Chapter 29 - Brighter Spirits

The sound of knocking roused Sparks from his troubled dreams.

"Sparks!" a chipper voice called in, "Good morning! Up and at 'em!"

It only took a few minutes for Sparks to haul himself out of bed and make himself at least somewhat presentable. He then opened the door of his room to be greeted by an eager-looking Buizel on the other side. "Mornin', bud."

"Good morning!" Ziggy chirped again with a warm smile.

"Y'know," Sparks said glibly, "We hired you to be more than just the world's fuzziest alarm clock."

Ziggy stuck his tongue out at him, and then started to make his way out towards the common room. "C'mon, let's get breakfast! Your coffee's ready; I can smell it already!"

Sparks slowly followed after the Buizel, shaking off as much of his sleepiness as he could. It wasn't as hard to do as it usually was, not when in the company of the happy little Buizel.

It had been a couple weeks since the lawsuit had been dropped, and Ziggy's spirits had been on the rise ever since. With that heavy load off of his shoulders, he had gotten right back on the path to becoming a full-fledged member. Since then, he had dived headfirst into tackling all the prerequisites to earning a full badge and to move beyond 'new recruit' status.

So far, this had mostly involved basic training, which was accomplished by learning from a more experienced member like one might learn in a school classroom. No paws-on work yet, no going out and interacting with citizens, but rather just teaching Ziggy the ropes of how to be a good and helpful member of the guild. None of the 'classes' were taught by active team members, but Ziggy happily met with whoever would be teaching him for the day and eagerly listened to their words.

All of the positive energy Ziggy had gained upon receiving his badge had come back. The stuff with the restaurant and the lawsuit had stunted it briefly, but now it was all back. It was glorious to see, and Sparks couldn't have been prouder. Ziggy wore his badge everywhere he went, making sure it was displayed prominently for all to see. Even just this trainee badge.

"I found him, guys!" Ziggy cheered as he entered the room. Sparks followed behind, seeing that he was the last one awake as usual. The rest of the assembled active team waved at him and gave him good mornings.

Ever since he had started down the road to becoming a full-fledged member, Ziggy was always the first one awake now. Sparks had no idea how he did it.

"You know you'd starve without Ziggy, right?" Jules quipped as Sparks sat down next to him, "Breakfast will be here in like one minute."

"I know. He saves my life every day. Where's my coffee?"

Ziggy reached over to where a coffee cup was sitting, steam gently wafting from within it. Liz arrived soon after carrying bountiful plates full of food, much to everyone's appreciation.

Once breakfast was in their bellies, and the rest of the team headed out to do jobs for the day, Sparks accompanied Ziggy on the way to today's training. One of their senior members was going to teach him tactics on how to deal with unhappy clients. Then later today, Ziggy was going to practice some more with Angelo.

Sparks wouldn't be joining Ziggy for either of these. The latter was obvious why, but there was also the fact that Ziggy wasn't Sparks' 'assignment' anymore. He had spent months working with the Buizel and helping him, but now that Ziggy was going to be a member that was no longer the case. At least, not officially on paper. Carmen had started finding other odd jobs for him to do.

At first Sparks was apprehensive about leaving Ziggy alone for so many different lessons and tasks, but he always walked out of every session with an upbeat attitude. Ziggy had said previously that he'd felt like the badge had given him courage and made him feel invincible, but the restaurant incident had brought him back to reality. Now, though, some of that courage was shining through again.

"Now remember," Sparks said once they reached the designated room on the guild's upper floor, "This isn't teaching you how to deal with…y'know…shiny haters. This is more general, for when they get complainy about the job you're doing."

Ziggy nodded and said, "I know. It still sounds really interesting!"

"All right," Sparks said with a nod, "Well, have a good time in there. I'll see you later today, okay?"

"Yup!" Ziggy darted forward and gave Sparks a quick hug, which he returned. "Have fun with your, uh…money-report-paper thing!"

Sparks scoffed, though with a good-natured smile. Today, he was supposed to help Carmen with some expense reports and budgeting. "Even you must know how ridiculous you sound right now."

Ziggy giggled. "I know, but have fun anyway!"

"I'll try, buddy. For you."

Then, as he waved his paw goodbye, Ziggy opened the door and stepped into the room. He closed it gently behind him, leaving Sparks alone in the hallway.

"He's really starting to grow up…" Sparks murmured to nobody in particular. It was just as Dante had said once, about Ziggy taking steps in his life and sometimes getting stuck between them. Giving Ziggy the badge had made him see that the next big step in his life was right there, within reach. The restaurant incident had weighed him down and made the step seem unreachable again, but now that was gone and he was looking forward just as eagerly as before to take that next step.

Sparks then made his way back to the common room. He was planning on working in there, since it was usually very quiet during the day. He would be waiting there until Carmen came by shortly with his 'homework'.

When he got to the common room, expecting it to be empty, he was mildly surprised to find Terry sitting at one end of the long table. There was a scrap of paper on the table in front of him, but the Eevee seemed to just be staring off into space.

"…Terry?" Sparks spoke as he approached the smaller Pokémon, "What's up?"

Terry slowly turned to look at him, and then turned back and glanced down at the paper blankly. "I took a job," he said, likely referring to the paper which he had probably gotten from the request board, "but it doesn't start until 11."

"Oh, okay," Sparks replied in understanding. He paused for a moment, trying to decide what to say, and then said, "You doin' okay?"

"I'm fine," Terry said in an obvious lie.

Sparks sat down next to him but didn't say anything. He had to wait in this room anyway, so he decided to make himself approachable if Terry did want to talk. Soon enough the Eevee did speak up, but not in the way Sparks had been expecting.

"So, how's Ziggy?"

"Huh? Oh, he's doing really well," Sparks explained, "He's started to take his badge really seriously, which is exactly what we look for in new recruits. He really does seem excited about the prospect of becoming a member of this guild."

Terry nodded. Sparks noticed that while he spoke fairly amicably, he avoided eye contact. "That's good to hear. I was kinda worried when we decided to give him the badge. I hate to say it, but I didn't think he was ready…"

"I'm sure he thought the same thing, but I think he is ready. He's not as skittish and nervous as he used to be. It's just that he still has a tough time with strangers. Otherwise, he has a bright, go-getter attitude. We saw that when we were giving him chores to do. I think as long as he doesn't do any solo missions until he's much more experienced, things will go fine."

"What about with Angelo?" Terry asked.

"That's…not going as smoothly. Heh…" Sparks thought about Ziggy's slightly disappointed expression that he usually wore when coming out of classes with their combat trainer. "You know, it's harder for Pokémon to learn moves the older they get. Ziggy's skipped over learning a bunch of moves he should have known as a cub, so he's pretty rusty. But he's trying his best."

"Well…I'm glad we could be his family," Terry said, "Since he never had one…"

"Yeah…That kind of just happened, but I'm glad it did."

"Mm…"

A very heavy silence fell upon the room, as if Arceus itself had used Gravity. Sparks noticed that Terry was still avoiding eye contact, and he wasn't looking at the paper with the job info in front of him either. "Terry, do you want to talk about anything? Anything at all?"

The Eevee stiffened and his fur bristled slightly. Then, he shook his head.

"Are you sure? Bottling it up won't help anything…"

It seemed like Terry wasn't going to answer him, and Sparks was about to shrug and give up. However, Terry did answer him eventually in a soft, hesitant voice. "I…asked Rico if we could do a job together today…"

Sparks' ears perked up in concern. He'd had a feeling Rico was the reason for Terry's behaviour, for obvious reasons. "And he said no?" he asked gently.

Terry nodded his head. "He went with Lupe and Shay…"

"Oh…Well, I hope he wasn't rude about it or anything."

Terry shook his head this time. "No, no…" he replied, "Not at all. He's still very nice. That hasn't changed at all…He just…wasn't keen on it, I guess…"

Sparks noticed that Terry was slowly, almost imperceptibly, starting to hang his head. "Terry…" he spoke, "I'm…I'm really sorry things didn't work out with Rico. Really I am." It was a little baffling for Sparks to realize that he was speaking to Terry as if he and Rico had simply broken up, when the reality of the situation was a lot more fantastic than that. "I know it hurts, but…but…" Sparks trailed off, unable to find the right words for such an unusual set of circumstances.

"I don't…blame him…" Terry said, "I was really upset and mad at first, but…I mean, I get it. It's understandable, everything he told me. It doesn't make sense for us to be mates, now that this's happened…"

As the Eevee fell silent again, Sparks bit his lip and glanced away. He was really struggling to come up with things to say. "I guess…I guess if nothing else, it's good to remember that this isn't anybody's fault. This was an accident… Sadly, accidents happen…"

Terry stiffened again, and Sparks was afraid he'd said the wrong thing. However, the Eevee just sighed and shook his head lightly. "I lost the Rico I knew," he said, "The Rico I knew d…he's gone…"

"Aw, Terry…"

"I…I just don't know what to do now. I don't know what to do next. What I'm supposed to do after…this?"

Sparks gave him a gentle pat on the back. "I know it's kind of a cliché response, but only you know the answer to those questions."

Terry's shoulders slumped. "I didn't just lose my mate…" he said sadly, "I lost my partner too. My guild partner…"

"I suppose that's true…" Sparks said, "Probably not in the cards for the two of you to just keep being a team now, huh?"

A quiet, but still noticeable whine slipped from Terry's throat and he turned his head away from Sparks.

"Ah…I'm sorry, Terr…" Sparks said, "I'm doing a terrible job here, aren't I? I really, really want to help, but I just don't know how…"

"I know…" Terry said sadly.

Sparks frowned and fell quiet. He thought about the situation, and realized after a moment that he hadn't yet talked to Rico about how he was feeling. Truth be told, it wasn't the easiest to see things from Rico's perspective. He was the oddity in this odd situation, the part that didn't follow logical sense. Sparks had noticed that a lot of Pokémon were feeling unsure around him, and Sparks himself was guilty of this as well.

Obviously, that wasn't good. Sparks certainly didn't want to ostracize Rico, or make him feel alienated. The last thing he wanted to do was make Rico feel like he was at fault for what happened. Yet, still, Rico was the anomaly. Sparks still hadn't quite figured out how to deal with what was going on with him.

At the very least, Sparks was glad to see that Pokémon like Lupe and Shay were still hanging out with him and joining him on missions. Despite what had happened, most Pokémon were trying to move on and get back to a mostly normal life. And Sparks knew that Lupe had been talking to Terry as well, so it wasn't like any of them were 'choosing sides'.

It was a mess. Just about as much of a mess as had been in Ziggy's head. No wonder Terry had wanted to talk to Ziggy when he was locked in his room.

"Well…" Sparks spoke up, clearing his throat, "I'm happy to see you taking on a job. It's good to get out there and do something. Helps get your mind off of the bad stuff."

"I'm gonna be alone…" Terry bemoaned, "I don't think I've ever done a mission alone since I joined…Since we joined…"

Sparks frowned. "I wish I could come with you. If I could, then I would, but I'm busy today."

"It's okay…"

Another moment of silence passed, and then Sparks shook his head. He berated himself for being ridiculous and finally did what needed to be done. He sidled closer to the Eevee and wrapped him up in a warm hug. "Everything's gonna be okay," he said softly.

"I'm trying, Sparks…" Terry said sadly.

"I know you are."

"We clicked so well together. I don't think either of us ever thought we'd fall apart. We both thought we'd be together forever…"

"Life's just really unfair sometimes," Sparks said. After a moment, he softly chuckled and said, "At it again with the cliché statements, hm?"

Terry just gave a half-hearted "Heh…"

"Don't worry too hard about it," Sparks said, "You're stronger than you think you are. You'll get through this. The whole guild is here to support you if you need us, because you're one of us." Sparks' mind reeled for a moment as he realized he was basically giving the cliff notes version of everything he had ever told to Ziggy."

"I…don't actually think I can do this job…" Terry groaned, putting a paw onto the paper on the table.

"Yes you can," Sparks said encouragingly, "You absolutely can. And I bet you'll feel better after doing it. You just gotta have a bit of faith in yourself."

Terry sighed forlornly. "I don't know…"

Sparks bit his lip, seeing that he wasn't really getting anywhere. His ears then perked up as he heard the door opening. When he turned to look, he saw Carmen poke her head in inquisitively.

"Time for me to get to work…" he said, looking back to Terry, "and I guess you'll be on your way soon too. Come talk to me any time you need to, okay?"

"Okay…"

"Or Ziggy. He's a bit busier now, but he really did seem to like helping you out, so…"

"Thanks Sparks…" Terry mumbled. To Sparks' worry, Terry's voice had only grown quieter and sadder throughout the whole exchange. He silently hoped he hadn't somehow made things worse.


"Great shot, brah!"

"Yay!" Ziggy cheered.

Angelo applauded him as well. "Dude, you're totally gettin' the hang of this thing dude!"

Ziggy looked over at the Mienshao excitedly. Today he was practicing how to use Water Gun more efficiently and powerfully, as opposed to the piddly little version of the move he had learned for self-defence. It was a part of basic combat training, taught by Angelo himself. Usually new recruits didn't have to take this class until they got a bit more experience under their belts, but Ziggy was already familiar with Angelo and had already learned from him, so it just made sense to do it now.

"This is actually really fun!" Ziggy giggled, "You were right! That nauseous feeling totally went away now!"

"Naw, it's probably still there. Ya just don't notice it anymore."

"Whatever," Ziggy said, playfully sticking his tongue out at Angelo. To think that Ziggy used to be afraid of Angelo, intimidated by his size, and now the two were like goofy friends.

"I don't think I'm gonna haveta train you much more. Ya got Quick Attack down, which is like 'duh!'"

Ziggy hadn't even 'learned' Quick Attack. He was already so naturally speedy that he just combined running with a basic tackle and that was it.

"Soon enough I think we can teach ya Aqua Jet and then you'll be set."

"Oh gosh…I wish Sparks could see me…"

"All right…" Angelo then said as he dusted his paws off, "I think that'll do for today, little dude. You can head on out and I'll see ya same time next week."

Ziggy grinned and nodded. "Okay! Thank you, Angelo! I had fun!"

"Good times, bro. Good times…"

Not long after, the Buizel was walking out of the gymnasium. He waved to Angelo before the door closed behind him, and Ziggy was left standing out in the main hall. There were a few Pokémon walking about, guild members who weren't on the active team and who he wasn't as familiar with.

His guildmates. It still gave him a shiver to think about. These were his guildmates now, even if he was just a new recruit. For heaven's sake, he never would have guessed that his life would eventually lead to this point.

It had been astonishing just how quickly his mopey feelings had vanished once the whole lawsuit business was cleared away. His mind was freed up from thinking about that horrible mess and all those happy, buried feelings about joining the guild returned. It was as if he had been presented the badge a second time.

A part of him still felt really nervous. Oddly enough, he felt nervous because he felt so excited. Perhaps it was just that feeling of 'too good to be true', but Ziggy was doing his best to ignore it. Or maybe it was that nagging feeling that he didn't deserve any of this. The fact was, though, that he had been given an opportunity by his friends here. Ziggy had thought he'd squandered this opportunity by punching a Delcatty. Now that that wasn't the case, he was more determined than ever to make everyone proud of him.

Now Ziggy wasn't quite sure what to do. He didn't have any other training lined up for the day, and Sparks was probably still busy with his other work. Sparks had told him that new recruits usually had friends to hang out with, since they often joined in pairs or groups like Rico and Terry had done.

Ziggy frowned at the thought of Terry. The poor Eevee's plight still made Ziggy's heart ache. Maybe he should go see Terry and make sure he was doing all right? Ziggy considered this, but didn't want to be pushy. Others had said it was important to give Terry some space while he went through this.

Joining the guild meant helping other Pokémon. Terry was at the top of the list of Pokémon he wanted to help.

Eventually, Ziggy decided to just make his way down to the common room and see if anything was going on there. It wasn't raining outside, so he didn't feel like going out into the courtyard. It felt rather liberating to walk through the halls with his head held high, knowing that nobody within the guild was staring at him or judging him for his fur. It was something he had learned months ago, but it had never really felt true until now. This was something he had always dreamed of; just walking along with a smile on his face, his fur on display, as he minded his own business.

Of course he only felt totally comfortable doing this within the walls of the guild, but he was still working on things.

When he got to the common room, he found it empty. Sparks had said he would be working on something in here, so he must have moved somewhere else. In just over an hour, active team members would begin trickling in as their jobs for the day were completed.

"Maybe he's working in his room…" Ziggy murmured softly.

After a bit of deliberation, Ziggy decided to head into the dorms and see if Sparks was in his room. He didn't want to bother Sparks from his work, but he did want to at least pop his head in and say hello. So, Ziggy made his way over to the door on the opposite end of the room and headed inside.

Ziggy's room was the first on the right, and Sparks' room was second on the right. He could see just from the dorm's entrance that the door to Sparks' room was closed, which either meant he was not there or was working hard. A brief hesitation washed over him as he couldn't decide whether or not to go knock on his door.

However, his attention started to drift elsewhere. The door to the room directly across from his, unlike the others, was wide open. There was, of course, a reason for this, and it was the reason said door was always open; the occupant didn't have a badge.

Dante was sitting at the desk, working on something with a quill pen in his paw. Dante preferred to keep his door open at all times, even when he was sleeping, simply due to convenience since he couldn't lock and unlock it without a badge. So as it were, anybody walking into the dorm rooms could look in and see him hard at work.

And look in was what Ziggy did. He watched the Lucario for a moment in silence, simply watching as he worked. Dante's only movements were the scribbling of the pen on paper, yet Ziggy still continued to watch him. It wasn't obsessed staring or anything untoward like that, but still Ziggy found his gaze was captured and his mind distracted.

Dante had been living with them for a while now, and Ziggy was still as excited as when he had first moved in. Ever since he had met the Lucario, ever since he had first heard of the amazing things Dante had done, Ziggy had been utterly fascinated by him. Dante was a Pokémon so unlike any Pokémon he had ever met before, or even anyone he'd ever heard of. Like a character straight out of a fantasy story.

The things Dante had done with his life were mind-blowing. It was so far beyond anything Ziggy could even conceive of himself doing. In some ways, Dante didn't feel real. The fact that he was real just made him all the more alluring.

But he was more than just a fantastic legend. Dante was also a really, really nice Pokémon. He was friendly, patient, and even a little funny sometimes. Even from day one, Dante had just given off this vibe of friendly energy that made Ziggy not feel as afraid of him. He had been the first Pokémon from outside of the guild to have accepted him for who he was and not even bat an eye at his fur colour.

"Everything okay?"

Ziggy jumped in surprise. He had been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed that Dante was now looking over at him. He flushed in embarrassment. "Ah, uh…N-no, I …Uh…" he stammered. With a gulp, he eventually just settled on saying, "Hi…"

"Greetings."

More blood rushed to the Buizel's cheeks. "S-sorry…" he muttered, "I didn't mean to bother you. I know you're working real hard."

"Ah…" Dante said with a sigh, and then lifted up his forelimbs in a big, long stretch. "A break would probably do me some good anyway…"

Ziggy watched him again. Even just his physical form exemplified how unreal he seemed. He was strong and fit, but still rather slim and dashing, and his fur was remarkably sleek. It was like an artist had painted him, right there in the room somehow. The neat cape thing definitely accentuated his look, as well as the sheath attached to his waist, though his sword wasn't present within it.

"You can come in if you'd like and sit on the bed," Dante informed him.

"H-huh?"

Dante flashed him a smile and said, "It's better than sitting on the floor."

Ziggy hesitated for a moment, but then accepted the invitation and entered the room. He crossed over to the bed and hopped up onto it, turning around into a sitting position with his hind legs dangling over the edge.

Dante turned around in his chair to face the young Buizel. "Everything okay?" he asked, repeating his question from earlier.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Ziggy replied, "What are you working on?"

With a brief glance at the papers on the desk, Dante frowned. "Well, ah…I am not sure if I should tell you…"

"Why not…?"

Dante looked at him again and simply said, "It is not good news…"

Ziggy's eyes opened wide, and then he shivered a little. He had to remind himself that the reason Dante was working so hard was because he was studying the appearance of that big thing that appeared out of nowhere and stole Rico's memories.

He gulped, and then said, "I think I want to know…"

"If you're sure? I don't want to cause you too much stress…"

Ziggy nodded. "It's…important."

Dante nodded in acceptance. "Well, rest assured it is not catastrophic news. Just that my findings are…troubling." He lifted a spiked paw and indicated the papers on the desk. "Over the past couple of weeks, sightings of these things have been popping up all around the city. The frequency of Nihilego sightings has increased almost threefold."

"R…Really…?" Ziggy spoke, trying to suppress the quiver in his voice.

"There have been no further incidents, just sightings," Dante clarified, "Nobody's been attacked or hurt. But Pokémon from all over the city are claiming they saw it at one point or another. The frustrating thing, though, is that nobody's managed to get a photo of it ever since that third sighting that was in the newspapers. Despite how often it is seen, it is strangely elusive…"

"Oh…" Ziggy said softly, "So…Pokémon are just seeing it really quickly? Like, just for a few seconds?"

"Basically, yes. I have been travelling all over the city, meeting with all of these Pokémon and interviewing them. I have been keeping track of everything they've told me, trying to map everything out as well…Sometimes I question whether some of them actually saw the Nihilego, or if they just saw something late at night that spooked them…"

Ziggy frowned and glanced over at the papers on the desk. He squinted and tried to read what was written on one of them, but found that he couldn't. Dante apparently had terrible penmanship. His paw-writing was even worse than Ziggy's own, and he had only just learned to write properly a few months ago.

"There's something else troubling, though…" Dante added.

"Wh-what?" Ziggy replied, turning to look at him again.

"I haven't received a single word of any sightings outside of Radiant City. I traveled to a few nearby towns to check on some leads, but they were always dead ends. As far as I can tell, the Nihilego has only been seen in Radiant City and nowhere else."

Ziggy bit his lip. "It's only attacking us? In this city?"

"Hmm…Well, I would hold off on using the word 'attacking'…" Dante remarked, "Remember, as far as we know, Rico is the only one who's been hurt by it so far."

"Rico…" Ziggy frowned, again thinking of the Riolu and his tarnished relationship with Terry.

"I told him to follow his heart."

"Huh?"

Dante gave him a look and said, "When he came to me. To ask for advice. I told him to follow his heart. Unfortunately, that didn't lead where I'd hoped it would."

"Terry's been really sad lately…" Ziggy said, "I haven't seen him be happy in a long while."

"I know…" Dante agreed. He then shook his head and said, "But, no need to give up hope. There's still a couple Pokémon here who are trying to find a way to fix this somehow."

"I hope they do…"

Dante nodded. "For now, though, we just have to let them be." The Lucario then sighed and looked over at Ziggy wistfully. "I'm glad it's not all doom and gloom, though. I'm happy to see things are going well for you lately."

"Yeah, heh…I guess they are," Ziggy said, feeling slightly bashful at the praise.

"Keep at it," Dante encouraged him, "I know from experience that good things happen when you keep trying and never give up."

Ziggy looked over at him for a moment in silence. "Sparks told me…" he said, a slight hesitation in his voice, "…that you went through some crazy stuff when you were at the guild."

"Depends on how you define 'crazy'," Dante replied glibly.

"Were you as…um…amazing then as you are now?"

Dante let out a full laugh at that remark. "Absolutely not," he said, still chuckling, "No…No, not at all…" Dante trailed off, and there was a brief faraway look in his eyes. "But things change," he eventually said, "And when things change, that's usually an opportunity to make things better for yourself, even if the change itself is…bad."

Ziggy tilted his head in slight confusion.

"Either way," Dante then said, "I've spent more of my life wandering and adventuring than I have working at the guild. At least, that's how it feels anyway. Time is hard to keep track of sometimes…"

"Have you…wandered the whole world?"

Dante flashed him a wink. "Pretty close to it, at least."

"Wow…" Ziggy breathed softly.

"You name a place, and I've probably been there," Dante said, "Try me. You're not actually from Radiant City, right? Where're you from?"

"Uh…" Ziggy frowned, and glanced away, "I don't really know for sure. I'm pretty sure I know the name of the place I was born, but…Well, I know more for sure that I lived in Sunshine Village for a long while."

"Interesting!" Dante proclaimed, "That was actually one of the first places I spent time after I left the guild. I stayed with a rather humourous Milotic who dreamt of one day becoming a famous chef. I'm sure you can see where the trouble laid."

Ziggy giggled softly.

"Sparks was right," Dante remarked, "It is nice to see you smile."

"I…I kinda like smiling…" Ziggy said, blushing in embarrassment.

Dante then leaned back in his chair and stretched his forelimbs back. "I should probably get back to work…"

"Oh, okay," Ziggy said with a nod, "Do you want any help? I've helped Danika a lot with her work."

"I appreciate the offer," Dante said with a warm smile, "but this is very complicated work, and when I work on things I kind of make a mess that only my weird brain is able to make sense of."

"All right, well let me know if you change your mind." Ziggy started making his way over towards the door.

"I must admit, though," Dante added, "It's been a long while since I have sat still for this much time. I need to get outside at some point…"

"What if Danika helped you? She's really smart. Maybe she can use her computer thingy to make your work easier."

"That would be nice, but she's far too busy with her own project."

"Wh…Is she still doing that?" Ziggy blurted.

"The old city records? Yeah, she is. Last I heard, she's on the home stretch though."

"Oh my gosh, I've been so focused on stuff that I forgot about it. I thought she was done by now… I should go help her some more."

"Don't worry about her," Dante interjected, "She's fine. You've got a lot on your plate that's far more important, Ziggy. Joining the ranks is a lot of hard work."

"I guess you're right," Ziggy said, "I hope she's done soon though. Anyway, I'll let you get back to work."

Dante smiled at him and said, "Thank you, Ziggy."

"I…Th-thanks for talking with me," Ziggy added quietly, "It was nice…"

"But of course, Ziggy. You are a wonderful Pokémon and a delight to speak to. I look forward to next time."

Ziggy's cheeks flushed red. "R-really? You really think that? Gosh…Th-thank you…"

The Buizel then bid the Lucario goodbye and walked out of the dorms. A happy, fluttery feeling remained in his chest as he left, and he was simply beaming from the compliment. Someone as cool and awesome as Dante thought he was wonderful?


"Good heavens, Ziggy. You're almost done with basic training already!"

"Yup!" Ziggy chirped, looking up at the Raichu with a pleased look on his face.

"You've been working really hard on this. Good job," Sparks said, "It won't be long until we'll be sending you out into the city."

Ziggy's smile faded slightly. "Yeah. Pretty soon."

"Hey, don't worry about it too much," Sparks said, noticing Ziggy's change in demeanour, "You'll always have somebody alongside you until you reach a certain rank. That's just how it works here. We don't want the newbies getting into trouble out there."

"It'll be fine. I'll be fine," Ziggy said, "I just have to think positively, right?"

"Yeah, exactly! Think positive! That's what I've been teachin' you."

"I, uh…" Ziggy rubbed the back of his neck. "I still can't get Aqua Jet. I'm trying, but it's really hard…"

"Ah, you'll get it before long. Learning Pokémon moves is natural. It'll come to you eventually," Sparks reassured him.

"We're trying to set up time so Kona can show it to me…"

"He doesn't really use Aqua Jet that much, but he does know it. Either way, you don't have to learn it before they'll let you outside, right?"

Ziggy shook his head. "Angelo says I'm good enough for basic combat training." He paused for a moment before adding, "I still don't know if I could really fight somebody, but at least I can defend myself a bit…"

The two then looked up from where they were sitting on the couch and saw Danika wandering by. "Dani!" Sparks called to her.

"Food," she replied stoically, "Need food."

Sparks snickered. "There's muffins in that basket on the table over there."

Ziggy and Sparks watched quietly as Danika hurried over and picked out two muffins from the basket. Ziggy'd had a couple earlier, and wow they were good!

"How's it hanging?" Sparks asked her as she walked back over, munching on one of the muffins. It looked like a Nanab muffin.

"This," she said, holding up the other muffin, "is the only thing keeping me from taking a wrench to that computer."

Sparks gave her a bemused look. "Say what?"

She sighed and shook her head, though there was a hint of a wry smile on her lips. "Enriching our guild and culture as a whole with the advent of that computer was a mistake. I'd rather we all just be ferals if it gave me some free time."

Ziggy looked over at Danika in concern, but soon enough he realized that she was joking. She loved that computer and always had something praising to say about it when Ziggy had been working with her.

"They need to make it smaller," Sparks remarked, "Something portable that you can just carry with you. Take it out on the lawn and do computer stuff out there in the sun."

"Gross. You know I melt in the sun," Danika said, sticking out her tongue at the Raichu.

"Hey, by the way," Sparks then said, "I've been meaning to ask you. Is there any word on our mysterious object over at Jiuji?"

"Surprisingly…no," Danika said.

"No?"

"The official word thus far is just 'It's as mysterious as it was before.' They're still working on it, but we haven't received any updates."

"Really?" Sparks quipped, "So it wasn't just us two being idiots then."

Danika chuckled, having finished one muffin and was now starting on the other.

"Still, though, that's wild. They've got top Pokémon working on that thing, studying it with heavens-knows what kinds of devices and experiments, and all they've figured out so far is that it's a weird rock?"

"Unless they just haven't told us yet. It's possible they're waiting until they're absolutely sure before they tell us…"

Ziggy was looking back and forth between the two. He didn't have a clue what the two were talking about. He knew he'd heard the word 'Jiuji' before, but couldn't remember what.

Danika just shrugged at Sparks' last statement. "Some mysteries are harder to crack than others."

"Tell me about it!" Sparks said as he reclined back onto one of the cushioned armrests, "Feels like we're surrounded by mysteries these days…"

"What? Like the days of antiquity?" Danika remarked.

"Well…We are being besieged by powerful creatures, and a lone warrior has appeared out of nowhere."

Danika then proceeded to sock Sparks in the shoulder. "Stop it, you lunatic. We're nowhere even close to a 'world-ending' scenario."

Sparks just chuckled. "Could you imagine, though? Gimme three rounds with the Bittercold! I could take it down."

"Oh, that's the least believable one of them all… I do believe those old stories, but not that one…"

Ziggy's neck was starting to hurt from looking back and forth at the other two in total confusion. "Um…" he interjected politely, "What are you two talking about? What's 'Bittercold'?"

Danika looked over at Ziggy in surprise, but Sparks just wore a knowing look. "They're stories of events that took place a long, long time ago that most everybody knows, though I don't blame you for not picking them up."

"You know there's no concrete physical evidence that any of those stories actually happened," Danika remarked.

Sparks just smiled and shook his head. "They happened. They absolutely happened."

Danika just shrugged and glanced away.

"When our world was young," Sparks explained, leaning in a little closer to Ziggy, "When the five continents were first being explored, things were not as simple as they are now. Things weren't so easy. Mystery Dungeons were everywhere and constantly causing trouble for everybody. Pokémon society was weak, and the universe took advantage of that weakness."

Ziggy looked up at Sparks, not quite understanding but enraptured by his words.

"The fate of the entire world was challenged at least four times in history. Each time, it was a small group of young, brave explorers who saved the world. Pokémon not much older than you are, in fact."

"Really…?" Ziggy murmured.

"Absolutely! We wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for all those brave explorers from years past. Radiant City probably wouldn't be half as grand and glorious as it is now." Sparks paused for a moment, and looked down at Ziggy. He was no doubt seeing the wide eyes and inquisitive look that Ziggy was giving him. "You want to hear their tales?"

"You know them?"

Sparks laughed and said, "I know all of them by heart!"

"Sure, yeah. I'd love to hear 'em. It sounds really cool."

"Well, all right. If you insist. Like I said, there's four stories so it might take a while, but I'm guessing that's okay with you." When Ziggy nodded, Sparks continued. "The most interesting thing is that there is a uniting theme with these stories. Whenever the threat to the world first appears, there emerges a young hero from seemingly out of nowhere. Someone no-one has ever met before or seen before, who will ultimately become one who will save the whole world.

"That part might be a little embellished. It just sounds better in a story to hear about the 'mysterious hero from nowhere', y'know? Anyway, that doesn't matter. The point is that they were a hero and they saved the world."

Ziggy had settled into a comfortable position on the couch and was looking up at Sparks, quietly listening to every word he said. One of the things he had learned during his time at the guild was that he loved hearing stories. He had never had anyone to tell him stories when he was growing up, after all.

"Let's start with the earliest set of events. When our world was so young and full of potential, and when basically only the Air Continent had been explored and settled. This is the story of how, one day, a meteor nearly destroyed the planet…"