The next few days went as expected. Sapphire found it slightly intimidating to be near the professional Guild Members at every meal. She knew some of them stared at her missing leg, but they never said anything disrespectful. The only people who seemed to have a problem with her body were Tyrone and Eclipse. She had to just remind herself it probably stemmed from their own insecurities. Still hurts, though.
But she pushed away those hurt feelings, today was supposed to be exciting. It was going to be their first class on items, her favorite subject.
The students waited around in the learning room. There wasn't much to do when the teacher wasn't there teaching. There was one window, some chairs, and not much else to decorate the room. Finally after what felt like forever, the Guilds doctor came in.
The xatu cleared his throat, "good afternoon, class. My name is Dr. Willow Tree, I go by they/them, I'm pleased to finally meet you".
They set out a few seeds on the desk, then looked at their students, "To start, can anyone tell me what each of these seeds are?"
Sapphire's hoof shot up immediately, and she didn't wait to be called on, "The one on the left is a reviver seed, which heals you fully if you faint, you can tell by its size. The one in the middle is a tiny reviver seed, which only partially heals you. And the right one is a reviser seed, which you do not want to eat!" When she was done talking, she looked around and blushed a little at her outburst. Dr. Willow Tree looked at her amused, however.
"Well then, I'm pleasantly surprised. I usually use this as a hook, I don't expect students to know it so quickly. We don't even get into specifics like you did for a few months"
Sapphire chuckled nervously, "Sorry. My mom was an avid explorer, and she knew lots of stuff about items and medicine".
They nodded, "Speak to me after class, would you?" they asked, and Sapphire agreed.
After learning about how fainting and energy works, the students left the room, all except for Sapphire.
"Smartass" Tyrone whispered as he passed by her. Ruby glared at the quilava, but gave a thumbs up to Sapphire.
"You wanted to see me, doctor?" she asked the xatu
"Yes. I wanted to ask if you would perhaps prefer private lessons, as opposed to hearing me talk about things you probably already know"
"Private lessons? Is that even allowed"
"Oh don't worry, once I tell Guildmaster Cleo about your wit, he won't mind it. I truly think you would benefit more from doing hands-on work with me. You would be, say, a temporary assistant to me. What do you say?"
"Oh my Arceus…Yes! I would love that" she almost shouted out with joy, but kept herself mostly contained.
The doctor smiled, "Then you will be excused from future item classes. Come meet me in the medical room first thing in the morning tomorrow, yes?", she nodded in response, "I have good hopes for you, Sapphire"
…
"Wow! They really said that?! That's amazing Sapphire" Ruby exclaimed with a mouth full of salad.
"I know right? I'm ecstatic. I do feel a little bad though…" she said
Rusty swallowed his food, "How come? Sad you'll get to see less of this guy?" he grinned jokingly.
Sapphire chuckled, "That's one reason. I just don't want to seem like a teachers pet"
A voice cuts into the students' conversation, "Gaining a good relationship with your mentors is the best thing a pokemon can do. Hello there, I remember some of you"
Rusty and Ruby both shout, "it's Shadow!"
The luxray nodded calmly, "Good to see you all doing so well. I remember when I was just a shinx, I was sitting at this same table talking to my new buddies. That was way back when old Pearson was Guildmaster"
"You mean Guildmaster Cleo's dad, right?" Ruby asked, and the luxray nodded again.
"He was special all right. It's different without him, but still good. Cleos done amazing things"
"Well, I should get back to my own business. See you kids around" he turned to walk away, "Oh, and by the way. I'm sorry about my daughter. She's in a bad phase as of late. I hope she mellows out soon" and with that he left.
…
After a light breakfast, Sapphire meandered over to the medical room, where she found Dr. Willow Tree messing around in some cabinets. All the hospital beds were empty, it seems no one was hurt this morning.
"Ah, my new glittering gem. Glad you could make it" they took their beak out of the cabinet and shut it closed. With some psychic magic, he levitated a pen to write on what looked like a list.
"We're running a little low on herbs and berries, I was hoping we could go for a quick walk and harvest what we find. I much prefer getting them fresh and free as opposed to going to that kecleons shop. Too expensive and not as good as the real thing"
"Sure, it's a nice morning for a walk"
The pair make their way out to a forest nearby the guild. It's a bit dense, but there's luckily a path to follow. Sapphire tries to take it all in as they talk.
"How long have you been working here?"
"Almost 30 years, I think" they said, "here's to another 30. So, what got you interested in coming here?"
"It's been my dream since I was little. My mom was a member of the Starwish Guild, if you know where that is" they nodded, "She was pretty popular there. So, I always wanted to be like her and help pokemon"
"That's a very noble dream. You're well on your way to achieving it" they said. The doctor paused their walk to look at some tiny red berries growing from some bushes, "young one, do you know what these are?"
She took a glance, "Cheri berries, right?"
"Good eye, young one. They like to grow on bushes like this. Too bad we already have more than enough cheri berries at the guild, otherwise this would be a great find"
Sapphire looked upwards, a certain scent catching her attention. A strong earthy stench, to be exact. "Doctor, what are those herbs up there?"
The xatu looked up confused, then widened his eyes, "That appears to be a revival herb. They grow on special trees, and act like a reviver seed. Good eye yet again. Would you help me pick them? We could certainly use some"
Sapphire jumped a little to catch a branch in her snout, holding it down long enough for them to collect the herbs in a basket. It shot right back up when she let go.
The pair continued walking and picking berries and other herbs while chit chatting. It was quite relaxing. Sapphire was so happy to have this opportunity, she knew her mom would be proud. When they made their way back, Dr. Willow Tree frowned and sighed.
"What's wrong?" Sapphire asked.
"I was hoping to find some leppa berries, but it seems we'll have to buy them instead," he groaned. "Have you been to the kecleon shop yet?", she shook her head, "It's a popular shop run by the two kecleon brothers. I find them to be greedy and annoying, and they overpriced everything. But it can't be helped I suppose, come along now" they left the shady forest into the bright sunlight and headed to the town square. Then they trudged dreadfully to the kecleon shop.
"Why hello! Good to see the doctor, come for some of our famous wares?" the green kecleon started.
The xatu groaned again, "Just a couple leppa berries".
"And can I assume you're going to try bargaining on the price as usual?" the lizard said, and the doctor nodded. The two went back and forth over the price that should be paid, until they came to an agreement they could almost tolerate. "Come again soon!" kecleon said, to which Dr. Willow Tree huffed.
…
Sapphire talked all about her day with the Doctor at dinner that night. Ruby listened, but didn't understand a lot of it. She was just happy her friend was happy.
"I never even thought to mix oran and sitrus berries together in a mixture for extra healing power! That man is so smart"
A clinking on some glassware silenced everyone, and everyone looked towards the interruption. It was Breezy, the guild master's wife and assistant.
"Greetings everyone, sorry to interrupt dinner! I have exciting news, there's going to be an expedition" everyone roared with excitement, and Breezy had to clink the glass again to quiet the crowd. "We'll be picking members throughout the week, so work hard to look good to me and the guildmaster" The crowd roared again in joy.
"Wow! A real expedition! Do you think we'll get to go?" Ruby said, astonished.
Token spoke up for once, "I-I doubt it, why would they l-let kids like us go? We're still learning…" the sliggoo said.
"I know I know but imagine all the learning we could have if we went! Isn't that the point of being here?"
"It does sound fun, but I wouldn't get my hopes up," sapphire said.
Another voice butts in, "I've been talking to Cleo, there is a small chance you'd get to go" said Shadow the luxray. He sat down near the kids, followed by an escavalier.
The metal bug spoke up too, "Like ya said, it would be a good learning experience. You'd be heavily guarded by multiple teams like us, so there's not much that could go wrong. Oh where are my manners, I don't think we've met, I'm Xavier. Me and Shadow are part of team Sonic Boom''
Ruby responded, "Nice to meet you, and cool team name! I can't wait to start my own team"
"Oh being on a team is the best. I always got Shadow and Rosy on my side. Rosy is our other member, but she's not here right now. Say, what did you kids learn about today?"
"We uh..we learned about the first exploration guild, Wigglytuffs. I-i didn't realize pokemon back then didn't have names like we do" Token said.
Shadow nodded, "It was less diverse back then. It was likely that there was only one wigglytuff in that small town, so why need a name? Plus, most pokemon could identify each other through scent"
"Do you think the legend of that pikachu actually being a human was real?" Rusty asked.
Shadow chuckled, "I think so. It's not the first story of a human turning into a pokemon. I think it's very possible" he smiled.
"say…I want to ask you something but…" Token started.
"Please, ask away," Shadow said.
"Why is Eclipse so mean to us? You seem so nice but your daughter…Ah i'm sorry"
But Shadow just shook his head, "No, I understand. She is being mean"
"She's been like this for months now, it started when…my wife passed away. She had been fighting a losing battle with cancer, you see. I think it was hard for Eclipse to watch her own mother suffer like that, she cried a lot when she finally was laid to rest"
The kids looked at him, shocked, but he continued.
"I wanted her to wait until she was done grieving to come here, but she insisted. I think being mean and short is her way of hiding her real feelings. We haven't always been an open family…she gets it from me"
"I think what she needs is time, and a little compassion. Please, don't take anything she says to heart, her mean words come from an unhealing wound, not her mind. I know my daughter, I know she is kind and sweet and loving."
No one spoke at first, until Token cleared his throat, "I-i see. I'm sorry to hear that, Shadow. I r-really am"
"Don't worry about me. It's still so hard…But I'm learning to live with the loss. She wouldn't want me to mope. Focus on your studies, and your own being"
The kids all nodded in agreement. Ruby thought to herself, Maybe my outburst the other day was wrong. Maybe I need to fight her with kindness, not fire.
Authors note:
I'm pretty proud of this chapter, took a couple rewrites but i think it turned out alright. Im struggling to write longer chapters, but hopefully that changes soon. Oh, and if you couldn't tell, I'm lgbt, and this story will be very lgbt friendly. If you have an issue with that, kindly walk away now.
