeamish because all they've ever known is farming or pots or something. So I try to keep gory reminders covered up." She kicked the punctured leg up once and sighed. "So much for that. Never was one for growing this all the way down." She tugged on the shorter end of her fur skirt and shook her head. "Anyway, where did I leave off? Oh right, first era."

"But the crude nature of the slabs did not last for long. As the seasons passed, the old stones were adjusted and used to better support larger and larger slabs. Many were replaced as attacks cracked or outright destroyed them. But soon, the efforts of the tribe of machoke and machamp within Crag weren't sufficient to raise the new slabs, and so a tribe of passing nomadic meowstic were given the same offer as the bibarel. Food for services. Once we had psychic cats at the disposal of the Council, the slabs were raised, shifted, and cut once more.

"And now the second era of Crag's walls was complete. And Crag had grown. She had soared from a simple town to something more. Not quite a city, but no longer a town, she had traded the sprawl of living spaces for the guarantee of farmland. And so the village turned town turned something-else-entirely didn't grow out, but up." She gestured ahead of them for emphasis.

Ran was unsure how she'd missed it - perhaps she'd been too focused on the wide expanses of farm. Crag, the settlement proper, did not stretch out across the landscape. But it did stretch up towards the sky. Buildings stacked upon buildings, stacked upon buildings. Criss-crossing walkways made of rope bridges, long planks, sloping ramps, and roughly shaped steps shot off into every direction.

It looked like a mess, and all the while, Thea did not stop her explanation of Crag's history. It was bizarre, as none of it ever mentioned that Crag appeared to be multiple villages stacked atop one another in as haphazard a way as possible. And then they began to climb, and though her explanation became punctuated with pauses for breath after steep inclines or odd steps, it did not cease.

"So as Crag's walls grew, so did the frequency of the wildling attacks upon the settlement. Spurred by prospects of food - and a lot of it - the attacks came hard and fast. And so the Council convened to discuss how to respond. The walls took damage faster than they could repair them, and soon the wildlings would penetrate into Crag.

"But Crag would see the third era of her walls, and they have endured since. Through the helpful actions of a wandering druddigon turned Chief Defense Advisor, the settlement fortified her walls, and produced the smooth, impenetrable fortress she is known as today."

Outrider politely interrupted Thea with a low cough.

The braixen paused her explanation and gestured at the lucario to speak. Outrider looked around, and then down at the cracking, creaking wooden step beneath his paws and said, "Why is Crag so many villages simply standing on the shoulders of the next? It seems like every building above the ground is precariously perched. And every building on the ground fears the day the dirt beneath gives way."

Thea pulled the wand from her fluffy tail absently and tapped the tip of her nose with it, lost in thought. "I'm not sure, really. When this is all you know, you sort of just assume this is how things are done." She shrugged. "But seeing as it's so strange to you all, I imagine where you come from didn't have anything like this."

"Nomad was a few buildings around a sort of community plaza," explained Stone.

"Plaza is stretching the meaning of the word to its breaking point," added Outrider. "It was a large patch of dirt with nothing on it. It was no more than a piece of land to cross on the way to another's home."

From Stone's arms, Valor piped up, "But this place looks really cool!" The chespin struggled in the lycanroc's arms, trying to get a better view of things. "Look how high up we are! And we STILL have more to go!" He looked up at the soaring buildings above them. "Could use more light though."

"Stop wriggling in my arms so much, Valor, you're gonna fall out and fall down," huffed Stone. "And, he has a good point. It's really dark down here."

"We're still pretty far down the full height of this place, that would make sense, wouldn't it?" asked Ran.

Thea nodded. "We have to keep torches running down here to keep light levels good. The upper levels are… well they were very unhappy about it but either we have light or they move all of the workshops to the very highest levels."

"These are workshops?" asked Ran, looking around. Indeed, many of the buildings around them vomited the sounds of industry from their windows and open doors, which aligned well with the warm glow the abundant torchlight cast on everything. Though there was still afternoon daylight, this far down it appeared more as if it were already past dusk.

The smells in the air wrinkled Ran's nose. Smoke mixed with other acrid scents she did not recognize and made her wish they could hurry up. As such, she was only too happy to continue the arduous climb when Thea beckoned them forward once more.

"Hmm. That's that, I think. That's the history of Crag. More or less," she said.

"Glad that's over, that was so boring," grumbled Valor.

The braixen made a low hum in her throat and then shrugged. "I trimmed it down for you, too. The real history is probably twice as long and four times as dull. And you won't really have learned anything new either." She sighed and shook her head. "So don't bring it up with the elders, they love talking about the history of Crag."

The scents in the air around them had become decidedly more pleasant, even mouthwatering, now that they had made it to a place where sunlight actually penetrated. There were perhaps half as many lit torches here, though the total number had not decreased. Made sense, reasoned Ran, night had to come eventually. The shops and buildings and homes had gained more pleasant facades as they had climbed, and the smoke of industry had been replaced with small trails that signaled the baking of bread and pastries, alongside roasting vegetables and berries.

"I imagine you all know what happens around these levels," said Thea, looking back to the group with a smirk.

Ran scratched her stomach absently. "Smells really good."

"When we see how all this sorts itself out, maybe I'll show you some places that make really nice tarts." The braixen looked skyward and squinted. "Not much further now, the middle levels aren't especially numerous, and the uppermost levels are just two, uh, 'floors' let's call them."

The quality of the stairs and bridges had increased dramatically when they'd reached what Thea called the 'Artisan's Quarters', but as they approached a set of stairs she noted would take them to final two floors, they changed from being made of nicely cut and polished wood to shining, expertly cut stone.

"Indulgent," noted Outrider, looking at the set of steps. "And dangerous. We are very high up at this point. This is undue stress on the supports that are probably twice larger than they should be."

Thea shrugged. "We haven't really had any issues with collapses or failures of structure," she explained. "A few cracked ceilings, some splintered secondary or tertiary supports, but no proper collapses." Her left foot tapped the step she was standing on at top speed. "I think Vanguard mentioned that there was a repair done to a primary that had developed a slightly larger crack than the Committee for Integrity and Infrastructure would have liked, but they fixed that up fast enough, I guess."

"You have a committee for that?" asked Outrider.

"And one for maintenance and repair," said Thea, nodding.

"Isn't the function of the former covering the latter already?" said Outrider, furrowing his brow.

"Not really? Integrity and Infrastructure does all the inspection, and they're the ones that found the issue."

"So they performed the repair?"

"No, Repair and Maintenance did that."

"So you see the issue, then?"

Thea cocked her head and frowned. "Does seem a bit redundant when you mention it."

Ran snickered. "Does a separate committee review the work and confirm a job well done?"

Thea shook her head. "No, Integrity and Infrastructure checks the work when it's done."

Stone let out a long sigh and shook her head. "You guys make shit really complicated for no reason, huh?"

"It's how things have always been as far as I've known," explained Thea, looking slightly hurt, "It's worked out well enough. I had an easy enough time as a kit."

"Things don't have to work poorly to-" Stone shook her head. "Eh, as long it works I guess." She glanced down at Valor who waved cheerily up at her. "Let's get moving to wherever it is you're taking us. Another committee, no doubt."

"Yeah, you'll need to see the Committee for Immigration and Placement so they can process you and figure out where you can help us out best."

Ran gave a start. "We don't get a say?"

"You think you can till the fields?" asked Thea, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, you volunteered for it."

The weavile bit her lip. "I know what I volunteered for, but I thought I'd be doing, you know, that. Volunteering for it. I thought that's what we would be doing," she said, gesturing between Outrider and herself.

"Sharp claws and aura techniques are in high demand for scouts and defense forces alike," said Thea matter-of-factly. "Volunteering for it and being placed for it is the same thing in the end anyway."

Stone mumbled something under her breath but shook her head when Thea turned her attention towards her. Shrugging, the braixen gestured for the party to follow her into a building with a multi-colored facade and a very large, inviting window beside the shining wooden double-doors.

Etched into the wood above the doorway and filled in with glittering gold leaf were the words Ran could not parse. They looked like nothing more than shapes. "What does that even say?" she asked Outrider and Stone.

Stone shrugged, but Outrider supplied, "Crag Immigration Committee. Can you not read?"

Ran shook her head. "No." The lucario gave her a quizzical look and then turned his attention back to Thea.

As they entered the structure, Ran felt her mouth drop. The building's exterior had been incredible, but the interior was sparse and utilitarian. And small. Very small. The room they were in barely could contain the five of them, and it meant that Thea was pressed up against the counter that cut through the room. She waved at the metang behind the counter and then at the other metang that came in from a door that led into the back room and said, "New arrivals that need placement and registration."

The metang before her was sorting through sheafs of paper, taking individual sheets and moving them to new stacks and then cutting the stacks in half and moving them to still more waiting stacks before compiling the stacks together and stuffing them all into a box bearing a very clear symbol that Ran could not understand. It did not look up from its task when a voice like an echo in a hollow metal tube filled the air. "Names, species, physical characteristics." A set of papers sitting somewhere behind the counter floated up into the air, surrounded by a crimson glow and then tipped sideways, letting four sheets of paper fall onto the counter. They too became surrounded by the glow, and then floated up and into Thea's waiting hands.

The braixen thanked the metang and then opened her mouth to ask something, when the pokemon cut her off.

"Writing chalk." Several pieces of graphite flew from somewhere behind the counter up into the air and soared onto the counter, where they landed in a neat pile. "Fill out completely." The metang had not looked up, and instead, picked up the boxes it had been sorting and carried them out of the room into the back.

"Real charmer, that one," said Stone, snickering.

"Why's he so boring?" asked Valor.

"Hush," said Thea, handing them each a paper and a piece of graphite. "Fill these out."

"How do you fill these out if you don't know how to read or write?" asked Stone. Beside her, Karan nodded. Valor craned his head around to see the weavile nodding and pointed at her to laugh.

"You guys can't read?" he exclaimed from Stone's arms. "I can't believe I know- ow!" Stone had let him drop to the floor, and he had failed to break his fall in any way.

The lycanroc let out a raspy giggle and then handed her form to Outrider. "Fill it out for me, I don't know how to read this shit."

The lucario sighed and nodded his head, then held his hand out towards Ran, gesturing for her to give him the form. She gave him a sheepish grin, the feathers jutting from either side of her head drooping. "S-sorry…" she muttered to the floor.

"Not your fault," he said, his tone reassuring. It took a few minutes, but when Outrider had finished filling the forms out, he handed them over to Thea who sifted through them before rapping her knuckles on the counter.

"Hey!" she called out, "You still have to take and process these you know!" She shook her head and turned to the group. "Sorry about this."

"Is this all we need to do? Come here, turn in a form and… that's it?" asked Ran, looking confused.

"Sort of," explained Thea. "They know what to do more than I do. I mostly do scouting and defense, remember?"

Outrider cocked his head. "You don't have any idea at all what they do? Only that they place you in your assigned role?"

The braixen huffed and crossed her arms. "It's not my job to know how these things work. And thank the gods for that, can you imagine how dull that would be?"

"A little curiosity goes a long way," said Stone, glancing around. "Sometimes too long, honestly." She shrugged. "My laziness and due diligence are fighting but I think I know who's winning."

Valor hopped up and down, waving his arms to get Thea's attention. When the braixen looked down at him, he said, "So what am I going to do?"

Thea shrugged. "Work the fields?"

Valor frowned. "That's dumb. I wanna go do hero stuff with them." He pointed at Ran and Outrider.

"Well, that's assuming that's what they get assigned…" explained Thea. "But working the fields is good work. You're responsible for feeding most of us."

The chespin crossed his arms and pouted and grumbled something under his breath. Ran could only catch the words "Sentry" and "for this." She felt a pang of sorrow in her stomach and inclined her head. She'd nearly forgotten, but now the sorry state of Nomad weighed on her once more. She felt Outrider pat her on the shoulder in a reassuring sort of way, but his eyes did not seem so certain.

The door to the back opened and a metang floated through and over to Thea. With nothing in its arms or being moved about by its psychic abilities, it gave the braixen its full attention. "Have you completed the forms?"

"Yeah, that's why I was trying to get your attention," she said, huffing. She thrust the forms at the metal construct. "Here. They're new arrivals from a recently destroyed village."

The metang produced a loud metallic hum that began to resonate in the cramped room until it resembled a musical note. As it did so, it read over the forms at top speed and then pulled several drawers next to it, below the counter and behind it open. Some of them were opened manually, others were opened with psychic manipulation, but all of them were placed upon the counter just the same.

Several books were pulled free and a massive ledger with more runes on its face in fading golden letters was brought up from below the counter as well. A long droning sound that made Ran's ears hurt filled the room - it seemed to echo around in her chest and made her bones ache. A moment later, the other metang entered the room and together the two began to produce a quiet metallic ringing sound. It pinged about the interior, but was far more pleasant to listen to. It was almost soothing, even.

The first metang began to flip through the overlarge book at top speed, while the other metang flipped several smaller ledgers from each of the drawers open and waited. There was a pause in the pinging sound, and then the first metang made a low groaning metal sound.

Their arms began to work at impossible speeds. Surrounded by crimson light that bled into the books they were flipping through, their eyes became a violently convulsing display that made Ran step forward, her mouth frozen open in horror, but Thea stopped her and put a finger to her lips.

"D I F." There was a pause and both metang focused on Ran for a brief moment. The weavile froze.

"S."

"F."

"S1, F2."

"F2, S1."

This back and forth went on for nearly a minute, with nothing but that combination of letters and numbers echoing in the air. But all the while, they did not stop referencing the ledgers.

"S." Said the second metang finally. The first metang made a low sound like a crashing gong. The second metang shook its head and then said, "Quarters."

"A7D1," said the first.

"No go," said the second.

"A8D1."

"No go."

"A9D2."

"No go."

"Rack, rack, B3D4."

"No go."

"B7D1."

"No go."

"Rack, rack, C1C1."

"Go go." The second metang pulled a piece of graphite telekinetically over and marked the ledger, then pulled a sheet of paper from beneath the counter, marked it and then handed it to Thea before pointing to Ran.

Thea mouthed the word, "Scout," at the weavile before paying attention once more.

The process began again, and each time the metang would focus upon the new subject. Outrider came first. "F S M," met their ears, then "S," and then "C1C2." They turned their attention to Stone, but right as one had finished saying, "R F," the lycanroc stepped forward and cleared her throat.

"I can find rune-anchors." There was a loud metallic sound that was halfway between a crash and a groan. The first metang looked down at the ledger and flipped the page, but Stone stepped up to the counter and leaned against it. Her tone was casual, her stance was relaxed, but Ran felt the temperature in the room drop considerably. "I'm bunking with them or I'm not bunking here at all."

There was a long pause, interspersed only with small pings and ringing sounds. Thea watched from the sidelines looking thoroughly bewildered, and her jaw dropped when the first metang finally said, "C1C3."

Stone returned to Ran's side and gave her a toothy grin. "Easy."

The metang both turned their attention at last to Valor. The pinging and echoing metallic noises resumed.

"G EV2 M," said the first. ""F2, D5."

"No go," replied the second.

"F3, D1."

"No go."

Valor reared back and then took off at a sprint towards the counter and hopped up onto it and waved his arms in front of the metang. When they did not respond, he growled and jumped onto the large ledger the first construct was flipping through. It stopped immediately and looked down at the little one.

"What's this F stuff? I want to do hero stuff with them! Let me scout like they do!" he shouted, waving his little arms about.

"Ill advised," said the second metang immediately.

"Farm work," said the first right after.

The second metang made to begin flipping through the ledgers again, but Valor stomped his foot and shouted, "No! I'm not a farmer, Sentry trained me to look out for stuff! I was gonna go out with Outrider and help keep Nomad safe! I don't wanna be a farmer!"

The first metang considered the chespin for a while before one of its arms suddenly seized the hedgehog and brought it closer to its eyes. Valor struggled visibly and audibly against the firm grip of the construct's claws, but could not wriggle free.

"Hey! Let him go!" called out Ran, running up to the counter. "He's still young! You'll hurt him!"

The metang spared Ran a single glance before flipping and turning Valor every which way to inspect him like one would inspect a ceramic jug for cracks. After the fourth inversion, however, Valor had had enough.

He grit his teeth and focused on the metang before him and shouted, "STOP!" He threw his head forward, and small cracking sounds rang out before a volley of spines exploded forward and impacted the metang. Most of them did not find purchase in the metallic body of the construct, but one of them successfully struck the pokemon in the black sclera of its eye. With an ear splitting screech, it dropped the chespin onto the counter and hurried out of the room as fast as it could float.

The second construct stared at the chespin, as wide-eyed as a metang could be and then said flatly, "S. C1C4." It gathered up the ledgers, handed the sheet over to Thea and then hurried from the room.

Valor crossed his arms in triumph and said, "See! Now I'm a scout just like you guys!"

The braixen scowled at the little one. "That was terrible! You seriously hurt them! What if they're blind now?" she said, chastising him.

Outrider shook his head. "While I do not agree with how Valor handled that, I'm sure the metang will be fine. A shock and perhaps swelling, but I doubt he managed a proper puncture."

Thea rounded on Outrider and put her hands on her hips. "Oh really? And what makes you so certain about that?"

"Well, it's a metang, for one," said Outrider slowly. "Durability is something they're known for almost as much as intelligence."

The braixen sighed and ushered them out of the office. "Whatever. Hold onto your papers, we have to visit the Security Commission so you can present them and get your keys."

Outrider looked impressed. "Keys? You're able to produce keys?"

Thea nodded. "They're… really crude but yeah." She fished around in her fluffy tail and pulled an iron key free from it. She was not lying - it was indeed very crudely made. She had looped cloth through the base of the key and tied it to a bunch of fur in a secure knot. "They work and that's what matters," she added, stuffing the key back into her tail. "Now move."

As they made their way out of the office and back down the stone steps towards the artisan's levels, Ran caught up to Thea and asked, "Is that all we had to do?"

"To immigrate? Yes. To be placed? Yes. But we have to get you keys still, that's at the security commission. Basic furniture from the Furnishing Committee - I hope you don't mind sharing a drawer and a hay pile. Torches, flint, steel and tinder from the Council for General Goods…" she rattled off. At the look on Ran's face, she added, "What?"

"That sounds like it's going to take all day," she whined.

"It probably will. At the very least, you won't have to report to the Scouting And Defense Subcommittee."

"Why's that?"

"Because I'm an entry-level member. I live one level above you all, so I'll be by in the morning to collect you three and orient you on what needs to be done." She looked at Stone, a mixture of fear and respect in her eyes. "You, on the other hand, will need to report to the Committee of Rune Prospecting, Crafting and Recovery. They're on the last level of the artisanal district. It's hard to miss, it has the name written in huge silver letters over the entrance."

Stone smirked. "Oh yeah, I'm sure I'll find it just fine."

Thea frowned and then shook her head while casting her eyes down. "Right. You can't read. It's a building with a stone facade covered in runes. It's… very hard to miss."

The lycanroc laughed. "See, that I can work with. Shame about all those stairs I gotta climb everyday though." She rubbed her stomach. "At least I'll be toned after it all." She tugged on Outrider's ear and snickered again. "Maybe then you'll take a liking, Outrider."

The lucario rolled his eyes and said, "You have been a-"

Stone interrupted him. "Yeah, yeah. I know, I know. A good friend. Guess I'll go find a nice kn-" she began.

The lucario shot her a stern look and then pointed to Valor, who stared up at them, his eyes wide in confusion and mouth agape.

With a sigh, Stone shook her head. "Neighbor who might like a pretty little thing like me." She smiled at Valor. "What do you think? Do I have a chance?"

The chespin looked Stone up and down and then said simply, "You slouch too much. You gotta stand tall like how Sentry taught me. Unless you're hiding, then you gotta get real low." Stone smiled and bent down to rub the chespin's cheek.

As they continued along, Ran eventually fell in beside Stone, while Outrider took her place beside Thea. Valor had begun to complain about the endless walking, and had joined the braixen and lucario at the front, being carried along by Outrider.

Ran took notice that across the many floors of Crag they moved through, up or down, many of the pokemon had paid her nearly no mind. What few had made eye contact with her averted their gazes, save one now and again who would simply stare until they had moved out of view.

It bothered Ran, and sent her thoughts trailing back to Nomad, which only stirred up the feelings of sadness and guilt that ate at her. She looked over to Stone and said, "I still can't believe…"

"Yeah. Me neither. Valor keeps acting like Sentry's gonna show up. Dunno if he's shocked, in denial or just lucky to be young," replied Stone, her voice low. She looked Ran in the eyes and added, "But either way, he'll be over it fast. It's in his nature. Outrider's too."

Ran looked shocked. "Outrider was miserable when he woke me up after he saved me."

"Yeah, but…" Stone paused and frowned. "Yeah, well, maybe Outrider is special." She shrugged. "I dunno if maybe I'm denying it all happened, somewhere deep down. Maybe it just hasn't caught up with me. I got to process so little of what happened before we had to go." She shook her head. "I'll be feeling this tonight I guess."

"Same here," said Ran, though more to her feet than anything else.

"You didn't have anything before this, right?" asked Stone.

"No. Just that forest. And… nothing else," said Ran. "It's just forest." She furrowed her brow. Everything before Nomad felt like a fog.

The lycanroc gave Ran an appraising look before she finally said, "Maybe we'll all be feeling it tonight."