Ninetales' opened his eyes for the first time that day, or at least, it certainly felt like he did. Opening them into a life he never asked for, and depending on the day never wanted to have; today was one of those days. Ever since he'd awoken on a fateful day in September, he had been plagued with questions both inside and out, it seemed that he could hardly travel a few steps without a ravenous reporter approaching him, asking questions to which he had no answer.

The skies above him were gray, hearkening the heart of the month in the stone city of Galet, a light mist was cast upon the stone city.

"...Yes, that's all well and good…" Ninetales replied, backing away from his interviewer who was hell-bent on wrenching answers from him.

The interviewer closed the distance that Ninetales put between them without hesitation. "No normal pokemon would wake up near pools of blood and know nothing of it. So tell me, what do you know?" he said.

Ninetales chuckled. "Yeah, that, well…" he started, but was soon cut off by the clopping of Mudsdale signaling the arrival of the public carriage. "Bye." he said quickly, jumping on as soon as it came to a halt, his mangy hair veiling his face, "I'll give you 50 extra poke to leave now."

"Very well." the driver replied as he accepted the bribe given to him, "Right men, we're off." he announced. Ninetales' found a seat and parted his light blue fur, the Mudsdale trotting towards their destination. Like most other pokemon on board, he sat in silence, trying his best to become invisible to others.

Why can't these pokemon just leave me alone? He thought as the carriage rumbled on the road of interlocking bricks below him. I just want a simple life.

The carriage arrived at his destination and he disembarked with haste, refusing to make eye contact with anyone but the cobbled sidewalk as he weaved through the waves of pokemon. His tails dragging behind him on his way to his job. His travels were halted by an arm, peeking through his fur he saw a Banette in a torn, violet crop-top, Ninetales grunted, put his eyes back down and kept moving.

"Hey." said Banette. "I've been looking for you."

Ninetales didn't pause. "So has everyone else." he said, barely turning his head as he dodged a small group of pedestrians.

Banette began to follow him to try and stop him, but Ninetales slipped through any attempts he made. "Look, I just want to talk." said Banette, intercepting Ninetales, forcing him to cease.

Without making eye contact, Ninetales told him, "If this is about the 'pools of blood,' I don't know anything."

Banette shook his head. "You 'don't know anything?' Nothing at all." what should have been a question became a statement.

With a slight growl Ninetales looked back up at this pokemon. "No, and at this rate I'm going to be late for work." he lied, frustration weaved into his words.

"Work? Where exactly do you work." said Banette, making a slow advance on Ninetales.

Ninetales backed away. "That's not important." he said, his body tensing up.

"Trust me. It is." Banette told him, anger beginning to bubble through his calm exterior.

Ninetales remained unresponsive, watching his movements closely, and lowering to the ground, his tails pointed up as they quivered to and fro. "I'll ask you to back. Away. Now." He snarled at Banette, his eyes darting left and right. I'm not looking for a fight. Ninetales thought to himself. I just need to scare him off, I'm going to be late at this rate.

Banette tensed a moment, and lunged at Ninetales, who sprung backwards, but he was a moment too slow, letting Banette grab hold of the scruff of his neck, "I'll give you one more chance. This doesn't have to be as difficult as you're making it." he said. "Now, are you going to talk?"

Ninetales began to squirm in an attempt to free himself from his assailants grip. His attempts may have been futile, but still, he refused, "I told you, I don't know a thing." as his tails fell back to the ground.

Banette's otherwise cool shell broke, he boiled with anger. "I refuse to believe that, how can you not know anything?" he shouted.

"How many times do I have to tell pokemon like you?" Ninetales said, his voice pained as he continued to struggle against his opponent's clutch. "I. Don't. Know."

Banette dropped him, Ninetales gasping for air as he rubbed his neck, the two stared at each other in silence for a moment, waiting for Banette to finally say, "If you aren't going to talk willingly..." He punched Ninetales in the chest, knocking him flat against the ground. "...then your questioning has just turned into an interrogation."

Waiting a moment, Ninetales rolled to his feet, weighing his options as Banette advanced on him. The air around him began to chill, he pinned his ears to his head, narrowed his eyes and, with his tails held high, sprinted forwards. Banette charged a Shadow Claw and ran towards him, returning the charge. Ninetales steeled himself as he saw the claw swing for him, he sprang over his assailant's head, took aim and blasted a Powder Snow at the ground, creating a cloud of ice, and ran.

Banette stood confused for a moment. What? Where did he go? he thought to himself. Pivoting on his heel, he saw a set of blue tails turn the corner and ran towards it. I can't let a psycho like him get away.

Ninetales sprinted with everything that he could muster. Shit, this can't be good, I've dealt with plenty of aggressive journalists, but nothing like this. He skirted another corner back into the gray streets. Did I lose him? I don't know, but I guess I'm about to find out. Turning a final corner, he rested his back against a stone wall, panting heavily, his legs screaming for mercy. How do those heroes in the books do this sort of thing?

Banette found himself back in the streets, scanning the area left and right for his target, How far could he have gotten leaning against a pole and setting his eyes towards the ground, he accepted his defeat. As he left to try another day, he spied something across the ground, Is that? He leaned over and saw that they were a set of paw prints that lead straight into the alley, where Ninetales was catching his breath, the two made eye contact, and Ninetales fled. "You're not getting away this time." he exclaimed, ripping off his arm and throwing it, striking his quarry square in the back, sending him tumbling to the floor.

Damnit, I can't keep this up. Ninetales thought, his legs felt like lead, and his body was sore, I need to turn around and fight. He clamored to his feet and swung around to fire an Aurora Beam and, nothing, his pursuer had disappeared. Ninetales dropped his concentration on the move to take a moment to sniff the air. Finding nothing but the left over arm, he shook his head and started to walk.

It was only a moment or two, but a hand gripped one of Ninetales' legs and flipped him into the air. Banette surged out of the ground and slammed into him, sending Ninetales flat against a wall, knocking the wind out of him, Ninetales fell to the ground. He tried to shoot an Aurora Beam, but was cut off by another punch, this time, straight to the top of the head, his attack backfiring and exploding in his face. Ninetales rolled, and this time he didn't get up as he thought, Maybe if he thinks he knocked me out, he'll leave me alone. but he wasn't so lucky as Banette fired another Shadow Ball, the attack slamming into Ninetales.

Ninetales' vision started to blur. I'm going to die here, aren't I? He thought, his entire body feeling sore. Every breath he drew feeling as if he were swallowing needles, his tail finding solace between his legs slamming his eyes shut in fear of what might come next, waiting for the end to come, and… it never did. Raising his head in confusion, he saw his assailant walking away.

He blinked a couple times, and struggled to his feet. "I could kill you right now, you're wide open." said Ninetales, his voice barely above a whisper.

Banette turned his head. "I sincerely doubt you would." he stated flatly.

He flinched at his statement. "How do you know that?" Ninetales asked.

There was a small lull as Banette moved near to Ninetales. "Your body language, I can tell you didn't want to fight, no, you don't want any of this. You may try to frighten me, but your tails don't lie." he said as he pointed to the tails still between Ninetales' legs. "If you were a criminal, you would run the second I cut you off, attacked the second I grabbed you, or even when I had my back turned. You were defensive, you weren't going to attack before I did."

Struggling to stand on his own, Ninetales replied, "because I'm innocent, at least, I think I am."

Banette's eyes went wide. "You, 'think' you're innocent?" he said, "What do you mean by that, you either are or you aren't, there's no in-between. So what are you saying?"

Ninetales raised his voice. "Because I. Don't. Know." he told him. "that's what I've been trying to tell you. The only thing I know is that I woke up next to pools of blood. I don't know anything about what happened." Ninetales started to tear up, his tails and ears drooping. "I… I just want to be left alone."

There was a long pause in their conversation, Banette finally breaking the silence. "you don't remember anything? Nothing at all?"

Ninetales' only response was a shake of his head.

Banette muttered something under his breath, mulling over this new information, "Well." he began, "Someone has to be guilty of something, but if the only known witness is an amnesiac, then how the hell can he be tried? How do we even know he had anything to do with this…" he paced for a few more minutes, "...Well, I guess there really isn't another option."

Turning towards Ninetales, Banette said, "If what you say is true, then I can't detain you, but I can't let you walk free either, so I have an offer: if you help me piece together a picture of this crime, then I'll help you as well, I'll even offer you protection." said Banette, taking a moment to pause. "Though, you don't really have much of a choice, since there will of course be others like me, though I suspect they'll be less, understanding."

"Are you? Threatening me?" Ninetales asked.

"Simply the facts. I promise you this, I'll do everything in my power to keep you a free pokemon," Banette said. "it's the best I can really do."

Ninetales took a moment to think. Do I really have a choice here? I could refuse his offer, but if he's right, that wouldn't go well. I don't have much to lose by accepting, as long as he sticks by his part of the deal, this may be the best opportunity I have. Not only to prove my innocence, but to uncover my past. Though, this sounds too good to be true. Ninetales opened his eyes, and said to him, "What's the catch on this 'protection'?"

Banette cleared his throat. "Well, you would be working for me as part of my Rescue Team, The Modern Crusaders, you will be paid and have all the benefits that come with it, including food and shelter." said Banette.

Ninetales nodded. Rescue Team, he thought. I've heard that term before, they're those pokemon that help others, I may not be much of a fighter, but anything is better than being homeless. He turned his head towards Banette, "Very well, I accept your offer."

Banette smiled, "I was hoping you'd say that, now then, come along with me. I'll introduce you to the other members, they'll be happy to meet you."

I certainly hope so. Ninetales thought as he slowly followed Banette.

A waiter came to the groups table, placing down the tray for their plates, a Rapidash, donning a plated helmet stopped him. "Don't worry about that, we'll handle it." He said as he waived away their waiter, they bowed and left the plates for them to divvy up amongst themselves.

"You know they get paid to do this job right, Frukkshin?" A Dragalge wearing a long gray scarf questioned, her voice flat and unamuse.

Frukkshin nodded. "Well, I like to make things a little easier for them, there's nothing wrong with that." he said, "Besides Irukan, I know you certainly wouldn't be arguing if someone did your job for you."

She sighed. "Do you know how much of an ass you sound like right now?" said Irukan as an Ampharos with hair spiked at the back rose from his seat to set out the plates. "Either way, has anyone seen Fringe?"

"No, not recently, I think he was out trying to catch that Ninetales. He shouldn't be too long though." Ampharos reminded them.

As Ampharos continued to set out the plates, Frukkshin looked at his a little strangely. "Ohm, I think you handed me the wrong plate on accide-"

Irukan cut him off. "-That's revenge for last time," she said in content vengeance. "maybe now you'll think twice before you pull the seat out from under me." the Dragalge leaned back and gave Frukkshin a smug grin.

The Rapidash lifted a hoof off the ground as he shot her a look, "Keep talking, seahorse." he announced, marching slowly towards her.

Irukan shot up from her seat. "You want a piece of this." she said, a hiss punctuated her sentence, motioning towards herself, they began to close the gap between each other. "Please," she said to him, venom dripping from her words. leaning close to Frukkshin's face. "you could at least try to hide that smile."

"You aren't doing much better." Frukkshin replied, a few moments of silence passed before they burst out laughing as they returned to their seats.

Lurantis looked between the two and sighed, "you okay Sylpheed, sweetie?" Irukan asked.

"Just, worried is all." She said, readjusting her red beret, "Worried that one day this will escalate a lot further than it needs to." Sylpheed leaned back in her chair and continued to write in her notebook.

Frukkshin laughed, as he said, "you would know if we were angry with each other… speaking of anger, Sylpheed, how has your education been going?"

"I heard that," Ohm said, his spiked hair twirling a little bit as he made eye contact with Frukkshin. "and it's been going fine."

"The broken table at home would like a word with you." Frukkshin said, taunting the Ampharos from across the table.

Ohm shot up from his seat. "You want to fight? Huh?" he shouted, Frukkshin couldn't help but smile as he dodged one of Ohm's punches, "Come one then, let's bring this outside, shall we!?"

A large Pangoro in a heavy coat got up and separated the two of them, "Ohm, settle down, Frukkshin, stop messing with Ohm."

"But he-"

"Ohm, sit down." Pangoro said, slowly pushing on the shoulder of the Ampharos to get him back in his seat.

Frukkshin chuckled. "Sorry, not sorry, Bancho." He said, going back to his cushion.

"As long as I don't have to separate the two of you again." said Bancho.

A few moments passed in silence. "Oh, quit smiling Frukkshin, you know Ohm has issues." Irukan said, scolding him but even now he refused to stop grinning. "I'm not joking this time." she lightly punched him with one of her fins.

"And, done." Sylpheed handed Ohm her notebook.

Ohm opened it and smiled. "Let's see how you did…" Ohm said, as his voice trailed off. "…huh?" he questioned, his face going blank.

Irukan with great trepidation asked, "Um, Ohm? Are you o-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Ohm, his hair sparking with anger, grabbed Sylpheed and slammed her head against the table. "What sort of idiot do you take me for!" he shouted. Bancho shot up and grabbed Ohm, and Frukkshin put his body in between the raging Ampharos and the dazed Lurantis, "How the hell do you get every question wrong on a true or false questionnaire!? A blind man randomly guessing should get at least half, how bad do you have to be at learning this!?" at his words, Frukkshin faintly smirked at Sylpheed.

Bancho struggled to hold Ohm, as he tried to rip himself free. "Damnit, Irukan a little help here would be-" he was cut off by Ohm's squirming. "-appreciated."

Irukan dashed over, and was about to use her venom to sedate Ohm, when. "What the hell is happening here!" Fringe demanded. The whole group paused. "You're – whatever this is – is disturbing the other guests at this establishment."

The entire group stopped what they were doing. Bancho dropped Ohm, and Irukan in turn backed away from him. Sylpheed dusted herself off, not seeming too badly injured. Frukkshin cleared his throat and gave the Dragalge a somewhat apologetic look.

Ohm paused a moment, and rubbing his temple, he relented. "Sorry. Fringe, and, um, you too, Sylpheed." with his head low, he went back to his seat. The rest of the group soon following.

A few moments passed between them as they got settled back in. Fringe eyed each of them with some uncertainty before clearing his throat. He motioned Ninetales over, who hesitated for a moment before making himself known. Ohm began to stand but was halted by Bancho, who pushed him back down once again. "As you all may or may not have heard, there has been a crime that is tied to the Ninetales I have in front of you all today." he motioned towards him with a hand. "However, there has been some… complications: he's an amnesiac-"

Ninetales interjected, "Well, that's not entirely true…" his voice was shaky and uncertain, his tails falling low to the ground.

Fringe took a moment and nodded. "Would you like to explain yourself?" he said, sternly, but understanding.

He froze in his place, Ninetales wanted nothing more than to back down now but he'd already committed. "It's… complicated and I'm not sure if I understand it myself, but…" Ninetales' jaw went rigid, his voice trailing off as he tried desperately to gather his thoughts together, If I say this, I'll sound insane. Why did I have to open my big maw? The group was looking at him expectantly, he was shivering down to his core in fear, Fringe was about to continue when. "My memory is a mess, okay? Events start and end with no 'why's' or 'how's,' my fifth birthday feels as if it were but a week ago, but my twentieth feels like it was forever ago, I remember nothing about my seventeenth, and I just don't understand why." Cold tears stained his face, his ears drooped and he crumpled to the floor, repeating the words. "I don't get it." as if it were some prayer that would lend him an answer.

The other six stared at him speechless, all of them trying to process what had happened in front of them. Sylpheed was the first to speak up. "I believe him."

"Did Soma tell you that?" Irukan replied, then turning back to the others, she said, "I doubt his story is true, but if there's any chance he isn't lying to our faces, then I have to take it."

Bancho nodded in agreement. "Something about this seems off. But I agree, we can't just turn him away."

"Exactly," said Frukkshin as he turned towards Ninetales. "Your story is a little weird, and maybe I don't really understand it, but you're clearly a pokemon in need, I'll help you."

Ohm looked towards all the others, crossed his fins and laid back in his seat. "I suppose all of you are right," he said. "I don't know if he's telling the truth or not, but I don't think I could live with myself if he is and I refused him."

Fringe smiled confidently. "I see we're all in agreement about him then, very well." he said as he motioned towards all of them and gave a thumbs up. "This is the job: we work with him to find out his connection to the crime, and in return for his help we will treat him as one of our own."

Ninetales looked up, tears still running down his face. "Thank you." he said, sniffling a little bit. "I can't say that enough."

Fringe sat down at the table and motioned for Ninetales to follow, who looked at him with hesitance. Fringe chuckled and told him, "Heh, I get it, don't worry, meals on me tonight. Now come on." Ninetales got up, and with one more nervous glance at Fringe, he sat down. "I'll order for you, unless you've been here before, that is."

Ninetales shook his head. "I've never really been out before." he said, staring distantly at the menu.

"I'll handle it then…" Fringe turned towards the waiter and began to order.

Sylpheed looked strangely at Ninetales. "Do you remember anything, anything at all?"

Ninetales snapped his attention towards her. "I think I just explained that."

She shook her head. "No, not the big picture, but little things, like your age, name, some vague feeling that you shouldn't be a pokemon – stuff like that."

He reached a paw up to rub his chin, his tails flicking from side-to-side, staring at the ceiling for some time. "Name?" he said the word as if it were some foreign concept to him, a sound without meaning to it.

"Yeah… the thing you refer to yourself by – a name." Sylpheed rubbed her face with one of her claws, "You do know what a name is, right?"

Ninetales shook his head. "I think I know what you're talking about, but I'm not entirely sure what it is."

"Well, I think I'll just stick to Ninetales for the time being, I don't really know you too well." Sylpheed giggled a little, and then shook her head and leaned forwards. "I should probably tell you before you make a fool of yourself, usually unless you know someone well, you use their species name, my name is Sylpheed, but since we're not close, you would call me Lurantis. Get it?" she was whispering it as if it were some secret.

Ninetales took a moment to process her statement and responded, "So I wouldn't say Sylpheed until I get to know you better, so until then I say Lurantis?" Sylpheed nodded to confirm.

Fringe turned to Ninetales to hand him his food. "Well, I guess you just have to name yourself." he chuckled a bit as Ninetales thanked him.

Ninetales ate his food slowly, putting more effort into thinking as he ignored the conversations going on around him, Name myself? I suppose I could, but what would be a good name for myself? he glanced around the room looking for some sort of answer, glancing at the calendar on the wall. Arctic? No, too traditional… turning his attention to the outside. Breeze? No, I'm not a flying type… his attention still focused out the window. Frost? Once again, a little too normal. It has to sound interesting, but not weird, one that rolls off the tongue. As he looked down, he noticed the name of the dish that Fringe had brought him "Le Flocon de Sel: La Spéciale de Septmaine" Flocon, that means flake, right, like Flocon de Neige? And my earliest memories are of this… Septmaine. Well then, Flocon Septembre, it's fitting and has a nice ring to it. And with that thought Flocon let out a little grunt of satisfaction and a smile.

Flocon reached up and began to rub his jaw, oblivious to Sylpheed's staring, it wasn't until she was a few inches away that he recoiled back. Irukan pulled the Lurantis back back. "Try not to scare him off." she told her.

Sylpheed gave the Dragalge a shrug before proceeding to look over at Flocon, she told him, "You know; you have nice eyes"

Ohm stopped eating and said, "Sylpheed that's a bit of a strange thing to say to someone you've just met." As he said this, Flocon went back to tending to his jaw.

"Well, he does, just look at him," Sylpheed said, motioning towards Ninetales. "I've never seen eyes like that. They're blue with these orange stripes an-"

Fringe sighed. "Ohm's right, try not to scare him off, you all know it's hard enough to find pokemon willing to work in this field." The others shared a few glances, and nodded. "Good, now let's stop asking him weird questions."

Flocon smiled internally. Well, nice to know some of them are looking out for me. He thought as he looked over all of them. The Modern Crusaders, was it? I guess, this isn't so bad after all. Flocon's tails gave a few brief wags. "I look forward to working with all of you." he said, resolution in his voice.

Fringe smiled and replied, "We'll have this case solved in no time."

The table gave a small cheer, a new member had been added to their family and a new mystery on their hands.

First official chapter out. here's to another 48.

Now all I have to do is keep to my update schedule.

Newest update: I'm alive I think? uhh, so, that hiatus lasted longer than I thought it would because editing three chapters turned into editing almost every chapter so yeah... I'll probably just update all of these once a day then continue as normal... hopefully? I'm not too sure if I'm totally there yet but I'll certainly try.