"Care for some tea, old chum?"
Chimera had been unusually quiet as the two of them had made their way down the stairs. His steps were almost on instinct by now, and before long Bagon and Girafarig were sitting on the simple wooden benches of a recreational facility. On one corner, a trio of Absol, Dragonite, and Haxorus were shooting the breeze by a pool table, while on the other was a cafeteria assembly line with an Ambipom doling out portions four at a time. Mounted on the walls in a neat pattern were various designs of neckerchiefs and badges, as well as a line of twenty or so group photos corresponding to different years. Though the photo's black and white nature made it a little difficult, the Bagon could recognize a few of the same faces around him.
"Chimera?"
The Bagon jolted up at Binair's voice. Though his face was the same neutral stare, Binair's horns drooped hearing the rattle of the cup and plate as Chimera took them in his hands.
"O-Oh yeah, thank you Sir," Chimera said. "Apologies."
Binair said little, spoon on the chairside table lifting on its own to stir the sugary concoction of milk, foam, and coffee before him. Chimera's glazed over stare seemed lost in his own drink; he could scarcely notice a certain Deerling lying across from them flipping through her novel.
Had his own chair collapsed out from under him and thrown itself at the Absol dozing off beside the pool table, Chimera doubted he would have noticed. The words of a grey Charmander echoed through his mind, fighting to maintain an impression as painted murals and memories of an equally grey Rampardos did likewise. Lifting the cup with his good hand to take another sip, Chimera's eyes settled on the two crutches leaning against the table. They appeared again as he looked down, only this time in the reflection of the slightly tarnished badge pinned against his bag.
"I should make one thing clear to you, old chum," Binair said. "I know it's a lot to take in, and I'm not expecting you to have to deal with this on a regular basis. True, taking up a career of leadership on the high ranking exploration and military aspects of the WFG means you would have to come here occasionally, but the majority of what you'd be doing has to do with the other aspects of the guild that increase the quality of life for all of Faire's pokemon. Overseeing resource collection, supervising public works, that sort of thing. Does this make sense?"
Lifting his head to meet Binair's stare, Chimera gave a slow nod. His furrowed brow still stood, though the faint clattering of ceramic plate against cup had stopped.
"Yeah, yeah it does, Sir. I just… needed a moment to take it all in. Can't say I saw something exactly like this in my other life, but I'm starting to think I was ignorant of the whole thing. Pokemon around here seem happy; living in better conditions than I ever saw at home. Food had to come from somewhere, I suppose."
At an easy pace, Binair's signature smile returned. Heads on both the front and back of the Girafarig craned around the room, one settling on a windowside door to the back of the room, while the other's eyes beamed at the same Deerling nestled on a large pillow.
"I can scarcely express how excellent that is to hear, though my other mind makes a fair point that a pokemon of a high ranking position is not the only one that should be giving you a demonstration. Perhaps a more 'boots on the ground' viewpoint would help in navigating through this. In fact… Flora?"
The Deerling's muscles tensed as if Binair's low voice had come through a megaphone. Her hooves lost grip of the book, letting it fall to the floor as she jolted up to attention. Chimera flinched at the sudden gesture. A glance at Binair confirmed that he had done the same.
"Yessir?" she asked.
Binair let out a deep breath, smile on his face as he gestured Flora at ease.
"Would you be amicable to providing Chimera here a short tour of our outside facilities? Feel free to voice your viewpoint on this whole matter. Also, I took the liberty of approving that extra sick leave you requested; my greatest wishes for your mother's recovery."
The Deerling nearly tripped over herself at Binair's words. Her jaw hung open, before the rigid posture fell into something more personable. Chimera had to stifle a chuckle at the change; was that really how he had looked?
"Of course Sir," Flora replied, turning to the door before stopping midway. "I-I… thank you Sir. Means a lot."
Chimera followed suit as Flora leaned the crutches on the table over to him. At an easy pace, the two of them went through the door. Placing her hoof on the handle, the Deerling seemed to cast a glance behind her, smiling to a colorful scarf poking out of her bag that, while old and faded, shined well in the morning sun.
"Oh, and once you return," Binair called out, "I've organized transportation of your team back to Pith Town. Once we return there, our little arrangement can start in earnest."
The Bagon returned a wave to the Girafarig's two beaming smiles. Chimera couldn't help but look up as the rows of pallids, distant shacks, and vibrant crops that came into view. The latter was ever present on the group photo of staff mounted above the door; Chimera could almost forget how the black and white of the frame put the background crops in full greyscale.
"And that's where pallids first come out after domestication," Flora said, pointing at a fenced in yard of dirt and gravelstone jutting out of the facility. "A-After they get sent here from the mystery dungeons, trained in basic language, and have their aggressive tendencies ironed out, the folks over there pick what's the best area for them to be working."
Following the Deerling's hoof, Chimera noticed a series of tables set up across the yard, with a short line of pallids being escorted from one to the other. On one table, a Seviper scribbled some notes with its ink-dipped tail, analyzing a monochrome Raticate having its once sharp teeth polished to a dull edge. Near another, a Blastoise moved its Talonflame counterpart to where some pallid avians were having their wings clipped. Closest to the gate leading into the fields were four main stations, painted green, red, silver, and blue respectively. The Bagon did not say a word, though his breaths were a bit quicker than he would have liked.
"And the colors," Chimera said, putting a hand to his chin. "Different areas? Green for planting and such, right?"
Flora nodded, gesturing to a Mightyena in the distance. Its head was to the soil, being one of the many pallids plowing in a line from one of the newly cleared fields.
"Yeah, that's it. M-Most of them are assigned to that area, though not everymon. Water types get put in the irrigation sector. Fire and dragon types are best used clearing excess brush through the forests for new fields. Bulkier 'mons are in charge of hauling materials and building housing, that kind of stuff."
A friendly wave greeted Chimera as he looked up to one of the guard towers dividing the plots of land into separate quadrants. Only a few regular patrols dotted the soil, along with the occasional Krookodile or Drapion scanning across the dozen-long lines of pallids working different positions. They fought off the sun beating against their backs, through a few of the newer looking pallids sported chains around paws, hooves, and feet.
"Seems like a pretty secure operation," Chimera replied, raising his hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight. "I've had my fair share of run ins with pallids in dungeons, though. Hard enough fighting them off with a twenty to one ratio against you. Can't imagine it'd be much easier keeping them all like… this with the same."
Looking around, half of the Bagon's inquiries already seemed answered. A grey Jolteon scampered out of the two's way as soon as it caught sight of them. It appeared scarcely like the ones Chimera encountered on resource missions; judging by the faint sparks of electricity that left its mane like the last cinders of a fire, he'd need little more than a well placed kick if it tried charging him in a dungeon.
"Keeping a line of sight on every inch of the fields is part of it," Flora replied. "N-Not to mention there's a fast response team of soldiers back at the facility ready to charge in if anything major happens, or you get the occasional troublemaker. Been pretty quiet since I joined up, all things considered."
"Right," Chimera whispered, taking note of the bells hanging below each tower and stuffed into bags of marching guards. "And Flora… one last question."
The Deerling stopped, noticing that the Bagon shaped shadow once ahead of her had ground to a halt. Scrambling to turn back, she met Chimera with a nod.
"Y-Yeah, what is it?"
Chimera's breaths were much heavier. Again, he shielded his eyes, this time from the obscuring sunlight reflected off both the badge pinned to Flora's bag, and the jingling chains from a nearby Bibarel.
"Well, how exactly did you get started with all of this? Not trying to say anything one way or the other, it's just… this isn't exactly something they have mounted on the application posters around the guild hall."
A sharp breeze ran through the fields, rustling the flower over Flora's head. Her eyes seemed to go out of focus for a second, memories taking their place as she took a long look over the fields of crops and sizable facility in the distance. As the wind died down, the faint creaking and growls of carriages rolling through the roads took its place.
"N-Nothing much to it, really. Signed up for the guild like anyone else. Always had a bit of admiration for some of the higher ranking teams of the WFG. Thought if I played my cards right it wouldn't be long before I could work my way up the food chain, but… after getting my butt kicked a few too many times by some dungeon pallids, I started to have a reoccuring fear that I'd be perpetually shot down from starting something."
Chimera's posture loosened at her words. He looked down, letting out a slight chuckle that turned to an all too familiar sigh. Glancing back to Flora, the Deerling seemed as qualified as any other member of the guild, though lacking the physique of the occasional Scyther or Arcanine they passed.
"Well, can't blame you there," Chimera replied. "I've been through that sort of thing, in a way at least. Eats you from the inside and out. Don't even have to get knocked on your behind by a thunder punch for that to happen, though it certainly helps."
Flora tilted her head, a second passing before her eyes widened, and she returned the Bagon's smile with a chuckle.
"Heh, yep," Flora replied. "I… guess that fire kinda got lit a bit more when ma got sick. Couldn't really sit down and smell the roses when the bills for medicine and doctors started rolling in. Ma's a stubborn 'mon, but I made a promise that I wouldn't leave her. Needed something well-paying that would give me a jumpstart on my career."
"Let me guess," Chimera replied, "that's when a certain Girafarig showed up with a fondness for croquet, automobiles, and keeping things close to the chest? 'Take care of those below you' I think was what that Wigglytuff at the factories said."
Flora gave a nod, hoof tapping at the regulation book poking out of her bag. The two stepped through a gate in the barbed wire fencing, now almost to the conglomerate of sheds built out and up from the center of one of the fields.
"He went to me," she replied. "Seems like that was the case for most of the 'mons here. Offered me this position and all the job benefits that come from it in exchange for keeping everything here classified. I-I'm still getting used to a lot of things here, but… it's not so bad, really. We're making the dungeons that resource teams have to go through safer, while overseeing food production and making sure the ferals that would normally be attacking good 'mon are doing something productive. N-Not to mention I'd rather be working here than where all the meat for Faire comes from."
Judging from the shiver that ran up Chimera's spine, he was inclined to agree. As the two approached, they had to walk through a work line of tilling pallids. Among them was a Vullaby, which after looking the Bagon straight in the eye moved out of his way without another word, before staring back to the soil. It had been barely a week since Chimera and Argon had waited in line for a restaurant that served smoked Vullaby sandwiches without a second thought. And yet, looking outward, it seemed the many sentry towers around the perimeter of the fields were wary of what was outside as much as what was in. Chimera needed a moment to scratch his forehead; why hide the skull in the closet when the skeleton was on display?
"I see, though… there might be some 'mons out there that don't see it that way. Gotta worry about those who accept the meat thing, but don't believe that—what the hell?"
In most respects, there was nothing spectacular about the work crew in front of the housing areas. They went about their business, offering only an occasional stare, chip, or growl to the Bagon and Deerling a hundred something feet across the way. All at least, except one. Chimera almost tumbled to the floor upon losing grip of his crutches, being met by a face much too familiar, and two gray eyes that stared into his own with a deliberation far greater than coincidence. Flora's own neck craned at the sight, eyes narrowing as she traced the Bagon's vision.
"Well, we get the occasional trouble inside here," Flora said, "but nothing really more than that. Had a bit of a bout earlier today with some of the more contentious pallids. Mightyena way back there was part of it, a Stoutland too, but he must be working at a different area right now. That Charmander over there did a decent job talking them down, though. Pretty well spoken honestly, much more than I expected to see."
It took more than a few seconds for Chimera to overcome his self-imposed paralysis. To an untrained eye, Eoin's mannerisms looked little different from the Armaldo at his right or the Houndoom on his left. The Bagon saw however, the slight nod he gave as the two approached, as well as the way his colorless flame pointed a bit too much to a small shack directly opposite one of the larger ones. If Chimera squinted, he could see the faint scar on the Pallid's tail from his injury on the mountain. With no goggles to hide his irises, Chimera could only assume whether their glances to him were ones of a plaintiff or defendant.
"I… right," Chimera replied.
What was clear, was Eoin's continued swishing towards the small, unassuming shed. Chimera gave his own nod as Eoin's gaze drew to the soil, turning the slightest bit back to Flora. After a second of contemplation, the Bagon let out a deep exhale, before lowering his head to wipe his brow with his good hand. It wasn't like the visit had suddenly given the Bagon the ability to sweat, but he had points for presentation.
"Say, Flora," he said, giving a few more deep, labored breaths, "we've been walking a pretty long while under the sun. Would you mind heading back to the facility and fetching a few drinks for the both of us? My treat."
The Deerling took up a soldier like demeanor, scanning over the Bagon as he feebly waved his crutch in the air.
"I'd do it myself, but… you know."
"O-Of course," Flora replied, turning back to the colossal building with a renewed vigor. "Always happy to help a fellow guild member. I'll be back before you know it."
"Take your time," Chimera whispered. "Take your time… "
In a short while, Flora was on the other end of one of the fields, leaving only Chimera and about a dozen pallids each shooting him inquisitive looks. Standing as straight up as he could, Chimera hobbled across the line, faking curiosity in a couple of the pallids before settling on a certain Charmander.
"You, Gloommander," he said, pointing first to Eoin with his good hand and then to the shed. "Boss gave me orders to have a private discussion with you to set things straight. You coming, or what?"
He turned around, gesturing to the Deerling outline in the distance.
"I'd advise you be quick about it."
Eoin looked left and right, giving his best surprised chirp while Chimera made his way to the shed. Giving one last glance back to the pallids, he followed, all the while lingering particularly on the opposite shed, where a dash of orange fur was barely visible through one of the cracks.
With any witnesses having gone back to their business, Eoin leaned against Chimera to help the Bagon up the steps to the elevated structure, who in turn held the door open. The floorboards gave a moaning creek while the two entered, as if the weathered cedar and splintered frames would give way any second. A clatter filled the silence from Chimera steadying his crutch, and knocking against the dull saws, chipped hammers, and every other tool under the sun hastily mounted on the walls in a utilitarian tetris puzzle. Hinges from the door similar squeaked from being shut, coating the few square feet in a thin darkness.
"Crazy day, huh?" Chimera said, giving a faint chuckle. "Good to see you, Eoin. I'll… admit that among the grey eyes that stared back at me today, I didn't expect yours, but in hindsight it's all starting to make sense. You didn't bring us to the top of that mountain just so we could freeze to death, did you?"
Charmander and Bagon stared at each other in the brief silence, both locking their expressions and crossing their arms. Chimera's foot ambled towards a disheveled pile of woodchips between them, lazily pushing them forward as if high stakes tokens at a gambling ring.
"Yes," Eoin replied, "that's true, and the day has been a bit more tumultuous than I would have liked, but I can say for certain that I have firmly established my goals. My question is, since we've parted ways, have you done the same?"
The Bagon's brow furrowed, back of his forehead tinking against a wall-mounted saw from his slight back step.
"I'm still working things out. Hell, I've haven't even been around Faire for two months, not about to pass any strong judgement on any place or any person either way."
Eoin's tail wisped a bit from the grey flame growing a bit louder, still doing little to hide the shadow's encompassing the room.
"That is… fair," the Pallid replied, keeping his voice low. "Still, I hope that after everything you have seen your perception of—"
"Does she know?" Chimera asked.
Eoin paused, gaze lowering to the Bagon's rapidly tapping feet. His mouth opened to ask a question, though hung silent; it didn't take words for each pokemon to already know the answer.
"She does, " Eoin replied. "In fact, I'll tell you in good faith that she's waiting in the opposite building right now with a comrade of mine. Arceus bless her heart, she has had her own disillusionment with all of this, but neither her magnificent compassion nor her resolve has wavered. I hope in good time the same can be said for all pokemon of Faire. If our little inquiry exchange is to continue, however, I must ask… "
The Pallid rubbed his eyes, voice taking up a quicker tone than usual. He pointed with his arm to his grey flame, before gesturing to the continuous grey scales that lined his body.
"Does he know?"
Chimera's neutral face faded into perturbed scowl, eyes blinking a few times like a 'mon being shown a flying tepig. They narrowed into his own analysis of the Pallid, noting that the exploration bag with a faint blue radiance formerly worn by Eoin was nowhere to be found.
"No, 'course not," Chimera replied. "I made a few sacrifices and had to tell a few white lies to Binair along the way, but it'll take more than seeing this to get me to sell out the pokemon that saved my partner's life."
"... Oh."
Eoin's own poker face fell mulling over the Bagon's words. The Pallid took a deep breath, flame flickering a bit less before returning to its continued blaze. He turned around to crane his vision through a gap in the crudely fabricated plank walls. Flora was nowhere to be seen across the fields, leaving only a monolithic structure in the distance. A new line of pallids seemed to be making their way out of the fence, with a gray Liepard in front staring at its now clawless paws.
"Still," Eoin said, "I hope your visit here has done something to alter your perception of its two-faced orchestrator. His apologist nature may seem infectious, most every of the guard pokemon here seem to have bought into it, but I pray that you can see the malicious nature in a pokemon that would take creatures just as sentient and worthy of fulfillment as himself, and leave them shackled to drudgery and destitution."
A second too many passed as Eoin waited for Chimera to respond; the Pallid barely realized his own fingers beginning to tap against the dilapidated wood. Chimera had his own hand to his chin, sight, sound, and most other senses seemingly glazed over from his spinning thoughts. As the memories of the visit flowed through the Bagon, his hand clenched for a moment, before falling limply at his side.
"I can't deny what's going on here, but… he's not the heartless pokemon you make him out to be."
Eoin glanced back over his shoulder, snout crinkling with his frown.
"I've seen much to the contrary," he replied. "There are pallids here who could be walking beside the pokemon of Faire as artists, philosophers, and equals right now, if they didn't have to move with gaunt limbs below the guard towers above."
"That may be true," Chimera replied, before gesturing with his crutch to his broken limbs, "or they could be with the pallids inside mystery dungeons who break the bones of exploration teams and send their better half into morbid acceptance as she nearly freezes to death."
Eoin flinched a bit at the last of the Bagon's biting words, before shoring his footing. Chimera's own eyes widened hearing his volume; any more, and the cedar walls would do little to hide his voice from the pokemon in the cabin across. Seeing Chimera let out a deep sigh, Eoin's own muscles likewise loosened.
"I just… look," Chimera said, "simple matter of fact is I think there's more to this than either of us are letting on. I drove here with that Girafarig, saw a bit of a gap in that haughty demeanor he lets on to everyone. He's helped people, a lot of people, even if I'm not sure if I can get behind what's going on here. He had—has a family, a daughter even, one whom he's trying to make amends to… ironically, if it hadn't been for his mistakes, I'd have had no supplies to treat that tail of yours."
Chimera's last words hung in his mouth. His heart froze for a second, attempting to judge from Eoin's swishing tail and perturbed expression if he had connected the dots. The thought faded soon, however, tucked away in Eoin's subconscious as he took a step forward. The floorboards gave another resounding moan, with only their slight splintering and the Pallid's roaring tail flame to fill the silence.
"As candid as your words are, there are forces moving here too valuable for me to risk now. Even after our tumultuous first meeting, I have garnered a respect for you, Chimera, and I hope I have done enough for you to say the same."
Before he could speak another word, Chimera nodded. Eoin blinked a few times, then jolted back to attention.
"But be that as it may, and knowing the special interest Binair has taken with you ever since we returned from the mountain, I can only remain truthful with you for what is to come if I have one assurance."
Eoin's arm raised, gesturing Chimera over to the other end of the shed. The Bagon crossed his arms as well as he could, before ambling over to the other side and noticing Eoin's gesture towards the same crack in the wall. Brow furrowing a bit, Chimera looked through the gap.
The story was the same for what he saw. The same all-seeing guild building in the distance. The same pokemon on guard towers watching their grey counterparts as they went through their unending routine of tilling soil, moving timber, and harvesting the ever so important food under the beating sun. Chimera's arms jittered a bit at the returning sight, though his breath remained steady.
"If the chips are down," Eoin whispered, "and the colors of change rise upon both halves of Faire, will you hold that the system in place here is deserving of removal?"
Chimera closed his eyes, hands beginning to fidget just a bit more as he forced them open. Out of the edge of the hole, he could see a corner of the opposing cabin. With newfound knowledge, it didn't take the Bagon long to find the infinitesimal dash of orange fur on the other side of the wall. As the grey exterior of a Grottle hauling bricks between the two cabins blocked off the glimmer of his partner, a thought went through the Bagon that its hue was little different from the cubicle walls of yesteryear.
"You know," Chimera said, letting out an anemic chuckle, "seems like wherever I go, there's always someone stuck. Always someone shafted with the arduous shit of the world. Seemed like a fact of life. Still… that doesn't make it right, doesn't make this right. You wanna hear me say it, Eoin? From what I've seen with you and the others, I don't agree with what's being done here. That reasonable enough?
Turning back from the gap, Chimera met Eoin's widened eyes with a huff.
"If I did put my support behind this," the Bagon said, "I would have long since spilled the beans on why I couldn't come back from that mountain with time gear in hand. Would have made things a lot easier. We've both made sacrifices for each other, but in return I ask that what I do with the guild in the future is my own call. Capiche?"
A slight wisp of flames left Eoin's nostrils as he took a deep breath. The two pokemon looked toward each other with scrunched up maws, Chimera waving his hand over his guild badge-pinned badge while Eoin reached up to his eyes to adjust a pair of goggles that weren't there.
"It is… good enough," Eoin finally said, a second passing before his mouth raised into a slight grin, "I suppose in our predicament, I cannot ask for more. We each have our part to play in what is to come, and as long as you are willing to keep my secret and that of the pallids here, it is not my decision on how you manage your career. If everything works out for the best, not a drop of grey or red need be spilled."
"We've done a pretty decent job of that so far," Chimera replied. "Well… not counting you singing off my scales or me dunking your tail into water like I'm raising money for ALS."
The Pallid's eyes narrowing, looking toward the Bagon like he had grown a pair of wings. Chimera faltered for only a second, before shaking his head.
"Right… phrasing. But anyway, think it was just a couple days ago that we had a duel without needing a single trip to the hospital, that's the—"
"Hello?!"
Bagon and Charmander froze, a voice familiar to both raising from the fields. The two of them scrambled to the gap in the wall, nearly conking heads until both had adjusted for a decent view. Walking a few dozen feet away in the fields, with two cups of lemonade holstered on either sides of her mane, was a Deerling.
"Chimera, you there? A-Anyone seen a Bagon? Yay high, walking with one crutch?"
The Bagon shot up, realization flooding over his face as he gave Eoin a toothy grin.
"Well, guess that's my cue," he said, grin lasting another second before falling back with a glum nod. "I… suppose I'll have to meet you and Argon when we all get back to West Faire."
"Indeed," Eoin replied, letting out a sigh that couldn't decide itself as relief or remorse. "While you're away, I have a meeting with Argon and some of my associates that must be done. I hope once we meet again we'll be better equipped at sorting this whole mess out. In the meantime, farewell. Perhaps in your further dealings with Binair, our movement will appear more appealing."
"Maybe," Chimera whispered. "Maybe."
Eoin nodded, Chimera ambling close behind as the Charmander laid his hand on the door. With a click, he opened it a smidge, letting a ray of light wash into the shed. Before it could open any further, however, Eoin stopped, looking Chimera in the eye.
"One more thing," the Pallid said. "A bit after some of our scouts alerted me and Argon to you taking that tour, and I asked that you and I have this little meeting to set things straight, she asked that I relay a message to you. 'I'm sorry that we had to find out the way you did,' she said, 'But keep sticking through; after all, we've survived worse than this as a team."
The world seemed to slow as the words went through Chimera's head. He could almost hear Argon's voice in place of the Charmander's words. He stared on, lost in thought until a ray of the shifting sun brought him back to attention. Pupils contracting from having left the darkness, he looked to Eoin with a renewed smile.
"Thank you," Chimera said, "I'll do my best to stay true to that. Couldn't think of a better 'mon to take advice from. Please, send her my regards, and… "
The door opened, letting in another wave of light as Chimera reached for his crutch and began walking out. Just before he hit the soil, the Bagon turned back one last time.
"Tell her I look forward to sharing a cup of tea when this all blows over."