Raihan woke up to the smell of something burning.

"Leon, what the fuck is wrong with you?!"

He opened his eyes to see that the smell was the burning of Piers' tail as he forced himself to stop, drop and roll. Besides him, Leon was giving a crooked grin, face noticeably flushed as he awkwardly scratched his neck.

"Sorry, I haven't quite gotten used to my tail igniting itself as soon as I wake up."

Perhaps they shouldn't have fallen into such a strong sense of security when Leon showed that he was able to extinguish his tail at will free of Charmander-related-death before he had flopped down to sleep. In fact, they should be lucky that their hay beds did not also ignite, lest Blissey enter to slap the shit out of them.

"Boy, we should be extremely glad that Blissey doesn't get Skill Link," Raihan grumbled, stretching his legs as he moved to help Piers out.

With a quick Sand Attack, the poor raccoon was extinguished, prompting him to sigh. "Oh thank Arceus. Thanks Rai… Wait, how did you use that move inside?"

The Trapinch froze then glanced down to see the floor boarding shoved up. "Oops. Let's stay quiet about that and hope Blissey doesn't notice until we move out."

"Right… That makes me wonder, how long are we going to be here for?" Piers murmured, looking over to see Leon idly switching his tail on and off. "Oh right. Espeon wanted to see us today, didn't she? Maybe after we're finished there, we should talk to the mayor about our… Situation."

"Do you mean being former-humans or living in a hospital?" Raihan mumbled, awkwardly trying to press the floor tile down with his stubby foot.

"Both. … I think we need to stay somewhere less flammable at least."

At the very least, Leon had the decency to look embarrassed. "Right… Espeon is specifically that punk Eevee's mother, right? Or is there another Espeon around here?"

Piers scratched his brain, trying to dig up some memories. "As far as I remember, there were six Eevee kids not too long ago and four of them evolved… Although we don't know what they all evolved fact everyone in the village can call each other by species name though, I think there's only one of everything now… Except the Eevee friends, of course."

"Which I think proves contrary to that point as no one else but us seemed to get confused by referring to them both as 'Eevee'." Raihan yawned. "No one's ever mentioned a second Espeon though, so I don't think you have to worry about getting her mixed up with anyone. Oh right, you haven't met the mayor yet either, yeah?"

Leon shook his head and Piers sighed. "He's a Ninetales and he's a bit… Eccentric? Though he seems eager to help us. Besides Espeon, he's the only one who knows we're human. Maybe don't go around telling everyone you used to be an unbeatable champion."

"I couldn't anyway, Gloria proved that wrong," the Charmeleon responded with a snort. He watched his friends retrieve their accessories. Whilst Piers slipped his headband on with relative ease, Raihan was clearly struggling without digits. "Do you want me to help you with that, Rai?"

Unlike their other friend, Raihan would never let his pride get in the way of needing help, he just simply nodded and Leon helped him tie it around his neck. The pattern of the accessories felt oddly nostalgic, despite having only been trapped in this new world for what was probably less than a week at this point. "You never told me how you got these, by the way. Did your clothes isekai along with you too?" Perhaps that wasn't the right phrasing, when he had only a scrap of his shirt that he had soon lost due to trying to use it as a cape with no grip.

"Nope, Espeon offered to give our held items new designs and we used our shorts as inspiration." Raihan looked over at Piers. "Should we have breakfast before we leave or should we go to the cafe for brunch after we see Espeon? I know it's extortionate pricing but…"

"Just this once, as a treat alright?" Piers checked their reward money. It was soon going to dwindle away, especially with three of them now, but surely they could run through the lower level mystery dungeon and beat up some ferals if they were strapped for cash. It worked in their world, albeit with children. "I wonder if the Amulet Coin exists in this world."

Leon briefly pondered. "I wonder what kind of Meowth would be native to this world. If there's no Kanto, Galar and Alola."

"Some of the Pokemon seemed surprised to see Piers so I assume Galarian forms aren't native to this continent at least," Raihan stretched then strolled over to the door. "Ready to go?"

Despite it being the first thing in the morning, Vulpix was already out playing with Nickit.

Piers looked at the children as Leon knocked on the door, mumbling. "Didn't we see a school at some point, Rai? When are these kids not playing?"

"Maybe it's the school holidays," Raihan responded with a shrug, before calling out to the young Pokemon. "Hey kids! Shouldn't you be at school?"

"It's short-staffed today so we got the day off," Nickit whispered as Vulpix grinned.

"Mama grounded Big Brother so badly that he's not allowed to even go to work right now! So unless the teacher can find someone else willing to be a temporary TA, we get to play until he's ungrounded!"

The dark type and ground type exchanged glances. "Oh, that's what Eevee's apprenticing as." Raihan laughed, looking down at the long path that led to the guild. "Hey Nickit, where's your grandfather at today? We've got to talk to him later."

Nickit stared at him then at the ground. "I think he went to see Mr Flaaffy again. If he's not at the guild or cafe though, ask the guild folk."

They did not have to wait much longer for the door to open by itself, Espeon standing a few feet down the hallway with a bright smile on her face. "Morning boys, nice to see you here nice and early. Thank you again for dragging my idiot son back home, I warned him not to stay out so late."

"No problem!" Raihan chirped as Leon looked around. Having only been in the doorframe the previous night, he had a strong curiosity as to what was inside.

"Is Punk Eevee stuck in his room now then?"

Espeon gestured for them to come in. They did not need to close the door behind them, it slammed itself behind them making Piers jump. Damn instincts, he was never this jumpy as a human, he swore. "Yep, his friend just came over though. We can't stop them from hanging out." She sighed. "But we can make sure they don't disappear on us again. You told me you found them picking berries, but that wasn't the case, was it?"

Piers could feel himself sweating. "What ever makes you say that?"

"He was out like a light last night, he doesn't usually go to sleep that fast. That and he was rambling with Eevee about beating up a Mega Beedrill about five minutes ago." The trio all looked at each other, some more worried than others, and she giggled. "Don't look so scared. I'm sorry about him."

"You don't sound that surprised about this," Leon remarked, idly swinging his currently extinguished tail. He was not looking forward to seeing how flammable Espeon's hut was, or what she would do if he accidentally ignited it. "Does this happen often?"

Espeon gestured to a room on the further end of the 'crossroad' of her hallway. Not that 'further end' was that far away, when it was close enough that they should have presumably been able to hear the ramblings of a hyper Eevee. "Unfortunately. I think those two are up to something, not that they'd tell me. I've tried to spy on them, but his friend has ears like a Noivern." She shook her head. "I didn't invite you here to vent about my son, I was asked to do a favour for you, Leon."

The Charmeleon tilted his head, looking at his friends. Piers looked away whilst Raihan grinned. "We got you a little something so you don't keep getting lost from us! It's called a Reunion Cape, Espeon was waiting for you to return so you can customise it."

Leon swiftly looked at the peacefully smiling Espeon then back at his fellow former humans, his eyes lit up as his inner fire boiled. Fortunately for everyone, it localised in his cheeks rather than his mouth which was wide in both surprise and cheerfulness. "Aw, thanks guys!"

The four of them moved into Espeon's craft room, as Espeon got to work showing Leon the currently untied Reunion Cape. Piers watched her flit around, showing his friend the accessory in both cloak-like and hooded fashion before Leon nodded affirmatively at the former. Perhaps it would not be as flashy as his old cape back home with all its advertisements and regal-looking fur trim, but it would certainly make their friend look a little more like himself.

"Hey, Piers." The Zigzagoon tore his eyes away to face Raihan, tilting his head. "I was thinking… I think we should talk to Punk Eevee and Snowcap before we see the mayor."

Piers raised his brow. "About… Wait, do you mean we should ask them what the heck they were doing out in that forest?"

He nodded, gesturing towards the doorway. "I think they might have been looking for something. If we talk to them about it, it might stop them wandering off on their own again, huh?"

"Right. That makes sense." Looking back at Leon, they noticed he was staring out of the window as Espeon got the materials to draw his design. "Lee, are you alright?"

"I think I just saw something pass by the window," Leon mumbled, blinking slowly. "It looked like a tentacle."

Piers and Raihan looked at each other then at him again. "A tentacle? Are you sure?" Piers echoed.

Raihan waddled over to the window then peered at Espeon. "There's nothing out there… Espeon, are there any Tentacool or Frillish living around here?"

"We're a good 10 miles away from the sea, of course not," she responded with a giggle, setting the paper down. "Occasionally we see fish Pokemon visit, but only when it's raining. Otherwise, they just kind of… Flop around."

That opened up a whole new can of worms Piers did not quite want to think about, when back home so few water types seemed unable to just float in the air. Had they seen any fish Pokemon here yet, come to think of it? "We're gonna have a peek outside, if you don't mind."

"Of course not, I'd love to know if I was just seeing things." Leon grinned as he carefully clutched the crayon Espeon gave him. "I'll be fine for 2 minutes."

Raihan followed Piers out of the room, tilting his head. "So… 'We'. Did you really not want to check it out by yourself?" His voice was lilted, prompting Piers to huff and look away.

He could feel the fur on his face burning. "It's not like I'm scared or anything. I'm just ah… I'm used to us being a two-mon unit by now. Though I really hope Leon was just seeing things, I don't want to have to fight whatever was outside."

"We've taken down dynamax Pokemon together, I think we could deal with a jellyfish." As they reached the door, he watched Piers struggle to get the handle. "You do know you could just climb on my shell, right?" He chuckled as the Zigzagoon facepalmed before doing so, scrambling up then catching the handle. Backing away so the door could swing back, Piers found himself dangling from the handle due to not having the foresight to do so long with Raihan.

"H-Hey, what gives?!"

"Did you really not notice me moving?" As his friend made incoherent scratchy noises, he looked to see Vulpix and Nickit still in the lawn, staring at them. "Hey kids! Did you see a jellyfish around here?"

"A what?" Nickit mumbled, watching Piers drop down as Vulpix's eyes sparkled.

"Jellyfish? Is it tasty?"

The look that Nickit gave his friend was certainly judgmental, Piers noted as he deadpanned. "Sure, if you fancy getting stung. Our friend thought he saw some thing with tentacles outside the window. Anything pass by you two?"

Nickit shook his head. "Nope, we've been playing by ourselves all this time. Sure he didn't eat a bad berry? My brother says he sees weird things when he does."

Raihan was not quite sure how to respond to that. He coughed. "I don't think so. Maybe it was a tree branch or something outside the window. What do you think…" He trailed off as Piers shivered, his fur spiking up. "Are you alright, Piers?"

"I just got a weird chill," he mumbled, looking around. His eyes caught a violet shadow disappearing from out of view. "Was that a ghost?"

Looking back at the kids, he could see Nickit had shrunk back, as Vulpix mumbled with a shaky voice. "That's Haunter going to work. Are you sure your friend didn't just see Haunter out of the window?"

"Maybe, but Haunter don't have tentacles," Raihan stated, looking curiously at where the ghost had disappeared. Judging by Piers' physical reaction just being near the thing, it surely could not have been the same creature that Leon saw. "Does everyone react like that around him?"

Vulpix shook her head. "No, I think he might be purposely putting it on. We kids complain about it, but the adults never seem to notice."

That did not explain why he didn't feel whatever those three felt, maybe it was because he lacked fur. Watching Piers try to flatten his fur, he mumbled. "Alright, no jellyfish. Should we go back inside?"

He nodded and they strolled back inside.

It did not take much longer for Leon and Espeon to be finished, Leon radiating cheerfulness as he spun around. His new cape spun with him, flapping gently in the breeze his movements generated. That scrap of cloth had clearly been stitched into the cape, yet it blended well with the rest of Espeon's work. In fact, his new cape looked almost exactly like Leon's shirt on the outwards view, with crimson and sapphire coloured trims where it tied around his neck. "So cool! I feel ready to have a champion time, my body is ready!"

As Espeon's expression turned confused at those words, Piers coughed. "That was his catchphrase when he used to be a champion when we were humans. The 'champion time', I mean, not the body comment. Hey Lee, your tail's lit itself!"

The Charmeleon looked at it with a nervous chuckle. "Oh- Oops! I really should be careful with that."

"Don't worry too much about it, I made sure your new cape is flameproof. You won't be losing it any time soon," Espeon hummed, however her cheerfulness seemed to be thwarted by a thought that she allowed herself to vocalise. "You three, could I ask you for a favour?"

"You made us snazzy accessories, why would we say no?" Raihan chirped, prompting her to give a quiet giggle.

"Right. Ah…" She peered out of the window. "Would you mind doing some snooping for me and see what my son and his friend were up to last night? I imagine they might be a little more willing to be open with other young lads, rather than their parents."

It was not as though they were not already planning to do that, Piers silently remarked. However, he wondered exactly how young they appeared to Espeon and the other Pokemon that were clearly adults. When adulthood seemed linked to these 'apprenticeships', though… "Do you think it'll really be that easy?"

"It's worth a try," Leon said with a shrug. "I don't know those two very well, but I got the impression that Punk Eevee was a show-off, at least."

Espeon looked at the two then giggled.

"What's so funny?" Raihan asked, tilting his head.

"It's probably not that funny… I just find it a little amusing that you've only just found your friend and he's already started calling my kid a punk too. It seems to be catching. How about you ask those two on a walk? They'd probably jump at getting some exercise in before they're back to being grounded."

Piers considered the possibility of having to save the reckless foxes from another impulsive journey. "Sure, we might just need to get a leash to go with Eevee's collar."

That was how the trio ended up babysitting again, however at least it was relatively peaceful as they decided to take the trek to the guild and back. Such a journey was long enough to help the apprentices expel their energy and hopefully get some information out of them, whilst short enough that it would not take the full day away.

Leon admired the scenery as Eevee excitedly rambled to Piers and Raihan. Though having not even been acquainted with Snowcap for 24 hours, Leon got the impression that he was the more relaxed of the two foxes and certainly not the one they would have to chase after. So he allowed himself to focus on the new environment.

Having been wandering aimlessly until reuniting with his friends, he would have never guessed that he had been a Pokemon for roughly a week now. Due to getting lost, he had already seen a range of terrain, yet this simple hill and grassland was the most pleasant purely because he wasn't getting ambushed by feral Pokemon for seemingly no reason. He would have appreciated the Mystery Dungeon explanation before having evolved, but better late than never, he thought to himself with a laugh.

Speaking of the hill, the ground under their feet felt steep, he could not help but wonder how certain Pokemon would scale it. Would a Whirlipede spin on the top to build up momentum then launch themselves up? Did Pokemon like Metapod and Kakuna have to ask someone to carry them at all times until they evolved?

He peered over into the distance. Looking far enough he could see the ocean, yet how long would it take to reach it? As he tried to do the mental maths in his head, he tuned into the conversation as it shifted.

"Hey, by the way Eevee, why did you and Snowcap go in that dungeon to begin with?" Raihan asked. Not very subtle, but perhaps skirting around it would make it more suspicious.

Eevee stopped for a second to look at his friend, as they seemed to silently communicate before he piped up. "We were just planning to cut through it, we wanted to get to the other side. But we didn't consider how dangerous it could be," he finished sheepishly, rubbing his neck fluff.

"What was on the other side for you to risk it to begin with?" Piers mumbled, prompting Snowcap to quietly input.

"This village is only a tiny part of the continent, we always wanted to see outside of it. Other settlements, pretty lakes and all that, you know? We had a map to tell us where to go, but unfortunately with Mystery Dungeons, it becomes difficult to even get to another town 10 miles down the road. What should be an hour-long journey can take almost a full day." He sighed. "We've been trying to find a particular dungeon though, which is ah… It's rumoured to be a good three dungeons and two towns away from here."

Leon tore his eyes away from the distant sea, rubbing them. The answer to how far that was could only be described as 'very far'. "A particular dungeon, eh? What's so special about this place that you nearly got your asses whooped trying to find it?"

Snowcap murmured about the former human being blunt whilst Eevee glanced up at the far away guild then back down towards the residential area of the village. "Well, ah… We're not sure if this place even exists, we heard of it from passing travellers and a Lilligant marked it on a map for us. But it's called the Star Cave. Jirachi is supposed to be lurking inside."

Piers almost tripped over his feet. "Wha-" He just about caught himself, as the kids stared at him. Probably trying not to laugh, and looking at Raihan he was not above laughing at a tumbling either. "Jirachi? Are you sure?"

"Yep, Jirachi is rumoured to have a holiday home on every continent, but the tricky part is finding it. Especially because ah…" Eevee's ears drooped. "The one on the Air Continent has 99 floors. The only one who managed to clear Wish Cave and prove its legend true was the Torchic hero. So even if you happen to stumble upon it, you won't know if it's really Jirachi's home unless you clear it, huh?"

The Zigzagoon mulled it over. It was certainly a gamble, but perhaps keeping that place in mind could help them out. "It does sound rather troublesome. Why were you two so eager to find it, by the way?"

"Snowcap wanted to make a wish to Jirachi so he can learn Heal Pulse!" If that was intended to be some embarrassing secret, Eevee certainly did not realise, yet Snowcap seemed oddly embarrassed as his ears flopped forward to cover his face.

"That's certainly an interesting move choice, why would you ask for that if you could have practically anything?" Leon asked, watching the hatted Eevee cringe a little. "Though, I suppose the Eevee line can't naturally learn that move, eh?"

"Right," Snowcap murmured, still hiding behind his floppy ears. "Well ah… I've been working with Blissey for a while. There's a lot she can do that I can't, and I want to be able to take over the clinic for her so she can retire. I can use Heal Bell, but I'd like to be able to revitalise our patients too without having to rely on berries. So ah… Yeah, that's why."

Raihan grinned, playfully tapping him with his stubby foot. "Don't look so embarrassed, that's really sweet of you. But I think you two should focus a bit more on growing up and getting stronger first. I know it'd make Blissey happy, but she seemed pretty worried last night when you went off without telling anyone." One of Snowcap's ears sprung back, his fur tinted pink. "Just keep training, alright? Then I'm sure you two could go anywhere together."

"Thank you," he whispered, before looking at Leon. The Charmeleon seemed to be staring at nothing in particular. "Uh… Are you alright?"

It took a moment for Leon to process those words. He peered around the area, tail swishing idly. "I'm fine, just spaced a little." Despite being a fire type, he could feel an odd chill. None of the others seemed to feel it however, judging by their lack of reaction. "How about you see who can reach the guild first?"

That was all it took for the Eevee's eyes to shine as they both looked at each other then nodded before sprinting off. "Alright, good thing I have Quick Attack!" Punk Eevee chirped, prompting a protest from Snowcap that was barely audible as he gained distance on the former-humans.

"Hey, no fair!"

Raihan chuckled as he watched them leg it, seeing Piers suddenly look exhausted. "Come on. We don't have to run, but we should make sure they don't disappear on us."

"Right," Piers responded dryly and the trio calmly followed behind the kids.

Leon stopped in his tracks as trailing a little behind his friends, he felt that chill again. He gently fanned himself with his lit tail then glanced at his surroundings again.

For a brief second, he saw the slightest hint of a translucent appendage, prompting him to spin around. His eyes widened as they landed on the creature just before it disappeared, leaving him staring blankly into space once more.

"Hey, Lee! What's keeping you?"

In response to Piers' shout, Leon quickly gathered his nerves once more and took a deep breath before continuing on their path. "Coming!"

Did he just see a jellyfish wearing a hat?