Interlude: Just, A Whole Lotta L's

"And this is the Dynamo Branch. As I said before, it can be one of our more active locations, but the Demonstration Floor is normally perfectly safe," the Whimsicott explained, cheerfully.

Van looked around the room with wide eyes as his mind struggled to catch up with all he had seen so far. When he made the decision to hop on a boat from Verdant Port and finally join with the Absol Guild he had heard so much about, he was expecting some dark castle in the woods somewhere, or something equally foreboding.

He almost thought he had the wrong place when he spotted the diminutive tents out amongst the barren dirt field and weeds, but the truth was so much stranger than fiction. Absol wasn't around for some reason, but the Whimsicott, Pandora, walked him through literal breaches of reality like it was nothing.

He'd have a helluva lot to write to his siblings about, that's for sure.

"...uh, cool," was all he could come up with. His eyes creased in bewilderment as he spotted a Totodile throw an orb at a Noctowl, which then promptly exploded into some kind of glue that stuck the poor owl to the side of the strange enclosure they were in. He knew Pandora saw the same thing he did, but she didn't bat an eye as she turned to address him.

"Exciting, no?"

"One way of putting it. Yeesh, don't know if I could keep up..." muttered the Scrafty as he scratched the back of his head. Pandora gave him a sympathetic smile.

"It can take time to adjust, but I assure you that things will become like second nature in due time. For now, why don't I introduce you to the Branch Head, Damia? I am sure she'd appreciate seeing a new face!"

"Yeah, lead the way."

He followed her to a tent flap to the right, and the shrill ringing of struck metal sounded out. It got louder as they walked inside, and he beheld a curious sight.

Behind a low desk, a large orange figure in a metal mask hunched over a tiny stone slab. They brought their arm back and, with deft precision, struck a small metal object on the slab with such force that sparks shot out. They stood there for a while as the Pokemon rhythmically struck their creation before they picked up the metal object in a pair of prongs and brought it to their face to inspect it closer, before they nodded at it with what seemed like satisfaction. The Pokemon set the piece down and removed their mask, revealing them to be a Dragonite, and shook their head a bit before they turned to lean on the desk and face the two.

Van's heart skipped a beat.

Despite her bored posture, the dragon's stature and slightly flared out wings commanded all attention in the room. Her rounded snout contrasted with her sharp eyes, amethyst pools that pierced through him and struck him dumb as they glanced over his form. Her orange scales seemed to glimmer and shine in the light. He had never seen a Dragonite in person before, but there was only one way to describe the one in front of him right now.

She looked damn good.

"Damia, I apologize for the interruption, but I would like to introduce you to our newest aspirant, Van. He showed particular interest in this branch, so I thought it best for you to get acquainted with each other," said Pandora. She gestured for Van to say something, and it took him a second to come back to reality. He jerked his hand up in a pseudo wave and sputtered out,

"H-heya there, uh yeah, m'Van..." he lost his nerve halfway throughout and cut eye contact with the dragon to look at the ground. Damia's eyes creased in confusion, but she shrugged and waved them to come further inside the room.

"Alright, why are you here?" he just about melted at the sound of her voice. Despite her large size, her voice dripped into his ears like smooth, deep velvet. It sent shivers down his spine, and he imagined listening to that voice every day. A dopey smile grew on his face as he was lost in a daydream, but he was jolted back to reality as a pair of clawed fingers snapped him back to focus.

"Uh, wha?"

"I said, what made you want to join Absol's?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah. My brothers and sisters and I run a repair joint back in Verdant. The other guilds have stations out there, so we help with patching up their equipment when other places are too expensive. Figured I could learn a bit more than patching up the odd specs or bag, so I came here to broaden my horizons, so to speak. Speaking of..."

His eyes caught the metal object, a ring, that Damia had set on the desk. They squinted in fascination as he leaned close.

"That kind of looks like...a looplet? I thought they came in bracelets, but..." he scratched his chin as he stared at the ring. Damia's eyebrows lifted, and she 'hmmd' in approval.

"And here I thought emeras were too rare to warrant much thought into looplets. Seems like you did your homework. I've been experimenting with different frames to see if the effects of emeras would still come through."

"It looks solid enough, but I don't know how you're gonna test it without an emera to put in it."

"And what makes you think I don't have one?"

"You...wait, what!?" exclaimed Van. His excitement was cooled when he felt those eyes scrutinize his figure and he gulped slightly. Damia gave him a hard look, and he had no idea what was going on behind those sharp violet pools. He guessed she came to some kind of judgment as she huffed and reached down below the desk.

She brought her claw up with reverence as she held something in her palm. Her eyes flicked from her claw to Van, and then she slowly picked up whatever it was in between her fingers and held it out to show him. A gleaming, topaz colored crystal. It was tiny in her paw, but the sight of it sent Van's mind reeling. He had only read about emeras in books, only the best of the best teams even got access to a few. They were both notoriously rare, and difficult to handle, and here he was looking at one.

"Holy...damn." was all he could say. She nodded in agreement.

"I got lucky, found it just laying there on the floor of Whispy Woods on a dive. This is the first emera the guild has seen in a couple of months, at least," muttered Damia. Both of them were entranced by the soft glow that emanated from the crystal.

Behind her small smile, Pandora squeed as she watched the two interact. She knew Damia could be standoffish and was concerned Van might be off-put by her demeanor, but she never expected them to hit it off like this, let alone for Damia to actually show off the project she had been working on. Only her, Vert, and Clara knew she had found an emera. The Dragonite had kept it a secret from everyone else, but she must have noted Van's respect for the object and decided to go out on a limb and trust the Scrafty.

Maybe the broody dragon would actually make another friend? The thought made her smile even wider.

Van reached forward slightly before he caught himself and pulled his arm back. Damia caught the movement however and brought the crystal back with a frown. She stared him down, and the Scrafty fidgeted in place before, in a brief moment of impulsiveness, his desire outweighed his caution, and he met her gaze.

"Do you, uh...I mean, would it be alright if I, you know, could see it for a sec?" she sent him a baleful glare, and he just about wilted. But the mere thought that he could actually hold in his paws something that precious emboldened him to try once more.

"..please?" he tried. Damia squinted at him and he figured that was the end of it, but he was surprised when she slowly reached out her claw and hesitantly held the emera out for him.

"Be careful," she commanded. He nodded quickly and grasped the crystal from her claw. He felt a warm tingle of energy as he held it in his hand, and he wondered what effect this emera actually had.

Meanwhile, Pandora reeled from the fact that Damia actually let Van touch the thing. The Dragonite was clearly concerned, evident as she hunched over and stared intently as the Scrafty held the crystal up to the light. Yet, she made no move to snatch it away. Maybe Clara had brushed off on her, and she was finally taking steps to be more approachable? Pandora would have to definitely commend her later for this, perhaps with a cake? Ooh, or maybe they could find a nice Monster House to test out more combat-oriented ideas on the innocent ferals there. For science.

Damia would li-

CRACK

The silence shattered. Broken from her thoughts, Pandora slowly put her paw over her mouth at the sight in front of her. For a moment, the scene was like some kind of classical picture, both pokemon stood stock still with wildly different expressions on their faces. Van, arm still raised to the ceiling, stared down at the broken dust the fragile emera had become when he dropped it. His eyes were wide open with fear reserved for moments when one realizes they had fucked up so bad, death wouldn't be an adequate escape. His mouth was open in a silent scream that managed to ring out in the room.

Gone was her worried expression, Damia instead looked at the pile with half-lidded eyes, face devoid of emotion. If one were to glance, they would assume she was only mildly annoyed at the current state of affairs, her countenance giving no clue as to the volcano that smoldered behind her dead eyes.

Pandora knew better.

"...well!" she clapped her paws together. "I suppose accidents do happen. Quite a shame, that, but you live and learn. Van, why don't I show you around some of the other Branches, hmm?" With as much decorum as she could muster, she yanked Van away and pushed him to the door. The Scrafty walked with a haunted look on his face as he slowly trudged out. Before she followed she glanced down and cringed at the crystal mess, the glow already faded away. She had lived long enough to see her fair share of emeras, so she had no doubt one would show up again eventually. Still a shame to see one wasted.

She looked up to address the dragon, whose gaze was still locked on the pile on the floor. Pandora clasped her paws in front of her and pursed her lips before she spoke.

"That probably could have gone better. On the bright side, it looks like you might have someone new to pursue research into emeras with!" She said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Damia's eye twitched.

With a kick, Van shoved an approaching feral back towards the entrance of the grove they had fled into. A Seedot attempted to bumrush them from the side, but Clara gave it a solid roundhouse swing with her Confuse staff that sent it back, bowling over some of the other Pokemon that attempted to get in. It gave them precious time to get everything set up like they wanted.

"Alright Vanny, I think now's a good time!" called out Clara.

"Yeah, on it." He dug into his bag and pulled out a purple orb, with the faint outline of an apple on its surface. As the ferals regrouped and charged inside, he held it up and activated it. Rather than a bright light, the orb pulsed and radiated energy outward into the space they were in before it dispersed.

As the feral pokemon charged inside, they seemed to lose their grip on the floor as their bodies began to float around. One particularly rambunctious Mightyena flew by them as its momentum flung it into a tree on the far side. To his side, Clara giggled as she floated upside down in the air, and Van himself waved his arms around as he tried to orient around the sudden weightless feeling. The two seemed to be forgotten as the ferals struggled to comprehend the strange shift in gravity, although some attempted to swim through the air to reach the two, with little success.

Despite the favorable outcome, Van was concerned, and not because there was no gravity.

"Wow, only a couple weeks in and you've already created a new type of orb, and it works! What're you gonna call it? Gravity Orb? Ooh, wait, what about All Float Orb!"

"Uh...wait, I don't thi-"

"You know, this sounds alot like an idea Damia's been working on for the past couple weeks too! I think she said she wanted to do something similar for a demonstration happening today."

Van's heart flipped. As did his body in midair.

"Demo...demonstration?" he gulped.

"Oh yeah, when we make something we're really proud of and think would be especially useful for explorers, we can ask either Vert or Pandora to put on a demonstration in front of them and the branch heads to show it off! It's a good way to celebrate your achievement."

He tuned her out halfway through her explanation as he struggled to figure out how he had screwed up this time. He clenched his teeth in frustration, this orb wasn't supposed to change gravity, he just wanted to test out a formula he read about for an explosion orb! After a bit, it dawned on him how it all went wrong, and he sagged in the air as Clara drifted past him, latched onto a confused Bidoof.

"Weeeeee!"

"...damn it."

"Alright, let the demonstration begin. Damia, please explain what you are showing us today." stated Pandora.

The Dragonite stared out from within the central Proto Dungeon at the others who sat in front. There were more Pokemon than she had expected; all of the branch heads and their partners were there, as well as any members curious enough to watch. To her mild surprise, Vert had also taken time to attend, which was unusual considering he was normally out doing who knows what around now. While it was disappointing Clara was out accompanying that Scrafty, she figured she could tell her partner about it later.

Her mood briefly soured at the thought of him. The clutz had run into her earlier this morning and almost made her lose her project. She was honestly glad he wasn't here, and it felt good to know that so many welcome, more capable Pokemon could appreciate what she had managed to create. That it was more than she had anticipated did not bother her.

She let a smirk grace her features. If more Pokemon wanted to witness her greatness, then by all means let them.

"What you're about to see is the latest in room clearing tools. With this Gravity Orb, you can turn the tables in the blink of an eye. Observe." She normally wasn't one for showboating, but she couldn't help the pride in her voice. Once she discovered scraps of a gravity altering formula in the library, she had worked without sleep for a week straight to get it down just right.

Despite her confidence, there was a lingering concern as she stared at the emblem on the purple orb in her claw. Now that she looked at it, she could have sworn it was in the shape of an apple earlier instead of a Pom berry. Still, now wasn't the time to get cold feet. She shrugged, held up the orb, and activated it. She relished in the clear interest the others showed as they leaned in.

Rather than the strong pulse she had expected to feel during testing however, instead the orb rumbled and shook in her claws. She let out a growl of confusion, and a glance up showed that her uncertainty must be visible to those watching, as those in attendance sported concerned faces.

"Is it supposed to be shaking like that?" called out Purl.

"...Yes."

Eyes closed, she focused on the internal energy of the orb in an attempt to figure out what was going on, and stifled a gasp. In her mind's eye, the lake of Aether was completely different from how she had carefully crafted it. Instead of the serene violet she knew was supposed to be there, the lake was an out of control, roiling maroon. It began to shift and churn in the clear sign of an unstable orb. She opened her eyes, clutched the orb in both paws, and desperately willed it to stop.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

The shaking reached a fever pitch, and she only had time to growl out a low "damn." before the orb exploded into black smoke that filled the dome and leaked out into the room.

Amidst the coughing and shouts to see if everyone was okay, the smoke petered out. What was left inside was a soot covered Damia with a small flame that burned on top of her head. It mocked her.

There was silence as those in attendance tried to muster up the nerve to say something. Damia was a perfectionist, she didn't make rookie mistakes like unbalancing an orb formula. One look at the dragon inside told everyone that she was aware of this too, and her blackened scales only darkened her expression as she seethed.

Thankfully, Willow was not burdened by such friviolities as social tact. Her feedback was too valuable to give to a fellow colleague and friend, after all.

"It appears you misjudged the energy balance, causing internal entropy leading to a negative feedback loop. Might I suggest refreshing yourself on viable patterns in the library?" she offered. Brook stared up at her with wide eyes and cut his claw across his neck, but she paid this no mind.

The spurts of flame that shot from the Dragonite's nostrils did warrant some concern, however.

Despite a quick bath, Damia's scales were still tinted grey from particularly stubborn soot. She sat in her workshop behind her desk, a dud orb in her claw, and stared at it as if it had the key to solving her foul mood. It was about an hour after the demonstration, and most of the guild was in the Mess Hall for lunch, but the humiliation she felt rooted her to her seat. All she could do was brood and think. What went wrong? She refused to believe she had made such an embarrassing error, and in fact was almost certain the quantity of energies she had put into the orb had resulted in success before.

She groaned. She was no amateur.

"Ooh Ooh! Damiaaaaaaa, guess what!" shouted an eager voice.

"Hold up, Clara!"

The voices and patter of footsteps that drew louder roused her from her funk, and she looked up as her partner and the Scrafty burst into the room. Her spirits lifted a bit at the sight of her small, spunky friend, however her keen eyes sought out the weakness in the Scrafty's posture. He was hunched over with his hand grasping his other arm and eyes locked on the ground. From the way his legs were bent, he looked ready to bolt out the room at any moment, and she noted his forehead glistened slightly with sweat. Her eyes narrowed as she came to the only conclusion she could.

He looked guilty.

"Damia!"

"Yes, what is it?" she softened her glare as the Spinda approached. Only a little, though.

"You'll never believe it, I was out with Van on his first test run, and he actually made a really cool, working orb! It was awesome, there was this big pulse that went like 'thwomb' and then everything got all floaty, and I got to ride on a bunch of ferals, it was great!"

Throughout her explanation, Damia gradually rose from her slouch until she sat ramrod still, mind stuck on one word.

"...floated." she repeated.

"Yup, I had no idea you were so talented Vanny." she called back to Van. He was almost one with the corner as he curled in even more.

"U-uh, yeah, uh...about that-"

"Ooh, how did your demonstration go? Did everything work how you wanted? I know you were up all night for the past week working on juuuuuust the right amounts!"

"You could say it was quite..."

She stabbed Van with her eyes as she finished her sentence.

"Explosive."

Pieces began to fall in to place, and she all but willed him forward from her gaze alone. Slowly, he shuffled closer and rubbed the back of his head.

"Scrafty."

He flinched at the use of his species, not his name.

"Would you mind explaining why I just embarrassed myself in front of everyone while you wasted my work on ferals." A draconic growl undertoned the last word, and Van gulped.

"Erm, uh, funny story, heh. You know, when we bumped into each other this morning, we both dropped our orbs and, uh. When we picked them up...might've...uh." He wilted as her glare grew more and more stern.

"...switched."

The room was silent as Damia roasted Van alive with her stare. Clara looked between the two, confused as to the sudden tension. And also a little hungry, but mostly confused.

"I see."

"I'm really sor-"

"You will be. I know how you can make it up to me though."

"O-oh yeah?" his eyes widened in a smidge of hope. Damia clutched the orb and leaned over. Van backed up slightly as his vision was filled with the looming dragon.

"There were some...improvements that could be made to your explosion orb. I'd be more than happy to help improve it. I just want your help...testing their effectiveness." Her mouth widened as her fangs shone prominently in the light. The only smile he had ever seen on her, and it was the most dangerous thing he had seen in his life.

He whimpered.

As he flipped his latest creation in the pan, Van's eyes creased in determination. The kitchen staff had let him use the facilities out of respect for his boldness; he had walked in, boldly claimed "I can make this right." and then promptly got to work getting his ingredients together. Absol's head chef, a Farfetch'd named Ramsey, recognized his zeal, and commanded the other cooks to work around him during the dinner rush.

It was a challenge, but they could tell Van knew what he was doing.

His dish was a classic his mother taught him; sauteed mushrooms drizzled with soy sauce and garnished with the leaves of a Rawst berry. He had made the dish countless times for his younger siblings, and each time had found a way to improve it. Once he had achieved the pinnacle of flavor, his mother had taken him aside and revealed to him the secret ingredient that made her recipe outshine even his: chestnuts.

With reverence, he took a nearby grater, a chestnut, and lightly grazed flecks off of the nut and onto the meal. The flecks were so fine you could hardly see them, yet the tanginess they added elevated the flavor to a whole other level. After the seasoning, he removed the mushrooms from heat and distributed the meal onto a bed of rice that laid on a plate. Like any good chef, he took a fork and taste tested his meal.

He 'mmfd' in satisfaction. If this whole mad scientist thing didn't pan out, he could pivot pretty easy into culinary.

Still, he needed to focus. It had been a month and a half since he first arrived at the guild, and while it was going great, there was still one little problem: Damia. No matter what he did, he seemed to always manage to piss her off that much more. It was getting to the point where he could barely keep his composure when she was in the same room as him, let alone hold a conversation with her. He had never even properly made up for breaking her emera all that time ago, but damn it if it wasn't time to mon up and try.

They say the quickest way to a girl's heart is through her stomach, so by Arceus he would make some bomb food and serve her something delicious if it wasn't the last thing he did. Maybe then she could see he was at least trying.

He gently lifted a plate and went to the Wooloo, Tulip, who was beginning to load food onto plates. At his approach, she turned and nodded to him.

"Smells good, is it ready?"

"Yeah, could you send this to Damia?"

"Sure thing, want me to tell her it's from you?"

"Uh, wait, hang on."

He dug in his bag and pulled out a pen and a notebook, which he tore a page out of. He scribbled a message onto it and handed the paper to her.

"After she's eaten, can you give her this? She might not accept it if she knows it's from me."

"Roger that, chief!"

With practiced ease, she let Van place the plate on her head and slid it onto a serving tray. As an added touch, she also lowered a steel cover. She balanced everything on her back and zipped out of the flap into the progressively louder dining room beyond.

Nerves fluttered in his stomach, and Van creeped up to the side of the flap and peeked out. There in her usual spot, Damia sat next to Clara towards the head of the table. She looked a bit confused when Tulip sat the plate down, and shrugged as Clara seemed to chatter at her regarding its presence. He had to admit, when she wasn't looking at him or otherwise incensed, she was still rather beautiful. Even when she was casually bored at the table, there was a natural grace to her posture and the way she moved. He breathed out. Hopefully this works.

His breath hitched as Pandora rode in on Vert and the two made their way to the head of the table. Butterflies threatened to spill out of his mouth as the Absol gave the go ahead to eat, and the cover was finally removed to reveal the delicacy within. The mushroom sautee was freed, and he clenched his teeth as he watched her take a sniff. She looked around once more before apparently deciding that the meal was simply for her only, and took a small bite. He almost deflated in relief when she quickly went for another bite, and then another.

He noted the small smile that grew onto her face as she started to eat with more gusto, and wondered if he should have made a larger serving. To his pride, she had even shared some with Clara, who beamed in satisfaction. It was going so well, he almost walked out there early to go reveal who made it.

Then she coughed.

"You okay?" asked Clara. Damia nodded, and went to reach for another bite of the delicious mushrooms. She had never eaten a meal quite like this, the perfect mixture of taste and heartiness. Maybe she would be able to request more later.

However, when she tried to scarf down the last bite, she struggled to get it past her throat. As it finally went down, a warm feeling settled in her gut, and her mouth began to salivate. Her senses dulled and her skin felt clammy. Once it became difficult to breathe, it finally registered that there might be something wrong. This also felt somewhat familiar...

"I-I might have to..." she tried to get out, but clutched her stomach once a wave of nausea went through her. Clara's eyes slowed their endless swirl in concern.

"Hey, Damia? You're looking a little green."

She couldn't respond as she started to dry heave. Those in her immediate surroundings went quiet once they saw she was struggling. Even Vert seemed to blink his eyes awake at the sound.

The room went significantly more quiet once she vomited on her plate.

Her face heated from shame and humiliation at the eyes on her. She desperately searched for Tulip and waved the Wooloo over. She got there in half a second.

"Wh...what was in those mushrooms?" she asked, voice hoarse.

"Um. I don't know, but the one who cooked it told me to give you this. Maybe it'll say?" she reached into her fluff and pulled out a note in her mouth. She gave it to Damia who attempted to ignore everyone trying their best to act like they weren't looking at her.

She read the note:

I know this probably won't make up for everything,

but I wanted to try and do something nice for a change. To

show how serious I am, I'll even tell you mom's secret ingredient, chestnuts!

She'd kill me if she knew I told you, so let's keep it between us, yeah?

From, Van

Chestnuts...

Chestnuts!?

"Oh my God..." she groaned.

"Oh my God..." he moaned.

He watched as her slumped over form read the note, and as if by some divine intervention, their eyes locked from across the room. His heart dropped at the look of pure anger and frustration she shot his way, and he thought she would actually send a Hurricane at him if she didn't bowl over to dry heave again. She shook herself and ran out of the room, all eyes following her exit.

Van closed the flap and slid down the side of the wall, head empty. Tulip walked in the kitchen and clopped over to the Scrafty. By this point, everyone in the guild had some knowledge of Damia's and Van's "deal", so her heart went out to his latest failed attempt to make amends. She struggled with what to say, but figured anything was better than the silence.

"So...I think she's allergic to chestnuts."

He sighed in response, head buried in his hands.

A solemn silence permeated their space on the cushions in the center of the Residential Wing. Once Van finished his tale, everyone in attendance did their best to wrap their mind around everything they just heard. It would have been quite the downer if Esther didn't immediately burst into cackles and fall on her back. Lumi looked up at his partner with his eyebrows creased in a mix of sympathy and confusion.

"You...wait, you poisoned her?"

"Not on purpose, mon!" Van tried to defend himself.

"How does that even happen? The first two I can kind of see how you could have been a bit more careful, but that last one just kinda...sucks."

"She was bedridden for at least a week after that...at least those mushrooms were good!" Clara patted Van's shoulder to try and cheer him up, but he just grumbled. The ghost calmed down from her chuckles and floated over to mock whisper into Lumi's ear.

"You should have seen him try to sing a song with his bongos to try and serenade her forgiveness. He clammed up halfway through, and everyone had to sit there and watch him awkwardly pat the drums while staring at her."

"Esther...we said we wouldn't talk about that."

"It was quite adorable."

Van opened his mouth to retort, but his eyes widened at something towards the entrance of the hall. He grabbed as many cushions as he could and dove under them, effectively shielding him from view. Lumi turned to the entrance, and saw that it was Damia who walked inside. She sent a short wave towards Clara before she walked into the dorm rooms. Lumi walked over to the cushion fort Van had erected around himself and lifted one of them to look the hiding Scrafty in the eye.

"Is she gone?" he whispered. The Meowstic couldn't resist a chuckle.

"Dude. You got it bad."

Van groaned, and pulled the cushion back on top of him.