VGS2's sausage notes: Yo! Welcome to my collection of fun short stories related to me other fic, Questing For Respect! :P (My fan remake, not the original fic™ by ravengal.)
To cut to the chase, this side fic will have a bunch of Questing For Respect chapters that I don't want to shove into the main fic, either because they're not story-related at all, or because they feature characters that aren't the main ones. All these chapters will be canon, though, so it's worth keeping up with if you like the main story!
Naturally, before reading any of this, you'll want to read a bit of Questing For Respect, first. My fan-remake of ravengal's classic story of the same name. Though if you really don't care, I'll be sure to mention the context of each scene, if it's needed. I'm hoping you'll read both fics, but I'm not your boss, so whatever works, mates. XP
Don't worry about spoilers for the main fic, either. I'll be sure to tell you what time each of these Comrade chapters take place, so you don't stumble upon something you shouldn't have.
Alright, enough faffing about from me. Enjoy yourselves, lads and lasses! :D
Story One: The New Day
(Best to read this either before or after QFR's chapter one (The New Life). Your choice!)
Eyeing up her opponent, the aggravating zubat, Irene ran towards him. The stubbiness of her four limbs against the sand made doing so difficult, but she persevered.
"Heh-heh-heh! Try it, lil' baby!" the pudgy bat taunted, sticking his tongue out at her. He was holding a special rock between... what passed for his feet. The special rock he'd stolen.
She growled at him as she ran, channeling one of her moves. The zubat faltered, giving her an opening. She jumped into the air and sailed forwards with Tackle, slamming into him.
The bat was knocked screaming into a large body of seawater, which was pouring into the cave through an opening in the ceiling. The rock landed safely on sand.
Landing on the sand herself, the human-turned-phanpy allowed herself a small smirk. Finally, she'd been able to use that move correctly. She'd struggled for a while, especially with her new quadrupedal form... but, thanks to her short journey through Beach Cave to get here, she was quickly getting used to her new body and its quirks.
She looked to the side at the pokémon she was helping. The oddly timid munchlax was catching his breath a fair distance away. He looked sickly, so Irene assumed poison. That arrogant koffing's work, no doubt.
She looked towards the gas ball in question. She yelped and jumped backwards, barely dodging a pile of sludge he'd launched at her.
"Don't think you can get away that easily!" her attacker said cockily. The koffing flew towards her, swerving back and forth evasively. She struggled to track his movements to dodge properly.
He suddenly shot forwards with Tackle. He rammed into her, sending her rolling across the sand.
On her back, she groaned and scowled at the pokémon floating above her. He was letting out a throaty laugh while bearing down on her.
She felt a stab of fear from being under this creature's proverbial thumb. She didn't know why, but...
"Looks like you won't be getting that special treasure back after all, eh?" he gloated.
Wrinkling her long nose at his horrible stench, she glared at him. He seemed unfazed by her, sadly.
"N-No, get away!" the munchlax yelled. He jumped in from the side of her vision and slammed his pink, glowing head into the koffing. The pokémon was knocked to the floor with a pained yell.
Getting to her feet, Irene gave the munchlax a look of appreciation. Noticing her, the bear jumped in surprise. Calming, he smiled sheepishly. "S-Sorry... I thought you were glaring, again," he explained, rubbing the back of his head.
"Um... oh, sorry," Irene replied. For some reason, that had kept happening today. Making the munchlax nervous just by looking at him. Was she unconsciously frowning all the time, or something?
The koffing suddenly rolled backwards and took off floating back into the air. "Whoa-ho, what's this?" he asked mockingly. "Looks like the chicken's joined the fray!"
"N-No I'm not!" the munchlax retorted. He was visibly shaking, but he still frowned at the pokémon.
"You're not joining the fray?" the koffing asked with amusement.
The munchlax blinked. "... Er, that's..." He shook his head and frowned again. "Th-That's not what I meant at all! I meant I'm no chic-!"
The zubat dropped down from the ceiling and slammed the special rock onto the bear's head. Amazingly, it didn't crumble, though the munchlax was knocked onto his front.
Irene stared in surprise. Since when had that bat snuck out of the water and grabbed that rock!?
He cackled. "What's up? I thought you wanted your treasure back, chump!" he taunted, sending water droplets flying with each flap of his wings.
"Guess not!" the koffing joked.
Irene gritted her teeth in annoyance. She prepared a Tackle, but changed her mind when she saw the rocky ceiling. It reminded her of a move she'd used while exploring the cave with the munchlax.
Huffing to herself, she concentrated on the ceiling. When she could feel it in her mind, a piece of it broke off while glowing. She gave a sharp nod of the head, bringing the rock down at full force.
"What the heck are you up to?" the zubat asked, tilting his head at her in confusion.
The koffing laughed. "Bowing to us, are ya? Good thinki-"
The rock slammed into the zubat. It carried him downwards, smashing him into the ground. He groaned from within the wreckage.
"Whoa!" the koffing yelled, frantically looking at the ceiling. "Wh-Who's throwing rocks!?" He took a deep breath and unleashed a heavy purple cloud of poisonous mist from his upper pores. It drifted upwards to little effect.
Irene glanced at the munchlax. He was reaching his paw into the sand, for some reason.
Before she could decide what he was doing, he pulled something small out of the sand, decorated like a red flame. He rolled onto his back and shoved it into his mouth. Red, explosive energy blasted out, engulfing the koffing.
"Whoaaaghhh!" the koffing screamed. The energy faded and he woozily drifted to the floor, right next to the zubat. "Ow, owww..."
Irene grinned to herself. Good, it looked like they were finished.
The munchlax let out a heavy breath. He sounded fatigued, yet very relieved at the same time.
"Ugh... we got roughed up..." the zubat moaned.
"B-Blast it... how'd we get wiped out by wimps like them?" the koffing groaned irritably.
Irene scowled at them. "Call us what you want, but we'll be taking the rock," she demanded.
"Yeah, it means everything to me!" the munchlax added. "So g-give it back, alright?"
The zubat clicked his tongue. "Bah! Here you go. Take it, then!" he spat, hoisting the rock in question up with a wing and throwing it at them.
The munchlax gasped in delight. "Oh! M-My relic fragment!" He stumbled towards it as it landed in the sand. He picked it up and held it against his chest, like it was his baby. "Th-Thank the legends...!"
The koffing lazily floated back into the air, despite his injuries. "Whoa-ho! Don't think you're so awesome. Your victory was a fluke!" he taunted.
The zubat joined him in the air. "Yeah, you just remember that!" he added. He stuck his tongue out at them and then fluttered out of the hole in the ceiling leading to the orange skies outside. The koffing followed him.
Irene glared after them. When she was sure they were gone, she gave herself a firm, satisfied nod and looked back at the munchlax. He was busy fawning over his 'relic fragment', as he was apparently calling it.
"I can't believe we managed it..." he said. He sniffled, though the tears that followed were accompanied by a smile. "Am I ever glad... I actually did manage to get it back."
The sight made Irene smile. Honestly, she felt rather silly, now. Earlier, when she'd woken up on that beach, she'd been afraid. Not because of her lack of any memories to speak of, but... because of the pokémon that was so close to her, intentions unknown at the time.
Looking at that same pokémon now, though... crying tears of joy over a rock of all things... she was glad she'd come along to help him. How could she stay afraid of someone showing so much unbridled joy right now?
He turned his tear-filled gaze in her direction. "It's only because you agreed to help me, Phanpy! Er... Irene!" He beamed at her. "B-But yeah! Thank you, Irene!"
"... You're welcome," she replied, smiling back.
He let out a happy chuckle. He paused and held a paw to his mouth. "Ulp...! Um... y'know, I think I'm poisoned."
She let out a huff. "Thought you might be. Let's rest up until it passes."
"Okay..." He brightened up again. "You know... now's a good time to show you this thing they stole! I know I can trust you with it way more than those guys."
She smirked in amusement and gave an eager nod. "Sure. Go ahead."
Irene and Munchlax walked alongside each other through a segment of Beach Cave. Unlike when they'd entered the place earlier, things were peaceful, with less hostile pokémon wandering around. However, she was still displeased about the moist, salty air of the cave. It felt very strange against her rough, oddly-textured skin. She would have to suck it up and deal with it, however.
She thought back to the conversation she and the bear had shared before setting off. They'd talked about his 'precious treasure' for a while. A fragment of rock with a very intricate design on the smooth top. Irene didn't think much of it, but Munchlax was dedicating his life to finding out what its origin was. So regardless of its worth, or what it really was... it was truly valuable to Munchlax, so she thought of it as valuable, too.
While walking along, she sensed something trapped within the sand underfoot. Curious, she reached for it with her trunk, ready to dig through the sand and see what was inside.
Her trunk bumped against Munchlax's paw. Looking at him, she realized that he'd reached for the exact same spot.
He withdrew his paw in surprise. "Oh! Um… sorry," he said, standing up straight.
"Er… me too," Irene replied. "My bad. I was reaching for something…"
Munchlax raised an eyebrow. "Huh? But…" He looked at the portion of ground where the hidden object was. He gasped, as if realizing something. "Wait. No way, do you have Pickup, too?"
"… What's Pickup?" Irene asked.
The smile that had been forming on his lips went away. "What's…? Uh… you don't know your own ability?"
Embarrassed, she bit on her lower lip. "I… don't know much about the phanpy species."
He stared at her. "… Wow. Okay, then…" He fidgeted awkwardly. "… Y'know, umm… did… did you really mean it, before? When you said you're a human? You're not just… pulling my leg, or something?"
She let out a drawn out huff. A part of her regretted saying that out loud, earlier. She wasn't sure how kindly pokémon treated humans in these parts, after all.
Nothing for it, though. "Yeah. I… don't know what turned me into a pokémon, but I wasn't born one," she replied.
Munchlax continued to stare. "Oh… that's so crazy," he replied. He put his paws on his hips. "But… you know, you just aren't the lying type." He nodded at her with a faint smile. "I… think I believe you."
She returned the nod. "Okay, then. Thanks." She frowned in concern. "Don't… tell anyone, though. It would cause a commotion."
"Sure! The ol' lips are sealed!" he replied, putting both paws over his mouth.
She chuckled lightly. "Thanks again." She pointed her trunk towards the other end of the tunnel they were in. "Okay, let's get outside and find a pokémon center to rest up in."
He gave a thumbs up. "Sounds good!" His paw slowly dropped to his side as a look of confusion came over him. "Wait… a… pokémon center? Is… that a human-y thing?"
She blinked. Wait… what was a pokémon center? Even she didn't know. "It's… um… Sorry, I don't remember."
"… Huh. 'Kay." He paused before laughing. "Man… and I thought amnesiacs only existed in storybooks!"
She curled her lip. "… Don't make fun of me," she huffed.
"Haha, s-sorry!" he replied, apparently amused by her annoyance.
"Hmph," she retorted, finding it hard to be truly annoyed with him.
His laughter eventually died down, but his smile remained. "You know, Irene, you're not scary at all. You're real cool and fun to be around!"
"Um… thanks." Not scary…? She didn't know why he'd been so oddly specific. More evidence that she frowned too much, maybe?
Well, either way, a compliment was a compliment. "You're cool, too," she added.
"Aww, thanks! Hearing that makes me all warm inside." He gasped and clicked his fingers. "You know what? We should form an exploration team together, Irene!"
"An… exploration team?"
"Y-Yeah! It'll be fun! And I can finally stop being such a nervous mess!" He stopped his eager speech to anxiously rub his arm. "Er, i-if you're up for it, anyway…"
She paused. She looked down at the ground. Whatever this exploration thing was, he was certainly excited enough about it.
She wasn't sure how to respond, though. In the beginning, before she'd even fully made a decision, she'd practically been dragged along by the bear to help him rescue his relic fragment. If given enough time to decide, she wasn't entirely sure if she would have helped out a random pokémon she'd only just met. Just in case.
In comparison, this 'exploration team' business seemed to be a lot more… important of a choice, whatever it was. Would she do it?
She let out a long huff and looked back at Munchlax. She remembered how happy he'd been to get his fragment back… and how excited he'd seemed just now, while talking about the prospect of her joining him on a team. There was no doubt in her mind that he was trustworthy, so…
"… Would you like to tell me all about it, as we leave for the entrance?" she asked. She smiled. "Consider me interested."
When his eyes lit up, she knew she'd said the right thing. "O-Oh, definitely! I'll tell you everything there is to know, and more!" he chimed, eagerness dripping from his every word.
"That's good."
The two started down the tunnel. Before making much distance, however, Irene turned back towards the buried item. Oh, right. She'd nearly forgotten. She reached for the sandy ground once more.
Her trunk bumped into Munchlax's extended paw, just like last time. They blinked at each other. Seconds later, he burst into giggles. She couldn't stop herself from chuckling, either.
Yeah… this was going to end well. She had a good hunch.
Their laughter began to grow distant, and the orange, mossy walls faded to white. Still, she had a… good… hunch…
Lying on her back, Irene's tired eyes slowly fluttered open. She looked around at the surrounding area as her brain tried to wake up and get a grasp on things.
She was in a room filled with bookshelves, board games, a nearby desk, and other various bits of clutter. The place was messy. Disorganized. … Familiar.
Her gray skin felt rougher than it had, moments ago. Especially with the thick armor-like plating running up her nose, all the way down to her back. She could also feel hard, ivory tusks protruding from her face.
She was lying on something soft, and had something equally as soft wrapped around her. A large, round mattress on the floor filled with feathers, and a blanket to match. She was sharing it with someone. A big green bear, slightly larger than herself, though slightly thinner at the same time. No doubt because of the countless dieting and exercising unbefitting of his species.
Irene yawned. Oh... she'd been dreaming.
She should've figured, considering she wasn't a phanpy anymore... but a donphan.
"Oh, morning, Irene!" Snorlax chimed from her side.
"Good morning..." Irene grumbled, looking at him. He was sitting against the wall with the blanket covering his legs.
"How're you feeling, there?" he asked.
"Hmm... groggy." She rubbed her eyes with a hoof. "Did I sleep in, again?"
"Just a bit. You looked so relaxed, though, so I let you be."
"Ah. Sorry. My dream was nice."
"Don't worry about it. It gave me time to read another chapter!" he replied, holding up a book titled 'Time & Darkness - By Hero Recorder Butterfree'.
Irene looked it over. She huffed in amusement when she saw the same design as the relic fragment on the front, surrounded by time gears. "You have such an ego. Binge reading that novelization of our adventures."
He chuckled sheepishly. "Hey... I like reminding myself of those days." He snickered. "It's really fun finding out what they changed for the novel, too. Apparently, you're not a human, you died fighting Dialga, until he brought you back to life… and…" He held a paw to his mouth to stop a laugh from escaping, "and… Grovyle was your ex-husband."
She huffed in amusement again. "Very ridiculous. I suppose I keep being a human to myself, but… everything else couldn't be more fictional if it tried. That butterfree from Unity Square has an active imagination."
"Haha, you're telling me!" He slipped a bookmark into the book and set it to the side. He gave her a curious look. "Anyway, dream up anything good? I'd hope so, if it kept you a whole thirty minutes longer in bed."
"Um, sorry. Hmm…" She looked off to the side in thought. She considered her wording for a short while before looking back at him. "Actually, it's funny we're bringing up the past. I dreamt about our first meeting."
He smiled. "Oh, cool!" His smile turned into a cheeky grin. "Was it a little more accurate than Time & Darkness was?"
She chuckled and nodded. "I'd say so. It was a… flawless reenactment, actually. I can hardly believe it."
"Huh, wow! That's real impressive."
She nodded again. "It even reminded me of how we almost called ourselves 'Team Pickup'. Until we named it after our 'destiny' of finding out where the relic fragment was supposed to go, anyway."
"Haha, oh yeah! Well… 'Team Destiny' sounds a lot more grand and heroic. Ah, and then you went and got that dimensional scream of yours, too, which made it more perfect than ever!"
She huffed with a small grin. "Yeah. Glad we changed it." Her grin dipped after a few seconds. "… I sort of miss having Pickup, though."
He let out a small sigh. "Yeah… Glad I had it when I did, though. That's how I found the fragment in the first place!"
"… Huh. Forgot about that."
He tapped a claw against his chin while smiling. "Oh, it's so nostalgic looking back on that, now…" He let out another small sigh, though one of exasperation this time. "Really, though… trust your memories to tell us stuff we already know, and not a thing about your past that we don't know."
"Sad, but true. Still as mysterious as ever, even with the dimensional scream."
He nodded with a murmur of agreement. He shrugged. "Oh well… I remember you said something about a… center for pokémon? And you remembered your name well enough, too. So your past's not locked up too tight in that heard of yours. It's somewhere, waiting to show up!"
"Yeah. It's odd that Grovyle said there's 'no such thing as a pokémon center in the future', though. Was I just speaking gibberish?"
"Nahh, I doubt it. He was really cool-headed, and he was almost as quick at making snarky comments as Marowisp was… but I wouldn't say he was the best thinker of them all. Remember how he didn't talk anything out with us at all, and just stole the gears without a care in the world?"
"Heh. Just because he was a bit thick doesn't mean he wasn't knowledgeable, you know. If pokémon centers existed, he would've known."
"Well… eheh, you got me there, I guess."
She shrugged lightly. "It's like you said, either way. One day, I'll learn more about-"
The door suddenly creaked wide open. Irene couldn't see who it was, because her work desk was in the way, but she recognized the voice that called out, after. "Hey, what's taking you two so long!?" Punishment Whimsicott called out, sounding annoyed. "If you don't kick off the assembly so I can eat, soon, I'm gonna go coco! And I'll hold you responsible…!"
"Urk! Um, s-sorry!" Snorlax called back, hopping to his feet.
"Oh, you'd better be! I'll be late by, like, an hour for meeting Nursery Florges!"
"She won't mind, I'm sure…" Irene replied, pushing her blanket off and standing up. Thanks to standing, she could see the cotton fairy glaring in her and Snorlax's direction, hands on hips. She was holding the door open with a foot while lingering just outside.
"She might do, though! She'll get sad, and then… then-!"
Before Whimsicott could finish, Trap Spinarak came down from the ceiling outside, dangling upside down from a thread of web. He and the face pattern on his body grinned. "Being real disrespectful to our fair guildmaster, ain't'cha?" he asked cheekily, making her yelp in surprise and stare upwards at him. "I hear that's worth a lynching in ol' Wiggly's guild."
She huffed. "Well… we're not at the Wigglytuff Guild, are we?" she retorted. She grumpily crossed her arms. "Anyways, you're one to talk about 'disrespecting people'! So butt out and lemmie rant in peace, Spinarak! I'm hungry, and I've got someone waiting for me!"
He shrugged. "If you're in such a hurry, just eat from your bag. That's what I always do." He huffed in amusement and winked, both with his eye and the eye pattern on his body. "Heck… sometimes I'm generous, and I eat from my own bag, instead."
Her frown left her face as she let out a light sigh. "Wellll… I guess that's an option. Thanks, Spina-" She blinked. She gasped. "Wait, what!? Are you implying you eat out of my-?" She scowled. "Oh, you'd better be joking, or that's a Moonblast, right there!"
He chuckled. "Out of your… what? I'm completely oblivious."
Snorlax snorted at the joke, but Whimsicott seemed less than amused. "Ohh… that's it! C'mere, you!" she shouted. She floated upwards towards Spinarak, arms outstretched. "In the name of justice, you're about to be punished!"
His eyes widened, and the 'mouth' on his body opened in shock. "… Uh oh." He quickly receded up his web string, out of view. "You know what? I agree with her. Get upstairs and feed her, before she turns me into spider paste!" he shouted worriedly.
Not being held open by Whimsicott anymore, the door closed on its own. The door was rather soundproof, but Irene could swear she felt a harsh rumble travel through the room from outside.
She and Snorlax stared at the door.
"… Didn't even say hello," Snorlax mumbled, pouting despondently.
Irene huffed in amusement. "Hm. Either way, this is why you need to remember to lock the door," she chided, earning embarrassed laughter from him. "Still, I suppose that's our cue to get going. I'd like to imagine a poison-type like him would survive some Moonblasts, but… it is Whimsicott."
"Yeah… right you are." He smiled at her and held a paw out. "Well, let's do our best again, as always!"
She wrapped her trunk around it for a tight, friendly squeeze. "Let's."
They let go and began towards the door.
Irene sighed to herself in content as she sorted through the books in her room's bookshelf. It was difficult finding any of them, because it was rare that she could find it in herself to sort them… but honestly, a part of her appreciated the mess. Because of it, she often found books she'd previously forgotten about, and, in some cases, books she hadn't even known about. It was fun.
Noticing one titled 'Mythical Creatures: Real or Fake?', she pulled it out with her trunk and placed it on the floor. The cover's fancily drawn portrait depicted a crowd of various animals, such as rabbits, dogs, centaurs and... humans. Naked in the latter case, but with no visible parts, thankfully.
She sighed to herself. Mythical... Sometimes, she wondered why her true species was often depicted that way. It was a debatable topic, though. She'd heard some pokémon call humans completely fictional... some called them a relic from the distant past... some called them mythical beings from another dimension... She'd even heard tales of humans being compared to legendaries. Rare and in solitude.
She truly didn't know, though. There had been none in the future, so she could only hazard a guess at what a human truly was.
A large sigh escaped her. She was jostled out of her thoughts by a knock on the door. As she turned her gaze towards it, she saw Snorlax holding it open. "Visitor for you!" he called to her.
"Oh, okay," she replied, picking the book back up with her trunk. "Let them in, please."
"Okay!"
She went to shove the book back onto the shelf. As she did, she heard the voice of the visitor, who was thanking Snorlax. It was very feminine and demure, but had a slightly squeaky quality to it.
She didn't recognize its owner. How curious. A new recruit, perhaps? With the book back in place somewhere on the shelf, she turned to see for herself.
As she'd expected, she didn't recognize the buneary that was slowly making her way through the room. She looked very unique, too. The fluff around her waist had been trimmed, making it very short for a buneary. Save for around the top of her waist, which was still thick and puffed out. She also had a brown bag slung over her shoulder. Irene couldn't tell whether it was an treasure bag or not, though.
The rabbit - presumably named the same as her species, like most pokémon were - was currently staring at Irene, in what seemed to be an awestruck way. Almost as if she were witnessing a celebrity, or something. Irene held back an amused chuckle at the sight. Was she a fan?
Buneary took a deep breath, as if to steel herself. "H-Hello!" she stammered, cringing immediately afterwards. She was clearly an awkward girl.
"Hello," Irene greeted back, moving over to her desk in the middle of the room. She sat on a beanbag chair, which crinkled as she sat on it. "How may I help you, little one?" she asked the approaching buneary, making sure to use friendly wording.
"I... I'm... here to..." Buneary started, faltering heavily under Irene's gaze.
"... Yes?" Irene asked. Hmm, was she nervous?
"… W-Well… you see, I-I'm…" The rabbit stalled to a stop and didn't continue.
Irene let out a quiet breath through her trunk. Oh dear, she was going to be a nervous little soul, just like Run Away Salandit, wasn't she? "… I suppose you're here to form an exploration team and join our guild. Correct?" the human asked to give her a hand.
Buneary stared at her for a short while before simply nodding rapidly.
A smile found its way onto Irene's lips. "I see." The girl was rather charming, actually. Salandit had begged for her life by this point, and Cheerleader Corsola had hidden behind Whimsicott not long after they'd entered the room. Buneary seemed to just be a little unsure of herself, though. Maybe a little bit of the quiet type, too.
Hoping to make her more comfortable with some levity, Irene continued. "You're a shy one, aren't you?"
"She's shyer than I used to be, and that's quite the accomplishment, huh?" Snorlax said from the doorway he was still standing in, making Buneary jump.
The comment amused Irene, but she tried to avoid showing it. "... Correct, but manners, Snorlax."
He chuckled awkwardly. "Sorry."
She looked at Buneary, hoping she hadn't taken it to heart. Her lips were pulled together in a displeased pout. A promising sign to Irene that she would live.
The human continued on, asking her if she had a teammate she could join with, and explaining why travelling alone to missions was a bad idea. Sadly, Buneary didn't have her own partner, but she was a pleasant sort. It wouldn't take long for her to make a friend to pair up with.
While talking with her, Irene began to get the impression that she was quite young, due to her timidity and her apparent naivety. However... that might not have been the case. After all, the mound on her chest - concealed and covered by fur - said otherwise. Pokémon didn't develop breasts until they hit maturity at about four years of age. The age they became an adult.
... Irene still wasn't comfortable about that, admittedly. Humans didn't become teenagers until they were thirteen... and then they had to be eighteen before they were allowed to call themselves adults. Yet pokémon could legally drink alcoholic drinks, buy a house, marry and breed as early as four years old. It was... worrying, but that was the way things were. They did mentally age far faster than humans, after all, even though they lived for a similar amount of time.
Irene strained her eyes closed in confusion briefly. How did she know all of that information about her true species? Sometimes, she really did wonder if she was making things up. Who was to say?
Putting all that out of her mind, she continued her discussion with Buneary. They arranged for her to travel through Drenched Bluff with Snorlax in tow. Mostly as an excuse for Irene to work out which team would be the best to pair the rabbit off with. At least, until she could form her own team.
As Buneary began to leave the room, Irene grabbed her guild roster from the desk. A book containing notes on everyone inside the guild.
She planned to bring it with her, as she left for the front entrance to take on sentry duty. Before she could leave, though, she saw Buneary casting the bag on her own shoulder worried glances. "Umm..." she murmured.
"Anything the matter, little one?" Irene asked her.
"O-Oh, er, no, it's okay!" Buneary reassured, looking at her.
Irene somehow knew that would be her response. Taking the initiative, the human said, "Hmm… it's about your bag, isn't it?"
Buneary gave her a look of surprise. "Wow, how did you know?"
Irene huffed in satisfaction. She knew it. "You glanced down at it a lot just now. Is it not for exploring?"
"Well… it is, sort of… but it has all of my stuff from home, right now."
"Hm. Understandable." After all, taking personal belongings into a dungeon was a sure way to either lose them, or have them damaged.
"Guess that saves us ordering another treasure bag, huh?" Snorlax said.
"That it does," Irene responded, amused. She indicated towards the corner of the room with a nod. "Leave it there for now."
"Oh… will it be safe, there?" Buneary asked. She nervously rubbed her arm. "I, er… don't want anyone going through it."
"Don't worry about it. Anybody who looks through it will receive toilet cleaning duties for a week, mark my words."
That seemed to reassure the rabbit, who had begun to smile lightly. "Well… okay," she replied, putting the bag down in the corner as instructed.
"Now come along, Miss!" Snorlax said, indicating to outside of the room. "Adventure awaits!"
She beamed at him. "Um, a-aye, aye!"
The two of them left the room, allowing the door to close behind them.
Irene smiled. Buneary was such an odd character. Shy one second, jolly the next, and all around innocent and pleasant. It really was like Irene was talking to Munchlax all over again. Not that he didn't still have his shy moments every now and again as a snorlax, but all the same.
She reached for the bag, ready to carry it with her upstairs, where she could keep an eye on it. She paused as her trunk touched the fabric, however. Hmm... she wouldn't lie to herself... she was very curious as to what kinds of things Buneary would have brought to the guild with her. Probably nothing interesting, but curiosity had always been Irene's weak point.
... No. She refused to look through the bag. She couldn't stoop that low. Though...
She allowed herself the lightest of grins. It... wouldn't hurt to invoke a dimensional scream, she supposed. She'd gotten rather good at using it over the years. As long as she could touch something, she would get some sort of vision. Not always an interesting or useful one, but all the same.
Okay. One use of the scream wouldn't hurt. Putting down the roster, she placed her trunk on the bag and concentrated her mental energies on it.
After a short while, a flash went by her mind, like a tear in time and space.
The familiar sensation of an outer-body experience overcame Irene, as a vision started to play out in front of her. Like she was looking into a window.
She could see the inside of a room, with a large mattress on the floor. She could tell it was one that belonged to her guild, due to the crystals lining the wall.
She saw Buneary lying on the mattress on her side, facing away from Irene's vision. The light rustling of paper implied that she was reading something. Unfortunately, Irene wasn't able to see what it was. The rabbit's body was obscuring the thing she was reading from view, and Irene wasn't able to 'move' from where she was currently viewing the vision.
If Buneary was settling into the guild by the time this event was taking place, it was clearly a vision from the future. It was uncertain how far into the future it was, but most likely not all that far into it.
Knowing that she would be impossible to detect, because she wasn't actually physically there, Irene shifted her attention away to the rest of the room.
She saw that the rabbit's belongings were either neatly placed around the floor on one side of the room, or were at the foot of the mattress. Her belongings included a large number of books in a tidy pile, a jar of chocolate chip cookies, a large, black scrap of cloth with orange spots dotted around it, a small money purse, and a picture frame.
Interested in what the picture frame contained, Irene investigated it from where she was. It was a small, well-drawn picture of a group of pokémon, made with colored pencils from the looks of things. The pokémon on it included Buneary - easily identifiable because of the short fluff - a chimchar, a slowking, a shuckle, two snuggling gastrodons and a lot of other pokémon, residing in what seemed to be a village under an orange hue. They were happily posing for the drawing, though Buneary seemed rather awkward. Fitting for her.
Irene mentally smiled to herself, unable to physically do so during the vision. How sweet. She could feel the charm oozing from every item this girl owned. It really was hard to imagine that she was an adult.
Irene stalled when she heard Buneary breathing heavily. Worried, the human looked at her. Was she in pain?
The rabbit was still lying on her side, facing away from Irene's gaze. But... um...
Irene's eyes mentally widened. Wait... were her... buttocks on display? Yeah... her short fluff was bundled up and pushed to the side, revealing her nudity.
... Oh. Um... clearly, she must have been readjusting her... covers. All pokémon concealed their more private areas with fur, scales, feathers, or even very specialized muscles, in the case of more humanistic pokémon.
Being the magical creatures they were, it worked about as well as regular clothing did for humans. Rather thankfully, too, because Irene would have never been able to live with herself if she'd had to wander this world naked. Not to mention, she would've had the misfortune of having to stare at pokémon genitalia every day of her life, for the whole time she'd lived in this world. Awkward wouldn't have begun to cover it.
All that said, just like regular clothing, it could get rather uncomfortable if coverings were left alone for too long. So with that in mind, Buneary was surely just trying to get comfortable for the evening. Nothing strange about that.
... What on Earth was that low buzzing noise? Irene had been hearing it for a short while now, actually, but she'd been ignoring it. The noise was starting to get on her nerves, though. Not helped by Buneary's strangely heavy breathing.
... Oh. Oh, Lord Jesus, no, she wasn't, was she? Irene really, really hoped not.
"Ah... Arm's... Arm's aching..." Buneary mumbled all of a sudden. She turned over, facing Irene. She placed the thing she'd been reading on the same side.
Irene saw it and immediately her blood froze in place at the sight of male pokémon on the page. All naked.
She mentally blinked. Um...
Before her brain could fully catch up with the situation, she saw the thing that had been making a racket. Some sort of long, rod-shaped lump of rubber, which was visibly vibrating as Buneary gripped it with both paws.
As Irene had feared, Buneary had begun holding it against her uncovered groin in a very sensual place. She let out a very breathy gasp as she did.
Irene mentally pulled a face. What the fuck.
Okay, that was enough. She was done. She used all of her mental energy to try and disperse the dimensional scream.
Irene blinked. She looked around and found herself back in her office, still holding onto the strap of Buneary's bag, which was lying on the ground.
She stared at the strap for only a second before cringing and flinging it away. It harshly hit the bag and then lay at its side.
She let out the longest breath of her entire life. Okay. That was a very good reminder to both never judge a book by its cover, and to never go through someone else's belongings. Even out of curiosity.
Letting out another breath, Irene carried the roster with a hoof, gripped the bag with her trunk and left the room on three legs, ready to ascend the staircase to the guild's entrance for sentry duty. Anything to cleanse her mind.
Upon leaving the room, she saw Dark Mark Umbreon and Awesome Pansear lingering at the foot of the large spiral staircase. Both boys were talking to each other.
"So… you don't take any of 'em out? Like… really?" Pansear asked, looking bewildered about something.
"Eh," Umbreon replied, shrugging apathetically, "what's the point?"
"But… dude, it's all grimy, and stuff! You really don't care?"
The fox shrugged again, causing some of his unkempt hairs to jostle. "Cleaning it out takes time out of the day. Screw it. I'll just throw something out when I need to shove in new stuff."
Pansear laughed. "Duuude, no offense, but the inside of your bag must be totally awful."
Umbreon frowned. "It's not that bad..."
The monkey shrugged. "Whatever you say, dude." His eyes widened and he turned to face Irene as she approached the stairs. He smiled and waved at her. "Yo, heya, Donphan!"
Umbreon also turned his attention to her. He offered a small smile. "Oh. Hi, there."
"Hello..." Irene replied, trying and failing to drum up enthusiasm after the things she had seen.
"How's it hangin'?" Pansear asked.
Umbreon raised an eyebrow at her in what looked like concern. "... Are you doing alright? You weren't pulling that expression at breakfast assembly..." he asked.
Pansear tilted his head and put a hand to his chin. "Huh... you know what? He's got a point. You're not lookin' so awesome." He chuckled. "Were you diggin' in on our convo, just then? Yeah, it is pretty gross, havin' a bag full of grimy food, ain't it?"
Umbreon frowned at him. "Hey..."
"Um... yes," Irene replied. They didn't need to know the real reason. "Er... you should at least get someone else to clean it, or something. Maybe."
"Aww, but… what if I need my bag for later, and they're still cleaning it?"
"Just food for thought. Quite literally, too, I suppose," she replied, making Pansear chuckle. "Anyway, I'm going to my post."
"Your post, huh? What're you doin'?" Pansear asked.
"Sentry duty, today."
"Huh, and Snorlax isn't?" Umbreon asked. "Wasn't he the guy doing that, today?"
"Later on. He's on an errand right now."
"Oh. Cool, I guess."
Irene nodded, gave them a farewell and started to go up the stairs. Something occurred to her as she moved past, so she turned to face them again. "Hey, Umbreon?" she asked.
He angled his head towards her. "What's up?"
"Banette was on toilet cleaning duties today, right?"
"Er… right?"
"Not anymore. When Snorlax gets back, I'll take over for her, if you don't mind letting her know for me."
"Oh… okay. She'll be happy about that."
"Definitely. Oh, and if you meet anyone else who was on the list for toilet duties this week, please let them know, too. I'll be doing this for the whole week, I think."
"Wow, that's so awesome!" Pansear chimed. "You're generous to a T, guildmaster!"
"Um… thank you," she replied, a little ashamed that the real reason was nothing like that.
After all, a promise was a promise.
TO BE CONTINUED
IN CHAPTER ONE OF QUESTING FOR RESPECT!
Finished: 27/06 (June)/2020
Word count: 6,781
VGS2's sausage notes: And thus, nobody ever found Buneary cute again. Especially not Irenephan.
On another note... did you enjoy watching Trap Spinarak's antics? He's actually one of the characters MewLover54 invented for me to use (if you remember my author's note from chappie 2 of Questing For Respect)! Cool, huh? :P I just hope I did him justice, and that MewLover won't impale me on the end of a Yu-Gi-Oh card for negligence. XP
Spinarak has two teammates who I haven't shown off yet, though, so look forward to 'em!
Fun fact: In Sky, the human can only ever be a male phanpy. So, er... in retrospect, maybe I should've swapped their genders, or something. ... But then you can only have a male munchlax as a partner, so I think I was fakked either way. XD Ah well. Let's ignore that little detail for this fic, shall we?
Character highlights:
Name: Puzzle Solver Donphan
Age: '3' (Flashback), '14' (Present day)
Fighting style: Rolling tank.
Appearance: Tends to unintentionally glare a lot. Not too expressive.
Description: A human girl whose real name is Irene. She came from the future after some interdimensional incident, getting herself transformed into a pokémon in the process.
Personality: She can come across as stern and scary to those that don't know her, but she's actually rather caring, and enjoys friendly conversation. Her curiosity can often get her into trouble, though.
xXx
Name: Relic Finder Snorlax
Age: 3 (Flashback), 14 (Present day)
Fighting style: Brawler.
Appearance: Smaller and thinner than your average snorlax. Fairly muscular, too. Must be all the adventuring.
Description: A man whose love of adventure and discovery led him to join Wigglytuff's Guild over a decade ago.
Personality: Although he's improved a lot over the years, he's still somewhat easy to unnerve. Despite that, he remains ever the fun bear who loves to crack jokes and tease his friends.
Fun mistake/s of the day: #1: 'Eying up her opponent,'
(The first word of the fic... and it's a typo... and it'd been left up on the site for months... Hoo boi... )
#2: 'The stubbiness of her four limbs against the sand made doing do difficult.'
('Doing do', huh? Gross... I think she's adapted to becoming animalistic a little too well.)
#3: 'Landing on the sand, the phanpy-turned-human allowed herself a small smirk.'
(Whoops. Wrong way around! Now she's a naked girl running around on all fours.)
#4: 'Her trunk bun'
(There's a rabbit attached to her trunk! Or maybe a pastry?)
#5: 'Huffing to herself, she concentrated on the ceiling. When she could feel it in her mind, it broke off while glowing.'
(The whole ceiling? That's some attack!)
#6: 'He took a deep breath and unleashed a heavy purple cloud of poisonous mist from his upper pours.'
(Whoops, wrong 'pores.' Now I've turned him into a poison waterfall.)
#7: "You're know just… pulling my leg, or something?"
(I wish I could pull legs just by knowing something, too.)
#8: No doubt because of the countless dieting and excising unbefitting of his species.
(According to the internet, to 'excise' means to 'remove something'. One of the examples used was in a medical procedure, so... did he stay thin via liposuction, or something...? O,o Pretty extreme measures!)
#9: 'She was holding the door up with a foot while lingering outside.'
(What a show off. I wonder if she's on her back holding it up with a foot, or if she's holding it on her foot like someone playing keepy-uppy with a football. (British football, mind.))
#10: 'With a deep breath, Buneary took a deep breath, as if to steel herself.'
(Her lungs will pop if she keeps this up!)
#11: 'She looked at Buneary, hoping she hadn't taken it to heat'
(Uh oh... XD Might explain her, um... tendencies, though, I guess. Not that it would really help matters, because the only way to stop being in heat is to... well... get preggers. Uh oh, again.)
#12: 'After all, the mound on her chest - concealed and covered by fluff - said otherwise.'
(Lol, does she have a fluff bra? That's one way of doing it, I guess.)
#13: 'Taking the intuitive, the human said,'
(There's nothing intuitive about using the wrong bloody word!)
#14: 'She couldn't stop that low.'
(How low can you go?)
#15: 'They were all =o'
(Lol, this is why I should look at the keyboard while I type. Now I'm writing stories in emoticons. Or 'emojis', or whatever you little hipster kids call them, these days.)
#16: 'Wait... were her... buttocks on her display?'
(Reminds me of what Mr. Krabs threatened to do in that one painting episode of Spongebob. I guess Buneary displeased Irene and had her butt put on a plaque above the fireplace.)
#17: 'Irene carried the roster with an hoof,'
(An 'oof? Reminds me of how Americans pronounce 'herb'. The first time I saw someone write 'an herb', I thought it was a mistake... but no, apparently the 'h' in 'herb' is silent, meaning you say 'an urb'! What a crazy language.)
Welp, that'll do it for now! So... tata for now! c: