As soon as they arrived at Drenched Bluff, Sol knew she was going to hate the place. It was dark, dank, and the locals none too friendly. They moved cautiously along the stone floor made slick with water, through a labyrinth of cold, wet rock and around wide pools of collected water.
"This place is a maze!" Sol exclaimed. "How are we supposed to find anything in a place like this?"
"Don't worry, we'll find it," Eevee said with complete confidence.
They entered a small, enclosed room with several off shooting paths. Sol's brow furrowed. She could have sworn they had been in this room before. How had they gotten turned around?
"Well, I'm completely lost. Want to lead for a while?"
"Sure," Eevee replied happily.
He picked a path seemingly at random then skipped off cheerfully, leaving Sol to trail behind him. Eevee could just be so sickeningly cheerful sometimes. They had just spent hours wandering aimlessly around a rather unpleasant cave and he acted like they had just taken a stroll in the park. He jumped between emotions in their extremes and their was no middle ground. It was starting to get a little annoying.
And what does he think if me? Sol wondered as she walked down the narrow passage. What does Eevee think of the amnesiac human-turned-Riolu?
There was an alarmed shout from up ahead, and Sol realized that she had fallen behind. She ran to the end of the path and entered a cavernous room bordered by large pools of water. Near the center of the room a pack of four Anorith were circling Eevee. Whenever he would try to attack, he left himself open for the sharp, pinching claws of another in the group. Eevee was unable to escape the circle and was close to panic.
Sol didn't wait but ran forward. Her own claws shot out as she jumped onto the back of an Anorith. She attempted to use the move scratch on the Pokémon, but the chitin plates that encased its body easily deflected the attack.
The Anorith bucked and jumped as it tried to throw Sol off. She dug her claws into the gaps between its natural armor. This served to anchor Sol to the Pokémon, and also to enrage it. Bubbles frothed from its mouth as it scuttled angrily around the room. Eevee broke free through the gap this created.
While Sol may have lost her memory, she was still pretty sure that riding a rampaging, giant arthropod was the weirdest thing she had ever done. The Anorith was well and truly pissed now, running in tight circles and waving its claws around like a maniac while a froth of bubbles continued to grow at its mouth.
"Sol!"
She glanced over to Eevee who was holding off two Anorith. There was no sign of the fourth one.
"Break this above its head!"
Sol reached out to catch Eevee's thrown item, nearly falling off the Anorith in the process. She hunched low over its grey plated back and examined the object.
It was a large seed of some sort with a green core enclosed in a translucent yellow shell. Sol wasn't quite sure what Eevee expected to happen, but she did as she was told and crushed the seed between her fingers, releasing a cloud of green powder. It drifted down to land on the Anorith's face and the effects were nearly instantaneous.
The Pokémon stilled, claws still poised in the air and muscles completely tense, then collapsed to the ground. Sol carefully got off its back and regarded its sleeping form.
Did I just drug an Anorith?
Sol shook herself and went to help Eevee. There would be time later to think about this.
One of the remaining Anorith was already retreating with gouges scratched into its chitin armor. Eevee's attacks were considerably stronger than Sol's. It may have been because he had more experience with moves having used them all his life, or maybe it was because Sol, at her core, just wasn't a Pokémon and these things would never come naturally to her.
Sol darted forward to the last Anorith with a quick attack, not doing much damage but drawing its attention long enough for Eevee to use tackle. The Anorith scuttled backwards, mouth bubbling and making odd clicking sounds as it regarded its two attackers.
What is it waiting for? We've gotten rid of all its friends, and it can't think that it has a chance by itself…
There was a splash from behind Sol and she whirled around to late to stop the fourth Anorith, the one they had lost track of, from emerging from the water behind Sol covered in glistening droplets and grip her around the ankle. With a shout, Sol was pulled into the water.
She panicked and flailed about, even when the hold on her ankle was gone. The pool was deeper than it had first appeared and Sol quickly lost all sense of what was up and what was down. All reason left her to be replaced with an all-consuming fear.
Something grabbed onto her arm, and Sol struck out blindly. It disappeared, only to latch on more firmly. Once again she struggled, but there was a stab of pain as sharp claws dug into her arm, tightening the grip. Black dots began to blot her vision as her body cried out for air. She continued to try and fight back weakly, but the hold didn't lessen. It pulled her upwards and she was dragged out of the water.
On hands and knees beside the pool, Sol choked and coughed up water as someone pounded on her back. When she was finally able to breathe properly, she looked to see Eevee, water dripping from his sodden fur.
"Are you going to be all right?" he asked, looking concerned.
"Yeah, but I guess we learned something else about me. I may be a horrible swimmer but I'm remarkably good at drowning. Thanks for pulling me out of there. I didn't exactly make it easy for you."
"What are partners for? Come on. We still need to find that pearl."
Looking like a pair of drowned rats, the two of them made their way through Drenched Bluff. Amid the squelching footsteps and dank passageways, Sol realized she hadn't been treating Eevee as she should. She had viewed him as naïve, almost like a child who never understands anything, not ever giving him a chance to prove himself. She had stuck a label on him when they had first met and never bothered to change it. Though it was painful to admit, Sol had basically been using him to understand this place and make a place for herself in it. She vowed then to become the partner he needed and watch out for him as he watched out for her. She was a member of a team now, and it was past time she acted like it.
…
The pearl was pale pink in color and large enough for Sol to wonder how Spoink didn't get a serious neck injury carrying it around on his head all day.
The grey Pokémon bounced about the guild's upper underground room on the spring that served as his legs. Spoink thanked Eevee and Sol profusely and gave them a paper bag full of items accompanied by a wad of cash.
As Spoink happily bounced away up the guild's stairs, Eevee exclaimed "$2 000! We're rich Sol! All of a sudden, we're rich!"
Eevee did a little dance around the room and Sol couldn't help but smile at his antics. She wasn't quite sure the worth of money in this place, or what $2 000 equated to, but Eevee was down right ecstatic.
"Well done, team!" Chatot sang.
Praise from Chatot? Oh, this can't be good…
Sol had a sinking feeling as the guild's second came over.
"Now hand that money over, if you please!" he said and practically ripped it from Eevee's hands.
Sol bristled. "Just what do you think you're doing? That's our money!"
Chatot gave her a condescending look and proceeded to count through the money. "A portion of the money from jobs goes to the Guildmaster, you see. Your team's share comes out to this much."
"We keep only 200?" Eevee said, looking crestfallen. "That's not fair!"
"Well that's the guild's rule. You simply have to accept it," he replied with a self-satisfied smirk and moved to walk away.
"Hold on," Sol said and blocked his path. "You're telling me that the guild takes ninety percent of the money that we put ourselves at risk to earn?"
"Yes," Chatot answered, looking annoyed.
"Ninety percent? Ninety? I could understand some money, for apprentice fees, room and board, all that stuff, but from what I've seen that wouldn't come out to all that much."
Sol stepped closer to Chatot, directly in his face. "Are you sure that's the guild rule, or just your rule?"
Chatot was getting nervous know, eyes flicking around the room, searching for some way out of the confrontation.
He's a coward, Sol realized. He's a coward who preys on those he believes won't stand up to him.
Sol was no victim, however, and she wouldn't let him try to pull anything on Eevee, not while she was around to watch his back.
"My rules are the guild's rules, and the guildmaster trusts me to enforce them…"
"Really? Then I suppose you wouldn't mind if I check with Wigglytuff about how much we actually owe to the guild." Sol turned to go down the stairs leading to the lowest floor.
"Wait now! Let's not be rash. There's no reason to bother the Guildmaster with such an easily solved problem." Chatot was very worried now. "I may have… miscalculated how much money goes to the guild. Here, let me check."
Chatot took the money back from Eevee and counted it out into two separate piles.
"Here, this is thirty percent-" Sol glared at him, issuing a soft growl. "-and it goes to the guild. This is your team's share."
Eevee took the money, looking a bit confused over what had passed. As Chatot left, he looked to Sol.
"What exactly just happened?"
Sol grinned. "I just saved us a whole lot of money and knocked Chatot down a peg in the process. I'd call this a successful day."