(A/N: in the last chapter, there was a cartographer named 'Wright' mentioned. The correct name is actually 'Barley,' the sandshrew from orientation.)
Upright's ears perked up curiously. Staring out at the sunset, up from his spot at the training fields, he realized something:
Today's the six-month anniversary, he thought. Six months ago, I fell into a lake as... me. Upright refused to acknowledge the human who fell into the lake. Back then it seemed like I barely had a chance.
The training fields were contained in a huge outlet, stretching out from the tower that connected the bridge. Standing near the edge made him queasy – but if he did, he could see the bridge leading to Outside. From here, all he saw was how the sunset cast the mountains in a warm orange.
He ground his sharp canines together. Be patient, Upright. It's almost your turn to explore. For the time being…
He threw his paws up. "Pep, are you going or not?"
The sylveon nodded, yet stayed glued to her patch of grass. "I-I… do I attack you now?"
"That's the point of your course and mine." Tolerating Pain. Twice a week, Regal took him out to the training fields. None of the recruits had a chance to experiment on a willing victim. There was another reason: the exercise conditioned panicked recruits to take their frustrations out on the infiltrators, rather than the cheerleaders trying to help them. It built trust.
Pep lifted a paw, ready to advance on him. She trotted forward a few steps, then dwindled off. "This doesn't feet right," she admitted. "May you please fight back?"
"Yikes. I am this close to finishing the course, Pep. Do me a favor and charge?"
"Y-You won't hold it against me?"
"Pep, why are you a scrapper-"
"Okay, okay!" She took a deep breath. With a tiny mewl she leaped forward and got her teeth around Upright's neck. Pep pushed her weight into the tackle, dragging the heavy quilava to the ground.
It hurt, but not how it was supposed to. "You're not breaking skin," he grunted. "I can twist around and break free."
She lifted her head up for a moment, panting. "Give me a moment."
What feral will give you a moment?! He wanted to ask.
She went back to work, wrenching around, slamming Upright's head into the grass - hoping her fangs slipped through. His hide was tough, though that shouldn't have stopped Pep from breaking skin. Her claws hooked into his chest for leverage. The bite became harder, yet it was her claws that grabbed his attention. Their sting turned into a full-blown burning.
Finally, she started to draw blood from somewhere. Upright winced and, as he conditioned himself, forced his eyes open. Still he had trouble seeing straight. Seeing through pain proved harder than seeing underwater.
"That's enough," Pep's instructor called. The sylveon relented, showering Upright in apologies.
The nidorino came to inspect his pupil's handiwork. "Well. Looks like you are far better with your claws than your teeth. I think you won't be able to pin ferals, but you will have quite a swipe."
Strong claws, Upright thought. That must be how she maintains her perfect poise. His chest had two gashes, the points marking where each of Pep's claws entered.
"T-Thank you," she said.
"Are you okay, pal?" The nidorino asked.
Upright nodded. If he was in danger, Regal would have intervened. As it stood, this was an easygoing session. Compared to Doggy, who gave it his all out of respect… or Tahtib, who counted down the days to his turn. Both sessions ended with him in the infirmary.
"Thanks again," the nidorino said to Regal, "for letting these scrappers borrow your rookies."
The mienshao smiled warmly. "It's such tangible progress. Wouldn't you say, Upright? Don't you want to go a few more months?"
The answer came out quick: "no," Upright stammered.
~~~O~~~
Him and Pep were the last rookies to make use of the training field. As such, they were tasked with watering the garden lining the rim – though the quilava also took the chance to wash away the blood.
Pep leaned in to sniff a flower, the head of which dangled over the edge. Her claws dug into the soil for balance as she sniffed. Upright reminded himself not to panic.
"What did you do before this?" He asked. "You can't say you were always this comfortable around high places."
The sylveon smiled. "Nothing worth mentioning. Like I've said, over and over and over."
Upright flashed a toothy grin. "What will you do if I keep asking? Attack me?"
"Maybe I'm downright vicious, and simply putting on a show for the instructors."
"You were an assassin – no, wait. You were in training but ran away."
Pep suddenly became forlorn. She stepped away from the ledge and started for door on the other side. "I think I want to turn in early. Want to walk back to the dorms with me?"
"...Sure."
Did I guess it? Upright wondered. No, probably not.
They descending the tower, now empty in the late hours. They walked in silence – him on the bridge, and Pep on the edge. He remembered when he first saw her do it; outside the infirmary. Back then, it seemed like a trick to impress them. Now…
Pep gasped and her tail went haywire, smacking against the rails as she hopped down. "Upright! Look – Acker is back from his private training in East Territory!"
Sure enough, the mudkip was walking back with commander Steel of East Territory, toward the dorm. As if by some magic connection, Acker turned straight towards the sylveon. Even from here, Upright could see the huge smile the cheerleader put on. He charged at the pair. Pep helped close the gap, until they were nose-to-nose.
Oh no, he thought. Here it comes. The two commenced the chant:
"Left whatever in – left whatever out – Right whatever in – right whatever out – belly to the ground – shake what you got – and… bump!" The two bumped heads.
Then, Acker turned to Upright. His smile just grew larger… and larger…
"It's very nice to see you again, Acker," Upright said.
"Darn!" Acker exclaimed. "I'll have you doing the Tenth Floor Greeting soon enough."
"I got Lilith to do it," Pep bragged. Upright cut back on a moan: Lilith the gothorita, and other infiltrator, did it on the condition they change 'paw' to 'whatever' and 'tail' to 'what you got.' How did this stupid greeting ever catch on? The quilava sighed: if Pep, Doggy and Acker agreed on something, the whole tenth floor followed.
Commander Steel caught up to them. "What great camaraderie," he said. "You are doing most proudly here. A sure blessing to the Waterbed family name."
The mudkip grew a little skittish. "Thanks, commander Steel. But it was Pep's idea-"
"Nonsense." They grew silent, unwilling to disagree with the commander of the scouts. "You, infiltrator."
Upright put a paw on his chest. "Me, commander?"
"Yes. Make sure he returns to his floor unmolested."
Upright nodded sheepishly. The commander spread his wings – a grand marvel in both size and power – and took to the sky. The quilava felt a burning desire to explore the clouds.
Pep broke in on his envy. "So, Acker, how was it?"
The mudkip struck a fearsome pose. "I trained a lot in combat. I'll make pokémon really happy, or really sad."
That much is true, Upright thought. When it was the mudkip's turn to abuse Upright, he learned exactly how painful cuts from his fins could be. It was horrifying to not immediately know where he was struck, until blood broke through his coat. Then the stinging began.
Upright shuddered and followed the two to the dorm.
Inside, recruits sifted around aimlessly, trying to work up a desire to sleep. Training incorporated so many new things, regardless of vocation, that it was hard to give up one day for another. Several recruits gave the boisterous mudkip looks, not all of them pleasant. Yet Acker was too happy to be back at the Initiative to mind.
Besides: they knew better than to enter an infiltrator's space. Upright wouldn't think twice if someone attempted to corner Acker.
The tenth floor, as usual, was rowdy.
"Blah, blah blah! Blah!" Doggy hollered. It seemed that Tahtib and him had started their yelling match for the week.
"Yeah just keep barking, moron!" Tahtib shouted back. "We totally failed the exercise due to me being an above-average scrapper. Or, wait! Maybe it was the growlithe failing his courses that pissed all over it!"
"You weren't listening!" Doggy growled. "And you can't discuss rankings here!"
Tahtib scoffed and turned to the audience. "Hey, everyone: Tairé ranked Doggy as sub-par in every course!"
Out of all the rankings – failed, sub-par, average, above-average and surpassing – sub-par was merely a ledge before the fall. Upright didn't know his friend was so far behind.
Also, this same friend seemed ready to kill Tahtib. Luckily, Acker swept in to mediate, as if he was never absent for a month.
"I'm back," Acker said stepping between them. "Hey, Doggy. Left whatever in!"
"I'm going to tear his throat out! Get a little closer!"
"I thought you'd be happy to see me..." Acker swished a fore-paw about wearily.
Doggy slowed down. "Huh? Of course I am. Sorry. L-Left whatever in..."
Tahtib, too, calmed down. He'd much rather pick on Acker than Doggy. "That greeting makes me want to curl up somewhere and die," he said. "You can't peddle that 'smiles go for miles' crap to me. By the way, blue twerp, how was it being coddled by mommy and daddy for a month?"
The greeting finished on a sour note. "I, uh, it wasn't like that," Acker said. "It was hard training!"
"Why'd you go to East Territory then? I know – they're afraid if they don't wash the poor off of you, it will stay forever."
"Enough, Tahtib," Pep hissed. "And Doggy, no one is going to judge you. We're all here to help. Right?"
"I-I-I'm not sure I'd be of much help," Barley admitted. The sandshrew curled in instinctively.
"Not if my life depended on it," Tahtib said. "He's on his- ah!"
Hard-day crept in on the pancham. He opened his maw, then slammed it shut with a disturbing clack.
Tahtib raised his paws up. "Fine. But he has to want help. That's, er, why I brought up his rankings. To facilitate discourse."
"Thank you, Hard-day," Pep said. The totodile lifted an arm. He hardly moved his arms much, unless he was drawing for his courses.
The growlithe hung his head. None of this reassured him much.
"Can we have a moment?" Upright asked. "I'll speak with him."
The floor agreed, moving off to the other side of the hall to greet Acker. Alone, Doggy drooped farther, allowing his ears to fall flat against his head. It was a sight that, if Upright had a choice, he'd choose to forget.
"You said you were getting used to it," Upright said. The quilava donned his best Doggy impression. "Gah-hoh, I could lead a dedenne into Hard-day's mouth!"
"I thought I had it, I really thought it was in the bag. Leading requires a certain kind of calculating. All my life, I've been something of a forward-thinker. I've never calculated a thing in my life. When it comes time to make a decision, it dons on me: I have no plan, no reason to think my scheme will work. So I freeze up."
"I feel that way at times," Upright admitted. "I just wing it."
"You're only responsible for yourself, furbrain. When the leader is a moron, the team's sole order is dying."
Upright extended and arm over Doggy's shoulder. "Well, I know one thing. A genius strider and a deathseeker makes choices-"
Doggy jerked back. "Don't call me those!" He barked. "Come on, I've told you not to… I'm no genius strider. And if Khridoli asks me one more time, one more, where I'm from... gah, I might lose it!"
The quilava smiled. "Are you done?"
Despite himself, Doggy found a smile. Even if he was sub-par, the growlithe looked like a leader when he smiled. "Jerk. Anyhow, I have one last chance. Tairé still wants me to lead a team for the first explorations. So your pup-at-front's gonna surpassing these stupid courses in no time."
That's right! Upright realized. Our first exploration is just a few days away. Tomorrow they would receive their team formations. Usually floor-mates were put together, except when no one could occupy a task. The tenth floor needed a scout and a researcher, while either Hard-day or Barley expected to be transferred to another floor's team. Upright knew it wasn't right, but he prayed for Lilith to get transferred.
"Pah to the rankings, pah to Tahtib, and pah to deathseeking. I'm super pumped to go Outside!"
Upright nodded. "Let's hope we're in for some pleasant surprises."
"Surprises are among my favorite things," a voice added.
It sounded like Marker. Upright spun around to greet him; instead, he was face-to-face with a giant black-furred hound. He drew back a little and bottled up a yelp.
"Marker?" Upright asked. He sniffed curiously. It was Marker, all right.
The mightyena shook his shaggy fur about gleefully. "Hello."
"Y-You're bigger."
Doggy laughed. "Upright, top-class observer, does it again! Marker, you evolved. That's amazing, congratulations!"
"Yes. Khridoli saw me in pain today. He said to go to the infirmary. It felt very funny."
"You evolved," Upright breathed.
He had a small sense of it six months ago, when he wondered why commander Austere wasn't another species. Pokémon can reform, or transition, into new species on a chain. Evolution was consistent where identity marks weren't. Poochyena, outside of a freak incident, became mightyena. And quilava became typhlosion. Remembering the image in the Guide to Evolving made him shudder.
"Our underdog is now the top dog. Our exploration is going to be a cinch!" Doggy exclaimed.
Marker's new tail stopped swishing. "I have bad news. Commander Khridoli says I have graduated. I begin real missions in a week. They say I can't come because I will skew the results."
Upright gaped. He knew Marker was blowing through his courses, yet it still shocked him that they allowed this. "W-With no Outside training?"
"I don't know," Marker replied, flustered. "I betrayed the pack."
"No – no way," Doggy said. "This is good news. We're both proud of you. It's just unbelievable… you graduated in half the normal time. And you evolved." Then, the growlithe grew loud again."Well, that settles it! I now have a goal to work towards! If Marker graduated in six months, I'll graduate in seven."
"Me too," Upright declared.
"Left whatever in!" Marker barked.
"Left whatever in!" Doggy repeated.
Upright glared at them. "Nice try."
"I am now bigger than you," Marker said. "I will make you put the whatever in."
The three fell into a scrap. Upright played along, yet a questioned burned in the back of his head: without Marker as our underdog, who will we get?