"Is this the place they too–"

"SHHH!"

"Is this the place they took Lil' Bonky?" Loomie corrected himself to a hush.

"Yes, it is." Fyliara spread a few of the bushes, looking through the makeshift peephole. As poorly as the duo could see in the darkness of night, the small warehouse made of mismatched wooden planks had a luminous orb illuminating its front entrance, and considering the lights coming out from the half-opened doors, not many more inside. In front of the building, a Timburr and a Machop were idly chatting. "There are two guarding there."

"Aight!" Loomie cracked his knuckles and took a step out of the bushes. "Time to get back our little bud–"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" The Vibrava's whisper almost cracked in the strain of not shouting, pulling the Breloom by his green handkerchief.

"Getting Lil' Bonky back." Loomie had his signature frown.

"...And how exactly are we supposed to get Bonky back? Punch the two in the front and then get our butts kicked by the five Machamp inside like that time in that cabin?" Fyliara poked the Breloom on the forehead. "You have to think, Loomie! You have to think!"

Loomie crossed his arms and let out a disgruntled grunt. Why did she always have to cherry pick something from his past and throw it on his face? That was so annoying, and more aggravating than that was that she was always right. But what were they supposed to do then? Sneak around and grab Lil' Bonky while nobody was looking? They were as stealthy as a dancing Kommo-o, no way they'd be able to do that. Not counting that even if they managed to, the little one had come on his own will, there was no way he would leave with them without making a ruckus. The most infuriating part of it was how Fyliara always pointed out flaws but never ever gave a solution.

Loomie let out a defeated sigh and joined her in stalking the building. He didn't know these outlaws, but he did know this kind. They splashed coin around, showed how badass they were, left an impression on the young, then lured them into their gang. Loomie knew that once Bonky got inside that warehouse, sooner or later he'd be forced to either do something terrible, or be beaten to a pulp if he refused to do it. And Loomie knew Fyliara knew that as well. But being this late at night and how out of place in the forest they were, even if they were to get the help from a guild, whatever was supposed to happen to Bonky would already have happened by the time they arrived.

His fists clenched. He hated feeling like this. Despite trying to be a role model for the kids at the orphanage, he knew he couldn't get through all of them. And Lil' Bonky just wanted to be respected. Loomie got it. He himself had been the same in the past. He himself was like that even now. But at least he knew from the get go that going the outlaw route wasn't the way. And now-.

"You guys also stalking them?"

Loomie's fist went right at the figure's face, but the Breloom's desperate punch phased right through, making him spin and fall on his rear. Fyliara was frozen in place, her wings completely still as she slowly turned her head towards the source of the voice.

"You should be more careful. You could have hurt someone with that punch." The Decidueye's eyes ran back and forth between Fyliara and Loomie. After a second he extended a wing to the fallen Breloom with a smile.

Silence permeated. Loomie and Fyliara looked at each other. More silence. They stared at the Decidueye.

"I-I'm sorry, but… Who are you again?" Fyliara spoke up. "And… uhm… What are you doing here?"

"Me? Oh, yeah, I'm Tácio. But you can call me Skedaddle or Skid." While the Decidueye still kept a wing extended for Loomie, he offered a wingshake to Fyliara with the other. "I wanted to buy some seeds from Jarbas, but I heard some guys had taken them, I think. Jarbas was yelling too much and I couldn't understand it too well. Jarbas offered to give me some if I could get at least a box of them back, I think. So I'm here!"

"Jarbas?" Loomie frowned. "You mean the grocer's old man?"

Tácio nodded. Loomie and Fyliara looked at each other again. Fyliara shrugged. Loomie stared at Tácio, eyes squinted. Considering how much Jarbas yelled whenever you touched any stuff you weren't buying, and how much he loved his grocery shop, if these goons had really stolen the old Bibarel, Loomie could see Jarbas making this kind of deal. And, if anything, the outlaws who'd recruit an orphan kid wouldn't be giving this goofy smile when catching someone with their nose where it wasn't supposed to be. Loomie shrugged and took the wing.

"Neat," Tácio's beaky grin widened, "so, why were you stalking them?"

"One of the kids of the orphanage was 'recruited' by these bas–."

"Buffoons." Fyliara interrupted, her eyes already washing Loomie's mouth with soap as they glared at him for a second. "And I tracked Bonky to this abandoned warehouse."

"Yeah." Loomie shrugged her glare. "Lil Bonky got it way over his head this time. We need to get him out of there."

"Oh, and I'm Fyliara and this is Loomie. And Lil' Bonky is Kevin, the kid from the orphanage. He is a small Scraggy with a red bandana on his neck."

"Nice to meet you." Tácio flashed another smile. "It's always nice to meet new friends."

Loomie and Fyliara looked at each other once more. They didn't even have to say anything to communicate. Saying he had just made new friends? In a situation like that? That guy was weird. Fyliara replied with a shrug just like before, and Loomie just shrugged back again.

"Aight, we were thinking about knocking out those two in the front, and then going through the door. With only two we weren't sure if that would be a good idea, but with three I'm pretty sure it'll work." Loomie relayed his original plan. Maybe with one more, things could work.

"You know very well this is a bad idea." Fyliara had her two front legs crossed. "I'm not a fighter, and we don't even know how many are in there."

"Six in total," Tácio quickly responded with a wing raised, "counting our Lil' Bonky friend."

"See!? I told you it was a bad idea. It's six of them!" Fyliara flailed her front legs at Loomie.

"Five." The Breloom averted his gaze and started grumbling. "Bonky wouldn't fight us."

"We'd still be outnumbered!"

Tácio had his eyes closed, his gears grinding. Hmmm… Maybe if… Tácio looked at Loomie. "How much can you tank and hold aggro?"

"Tank? Hold… Aggro?" Loomie stared back.

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't know. Not a thing from this world, sorry." Tácio gave a sheepish smile. "I mean, how much can you keep their attention and for how long?"

"I can take down the two in the front, easy." Loomie stuffed his chest, exuding confidence.

"Hello!" Fyliara waved her legs. "It's still five against two!"

"It's not a problem if we rush B." Tácio beamed.

"Rush… B?" Loomie and Fyliara's faces were pure confusion.

"Yeah. No. Almost. Just hear me out…"


The warm stale dust gently floated and tickled Bonky's nostrils, making it hard for him to not sneeze. The modest size of the warehouse had become claustrophobic with the piles of crates and boxes littered everywhere, casting shadows that the centralized clump of three luminous orbs didn't manage to keep up with. He could hear their conversations from the table at the farthest end of the cluttered room.

"Bosssss. Done with counting." The voice that shouted was of the Arbok, Silvester. Bonky didn't know much about him, the snake being the one he talked to the least. There was something that even by looking at him just made Bonky almost become stone.

"Spit it out." The commanding response came from the Honchkrow. He didn't know her name, only that everybody called her 'The Boss'. Her gaze was big and intimidating, she was always serious and everybody always stopped what they were doing to listen to what she said and dropped everything they were doing to do what she told them to do.

"Double of our lassst batch." Silvester's voice replied with a smirk oozing through.

"Heheh… didn't think the old 'mon would have this much…" The last voice was of the Delta Linoone, Maurice. He was always smiling and laughing, with his tongue out and constantly dripping saliva. When Bonky asked why Maurice was like that, he was told that 'his parents probably let him fall head first on the floor when he was a cub', but Bonky didn't really get what they meant with that.

The voices kept echoing as they continued to talk, yet Bonky's gaze stayed low. The Scraggy hugged his legs, hidden from their sight by being among the piles of goods and by his diminutive size. Despite the praises he received for giving them an 'easy target', the sinking pit in his stomach was too much. He told the gang about how he'd sometimes steal something in Jarbas' face at his grocery and always managed to flee away because the 'old 'mon couldn't keep up', but he never thought they'd walk in, tie the elder Bibarel to a chair, and proceed to swipe the shop clean while mocking and laughing right in front of the grocer's old mon. Just remembering this made the knot in his throat tighter and more tears flow down his face.

He didn't want to be there anymore. He wanted to go back to the orphanage. He wanted to go back to his friends. But they told him he wouldn't be going back, that he had to 'toughen up', that he was 'part of the family', and that 'a family never abandons its members'. He didn't want to be one of them. Not anymore. That wasn't supposed to happen. They were supposed to be cool. He thought they were heroes when they took him in, like 'Phantom Missile' or 'Quickscope'. But suddenly they did a thing a baddie would do. And now he was a baddie too. He didn't want to be a baddie. He didn't want to be the villain. He didn't want to be like 'Crowleidoscope'.

"Look who isss hiding here."

Bonky looked up. Silvester was towering over him. The Scraggy's gaze wavered, not knowing whether to look at the predatorial eyes of the snake's pattern or the malice-filled grin right above it. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say. He just froze, doing his best to not tremble in place.

"What isss the problem, little one? Why aren't you cccelebrating with usss?"

"I'm-I'm-I'm... I–"

"We never ssscored ssso much in one day… You shhhould be happy about thisss." The Arbok slowly circled the Scraggy.

"I-I-I… I am." Bonky lifted his bandana and wiped his face. They had told him that he couldn't cry anymore, so he did his best to 'toughen up'. At least when he was caught doing so.

"Then… Why are you crying?" The snake hissed right on his ear.

"I'm, I'm… Cuz I'm happy… Butbut… C-cuz… I'm… sad… too…"

"Happy, but sssad too, I sssee." The Arbok kept surrounding him ever more closely. "And why that, Little Bonky?"

Bonky eyed the Arbok's encroaching body, and the hold on his trembling escaped. "C-Cuz… I-I… I… miss my friends."

"You… miss your friends…" The snake's body touched the Scraggy's, making Bonky hug his legs even tighter. "But am I not your friend?"

"Y-yes…" The Scraggy looked away. "But…"

"Yesss, but…" The snake's eyes inched eerily close to Bonky's.

"W-we… are… baddies…"

"We are baddiess… I… sssee…" The Arbok raised up and slowly nodded. Then, he chuckled. The chuckle became a giggle. A few seconds later it evolved to full blown out laughter, hissing and wheezing scandalously.

Bonky stared confused at the snake. Why was he laughing? Why was that funny? Being a baddie wasn't supposed to be funny. Baddies made others sad, baddies made others cry. Was he laughing because he was a baddie? Was he laughing because Bonky himself was being a bad baddie? Was he laughing because Bonky himself was sad? He didn't understand it, but he still felt bad, he still felt like Silvester was laughing at him.

"Mauriccce, Mauriccce!"

"What's up?"

"Little Bonky here isss sssad becaussse we are the baddiesss! HISS HISS HISS!"

"He is sad because we are the– PFFFFFFT!"

Bonky became tiny. They were laughing at him. Yes, they were laughing at him. They were laughing at him just like they laughed at Jarbas. They were mocking him. They were mocking him because he was sad. They said they were friends, but friends didn't mock friends like that. Bonky teared up again, strangling his own legs in its tight embrace. He wanted to leave. He really didn't want to be there. He didn't want to be mocked, he didn't want to be ridiculed. He wanted someone to take him away from there. He wanted to go back to the orphanage and his friends. But he couldn't. They said he couldn't anymore. He needed someone to take him back to his old friends. He needed a hero to save him from there.

THWACK! THWACK!

The hysterical laughter stopped. It was replaced with pained whining. Bonky felt someone approach him. Did someone come to rescue him? Did someone come to take him away from the baddies? Did the heroes hear him crying and come to save him? Bonky tearily looked up and his heart sank. It was Boss, with those red judging eyes and with a scrunched begrudged face. Phantom Missile and Quickscope didn't hear his cries. Crowleidoscope did.

"Bonky." The Scraggy knew that commanding tone from Boss. He knew he had to look into her eyes. He had seen what happened to the others when they didn't. So he did.

"We gave you food. We gave you a place to sleep. We gave you a job. We even made you part of our family. And you're crying because we are the baddies. So, I have a question for you, Bonky." The Honchkrow crouched down closer to the small lizard. "WOULD A BADDIE HAVE DONE THAT TO A RANDOM ORPHANAGE KID?"

Bonky had become a flinching bawling mess. He had done something wrong. He had upset Crowleidoscope. He remembered what the villain did. He hurt others who made him upset. She was going to hurt him.

"ANSWER ME! DON'T MAKE ME REPEAT MY-!"

A groan and a thud came from outside the warehouse door. A shout was quickly cut by a pained gasp and another thud. Bonky dared to open a watered eye. He saw the Honchkrow's head going from the door to the henchmen, the tension in their faces rising with each passing second. He saw Boss wordlessly giving directions to the other two, and the Scraggy took the opportunity to crawl behind the crates at the back of the warehouse.

A minute passed. Nothing, not a sound, not a peep. The tension was making him too antsy. Bonky peeked from behind the crate. Boss had her back against a pile of boxes in the middle of the room. Silvester was coiled right behind the half-opened door, ready to pounce. Maurice's gleaming claw was the only thing visible from under a tattered tarp. The door creaked, opening up little by little. A slender shadow had a tiny concentrated shine pointed inside. The Scraggy's eyes gleamed. They came. The heroes came. They had heard his cries. A whistle accompanied the arrow. It struck the clutter of luminous orbs.

BANG BANG BANG! Bonky's sight was overloaded by the flash and his ears rung. He stumbled backwards, hitting his back against a crate. He covered his face and slowly shook his head back and forth, leaning hard against the wood to anchor himself to something. His vision slowly began to return. The ringing gradually began to fade away, giving space to a buzz. His blurred sight showed a darkened shape quickly waving a hand in front of him.

"Phantom… Missile?" Bonky whispered.

The answer came too hazed and muffled for Bonky to understand, but the way it floated in the darkness, it was her. Yes, it was really Phantom Missile. The heroes really came to save him. Bonky felt something on his hand. He heard Phantom Missile say something akin to "hold", and Bonky did so as tight as he could. A loud crash near them made splinters and sticky splats splurt all over. His vision allowed him to see a coiled silhouette groaning and hissing unmovingly. The heroes had defeated one of the baddies.

"We have to leave." Phantom Missile whispered. "Stay close and don't let go of my leg, okay?"

Bonky nodded. The two snuck behind clump after clump of boxes. It was too dark to make out exactly what was happening, but the Scraggy could hear the grunts, groans, and clashes of each blow, and see the brief glows of light of the strikes and attacks. With each peek he managed to sneak, he saw how Crowleidoscope's red eyes flew back and forth as its attempted counterattacks left traces of reddened energy, how Quickscope's bright shots zoomed and hit its target or crashed at the wood, and how an unknown third hero's elastic arms glowed each time it connected to the villain.

"You've been doing great, Bonky, but I'll need you to be a little brave, okay?" Phantom Missile hushed, closer to him. "We are going to run to the door, okay? Just run as fast as you can, and don't stop for anything. We will make it through together, okay, so don't let go of my leg."

Bonky nodded. Phantom Missile spied on the action, loud bangs still coming through. She looked back at the Scraggy, gave a nod, then began counting down.

Three. Two. One.

Bonky ran. Bonky ran as fast as he could. He hopped onto a lumped tarp laying in front of the door on his path, a groan escaping from the pokémon splayed under it. They reached outside, and the dim luminous orbs gave him a clearer vision of the warehouse's front. Tony the Timburr and Jasta the Machop were knocked out cold, piled on top of each other. He looked back inside. Two concentrated lights grew bright, charged up and aimed right at Crowleidoscope's crimson gaze. In unison, they shot right between the eyes, and a loud crash followed.

The heroes won. The heroes won! They won! They defeated the baddies! They defeated Crowleidoscope! They had saved him!

"Thank… you…"

Bonky hugged Phantom Missile tight. Bonky was safe. He was actually safe. She hugged him back. Her embrace was warm. It dismantled all his tension away. His eyes began to get heavy, tiredness washing all over his body. He snuggled tighter. He could close his eyes. The heroes had protected him. They had defeated the baddies. They had defeated Crowleidoscope. He was safe. They would protect him if more baddies came. He could get some sleep. He could rest. So he did.


The first few rays of sunshine had barely begun to pierce through the leaves. Loomie, Fyliara and Tácio sat under a tree, with Bonky sleeping tightly against its roots using a bag as a makeshift pillow. They observed an Elgyem, a Kirlia and an Araquanid bringing crates and boxes from inside the warehouse, the research team members furiously writing on their clipboards. The gang, all tied up together, was solemnly quiet, bruised, and looking down defeated, with an Electivire and a Magmar from the hunting team taking guard. The hunting team's leader, an Aggron who had presented himself as Forte earlier, slowly approached the group.

"As the… representative… of the… Treetop… Guild… I thank you… for the… good work… you've done."

"It was no problem at all." Loomie held a cocky grin. "We just did the right thing to do, that's all."

"We are just happy to know that Lil Bonky here is safe and that Jarbas' goods were…" Fyliara gave a sheepish smile, "mostly recovered."

"This group… the Outcasts… have been… stealing… and selling… the stolen… goods… to other… local… criminals." Forte said. "They were… quite… slippery… leaving… an area… when they… got… too much… attention… from the… local… guilds. You did… a really… good… job… capturing… them."

"As I said, it was no problem." Loomie's grin widened.

"And we wouldn't have been able to do it without Skedaddle's help." Fyliara agreed. "He fought really well and came up with a really good plan."

"Nah. It was teamwork. It wasn't a real 'B rush', but an adapted two-phase execute. And you executed it pretty well." Tácio beamed.

Loomie and Fyliara eyed each other. The references and the way he talked still didn't make any sense even after hours with him. It was like he spoke a different language. But the weird thing is that they almost always got what he meant. So Fyliara shrugged it off, and Loomie followed suit.

"You three… can go… collect… the bounty… later… after… you rest. We will… be… taking… care… of things… from now… on…"

"Wait a minute." Fyliara raised a front leg. "They had a bounty?"

"Yes." The Aggron responded. "They were… considered… a B-rank… mission."

"A… B-rank!?" Fyliara put a hand in front of her mouth. "What does that mean?"

"It means it was a Silver rank or higher mission." Loomie answered. "An intermediate level one."

The Aggron nodded. "You three… showed… a lot… of promise. The guilds… could always use… the help… of good folks… like you." The Aggron looked back at the warehouse and let out a heavy sigh. "Any… ways… you should… get some… rest. You are… free to go… now."

Forte gave a farewell nod and Tácio waved back as the Aggron left, but Fyliara and Loomie stayed quiet, frozen in thought. Being part of a guild? Loomie had thought about it before, it had been one of the very few things in his life that he actually went after and researched. But he had never gone through the hoops of finding a group to join, he had always been too busy training or helping around the orphanage, and had always dismissed it as a childish dream. Fyliara, on the other hand, had never even considered joining a guild. She didn't know how to fight, she had always had a lot of responsibilities with helping raise her younger siblings and keeping everyone around her in one piece. Now, suddenly there was a team leader of a guild inviting Loomie, Fyliara, and a complete weird-speaking goofy-smiling stranger who they had just met a few hours ago to become part of a team in a guild.

"A Rescue Team would be leet. I think we would totally own."

Fyliara and Loomie stared at Tácio. They didn't know what 'leet' or 'own' meant in that context, but the goofy smile on his face probably meant something good.

"You want us to make a team?" Loomie asked.

"Yeah. You guys totally rocked." Tácio gave them a thumbs up.

"Butbutbut… I don't even know how to fight." Fyliara flailed her front legs in protest.

"Yeah, but we wiped the server clean." Tácio nodded. "Loomie tanked like a boss, and your 'using the orbs as a flashbang' idea, Fy, was a very pro move. A team of us would totally work."

"You know what? I'm down." Loomie gave a confident nod. The words still didn't make sense, but the gist of what he said was right; a team of them would totally work. The Breloom's gaze went to Fyliara. "You?"

She hesitated. Her eyes alternated between the Decidueye and the Breloom. She knew Tácio was right. Them making a team could totally work. It already had. They saved Lil Bonky, everyone together as a team. Tácio was a stranger, but one that willingly helped them without a single complaint. Yes, he was a little weird, and he was technically doing a job for Jarbas, but with him they did an 'intermediate level' mission, a 'B-Rank' one as Forte said, without even knowing. And the good they could do to the world around them. And the good role model she could give to the orphanage kids and her younger siblings. They could have more than Jaws to look up to, they could have Loomie and herself too. Not counting that she would have the help of Loomie, an old friend she knew fought well. Fyliara knew as well that her friend did need someone to help him think things through a bit more and not jump into action on impulse. It did indeed sound reasonable. "I'm… down, too."

"Sweet!" Tácio's face was pure glee.

"Cool." Loomie held a huge smirk. "We can register later today when we go get our reward."

"Yes, but we have to take Lil' Bonky back to the orphanage before even thinking of doing anything else." Fyliara stated.

"I know." Loomie rolled his eyes. There she was, being bossy like always. " I know Lil Bonky needs to rest. But we'd still need to think of a team name anyway."

"A team name?" Fyliara asked.

"Every team needs to have one when they register to a guild." Loomie explained. "The ones with the clipboards are Team Highbrow. Forte, the Aggron who talked to us, the Electivire and the Magmar are from a team named Team Steamroll. We'd need a name for our team."

"A name for our team…" Fyliara put a finger on her chin, thinking.

"Team Green!" Tácio raised a wing. "Loomie is green. Fy is green. I am green. We're all green."

"Team Green?" Loomie frowned. "That name is terrible. And I bet there is already a 'Team Green' running around."

"What about… Team Veridian?" Fyliara suggested. "Your handkerchief is green, but its green tone is called 'veridian'. We could all use one of those, and we're all green, like Skedaddle said."

"That name is rad, and the idea is rad." Tácio gave a feathers up.

"Veridian…" Loomie slowly bobbed his head. "Yeah, it sounds cool. But the handkerchief idea is way too cheesy."

"What?" Fyliara frowned. "It would be stylish, and the orphanage kids would all know we're part of the same team. Even Jaws and his team wear a bordeaux band."

Loomie frowned. She had a good point, and she cherry picked an example again. "You know it, fine. I'm already wearing mine anyways."

"Sweet!" Tácio put a wing in front of the two with a beaky smile. "Team Veridian it is?"

Loomie and Fyliara each put a hand on top of his wing with a determined look and a big smile.

"Team Veridian it is!"