Once Khridoli had washed off and gathered himself for the battery of tests in the morning, he left his room and found the eager quilava saluting right outside his door.

Upright dropped the salute, then threw it again, for emphasis. "L-L-Leader Khridoli!" he cried. "I know I may have acted strange the night before, but I promise to devote myself to adventuring. Please don't change your mind about me!"

"Huh. No need for words," the pangoro said. He reached for his shelf, pushed up against the wall near his door, and withdrew with a fresh tweed. "Your face makes it plain as day."

"Right! I won't express anything but confidence-"

"Doggy," Khridoli interrupted. "Marker, you too. Come get a load of your friend."

The two stepped out of their room, groggy yet obedient. When the growlithe saw Upright, however, he completely forgot to give respects to the leader. He went belly-up in a heartbeat. Marker, too, buried his snout under his arms. Both tried to cover their laughs, and neither met with much success.

The quilava stepped back. "What is it? Did I get something on my face?!"

"Remember a while back," Doggy answered, "when I warned you about fixating too much? You sorta grew some, uh..."

No, Upright thought. That was just a joke, right? Upright reached up to his face. His head, mostly his snout, had widened out. All to make room for two pointy tusks. He swore his face felt heavier when he woke up! Weighed down with duty, perhaps – not with tusks!

As ignorant of pokémon handsomeness as he was, Upright knew: they were not a flattering addition. A wide snout did little in the way of helping. "Stop laughing!" Upright barked, switching to damage-control.

"I c-c-can't," Marker said. "You look funny."

"Yikes. Oh scary Upright," Doggy intoned, "please don't stick us!"

"You can paralyze prey with laughter!"

"Whoa there, Marker. Mess with the quilava and you get the… tusks?"

"Okay," Khridoli said, "that's enough. Neither of you are real lookers, either."

The quilava had surrendered long ago. He coiled up, trying to hide his shame from the world. "What do I do?"

The pangoro shook his head. "Look, kid, since you're a… an amnesiac, I wanted you to remember this mistake through a bit of teasing. Tusks will throw off the balance of a slender pokémon such as yourself. And they hook into flesh, making it impossible to maneuver after a bite. What if you had tusks yesterday? Your friend Doggy would have had to strike you as well as that stunky. Useless bodily transformations like that are caused by a poor psyche. You're too wound up about adventuring. It won't do when it comes time to present you..."

Too wound up. Of course Upright was stressed – he got into a vicious battle, dived headfirst into joining the Initiative, waylaid by a grovyle and kicked senselessly for hours on end because Marker couldn't share a bed if the world depended-

Thunk. Somewhere amid all of the excitement, Upright had a brilliant idea. Just headbutt something – that will improve things! His instincts told him. This genius plan left him stuck by the tusks in the door's wooden frame. He tugged, unable to get free. If he got teased before, he was really going to hear it now.

"Goh-hee! Gee-ha-hee..." Doggy failed to get out his trademark laugh. A desperate wheezing came instead: the scene was just too funny. Marker rolled about the hallway.

Tears started to well up in the quilava's eyes. "I'm sorry, Khridoli. I want to do my best, but I-I'm a wreck."

Khridoli lifted an arm down and tugged Upright out of the door. "Hmm. Your amnesia has made your transformations a little volatile… alright, I think I might have a fix to your predicament. It's worth a shot, at least."

"I'll get the bonesaw!" Doggy cried. Upright's ears fell to the back of his head.

"Enough!" The leader ordered. "You ought to not mock till it hurts. A few jokes help. Dozens of them just sting." The two quieted down, humbled by the reprimand. "Look: do any of you know what goes on at the old wharf?"

Marker perked up. "Research and Development! Ventor does bargaining with them. For stuff I can't touch!"

"Those products are for the super-wealthy," Doggy added on. "He could likely afford lining his shelves with R&D goods after he swindled you."

"Ventor will be hauling goods around the Territory once he's processed," Khridoli told them. "Anyway, you're right. What do you know about R&D products, Doggy?"

The growlithe grinned. "Whenever a useful relic is found by the Initiative, they – er, you give it to R&D. They make orbs, basically copies of that relic's power, to sell across the Territory. They also imbue certain effects into scarves. Or just about anything."

Upright was beyond fascinated. "Wait. So you're saying they can take the function of a skylight… and put it into an orb. How is it powered? Which way does the light face? Can one… paint the orb purple to get a purple skylight?" He began to rub his tusks in thought.

As fast as the questions came out, the adventurer shot them down. "Energy from pokémon working in R&D. Opposite of the user. And yes, but if I ever catch you painting my stock of skylight orbs pink the day I set out on an adventure, I swear to Arceus I'll–" the three Unlisted crowded around each other, horrified by the booming tirade. "Sorry. I'm starting to see you three as decent recruits. Yelling at newbies is a force of habit."

"Must have been a momentous prank," Doggy muttered under his breath.

"Feral pokémon are a hard crowd to please!" Khridoli snapped, a hint of a smirk on his face. Then the adventurer switched to his commanding voice. "Enough chit-chat. Stretch away your sores from last night, seek out the latrine, get that sort of stuff out of the way. When we reach the wharf, I want your undivided attention. One slip-up, we turn back and Upright gets nicknamed Tusks in front of scores of potential adventurers."

Upright shot his two friends the best don't screw this up look he could muster.

Relics, huh? Upright thought, waiting for Doggy to stuff the inn's amenities into his satchel. That isn't the first time I heard about them. When did I… oh!

Grace apparently stole relics from the Adventure Initiative. If last night didn't make him a believer, nothing would: that gardevoir was at odds with ginormous Pathen and its hundreds of pokémon. It also reminded Upright of a question itching at him since his encounter with Daté. Since Marker and Khridoli were downstairs, now was his chance to tell him!

"Hey, Doggy?" Upright called.

"Look! A tiny bottle of cheap shampoo, we've hit it big!" Doggy called back. He had a small beige bottle in his maw, and was carrying it to their bag. "Expensive inns are great!"

The quilava sneaked back into the room, dropping his voice. "The spy pulled me into the alley last night." Doggy reacted by swallowing the bottle of shampoo. "Gah. U-Uh, sit still, I'll get it out!."

Before he could approach, his friend had retched it back up. It rolled across the floor, slobbered up. "What?" Doggy yelped. "Upright, we have to get away! We can use the window to ditch… sorry, I'm not helping." He titled his head. "This morning, you didn't seem very worried about joining. What did the spy say to you?"

"Somehow, she's fine with all of this," Upright said, referring to Grace. "I wanted to ask real quick, though… Doggy, why do you know Grace? Do you steal relics?"

"Like I would be a match for a seasoned adventurer," Doggy answered, growing sombre. "Her gang would bury the relics in special spots. I'd deliver them to a special place." The mention of a special place interested Upright, but he knew better than to ask. If last night proved anything, it was that Daté could be within earshot and they'd never know it.

Instead, the quilava asked: "are you going to be okay in the Initiative? Will anyone recognize you?"

"Of course not. I'm a genius strider who-"

"I get it, I get it," Upright said. "Thank you, Doggy. You could have left last night. You decided to stay."

The growlithe shook his head. "No. Thank you, Upright. The Initiative is very rigorous. I wasn't… I wasn't sure I could make it Outside that way. So I thought it best to wait until Grace recruited me… silly, huh? I could make it through training with my eyes closed – I'm a death-seeker, after all!"

A lack of confidence? Upright thought. The way Doggy acts, who would even guess?

The glimpse Upright received felt incredibly private – more so than their talk about Grace. So the quilava walked over, put the shampoo into the satchel, and gave Doggy a bright smile.

"We should get going," he said. The growlithe nodded.

~~~3~~~

"Wow! The Scar Sea looks amazing from this view," Upright said.

"Don't get in a tizzy," Khridoli huffed. "Try to keep your mark where it is, if you can."

How does he expect me to keep calm? The wharf was a massive pier jutting out into the Scar Sea – or, rather, into the ocean. It was sort of like a gigantic shed, built from peachy stone that shone as if the place was built yesterday. One of its large shed doors was swung open, kept in place by an unserviced, rusty anchor. The freshness of it stunned him – after the forest, it was twice-over. Pokéarth was a beautiful place.

"Hundreds of years ago, this held the largest ship known to recorded history." Khridoli explained as they slowly moseyed over to the wharf. "That ship was lost to Kyogre, and now R&D has hunkered down in the shell. Better than leaving it abandoned. Not much better, though - R&D causes its fair share of problems for me to solve… and the ocean doesn't improve the stenches."

Marker stepped forward and sniffed the air. "Smells like experimentation!" He exclaimed happily.

"Will they be using the bonesaw?" Doggy asked.

Khridoli shot him a warning glance, but it fell quick as the adventurer grew distant."You two. I want you to take some money and go to the bathhouse on Krook Street"

Doggy frowned. "Hey… I wanna go to the freakshow."

"Tomorrow is a big day and I need everyone presentable. Upright will join you after we're done here." Khridoli reached into his bag and removed a pouch of money. Doggy's eyes lit up – first with awe, then confusion. "Go crazy. It's a real spa, that bathhouse – they'll massage last night's scuffle right out of you."

The growlithe was already running off, hounding Marker down the path. "So cool!" He shouted. "Thanks."

Marker perked up, looking back at the dock. "Wait a minute. I hate baths." It was all he could get out before Doggy started tugging on the scruff of his neck. Last night probably didn't help that opinion. "Grr, grr…. You'll never get me in the water."

They were gone. Khridoli turned to the wide plaza leading to the wharf. He waited, chewing on his tweed. After a minute or so of silence, Upright couldn't wait any longer. "E-Excuse me?" He said. "What's wrong?"

Khridoli turned to him, scowling. "Your destiny. Are you certain you want to face it alone? Else I could teach your tail an important lesson in privacy."

"Oh no, I have a tail now, too?" Upright inspected himself, fairly sure of his taillessness. Then he realized Khridoli's meaning, and his heart sank. "There's no way he followed us. M-My, er, the folk who gipped his tab, is he really here?" It was like magic: the moment he caught on, he spotted Daté in the background, hidden in a crowd of pokémon who were too busy shopping to mind. "I'm in trouble."

"Relax, don't throw yourself. Let's not waste time on the sly-talk: I know his face. You'll be fine without me."

"How do you know?"

Khridoli shot a look over at the distant grovyle. Daté shouldered by a cat, pink and haughty the moment something touched it, and disappeared into an alleyway.

"His history," Khridoli answered. "There's no way he'd harm you, of course..."

Of course, Upright echoed. He seemed so angry about what happened to the pretend-human. The revelation added to his awe at how easily he was manipulated. It brought about more questtions. Why would Khridoli clue me in? The stare had shifted now, onto the quilava. The pangoro chewed ponderously. Wait a minute-

"I'm not with him," Upright blurted. What was an ambush could easily look like a meet-up. Plus, on the off chance Khridoli knew Doggy's affiliation…

The pangoro let loose a loud bout of laughter. He patted Upright's head, tugged on his horn playfully, and started to urge him towards the warehouse. "Come on, kiddo."

~~~3~~~

The entrance to the warehouse was large and open, yet all the light from the bright outside died feet within the dark place. New smells grew stronger and stronger, making Uprght's nose twitch in confusion; he caught on to several identity marks, yet there were no pokémon around. If he had walked through here rather than the crowds, no time to get used to marks, he'd have fainted on the spot. Rows of shelves and open areas with ominous, stained flooring flanked a large pod, the old home Pathen's largest boat. He imagined what it must mean to travel for weeks on a boat filled with pokéon, and concluded it was better that it sank.

There was one pokémon, eventually, who greeted them where the sunlight stopped. He was slender, and mousey in more ways than one. Several scarfs draped around his neck – upon closer inspection, they were physical parts of his body.

Without saying a word he approached, eyes locked on Upright. The quilava backed away timidly, but the R&D worker caught him by a tusk.

"Please tell me these are an accident," he said.

"Can you fix him, Amory?" Khridoli asked.

"I don't spend the years of my prime in a dank, oversized shack for fun."

The lack of introductions really fettered Upright. Still, any chance to get rid of his tusks sounded peachy, despite the risk incumbent in diving deeper into a lab with a stranger.

Khridoli looked down at him. "I've got to inform the other commanders at the Initiative of my whereabouts. This cinccino's leader here at the R&D, he'll take care of you." Amory responded with a small chuff at the pangoro as he sauntered out. He stepped out of the light and fled for the shelves, leaving Upright no choice but to follow or get stranded awkwardly in between the two adventurers.

Upright did his best to keep up. When Amory twirled around to face him, he froze up.

"Why are you doing that?" Amory asked.

"H-Huh?"

"Walking on your hind legs."

"Oh, ha. Well, my name's Upright, and it's sort of a habit."

"Your parents named you for a habit you would have when you grow up? Incredible," he sighed.

Upright winced ever so slightly. If he wasn't careful, Amory would figure him out in minutes."I don't know who my parents are. My friend chose the name." Amory accepted it, or just stopped caring, because he chose to round the first row of shelves on the left side of the warehouse. The quilava's curiosity started to slow-cook, but he felt it would be rude to peek.

He talked, if only to add some noise to the lonely warehouse. "It's pretty empty around here."

"You've come at a good time." he called, the noises of his rummaging joined the lapping of the water, "between my assistants taking their leave and the droves of hopefuls coming in. You'd be surprised how many adventurers assume I can cure their insecurities."

Upright hummed, not sure how to reply. It was hard to bite back his curiosity. "What's back there?"

"Stuff that cures insecurities – relics, basically. As much as I hate to admit it, I've gotten good at playing makeup, thanks to Commander Pep. Have you met her yet?"

"I'm unlisted," Upright said. "That's what Khridoli told me-"

"Commander Khridoli," Amory interrupted. He came back around the corner, holding something between his paws. Upright's eyes lit up: it was a red ball, small enough for a single paw, and with a certain texture that he recognized. Right on the front of the ball was an emblem, and under it, the words Bank of Unova.It was a stress ball, probably made in the thousands for banks to give out to their clientele.

No way, Upright thought, excitement mounting. Relics really are human objects! And there was a myriad of them just beyond the cinccino; the quilava almost drooled at the idea of getting his paws on them.

"No wonder you grew tusks," Amory said. "It's only a squish-ball." Seeing the quilava so excited for relics pleased him by proxy – Upright finally received a smile from the researcher.

"It's a stress ball!"

"Hey. I sacrificed years of my life and my own blood, sweat, and tears to earn the honor of naming relics. You don't get to stroll in and give them new names."

Upright hid his nervousness behind a chuckle. Right. I can't go around blurting the names of human tuff."Sorry."

"And let's get this straight: the R&D I run is focused on functionality. If I didn't believe those tusks will end up holding you back in the Outside, We wouldn't be having this conversation. Once you use the powers of a relic, it's gone, bye-bye. So make sure you have a grasp of the criteria before you request a relic."

"That makes sense," Upright agreed. "Though I don't understand. How can a relic like a ball only work once?"

Amory held he ball up for Upright to inspect. "All relics have three layers of usefulness. There's a physical layer, which is if you and I used this ball to play catch. After that is the bulk of my department's work, which is instilling properties of relics into gemstones and garments. We refer to this as the metaphysical layer. Then we arrive at my purpose now. Once, and only once, a relic can be used to alter an identity mark. This is the glamorous layer."

"No way," Upright breathed. "But wait... marks represent personality, right? Will I be myself afterward?"

Amory's grin came back.. "Ah, it's refreshing to see a recruit with half a mind – I may need to steal you away from Khridoli. And, well, the term 'identity mark' is a misnomer. When you never exercise influence over it, it does default to who- or better yet, how you are as a pokémon. But our psyches are far too complex to be covered by just any one smell. Imagine a sphere called Upright." Amory placed a claw-tip on the ball. "You are in tusk-world. We need you back in no-tusk-world." He traced his claw down to an arbitrary point on the ball. "So let's get to it. All you need do is hold it., focus on it."

Upright grabbed hold. He gave the ball a gentle squeeze.

This is nice, he thought. It makes me happy to know that there are things I recognize. A little funny, too… I never thought a stress ball could make me happy. Everything is alright. No need to rush things! There's are all sorts of great diversions right in front of me-

He gasped and dropped the ball. A fuzziness started to grow in his mind: small, yet as noticeable as a small tickle in the throat.

"That's it?" He asked.

Amory picked up the ball and walked behind the shelves again. "Pretty much. Make sure you get a good night's sleep."

Already, Upright wished he had kept a better hold of the ball. To inspect it more, to really commit it to memory. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

The conversation stymied. "I'll wait for Khri… commander Khridoli at the entrance, I guess..."

Amory chuckled. "Fine. You can come over and look."

Before he had a chance to wonder at how rude it was to barge in, Upright swung over to take a close look at the shelves. Rows upon rows of wooden boxes held piles of human objects, relics. They were haphazardly labeled: Upright had no idea what a rotted crate called don't push the buttons entailed. He tried to ask, but there were just so many questions.

"It's pretty spectacular, huh?" Amory asked. "Not the, uh, labeling of course. Love it or hate it, though, this is my life's passion." As if he could read the bewilderment on Upright's face, Amory reached for a relic in the 'buttons' box. It was a plain switchblade – with a push of a button he sent the blade jutting out. "This is a pusher. I shudder to imagine how humans utilized its obvious purpose, and that's not considering the nastier weapons adventurers have brought back. We used to let adventurers make preliminary reports. We… uh, don't allow that anymore. Think you can describe its layers?"

Upright took in a deep breath. There was no punishment for failing, but if this meeting had done anything, it was to make him crave Amory's approval. "W-Well, it's sharp. So physically it's for stabbing."

"Okay."

"Metaphysical… concealment?"

"Sort of. If you use a pusher orb, it becomes impossible for opponents to gauge your strength. It makes your attacks very surprising."

He jumped into the last layer confidently. "And the glamorous layer gives you hidden blades!" The concept of hidden shanks sounded sinister… and a bit exciting.

"No," Amory groaned. "Remember your personality-ball? Not saying it's impossible to develop some steel inside of you…try to generalize its effects, instead."

"Uh… so it just hides something about you?"

"There we go!" He pushed the blade back in and tossed it to Upright. The quilava panicked, juggling the pusher about in his arms. "Keep it. It's used up, anyway. I think? Come look at my current project."

The 'current project' stood proudly on its own special level, away from the boxes of junk. It was a pristine toy airplane, propped up in front of its box: The Spectacular Little Stinker. Upright failed to stifle a chuckle.

"You laugh at it, but this is a crucial relic for our future. With a functioning 'flyer', we could conduct long-range inspections of the Outside. We could go out farther than ever before, perhaps even discover another Territory if Arceus blesses us." Amory became sullen, the shift sudden enough to set Upright on edge. "If we lose the little territory we have… maybe adventurers and those like them could survive Outside in small villages. Everyone else is good as perished. We must find more living space. Before we overpopulate, get attacked by the Outside, or war strikes."

Upright swallowed hard. "You'll get it done, right?"

"No," Amory said, sighing. He took the plane into his hands. "This model flyer came with, according to the box, a detailed look at the components that go into a machine like this. The Graces attacked the team that brought it in and stole the manual. I'm afraid it's in the hands of my bastard of a brother, now."

"Your brother?!" Upright blurted.

"No point letting you hear rumors. My brother disagrees with the Initiative. He has psychic capabilities, yet I'm sure those Graces are realizing he is quite, lacks everywhere else." The cinccino sighed and wiped the plane clean with his scarf.

It didn't take a genius to figure out who ran the 'Graces.' Grace has spies, adventurers, a collection of relics and a researcher, Upright thought. That 'war' Amory mentioned… could he mean within the Territory?

He had to help. It hurt enough to see Amory defeated. And if he admitted to being human, that had to help in some way. And I trust him, right? He asked himself. Khridoli's right: I shouldn't deal with my fate alone. Upright might avoid an entire civil war.

"I'm a human," Upright said. The quilava froze in place, heart stopped. It was an awful delivery… like he admitted to being 'it' in a game of tag. "I-If I can help you in a-any way..."

Amory thought so too. He took on a caustic grimace, and immediately a draft swept through the warehouse. Upright, despite his lack of expertise, saw the painful memories he just inflicted on the researcher written in his eyes.

"That's nice," he said. "Get out."

"G-Get out?"

"Yes. I have actual work to do. I can't waste it on some unlisted."

The sudden switch put a lump in his throat. Upright tried to do damage control on the situation before it spun out of control. "I… I know what happened to the last pokémon who said that."

"Good for you," Amory growled. "Bye."

"Please don't be mad at me."

"I couldn't care less," the researcher said, half-heartedly rubbing ink off of a few pens jutting out from a box.

That stung worst of all. This was nothing like telling Doggy or Marker. "Don't do that either," he squeaked. "It… it was a slip-up, I really meant-"

"Take a hint and leave me alone!" Amory screamed. Upright cried and fell over onto his back. He scrambled away, every instinct telling him to get away.

He stopped at where the light ended in the warehouse, which was shrinking as the sun passed overhead.

But Amory had nothing for him. "Sorry for yelling," the cincciino muttered. Then he went right back to tending to his relics – as if their exchange never happened.

Leaving the warehouse, Upright was completely crushed. Tears already made it hard to pick out a spot along the water where he could sit down and cry. Really, it was the first time he ever made a pokémon hostile towards him. Doggy, Marker, Khridoli – even Daté – gave him respect.

Their respect is totally unfounded, he lamented. What did I expect Amory to do with that information? Just fit me in like a cog and solve Pathen's problems? Maybe he had a real chance to affect things, unlike the tragic faker that rocked the Initiative. Right then, however, he offered nothing. I wanted to inflict myself on another pokémon. I can't keep doing that… I need to bring something to the table.

Amidst the sobs, a plan hatched. A plan for him – not for Doggy to help, not for Marker to help. Upright was going to find Grace's facility and steal back that manual on his own.

Speaking of the poochyena, Marker was suddenly upon him, pinning him to the ground.

"What are you doing?" Upright asked, a bit annoyed and teary-eyed.

"It's hard to cry when pinned down," Marker answered. It was true, at least.

"What about your bath?"

"I took a fast one. Doggy wanted to stay and be massaged by strangers. He's too trusting."

Upright laughed. "Get off," he said. "I'm fine, really."

Marker sniffed at him. "Why are you so sad?"

A good question. "I made a mistake. One I won't let happen again. Marker, I promise, I'll always have your back." The poochyena gave him a look that said duh, why wouldn't you? Of course – Marker already considered him a strange inner-city packmate. "Say, what made you come back here? Why not wait at the bathhouse?"

"Khridoli wants you to go to the bathhouse, then wait at the inn. He said to hunker down, and don't make trouble."

Upright stood up and made sure his fur had soaked up his tears. "Got it."

He gave the ocean one last look. It was vast, endless. A plane really would make a dent in that expanse. But for the time being, he had only himself to offer. Already, his mind worked away, thinking up ways to prove his worth.